Starting with....Elijah

 

 I am finally back to our blog, and really appreciate Julie stepping in for me. We had a wonderful trip to see her and the whole family. I thought maybe I would share a couple of my favorite photos of each of the children, so that you can get to know them a little too. I decided to start with the youngest, Elijah. He turned one in January, and has been getting around for many months. He is an energetic bundle of toddler-hood. Above he is in Mama's arms with the rest of his siblings, as he greeted us on arriving.

 After arriving, I gave Julie her birthday present from JoAnn, a crocheted table runner. Here, Elijah is making off with said present!

 We did a lot of fun things while we were visiting, and one fine day went to a neighboring park. Elijah enjoyed the swings, and tried to play basketball with the BIG boys!

He is always looking for a bite to eat, and one of his favorite haunts is the kitchen counter. He is very photogenic with his great big eyes, and so we took a lot of pictures of him. Julie also has some great ones, so maybe she will add a few to these.



Below is the Easter photo of Elijah along with all the men in his family. Soon I'm sure he will get his blond curls cut off, so this may be the last of his rather precious babyhood photos.

It was fun to get to know this newest grandchild a bit better, and he even decided to give his Papa a wet kiss one day, in exchange for a bite of birthday cake.

There and Back Again

Mom and Dad made their visit to see me and my family in West Virginia and are safely returned home again.  Since we didn't end up getting any pictures up while they were here and things haven't gone just back to "normal" for Mom since being home (Granddaughter Macy is visiting for the week), I thought I'd better speak into the void and show off a few pictures from our special time together.

We were happy to get the updated picture of the two of us that you see above.  I don't see how I can be her daughter.  She's so beautiful!  I have a lot to live up to.

Date night, Chinese food.

I love this one!

Date night, Cold Stone Creamery for dessert.  Good food and fun.  I was really glad that we planned in that time with just the four of us.

And here's the whole group on Easter morning.  Are you wondering how they survived their 1 1/2 weeks with all of these munchkins?  I'll let Mom tell you about that and share the pictures of all that they did with the kids when she gets a chance.  It's so wonderful to be able to take pictures to remember these times and to be able to share our experiences and memories here on the blog. 

On why I LOVE family history and the heritage of family.

 All of my life it seems I have been interested in filling in my family tree, as well as that of the insurance man's family. For many years I have been particularly interested in his great-great grandfather, Elias Pitzer Williams and Elias's father, Thomas Williams. They both led fascinating lives, which included taming and farming the Black Swamp area of Ohio, journeying to Oregon on the Oregon Trail, becoming part of the Lost Wagon Train of 1853, and being some of the first settlers of Lane County. Thanks to a family of historians, we knew Thomas was of Welsh descent, but really nothing more. Family stories had it that he had three brothers, but in many years of research I was unable to uncover any more history.
Then, two weeks ago I had an astonishing break-through. Another Williams descendant, and fellow family history buff, discovered an article about Thomas' father and family, and posted it at Ancestry.com. This article was posted on the Cambria County, Pennsylvania website, and detailed the life of Rev. William Williams (1777-1848), a Welsh immigrant. Reverend Williams, and his wife Joned Rowland Williams, came to the United States in 1801 to pastor a Welsh Baptist Church in Beulah, Cambria County, PA. Rev. Williams was described in the article as being 5'7", about 170 lbs, with sandy hair and a heavy mustache. He and his wife had a total of eight children (the same number Julie will have a little later this year), and Thomas did indeed have three younger brothers. When the town of Beulah dwindled, Rev. Williams and his boys built a new log church building in the neighboring town of Bethel, where Rev. Williams continued to preach until his death in July of 1848. The church was called 'The Regular Baptist Church of Bethel', and both Rev. Williams and his wife are buried in the churchyard there. In one fell swoop, I had the entire history of Thomas' growing up years and family heritage.

 THOMAS DANIEL WILLIAMS

OCTOBER 10 1803-OCTOBER 18 1894

This same Williams family descendant (that I received my information from) had his grandfather die earlier this year. In going through his grandfather's things, he found and posted a new-to-me photo of Thomas D. Williams, a real treasure. You are looking at a truly remarkable man, who lived through amazing dangers and still lived to be 91 years old. His first born was Elias P. Williams, who later continued the family tradition, by helping to found the Dexter Baptist Church, just outside of Eugene, Oregon. Below is a photo of the church and congregation in 1909, and Elias is the one on the left, on his knees with a hat and long white beard.

The Williams family has continued on as Baptists, through Elias's son Joe Williams, his daughter Martha Louise Williams Brown, her daughter Bethel Brown Asmussen, and finally to her son (my insurance man) John Asmussen. What a heritage! Surely only the hand of God, and His mighty promises could have brought that to pass.

One more note of blessing. We are leaving tomorrow, for a visit with Julie, Peter, and all our wonderful grandchildren. In looking at a map, we discovered that the Bethel Baptist Church (still in use today) is only about an hour from where Julie lives. We have planned a day trip and a history lesson for the boys, to visit and take photos. In two weeks, I found another whole generation and history of the Williams family, and will get to visit the place of Thomas's birth and raising. What a wonder. The church is named Bethel, and is on Bethel Road. My mother-in-law is named Bethel....and has been a Baptist all her life. A coincidence? I don't think so.

New Furniture

One of the things that usually goes along with a change of housing is major or minor adjustment to furnishings.  I've had a hard time getting this house fixed up to look nice because it's a slow process to search out and find the things that will be just right.  There's no real hurry, but I do want the house to be comfortable and enjoyable for all the family.  We acquired a couple of very helpful items recently.

Pictured above: 

1)One of two matching chairs (that recline!) for the living room.  They were a fortunate find and are *just* right because they fulfill a very practical purpose of providing more seating (much needed), as well as being attractive and comfortable.  (I'm smiling).   

2)A new (to us) piano!  We previously were using an old upright piano that we got for free.  It worked just fine for the boys to do their piano practice on, but was really too large for the living space in our new house and was so, so heavy to try to move here.  It took a while, but we finally found this little spinet piano for sale which was a more appropriate size and weight for where we're at now.  We're so happy to get it and after a tuning and some minor work on the keys, it's playing so beautifully. 

Though small in the grand scheme of things, these finds feel like quite a triumph to me right now!  I'm grateful for each provision from the Lord. 

Spring In West Virginia

 Well...my mom does such a great job posting interesting and lovely things on this blog.  However, I guess I'd better stop excusing myself and contribute now and then.  I've been thinking about some things lately and hope to do several posts to pull my weight here.  :)  Seeing is believing!

We're getting our first blooms on our property.  It's very exciting because this is our first spring here.  Since we moved in December, everything has been a drab brown so far.  As the plants begin to wake up, I'm getting to see what is growing here.  I was pleased (as you can see above) to find some Forsythia blooming below the house last week. 

 The yellow is so cheerful!

And our woods have a delicate carpet of these tiny purple-white blooms.

Good-bye Trip....Postscript

 I found this photo this morning, after hunting around a bit. It was taken in 1995 at a family reunion, and shows me with my cousins Dale and Larry, all grown up. I think it will be a special photo for me now.

Our trip to Seattle went very smoothly, despite rain and snow from time to time. Larry was doing well in the hospital with pain control and we were able to visit most all afternoon. He was his usual joking self, which was fun and enabled all of us to enjoy our time together. It was really worth the trip, and God blessed us.

 Here are the three cousins, Larry, my brother Joe and I. My other cousin Beckie was not able to go as she is recovering from having pneumonia.

An interesting life phenomenon is the circle of life. While we were there we got to meet our niece's first baby and my brother's first grandchild.....Aiden Josiah Wheeler, born March 2nd. It's so good to know that while one life is ending, one is beginning and how that plays out all around the world every minute of every day. 

A Good-Bye Journey

 When I was growing up in Seattle on 38th NE, these two little boys were growing up on 36th NE. They are my cousins, Dale (brown hair) and Larry (blond). My mother's brother Harold and his family lived just two short city blocks from us. These boys are both older than I and my brother, Dale by seven years and Larry three 1/2 years. But we did have fun playing all sorts of games in our respective basements when the adults would get together. We also had a large extended family in the area, as my mom and Harold had six other siblings. What a group of cousins we had, and how much fun we all had together. It was a great part of my growing up.

 This photo always makes me laugh, as at one of our family get-togethers both Harold and Larry were worn out!

The boys and I did not attend the same schools after grade school however, as Dale and Larry graduated from Roosevelt High in Seattle and I had the great privilege of attending a private Christian school through graduation. We all went our separate ways after that.

Larry has a wonderful testimony of that time in his life, and has shared it in High Schools and Churches around the Seattle/Everett area for many years. Briefly told, he got involved with alcohol and drugs in school, and ended up becoming an alcoholic and heroin addict, living on the beaches in Hawaii in the late 60's-early 70's. His mother was praying for him, and one day he wandered into a church on Maui, and picked up a Gideon Bible and began to read it. The wonderful Pastor there found him and took him home, resulting in Larry giving his life back to Jesus. God instantly and miraculously took all addictions away from him, including heroin, nicotine and alcohol. What a huge blessing that has been for him all these years. As he says, God took the monkey on his back away, when he had lost all hope it could ever be removed. He came home and got his life straightened around. About that time, I had married the insurance man, and was living in Seattle while he trained in the Oregon National Guard. I could join him in San Antonio for the last part of training, but my Dad didn't want me driving that far by myself. Larry was home but still at loose ends, so volunteered to go with me. He and I drove together, straight through from Burns (where my in-laws live) to San Antonio, taking turns at the driving. He still had a full beard and very long thick blond hair, so when we were stopped outside of Phoenix for speeding in the dead of night, the police officer was suspicious in the extreme of any 'hippies'. I convinced him to call my Dad, who then explained the situation and we were let 'go', much to both our relief. All the south at that time was wary of hippies, and we had some funny experiences along the way.  After some heavy duty sleep, Larry flew back to Seattle, went to work and met a lovely girl, Merry Ludwick who he married six months later.

 Larry's dad Harold worked at Todd's shipyards at Elliott Bay in Seattle. Sadly, he later contracted Mesothelioma from asbestos exposure, and died at age 65. My aunt Nuna was left a widow at a fairly young age, and lived alone for many years. Larry remained very close to his Mom, and they lived around the town of Marysville for many years. She died last year, and I wrote about her on this blog. She was living in an assisted living facility in Everett, and Larry went to visit her most every day.

Larry and Merry have two children, a daughter Poppy and a son Paul. They now are each married, and Larry has three granddaughters. Larry has been retired from the Everett School System for the last few years and enjoying his granddaughters. This past year he was diagnosed with the same terrible form of cancer as his father. Larry worked at Todd's Shipyards for two winters after high school, before leaving for Hawaii, and it seems that was enough to be exposed to the asbestos. They did find the cancer much earlier than with Uncle Harold, and did a major surgery last fall. However, the cancer has returned and currently Larry is in the University of Washington hospital for pain control and radiation. It is only a matter of time now, and since he just turned 65 last month, it looks as if he will pass away at the same age as his father did.

The insurance man and I are joining my brother this week-end and another cousin to go and say good-bye. It will be both good and hard all rolled into one. The very good news is that Larry has served our God and his Savior and is at peace with knowing this is in God's plan for his life. We will all be together again one day soon. I am so glad that I have an opportunity to go and say good-bye, and hopefully encourage him and Merry. These are never easy times in a family, and yet what a blessed hope we have as believers...and how much we have to be thankful for in our redemption.