Difficult Decisions

 In August I was diagnosed with a rare muscle disease called Inclusion Body Myositis or IBM. I started this year with a decision that I would take care of my health. For the last several years, I have taken care of my in-laws then my mom for the last 6 years. She passed away Christmas Eve. I have a lot of medical issues and so made the decision to have some much needed surgeries. I need both knees replaced as well as both shoulders. I have back issues also but not much I can do for that. 

I started the year with a horrible bout of vertigo. After a lot of testing, it was found that I will just have to live with that. It comes and goes. I then made a call to my orthopedic surgeon to set up surgery for my knees. Guess what? Covid struck. My appointment was put on hold. In the meantime, my shoulders began to get worse. I changed my mind from doing my knees to doing my shoulders first. A new date was set for my orthopedic appointment. As the appointment date approached, a new problem arose. Both hands were stricken with carpal tunnel as well as a trigger finger on both thumbs. My primary doctor arranged for me to have my hands tested for carpal tunnel just before my orthopedic appointment.

Because of Covid, the only doctor that would take me was in Spokane, Washington. He was a doctor that specialized in muscles. My test proved that I needed the carpal tunnel surgery but it also showed that I had a muscle disease. He was unsure what disease. The normal ones were ruled out but I needed a muscle biopsy to find out exactly what I had.

The end of August I got confirmation that my muscle disease was IBM. This disease will eventually take away my ability to walk, trouble with sitting to stand, losing use of my hands and arms, and most likely difficulty swallowing. It is normally not a fast acting disease. I have no idea how long I've had it but I feel that I am at the beginning of this illness.

I ended up having surgery on both hands and both thumbs. I am recovering from my left hand surgery. My next decision has been whether I will have my knee replacement surgery. I have known I've needed this surgery for years. I have tried everything to not have it. I've let every excuse get in my way. I have had a huge fear of this surgery for some reason. I know that if I am going to have this surgery, I need to do it right away. After discussing it with several doctors, I am now scheduled to have my left knee done the end of January. 

The biggest issue with knee replacement is that I will not be able to do many of the necessary exercises for a good recovery. I am never to use weights as they will destroy my muscles instead of building them up. This has been such a huge decision for me and I pray that it is the best decision for me. I pray that it goes well and that I will be able to have a few years without the knee pain before I completely lose the use of my legs. Unfortunately, there is no one that can reassure me that all will be well. The only thing I have is that I do want to be able to walk for even a couple of years without pain. That is what I wanted from the beginning of this year until now. 

I know that all decisions must be made with understanding and knowledge but I also believe in support from my Heavenly Father. I have faith that I will have His blessing and that I will be able to get through this surgery with His help. I know all decisions must be made with the help of the Holy Ghost and with a confirmation that Heavenly Father will be with me. I now am looking forward to January and preparing myself for this surgery. I am forever grateful for my Heavenly Father's blessings and know that the doctor finding this disease when he did was a huge blessing. I am forever grateful for the love of Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. With this faith in them, all will be well.

My Book is LIVE!!!

I am so excited. After four years of writing, editing, and formatting this book, it is now available on Amazon. The name of the book is SUMMER AT HAPPY FARMS. It is about a 10 year old girl that has many life experiences while helping at her grandma's farm of miniature animals.

This is a great family book. Even though it is considered a children's chapter book (for ages 8-14), adults have found it refreshing and an enjoyable read. I hope you enjoy it.

This was quite the experience. I wrote the book quickly and loved what I wrote. I had my daughter-in-law (who is an editor) read it. She was very kind but let me know that it was in no way ready to publish. I rewrote it and got the same review. After reading her critique, I decided I needed to study writing. I spent a whole year reading and watching videos about how to write. I learned SO much.

The next step was editing. I purchased two editing programs and went page by page (word by word) and edited everything over and over (of course that meant some rewriting also which meant more editing). When I felt it was good enough, I gave it to my daughter-in-law for a final edit. Just a few mistakes!

During all of this process, I had been trying to decide on a name for the book and what to have for a book cover. Both were difficult. I hired four different people from Fiverr (a website that has freelance artists). The first and third tried to do cartoon type covers. The first canceled on me as she was pregnant and it became difficult for her. The third, well, her art was definitely not what I wanted. The second artist is who I finally went with. He did a whole scene but I ended up liking just the part that you see above.

The final step was to format my book. I am 72 and not that great with programs. I do not know why I was having such a mental block about formatting in MS Word, but it was there. I watched videos and read how to do it but my brain just didn't jive with what was being said. I asked my grandson to help me as well as a couple of other family members but most were too busy. In the end, I figured that the HELP section of Word became my best friend and I got it formatted.

I decided to self publish and chose Amazon as my tool (KDP). It's a very easy program to use. I had very little trouble understanding how to do things.

So, after 4 years of struggling, learning, and trial and errors, I finally published the book and it is now LIVE!!! I have it available in paperback and in Kindle format. If you decide you'd like to give this book a try, please leave a review.

I can't explain how exhilarating it is to accomplish something that you've thought about and worked on for so many years. I encourage anyone that has thought about doing something but put it off because they weren't sure of themselves, follow through. It is so worth it. 

Thank you for listing and I hope you will try my book and one way or another, I would love if you would write a review.

Writing a Book

For years I have loved to write. When I was very young, I wrote plays which my friends and I performed in my garage. As I got older, I wrote family histories and personal histories. When I was a young mother, I tried my hand at writing a book. Since then, I have written several books, none of which have sold even though I tried to sell a couple of them.

I wrote a book called The Mole Connection in the 70's. It was so exciting to express myself in a different way than ever before. It was about a young boy who lived in an orphanage. He desperately wanted to find out about his heritage. It had a strong ring of family history, my main love, but a little mystery too. I wrote it for my children. They hated reading so I tried to make it funny, emotional, exciting, all of those things to entice my kids to read. Unfortunately, it didn't inspire them any more than any other book.

I took the book out last year and read over it. WOW, what a mess. What I mean is, the writing needed so much editing. I was kind of embarrassed to read it. It's a good story though. I'm not sure kids of today would think so as it doesn't have any sci-fi weird things to it, but it does have a decent family feeling.

I wrote another book after The Mole Connection called Unspoken Secrets. That was another genealogy based book. It was about an older girl whose parents had passed away. She was cleaning out their house when she came upon some interesting information about her parents just after WWII. She followed the clues to find out more about her heritage. It took her to Japan along a twisty turn of events until she discovered the special secret that had been kept from her all of her life.

That book was much better written. I was happy with it but it still needs some editing and refining. I didn't write that for my family, instead, I wrote it for myself. I have this burning need inside of me to express myself and I do it much better in words than in conversation.

Last year I wrote another book. It is called The Best Summer Ever. I'm a grandma now. We live in a beautiful valley in North Idaho. I have started several books about this place. We own 80 acres along a beautiful river. Every summer some of my grandkids come to visit. Many of our grandkids live around us. This book is inspired by my five young granddaughters. The book is centered around the one that comes to visit. The book is fictional but based on family experiences. I have tried several times to get this book in print.

I have taken many online classes in writing and watched who knows how many u-tube videos on writing. My daughter-in-law writes and publishes a homeschool curriculum and has helped me to develop my understanding of writing and editing. She edited my final copy of the book. I then sent out queries to several agents to see if they would take me on as a client. To this date, none have agreed. I'm still waiting to hear from several.

I have investigated publishing it myself. I actually hired a couple of different people to make a cover picture for my book but neither one could fulfill my expectations. I have looked and studied the process of publishing through Amazon and will go that way if no one accepts me as a client. I know my daughter-in-law will help me but I am really trying to do this myself.

I am getting up there in years so it seems to be more difficult for me to learn these new programs. I also realize that most kids today want books about fantasy or love and adventure. My books are more family related. Good wholesome stories. I may never get published or kids may not like my style of story but I have fulfilled a love inside of me. My kids and grandkids will have a little something of me that I hope will give them a better insight as to who I am.

I'm not sure if anyone will read this but I do want to tell you a little about why I wrote my first book. I was very depressed. I was a young mother with several babies and very little money. I felt that there was nothing but work in my life. I'd lost the joy of living. I prayed and prayed for help. My help came in a very strange way. A lady at my church was teaching a class in oil painting and everyone was invited - no charge. I saw talented people all around me and was sure that I could not paint but I took the class anyway. What it did was open me up to new ideas. I loved painting and painted many pictures (none of which are that great). It gave me a feeling of confidence.

One night, about one in the morning, I woke with a thought of a book. My babies were sleeping so I went to my typewriter, we didn't own a computer in those days, and typed away. My excitement could not be curtailed. As soon as I got the kids down at night, I typed until midnight every night. We went camping and I took my portable typewriter with me and typed the entire time.

I was so proud when I finished that book. The Mole Connection was done! I had my mom read it and then my husband. When my husband read it, he had some critical remarks to say and it destroyed me. I was not prepared for negative thoughts. Now, I look back and understand why he said what he did but at the time, this was my masterpiece and he crushed it.

I put the book away and forgot about writing for many years. When I wrote my second book, I refused to let him or anyone else read it. Then I wrote this last book. I was so excited about it and let my mom and my husband read it. They were both so excited about it. I decided to let my daughter-in-law read it. I knew she would be honest and I felt ready this time to hear the criticism. Well, she read it to my son and grandkids in the car while they were on their way to visit us. My son had lots to say, none of it good. I talked to my daughter-in-law and got some great instruction on how to correct my problems. I re-wrote the book and submitted it to her again. It came back filled with red marks and tons of ways to improve my writing.

It was then that I decided to start studying writing. I read and watched everything I could about writing. How to have a clear voice, keep one point of view, be careful how many characters are introduced, the many pitfalls of new writers, etc. I spent several months studying. I then purchased a couple of editing programs. I re-wrote my book page by page using all of the techniques I had learned as well as refined everything with the editing programs. I read and reread my book. I put it aside for a few months and then reread and re-edited it again. I finally was ready for my daughter-in-law to do a final editing. This time, very few corrections were needed.

I know there is still so much to learn. I am starting on another book. I am going to re-write and edit my two earlier books. I don't know if anything I write will ever be sold but I love to write and will continue doing this for myself. I have never really dreamed of being an author. I just love to write. Yes, it would be awesome to see my word in print. It would give me that final feeling of success but I don't need it. I don't know how to say this where others would understand but my success is that I did this! I wrote several books! I learned and I grew. I learned to improve myself. I learned to accept criticism as it was the only way I could improve my writing skills. I learned to share my deepest feelings with others and know that I can withstand their thoughts about what I have done. I hope my story will inspire someone. I'm in my 70's and age is never a factor when it comes to improving ourselves.

Technology and an Old Lady

I have always loved technology especially in the computer world. Unfortunately, as we get older and all of this computer stuff gets newer, it seems that never the twain shall meet! I always prided myself on keeping up with the new computer programs especially in the field of genealogy. Well, I guess those days are quickly going - going - gone.

I turned 70 last year and still feel young but what I am finding is, I really don't want to keep up with this changing world. Before, I couldn't stand being left behind but now, I pick and choose what I want to learn and what programs I want to change. That old saying, : "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," that's where I am today.

I use two main programs in my researching - Ancestry and Family Search. Both programs have made doing family research almost boring because they tell you where and what you can find by just clicking a button. That is good in one respect but not in another. For me, I will stick to good ole research and proof to do my family history.

What I am finding wrong with these programs is that people today want things so easy that they don't care if what they find is right or wrong, they are told to click here and they do. They see their name so they think what they have found is right. They like this easy world of finding things and are not accustomed to seeking further. Who needs proof?  This is my family name and this is where they lived. So what that the information I found was ten years off or the children in this family don't quite match up to what someone else had. This is my family and I am done!

FamilySearch Tree is a  world wide tree. You don't have to be a member of the LDS faith to use this tree (and it's FREE). If you find a relationship, you just click to add yourself to that family line. It is wonderful - but not so wonderful. I have had so many people in just this last year link up my line to incorrect people. It causes huge problems. Other people will unknowingly come look at this family believing all of this to be correct when in fact, it's not.

I have an ancestor that was married to a Mary. They had five kids. All of a sudden I saw five more kids added to this family. I did the hard work and researched this family thoroughly and have proof that they only had five kids. Mary died in childbirth with her fifth child. Her husband married another lady by the name of Mary a year later. I had this info in notes but no one bothered to read those notes. All of a sudden, second Mary's kids from a previous marriage were now listed as full brothers and sisters to the first five. Never mind that some of the kids were close in age but obviously not twins and that they were born in different locations. No notes were included. Anyone else looking at this family might not realize this problem. With just a little bit of reading and possibly a little research to verify, the person who merged this family would have realized this mistake. But that takes work and time.

This situation is another reason why I use a stand alone program such as Roots Magic. I can (and always do) check my notes carefully before I contact the people that added/deleted/merged family members without documentation. I try to have complete documentation on every name in my file. If I can't prove something, I have a note to myself stating that I don't know where the info came from.

This also was helpful when a lady merged some parents to an ancestor. I did not have any info on the parents of this individual. I was excited when I saw the addition of his parents. There was one piece of documentation but it was about someone totally unrelated (even a different name). So I contacted the lady who submitted the parent's names. Come to find out, she didn't know why she added them. They were a way offshoot to her family line. She had no proof or any notes as to why she added them. Together we decided to unlink these parents until we got some proof.

I do love that we can see who does modify our work in any way so that we can communicate with them if necessary. One lady had my mom deceased, I guess because she was old. I contacted her and gave her the good news that my mom was alive and living with me! She turned 94 this year and is in great health.

Some technical changes are fun. There are fun apps to use on our phones that can tell us if relatives are near us. That helps us perk up some. I was teaching my granddaughter in a Sunday School class a few weeks ago and another girl said, "Hey, we are first cousins!"  I was surprised and when I got home, I checked the relationship only to find that yes, we do connect to the girl's mother's line but it is like five generations back. (A little misinformation) What it did do was excite my granddaughter. Maybe she will have an interest in family history. So far, none of my kids or grand kids show an interest so maybe some of these new programs will excite someone enough to follow in their grandma's footsteps. I just need to make sure that they understand the full meaning of family RESEARCH.

All in all, I do love technology and the new helps in family history but I do caution everyone, make sure that you do your RESEARCH and VERIFY what you find. Don't make changes on anyone's family tree without PROOF.

Mother's Day is around the corner

Don't forget to order your Mother's Day designs so you will have time to make that special gift for Mom. Come to our website and check out all of our fun designs....VINYL GIFTS AND MORE.

The hand print and saying is a fun gift for children to make and give to their mom. We send along easy directions. Using poster paint, make a print of the child's hand and when all is dry, spray a clear coat of varnish. Let that dry then apply the vinyl words. 

We have a variety of other designs suitable for mom. They range from actual  Mother sayings to hobbies and spiritually uplifting messages.

Taking care of Mom

Wow! I just realized that it's been ages since I last wrote. As with all of us, life takes us into different places.

About 4 years ago my mom had a stroke. I stopped everything in my life and went down to take care of her. She was lucky in that she had her stroke at a pharmacy which was located right next door to the fire station. They had her to the hospital within minutes and administered the stroke medicine. She lived in California and I live in North Idaho. The doctor called me and let me know what was happening. I was on a flight to Sacramento the next day.

I have a home business so I had to pack all of the business up into my suitcase (which was interesting in itself). My son is a pilot for a major airline so I was able to catch a flight easily. I was amazed at how everything went together so quickly for me. I was visiting her in the hospital the day after the stroke.

My mom lived alone and was almost 90 at the time of her stroke. I live with my husband. Four of my children live close and my daughter lives in Southern California. I had one brother at the time of my mom's stroke. He was housebound with illness. His wife picked me up from the airport and helped me get settled. My mom also has 1 step daughter that has been close to her but with physical problems of her own. In other words, I was the only one that could help my mom. No problem though as I have always been very close to her and love her dearly.

To make a long story shorter, I stayed with my mom for a couple of months then went home to be with my husband. She called and said she was ready to move to Idaho because she was too lonely there (she'd gotten used to being with me). So I returned to help her pack up a few things, clean out most of her house items and sell the house. It took a couple of months to get it all done. We moved her up to our house (we have a little cottage connected to our main house that we built for my husband's parents - who have now passed on).

My mom loves it here and is thrilled to be around so much family. We love having her here. She pretty much takes care of herself but does eat dinner with us and I check in on her many times during the day. My life has always been very different than hers and she has had to adjust but her age is making it easier for her to do so. She will be 94 in a couple of weeks.

As mush as I love my mom, there are difficulties. She does not drive and is wearing down. She still gets around using a cane but isn't that steady on her feet. He health is actually pretty good. She had to have some major surgery at the beginning of last year but that cleared up most of her problems. I am so grateful to have this time with her.

My biggest problem is that my husband and I really want to take a trip and feel that we can't really leave her here by herself. She doesn't want to be babysat and loves being in her own home as she rests a lot and loves having her own bathroom etc. We have been trying to come up with a plan as to how we can have someone here just in case something happens. I feel that she will be okay (once the snow leaves our place) as we have two sons on either side of us (we all live here on 80 acres). My husband is not so sure about leaving. I keep telling him that I can hop on a plane if there is a problem. He still is not so convinced. I know our daughters-in-law will be happy to check in on her and I would call several times a day.

My life has changed a lot since taking care of mom. I very rarely get to go out alone as I know she loves to get out and I know she needs to get out. My husband and I get some time together but again, we usually invite her along knowing how lonely it can be at home alone. Now my husband is plagued with a variety of illnesses and I have problems with knees, shoulders and back. I feel like we are an old folks home.

I took care of both of my in-laws up until their passing and have learned to be somewhat of a nurse. Taking care of all of us has resulted in a little bit of depression for me. I know the signs and try to pop out of it with a variety of activities (like puzzles and genealogy) but I am really ready to do something else but I can't. I kind of feel pushed and pulled. My husband really wants to go someplace too but he's the one that won't leave mom alone. She is 94 and could possible live several more years. My husband is almost 74 and I honestly don't know how long he will be around. He's had several major health issues that have been extremely close calls for him.

I knew the situation of taking care of parents as we did take care of my in-laws until their passing. They both had Parkinson's - he with the stiffening and her the regular. He was unable to take care of himself at all. He could not roll over or stand or anything. I had to get him out of bed, into a wheelchair, feed him, clean him, etc. She could take care of herself until the end but was frail and had broken her hip before she moved to our place. It was very difficult taking care of the folks because we really were housebound with them. As difficult as it was much of the time, it was an experience I would never trade. We feel truly blessed to have had that opportunity to serve them. Now we have my mom and feel the same blessing.

I love having my mom here and being able to part of her life. For many years we were only able to see each other a couple of times a year. I had prayed to have more time with her before she leaves this earthly state and have been truly blessed with this experience. She is a loving and wonderful mother. I know she feels like she has interfered with our lives but is most grateful to be here with me. She loves her home here (in the cottage). I know we will work something out where we can go on a vacation. Everything always works out in the end.

Being the caregiver for a loved one can be difficult but so rewarding. I know I get a little testy with some things she does. Her reasoning is very slow, her speech is getting stuttery, she thinks she can do things that she no longer can and I see that frustration but I just have to be patient and loving. Sometimes I find myself a little snippy. Yesterday I explained something to her like ten times and then at dinner she asked the question again. I was frustrated because I couldn't get her to understand but eventually she did. I do have to keep reminding myself to be nice. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for this time with her. My prayers have been answered.

FH Blog - Boot Camp

I write a newsletter for my church concerning Family History.  I also have a blog that I refer members to but it is actually open to the public.  In my newsletters, I have a section I call Boot Camp. I try to help people with their family history.  So many would like to do family history but have no idea where to begin so these are some very basic lesson and ideas to help everyone with their family history. Remembering that we are actually living our family history now, there are some ideas on what to do now for future generations also.  Even though this blog is directed towards the people in my church and my city, it often will have some interesting information for everyone anywhere.  So HERE is the blog.

Most of my Boot Camp lessons will be referring to Family Search.  It is a wonderful FREE program with  World Wide Family Tree.  The Family Tree is Live - meaning if you add something to it, your relatives all over the world will be able to see it and use it right then.  I know most of us use a variety of Family Trees online but this one is FREE and Live which most are not.  One word of note is that it is mostly for the deceased.  Any living people information will not be viewable to others.  You can put living people into your tree but that will be the only thing others will not be able to see until those living in your tree are deceased. You can add photos, stories, videos, etc. that others will be able to see (for deceased people).  There is an awesome FREE search area and lots of FREE help.  Check out the blog for other information about Family Search.

BOOT CAMP - Lesson 1 - Getting started on Family Tree

I have started a Family History Newsletter for our church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in my hometown.  In it I have started having some lessons using the Family Search website and Family Tree (a personal tree just for you and your ancestors and relatives).  This tree is available FREE on www.familysearch.org.  This tree is also in real time so when you add something to your tree, other family members will be able to see it right then.  They can also add to the tree making it so everyone in your family can work together.  Of course, as you add lines to your tree, others will connect to those lines making your family GROW!!!  As I said, this is a completely FREE website - no strings attached.

The newsletter is for people in our ward working in Family History but I thought I would share these lessons with everyone. Family Search also has lessons but this is just another way of looking at things.  I am trying to make the steps very easy and will direct my assignments to very basic steps so as not to make Family History feel so overwhelming.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I may not have the answer but I will certainly try to help you or direct you to where you might find help.  I am also posting this on my Family History website www.FHCsandpoint.blogspot.com.  Please feel free to go and check out some of my other information.

BOOT CAMP - LESSON 1 - Getting started on Family Tree

Use these training ideas to help you learn the ins and outs of Family History. 

For additional help, email us at
SandpointStakeFamilyHistory@gmail.com

It helps to have an interest in your family to go from the - Yeah, I love my family - to - I love my family enough to help us be united for eternity.  Help your love for your family grow by getting involved in your family history.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has taken the work out of Family History. Find our family and their information has become so much easier. Today we are going to take the very first step to learning how to do Family History. Some of you may be long past this stage and for you, I encourage you to keep going.  For those of you who have not started doing any kind of research, let's start at the beginning.  This information will also be very helpful for those you are teaching.

START AT THE BEGINNING

We will be working with Family Search and a few sites that will not only be interesting and informative, but also fun. Just click on the highlighted words to get more information as you go along.

This month we will be getting the "feel" for Family Search.  You will get logged on and do some simple exploring before we actually get started on researching. Take some time to look at your family tree and follow through on some of the lessons available.

ASSIGNMENT:  

1. Log onto or sign up for an account.  

To Log on - Go to Family Search home page and in the upper right hand corner (using your LDS account or your Family Search user name and password) click on Sign-In.

To open a new account - Go to the  home page of Family Search in the upper right hand corner and click on Free Account or click HERE (watch video) to learn how to sign up.  You do not have to be a member of the church to sign up for an account.  Note:  You will get a message in your email that you will need to confirm to finish the account sign up.  

2.  Now let's learn a bit about using the Family Tree - click HERE for basic instruction on how to use Family Tree.   Practice some of the things taught and be sure to "connect" YOU with your ancestral lines if that has not been done.  If you still do not understand this step, please ask your ward/branch consultant for help, visit your Family History Center, or email me at SandpointStakeFamilyHistory@gmail.com.

NOTE: Family Tree mostly works with deceased people.  If your parents are still living, you will need to manually add them - refer to the instructions given in step #2.

This course will help you get a good start on understanding Family Tree.  We will discuss many of these topics covered in more detail in future newsletters.  HERE is another place to go if you have questions.

by Diane (Sandpoint Stake Family History Consultant)

Italian Records being Indexed

Great news!  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has made an arrangement with the Italian government to film historic genealogical records in exchange, we are indexing those records and they will be made available for everyone to research on the FamilySearch website as soon as they become available.  If anyone out there speaks Italian or would like to assist, check with the Indexing portion of the FamilySearch website for information.

The fun thing about Indexing is that:

1.  You do not need to be a member of the church to help
2.  You do not need to be a member of the church to search the indexed records
3.  The records are available to everyone world-wide FREE
4.  Indexing is very rewarding - you will be contributing to one of the biggest World Wide Service Projects available
5.  You can do it at your own speed in your own time
6.  You can pick your own project (usually just 1 page)
7.  You can send the project back if you don't like it, it's too hard, or you don't have time
8.  You will be helping your family and everyone else in the world unite your/their family
9.  You can access the site anytime day or night from wherever you live
10.  Did I say it was FUN and extremely REWARDING???  Well, it is!

Sign up today and give it a try.  You don't have to do Italian.  There are a variety of languages and types of documents to index.  It costs nothing to check it out (and costs nothing to try).

GO TO www.familysearch.org and check out the whole site.  There is so much available to you FREE so what are you waiting for.  Search for your family, learn lessons on how to do research, record your family in the world's biggest FAMILY TREE. 

FAMILY HISTORY CENTERS

I am not sure if everyone knows this, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have Family History Centers that are open and available for anyone and everyone to go in and do research for their family lines. I work with the Family History Directors in our area. We are trying to get the word out to everyone that they are WELCOME to come in to the centers. The service is FREE. The facility is FREE. Often the FHC's have classes available or conferences and they are absolutely FREE also.

Family History research has changed over the years. When I started researching my lines, I needed to write tons of letters and make many trips to the Family History Center in my area. I ordered tons of microfilm and microfiche (at a price) to search records desperate to find my family. Today, the Internet has changed all of that. Through the Indexing program with the Church, millions of pages of these same microfilm and microfiche are being digiatlized and indexed to make research so much easier. The LDS church has also provided a website completely FREE to everyone. That helps us not only search for our ancestors but there are FREE classes available for just about every country/subject you may wish to know to assist with this research. You can watch the training videos as often as you want, you can do your research any time of the day (or night), and you can get tons of online help through the Forums and other programs on the site.

The Family History Centers on my area are providing classes once a month in several topics to teach patrons how to use this FREE program (FamilySearch), how to organized their information, and how to use some of the many free websites on the Internet.  Check to see what's going on at your Family History Center.  You can locate the nearest center to you at the FamilySearch website.

If you are hunting for your ancestors and have not been to a Family History Center in your area, you should really go see what is available and have them help you get started with all of the FREE services available to you on the FamilySearch website.

Check it out  www.familysearch.org

1940 US CENSUS - Nation Wide Service Project

In April we will have the opportunity to join a huge nation wide service project.  The 1940 census will be available online.  The main problem with accessing it is, you have to know exactly where your family lived to find them......SO, there is a massive Nation-Wide Service project getting ready to start Indexing the entire 1940 census.  They need the help from EVERYONE! 

It is easy and so beneficial.  If you are just beginning your family history, it will help you to find your family in just one step.  All you will have to do is type in their name on the FamilySearch website and the indexed information will come up.  You will then be able to click on the actual document and view it...and all of this for FREE!  (Indexed names will be updated on a regular basis so the faster the names are indexed, the faster you will be able to access the information.)

So what do you need to do to help?  Just sign up to do Indexing at www.Indexing.familysearch.org and follow the steps to register.  You will need to download a program.  Once you have downloaded the program, you will need to get registered then you will be ready to begin.  It is so easy to sign up.  You will need a sign in name with a password (if you belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you just use your church sign in name and password). 

After you have downloaded the program and signed up, you will be able to download a batch.  A batch is generally 1 or 2 pages of the census record.  Other types of records are available too as the Church is working on indexing all of the microfilm/microfiche that they have photographed over the many years.  Many of the records available are in other languages.  You only choose the language you will feel comfortable indexing.  If you do read another language, they really need some help from indexers that can read foreign languages.

The batches are not that long, as I said before, just a few names.  Most batches take about a half hour to do.  You can do as many or as few batches as you'd like.  You have about a week to complete one batch.  If you do not finish the batch, it will be taken away in a week for someone else to complete.  If you find one batch is too difficult and you do not want to do that batch, you can just send it back. 

So this is what's happening, you download a batch from the website server and work on it on your computer.  You can choose to work offline or stay online and work that way.  You have to be online to download a batch and online to submit the batch but if you only have dial-up or if you want to load some batches to do while traveling, you can download them, work on them offline, then go back online to submit them.  You can load up to 10 batches at once.

There is awesome help for indexing.  For complete help and even live chat assistance, click on the HELP section at the Indexing website.  Every batch has it's own set of instructions so be sure to read them before you start.  If you cannot read something or something is missing that should be there, refer back to the HELP section for assistance.  As I said, if you really cannot find your answer, click on  LIVE CHAT (found in the HELP section) and someone will be more than happy to assist (you can also call or send an email for assistance).

Who can index?  If you can read, you can index.  You do not have to be proficient on the computer.  You do not have to be a fast typist.  You work at your own speed, in your own home, and on your own computer.  If you can give a few minutes a week to this project, you can do it.  It is easy to learn.  If you only have a few minutes of one week a month, you can do this.  If you have time at your lunch break, when the kids are down for a nap, when you are waiting for a call, you can do this.  If you feel that you are bored and nothing interests you, try indexing. 

A word of warning, you can become addicted.  Time flies by so fast and you may have the boss, kids, or spouse tapping the desk for you to get back to their needs but just tell them you are doing a service project.  Ask them to join in.  The age for signing up is 13+.  I knew a lady in her 80's that decided to do something with her days.  She learned how to use the computer (just enough to do indexing - nothing more) and began indexing.  She ended up working an easy 8 hours a day every day until she died (into her 90's).  She even learned how to do the Spanish records and she never spoke or read Spanish before.  She just wanted to learn so she did!

Join us in this wonderful World Wide Service Project (general indexing) and our National Service Project (1940 census) and find how truly rewarding it is to offer service this way.  Maybe you will even find some of your family while doing it!  Check it out today!  You do not have to wait for the 1940 census to get started.  There is tons to index right now so go take a look.  They even have a little "Test Drive" to see what it is all about.  If you know someone who needs purpose to their life, have them try this.  It is the best therapy you can imagine.  I hope you will not just take my word but will actually give it a try.  Join us today!

Fun Blog for the Grand Kids

I have set up a new blog for my grand kids recently.  What fun!  It all started because some of my grand kids in the 7-12 age bracket have started using email to communicate with their friends and cousins and of course, with their grandma (me!).  I began thinking how fun it would be for me to get involved in their lives through this mode of communication.  One thing led to another and poof!!!  I started a blog for them.

I say this blog is for them because I am trying to do things with them and for them to enhance their learning skills with computer stuff and communication with others.  I just started so things are in those beginning stages.  I began with opening an email account just for this purpose.  I sent an invitation to all of the parents first and let them know what I was doing.  The parents then agreed to it and got their kids involved in reading the emails that I began sending. 

One thing that I do with email is I send out a thought for the day.  This actually goes to the kids ans to their parents.  I do not really know how they are receiving it (meaning, I don't know if they really care at this time about what I am saying) but it gives me a little chance to express how I feel about things and to give my point of view of things.  It is a simple thought and I always try to have a little learning message with it.  Hopefully, family members will be inspired by it a little and we can all try to improve our outlook on life's situations.  If nothing else, it is a little thought journal for me.  They can discard it and I will never know!

The blog is geared more towards the kids.  I began with a picture and asked them to try to guess what it was.  This was the picture:

It seemed easy to me because it is something all of them had seen and some quite often.  I was surprised that few really knew what it was.  I offered camp points (which I will explain in a minute) for guessing.  Later I posted the full picture -

This is a picture of my dog Lucky.  The white spot was from the top of her head. 

I have also posted riddles and other fun things.  I am encouraging the kids to post things also.  One grandson posted a poem.  Many of the grand kids (I have 24 1/2) are talking about things they want to post.  They can earn camp points (as the name of my blog is Camp Maw Paw) for things they submit and answers they give to my riddles and pictures.  These camp points can eventually earn them a little spending money.  (100 points can be cashed in for $5,00).  Who doesn't want to earn money?

What this blog is doing for them is teaching them some things about using email, using the Internet, writing stories and poems, planning activities, and using their minds to figure out riddles. They are learning how to take pictures and process them through the computer (download to a file, adjust the picture quality, and email it to me).  It also enhances their reading skills.  Most of all, it gives me some special time with the grand kids even when I can't be right there with them.

Having this blog for the grand kids is a win win situation.  I love it because it gives me time to think about ways to connect with them and I hope it gives them something fun and clean to do on the Internet.  It also helps all of us to be a little closer as a family.  We are always mentioning the grand kid's names and giving praises and such.  Hopefully this will be a special memory in their lives about something they did with their grandma.



Senior Hiking # 405 Last Schweitzer Snow Hike

70°

June 6, 2011…the last Schweitzer snow hike…
hike # 405
by Betsy

The forecast was for 60% rain today but the sun was coming out when we left. Normally we would have been done with Schweitzer by now but we needed more practice with our approach skis, and Jim bought another new pair and he was especially anxious to try them out. They are shorter than the others and do have skins. Temperature was to be around 70° so I wore short sleeves and summer hiking pants.

As we started up the cat track, we found many bare spots with water running everywhere. We carried the skis up to a point when we hit snow again and thought it was safe to put the skis on. The snow was horrible to walk on, very soft and smooshy…slippery too. Since we weren’t sure how much snow would be on the Cloudwalker route, we continued up to the top as we did last week to Stella, and thought we would try going down the Zip Down Run. Up at Stella, we had our mango snack again…took off our skis and sat down for a bit. We bought silicon spray to apply to my ski skins to see if we could slip them up a bit…they seem to go fast at a certain decline and then they take off fast. But on the flat or slight declines, they kind of drag a bit.

We got our first taste of wildflowers; so many yellow violets, trillium, glacier lilies and even one pussy willow bush. We saw no bear tracks today.

If we thought the snow was bad down lower, it was extremely bad up top as we began to ski down Zip Down. I started first and it wasn’t long before I thought…no way.

The snow was full of little craters from the different rate of snow melt, and it was soft and slippery. I had no control. Jim, who had taken the skins off his skis for easier down, was in for the same surprise only more so.

He was the first to take the skis off and suggested I do the same…and we thought it would be so much safer to walk down. He carried the skis on his pole over his shoulder. When we got closer to the bottom, we put the skis on and skied down the last bit…Jim’s skis were so slick and he fell almost immediately.

Safely at the bottom of the run at Wolf Ridge, we ate lunch, and then headed back. Jim’s skis kept coming off…had to get the wrench out for some repair a couple of times but it didn’t help much. They kept coming off, and he fell a few more times. Rain clouds were ominous when we got to the village and as we drove down the mountain rain drops began to hit the windshield. We made it back just in time.

We can now drive up Pack River Rd and when we hit snow, we will park and walk to the first trail head…it is usually around 1-2 miles. While it is not so bad on the way in, it is a chore on the way back…it is hard to not be at the truck when you get down but have to walk the miles to the truck. We’ve done it many times…and once in a hard downpour…that was no fun. This is the latest we have been up at Schweitzer and the latest we have not been up to the mountain trail heads. We are anxious. It’s been a long winter. We’ll see if we can stay away from Schweitzer next week!

Left home 10:00
Started up 10:30
Got back to truck 3:10
Total hiking time 4 hours, 40 minutes
Total miles hiked 6 miles

Senior Hiking #404 - Schweitzer

55°

May 30, 2011…Memorial Day…Schweitzer on approach skis…
hike #404
by Betsy

Thank you to all those brave men and women who gave their lives, the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedoms. And thank you to their families. We honor you and will never forget. God bless America.

Weather was warm for a change…hopefully we can continue to find half way decent snow up at Schweitzer…so far, so good albeit it is wet and mushy in a lot of places. There has been much snowmelt and rushing water as well and we are now noticing dirt patches along the sides of the trails at the lower elevations…not so much up higher. So confident were we today that we brought only the skis and no snowshoes. We saw so many bear tracks on the cattrack almost up to the top. The sun was very bright and the reflection off the white snow was blinding…I needed my Polaroid’s with Polaroid clip-ons, and Jim even broke pout his sunglasses.

The plan for today was to go all the way up to Stella 6 person lift and then ski down the steep Stella run…it may be called ‘Zip Down Run’. We stopped for a mango break before heading over to the steep hill. This is the same hill that we practiced a bit on last week down near the bottom. I started down first, going slowly and carefully, doing wide turns. I did better than I thought I would and while it was killing my knees, I never fell down once, all the way to the bottom. Jim was not as fortunate…he took the first fall almost immediately. When I saw he was down, I walked back up as I did each time he fell, thinking he might be hurt or needed help. It was almost I impossible for him to get the skis off alone. Back on his feet, he took off again, only to fall once again. This is when he decided to take off the skis and walk down, carrying the skis. When he was closer to the bottom, he put them back on and while skiing down, hit some icy snow and down he went again. I could hear the loud thump, and was relieved to find out he had landed on this backpack.

Finally down at the bottom and Wolf Ridge. We headed back to the village from there but we had one more misfortune…the mountain wasn’t thru with Jim yet. Coming down the cattrack, I was ahead of Jim and took one more look back to make sure he got across a big split in the snow without an issue. But then I took one more look back and saw that he was down yet again and sitting in a stream of running melting snow, aka ice water! So for the last time, I walked back up to him and after snapping a couple of pics, helped him out of the wet and cold watery hole. That was the final insult. We felt so tired as we drove down the mountain…and were happy to get home.

Left home 8:30
Started up 9:15
Got to truck 3:00
Total hiking time 4 hours, 10 minutes
Total miles hiked 6 miles

Senior Hiking #403 Schweitzer

50°

May 23, 2011…Schweitzer on slider snowshoes…
hike # 403
by Betsy

The second pair of snowshoes skis arrived…I was excited to try them out. We loaded both the old and the new skis, and Jim tied my snowshoes to his pack ‘just in case’. Started out up the cattrack and I knew I was going to be in trouble. It was a combination of the very wet soggy snow and the groomer had just been up and down. I was sliding sideways and every which way…so out of control, that I was barely able to stay on my feet. I wanted Jim to see why I was whining and so we switched…he experienced the same issues. We both noticed the same differences…I felt so much better on the older ones.

When we got on a slight ascent, we switched back again…it was slippery but now we were in regular snow so there was more control. Once we stepped over to the side to look at a dirt patch and I went sliding right into the dirt. I couldn’t stop. Then when we got to the nice picture spot, again, one slight move with my ski and Jim screamed STOP! Luckily I stopped because this was a serious steep side of the mountain.

When we got up further, we switched skis again and once again I was feeling the sliding...but kept them on, since we were going uphill. I was anxious to have a little hill to check out the sliding. Finally saw a hill up ahead and got excited…’Oh, good...a hill’…I said out loud…and that is the last thing I remember before I lost control, went flying off the trail and down a hill on my butt. I had no idea when I would stop or if I would stop. Jim said my skies were flying up in the air as I was sliding fast on my butt. When I stopped I just burst out laughing so hard, a good signal to Jim that I was okay. And of course I could not get up without taking the skis off. Jim wasn’t crazy about coming down the hill to help but he did and I decided that we should switch back after climbing back up. It felt good to get the old ones on again…they are much slower. The new ones are plastic and have a fish scale embossed pattern which allows for easy up and easy down…or I should say, a ‘fast out of control’ down. The old ones have skins.

When we got to Wolf Ridge and the steep ski hill, I thought it would be a good idea to walk up it and practice coming down. We walked up quite a bit, and walked over to the side…all of a sudden, my feet went out from under me and down I went. That was a surprise. Then we started practicing skiing down…very slowly and very carefully. It was fun but each time we picked up speed we would practice stopping. It is not that easy, believe me. We went up and down about 3-4 times and decided rather than continue down Wolf Ridge, to just turn around and head back.

Although we were a bit concerned about skiing down the cattrack, we decided to give it a try. It went well until Jim got out of control and crashed down to the ground, just missing a ditch which was full of rushing falling melted snow! I had to help him get the skis off and then he was able to get up.

Then we had a nice surprise…bear tracks crossing the trail after we had been there a few hours earlier. Took pics. We were pretty wiped out by now, being out for four hours and only covered 6 miles.

Left home 10:20

Started up 11:00

Got to truck 3:00

Total miles hiked 6 miles

Total hiking time 4 hours

Remember!

We are home from our wonderful trip, the sun is shining, and there is much to do.  It seems that I have been gone since before Christmas....oh yeah, I have been gone most of that time...YIKES!!!!  It is amazing how things build up around a house if you are not there to take care of them.  It certainly feels good to be home.

Our trip was so much fun.  Looking back at what all we did, the thing I loved doing the most was searching the cemeteries.  I loved the sight seeing and the church history tours and am so grateful that we finally got to do those things, but the cemetery experience touched my heart in a way that is difficult to explain.

We are anxious to go cemetery searching again.  We realized that we were very unprepared for actually doing a good search and will definitely get ourselves prepared the next time we go (which I hope will be next year).  I had taken my computer with my genealogy program and that was a huge help but we needed to plan better.  Here is what I would suggest that we we (or anyone wishing to search cemeteries) should do before we go.

1.  Get your facts -  Try to know as much about your ancestor as you can.  It helps to know the cemetery where he/she is buried (or at least the town).  Check all of your lines to see if there are others that might be in the same cemetery (try to do as much as you can at one cemetery as possible). 

2.  Do ground work ahead of time - Write the county or town hall to see if they have any information about the cemetery that would be of help to you - like a plot map showing where graves are located (this will save huge amounts of time walking and searching).

3.  Gather supplies - Do research on how to extract information from decaying gravestones (brushes, cleaners, rubbing materials, etc).  There are right and wrong ways to clean gravestones - be sure to research this! 

4.  Plan enough time - It is amazing how fast time flies when you are searching gravestones.  If you have to factor in cleaning time, your time will go even faster.  Don't rush!  Don't over plan your day (don't try to do several cemeteries in a day) - be flexible.

5.  Document what you find and where you found it - Take pictures but also map out those around your ancestor - they may be related in some way.  It is amazing how quickly you will forget what picture goes where.  Take notes of your pictures so when you are looking at them, you will know who it is you are viewing and who they a re related to....(many times you will find a stone that says the family name with no information but in front of the stone you see mother, father, child, etc. This can be very confusing if you are only looking at pictures.). 

6.  Week day working hours may be best - If you need to talk with someone at the cemetery or in a court house, funeral home, etc., they may only be available during work hours.  If you plan your cemetery visit during the weekend, you may be out of luck if you need to speak to someone (believe me, you very well may need to do this).

7.  Take the family - What a fantastic experience for your whole family.  Get the kids involved.  Everyone can search in a cemetery.  How exciting it is to see your ancestor's grave.  This would be a great time for you to tell your family about some memories or research experience you may have had with this ancestor.  These were real people with real life struggles.  Believe me, there will be some touching moments when you see your ancestor's grave.

I have seen most of the gravestones on the Internet of the ancestors in the cemeteries we visited but there is such an emotional feeling when you are standing right there where you know other of your ancestors stood many years before.  Take the time to visit the dead.  Lear about their lives, their stories, the history they have left you.  Take the time - it can be life changing!

Day 13 - The end is near!

This is our last night in a motel - YEAH!!!  Tomorrow we are headed to visit our son then home.  This will be my last post of our trip as this is the official end of touring...now we will be visiting.  We are so thankful for this opportunity that we have had to travel and do some site seeing, genealogy, and visiting church historical sites.

We knew when we left that it was spring and a wet one at that so we were prepared for some bad weather.  We feel fortunate in that way also.  Other than our day at Mt. Rushmore when it poured, the rest of our trip was quite pleasant.  It seems that every time we wanted to be outside, the rain stopped long enough for us to do whatever it was we wanted to do, then would start back up again.  The only hot weather we ran into was today in Wyoming.

We were in the car a lot and on the road a lot and I thought that I would go crazy with the riding as I am not the greatest for long drives but we stopped every night early enough to rest and a couple of times we held over a day to get a little extra rest.  That was the trick...that and the fact that we were not in any great hurry to get to any one place.  We had an agenda but it was extremely flexible.  I would travel like this again in a heartbeat.

You may wonder if it was wise bringing our dog.  Honestly, we really considered this question.  We just didn't feel comfortable about leaving her that long.  We had a lot working for us.  For one thing it was spring and not hot in the car...not cold either.  The other thing is that Lucky loves the car and actually prefers sleeping in the car over going in with us into the motel.  We always told the motel people that we had a dog and requested a room close and within view of the car from our window.  They were all very obliging.  Lucky is a very quiet dog - so quiet we hardly even knew that she was with us.  She also is extremely obedient.  That is very helpful.  I have had a couple of Beagles and there is no way we could have had such an enjoyable trip with them.  So traveling with a dog really depends on the personality of your dog.  The worst days for Lucky were probably the two days we spent touring church sites. We made it up to her with our fun days at the cemeteries....she loved grave searching.  Enough about dogs.

My husband actually thought we could do this trip in under $200 a day for gas, food, and lodging.  Well, most days ran around $250.  We did almost no activities that required admission.  We usually ate only one meal out (I brought healthy snacks that took us through most of the trip for lunches).  We always got a motel that served breakfast.  Most of the motels we stayed at cost between $75-130 with tax.  We did stay in a nicer hotel twice and a real dive once.  Gas was most outrageous in Indiana...ugh!  I can't believe we almost cheered when we found gas for $3.55 a gallon after the $4.45 we had to spend some places.

We used a GPS and a Map...together.  I was the navigator and had control of plotting out our destinations.  It was fun following the map and checking out the different locations.  We did depend on the GPS a lot in some places...wow, some places do not do very well with directions!  Our biggest downfall was not following Jack (our GPS) and doing our own thing.  I also used coordinates to locations where I could not find a physical address.  That was very helpful.  Some of the cemeteries would never have been found otherwise.  (I brought the laptop with us so at night I would look up coordinates of some places we wanted to see.)

We listened to a book on disk on our way back east.   That was very entertaining and helped us through some of those boring areas of driving.  Unfortunately, we do not have any more books with us so I will put on a movie and pipe it through the speakers so my husband can hear it (and I can watch it).

If I were to do this again, the thing that I would change would be that we would be more prepared for the cemeteries.  Cemetery looking takes a lot of time and I think I could have been better prepared.  We want to go back to some of these cemeteries and check them out again but we will bring some supplies next time...a scrub brush, some bleach, and some rubbing supplies.  This was a fun thing to do but you need to have patience.  I think sometimes we crowded too much into a day and we felt hurried when searching the cemeteries.

My husband is limited to some activities due to a leg problem but I have bad knees so we were well suited to travel together.  I think you need to be on the same level when traveling or else one could get frustrated with the other.  Our pace was quite slow and that was fine with me but I know some of my kids would have been a lot more impatient.

Well, that kind of sums up the specifics of our trip.  Today our plans were to go to two cemeteries in Nebraska for my family and two in Kansas for my husband's family.  We did go to the ones in Nebraska and I found my family... my 3rd great grandfather and family...such a find!  When we finished with the Nebraska cemeteries, we found ourselves right near Interstate 80.  It began calling us - come home...come home!  Well, we have been gone 2 weeks and we still have a couple of long days to travel before we get home so the call from the Interstate was too overpowering.  So tonight we are in Cheyenne, Wyoming headed to our son's home in Utah instead of Kansas and Colorado as originally planned.  We will stay with our son a couple of days then head home to Idaho...I am ready!

Pictures today were of family headstones.  My greatest delight was finding my 3rd great grandfather.  I did not know where he was buried so it was exciting to see him beside my 2nd great grandparents.

These cemeteries were out in the middle of nowhere.  Flat farmland all around and in a green spot with some trees finds a quaint little cemetery.  You have to check every single headstone to find your family....oh, but it is so worth it.

I end this trip with the most touching moment for me.  Today, as I found my family, I found this sweet little headstone of an unnamed baby.  It touched my heart.  These parents wanted a headstone for their baby so they carved it themselves.  I think this picture says it all.

Thank you for reading the story of our trip.  We had a great time and now have some wonderful memories.  These pictures are a reminder for me but I hope they have been of interest to you.  I encourage you to take the plunge and do some traveling.  Take the kids too!