What an amazing 4 years it's been you sweet boy. You are adored beyond belief and loved almost more than you can handle. You're a happy, funny, lovable, thankful little soul and we have been so blessed to have you in our lives.
Practicing Alternative Dispute Resolution Finding humor in the daily Stuff; Occasionally waxing poetic and philosophical; Preserving a history for my family
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Happy 4th Birthday Nate!!!!
What an amazing 4 years it's been you sweet boy. You are adored beyond belief and loved almost more than you can handle. You're a happy, funny, lovable, thankful little soul and we have been so blessed to have you in our lives.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Spirit of Elijah
I just wanted to take a second to testify to everybody that finding our families and engaging in genealogy is so important that when we take even one step in the direction of seeking out our families, Heavenly Father blesses us. I have two specific examples, one extremely recent, one not so.
I have been very interested in following certain genealogical lines of my father, but at one point became very discouraged and quit-- for about 3 years. One of the things I wanted was a copy of a very old book containing much of this genealogy, but I wasn't able to find one in a format I could access. Short of a trip to Salt Lake, I'd never see this book except on microfiche. Anyway, Paul explained to me that the reason I had become so frustrated was a simple matter of data entry that was easily correctable. So yesterday I corrected some of these entries and do you know what happened TODAY? While researching Baby bouncy seats, my cursor accidentally scrolled and clicked over something (I really have no idea what happened) and without ever doing a search, The Annals of the Sinnott, etc. families came up as a free download in Google. I now have the book I needed through no thought of my own, because I know Heavenly Father wants me to have it and was waiting for me to express a desire to do this work. What an amazing blessing.
One other experience I have shared with many is the time that I went on to a genealogy forum for the first time ever and somebody had recovered an old photo of my great grandmother and was offering it free to family. I tried to post, but couldn't (but thought I did) and heard nothing back. 3 months later I logged back on and checked the same forum. In the interim between these logins, the finder of the picture and a genealogy enthusiast from Ireland had begun a conversation that included much information I did not possess regarding birthplaces, family affiliations and dates that I needed. I did finally receive the picture and the information, too.
I can't chalk this stuff up to chance. The Lord has a work for me to do and I need to do it. The prophet Isaiah promised that the hearts of the children would be turned to the fathers. The spirit of Elijah is alive and well in this house.
I have been very interested in following certain genealogical lines of my father, but at one point became very discouraged and quit-- for about 3 years. One of the things I wanted was a copy of a very old book containing much of this genealogy, but I wasn't able to find one in a format I could access. Short of a trip to Salt Lake, I'd never see this book except on microfiche. Anyway, Paul explained to me that the reason I had become so frustrated was a simple matter of data entry that was easily correctable. So yesterday I corrected some of these entries and do you know what happened TODAY? While researching Baby bouncy seats, my cursor accidentally scrolled and clicked over something (I really have no idea what happened) and without ever doing a search, The Annals of the Sinnott, etc. families came up as a free download in Google. I now have the book I needed through no thought of my own, because I know Heavenly Father wants me to have it and was waiting for me to express a desire to do this work. What an amazing blessing.
One other experience I have shared with many is the time that I went on to a genealogy forum for the first time ever and somebody had recovered an old photo of my great grandmother and was offering it free to family. I tried to post, but couldn't (but thought I did) and heard nothing back. 3 months later I logged back on and checked the same forum. In the interim between these logins, the finder of the picture and a genealogy enthusiast from Ireland had begun a conversation that included much information I did not possess regarding birthplaces, family affiliations and dates that I needed. I did finally receive the picture and the information, too.
I can't chalk this stuff up to chance. The Lord has a work for me to do and I need to do it. The prophet Isaiah promised that the hearts of the children would be turned to the fathers. The spirit of Elijah is alive and well in this house.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Off to see the Wizard.
Our trip to San Francisco to See Wicked finally came. The play was great. The hotel, magnificent. The city, wet but beautiful. We had a very nice time. And I learned some things about myself along the way.
1. I may like the IDEA of the big city, but the reality of it isn't exactly my idea of fun. We drove around for miles looking at the architecture, which, of course, I love but I couldn't help wondering where there kids play or where they plant their tomatoes, or when do they get to see their own roses bloom and dig in the dirt and I was very much grateful for my little bit of earth here in Utah.
2. You only need to ride on a trolley car once to appreciate the experience. Sardines, and pickpocket warnings make me so grateful for the fresh air I can breathe just by walking out the door.
3. I'm a little bit of a fraidy cat when it comes to deserted streets at 11 o'clock at night. My fight or flight reactions kick in, every person is examined suspiciously, and my mind automatically plans my escape route-- especially when I don't know where I was going which, by the way was most of the time downtown.
4. My phone works really great as a GPS. But a GPS doesn't help if you don't know where to go. I'll plan things a little better next time. Unstructured time means you miss stuff you thought you wanted to see.
5. I have no idea what stuff in the real world costs. We rented a car because we got a great deal and spent more to park it ($50 per day) than we did to rent it because parking was at a premium.
Rob and I were discussing whether I'll be able to handle places like New York and Europe, if I got so frustrated with San Francisco, but my friend C assures me that New York is much better. In any event, I will definitely plan better, understand that it takes longer to get places on public transportation, and plan EXACTLY what I want to do. Plus, frankly, I missed my kids and kept thinking "Nate will love this." Or "I can't wait to tell Matt and Maggie about this." Maybe I'm getting a little older and the wanderlust I used to feel so keenly I realize is only fun when it's a shared experience. But sometimes you just gotta get away without the kids, too.
1. I may like the IDEA of the big city, but the reality of it isn't exactly my idea of fun. We drove around for miles looking at the architecture, which, of course, I love but I couldn't help wondering where there kids play or where they plant their tomatoes, or when do they get to see their own roses bloom and dig in the dirt and I was very much grateful for my little bit of earth here in Utah.
2. You only need to ride on a trolley car once to appreciate the experience. Sardines, and pickpocket warnings make me so grateful for the fresh air I can breathe just by walking out the door.
3. I'm a little bit of a fraidy cat when it comes to deserted streets at 11 o'clock at night. My fight or flight reactions kick in, every person is examined suspiciously, and my mind automatically plans my escape route-- especially when I don't know where I was going which, by the way was most of the time downtown.
4. My phone works really great as a GPS. But a GPS doesn't help if you don't know where to go. I'll plan things a little better next time. Unstructured time means you miss stuff you thought you wanted to see.
5. I have no idea what stuff in the real world costs. We rented a car because we got a great deal and spent more to park it ($50 per day) than we did to rent it because parking was at a premium.
Rob and I were discussing whether I'll be able to handle places like New York and Europe, if I got so frustrated with San Francisco, but my friend C assures me that New York is much better. In any event, I will definitely plan better, understand that it takes longer to get places on public transportation, and plan EXACTLY what I want to do. Plus, frankly, I missed my kids and kept thinking "Nate will love this." Or "I can't wait to tell Matt and Maggie about this." Maybe I'm getting a little older and the wanderlust I used to feel so keenly I realize is only fun when it's a shared experience. But sometimes you just gotta get away without the kids, too.
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