November 2021 Days of Gratitude 16-30

Day 16 a miracle in our lives occurred about four months ago. We experienced watching our very active daughter being brought to her knees by the Covd19 Virus. The horror of watching her via zoom as she passed through this nightmare was so wrought with emotion. She was alone and isolated in a hospital room. The medical staff were not sure she would survive. Her husband and four children all had mild cases. They could not go see her, but each sent an item for her to cling to as the struggle continued for several days. We all felt the prayers offered by family, friends and associates around the world. This horrendous virus impacted so many families. Those prayers were answered when she returned home a week later. We are so grateful she is with us and as active as ever. Her recovery is still happening a day at a time, but we see each day as another miracle. Day 17 after giving a lot of thought about what to write for yesterday I thought today about the many people who during the past year assisted me in the research for the book that I am writing. This book has been on my mind for a long time and the pandemic gave me the time to pursue that goal. I descend from the Tidd family who came to New England in 1637 and many of the family artifacts, photos, stories, etc. have been passed on to me. Over the years I worked with many fellow descendants to understand this wonderful family. This week I am compiling the list of books and other materials used in the process of discovery. From my own collection there are 50 books, from the Genealogical Forum of Oregon there are 30 books, from the local libraries 10 books and from my friend Janice there are 15 for New England and 24 for Virginia. I am very grateful for everyone who volunteers their time to assist me. My proof reader has been exceptionally helpful. A special thank you to my fellow contributors Bonnie, Maryetta and Holly. Now that I have reviewed the information found in 129 books, it is time to finish the writing! Day 18 and I am enjoying holiday commercials, music and yes, the sappy Hallmark Movies. Last year we spent ten days over the holidays in Wyoming and that certainly is something to be grateful for. This year feels very different. Like part of the spirit of Christmas is affected by the turmoil of having Covid19, the variants and the vaccines still haunting us. Most of my time is spent at home alone and while that is good for getting my work done, it is also very hard. The Internet and telephone help me stay connected. We still live in a wonderful world. So do whatever it takes to bring that spirit of happiness, joy and peace into your life and the lives of those around you. A smile, a hug, a kind comment. Simple things that can bring great rewards. Day 19 today I got out of the house and went to the store. I am grateful that there was an electric shopping cart, charged and ready to go. There is a sense of freedom when I use one. First I had my flu shot, which I made an appointment for the night before. I was the only person there, with no wait at all. Sat right in the chair and did not feel a thing. My friends reported seeing long lines of people waiting other places to get vaccinated. Then I shopped for about an hour, completed my shopping list and browsed through the Christmas things. That certainly lifted my spirits, along with the wonderful holiday music being played. To all the people who assisted me or offered to help, Thank You! Your kindness towards me was very much appreciated. Day 21 - I just noticed that yesterday I posted as Day 30, made a quick correction and we are back on track. Last night I was working hard to finish the list of books used for the major current family history project. Today was for relaxing and celebrating. Some very generous people helped me along this road of discovery. Here are the results. 156 Books viewed for a list of surnames - Tidd, Teed, Death, De Ath, Dodman, Mazry, Mazzy, Appleyard, etc., mostly in Virginia and some in New England. One friend has 112 Virginia books and 15 New England books, and 38 had important information. There were 29 books reviewed by a volunteer at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon and 11 had key information. This took a couple of months to accomplish. I am so grateful for everyone who assisted with this project. Now I am patiently waiting for the box of six books from GFO which should arrive on Monday. Miracles happen daily in our lives and I give thanks for those blessings in my life. Look for the miracles happening in your life. Day 20 and I am grateful for my mother who passed away in 2013. As her oldest child she spoiled me in many ways. When I look around our home there are many things which she gave to me. Her collections (of which I have a part) are impressive. She also would give to my sister and me items that matched what she had. After she died I discovered how smart she was as she worked to preserve the estate she had built with our father who passed away in 1988. As her personal representative I was grateful that she had prepared me for her passing. Our parents started from scratch, as did their parents, in providing a rich heritage for my three siblings and me. Watching her give testimony with regards to the family property three days prior to her passing she amazed me in how well she communicated important facts. She truly had unconditional love for each of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Day 21 Tonight I am grateful to live near a Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The temples are calming, soothing, quiet, comforting places to visit. They offer the opportunity to reflect on the challenges we face and put them into perspective. I am grateful to have this blessing in our lives. When a new temple or remodeled one opens there are opportunities for people who are not members to have a tour. Otherwise these buildings are dedicated for the use of the membership. Unlike a church, which can be a place bustling with activity, in the temples they maintain an atmosphere of peace and reverence. Day 22 - Just watched Saints and Strangers part 1. An amazing show. Part 2 is tomorrow. We descend from Stephen Hopkins through Daniel Tidd and Sarah Jane Eldridge. He is nine generations out from Sarah and thirteen generations from me. The show really brings history to life. I am grateful for our ancestors and the sacrifices they made in coming to this country. The book Saints and Strangers is on my bookshelf and I need to read it again. We have ancestors from many countries who came in various time periods. What a blessing to have history to share with our descendants. Doing family history is so much more than names, dates and places. Day 23 a quiet day on the home front. Did some sorting through things and my office is looking better. I am grateful to have seven days in a week, even though sometimes I may struggle to know what day of the week it is. My handy calendars and pill sorter are great for keeping me on track. Then the cell phone tells me the time and what day it is. We are blessed with amazing tools to help us keep our lives in order. Day 24 Today I am thankful for life and the experiences that come from living. The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Each one refines us and enables us to develop who we are meant to be. With age comes the joy of watching the young explore the possibilities before them. As we join with others over the next few days may we share all that life offers us. Savor the moments of our lives. Look for the blessings and be grateful for them. Day 25 Thanksgiving, and we are home again full of love and delicious food. Our daughter invited our family to their new home. We dined on turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing with sausage, deviled eggs, broccoli salad, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, asparagus, delicious rolls, cornbread with honey butter, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, a chocolate birthday cake for our newest daughter in-law, and a little spray whipped cream. I use the sampler system to try just a little of everything. The five of our children who live locally and their in-laws joined us. The two granddaughters were very involved in all of the preparations. They can certainly be proud of their efforts. One of the first events of the day was a live video with the four grandchildren in Wyoming. Each of them are so very precious to us. How very blessed we are! Day 26 I am not a black Friday shopper. Crowds are not my thing, especially if I can avoid them. Being at home is the time I enjoy the most. So the Friday after Thanksgiving you will probably find me at home putting away the decorations and starting to process the Christmas decorations. They have been accumulated over 40 years and some are from my parents and grandparents. They are the things that remind me of the special people in my life. I love twinkling lights, the smell of greenery, the sound of music and the laughter of my grandchildren. If they are combined that is the best blessing of all. Day 27 I am grateful to be able to worship at church with fellow members. This freedom of religion is a precious gift. No matter what your beliefs, living in the U.S. avails the choice of how, what, who, when and where to worship. We need to fully appreciate and protect that freedom. Day 28 We have not put up the tree yet. This is from a couple of years ago. Every ornament is significant to our family. My favorites are the metal ornaments with pictures of our family members in them. If you happen to have some extras like these I would love to have a few more as our family continues to expand. After 44 years of collecting it is still fun to add something new each year. The kids have taken a few to their homes. Day 29 This is for our grandchildren who love to build with Legos. I love it when they share pictures of what they build. Day 30 - Yep, this is the grand finale. Back to working on the project that I hope to complete this coming year. It is genealogy at its best. Over 400 years of family history. About thirteen generations of amazing information. This is my only line to come this early to New England. It is why my area of accreditation is in New England. They kept such beautiful records. The key is finding the records, some of which are still coming to life after hundreds of years being kept in archives. A heartfelt gratitude goes out to familysearch.org. They have been mining these records for over a century and making them freely accessible. Then they teamed up with ancestry.com and americanancestors.org to continue to seek out more records. Again familysearch.org does their part of the work with volunteers and missionaries. They are working around the world, around the clock to digitize records to protect them from being lost to future generations. If you want to help they are always looking for people willing to do indexing the records to further move the work forward. It is an amazing work and I am thankful to be a part of it!

November 2021 Days of Gratitude 1-15

November 2021 Days of Gratitude Day 1 of Gratitude. I am so thankful for our family. Having children and grandchildren to share our lives with is wonderful. Each one is so unique. They help to lift me up when I am feeling down. They distract me from my worries and concerns. I treasure every minute that we get to spend together. This is my tenth year posting and my family is always the first post. Thank you for all that you do for me. Day 2 - Gratitude is such a wonderful gift. When we reach out to each other and they reach out to us we come to know pure love. We bring out the best in each other when we serve in love. If you are needing more love find someone else who you can give love to. Let us be patient, kind and focused on making each day better for those around us and in turn the days will be better for us. Day 3 for this day I am grateful to be alive. We often do not take the time to appreciate each day and the challenges that they bring. After all the amazing things that I have experienced in sixty-seven years it is a miracle to have survived. Moving forward every day brings new discoveries and renewed confidence in those around me. Enjoy the journey and know that there are many who will see us through to the end. Day 4 - I am thankful for the simple things in life. The cactus and orchid are amazing to watch. I enjoy sharing them with others. In our backyard the birds have once again discovered the bird feeders. The hummingbirds are back and an assortment of smaller birds. They love the flowers and several were using the bird bath this morning. I like to see the changing weather, rain, sunshine, clouds, and soon enough snow. Being at home more allows me to appreciate all of nature’s beauty while being warm and cozy indoors. Day 5 of gratitude my focus is on quiet moments to catch up on the order of life. It is great to have a day at home when you can sort, clean, and declutter. It feels so good to put order to paperwork, computer files, calendars and all the things that make our lives run more smoothly. Maybe this has to do with the change of time tomorrow night. So grateful for an extra hour of sleep. Day 6 last night I worked on my own family history. While I am a mixture of English, German, French, Danish, Norwegian and some unknowns, all in all it is interesting. My English line includes some Mayflower people and other early New England inhabitants. I am grateful for those people who came in the early 1600s and settled in the primitive areas of Massachusetts. They were humble and hardworking people who survived the many obstacles thrown in their way. Now they are linked to me on the Family Tree found at familysearch.org. Day 7 and I am grateful for my family. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and six great children. They have enhanced my life in so many ways. The most beautiful part to me is how they support each other. They know that they can call on their siblings for advice, a listening ear, encouragement, and love as needed. They have been taught to work hard, contribute to society and serve others. That service truly begins at home with our family. Day 8 and we are one week closer to Thanksgiving. Being Veteran's Day Week I spent some time looking at military records for my Revolutionary War ancestor Daniel Tidd and his five brothers who served, two of whom died at Valley Forge. Then I looked at records for my Civil War ancestors, one who died in the war, Samuel Reed, and one who only filled out a draft registration, Daniel Tidd, but did not serve. There may be more, but so far this is what I have discovered. They all served with a strong conviction in the cause that they fought for. Then there are the parents or spouses who sent them off to fight not knowing if they would ever see them again. With pride we honor them and are grateful for the service that they gave. Day 9 today I am grateful for wonderful friends. Many of my friends do not do facebook. Sometimes I am connected to their children and enjoy knowing the highlights of their lives. Several of my friends have endured terrible health trials and have supported me in mine. How grateful I am for their unconditional love and caring ways. Day 10 I am so very grateful for our grandchildren. So far we have six, three boys and three girls. They are like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Today was a day to slow down and recover some from a busy week. These days give me time to pause and reflect on all of our many blessings. Each of the six are so unique. They are loving, caring, thoughtful, patient especially with me, considerate of others and generous to everyone. Their parents have taught them well. I treasure the earlier years when we spent more time together. I am thankful for the Internet and easy phone or video access for the moments we share on a regular basis. Day 11 - Veterans Day - At one time I thought we did not have many military veterans in our family. The more I discover about the actual individuals I realize we have veterans from most of the various conflicts and types of service. Some of their stories are posted on my blog, gophergenealogy@blogspot.com. I am very grateful for the service of all military personal who have given of themselves to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. For the Marines who are 246 years old today, those in our family are some of the best. Day 12 I went to the eye doctor today trying to determine what is causing changes in my vision. I am very grateful for the medical staff and their focused medical training. While I am fighting T2D (among other things) my brother has fought T1D for over forty years, and our grandfather died from T1D when I was age two. Our other grandmother had T2D. While it is all around us, knowledge for treating it is improving every day. So grateful for wonderful medical staff who have joined us in the fight. Staying positive is critical to survival. Get tested, know the facts and enjoy every day in every way possible. Be supportive, give encouragement, offer support and know that we are all survivors of something. Thankful to join with my family and friends as we gather for the holidays. Day 13 of gratitude I am thankful for modern transportation. It is so nice to travel in a cold/warm car and sometimes in an airplane. With the physical challenges I have these modes of travel are so important. The greatest blessings are those who drive the vehicles. I hope that I can drive for a long time, but I do realize that the day will come when I will not be able to. My handicap parking tag is critical for being able to walk short distances. The electric shopping carts make it so I can go shopping. Today we drove to our daughter and son-in-law’s home in Portland. It was a nice gathering of people - family, friends and new acquaintances. Day 14 - Today is my Dad's birthday. Even though he has been gone for thirty-three years I often reflect on the great influence he had on our lives. He would be 87 today. He had a love for his ancestors and pride in their accomplishments. When I was given family artifacts, especially furniture, he refinished them for me. While he worked as a warehouseman, he had many skills that were mostly self-taught. He grew up in the era of make do with what they had, fix what they could and treasure what they were given. During the tough times he only had one pair of shoes and hand-me-down clothes. He worked very hard to provide for our family and left our mother well cared for after he was gone. What we inherited from them has great meaning to the four of us their children. Those are blessings that will impact us and future generations. Day 15 – Monday and another gratitude thought. I am grateful for my blog readers. GopherGenealogy.blogspot.com passed 231,749 views. Writing is a wonderful way to share the joy of family history and life in general. I am grateful for the free web sites that are available to post on and the tools we have today that were not available not so long ago. I encourage everyone to write something on a regular basis to help preserve the precious memories of your family, friends and acquaintances. Share some of those thoughts as you gather with others during the coming weeks. More to come!