A young lady, just graduated last year from the University of Kentucky, a former Sonlight Curriculum student, wrote a beautiful remembrance of her grandparents on her mother’s side.

I asked her for permission to reprint a portion of it here. I thought it illustrated so well the kinds of things those of us on the giving end might want to consider: What do we do that could create unique and memorable family traditions? How would we like to be remembered?

Read this story and tell me how it inspires you: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve touched on it before. I have no question I will be writing about it again. This, perhaps more than anything else, is what distinguishes legacy planning from estate planning: the content of what some call the “ethical will,” and others refer to as a person’s “testament” or “legacy letter” or what our second legacy planner called the “family wealth letter of intent.” It’s the device–or collection of devices: written, audio, video, or other–that conveys to members of future generations the special messages the estate plan donor wants them to know and remember, the stories of the people and events that shaped their lives, the special life lessons, the heart of the donor. Read the rest of this entry »

My Pandora “Sweet Vocal” station introduced me to Jessica Andrews and “Who I Am,” her biggest hit.*

I liked the song when I first heard it, and gave it a “Thumbs Up” . . . which guaranteed I would hear it again.

As I listened to it for about the third time yesterday, it struck me how wholesome it is to have the kind of self-confidence she enjoys because of the knowledge of her heritage: Read the rest of this entry »

David Wills, president of The National Christian Foundation, commented, “The average age at which a woman becomes a widow in the United States today is 57 years old.”

If there is any truth to that assertion (and the U.S. Census Bureau says it is (see Table 5, p. 11, on the referenced document); the age at widowhood for first marriages is 57.8, to be exact!), his follow-up comment deserves careful consideration: “Gentlemen, you have to redefine progeny. Progeny, for you, is your wife, your children, and your grandchildren.” And the implication: Read the rest of this entry »

ADDENDUM as of 2/5/09: While I am still excited about the materials I discuss in this post, it is with great sadness that I feel compelled to note I have discovered there are reasons for greater caution with respect to Mr. Phillips than I was aware of at the time I first wrote this post. I call your attention to the series of articles at Ministry Watchman and Jen’s Gems. There is much more, if you care to search. I believe these sources should provide warning enough.

–A continuation from Keeping the long view.

The word toledoth is the Hebrew word translated as “generations” in such passages as Genesis 2:4, 5:1, etc., in the King James version of the Bible:

• “These [are] the generations of the heavens . . . “
• “This [is] the book of the generations of Adam . . . “
• “These [are] the generations of Noah . . .”
• “Now “These [are] the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth . . . “
• And so forth.

According to Wilhelm Gesenius’s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testamament Scriptures, toledoth means “genealogy” or “pedigree” or, “As a very large portion of the most ancient Oriental history consists of genealogies, it means . . . history.”

Strangely, Doug Phillips uses this Hebrew word as a key component in the title of his second set of presentations concerning a 200-Year Plan, two presentations he described as “The Family Toledoth.”

He mentions that toledoth means “generations,” but then, Read the rest of this entry »

Our family enjoyed the birth of two grandbabies–our fourth and fifth–in the last two weeks: one, by emergency c-section, on Sunday, July 27th; the other last Friday, on 08-08-08. The first is named Natalia Mae; the second, Jonadab Asaph. Both of them inherited a family name different from our own since they were born to our daughters.

With the birth of Jonadab Asaph–brother to Jadon Hessels, Isaiah Jude, and Abraham Josiah–we were confronted once again, in a rather forceful manner, with the significance of a personal–or first–name.

I think a lot of families are fairly aware of how their family names are carried down generation to generation. And some of us even think about our family names once in a while. We don’t want to bring shame on our family name. Some of us even want to make our family name somewhat famous.

But what of our personal names? Read the rest of this entry »