Monday, April 30, 2012

Great Events and Unexpected Challenges

Being a genealogist brings amazing experiences to one's life. This past week there were some wonderful events that help me to appreciate our family and friends. We share our lives with many people, not unlike our ancestors in every generation. Coming to know their stories can help us to face the events of our lives, good and bad.




On Tuesday of this week the 1940 Oregon Census indexing finally reached 100%, as did several other states. At this time there are 14 states that are 98% or better in the indexing project. There are 16 states that are 10% or less. That leaves 21 states between 11% and 97%. The interactive map on familysearch.org is amazing to watch. There is also a section below the map where you can see the standings of all of the states. Today the indexing for the entire 1940 Census is 22.79%.  Sometimes a state will be at 100% and then go back to 99%, which is all a part of the indexing process.

Another event on this same day was my indexing total reached 4000 lines or 100 batches. There was another very nice email to congratulate me on this accomplishment. It said:
You have reached a significant and rare milestone: the completion of your 100th batch with FamilySearch indexing. The completion of your 100th batch places you into an exclusive group of top indexing volunteers. We want to thank you for your ongoing efforts and recognize this significant achievement.
Your efforts, combined with the efforts of other volunteers, have now made more than one billion records available online at familysearch.org, where they are accessed by people around the world who are searching for their ancestors. Each week, dozens of these people send us messages of appreciation for your efforts.
We join these people in expressing our sincere appreciation for your efforts in reaching 100 completed indexing batches and recognize the significant contribution you are making to FamilySearch indexing.

Our indexing group grew by another person this week. She has completed 2,000 lines or 50 batches. With her work our group total is now at 8,080 lines or 202 batches. I am addicted to indexing. Currently I am working in Massachusetts and find the enumerators had good handwriting and were careful in their work. Even in 1940, Massachusetts was a melting pot of nationalities.

The other major event of this week was my oldest daughter's birthday. On Tuesday we took her out to eat at one of her favorite restaurants, as she was hosting a birthday party for herself later in the week. On Saturday we gathered with family and friends to celebrate her birth. She made a fantastic meal with a little help. We had pork loin with homemade rolls for sandwiches, fruit platters, fresh vegetables, sweet potato fries, and a wonderful fresh spinach salad. Her self-made birthday cake was pumpkins with little orange balls, decorated with green vines. It was very delicious. After eating we visited for a bit and then decided to play games for the next hour, as they were leaving to go to a karaoke place at that time.

Unfortunately just as we were starting to play our daughter had a grand mal seizure. In our family of six children there are two other siblings who have had seizures and we have experienced this before, but for everyone else this experience was a rude awakening to the power they possess. She had not had a seizure in twenty years, and then she had petite mal seizures. Most of the group waited outdoors with the children, who had been playing outside when this occurred. The EMT and Paramedics came to check her out and felt she could safely ride with us to the Emergency Room. It was a long evening for us. The tests were reassuring and she was able to return home.

We made trips to the ER in November and January of this year for our youngest son. Then a year ago in January we had the births of two grand children. In the first birth our daughter had a very difficult birth and almost lost her life. The second birth went a little more smoothly, even though it occurred shortly after their arrival at the hospital. All these experiences affect our family and draw us closer together. We are blessed to live close to each other, enabling us to provide support for one another. 

Using social media we are able to communicate with so many people at relatively little cost. For our youngest daughter and her family we use skype to visit on a regular basis, as they live in another state. I also use skype to attend genealogy meetings when I cannot go to them physically. I feel a similar sense of camaraderie with fellow genealogists when we make these connections.

This seems like a jumbled blog post, but at least it helps me to express the volume of emotions I am feeling this week. There is so much to look forward to in our lives and sometimes we face unexpected challenges. Those challenges are more easily passed through with others who understand and can lend support. Be sure to look for those who were a support for your ancestors. Explore their connections and experiences to give focus to similar ones in your own life.

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