Author Archives: joyful_admin

Family History Friday (FHF): Family Trees!

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Like branches on a tree,
our lives may grow in different
directions yet our roots remain as one.
If you are the type that when you see strong families together you feel a pang of jealousy, you need to know that strong families are made, they don’t just happen. I know it is a lot of hard work. Over Labor Day weekend, we were traveling as a family in Southern Utah. In the small town where we were staying with friends, we passed a cabin several times that must have been having a family reunion. There were tents set up all over the side yard, cars from heck to breakfast, and people everywhere. One time we passed the cabin they were all out behind the cabin having a big water fight. I mean everyone, young children, adults, even some folks with gray hair had buckets with water. Everyone was wearing the “red” shirt, I assumed was the uniform for this reunion. I looked on with a big smile on my face, wishing I could put together a shin dig like that. One thing I do know is that if you want to be a strong family, you find what works for your family. We don’t have a cabin. I’m not sure if we would still like each other if we spent 3 days together, but I do know that we can get together for about 2 hours every other Sunday. We have dinner together and celebrate birthdays. I have a great family and even if we can’t have the big reunion with the matching shirts, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. The roots are deep and the tree is strong in this family. Make an effort to get together or plan something that will make your family stronger than ever. Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Judge Not!

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While serving my mission in Texas, my companion and I found ourselves at the front door of our ward mission leader. Before we had a chance to knock or ring the doorbell, we heard what we thought was yelling and screaming coming from inside. My companion and I stood there with our mouths open, not knowing what to do. Should we leave? We would obviously be interrupting something. Honestly, the first thought that crossed my mind was…“Is he hurting his children? If he is, he’s not the man I thought he was…Hmmmmm.“ I came to the realization that if I left now, without at least knocking, I may never know what was happening and I would definitely always judge him. I wouldn’t really want to judge him, I just know I would always wonder. So I decided to knock. After knocking, I heard him from inside say, “Don’t open the door. I don’t have my pants on!!” Wow, that’s not what I was thinking would happen. Then his little girl, about 3 years old, came to the window by the door, parted the curtains and just smiled and smiled at us throught the window. My companion and I became more confused as the moments ticked on. His wife finally opened the door with this look on her face like, you will never believe what just happened. We were very interested in knowing what just happened. She told us the story of how as they sat down to dinner her husband was holding the baby (about one year old). As they were eating she noticed something on his leg, and said “Honey, I think you have a piece of meat on your leg”. He looked down to see a scorpion crawling up his leg toward the baby! He handed the baby over to his wife and swiped the scorpion off with his hand. The scorpion then started crawling back up his leg. Of course everyone is screaming. That’s about the time that we, the sister missionaries, got to the front door. As the scorpion crawled back up his leg, he dropped his pants, and killed it with a knife. About that time is when we knocked. It all makes perfect sense when you hear both sides, but to me, the concern and shock I was feeling in the beginning was very real. Can you imagine if I had left and never found out the whole story? I was ready to make a judgement that was very wrong. This was a righteous man, there was no reason to think otherwise. I made a decision that day, that I would not judge a situation like that again until I had all the information. In fact, I make a real effort to judge not!

Texas Bluebonnets

-WE WILL NEVER FORGET-

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-Twin Towers-
Picture taken of a picture at Ground Zero,
peeking through the clouds.

Ground Zero: June 2007
It was very humbling and my heart was filled with sadness to be
there. So many wonderful people and families lives changed that day.
All of us were changed that day.
God Bless America! Land that I love!

Family History Friday: Heirlooms!

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Most people have special things that they have accumulated in their lives. They’re usually calledfamily heirlooms. My parents and their parents are no exception. One thing that my parents did that I will always be grateful for, is this; they divided almost all the heirlooms up about six years ago. After moving from an almost 4500 square foot home to a two bedroom apartment, they didn’t have room for all the stuff, and felt like it was a great time to share with their children, all six of us. Dad opened up the garage and let all my brothers and my husband take a turn picking a tool to keep, till all the tools were gone. Mom, gave us our choice of what we wanted. If I wanted something the most, and no one else cared as much about that item as I did, it was mine. There were things that I wanted, that were not on the top of my list, but they were on the top of one of my brothers list, it became theirs. And guess what? I’m OK with it. Some things, like special pieces, my parents chose who they wanted it to go to. When they’re standing in front of all of you, telling you who they want it to go to, there most definitely won’t be a quarrel. I have heard of families becoming enemies over “things”. My parents are still living six years later, and if you were to talk to them about it, they would say how much they have enjoyed watching us enjoying our heirlooms. If you think of “the grand scheme”, things are not the most important anyway. We can’t take them with us, and they can be lost in the blink of an eye, but the bond of family and the love will last forever, if nurtured. I love my family. Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

Mom

Dad

-Five Faves-

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on the 5th
1-64 Crayola Crayons With the built in sharpener 🙂
2-Puffins –their babies are called “Pufflings” (can you stand it!!)
3-trinkets from yesteryear and ancestors
4-a really good self help book (we can all improve)
5-clean sheets after a hot shower.
Puffin

Family History Friday (FHF): Pictures and Shagonaushequay

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One of my ancestors was named Mary Sayer, or at least that was her Christian name. Her Ojibwe name was Shagonaushequay.
The Ojibwe are a Native American tribe that lived, at the time she was born, near the Great Lakes area. Her mother was a full blood Ojibwe named Bwanequay. Her father, John Sayer, was a fur trader from England. It wasn’t uncommon for the fur traders to marry a native woman. First, the native women made great companions. Second, it was helpful in the fur trade, because they could communicate with the trappers, most of which were Ojibwe in that area. Shagonaushequay was married to a man named John H. Fairbanks, also an Englishman. He is a descendant of the Fairbanks who settled in Boston area of Massachusetts, back in the 1600’s. My mom and dad were trying to find the birth and death date for Mary or Shagonaushequay. They weren’t even sure where she was buried. They knew she and her husband lived in a small comminuty called Crow Wing, and they looked in the local archives for any histories of Crow Wing and found a history called “Old Crow Wing”. As they looked through the papers they found some pictures. One of the pictures was an old headstone with the name Mary Sayer written on it. They were able to get her birthday and date of death off the picture. They also found out that she was buried with a daughter. They both died at the same time from TB or something. They had already visited Crow Wing and this head stone was no longer at Crow Wing. We felt like it was a miracle that they found this picture of the head stone that no longer exists. Pictures can be helpful even when we can’t find the information at the location. Happy Family History Friday!
Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): Games!

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I try to make Family History fun for the whole family. Sometimes that’s asking a lot. You almost have to get bit by the FH bug to really like it. Like most bug situations, you need to spend time around them (the bugs) to get bit. So if I want my family to like Genealogy/Family History, I need to do it or talk about doing it around them. So I found two ways to do this. I have two fun games that help. One, is my original and one my sister-in-law told me about.

The first one is easy, at least once a week, tell your family a fun story about an ancestor. If you don’t know one, ask your parents or grandparents about their parents or grandparents, then write the story down. It also helps to have a pedigree chart mounted to a wall somewhere, so the family sees how they are related to the person. Once you have several stories in your archive, you’re ready to play. We usually play this game while we’re traveling in the car. Sometimes we even play it on Memorial Day. We visit the cemeteries that our relatives are buried in and talk about them while we’re standing by their grave side. So, I call the game “Name that Ancestor!” Usually I start, I say, for example: “I’m thinking of an ancestor who was a fur trader and wrote a journal.” Then they guess who it is, “John Sayer”.

Fur Traders

They won’t know who it is, unless I’ve talked about that ancestor before. If they guess and they’re right, it’s their turn to give a glue. If no one knows, then it’s a perfect opportunity to tell them the story. Then they will know the next time we play.
The next game is Concentration. This is especially good if those of your family, still living, live far apart from each other. First, get as many pictures of them, living and/or deceased, as you can. They can be small, like a snap shot. Make copies so you have two and you won’t ruin the original. Use tape (packing tape in perfect) or use contact paper and attatch them to a 3×5 card, cut in half or something about that size. I like to use the lids from orange juice concentrate (get it? concentrate?) ha ha. They stack really nice and they fit in a empty tennis ball container. Another twist is to put the picture of the ancestor on one lid and their name on the other lid. They make a match when they find the picture and the name that go together.

We are living in a great time, with many opportunities.

Our ancestors walked the path that made it possible

for us to have all that we enjoy now. I want to at least remember them on occasion, and at most, make their memory a part of my everyday life. Happy Family History Friday!

Love, joy

Seasons of Life

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School started this week, and with it came all sorts of changes. First, I started a new job. It is a good job, not that the last one wasn’t a good job, but it is a nice change.

Second, the little boys that we have been tending for years will no longer be coming to our home. They grew up enough to go to school and need a different tender. 🙁

And third, my baby is in high school!! How did that happen? We used to tell the kids that it was breaking the rules to “grow up”!

I have never liked big changes, I mean BIG changes, don’t get me wrong, I love variety in life. But when things change for good, leaving in their place an empty space or even something new, it is always a challenge. So I have been adapting and trying to appreciate

the seasons of my life.
If I compare it to the seasons that are common in the part of the world we call home, it is a good thing. Like Fall, my favorite, I love the colors and the crisp air. I love layering my clothes and I love going for drives and taking walks.
Instead of being sad or overwhelmed with the change, I plan to smile big and look forward to
the season at hand.