I never liked the saying, "Don't look back, you're not going there." I believe that so much of our present and future choices rely on successes and failures from our past. In Translating Your Past, Van Loon ushers us into a wonderful conversation of family trauma, religion, and DNA to inform our connections to the past. I was intrigued and learned so much from the chapter on how our DNA plays a role as well as our cultural and faith heritage. Having been raised in a religious cult four generations deep, I appreciated the author's look at religion and how children do not always follow in the same footsteps as their parents. In just one generation, each of us has the opportunity to divert from damaging emotional dynamics, destructive groups, and disarm trauma from continuing further down the generational line.

A great resource for our new age of genealogy, ancestry, and understanding of generational trauma.

The author speaks from her own experience, research, and insights to provide encouragement for people as they come to grips with their heritage. She explores how to seek to understand the stories we have been told about ourselves and our immediate ancestors, how we can see ourselves as part of the story of others and the people of God; genetics and how we are to understand our genetic conditions; the presence of trauma in one's own story and epigenetically and how we can live with it; dwelling in and considering that which is left untold in our genealogical considerations; the various blessings and challenges that attend to adoption; considering how our ancestors' race, religion, etc. shaped their experience and life; and finally, how we can make sense of our lives today in light of the stories we've inherited from those who have come before us.

This is an important resource for people who are grappling with what they have learned and are learning about themselves and their family story. Very relevant and informative.

Ground breaking blue print for gathering and discerning the facts of our individual ancestry, genetics, generational trauma events that help us understand ourselves and our families more clearly. Furthermore, the author uses Hebrew and New Testament truths to show that many of the issues we are experiencing have been experienced since the beginning of time! This lends a deeper understanding of our family dynamics. Such a unique approach not found anywhere. Readers also benefit from the extensive research, questions following each chapter and tips to get started on your own search. This book also deals with families formed through adoption was spot on and thorough. Take this book with you on your ancestry journey!

Personally, this was a profound read as I just found a birth brother through ancestry testing. It was greatly comforting, as I had prayed for him fearing he had inherited our family’s severe mental illness. He had not, and was greatly loved by his adopted parents. He got a kick out of being raised Jewish when his birth father was a confirmed Catholic.