* he said/she said- who's defining genealogy?

Explaining “genealogy” and my research to those who have no background or experience with the subject has been a difficult task. How can I effectively communicate the impact of learning and preserving your ancestors legacies? There is no one global definition for "family", so how can we expect a common understanding of our researching it? In Genealogy, Ancestry, Heritage- What does it all mean? I suggested that the ambiguity surrounding the definition of genealogy has negatively impacted the assimilation and cohesive growth of the discipline. Where is the genealogy rule book? What are the accepted guidelines and definitions for family history?

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* I've been ancestor approved!

The Ancestor Approved Award was started by Leslie Ann (Ancestors Live Here) to show appreciation of bloggers sharing interesting - helpful - fun content. Jennifer (The Erudite Geneagloist) has passed on the Ancestor Approved Award to me! Thank you so much for the recognition. When given the nod you are asked to share 10 things you have learned about your ancestors that have surprised, humbled, or enlightened you. I thought it would be easy to make the list, but I was surprised how competitive I made it for my ancestor's stories! Here are a few of my moments.

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* celebrating presidential ancestry: Martin Van Buren

In honor of President's Day, I'm gonna brag about Jalena's Presidential ancestry. President Martin Van Buren is her GGGGG Grandfather! President Van BurenI've known Jalena forever. It all started in 7th grade science class with my purple plastic shirt and Jalena's plastic leopard bag. We've been best friends ever since. Jalena's family has many famous ancestors and we started researching her family hisotory to find out more! I was very interested to learn that her family was somehow related to President Martin Van Buren. Jalena's dad is Stuyvesant Fish Morris V, with a name like that there is obviously a story. There were 3 prominent families; the Stuyvesant's, the Fish's, and the Morris's, all wanted their names passed down to future generations. The name Stuyvesant Fish Morris was born to the son of Dr. Lewis Richard Morris and Elizabeth Stuyvesant Fish (Granddaughter of Peter Stuyvesant) in 1843.

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* writing your family history- benefits and challenges

I've been traveling this week so I haven't had much time to post, but I wanted to share a few words about my experiences so far with the Armchair Genealogist's Family History Writing Challenge. This was a great idea, a challenge for genealogy bloggers and genealogy enthusiasts to write at least 250 words a day, EVERY day during the month of February. I enthusiastically volunteered as soon as I read about the challenge. But I must admit, I have not been able to keep up with the daily aspect of this challenge. I can at least say I have been THINKING about writing every day! :) Even if I didn't get to actually write I have been brainstorming and developing story lines in my head and jotting down notes.

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