Have you ever had a month where inspiration just pours in? That has been my February. I spent last week at Roots Tech, the largest family history conference in the world. I filled up a notebook with ideas that I want to start in my home. Best part – my seven year old filled up some pages as well. Here’s a little sample of what she wrote while Olympian Noelle Pikus Pace and Al Fox Carraway were speaking:
“Get a 3 subject notebook. Write every day. Make three goals every day. I am so glad I am here. I love indexing. Al Fox’s baby is cute.”
That’s the good stuff my friends. This week I have been thinking, how can I savor all this good stuff and help my daughter to do the same? How can I apply it to my life and to my family? I don’t want to let my inspiration be forgotten in a notebook. So here’s the plan. Every Friday, I will be blogging about how my family is moving forward with our goals and dreams. I invite you to do the same. If you attended Roots Tech and are moving forward with what you learned there, please leave a comment or link up what you posted about it. If you didn’t attend, no problem. I want to hear about anything that moves your family forward. Do you have a weekly game night – fantastic! Is there a book you read that changed the way you are parenting – do tell!
My posts for the next few weeks will be all the juicy tidbits from Roots Tech that I am applying in my home.
My biggest takeaway –
We are all connected.
I sat down with journalist and keynote speaker AJ Jacobs and asked him what he hoped to learn from his Global Family Reunion project, a project that seeks out how each of us is related to each other by blood or marriage. The answer,
Here’s the fun part. Because of Roots Tech, I discovered that I am not so distantly related to two bloggers I follow. When I got home I was pleasantly surprised that the visual aids I had been planning to use for sharing time had been made by my new found distant cousin – Allison Kimball (Check out her beautiful art work here in this family history unit and here for these cute family history badges.)
Photos like the one above sparked conversations with my mom’s cousins and my second cousins on Facebook and Instagram. All of those women in the picture graduated from BYU in the 1920s and 1930s with their degrees. I love that that their passion for education has trickled down through the generations. Having these discussions and making these connections made my life just a little bit richer this week.
So that is a quick sneak peek at how attending Roots Tech is helping my family move forward. Making connections with family members and extended family members brings an extra bit of happiness into my life. As AJ Jacobs commented, “It makes us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.”
How is your family moving forward this week? Did you attend Roots Tech? What was your favorite part and how are you applying it in your family? If you have a blog post about how your family is moving forward this week, post it below! Or leave a comment!
10 Comments
Pat or Myrt as they call me · February 23, 2015 at 2:25 am
You picked my favorite take away phrase by AJ Jacobs. We can be kinder when we realize we are all related. We can.
Watching you participate in RootsTech interviews opened my eyes to the fact that you are related on many levels. We blog, we care about our children, and though I’m a grandma, I want to know what you think about the great possibilities life offers, and how we can awaken that knowledge in the younger generation.
I ❤ the idea of family game night. To that I’m adding telling the silly, weird, serious and humdrum stories of our ancestors. I’m starting something new in that regard.
I’ve created a private YouTube Channel where I’m telling little episodes of my life, things my father and grandmothers told me. Words of wisdom, stories from their childhoods. That sort of thing. And I thought I might record reading a book or two. Something fun like Charlotte’s Web (some pig). How I would have my eye teeth to hear the voices of my parents and grandparents once more.
It remains for me to be the kind of fun, funky, silly, serious, loving person that my descendents will want to hear my voice again.
Keep writing. You have much to share.
Taralyn · February 23, 2015 at 9:44 am
Oh Dear Myrtle – I so enjoyed meeting you! This conference reconnected me to everything I love about family history. When I was a teenager, I used to do water aerobics with my grandmother and her sisters in my great-aunt’s pool sometimes during the summer. They would share story after story about their time growing up and their aunts and uncles. I still remember them talking about how nice and dainty their Aunt Thea’s ankles were :). Your youtube channel idea is pure genius. I have a CD with my grandmother telling stories that I treasure. Video is that much better. Goodness, now you’ve got me tearing up remembering all these wonderful things! Thanks for commenting and for all your kindness during the conference. Looking forward to the next Roots Tech with you!
AllisonK · February 23, 2015 at 7:18 am
It was so nice to meet you and learn that we are cousins!!! You have a wonderful blog and I can’t wait to get to know you better.
Taralyn · February 23, 2015 at 9:38 am
The pleasure is all mine! I think we need a pic together at the Heber C. Kimball house at the next reunion!
Yaitza · February 23, 2015 at 9:28 am
I first joined Facebook to connect with childhood friends and to feel closer to my family since I live so far away from them… Glad you got to experience a blast from the past and a bit of history of you family ;o)
Suz @ 2 cats & chloe · February 23, 2015 at 9:31 am
That’s so crazy that you found out you were distantly related to two bloggers you follow!! Crazy!!
Tori · February 23, 2015 at 9:39 am
I guess you could say I’m in the baby stages of establishing family since I’m getting married in two and a half months! This will be an amazing journey full of ups and downs, but I hope that my soon-to-be husband and me can get some good foundation built so when we do have kids, we don’t lose sight of our goals and dreams.
Chelley @ AisForAdelaide · February 25, 2015 at 8:49 pm
This is awesome. My mom and brothers are adopted, but know their biological families. I think knowing more and piecing together family is some of the most fun one can have!
Michelle S. · March 1, 2015 at 10:21 pm
It really is amazing the connections we can find in our family tree. Glad you had such a positive experience. =)
Family History Bingo - Keep Moving Forward With Me · August 10, 2015 at 7:08 am
[…] pouring over pedigrees and journals since elementary school. Attending Roots Tech earlier this year fueled my family history fire and since then it’s been my goal to get my family just as excited about exploring their […]