Family stories and history

My mom and dad and grandparents have all passed away.  Their stories of growing up and meeting and living their lives are only left in my memory.  I wish I would've written down their stories.  I wish I would've paid more attention.  Now, how exactly did yall meet?  And why did you move down here?  And what made you quit college?

My dad was an amazing story teller.  He did write down some of his anecdotes, thankfully. But I still have questions that I wish I would have asked.  I still wish I would have listened a little closer.  But as a kid, it's just the same old stories that mom and dad tell, blah blah blah.

But as I get older, I am curious.  I don't remember my great grandparents at all.  But I'd love to know their stories.  My mom documented all the family genealogy. For that, I am grateful.  But they are just names.  Dates of birth, dates of death, counties of marriage etc.  Who were they?  Why did they fall in love? What were their triumphs? their defeats?  their life changing moments?

I'd love to pass some stories down to my kids and grandkids.  But I'm sure they are about as interested as I was at their age.

That's part of the reason for this blog.  My social media posts will be lost to history someday.  FB and Instagram will be as obsolete as Myspace.  But hopefully, the stories I've written in this blog can survive.  And hopefully, someday my descendants will stumble upon them and know a little bit about who I was.  I wasn't just a date of birth and date of death.   Maybe it will shed some insight onto their own journeys and personalities.  Who knows?  

So ask your living relatives now their stories!  Video them!  Write them down.  Save for your posterity. You might not be interested in it now.  But someday you will and you don't want that moment to be lost forever.

Couple more Christmas stories!

 Couple more Christmas stories...

Once when we were kids, we woke up Christmas morning to find 2 strings beside our bed.  We followed those strings around the whole house!  Under couches, under beds, through the backyard, under bushes, around trees, back into the house, down the hall, under doors, when we finally made it to the end.. there were 2 nice presents!  I think I got a stereo and my sister got a bike or vice versa...can't remember.  But I remember following that string around the house!  

Here's a fun one:

When we lived in Colorado one Christmas, my parents mailed the kid's gifts up to us.  We stuck them under the tree and waited for Christmas.  Larry came home that week and said, I have good news and I have bad news.  What you want first?  Me-bad news of course.  He said, I lost my job!  Yikes!  What's the good news (he's a glass full kinda guy)  We get to go to Texas for Christmas!   

So we packed up the car, and the unopened gifts that my parents had sent and made the 14+ hour drive down to Dallas for Christmas.  While we were here, we got to talking about what to do next since Larry was out of a job.  We decided, hey let's just move back to Texas!  We talked about it all the way home (put the presents that my parents had sent back in the car!)  By the time we got back to Colorado, we had decided! Yes we'd move back!  

FIVE days later we were packed up in a moving truck (along with those presents!  which at this point had gone from Texas to Colorado to Texas to Colorado and now back to Texas)  and off we went!  

It was the year of Y2K so, we waited till that morning to see if the world had ended and since it didn't, we drove down to Texas. :)

Tex the storyteller

My dad is a storyteller.  He likes to take his time telling stories.  When you are listening to one of his stories, you just listen.  He takes lots of pauses and thinks about each word he's going to say.  When you listen to him you don't want to interrupt or ask questions.  Just sit and listen to what he's saying. There will probably be some sort of punch line or moral at the end of the story that you weren't expecting.  So you've got to really listen.  Let him take his time and tell you.

My dad is a writer too.  He used to write all kinds of stories and poems for his online groups. Thankfully a friend of his preserved these stories into a notebook some years ago.  Now my cousin has taken up the mantle and published these stories into a book!

I am so thankful for this!  You see, my dad has Alzheimer's now.  I'm sure all those stories are rattling around in his head but he can't communicate them to us now.  All we have left of these stories are what we remember.  But now we have a book!

I was reading them this morning and I can hear my dad in telling the stories.  I hear his pauses.  I hear his laughter as he gets tickled.  I hear his joy in recalling things from his childhood.

Stories are a bridge to our past.  Stories help the next generation understand a little more of the past generations.  Stories are a legacy to be passed on.

I will greatly treasure this book of stories.

You can order it online too!  Just click here.  Proceeds go to Alzheimer's research.

What stories will you tell your children and grandchildren?  Maybe you can write some down! Who knows where it will lead!

Rant

Rant time...

Kids now a days are being tested on every level.  Are they smart enough for preschool?  Have they sat up at 4 months?  Do they read at grade level?  Have they completed AB & C by the time they are 3 years old?

Oh they haven't??  Well, then I'm sorry but your child has failed.  And in return you, the parent, are deemed a failure too.

When did it get this way??  Why so much pressure on our kids to be this or that?  Why do all 4 year olds have to fit in exactly the same box?

Well--let me tell you--the one thing I learned through homeschooling my kids for 15 years is that

KIDS DO NOT ALL ACHIEVE THE SAME GOALS AT THE SAME TIME!

ALL KIDS ARE DIFFERENT!

KIDS LEARN DIFFERENTLY! KIDS HAVE DIFFERENT STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES!

Mommas know their kids.  We are around them so much more than anyone else.  The persons or institution administering the "test"  only sees them for a few minutes.  How can they define a person by just those few minutes?

Why do all 5 year olds need to read at a certain level?  Do all 40 year olds read at the same level?

Kids will excel in some areas and not be that great in other areas.  Aren't we all like that?  Don't we all have our strengths and weaknesses?  Can't we ALL grow in different areas?

Please, parents,  I caution you against measuring yourself and your kids against all these parameters that SOMEONE HAS JUST MADE UP!  Who decided what a 6 year old should be reading like?  Who made up all these "standards"?

We know our kids!  Let's not compare and pressure.  Let's be good mommas and daddies.  Let's love our kids regardless of how well they can jump through someone else's hoops.  Let's love our kids for the joys that they are!  Let's love our kids for who God has made them to be!  

Be encouraged!!  You are doing a great job parents!!  You're kids are doing good too!  

--rant over.......for now.

Memories of Road Trips

When I was growing up, things were a lot different.  We didn't have smart phones, or even dumb phones that could leave our house!  There wasn't any Netflix or movies on demand. If we wanted to watch TV we had to watch what was on at the time.  (No DVRs --can you imagine!)

We had to do things differently.

Now, I'm not bashing technology.  I actually love social media, and the world of knowledge at my fingertips!  But back when I was growing up, and even while my kids were little, we had to come up with creative ways to entertain ourselves!

One of the great memories I have from the days of old were the car games.  The games we played in the backseat to entertain ourselves on long trips.  We used to sing all kinds of songs.  Not pop songs. But the good ol' folk songs.  My dad knew all the words to every verse and a lot of them have stuck with me.

There was also count the cows and horses.  That got old after a while because if we drove the same route we knew where the cemeteries were.  And of course if you were winning at the game (counting as many cows and horses as you could on your side of the car) as soon as you passed a graveyard you had to start all over again.

Slug bug was never my favorite either.  Not a fan of getting punched.

As I grew up, and when we were young marrieds, we took many long road trips together.  A great game Larry and I made up was the backward word game.  One person would say a word backward and the other person would have to guess what they were saying!  It's tougher than you think!  Try ssarg!

When the kids were little we would play lots of games in the car, I Spy, Bingo, A-Z game and many more.  There was always lots of singing and laughter too.

Since summer is just around the bend, maybe it's time to put away the ipads, ipods, i-distractions and get back to some good ol' fashioned family time.

What Will Kids be Like in 100 years?

My generation is the last generation that has known life without technology.  We have straddled this new world and have seen great advances in our lifetime.

I was talking to my grown kids the other day about huge changes I've seen in technology.  And how we used to do things.  I told them about how I used to write checks every month for all our bills and put them in envelopes and put stamps on them and mail them in the US Postal System!

The grocery store used to be a completely different experience!  None of the products had nutrition labels or ingredients listed.  There were no bar codes on anything.  Everything had stickers with the prices on them. The checkout lady was super fast at typing everything into the cash register. There was no "beep beep beep" as groceries were going through the line..but everything had to be input into the cash register.  And then at the end you had to pay cash or check!  They didn't take credit cards at the grocery store!  Then you got your receipt (with just numbers on it--no itemized)  and you also got your Green Stamps!  Then the kids went home and licked all the green stamps and put them in green stamp books and counted how many stamps we had so we could go to the Green Stamp store and buy stuff!  There was all kinds of stuff there from knick knacks to household furniture!

Our generation knows what it's like to go on a road trip and have to look out the window and play Count the cows and horses.  We had to talk together and sing songs on our trips.  We had to all listen to the same 8 track tape.

My generation is the last generation to remember what it's like without technology.  Now I'm not anti-tech!  I love my ipad, iphone, i-everything world!  But we are the last ones to actually have memories of the world without all that.

It's good to remember where we came from and what the world was like before.  It'll never be the same.  Our kids are so used to Googling everything, snapping pics of everything, the world at their fingertips.  Even 2 and 3 year olds have their own tablets now!

Imagine what our kids' kids will grow up with and be exposed to?  It's hard enough for me to keep up but kids now a days seem to be born with some sort of innate ability to understand all things technical.

Embrace the new.  Remember the past.  Teach kids to be thankful they don't have to "dial-up" their internet on their 486 computers!

What's your favorite memories of the past?  What do you think the next generation of techies will be like?

Hoop Story

Here's another hoop story.....

We were camping a few weekends ago and I took my hoop (of course!).  As we were enjoying the outdoors I was hooping away.  A couple of kids came over and wanted to try!  I love the looks on people's (and kid's) eyes when they see a **gasp** grown-up hula hooping!  Kids are amazed and want to try.  Adults are usually either really happy or really grouchy.  They really outta try hooping!

Anyway..  I was teaching one of the girls some basic tricks.  And she was loving it!  We had a great time and said our goodbyes and went on our merry way.  That evening there was live music at our camping resort! Whoo hoo!  Hoop time! As I enjoyed the dancing and the music, my little friend from that morning came up to me!  We were camping at the same place!  So of course we hooped together.  I only had one hoop with me so I let her use it while I danced around like I had an invisible hoop in my hand.  We had a wonderful time.  She was getting pretty good too!

Then she had a revelation,  she said to me "Oh, I get it!  You just do what the hoop wants to do!" Exactly! Out of the mouths of babes.

That's why I love hooping.  It gets me out of my comfort zone.  It gets me moving.  It gets me dancing.  It reminds me about love, happiness.  It draws people in.

Love the innocence a hoop brings.  And joy!  Lots of Joy!

What really matters

I know this is going to be a bit controversial. But there's something that just bugs me to no end.

Homeschoolers.

Not necessarily the kids.  But the parents.  I want you to know where I'm coming from.  We homeschooled our 2 oldest the whole time, and our youngest one most of the way.

Why do the parents who have taken their kids out of school, or never had them in there to begin with, want to do everything at home the exact way they do it at school?

Don't they realize the freedom there is in homeschooling?  We don't have to do anything like they do in the public school!  We can tailor everything to each individual.  If one of our kids excels at math then BOOM -- math of all kinds.  We don't have to stay in the box of 1st grade math, 9th grade math etc.  Let the child lead. If the kid doesn't like workbooks, then ditch 'em!  Find out what the child's learning style is and use that!  Do they learn by hearing, doing, writing, touching stuff? Use that!  My daughter walked circles around the table while we were doing math stuff...drove me crazy!  I asked her to sit down and she said "Mom, if I sit down, I can't think!"  Who knew?  So I let her walk around and get up and down all the time.  It helped her concentrate more.  My way of "doing school" was to do page 1, then page 2, then ...stand back...page 3!  Her way of doing school was open the book and look through it and see what pages looked exciting and then do those!  What??  But to her it worked well.  It kept her interest.  And if I'd known more back then, I would ditch the books entirely! We'd use real life situations and go to the library and play games to learn stuff.

That brings me to the part that drives me crazy.

Most people do this when their kids are little because they enjoy playing and learning.  But when their homeschooled kids get to be in "high school"  they automatically shift to "do everything like the public school" mode.  High school credits, papers, graduation at 18 years old etc.   Why not continue the train of thought that the learning can be tailored to the individual?  Are they ready to be "done" when they are 15? Then be done! Just because I'm "done" with school doesn't mean I quit learning.  Do they really need to have credits? Do they really need to learn chemistry or calculus?  Maybe..it depends on what they will be going into.

There is freedom, folks!  That's why we bring our kids home!  Don't worry about them keeping up with their "grade level" (what is that anyway--do all 30 year olds know the same information?)

Teach them to love learning!  Teach them to learn how to learn!  Teach them to be FREE!

Christmases long long ago

I was reminiscing today about Christmases from my childhood. I love Christmas today! I love the traditions, songs, gift giving, decorating, cookie baking, tree decorating, present wrapping....I love it all! I think it's due to the traditions that were instilled in me when I was young.

We used to get two weeks off for Christmas break. The whole two weeks were usually spent at my grandparents house. We called them Maamaw and Pop. My sister and I went up to their house first before my parents came up. That week was so much fun. These were the days before internet, cable tv and iphones. We had to make our own fun. And we did too!

My grandparents lived out on a farm so there was always places to explore and things to get into. The first thing we'd do when we got there was go out into the forest and cut down our Christmas tree. Now you have to realize that it's my grandpa and us 2 little girls that are going to cut this tree down and drag it back to the house. That's why I love Charlie Brown trees! It's almost always what our tree looked like! We'd pick some scraggly little thing and be so excited about it, "This one Pop! Let's get this one!" Pop would chop it down and we'd drag it home all proud of our selection! We'd get back and Maamaw would have her work cut out for her to make it beautiful. She'd put it up on a table and drape a pretty cloth around the bottom. Then we'd get to work stringing popcorn or cutting out construction paper chains. Whatever we had around the house to decorate the tree. We didn't go to the store to get our decorations we just looked around the house and made stuff! Sometimes Maamaw would cut out an article out of a magazine and say "Do you girls think you could make this?" "Of course!" we'd say..just find us some scissors and tape and maybe an old magazine.

Then we'd have little bitty presents to open each day before Christmas. Sometimes it was just a small Hallmark calendar that Maamaw had gotten for free. To us it was a wonderful new toy to play office or school! We'd spend hours inventing new games and plays with our new found treasures.

Then the baking would begin and Maamaw would make our favorite little individual pecan pies! We thought we were queens!

Then we'd go shopping at the Walmart to buy our presents for our parents. Maamaw would always direct us to something we could afford or something we could put both our money towards.

Then our parents would come up and we just could hardly wait for Christmas morning to come! We'd go to bed late and wake up every hour just waiting for it to be daybreak so we could wake every up! Then we could hardly stand it...we would decide that we'd waited long enough and head down the long hall to announce to everyone that Christmas has come! Wake up everyone! Everyone would drag out of bed all cock-eyed. But I knew they were excited too! We'd run down the long hall and into the dark living room with just the glow of Christmas lights from our scraggly tree. The cookies we'd left Santa were gone! Pop would go out to get wood for the fireplace. Even though most Christmases weren't cold at all in Texas...Pop would start a fire in the fireplace. It was Christmas after all!

Then the paper would start flying and the games would start playing! Pop would gather all the trash and feed the fire. You'd have to be careful the directions to your new game didn't get caught up in that fire!

So as we get closer to Christmas enjoy every minute of it! Make new memories. Keep the old. Tell your kids your Christmases past. They will love it...if not now then someday :)

Remember that the Saviour of the World came to seek and save the lost! That's us! Without Him there would be no hope!