New Year

Well it's 2011. We've had a lot of snow so far this year. Over 15 inches yesterday! I am sore to say the least--it was very heavy snow. I was busy shoveling it into a big fort complete with tunnel for entry. The kids and I had fun. Asa had only one full day of school this week, he's on a delay today and it's snowing again.

So lately I have again been working on our family tree on Ancestry.com. I bought an international membership so I can now see international census records and such. This is so much fun for me, I feel like a sleuth and I love finding pieces of the puzzle and having things match up on records. I am stuck on a few sides but still am thankful to have relatives to ask questions of. I love getting stories about people, not just their names, origin and birth years. I love having a face to put into the name even if I don't have a picture. This is a big job though, it takes a lot of time and thought. My brain is usually fried after I research for a while. I love that it gives me the excuse to talk to older relatives that I normally may never have talked to again. (As sad as that sounds)It's amazing how many ways a specific family's name was recorded wrong throughout the years. That's the kind of stuff that makes searching difficult. It's important for me to do this though because it seems so many people don't have any interest in it, and I am afraid that family heritage will be lost forever. I want to pass it along so my kids and their kids can know how and when their ancestors came to this country and where they came from. I have all their family members back to where they migrated from...at least country wise. Although I do have a family member with a Polish name who was born in Germany. A little confused about that. I eventually would love to publish a book for family and especially my kids, complete with recipes of beloved dishes their ancestors made. I hope that I can accomplish this in my life.

Life is so short though. I have been thinking about this lately. It changes your perspective on issues with people or most earthly problems when you realize tomorrow could be your last. I am not saying that in a sad way either. I have just heard of/ or have known quite a few people lately who have passed away early. It makes me appreciate life and my family so much more. It makes me much more likely to over look offenses and not be so sensitive about petty things that I normally get upset about. It makes me want to hug my kids and other family members and let them know how much I love them way more than I normally would. It really just helps me put life into the right perspective: God is in complete control--not me. It even helps me not to put value on material things I want. I realize I can live without so much that I have and how wasteful I am and then ways to change that. It makes me realize how much courage I lack when it comes to speaking up and standing up to people who don't know the Truth and that I have nothing to lose if I can be loving in how I challenge/inform them. Seize the day!

I better go get my kids ready to drive to school, since we missed the bus as I was writing this!