Category Archives: Family

Happy Birthday Nancy!

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My mother-in-law’s birthday is today. She would have been 83. What a fun lady!

I miss her so much.

Nancy after having cancer removed from the tip of her nose.

When we were together for the family Christmas party we shared some of our memories of those family members who aren’t with us anymore. I love the idea of getting these stories down for future generations.

I recorded what everyone said on Voice Memos an app on my Iphone, so I could later get the stories down on paper. I wanted to share one of the stories that I remembered our niece sharing and it wasn’t on there. She must have shared it after the recording was turned off.

It is such a cute funny story, that I want to share it.

Our niece Hannah used to love to spend time with Grandmother. If she ended up running errands with her, she would always end up getting lunch, which was one of her favorite things. One time they were stopped at Arby’s to get lunch, and Hannah said she wanted a Arby’s without the sauce, just the meat. So Nancy tell’s the guy at the spot you order that they want a sandwich with just the meat, and I guess she repeated, “Just the meat” a few times. They got to the window and the worker had put meat only in the container where the sandwich should have been. They laughed, but to fix this situation Nancy went back around the drive up. They got the sandwich corrected and then she drove to go out and missed the exit, so she drove through the drive through again. Haha! That is such a cute memory. I can totally picture Nancy driving around the restaurant in the drive through 3 times!

I’m sure she is celebrating her birthday in Heaven with Pearce. What a wonderful couple!

Family History Friday: Did They Serve Together?

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My Great Great Grandpa Albert Fairbanks fought in the Civil War. His ancestry is Native American, English, Canadian, and French. He was born in what would become the state of Minnesota, in White Earth. He was part of a group of Native Americans and half breeds to join the Union Army to fight during the Civil War. He was a Corporal when he joined and a Sergeant when the war ended and he returned home.

My Great Great Grandpa Andrew Hanson fought in the Civil War. His ancestry is Norwegian. He came to America in 1857 with his wife and family. They put down roots in Fillmore County, Minnesota. He must have already loved the country because he joined the Union Army and fought during the Civil War. He served till the war was over and sent a letter home to his brother saying he needed a hat and boots to get home. The army gave them a ride home on the train, as far as it would go, then they’d have to walk the rest of the way.

As far as I’ve been able to tell, they were both in the Minnesota Infantry.

And they were both in “Company G”.

It does seem they were each in a different Regiment.

Andrew -2nd Regiment and Albert 9th Regiment.

After some searching, I’ve found that each Regiment comes from a different geographical location. So even though they both were in a “Company G”, they did not serve in the same Regiment.

I was thinking while I researched how neat it would be if they knew each other.

How wonderful it would be if they fought shoulder to shoulder.

It does appear as though they didn’t serve together, and that’s ok!

In 1864 the 2nd Regiment took part in the Atlanta Campaign and marched with Sherman to the sea. Wow!

The 9th Regiment spent part of their time protecting General Sherman’s railroad supply line from confederate raiders. Neat!

I am super excited to know for sure that they fought in the same conflict, and that they fought for the Union. I am so happy to know more about my Great Great Grandpa’s!  What hard working, service oriented people they were. Oh, and very patriotic! Family History is so fun!

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

“Don’t Postpone a Prompting.”

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Having family members that I love and wanting to show them love is difficult at times. The older we all get, especially extended family, the harder it is to keep in touch and “love” each of them.

To me love = time.

That may not be how others receive love, but I usually have more time than money so that is how I show it.

The Prophet Thomas S. Monson said, “When [the Spirit] speaks, wise men and women obey. We do not postpone following promptings of the Spirit.” 

A few months ago I had a prompting.

I kept having thoughts of our nephew come to my mind. We hadn’t seen him for a while, and I said to my Darlin,

“We need to take Pearce out to dinner.”

I texted him, “Brett and I want to take you to dinner!’

He answered, ” Of course! What’s the occasion?”

I said, “We just love you! It’s a celebration of love!”

He said, “I’m a huge fan!”

We met him for dinner, and had such a nice visit. Our sweet nephew made a deal with the waitress to pay for the dinner. It was our idea, and he paid. What a sweet guy! We were so glad we had that time with him. He passed away in November. Can you imagine how I would feel if I hadn’t followed through on the prompting.

It takes time and effort to love each other, but it is worth it. I know that Pearce knew we loved him and that is so important to me. Another thing about the Spirit is that I feel like I will have help in knowing when to do something to show love, especially if I listen and do what the Spirit tells me. He will know I’m listening.

I will always remember how good it feels to do what I have been prompted to do.

She is Witty, Funny, and I Love Her!

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My sweet mother in law passed away.

I will miss her.

She has been a part of my life for 32+ years. She has blessed our family with her love, and her service. We have had so many fun times together as a family. Her skills at board and card games is amazing. Once she got the word “fandango” in Scrabble! Who does that? She is so funny and always had a cute story to share every time we saw her. She is an awesome cook. Thankfully my darlin knew I’d never be as good as her, so his expectations were low. I think he got his moms abilities to cook too. Lucky for me!  She is a good lady, and wonderful mom. She is a sweet grandmother to our kids, and grandkids.

She has a love of The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and served as a missionary several times. Her love of God was evident by the way she lived.

I’m sure she has reunited with her sweetheart Pearce, who passed away 3 years ago. What a reunion that must have been.

I am so grateful for her.

I will miss her, but when I do, I will think of all of the wonderful memories I have of her life. What a sweet lady!

Sunday Best!

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A Mother holds her child’s hand for a moment and their heart forever.

photo 2 (8)The opposite is true too.

A child holds her Mama’s hand for a moment and their heart forever.

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Today we were able to Skype with our sweet Emily, our Missionary. Our grand baby came home from the hospital today with his Mama and Daddy.

It’s been a wonderful day! 

Hope your Sunday is the Best, too! Love, Joy

My Baby is 20!

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My little “Bonus Baby” is having a birthday today!! What a wonderful darling baby. She is truly a blessing.

One day old.
Scan 12

3 Months Oldbaby em

2 Years Old

photo 3 (6)

8 Years Old
photo 1 (7)

18 Years Old_MG_9428aNow!IMG_9463 (2)I am a blessed Mama. I hope my sweet Sister Emily has a wonderful birthday. I won’t be able to call her or hug her today. She’s on her mission for 7 more months. I sent her a package and a letter and a card. I will get to talk to her on Mother’s Day in about a month. Yay! So just for today, I’ll thank Heavenly Father for my sweet “Bonus Baby”, for her life and the wonderful opportunity to love her, and know her, and be her Mama!!!

Happy Birthday “Bonus Baby”!!! oxoxo

Family History Friday: Double-Bladed Scarf Joint!

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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

My Kiddos!

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DSC05352A few weeks before Emily left on her mission the kids were all out on the west lawn doing gymnastics and having fun. All of my children took gymnastics lessons for a period of time in their life. It is so fun to watch them playing and having so much fun together. They each took turns seeing how many back hand springs they could do in a row. Then they decided to have a hand walking contest. That’s when my darlin’ had to join in. I love time together with my family. What a wonderful experience to be a parent. I know I am so blessed to me Mama to these 4 people. I am so grateful for the love, lessons, experiences and time together for all the years we raised them. I love them so much!!

Family is a circle of friends who love you. -unknown

My Baby and My Love Language.

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The day or so after Emily left on her mission, I was so sad. More so, than I was when the other two kids left on their missions. I was very concerned about being sad. I kept questioning myself, “Why am I so sad? I know this will be a good thing, and that there isn’t anything better she could be doing with her time right now than serving the Lord.” One reason I kind of anticipated, is that Emily is my baby. I am done raising my children. I have gone from being the coach to cheering them on from the bleachers. I knew that someday I would be sad about this, but I also was hoping that I would be glad too. I also remembered that when my darlin’ and I took the Love Language test, I found out that my Love Language is time. Well, because I have had missionaries before, I know how long a year and a half is. I kept thinking that I don’t want her to be gone for that long. I will miss all that “time” with her.

Once I figured these two things out, I felt like I could be patient with myself. I understand that both of the things I’m struggling with would be hard for anyone to accept.

Now I feel peace.

I try not to focus on the struggle, and I just let Heavenly Father speak peace to my heart. And He is. I am so thankful. I know I can do this. I know that being a mom is one of the most important purposes of my life, and I am grateful for the opportunity. I enjoyed it as much as any mom could while I was in the middle of diapers and crying babies at night. I enjoyed snuggles and kisses, and “Mom, I love you’s.” Now I can enjoyed my adult children.

I can do hard things, like letting my daughter leave for a year and a half. I can spend time away from her, and I will be great!

Busyness!

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I recently wrote a post about how busy things have become. Last Sunday, “Bonus Baby” spoke in church, before leaving on her mission. It was mother’s day and we had a house full of guests here to see Emily speak. After Emily spoke, we had 60+ people at our home. It was a fun and very busy weekend. Emily did such a great job on her talk. She is a sweetheart and I am so blessed to be her Mama.

This Monday is Riley and Janet’s wedding. We have been busily making decorations and preparations. One of my favorite things that we have been working on is a bench to put Riley and Janet’s gifts on. It started out as our old bed frame. For years my sweetie and I shared a full size bed. We’re not tall people, and a lot of that time my darlin was working graveyard. When I got out of bed, he was getting in bed. We finally graduated to a queen sized bed. I kept the frame for all of these years because I wanted to make a bench out of it. So with the wedding coming up, we decided it was a great time to make the bench. It is turning out so cute!! We’re not quite done with it. Here’s a pic

DSC05393

 

We will be busily decorating on Monday morning so Riley and Janet can get married. Then Monday night we’ll have a reception for them. I am so happy for them. They are a very good match for each other. Every mother wants her children to marry a wonderful person. Riley is marrying a wonderful person. We love Janet.

Just two days after the wedding, Emily will leave on her mission. (That was part of the reason for having the wedding two days before, so Emily wouldn’t miss it.) We will drive to the MTC in Provo and drop her off. Then we won’t see her for a year and a half. Ouch. I’ve done this before, but I never get used to dropping off a missionary and saying good bye for a time. The hardest part about this one is, she is my baby. My baby grew up. We used to tell the kids when they were little that “growing up” was against the rules. It was fun to get their responses to that. They’d say something like, “But mom, I have to grow up!”

She did it. She broke the rules, just like the others.

My church calling has been quite busy. I am the Primary President in our ward and I absolutely love it!! I have meetings every Sunday with the children in our ward. We sing and learn together. I love the be in Primary. I meet with my counselors and my secretary each week for an hour or so. We love the children and the teachers who serve with us. We feel very blessed knowing that Father in Heaven is helping us to do our best.

After the wedding, and Emily leaves, things will calm down quite a bit. I think I might have too much time on my hands. I know there will be tears. I know I will miss my “Bonus Baby”. I also know she will do an amazing job on her mission and will bless many people. I am happy when my children have amazing opportunities. This is how I feel about being the mother to a missionary.

I’ll just keep doing what my mission president taught me.

“Bloom Where You’re Planted!”

Life is good!