The same message, just a different way

I just realized that, even though I had said that I was going to do whatever I could to make this Advent season more relaxed and calm. I seemed to have failed.  My last couple of weeks have been really full and I have even gotten home really late some nights.  I know that 9:00pm doesn't sound late, but at my age (and getting up at 5:30am), that IS really late.  Yet, as I was thinking about this blog, it became clear to me that my schedule these past weeks has been all about Advent and doing what is really important.  I have attended several Christmas gatherings, that all have brought me much joy and laughter.  So, in spite of the way my calendar might look, I have been more focused on the true meaning of Christmas. 

This week I spent Tuesday with Gwen and the kids since it was their home school co-op Christmas program.  That lovely young lady, Lia, in the picture above (who is almost as tall as me) sang with her choir.  I have to admit that sitting in the pew, hearing her sing brought me back to some of Gwen's early programs.  Let's face it, there is nothing better than Christmas songs, sung by children.  Earlier in the day, all of the kids were busy making Christmas cards for their co-op friends.  Ellie decided that they should make crayons to include in the cards.  So she worked on finding all of the broken crayons around the house, peeling the papers off and deciding which colors to mix together in the crayon mold.  She managed to make enough for all of her friends, as well as all of Anna and Zeke's friends.

Before long, Ellie decided that she also wanted to create beaded crosses for her friends, so Lia and I helped her sort out specific colors from large vats of beads.  Zeke and Anna worked had making cards for their friends.

And then Ellie decided that she also needed to color a picture for each of her friends.  

While this was going on, Lia decided to make cookies for all of her choir and her friends.  

As I watched these kids spending time on these hand made goodies for their friends, I was thinking about the love and care that they were putting into each project.  This wasn't some small trinket or toy from the store, by their parents.  Each gift had a hand made card and an item that had required some effort and thought.  That is what the season is supposed to be about.  It was a day well spent for me.  One that filled my soul with peace and calm and love and joy.  

One of the best early "Christmas" presents that I received last week, came flying into my life via a Facebook message.  I was invited to join a Facebook group, started by someone that I had never heard of until that day.  Turns out, we are related!  Not only that, he lives less than 5 miles from my house. Dave Anderson has been doing much research on his own family tree and decided that he would like to find out more about his "Johnson" relatives - all descendants of Axel and Betty Johnson - my grandparents.  It turns out that Dave's grandfather was a nephew of Axel Johnson and came from the same town in Sweden to settle in western Minnesota at the same time as my grandfather.  

Axel and Betty Johnson

Now I know that you might be thinking that this is a really distant relation, but for me, having any relative living so close is quite fun.  Not only that, he has been sent boxes and boxes of pictures and family documents from Sweden that he is trying to sort and identify.  Most were sent to Sweden by those families who all settled in western Minnesota before 1900.  I saw pictures of my aunts and uncles that I had never seen before.  I am so thankful that Dave is taking the time to sort through all of this stuff.  Not only is he sorting it, he is connecting us through pictures and stories.  He has a heart to keep these memories from being lost.  Thanks to this Facebook group, in the last week I have connected with several of my cousins.  I had a phone conversation with a cousin that I know I have never talked to as an adult.  During the phone call she referred to me as "Lynnie" and said that she only remembered me as a little girl.  That short call brought me so much joy.  This genealogy stuff is really interesting, the idea of seeing a family tree is wonderful, but it is the stories that are so important.  

I have shared on this blog that I believe that all of us have been given a unique destiny.  Part of this destiny, is a spiritual heritage that has played a part in who we are and the direction our lives have taken.  Over the last several years, I have become more and more convinced that this is a message that needs to be shared.  This blog has been part of that prompting by the Holy Spirit to share that message.  Additionally, I have begun writing a book with the central message that our prayers can and will impact our future generations. This fictional based on facts book is focused on my mother's parents.  I don't think it is an accident that I am now looking at my dad's parents and learning more about God's plan for our family line through them.  Getting to meet Dave and his wife was quite a gift for me.  Through Dave's work,  I heard the message from the Holy Spirit, loudly and clearly, that I must keep on sharing.  Yes, it was the same message I heard so long ago, just delivered in a different way.      

Yes, it is really amazing to look at my grandkids and think about their great great grandparents.  These loving, caring, young children carry a piece of Axel and Betty and Arnold and Nora in their spirits.  The spiritual heritage that was centered on their love for Jesus, has been sown into this distant generation.  There is so much hope in this message.  We can make a difference in the future as we pray for those who are yet to come.   Tonight I want anyone who reads this blog to know that you matter.  Not only for right now, but also for generations to come.  Don't let the stories from your family get lost or forgotten.  Make it a point to tell and retell those family stories.  Take lots of pictures and preserve those photos with journaling that tell the story. (A shout out for scrapbooking!)

 This is a great season to begin doing this.  As we tell and retell the Christmas story, let us all remember to share family memories.

Jesus, thank you so much for this season.  Holy Spirit, keep our hearts open to love and care for all those around us.  Give us courage to smile and talk to those we meet on the street.  Help us to keep Christmas memories alive in our family.  Thank you for photos and documents that help us know the past and appreciate our family heritage.  Thank you Jesus, for children and Christmas carols.  Amen 

    

When DNA results don't tell your story.....

This picture from 1912 is my maternal grandfather with all of his siblings at the funeral of their father.  My grandfather, Arnold Toensing, is second from the left, back row, in this picture.  Aunt Anna (who was like a grandma to my family) is on the right in the front row.  My grandfather and Aunt Anna both died before I was three years old.  I have a couple very sketchy memories of them.  However I have very clear memories of Aunt Lydia, pictured on the far left.  We visited her several times after we moved to St. Paul when I was six years old.  It is interesting to look at a picture and see people that you have heard so much about, but never met and you KNOW that you are related to them.

Well, a few months ago I decided to do an Ancestry DNA test.  I thought I knew exactly what would show up on this test since I have clear family tree records.  I know that my dad was 100% Swedish (both his parents came to the US directly from Sweden) and I know that my mom's mother was 100% Norwegian and her dad (pictured above) was 100% German.  Therefore, my DNA should be 75% Scandinavian and 25% German.  Apparently, you really can't believe your DNA tests!

My results actually do not show any German at all!  What????  I have the most detailed information about the Toensing family, including photos of relatives that still live in family homes in Germany.  My mom knew all about the Toensing family since both her dad and Aunt Anna told many, many stories of their parents immigration to the United States along with four of their siblings!  Yes, four of those people pictured above were actually born in Germany.  So what gives???

Well, to start off, my sister Julie has also done this DNA test and believe it or not, we do not share enough DNA to be siblings.  We have several first cousins, out of our 34 first cousins, that have also done this test and at least one of these does NOT show up at all as a relative of my sister.  We have totally different results.  And strangely enough, she DOES have German included in her results. 

However, in spite of this DNA result, I know that my German ancestors sowed many Spiritual seeds into my life.  I am so thankful for the detailed written and photographic evidences I have of my true heritage.  The son of one of my mom's cousins actually has traced the entire Toensing family tree.  He has visited relatives in Germany and also in South Africa.  The photo above was given to me, along with many others, by this man.   More than that, I am blessed with the knowledge through oral history (stories told to my mother and then retold to me) of the faith journey of our family.  I love that I know the connection - one generation to the next - and the way that the faith journey of these past generations are influencing me today.  This has given me a renewed desire to write, to tell and retell all of the precious memories from the generations before me, so that they are not lost to my children and grandchildren.  Exactly what I wrote about in my last blog post. 

I actually decided to do the DNA test after Ken did his.  Since he is adopted, we were more curious about what the DNA would show.  There was nothing very exciting on his results and no close relatives were found.  After seeing my results I really don't put much stock on the results of these tests anyway. 

So now I have another reason to continue to do this blog.  These posts about my daily life and memories of the past are being done for the future.  I am hopeful that there will be a time when my grandchildren will be interested enough to look through these posts and find a connection to their long ago generations.  I am praying that they will see the fruitfulness and the faithfulness of Jesus in my life when they read these words!

Jesus, thank you so much for photos and stories from the past that keep us connected to our ancestors.  Holy Spirit, help us to remember the importance of oral story telling, as well as written and photographic memories.  Jesus, thank you for the spiritual heritage that is woven into my family.  Amen

Family tree.....rooted in Love!

We had a very blessed Christmas celebration.  It was not the exact celebrate that we had planned, but it was wonderful.  We all gathered at Gwen and Tim's house in the morning and we spent the day together.  We ate.  We laughed.  We opened presents.  We ate some more.  We played games.  We talked.  We ate again.  And we laughed some more.  We made cookies and we ate some more!  And we played more games!  Yes, it was a wonderful and very full day.  

Last year I blogged about this amazing tree that we received from Gwen and Tim and the kids as a Christmas gift.  This year we received the LOVE!  These amazing metal decorations were made in Haiti out of used steel oil drums.   They are hammered and the detail is wonderful.  So last year's tree is now grounded and rooted in love!  And that sure reminds me of our family.

Making the day even more special were these amazing gifts from Doug and Susie.  Over the years, Susie has made a large frame for me with pictures of "Grandma and ......" for each of the grandchildren.  This year I received a frame for Anna and I and we also received this frame of Lucas with the family.  I know that this was most likely very difficult for Susie to spend time choosing pictures and assembling this frame.  And that makes it even more special to me.  Now our wall of frames is complete.  I think these frames represent the love that is the grounding force of our family.

Susie and Doug pressed through, and completed these difficult projects out of love.  I feel the love every time I look at these frames and each time I see those wall hangings.  

Today the weather was........well awful.  It started with a cold wind and rain/sleet.  And then there was more sleet and more wind.  And then it began to snow and sleet.  It actually built up to more than 2 inches of sleet/snow covering the ice that had formed on everything.  Yes, it was really an icky day. I canceled the plans I had to spend the day with Gwen and the kids and instead, spent the entire day in the nice warm house.  It was nice to have a day to just let the holiday celebrations "sink" into my spirit.  There were so many great memories - so many little snapshots of joy and hope. And mixed in was the reality of missing Lucas, who is always in our thoughts.  And there was so much love.

Our family has made a shift away from giving THINGS and towards ACTIVITIES that we can share.  If we have learned one thing during this last year, it is the power of just being together.  One of the things we did yesterday was "calendar coordination"!  We planned events out into the next few months.  And we made sure that there were lots of dates on the calendar.  We have much to look forward to.  Again, so much love.

I can't think of anything more important to sow into my family tree than a legacy of love.  Jesus IS love and when we share in activities together, we are sharing the love of Jesus in very real ways.  Susie and Doug brought ornaments to make together with the kids. It was so much fun watching them create Santas and Snowmen!  Watching the kids play games together - including the adults - was such an expression of love.  Doug and Zeke playing a rousing game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos.  Susie and Lia and Ellie playing a silly game of Twister.  Gwen and I playing Shopkins Bingo with Lia and Ellie.  It may seem so "ordinary" but today it feels "special" to me.  

In my "musings" today, I was thinking about these Bible verses....

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.    Isaiah 61:1-3

Yes, this Christmas was a picture of these verses for our family.  Lots of joy instead of mourning.  And our family tree is a planting of the Lord for a display of His splendor.  I know that without Jesus, our family would not be doing these "ordinary" things with so much joy.  It is because of Jesus that we celebrate His great love by sharing together in hope and joy.  It is Jesus who has turned our ashes into beauty.  And I am so grateful for Christmas and the chance to see his love in action.  

Jesus, thank you so much family and fun and fellowship together as we celebrate your birthday.  Holy Spirit, remind us all that your love brings light instead of darkness.  Jesus, thank you for hope instead of despair.  Amen