Family, Family History, and Family Photos

 

If any of you have stopped by my blog before, you've probably noticed that I write a lot about my family.  Yes, I count my family as among my greatest blessings, and I do have A LOT of family!!  And I miss them!! Many live out of state, and of course we haven't gathered in person with almost any of them during this past year.  We keep in touch via  phone and text and email and Facebook, etc, but I wish I could do more with them and for them.   If any of you are familiar with "The Work and The Glory" book series, you might remember several times in the books when different families in the Steed extended family were able to build and/or live in homes near each other on "Steed Row".  Sometimes they were crowded together in sharing a home or shelter, but they were often close to one another to support and help each other.  That type of living, with all of my children and/or other relatives living close to one another might not sound too inviting too some, but to me that would be pretty close to my idea of Heaven!

First of course is my DH (Dear Husband) of nearly 38 years, my two DS's (Dear Sons), four DD's (Dear Daughters), two DDIL's (Dear Daughters in Law) and 3 going on 4 DGC (Dear Grand Children).   My wonderful angel parents, along with my in-laws, three sisters, two brothers, and their families . . . and don't even get me started on all of my cousins.  We don't always agree on everything, but I know that they are all there for me, and we all try to support each other in whatever ways we can.

Then of course there is the church family, the neighborhood family, the work family . . . and all of the family that has passed on before, sacrificed, worked and lived in such a way that my family and I can enjoy the blessings of freedom, prosperity and education that we have today.   We aren't millionaires or anything like that, but I must admit that we have so much more than any generation in history.   I love learning about my family and our history.  One of my favorite places to learn more is the Family Search website, where thanks to many wonderful extended family members I can find new photos, stories, histories, and other memories almost every single day.  If you haven't created a free account, why don't you try it out?  Who knows, you might find some family that you never knew about!  Ever wonder where you got your good looks?  You can even compare your own photo to photos of your ancestors and see who you most look like.  My most recently submitted photo says that I look most like my dear mother:

And next most like her mother:

Other photos tell me that I look most like my grandmother's mother:

Personally, I'm very happy to claim them all, and hope that they feel at least somewhat the same way about me.  

Here are a two other fun photos of some of my wonderful extended family that back in the day when I was just a toddler:

With my maternal grandparents and family (I'm third from the right on the front row)

With my paternal grandparents and family (I think I'm fifth from the left on the front row here -- with the sun in my eyes!)

Going through old photos is addicting for me!