You've stepped inside the door. Welcome! It's so good to know that you are here and that we are family together. Beautiful women all. Now that I have you here I must confess. I do not have a master plan but I do have a Master who has a plan. I have felt compelled to gather us together and find a place where we can begin to share our stories. Just by going forward this far and creating a group on Facebook you can see that this is not under my control. We are a living, breathing organism called family. I do believe that within the immediate family there are close to fifty feminine souls. Can you believe it?
Let me tell you my original motivation for all of this. Recently I was going through an old journal shelf. I love little books and I have many journals started for many reasons. I came across one that I had purchased in Costa Rica and it was entitled, "All The Women In My Family." I had made a list of all of you at the time. It was before any of my daughters were married. It was before some of you married into the family. It was before Mama was diagnosed with Alzheimers. It was while Aunt Jinny was still with us.
The reason I had started the list was that my heart was very stirred to gather us all together for a retreat/reunion. I didn't know how I would go about it. It's rather difficult with my living all the way up here in Canada. I just knew it would be an awesome thing to do. We have so much talent amongst us. In my life I have hosted many women's events and I thought it would be amazing to have one with my own family. I never did anything with the idea.
Another example. When Sara was born she had every single grandmother that a girl could have from both sides of the family. We all lived in an 18 mile radius of each other. I wanted to put together a little tea party in their honour. Who knows what happened at the time but I do remember being annoyed with Grama Laura about something or other. I never did it. Ugh!!! Picture this picture that never happened...Little Sara, Her Mom Linda, Grandmothers Eileen and Carmen, Great Grandmothers Laura, Marie, Lena and Lola. What I would give to have that picture today.
Hence, the urgency to obey this prompting at this time. I don't want to regret not attempting to do my utmost to keep the unity of our family through whatever creative means we have.
At the very inmost heart of all of this is Jesus. I have been struck once again at what a tremendous heritage we have. How many can say that God penetrated hearts to the saving of an entire household? It staggers my imagination. This process started long before I came into existence. There were prayers prayed and lives lived before any of us came to be. Sacrifices were made, spiritual fields were plowed.
I will be ever thankful that one day in February, 1971 God opened my eyes to His Son Jesus and completely altered my heart forever.
I am not a bit good at dates and chronological orders and I certainly don't have many pieces to the overall puzzle of our heritage. I just want to be faithful to the puzzle pieces that I do have. I will never be able to tell the stories of my grandmother's generation except what she told me. As an adult I have many times wondered about things in my search to understand myself better. Often it led to generational ideas and concepts that were handed down to me. Sandy and I called it "Exploring The Ancient Ruins" based on a Beth Moore Bible study we were doing at the time. We have had many hours of ponderings together.
My thoughts turn now to the upcoming generations. Our stories should be told to the best of our ability just in case they want to do some exploring of their own when the time comes.
I haven't given up on the idea of a retreat together. I trust it will happen in due season. In the meantime we can have reunions here at our computers. I will begin posting random stories and pictures. Trust me, they will be random because like I said, I'm not one for linear thinking. It's like taking a journey together. As we go I certainly hope that some of you will desire to publish some blog posts on this site. I just recently saw Lori and Sara and I learned some really cool things about the piano she has that belonged to Grama Laura.
Oh, yes. There are stories to be told, memories to share, testimonies to give...So be sure to leave comments at the end of the posts. Your voice is important. You alone hold pieces to this puzzle.
I will close this now. I will post as I feel inspired. I am the Queen of Random as you will certainly experience!
Loving you all,
Linda
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