-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.

Family History Friday (FHF): Maps!

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I love maps!! I REALLY love maps. I don’t remember liking geography in school, but I need to know where things are now. If I hear of a place, any place, just talking to people I run into and finding out where they’re from, and I don’t know where it is, I look it up as soon as I can. I have an
atlas by my nightstand!
Does that tell you anything? Thankfully, this is a very convenient thing for doing Family History. When you research a relative you start with what you know, where you know they lived. If, for instance, they lived in a particular area for work, or because they parents lived there for work, they may move if the work is unavailable there.They may move for another reason, like for religious freedom, a common reason people came to the United States. Sometimes they moved, but not far at all, like to the next town or hamlet. It may be only a few miles down the road. When all the places the family has lived are located on a map it is easy to see the overall area or areas the family spent their lives. It gives you a visual of how the family migrated from place to place. When you have a map like this in front of you, you can see new research possibilities come to light. You can see the surrounding cities, counties, parishes, provinces or even countries. Try it! It’s really fun! Happy Family History Friday. Love, Joy

Enjoy "Here" While You’re "Here".

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Time has always been an issue for me. I either don’t feel like I have enough of it or I wish it would go faster. (I know, I know, make up yer mind. ) When the kids were all little it was hectic and out of control. The typical busy life that all moms lead. We went from chaos in the morning: everybody out of bed, breakfast fixins all over the kitchen, then flying out the door to drop the older kids off at school. Then errands, clean house, do a project or two, play and read with the little ones. Then pick up the kids from school, lessons (for us it was gymnastics), then home to fix a healthy and quick dinner. Sometimes more quick than healthy. There was always many things going on in the evenings as well. In fact when I was in the middle of it, I remember thinking, “it will be nice when all the kids are in school, maybe life will slow down alittle. HaHa. I remember hearing older and wiser moms say, “Enjoy it while they’re little, they grow up way too fast!”

About 8 years ago

(my baby is now 15 and my oldest just turned 23)

Then I would usually smile & say “I know, I’ve heard that before.” One thing I have learned in my life is that you can’t go back. I really do miss those children, keep in mind, I still live will all of them. The older version of them. They’re still the same wonderful kids. So now that I’m an older and somewhat wiser mom, this is my advice to young mothers with small children, Enjoy “here” while you’re “here”, cause you can’t enjoy “here” when you’re “there”.
In other words smile and enjoy everyday and love them, hug and kiss them, and don’t worry about the things that just don’t matter. They’re growing every second. I am so thankful to the moms who told me to enjoy them while they’re little. And most of all I’m so grateful I have had the blessing to be a mother. Love, Joy

The things we say

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I heard a story of a man who spread falsehoods and slandered the name of a wise man in his town. The man who spread the falsehoods decided to go to the wise mans home and ask forgiveness. The wise man, knowing that the man couldn’t possibly understand the gravity of what he had done, told him to go to his home and cut a feather pillow and let the feathers blow in the wind. Then come back and see me. He did so and came back to the wise mans home.
“Did you do as I said?” asked the wise man
“yes, am I forgiven now?” answered the man.
“Just one more thing, now go gather all the feathers that came out of the pillow.” said the wise man.
The man then insisted that it would be impossible to gather all of the feathers, the wind had scattered them everywhere. The wise man then told the man that even though he wanted to take back everything he had said, the damage had been done and it was impossible, just like it was impossible to gather all the feathers.
When we’re placed in a situation where we’re tempted to say something about someone, remember these things that are tried and true:
T-Is it true?
H-Is it helpful?
I-Is it inspiring?
N-Is it necessary?
K-Is it kind?
Of course even if we know something is true about someone, we don’t always need to share it. Is telling someone else something you’ve heard about an individual a kind thing to do? Not usually, unless, it is necessary. What if they need help? Remember Thumper from the Disney show “Bambi”, when his mother scolds him for what he says to Bambi. She asks him to repeat what it is his father told him. And he says, “if you can’t say somethin nice, don’t say nothin at all”
An important part of telling the truth is not repeating something that is clearly not the thing that was said. Especially in politics. Things are taken out of context all the time. Listen carefully to what was said, if you are going to quote someone.
My mom reminded me of these three rules, and I felt like it would be an important thing to share today. We all need a reminder. So the next time an opportunity to share information you know about someone comes up, think to yourself…. if I tell what I know, is it true? is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? is it kind? and then just smile instead. Love, Joy

Family History Friday (FHF): True Love!

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Today for FHF, I want to wish my hubby
Happy Anniversary!
We have been married for 24 years and he is still my best friend.
He is the one I want to share forever with.
We had been friends for about 7 years when we finally started dating. In fact, on our first date, I wasn’t even sure if it was a date. For weeks leading up to “the date” we would talk after church, sometimes for hours. Time together has always been very comfortable, just like it was back then. Then he asked me to go to a fireside with him. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s an extra church meeting on Sunday night with a special speaker. The first thought that crossed my mind was, is this a date? And if it is, how will I know? (I have to add here that Brett was very shy, much more so than me.) I decided that if he opened the car door for me when he picked me up, then it must be a date. Sure enough, he did open the car door for me. After our first date I had a hard time not wanting to be with Brett every minute of everyday. We dated for a short while and got engaged.
And on August 7, 1985 we were married
in the Salt Lake Temple.
It was a beautiful and perfect day. The years have brought with them 4 wonderful children, a gorgeous granddaughter, not to mention, many struggles and challenges, and some disappointments. It has been hard work, but I wouldn’t trade a second of it for anything in the world. One thing that I learned early in my marriage is this; Focus on the good things about your sweetheart. He isn’t perfect, but neither am I. Spend more time thinking about all the things that make him the wonderful man that you fell in love with, and less time focusing on his flaws. Is he a hard worker? Does he come home to his family after work? Does he love God? If he does, he will be obedient to Him. That alone is a biggy. Then I know he is doing his best to be honest, faithful, considerate, and to cleave unto me and none else.
In fact, God is a partner in our marriage.
We try to live the life he wants for us and follow Him. We listen for help from Him in all aspects of our lives. Once you’ve focused on your darlin’s goodness, then be the best you that you can be. Be the type of person you want him to be to you. I know I don’t have a perfect marriage, but we love each other and we’re committed to each other forever.
I love you, Brett!!!!
Thanks for reading about part of the history if this family.
Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy