photos, family history, sacred responsibilities

I was looking through some pictures today and came across one of Alex's paternal grandmother. She had red hair like me (and Nathan - he's in the picture below), and I think because of that, we had an instant connection. She had a bit of an ornery personality too - she was great. She loved to hear me play the piano. She wrote letters to us, and I remember her always telling Alex to take care of me. I'm thankful that I got to spend some time with her. Of Alex's grandparents, she was the one that I spent the most time with.


She passed away on November 3, 2006. I played "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" on the piano at her funeral service. Thinking about her got me thinking about the family that I have married into. It's not easy to adjust to a new family, but I'm very thankful for Alex's family and their kindness and acceptance of me. And thank you John and Fay for raising such a great son! My first Thanksgiving (see pic below) after Alex and I were married was at his paternal grandparents house.

His grandpa wasn't doing very well, but I did get to meet him before he passed away in 2002.

I also got to meet Alex's maternal grandparents. His maternal grandmother was bedridden and she couldn't talk to us. But I remember singing songs to her, hoping that she would be able to hear us and know a little bit about who I was. I sensed that she could feel our spirit and I can't wait to actually meet her again someday. Alex's maternal grandpa passed away in April 2007 - he also had an ornery personality and loved to write letters to us. Often he would re-use the back of something else. One time, on the back of his letter, was a response to a letter he had written to Teen Magazine. He complained that there weren't more cars in the magazine. They responded saying that their main audience was teens, but they did include a copy of a magazine that had a girl sitting on a car on the cover... I wish we could have spent more time with him.

I also feel a great sense of responsibility of carrying on their line. Right now, Alex and I have the sole responsibility for that (there's still hope for you Jim...). Alex has one brother (not married yet) and no cousins. We're it for this portion of the line... I am taking that role very seriously though...

Feeling a bit of the Spirit of Elijah (see this talk called "Hearts Bound Together for more about that) and a connection to the people who went before me, I went to look at some more pictures. Alex's Aunt Jane sent most of these to us - it is really neat to think about where we came from, or in this case how Alex came to be. Here's a look at his dad's side:

4 generation photo with Alex, his dad, grandma, and Nathan
A younger picture of his dad, John
Alex's grandma Ruth and grandpa Gerald Edward (Gerald was 3 of 4 kids) - on a side note, this is where Jared's name (Jared Edward) came from, but there are more Edwards in the line.

Gerald's parents (Alex's great grandparents) - Edith and Clarence
(Clarence was 7 of 8 kids. Yeah for 7th borns!)
Clarence's parents (Alex's great great grandparents) - Martha Ellen and Edward (they had 8 children: Edward, Sarah, Charles, Clifford, Susie, Alta, Clarence, and Grant)
Alex and Jim with his parents and grandparentsI'm so thankful for all of these people - for because of them, I have a wonderful husband (also quite handsome and you can see on down the line where he got that), 3 wonderful boys, and surely more on the way - who knows where the line will go!