Blogcoming

The past two weeks I’ve taken a vacation from the blog to spend some time writing. Yep, getting back to basics with the ol’ paper and pen.

Just like with any other vacation, the vacation is officially over when the unpacking begins. Although I hate unpacking, there are some thoughts that need to be ironed out, so prepare for a long post.

Branch Activity

This past weekend we had our first official branch activity. It was a simple activity. Just bring your lunch to Bird Park and hang out.

Michael and I are the sole members of the activities committee, besides Murphy. “Murphy” here is short for Murphy’s Law, as in "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

Those of you who were unable to make it to the activity, you did not miss a thing… You may be on the outside of an inside joke or two though.

Oh, and seeing as we do not have a Branch Historian… because we are a branch after all. I snapped pictures of the event. I made a scrap of a few. I am trying to decide if I want to setup a private blog for a branch album, give me your input.

Thanks to the Jordans, Allens, Merediths, Byerlys, McGuires, the Elders and the investigators they brought along,

for coming out to play!

Special thanks to the Regans for saving the day!

All Ears

I have been thinking a lot about friends lately. No, that does not describe it well. I guess I’ve been thinking about consideration and kindness as of late. Genuine kindness.

I wonder sometimes if the art of listening is dying. There is superficial listening, where we use a person’s stream of speech to mentally prepare our rebuttal, our advice, our perspective. We are not really listening to what is being said, the intent.

Also, I wonder sometimes if being honest has become out-dated in conversations. Maybe not intentionally, then again maybe so.

Not intentional due to the time restrictions that make us mumble

“Fine” “Great” “Okay”

when someone asks us how we are doing.

Intentional when we know if we say

“Poorly” “Overwhelmed” “Pressed”

we are exposing ourselves, our “weaknesses” and our circumstances, so we say “Fine” and move on.

I am guilty of both, not having enough time or confidence in those around me.

The fact is: I’m not perfect. I’m not happy all the time. The covenants I’ve made do not exclude me from times of trial, doubt or sadness. They are supposed to help me through those times. I realize that, but do others?

What ever happened to eternal progression, not instant perfection?
Or just talking-it-out to someone?

So, I want YOU to know: If YOU ever need to just talk- to unpack those words or iron-out those thoughts- YOU can talk to me and I WILL LISTEN. I will not offer a rebuttal, advice or perspective, unless YOU ask for IT. All I will do is LISTEN, NOD my head, and maybe say,

“YEAH, I GET THAT.”

That’s my promise to YOU

because I know how hard it is to find a good listener these days.

Going Green

This past weekend, Mike and I had a thought. We thought that maybe we should look into our ancestors and see if anyone lived out here in Massachusetts. This is an odd thought because most of our families immigrated to America in the late 1800s. Mine settled mostly in Minnesota (doncha know?) and Pennsylvania before moving further west to Indiana and Missouri then to Arizona. Michael’s family… well… Michael’s ancestors were mostly converted to the Church in their homelands of Denmark, England and Scotland (adopted line) and settled in early church locales like Nauvoo or to the later church settlements in Utah.

I digress. The point is I know when I have a thought like this; especially ones related to genealogy, I should look into it.

So, I doubled-checked my line, and found… nada.

Checked through Michael’s line and stumbled across a branch I hadn’t done too much research on because, well, we’ll just say the family member that stems the branch is very “controversial” in his family history.

And whatdoyaknow, Michael’s great, great, great, great, great grandparents (on the Green side, for those Thomsons out there in blogdom) lived in Norfolk County (that’s the county we live in). As I traced further back we learned that some of his ancestors lived in MENDON and HINGHAM (we belong to the Hingham Stake). And even further back we learned about John Ellis, one of Mike’s ancestors. Who knew Mike was descended from such a troublemaker?

Now we have a new project. We are going to see if we can find a grave site, any grave site of his ancestors who resided out here. Which is going to be difficult for several reasons: 1) the graves will be anywhere from 200-400 years old- meaning they may not be recorded or even marked or if they are marked the marking may be eroded and 2) the oldest grave I have found was dated back to the early 1800s- this is new territory for me.

YOHO! A genealogical adventure awaits!

It feels good to be back. : )