I finally finished my program at BYU-I for Family History back in July 2024 and for the last two years I have been focused on mostly that and creating genealogy conferences. That is why you haven’t seen a new post in a while. There were times that I wanted to quit but somehow I managed to stick with it. I believe that my hope in Christ provided me with a vision of a brighter future and the strength to persevere. The last class had 5 projects, 4 of which were full on research reports with citations and research log and documents attached. To get my bachelor’s degree I don’t think my thesis was over 15 pages and I had 14 weeks to do it. I also did a website alongside that report. The last project for the family search program ended up being a total of 163 pages long, I did that in two weeks. As you can see from that description there was a reason why I wanted to quit. Writing out all the research coherently took me what seemed like forever especially those citations. It was difficult to maintain my optimism. Somewhere along the way I found out just how difficult it was to try to make a living off this kind of work. I’m not saying it is impossible however, it isn’t exactly easy. You are trying to write the stories of people who lived long ago by using the documents that were left behind. When you are fully committed to doing this and then you find out in the last class that this would not be as lucrative as you thought it really lent itself to downright despair. I like to think I’m not a quitter however, I’ve quit a lot of things at certain times. I know that the education I gained can be used in other areas. Everything that I have learned can be used in other areas. If I were not a believer this would have lead me to be angry or upset and wanting to just completely give up. With the hope that Christ gives me I will just grow where I am planted. Just like this flower, that is not in the best or most fertile ground. The flower has power to overcome it’s poor spot of ground and thrive.