Sunday Best!

DSC03046

“May we stand together as pioneers of today, always seeking the help of God to guide our families. May we learn from the past the importance of honoring our parents, grandparents, and forefathers, and may we find the strength and courage to face our future as they faced theirs.” -M. Russell Ballard

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Double-Bladed Scarf Joint!

I’ve talked about this before, but I just thought about it again today and wanted to share. Many years ago our family took the trip of a lifetime. We traveled back to Boston where my in-laws were serving an LDS mission. We started in Fall River, Massachusetts and drove all over! We went to Boston, Plymouth, New Bedford, New Port, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., then drove all the way back up to Fall River. We had a ball!!

One highlight of the trip for me was seeing my ancestor Jonathan Fairbanks home in Dedham, Massachusetts. It is the oldest framed home in the United States, built in 1637/38. While on a tour of the Fairbanks home the tour guide would point out characteristics of the home and architecture. She showed us a place in the exposed frame where you could see the double-bladed scarf joint. It was interesting to see the construction of such a strong joint. That home is around 375 years old!! Wow! That is some good craftsmanship. Those people weren’t messing around.

Jonathan_Fairbanks_house

The Fairbanks home is a monument to things that last!

Below is a picture of a double-bladed scarf joint. Notice the wood pegs two on the bottom and there are two on the top going through all three sections of wood. Very strong.

double-bladed scarf joint

 

So today when I was thinking about my ancestor Jonathan Fairbanks and the double-bladed scarf joint I was thinking about the connection we have. He is inspirational to me. Because of him and many others I am here. I love him and someday want to meet him. I cannot explain that connection it’s just there. At least not in a way the world in general would understand. I personally believe it is the spirit of Elijah. I love all of my ancestors. I long to know all of their stories. Someday, I believe I will.

I also have that connection with my immediate family. I believe that connection is very real. If I do all I can to strengthen my family we will be strong like the double-bladed scarf joint. We will last forever. I wish all families could be like the double-bladed scarf joint. I have noticed through the years how the family is changing. Divorce is rampant, out of wedlock pregnancies are very common. I think some children are confused at who their family really is. In a family where there are many issues that challenge the families connections, I think if they knew their ancestors are cheering for their success. If they knew that people who love them made sacrifices, oh so great to help them to have the privileges they take for granted, they might try a little harder to work for the strong connection and family I’m talking about. A family that works together for the success of everyone. I believe that is one of the blessings of doing family history work. We want our ancestors to be proud of us and the sacrifices that we make to be our best, just like we are proud of them for the sacrifices they made to be their best. Will we meet them someday and have them say, “What did you do with your life?” How wonderful it will be if we can say that we did everything we could to strengthen our family and make a connection that would last forever.

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

He’s a Great Mate!!

Today is me and my darlins 28th anniversary!!!

I know, amazing right?

I can’t believe how the years have flown by.

So this is what we did today. I got up at 7:00 am to greet daycare kids at the door. My sweety got up a little later. We said, “Happy Anniversary!!” to each other and gave some smooches and hugs. Then my darlin got ready for work, he had to be there at 11:00 am. Some more daycare kids came. They played with play doh, and I did the dishes. A few times through out the day, I sent my sweety a text saying, “Oxxooxoxoxoxoxoxo!” Then a little while later I would get a text saying, “Ooxxoooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxo!” Back and forth we went. Then at 5:05 he called and said he was on his way home. He arrived home, and the daycare kids left. We dressed up nice and stopped at Wendy’s drive-thru and ordered a few things on the dollar menu. We then drove to a meeting at the church. We were there for about an hour and a half. After leaving our daughter called to say, “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you!” We met her at the house she is dog sitting at, to give her a hug and kiss. We then rushed home to get my darling sweet hubsy to bed, because tomorrow he has to be to work at 5:00 am.

It was a nice day. Was it the best way to spend your 28th anniversary? Probably not, but that’s ok. I have learned through the years not to get to caught up in expectations. I used to, but not any more. Life is awesome! Every minute of it has something to be thankful for. I have had the opportunity to love and be loved by my best friend. I wouldn’t trade that for anything. He is my everything. We celebrate our love and marriage everyday!

_MG_9409

I love you, my wonderful and amazing darlinest of sweethearts!!

Out on a WIM #12

IMG_9315
#12
Hello my wonderful family!!!!!!!!!!! How are you all? It sounds like you are doing so great! As am I! I love it here so much! I neva wanna leave!!!!!!!!! (That is a lie actually) But I really do love being a missionary. I love hearing from you all it brightens my day! OH YEAH DAD HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! I thought about you for a few whole minutes yesterday!!!! Happy happy Birthday Daddy I love you so so much! Thanks for being the best dad in the world 🙂 I can’t believe how hard working you are and how service oriented you are. You’re amazing! Thanks for your example to me.
 This week has been crazy… On Tuesday after District Meeting I went on exchange with Sister C. She is the new Sister Trainer Leader! It went really well. She is a great teacher 🙂 It was fun to kind of see how other people do things. We also didn’t have a car so we were walking all day. The experience definitely made me appreciate our car and the way we do things here. I felt so grateful when I came back to be where I am now. I love my companion, Sister T. I love the way we teach and the unity that we have. I love the people we teach. I now have like a new perspective. Awwww…. 🙂 It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have been struggling with getting people to church. On sunday we ended up driving to our investigators house just to tell him that we found a ride for him because his phone was not working! (sorry this email is all over the place)
 I had wonderful experience this week: So Sister T. and I have been teaching this chap named G. and we went to his house and he was not home……………………..…. That’s it. JUST KIDDING. So then we went and started talking to his grandma whom we have taught once upon a time. So we start talking to her and she starts saying how the Book of Mormon is confusing. So we started explaining things to her and she was saying how she does not want it to make sense. AS we were sharing scriptures with her and bearing testimony of it. I could feel the spirit there so strong. I started getting teary eyed. I could feel my testimony swelling in my heart and wanted at the very moment to just hand over my testimony and the feeling I was having to her. She then started to cry and talked about how her daughter (who died) used to read scriptures with her and we reminded her of her. I think she was also feeling the spirit though. I can’t explain to you what happened exactly but all I know is I left there with a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon then I went in with. It meant the world to me. I sure hope that she will accept the gospel. I feel like her daughter was there with us almost. It was crazy. Man I love experiences that I have. I wish I could share them all 🙂
Mom: I wrote you a letter today! Sorry I will send it soon. How are my emails? Is there anything more you want to hear that I don’t say?? Feel free to ask q’s! That was a nice gift to give to dad 🙂 Primary sounds great! I’m sure you are doing wonderful. Gosh I love you so much. Sometimes I miss giving you six hundred hugs a day. Thanks for all you do. I want to buy a bible here so I can have separate books! They have extremely thin bibles here. If there is money taken out my account any time soon it’ll probs be for that reason! Anyway I hope that is ok! I LOVE YOU!!! Have a great week! 🙂
Daddy: Hello pops!!!! How are you?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it went well. Hahaha I don’t even remember saying that. But I am glad you all still quote me and remember me! My week was great! Have fun playing tennis! I love pops! You are wonderful.
Anyway I love you all! You are great!!! Have a great week!!
Love, Sister Emily

Sunday Best!

DSC02998

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.” -Thomas S. Monson

Hope your Sunday was the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Misconceptions!

DSC05463

When deciding whether or not you are going to do Family History, most people are quite overwhelmed with all kinds of misconceptions. I have given some ideas on where to start, and how to organize your Family History.

I’ve been overwhelmed too.

I found this wonderful article over at familyshare.com. It talks about misconceptions that people have about doing Family History. I thought I’d share it this week.

You can read it here!

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Myrtle!

frigidaire-fdb1100rhc-24-full-console-dishwasher-energy

Do you ever give names to things that usually don’t have names?

Our family gives all kinds of names to all kinds of things. One thing we’ve given a name to is our dishwasher.

Her name is Myrtle.

Yes, you heard right, our dishwasher is a girl. Several months ago, for some reason, she started moaning as the wash cycle finishes, and also as the rinse cycle finishes. We may find out she needs a repair, but so far she just moans. Any Harry Potter fan will remember “Moaning Myrtle” the girl who was killed in the girls lavatory. Well, that’s where we got the name.

Well I better go and load Myrt! Happy dishwashing!

(By the way the picture above isn’t Myrtle, it’s Maude we saw her on the internet.);]