Family…a Link to Our Past, a Bridge to Our Future…

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”  --Alex Haley

I’ve always been drawn to my ancestors…those who came before me, those who made me who I am…

I’m fortunate to belong to a family that appreciates these things, and from the time I was a young girl, I’ve been told the stories, showed the pictures, taken to the places where the stories and pictures took place…a wonderful childhood…

“The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.”  --Thomas Jefferson

My blog experience so far has been an extension of this great love of mine…I love to create vintage-style cards and be reminded by the images I use of my family…those here now, and those long gone.  To me, it’s another way to preserve these memories, and share them with my family…and you.

Today, I made a card with one of my favorite old family photos…

This is the Ostlund Family, taken about 1906.  My grandfather, Dow, would be born 6 years later…I love this sweet family scene.

My great-grandmother, Anna Brandley Ostlund, the mother in the photo,  is very dear to me.  I was so grateful to have been able to know her…

She was born in 1882 and had such an amazing and full life.  I love these early photos of her…

She was born to Johann Theodore and Marie Elizabeth Braendli, both Swiss immigrants, well-skilled in the  baking arts.  They ran a bakery in a small town in southern Utah when Anna was a girl.

                             {Anna & her brothers}

In her life, she would live in a chicken coop for a time due to hard family circumstances while her father was far away in Europe (her mother wouldn’t write and tell him…didn’t want to worry him!), lose her mother when she was still a young girl, leave the west for a new home in Canada when she was 16, run a frontier general store…

Marry a handsome barrister, Hjaldermar, of Swedish parentage…become a wonderfully loving mother and grandmother…and end her life in Arizona, surrounded by family who loved her.

Many more stories for other days…

“Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.”—Gail Lemet Buckley

When I look at Anna,

I see my the woman who’s eyes and nose would instantly turn red with emotion whenever we walked into her home for a visit…I see my mother who resembles her so much (my mother has her nose and eyes, which turn red the same way when she’s emotional…I love that!)…I see my youngest daughter, Anna, who is named for her.

Thank-you for letting me share my feelings and more of my family memories with you…

One more card before I go today…

“Together is a wonderful place to be”, it says…perfect, isn’t it?  This beautiful image is from Crafty Secrets’ “Family” Vintage Postcard Kit.  Instead of making a wall hanging out of it, I decided to place it on a card…maybe this will go to my Mom (so many of my cards end up with Mom!)

Some lace, grosgrain & gingham ribbon, glitter (of course!), Dazzling Diamonds, and that’s about it!

Hope you’re having a beautiful weekend, and I’ll see you back here soon with something new…

***Just wanted to add a bit about our on-going theme on modesty...you can read what other Mothers have to say by going here....

I have so many thoughts on the subject that I'll be sharing with you in weeks to come.  To go along with my earlier words on this post, when I look at the image of my great-grandmother....modesty personified. 

There is something so inwardly--and outwardly--beautiful about a modest woman.  There is a glow.  Confidence that she knows herself and what she's meant to be.  There is no need to go along with the trends of the day, to conform to what society tells her is "normal".

This is the kind of beauty I want my daughters to possess.  Classic beauty.

Julie