Great ideas! I really need more pictures (and stories) about my ancestors.

Awww, that is beautiful Becca!! What a powerful story and a great one to share with your children!

We can also learn from their strengths. Last Christmas my mom gave us all a book she wrote about a man who had touched the lives of her father and his brother. There were four of them and they were very poor. Whenever they had a penny they’d go to the general store and buy stick candy, because it was 3 for a penny. This man would always give them an extra stick. You know, something so simple – but it really meant a lot to them. In our family this man’s name is repeated with reverence and respect. He couldn’t have known how an extra stick of candy went on to influence them. But it did. My grandpa and, to a much larger extent, his brothers all went on to be quite successful, financially. And they all took to heart the example of that shop-keeper. After that generation died several people approached my mother to tell how, through the years, they’d found themselves in trouble – the crops had failed, there was an illness, or an unexpected tax bill – and somehow her uncles or her father would hear about it, and suddenly there would be a check in the mail to cover their expenses – not a loan, but a gift; and for substantial amounts of money, generally $10,000. And I can’t say it’s all because this ne man would give them an extra stick of candy; but I think that was a big part of it. An extra stick of candy, a few times a year – and that grew into a blessing for an entire district. Now that’s a story that is worth repeating to my children.