Sunday in Raleigh

This morning when I attended church, I had a very pleasant surprise in store for me. The pastor actually used a genealogical example near the beginning of his sermon. He talked about an "uncle" the family did not know about until 1989. (I think he was actually a great-great uncle.) The uncle had moved away from the family at an early age, ended up across the country in California, and taken the name of his adoptive family. He actually remembered some of the family and wondered about them from time to time. He was able to reach some of them, and they set up a reunion. The family resemblance was there when they got together, and people who studied his facial features knew he was who he claimed to be. The pastor related this to the story of Joseph and his brothers and the reunion which took place in Egypt years after the brothers had sold Joseph into slavery. It had been so long since they had seen each other that they must have studied Joseph's face to make sure he was really who he claimed to be. I thought it was a great warm-up for this week's National Genealogical Society Conference. Maybe I should be studying faces at NGS to see if I can find a long-lost cousin or uncle!

Tomorrow (Monday) I'll be stuffing tote bags, and Tuesday afternoon I'll be working the late afternoon registration slot. I hope to meet many of you at NGS this week.