Looking to the Past

This past week has brought an interesting flow of emotions and turned my thoughts to the contemplation of things that really matter. Monday, we found out that my cousin's 2-year-old daughter had cancer. It's been amazing to see how my mom's family has banded together to help my cousin and her family and how much support people from all over are giving them. I've been amazed at the faith my cousin and her husband have shown and how willing the whole family has been to drop what they were doing to help out. That's one thing I've learned from my mom's side of the family- it doesn't matter what you're doing or how busy you are, you do everything you can to be there to help someone out, whether it's help out at a wedding or watch someone's kids. I've sort of felt there wasn't anything for me to do to help my cousin's family, but I was able to gather some BYU t-shirts from my office to give to them. It's not much, but with prayer and my small donation I hope it helps.

Wednesday, Jeff and I went to "The Diary of Anne Frank" at BYU. A girl from my high school played Anne, which was cool. :) She's a great actress! She played it perfectly. I'm not sure why, but I love World War II things. Going to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. and the concentration camp in Dachau are two experiences that I'll never forget. And I'll always remember walking along the white beaches of Normandy and reading the names of American soldiers on thousands of crosses laid out in the nearby emerald fields.

When we went to Dachau, Dad told us about the Jewish man who helped so many people live through the horrible concentration camp by giving them a purpose. I loved walking through the Jewish memorial on the far side of the barracks foundations. It's a narrow path that slopes into the ground. When you reach the end, you can look up and see a hole in the ceiling where light drifts through. It's so simple, but so powerful. You can't see the light by looking around you. You must look up.

Oahu Beach in Normandy gives the same powerful message. So many Americans died there to free a people whose land had been invaded by armies backed by a greedy and evil man. They didn't share a language. They didn't know these people. But they gave their lives to free them and to keep the cause of liberty alive in Europe. It's a sad place, this place where so many were killed. But it's also a happy place, a tribute to their love of country and freedom.

I thought of all these things as we watched the play. The Franks were just a normal family wanting a normal life. They didn't do anything to angry anyone, and yet they were forced to live in a tiny attic for two years to escape a horrible fate. Then, just before Europe was liberated, they were discovered and sent into a nightmare from which only Mr. Frank would escape. It's an extremely depressing story, but you realize that through it all Anne was able to remain optimistic. She still believed in the goodness of human beings. She hoped for a bright future, despite her suffering. And she's left that legacy to all.

One of my favorite parts was the end, when I looked over a Jeff and saw tears streaming down his face. (I almost cried, the play was definitely a tear-jerker, but I held it in.) The last time I saw him cry was when we watched "Life is Beautiful" (another Holocaust movie!) when we were dating. It's so cute when he cries. :) And when he realizes I've noticed him crying, then he gets this cute embarrassed smile and tries to stop crying as fast as he can like a little boy. *sigh* Me gusta. :) I've only seen him cry three times ever, so it was a great little end to the night. :)

This week I've also been thinking a lot about family history. Monday for FHE we looked through Jeff's pedigree chart on new.familysearch.org and looked up more information on the clans his family came from. As anyone who knows me well knows, I love Scotland and am very proud of my Scottish ancestry (which is why I kept my maiden name as a second middle name instead of just giving it up for my new last name). It was fun to see Jeff get excited about learning about his Scottish heritage. We're going to the Scottish Festival in a couple weeks because of it. :)

The other thing Jeff found was a bunch of crazy names from his Scottish ancestors he wants to name our kids. Thankfully my brother-in-law called the name "Farquhar" a while ago, or our first son might have been named that! : P Jeff still has a couple more crazy ones up his sleeves. Unfortunately, I have a long list of French names I want to name our girls, so I might have to compromise on the sons' names....otherwise I'd put my foot down now. Sigh.... I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Maybe we won't have any sons, and we won't have to. lol.

I found the coolest thing when searching my family history the other night! Back story first: when my dad went to Scotland when I was 5, he brought back the story of Robert the Bruce and the Spider, one of the famous Scottish legends. He told my sister and me that story as a bedtime story. The next night, my sister and I asked for the next part of the story, so he made up a story. He added in characters like Fair ladies Rachel, Lindsay and Sarah, Captain McKay, etc. (I feel like I may have talked about this in another blog post... Oh, well. Recap.) These were our favorite stories. I still remember them and some of the phrases Dad came up with and used whenever he told one of the stories.

Anyway, the other night as I was clicking through my ancestry, I found out that Robert the Bruce was one of my ancestors! Isn't that so cool? That means I've got French and Scottish royal blood. :) Two of my favorite countries, and those castles I've toured could have been mine if one of my ancestors had been born before their older sibling....

Today we had a lesson on family history during Priesthood/Relief Society. It made me want to do more. I'm pretty sure there are some Irish ancestors on my dad's side of the family that haven't been linked to us yet.... I want to find them and keep the linking going. :)

Jeff and I came up with a new goal. We're going to start indexing for at least half an hour on Sundays. I think it will be fun! It's actually really easy and not very time-consuming, and it helps so many people!