Sharing from one generation to the next and to the next....

Beginning again.  I started a blog post on Sunday but never finished it.  So yesterday I purposed to finish it and get it published.  After working on it for two hours, I tried to publish and it would not work.  I tried to save the post and exit to try again.  When I exited, the post was totally gone.  Sigh.  About four hours of work, just gone. This is very frustrating since the program generally saves your work every few minutes.  For some reason, the save was not working either (which I clearly didn't know).  But, I have learned my lesson and I will SAVE manually many times while typing each post.
So, to begin again.  

It's hard to get back into the swing of things when you return from vacation.  And the last couple of weeks have seemed very busy.  On Monday, Gwen and I took the kids to a new Jump place that was closer to my house than theirs.  The kids love these places and get tired of the same old thing, so a new place is always fun.  We watched the kids climb, jump and slide for a couple hours and then took them to lunch.  We went to one of Gwen's favorite places from her childhood - Colonial Ice Cream. Unfortunately the building is new, but the business is the same.  Gwen and I were reminiscing about the many, many times we went to Colonial after youth group and/or church activities.  There is something special about seeing the grandchildren enjoying the same things that your kids did.  It was just a little bit of sharing one generation to the next and then to the next! 

Over the last several years, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about and documenting (scrapbooking) my ancestors.  Having grandchildren really changes how you think about your place on the family tree.  In so many different ways, there have been lessons learned and new insights as I have discovered the deep spiritual heritage sown by long ago relatives.  On arriving home from our recent vacation, I was surprised by this package in the mail....

These two books were sent to me by a distant cousin of my mother.  Both books are written in German and were published in the 1850's.  One contains an inscription by my grandfather, Arnold Toensing and the other by his sister, Lydia Toensing.  The cousin, Delwin Mahn, who sent me these books, has no children or grandchildren.  So I am sure that he is trying to keep these very precious items in the family.  I am delighted to have the book belonging to my grandfather, and will be sure that it is passed along to the next generation.   Holding the book in my hand that belonged to my mother's aunt Lydia, caused me to really stop and think.  

Aunt Lyd was particularly important to my mom.  Next to her Aunt Anna (who helped raise her after her mom died) she was closer to Aunt Lyd than any of her other aunts.   Aunt Lyd's daughter Jeanette (my mom's cousin) was the same age as mom and they would spend many summers and vacations together.  

I couldn't help but think of this picture.  This is the only picture my mom ever had of her with her mother.  Pictured are Aunt Lyd and Jeanette on the far left, then my mom with her Dad and Mom, and the four kids are Delwin (Jeanette's brother) and my mom's sisters Beatrice, Phyllis and Eunice.  The owners of those two books - in one picture!  My grandfather and his sister.  Sadly, my grandmother Nora died around a year after this picture was taken.  My grandfather's family stepped in to help a young widower with 4 little girls (ages 8, 6, 5 and 2).  Considering this was 1917, not an easy thing.  

The most interesting thing about this story to me, is that I actually have memories of Aunt Lydia!

For my mom, one of the best parts of moving to St. Paul was that we would be close to Jeanette.  And we certainly did get to spend lots of time at her house. It was such fun to meet and get to know Jeanette (who was so much like my mom).   My grandfather and Aunt Anna had both died before I was 3 years old.  So I only have a few memories of them.  Every little grade schooler wants grandparents and I was always sad that I didn't even really have stories of my grandparents, let alone memories.  So being with Aunt Lyd was really special for me.  I even remember visiting her at her "apartment" in a senior living facility.  It was very sad when she died when I was around 8 years old.  

But here I am, holding a book that actually belonged to a very young Lydia.  And while the book is special for me, I would love to find one of Jeanette's children to pass this book along.  Sadly, our family has lost touch with all of them, so I am hoping that internet connections will be made to get this book to those that might treasure it the most. 

I am sure that in the early 1900's no one was thinking about saving things for future generations.  Times were so different and life was so much harder.  Even photographs were few and far between.  Only done for very special occasions.  I am so thankful for the pictures that we do have.  It makes sharing these stories with my grandchildren, so much easier.  Every time I think about ending this blog, I am reminded that WORDS are important.  Pictures are great, but if you don't know anything about the scene, it is pretty meaningless.  That is why it is so important to journal along with scrapbooking.   I am in possession of a very old scrapbook of un-labled pictures from Ken's side of the family.  No one knows who these people are.  Clearly they are relatives, but exactly who, is a mystery.  By the time Ken's dad gave me the album, he had no idea who the pictures were of.  And in the age of Instagram and digital pictures it is my fear that so many of these pictures will remain with no identification and no story.  So I will continue to blog and tell stories about pictures, to preserve in some small way, a bit of our family heritage.  

So after amazing views off of mountain summits, I have come back down to earth.  Down where blogs sometimes don't save and vanish at a push of a button.  Back to normal life.  But that panoramic view of the clouds and sky and valleys left an impression on me.  No matter what small thing goes wrong, there is always a blessing around the corner.  I love spending time with my grandchildren.  I love finding connections to my ancestors.  And I love that I can share stories and memories with all of you and with my family to make sure that at least some pictures have words with them..  

Storytelling is an important art and it has been lost for the most part.  The entire Bible is stories that share the great spiritual heritage we have been given.  Each one of us has stories to tell and we need to discover ways to share with those around us.  I am sure that there are many reading this who just might be bloggers or writers but you have never started out!  Make today a day so sharing.  There is so much love and so many powerful lessons when we start telling our stories.  

Jesus, thank you for the plan you have had for families since Adam and Eve.  Thank you for photos and computers and all the amazing developments that we take for granted.  Holy Spirit, nudge us all to share stories of your presence in our life and give us courage and boldness to speak!  Keep us all aware of the importance of being connected - to each other and to our ancestors.  Thank you for surprise packages that come with memories.  Amen

Where the wind blows.........

We have been having a really good time on this trip, doing a bit of relaxing.  We have also been exploring this area, which is a new one for us!  The weather has been less than wonderful, very chilly and WINDY!  And I mean really WINDY!  It has been "red flagged" every day that we have been here, so sadly I have not gotten to swim - at all.  Sigh.  We have had lots of beach time and it has been fun to watch the waves, but this is right up there with "be careful what you wish for" things!  Remember I said I wanted waves?  Well, I got them.  Ten foot waves (very unusual for here).  So yesterday we went to a nearby state park pier.

Not only was it a RED flag day, it was also a purple flag day!  And what, you might ask, is a purple flag?  Well, I was glad for this sign....

You can't quite read it, but purple says "dangerous marine life"!  What?????  I was surprised by that!  We walked along the shore and got some great pictures of the waves, the pier, and then we spotted this....

I should have taken a picture with my foot in it to show the size of this Jellyfish.  It was bigger than a large dinner plate.... more than a foot across,  So, yes, this was the dangerous marine life that caused the purple flag!  Suddenly I was glad to not be swimming in these waters!

Today was another high surf day, so we headed off to Mobile to see the USS Alabama  Museum.  

I was surprised to find out that we could wander this battleship on our own with just a paper "tour guide".  I was amazed by so many things about this ship.  First of all.... the size!  It is really, really big!  Until you see that there were 2,300 men on this ship!  WHAT????  Suddenly it seemed very small.  And there were lots of places that were so narrow and had really no railings.  I imagined the ship rocking on the waves and wondered how the men kept from falling off.  We walked on so many "ladders" (they are so steep that you can't call them stairs.  And there were so many of them, Again I couldn't imagine running up and down them while the ship was moving - let alone in a battle!) We got down into the "bowels" of the ship and saw where the enlisted men slept. Stacked up four high on cots suspended from the ceilings.  We saw the officers quarters and the NCO rooms.  The kitchens and mess areas where interesting.  These were also converted to sleeping quarters at night.  The tables where stowed and beds where suspended from the ceilings.   All I could think about was my dad and Ken's dad.  Both served in the Navy during the time period that this ship was in use.  My dad was one of those enlisted men on the lowest decks.  Ken's dad was one of those officers.  I walked those decks and thought about the battles and the men that were lost.  All of the sacrifices made for the freedoms we have today.  This ship was near to Japan when the bombs were dropped, ending the war in the Pacific.  Honestly, I got quite claustrophobic when we were so far down in the ship.  I just wanted to get up into the fresh air.  And I got very queasy more than once, up on a high place with very little railings around.  I can't imagine the conditions during a war time.  Yes, I have a new respect for all of our veterans and those currently serving in the military.  And I so wish that our dads were still around to talk about their experiences.  There is so much I would like to ask them!  

Isn't that always the way?  We think about all of the things that we would like to say or ask of someone who is now dead.  It is a good reminder to pay attention to people around us.  I am sure that there are people that I know that have served in one of the more recent "military conflicts" that have stories to share.  Ken and I were discussing that most WWII veterans have already died.  Soon it will be hard to find any veterans of the Korean conflict.  I am so thankful for the preservation of this ship and others like it, that keep this history from just being a page in a book.  

So, once again, it is back to the importance of a testimony.  The telling of your story.  Our story - the United States of America - is a story that is grounded on God.  Founded on the principle that God has ordained and blessed this land.  Even now, when things look so.....well "ungodly"... our testimony is that God has called us and blessed us.  No matter what is happening right now in the government, in our schools, in our families..... we are a blessed people.  And every one of our testimonies needs to begin there.  We are a blessed people, who know Jesus and trust in His saving work on the cross.  

Jesus, thank you for this day, for who you are and all that you have done for me.  Thank you for museums that preserve our past and leave a testimony for the future.  Thank you for veterans and those in active service in the military.  Holy Spirit, remind us all to listen to the stories of those around us.  Give us nudges to seek out people who have life experiences to share.  Give us all courage and boldness to share our own stories.  Thank you for HIS story!  Amen