The Family is Like a Book

The organizing of Mark & Cyndy Weiss family photos begins.

I am in the process of digitizing my family photos.  It is a long process.

First I must sort and find the best of the the thousands of 4 x 6 photos taken over 40 years that I have stored in oversized plastic boxes.  Then I need to prepare for scanning and labeling each photos.   Will I have enough hard drive space?

I have no idea how long it will take me to scan them all, but my goal is to have this done by Christmas 2015.   Then I will need to buy a special drive and prepare a Millenial disk that will store the photos in a more permanent way.

(Check out this video about the M-Disc that is supposed to last 1000 years!  http://youtu.be/bQENbP8npsw)
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Then I burn or print the M-disks and distribute them family members.  Finally I upload to the "cloud" and then this project is "completed"....  

What kind of record will this be? Is it a photo book, a memory book, a scrapbook, a Book of Remembrance? 

I just read this poem that I thought was a good one:

The family is like a book –
The children are the leaves,
The parents are the covers
That protecting beauty gives.

At first the pages of the book
Are blank and purely fair,
But Time soon writeth memories
And painteth pictures there.

Love is the little golden clasp
That bindeth up the trust;
Oh, break it not, lest all the leaves
Should scatter and be lost!

                                                     ~Anonymous

The beautiful cover represents parents, the pages are like the children, and the clasp symbolizes love.

Is this 2015 photo project to become my "Book of Remembrance"?  Will it help me remember happy times when I am older and my own memory is fading?  Is this momento or record really going to last?  What kind of reminder will this photo collection be to my great grand-children?  Will the recounting of the story that goes with the image be different from what actually happened? 

During my lifetime I have seen photo images go from black and white prints, to color photos, to poloroid photos, to slides, and now digital photos.  They all have to be organized someway.  Then there are family videos: VHS,  small video cassettes and then digital videos.  Whether I choose to use iPhoto, Photoshop or Lightroom to organize this project, I will probably see my photos migrate to a new form before I "cross over".   What form will they take into the future?  Will our posterity know who we are by the photos we preserve? 

Just as computers with spinning parts will one day "spin no more", I know that my days are numbered upon the earth.   I guess one way to "lengthen our days" is to create BOOKS in all forms.  

Ultimately, I desire to create a Book of Remembrance that will be acceptable to the Lord.  I don't think it has much of anything to do with photos, but a lot to do with the love that is written on my heart and reflected by images in those photos I am trying to preserve.  

Love is the little golden clasp
That bindeth up the trust;
Oh, break it not, lest all the leaves

Should scatter and be lost!

Bonus =====

We read about a Book of Remembrance in Malachi  (The following is from the website:  http://www.hissheep.org/special/hebrew/the_book_of_remembrance.html ):

Malachi 3:16 “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” 

This word remembrance is from a Hebrew word (zikrown, zik-rone') that means to remember a day or something in the form of a writing. Strong gives us: “a memento (or memorable thing, day or writing):--memorial, record.” It refers to something that had been recorded or written down as a reminder. 

The root word for the Hebrew word for remembrance (zikrown, zik-rone') is (zakar, zaw-kar') which means to mark something, also to mark, to remind, recount, mention, make to be remembered. 

So in its setting, it says that God is marking His people in heaven, placing their name in a special book to insure favor and a blessing upon them in the future. He marks their name in the book of remembrance to mark people for a blessing in the future.

The book of remembrance is a book of deliverance also. We see that in Malachi 3:16-18 that God delivers the people whose names are in it as a Father delivers His son. 

“Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 

And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” 

God calls His people ‘jewels’, those that discern between the righteous and wicked, between those who serve God and those who don’t.
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Pushing and Pulling Through Life

Today in our Sunday School Class we spoke of the changes in the traditional family.  There is a battle over the definition of the family.  As I ponder the changes during the last forty years, I am thinking that it is "no small thing" to raise a righteous family in these times.

Gratefully, I do feel surrounded by those who care for me and my family.  There are many around me I claim as my "support network" and I am so thankful for their influence.  I am also aware of the help I have received in raising my family from the other side of the veil.

 I think often of the righteous women in my life.  My own mother, my grandmothers, my great-grandmothers and my great great grandmothers who all were faithful God-fearing believers.
Did they pray for their posterity as I pray for mine?

 Eliza R. Snow was close friends with "Mother Chase".  This quote was one of her most famous and indicative of her resilient, powerful spirit.  These two friends rejoiced together in the richness of the 'testimony of Jesus' they shared.  I think of their friendship and rejoice in my own friends who lift me the way Eliza and Phebe lifted each other on the Pioneer trail in 1847.

From reading the diary of Josephine Streeper, I know she "looked to heaven" as she struggled with her earthly challenges.  The loss of many of her infant children, the trial of living as "second wife", the challenges in educating, providing for, and organizing a large family (15 children!) were just some of her trials.

It wasn't always easy dealing with her enterprising but exasperating husband, George O. Chase.    When George, was divorced from his first wife, Emily Hyde, Josephine didn't complain in her diary about the negative impact of the large alimony payments now being made to her former "sister wife's" family.  She looked to heaven to bear her grievous trials.

As a modern apostle Neil L. Andersen taught, there are "Spiritual Whirlwinds"-tests, temptations, distractions, and challenges-but there is also a Rock under our feet solid and secure (Helaman 5:12).  Christ will not leave us comfortless.  He will come to us. (John 14:18).  He will make my spirit strong and capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life.  (Ensign, May 2014, pp. 18-21.)

 There are sacred promises that have been given to us about our posterity.  We hold fast to our faith that the Lord will keep His promises.  James and Maxine Owen had similar promises about their nine children.  The truth is "Families can be together forever!"

Like our faithful ancestors, we simply go forward with "faith in every footstep".   Our path is sure and we just keep moving forward.  We remember and honor Henry Clegg who buried his young wife and infant child in Kansas and then took the hand of his three year old son and kept walking.   We remember and honor Thomas and Sarah Moulton who were promised safe arrival in Zion and survived the trek in the "ill-fated" Willie Handcart Company with their eight children.  It is not a small thing to walk through all the challenges of earth life.  These faithful ancestors are my inspiration.   

As parents, we are leading a family handcart "company" of 11 amazing children and soon to be 15 grandchildren on the trail of life.  We have been given a priceless heritage of hope.  If we let Christ be the leader of our family, things will work out.  We will leave an inheritance of hope to those who choose to follow our example.

"In the short run, there will be troubles and Satan will roar. And there are things to wait for patiently, in faith, knowing that the Lord acts in His own time and in His own way."  (See Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, May 2014, pp. 22)

We just keep trekking. 

Life's Lessons Learned from the Stories of My Ancestors

I have a journal where I have recorded "Lessons Learned from the Lives of My Ancestors".  I have decided to turn some of those entries into a blog.

John Newton headstone.

As I have researched my family history I have observed in my ancestors strong individuals who were "PRESERVED, RESTORED, PARDONED, and APPOINTED by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."  (These words were carved on the tombstone of John Newton, author of Amazing Grace.)

"Preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed."

I want to share some of these amazing stories with my family.

These entries will reflect my deep respect for their character, my gratitude for the legacy they have gifted to me, insights into their challenges, and how the stories of their struggles have strengthened me.



Bruce Feiler wrote of "The Stories That Bind Us" (NY Times March 15, 2013) and concluded, "Bottom line:  If you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family's positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come."  

Thus begins my story project, "Ancestor Story Time."