Gratitude Day #26 - 2018 - Our Ancestors

Gratitude Day #26

Today I am grateful for my ancestors.

As a genealogist, it would not be fitting if I didn't express love and appreciation and gratitude for those in my family who came together to create me...and Mr. Kerry, too.

Kerry's family history is one that is just as interesting to me as my own. His great-grandfather was a stubborn Dane who resisted the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for seven years.

He eventually joined the church, and through much hardship brought his family across the ocean on the Monarch of the Sea. Other Scandinavian families were on the same ship, which landed at Castle Garden. As the cross the country, they could hear the cannon and gunfire of the Civil War i 1862.

When they arrived at Winter Quarters (near Omaha, NE), the family, along with his other Scandinavian ancestors, cross the plains with the handcart companies. When they arrived in Salt Lake City, they were then sent on to Sanpete Co., UT.

A few years after arriving in Utah, he was gored to death by a bull, and is buried in Moroni, Sanpete, UT.

I have no courage. Kerry is standing beside a replica of a handcart in the photos below. I can't imagine walking the entire way when I whine in an air conditioned Jeep with rubber tires and a windshield.

I will forever be grateful for the sacrifice of his family for building up the LDS Church in the west, and for creating a legacy that filters right on down to Kerry.

Kerry's mother's side has strong ties in Arkansas. We recently came through Eureka Springs, and were simply astounded at its beauty! The family left that area for Utah in a car with their ten children. They kept having flat tires, so they stopped in Denver, got rid of the car, and every one who was able went to work to earn money to travel on. They took a train, which ended in Escalante, UT. They couldn't go further because that's as far as the tracks went.

Again, I can't even imagine. Ten children in a car that kept breaking down.

My own family doesn't have a history in the LDS Church. Well, there are a few fragments that have ended up in the Mormon Battalion when I lost track of them in Tennessee. I have received hints that led me to their service in the Mexican-American War, and to being in Nauvoo, IL during the early days of the Church.

But, none of these were direct line ancestors. They were shirttails.

In our genealogy travels, I have:
1. Stood by the gravestones of a mother and her twin girls who died just days apart. This was in July 1861, when her husband had just left for the War two months earlier. There were nine other children left behind.

2. Gazed for into the distance of the Great Plains at the pathway Kerry's family would have walked.

3. Huffed and puffed up a hill in Virginia to view the grave of one of my grandfathers who was a Revolutionary War soldier. I honestly don't know how in the world they would have gotten his casket up that hill.

4. Walked up and down the rows of one of our family cemeteries viewing the many, many graves of loved ones, mostly babies, lost during the Flu Pandemic of 1918. Seven of those babies belonged to my grandmother's sisters. Four of them belonged to my grandmother.

5. Viewed the magnificent beauty of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, wondering why my people left it to go westward into Kentucky.

6. Perused documents that showed quite scandalous activities, which included adultery, adultery, and yes...adultery.

7. Astonished my own self looking at how the wealth of one of my family lines diminished into pure poverty within two generations...because they didn't/couldn't pay the taxes on the land. They became so poor they had to farm their children out.

8. Collected in reverent awe as many records as I can of men and women who served in the military in my family. That will be in another post.

9. Ran my hands along the cabin of a house my grandfather built with his own hands. It no longer stands, but a snippet of it is shown below.

10. Followed record after record of the births in a county where a great-grandmother of mine was the midwife.

I will never be done. I am amazed at the hardships they had, and the pure character it must have taken to continue on when things were tough.

I suppose I don't always have the compassion I should have when people talk about anxiety. It may be for the following reasons.

1. My parents were married in 1932 - the Depression was in full swing. They began their lives with $7 and a hog. They butchered one each year to get through the winter months. It's the way things worked...until a pack of wild dogs killed the hog they were going to feed their family that winter. They had to come up with Plan B. There was no time for anxiety.

2. My dad was the only one in the coal camp called up to serve in World War II. It left mom and my three sisters to fend for themselves while dad was sent to Pearl Harbor. Mom girded up her loins and figured out what they would need to do. There was no time to crawl under a blanket and shut out the world. She was the world to her three little girls.

So, if I remain silent as people may talk about those issues, accept my apologies. I'm working with my ancestors who had to find a way.

And, I'm grateful that they did.

Peter Lauritzen, who joined the LDS Church in Denmark and brought his family to settle in Utah.

Gratitude Day #25 - 2018 - My Trials

Gratitude Day #25

Today I am grateful for my trials.

Yes, my trials.

We all have them. If we haven't, we will. That's pretty much a given in our lives. And, it can be a challenge to conquer those trials.

Let me recount a few of my own:

Trial: Growing up with parents who were the ages of my friends' grandparents.

Lesson learned: I am very patient with older people, and particularly those who are hard of hearing. I saw my own children behave in a patient manner among older people, too. They always treated them kindly and with respect.

Trial: Growing up as an only child.

Lesson learned: I learned to be creative and entertain my own self. Even to this day I don't mind being alone, for I like who I am with.

Trial: Being overweight as a child, and as an adult.

Lesson learned: I learned, and am still learning, that taking care of my body when I was younger should have taken more precedence. Some of the issues I have today are because of the excess stress and weight I carried.

Trial: Physical issues. I have had numerous surgeries, and have broken my feet nine times. I now have arthritis where those breaks occurred.

Lesson learned: I've been on crutches and in casts. I've been in a wheelchair several times. I've recuperated from surgeries. Therefore, I know and can anticipate what someone in similar conditions may need. It can be difficult to give up control to someone who has you on wheels, who may bump your foot or pull you backward. I've been there. I understand.

Trial: The loss of loved ones to death.

Lesson learned: We all have a certain amount of time to do the best that we can in improving our lives, and loving those around us. Losing my parents absolutely broke my heart. I didn't have them long enough, but I had them long enough to learn valuable lessons. Losing my inlaws also broke my heart. They were two of the finest people ever. I grieved right along with Kerry. Losing our son was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life; something that I'll likely never get over. However, when others have gone through similar experiences, I know how to succor them, and help them in their grief.

I could go on and on. So could you. But, having opposition in all things makes us appreciate the good times. It makes me cherish my loved ones, and be grateful for the times something isn't broken.

So, yes, I am grateful for trials. They have helped me become who I am today, and have helped me form a more compassionate heart and attitude toward suffering and loss.

Gratitude Day #24 - 2018 - Good Foods, Waters, and Medicines

Gratitude Day #24

Today I am grateful for good foods, waters, and medicines.

I have been greatly blessed to grow up in an environment where I never had to worry about going to bed hungry. Mom and Dad always made sure good food was in the house...sometimes too much of it.

I grew up with an awful lot of southern cooking. My parents were from Kentucky, and as I've mentioned before, we had a huge garden that provided fresh foods, and plenty to "put up".

We had thirteen apple trees and two pear trees on our property, too. So, hours were spent with Dad as he taught me how to prune them to get the best quality out of them. I helped to pick up the branches, and we waited for the harvest. At least a good third of the canning jars were filled with applesauce, apple pie filling, and apple butter.

Oh, what I wouldn't give for one of my mom's cat head biscuits smeared with apple butter!

Mom made sure the neighbors and even the mailman had their fill of her products -- just bring back the jars. Even the hobos found their way to mom's kitchen. The smell of apple butter cooking with cinnamon and spices wafted to their noses. Mom would pack up biscuits and apple butter for them and send them on their way. She never turned down a hobo.

It's probably because of their cooking that I gained so much weight in my young life, topping out at 328 lbs. I had no control. I'm better, but not by much.

I grew up with the best well water, and our house we live in now has the best well water we've ever tasted. Kerry and I both feel it's such a waste to buy bottled water when we have such good water. We tap into an underground river, and our well is about 150 feet deep, with 110 feet of water in it.

We feel very fortunate that our water is so good.

The medicines we take our astounding. Today, I can solve just about any headache or malady by going to the drugstore. If it's more serious, doctors can prescribe something more. I've never been adversely affected by any medicine I've taken. Instead, I've been greatly blessed. I have ancestors who suffered greatly, or even died because of things so readily available to us today.

Each day in my personal prayer, and in our family prayer together, Kerry and I express our gratitude for the foods, medicines, and waters that we may partake of today. This covers everything we may ingest.

If I prayed every time I eat, I'd be praying all day.

And, we feel it is vastly important when there may be chemicals, or such as with the romaine lettuce problem going on now, or something unseen and unknown to us in our food, these prayers help to cover anything that may harm us.

Some of my parents' recipes have been passed on to my children who have asked for them. Erik particularly loved my mom's fresh apple cake. I went digging through her recipe file until I found it. When he made it one year, I would have to say it was as good as hers...if not better!