Words

 

“I have hated words, and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” That is from The Book Thief. I have had this thought many times in my writing. I have also had this thought in life in general. Words can really be everything to someone. I’m not sure if you have seen this video going around Facebook, but I cried when I saw it.

We all have had our moments when we didn’t really believe we had worth. Where we didn’t think anyone cared, but it’s not true. As women we need to support each other and be there for each other always. I loved how that was the theme of last night’s General Women’s Conference.

I loved how Sister Oscarson, the General Young Women’s President quoted Marjory Hinckley. “Sisters, we are all in this together. We need each other. Oh, how we need each other. Thos of us who are old need you who are young. And, hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old. It is a sociological fact that women need women. We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other. These friendships are a necessary source of sustenance. We need to renew our faith every day. We need to lock arms and help build the kingdom so that it will roll forth and fill the whole earth.”

Think of what we can do if we support each other. Think of what we can do with words. Think of what our words as writers can do for many people. We can encourage, inspire, support, make someone laugh, cry, and be able to keep moving on. I loved what Sister Wixom told of the 90 year old woman who said, “If rewriting life, I would not include some chapters. I would like to live a little longer to see how it ends.” I think it is true in all of our lives. There are definitely parts we would like to leave out, but those hard times, with the support of others is what gets us to the end.

In the movie Saving Mr. Banks, Walt Disney said, “George Banks and all he stands for will be saved. Maybe not in life, but in imagination, because that’s what we storytellers do. We instill hope again and again and again.” Writing for me is peaceful, it’s my therapy and medicine. If I can help one person with my words then I have done my part.

Be the words that saves someone. Make a difference in another woman’s life. Support each other in our failures and success. Henry B. Eyring said, “He sees the glorious potential in all of his daughters. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.”

Power of Journals

Record keeping has been around since the beginning of time. The word journal comes from the French word Jour, which means daily book or log book. People keep records for many reasons.  Without journals we wouldn’t have so much information about the past, from important historical figures like George Washington to wars that our ancestors fought.

Thousands found strength from a simple diary of a girl during tumultuous times. Anne Frank captured our hearts as she wrote during World War II. She wrote her feelings about her new journal on June 20, 1942 shortly after receiving it for her birthday. Little did she know her words changed the world.  “Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old school girl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing, and I have an even greater need to get all kinds of things off my chest.” She later added, “Paper has more patience than people.”

I’ve found strength in the words and trials as I’ve read journals from my ancestors. One in particular my Great Grandmother Viola Stout. When she got older she had her journal made into books for her family. I've read it several times and learned so much from her writings. I never knew that as a young girl she wanted to be a writer and she had a teacher who believed in her so much that she would tutor her after school every day. Viola had many trials, after losing two daughters within months of each other she wrote, "Times like these bring a realization of our Elder Brother's suffering, far beyond our abilities to endure and live. This makes us aware our suffering is much less, can be endured. This was a year my doubts and beliefs fought the battle of faith and despair... Thanks to that special Gift the Lord gave us, Faith won, I became comforted. I reached the depths in 1929. By 1930, a new light led the way." With her words of endurance and faith I have learned that I can make it through hard times. Because she kept a journal we can learn from her experiences for many generations to come.

Spencer W. Kimball said, “Those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives.”

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A few years ago I read the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith for the first time. I have heard a few people say they didn't like it. They say it was boring, or slow. But to me this book was inspiring, sad, and so honest. Betty Smith is a poet. This book was a memoir of her life, but her publisher said no one would want to read a true story like that, so she called it fiction. What a tragic life, yet so beautiful the way she lived it.

 

My dad gave me this First Edition book. I was so excited. He gave it to me because my daughter's name is Brooklynn and he thought it would be fun, but he didn't realize how much I truly love the story of Francie Nolan.

 

It is funny how something can be so ordinary to someone, but to another it is a treasure. I try to look at life with that outlook to make things extraordinary. 

 

There are a lot of parts of the book I love but here is one of my favorite quotes.

 

She thought: If I open this book fifty years from now, I will be again as I am now and there will be no being old for me. There's a long long time yet before fifty years. . . millions of hours of time. But one hour has already gone since I sat here . . . one hour less to live . . . one hour gone away from all the hours of my life.

 

"Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry . . . have to much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me me sincere -- deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time, so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

 

I am not perfect. I have a lot to work on. My house isn't perfectly clean, I get upset at my kids, today I am sitting still in my pjs with no makeup on, we sometimes eat frozen pizza for dinner, but I try. I love my life, I love my kids and my husband and I try every day to be happy.

I want to live my life every minute that I can.

Books

A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.

–Neil Gaiman

Since I was young I loved reading. I even made a library out of my closet in my bedroom. I used a ruler to keep the books place and made a card catalog so I could keep track of all of my books. Somewhere between Junior High and High School I wasn’t reading as much, although, I still had a love for books. I remember I wanted to start a café where people could, relax and while there, they could read my books. When my oldest was a baby I would feed her a bottle and read to her. I read her two of my childhood favorites, Charlotte’s Web and The Secret Garden.

Since then my love for reading grew. A little book called Twilight came out and I just had to read what everyone was talking about. The opinion on the series varies, in my opinion it was a fun, book of fiction that had my imagination all over the place. I couldn’t stop reading after that. I then got caught up in The Hunger Games series. I wanted to read books of all different genres.

I read for so many different reasons, to get away from reality, to capture some part of history, to laugh, cry and appreciate my life. I don’t always have time to read, I sometimes wish I was one of those people who started a book and didn’t put it down until I finished, but I’m not. I love reading, I sometimes read a book in a day, other times a week.

I have tried to get my kids to love books as well. My oldest is an avid reader and at nine years old she read 175 books in 2014. My six year old, and four year old like books, but aren’t as obsessed as I am. I will love books until the day I die, even when I cannot read. I will keep the stories in my head and always replay them over and over again.

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

- Jane Austen

Genealogy Goals

Genealogy is something I have grown to love. We have a love/hate relationship as I continue to learn the process. I often have people asking me for advice on what to do. The thing is that every tree is different. It can be really hard to know what to do, except keep looking and trying.

Maya Angelou said, “The more you know your History, the more liberated you are.”

Family history can feel time consuming, overwhelming and never ending. I have a secret, it is all of those things. It seems that just when you think you have come to the end something new pops up. One way to not stress over these things is to make small attainable goals. However, you cannot have a goal to catch up or finish your tree.

Remember to make a realistic goal, don’t set yourself up for failure. There are so many things that you can work on and be satisfied with your progress. I have listed a few ideas of goals and family history projects you can work on.

~You can choose to work on one branch of your tree and see how far you get.

~Another goal is finding stories and information about certain members of your family.

~While some want to travel to different places ancestors have lived or are buried.

~Learn how to use different genealogy programs on your computer.

~Start a journal yourself to pass on to future generations.

~Organize current genealogy papers and files.

~Attend Genealogy conferences to learn more tips and tricks.

~Revisit and assess previous research

~Choose a living family member to interview and write a biography about.

~Use Ancestry.com’s DNA source and research different places your ancestors came from.

Take a look at what you want most. For myself I would rather have less names on my tree and more pictures, and stories. I want to get to know my ancestors. You have to choose the thing you want most and work on that. Once you pick your goal, make a timeline that works with your schedule and get to work. Family history is supposed to be fun and a wonderful experience.

 

“Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.” ~Linda Hogan, Native American Writer