My Family Chronicles2: April 29th to May 5th 2018

"Life is passing rapidly.

Fiercely commit to every moment

you find beautiful and remember it.

Record it. Fully, whole-heartedly

inhabit it. Awareness is one of the

greatest things you can possess in this

life as it is as important as the

very air we breathe and

water we drink to stay alive."

-Victoria Erickson

(CLICK ↓ "Read More" to go to the next page)

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

Guess Who?

Yep, Cameron!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

“God left us the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity in the cloud, the oil in the earth. He left the rivers unbridged and the forests unfelled and the cities unbuilt. God gives to man the challenge of raw materials, not the ease of finished things. He leaves the pictures unpainted and the music unsung and the problems unsolved, that man might know the joys and glories of creation.”

-Thomas S. Monson

Mom/Roberta:

Driving in the car writing this on my iPad - little different from our ancestors! Just finished a visit to Costco - good thing it’s NOT closer, it would put us in the poor house, FAST!

Weeks keep flying by - not sure you noticed! The reason WHY we still live in Idaho just showed up the other day . . . The weather just “showed up” - to die for! We’re on the interstate right now and it’s jammed with campers, RV’s - people heading to the high-country and AZ people coming up to “cool off”!

I guess an update around the “Burg” would be that more and more "blocks of neighborhoods" are getting “chewed-up” with new college housing and other housing as well. The landscape of our little town is drastically changing just because of four letters: BYUI! Over by Grandma’s, Dave Thueson (owner of Homestead and surrounding senior living buildings) has bought up an entire block on 5th West to put in more “assisted living” buildings! He’s into this BIG! What he is building is quality housing and does improve the “Burg” big-time. New restaurants are moving in (finally) - and they’re not fast-food places (hallelujah). Porter’s is STILL going out of business - their inventory is finally 50% off and will continue to go down until everything is gone.

Rees Butikofer came by the other day and brought the neatest gift! He hand-carved a bear out of a log for our entry-way . . . So amazing and weighs a TON - I could hardly move it!. He’s been a good friend for almost 50 years - we were at BYU together and finally followed him to Idaho as he hired Dad right out of college!

Rees' son, Sam is running for “County Coroner” for Madison County. He would actually be GREAT as he’s been in the medical field for many years - currently teaching at BYUI.

Fred Scoresby dropped by for a visit this week and brought a little gift with him! He made this "handmade" ice cream scoop! We have some pretty talented friends!

Three weeks ago we went to play “Pickleball” and I have been limping ever since -haha! The knee I’ve been doctoring for about a year (and was doing amazing) is suddenly back to where it was - BAD! Don’t think I need a knee replacement - but maybe a steroid shot! My career in Pickleball lasted “one game” and, “I’m OUT”!!! It really was fun (while it lasted). Be "kind" to your knees - our family history isn't that great!

Yep, we're still in charge of almost 100 workers at the temple on Tuesday evenings! Thought I would include a picture of the schedule we do EACH week assigning workers to a wide-variety of jobs. This shows (1) page out of (13) that are on the Excel program we work with! Works like a charm. (I removed the names to protect the innocent!)

Today, I leave you with a little peek into my journal written a year ago - some of you saw the "sun" on IG. I "believe" in journals - leaving a little something to your posterity. I never knew my grandparents and always wished I could learn a little something about them however, they wrote nothing down, perhaps thinking their lives were mundane, ordinary and not worth documenting? I think they were wrong . . . I would have loved to have read about their "everyday-mundane-extrodinary lives"! So, I guess that's why I decided to leave a little something! Maybe a flood will come along and wash my words away but maybe it won't . . . maybe my great granddaughters and great-grandson's can read a little something about who I was, what I loved and what mattered to me . . . maybe!

It seems so sad that a person can be forgotten so quickly after leaving this life - I can personally say I know little to nothing about my grandparents other than a few little choice tid-bits I've gathered over the years. What are you leaving behind? Make an effort to write something down even if you think it's insignificant - your posterity will LOVE you for it!

I LOVE you all so much - pray for you daily! (Reread the thought at the beginning of this post!)

Dad/Bob:

I want you to know about your uncle Lenard Boice. Jay Sessions, Gwen and I went to Paso Robles a year ago and cleaned out his house and got it ready to sell. He moved to Sandpoint, Idaho - it is way up by Canada. He worked for Walmart for 17 years and for Sears before that. He just had his 69th birthday in April. He is now very ill.

When he was in California he had poor health and his legs would swell and he had blood clot issues along with prostate cancer. He had his prostate removed and in the process they had complications and now he wears a diaper and received burns from the radiation.

For several months he has enjoyed wonderful health but has gained weight until he weighs 280+. Now his legs have gone bad (swelling and clots). He had a mesh screen put in to catch the clots so they don't get to the heart. Now they think he has many problems. He had CT scans and ultra sound tests because he has no energy, has horrible leg problems and just this week, was diagnosed with Carcinoid cancer.

We haven't told him about the cancer because he would not be able to handle it. I just talked to him and he is in pain but has no medication to help. Christy his daughter lives there and is helping with his care. We really appreciate all she does because she has her hands full! The diagnosis was just made Thursday and we haven't heard any treatment plan from the docs. He has very fine medical care and I am sure they will get after him next week.

I know it is too late for a family fast but never too late for family prayers in his behalf. I will try and post an update each week but, at the present, he is in serious condition. He has multiple clots in his right leg. He has blocked arteries in his legs and they think the screen in his heart is plugged and now cancer. Please bring your families together and fast or pray for his health.

Jens and Helena Peterson / Part 2

Family: These are your Great-great grandmother and grandfather on Mom's (Roberta's) side / pioneer-stock! This history was put together by my Aunt Jackie - she was a great genealogist in our family / researched all of this by herself.

Jens was born in Nors, Thisted, Denmark located in the upper north and west on the Mainland or Jutland. His petite wife, Helena was born in Fredericker, Vejle just south of Jen’s birthplace. Their marriage must have been consecrated in heaven for their paths to meet even within a radius of just a few miles, for at that time people did not travel great distances, even for employment. It is also known they were married 10 October 1848 in Nors, Thisted, Denmark.

Jens was acquainted with life in Copenhagen for at the age of 21 years, he served the next five years in the King’s guard. This would lead us to believe that he served his military duty as all young men in Denmark did. It is possible that on his trip to Copenhagen he met Helena in her hometown.

Interesting “quick facts” about these ancestors:

They spread their wings and left the nest at age 34 years of age
Went to Zeland Island and settled in Copenhagen
They had their first child before they were married / not an unusual circumstance for Scandinavian people
While in Copenhagen he hired out as an apprentice learning the copper trade
In his spare time he made hooks and eyes to supplement his income
Jens and Helena opened up a small coffee shop selling lunches and coffee
They worked well together and were contented / they were doing well financially
They had three children / one son and two daughters (names, dates on Family Search)

Their lives seemed to be complete; however, a change for the better came into their lives, for it was here they embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They, along with others, prepared themselves to go to America where they could be closer to the body of the Church and its blessings.

They sold their belongings, equipped themselves with the necessities for this journey, both working hard and saving to make their dream come true.

Jens secured passage from Copenhagen for this little family to Liverpool, England. From there, arrangements were made to sail to America on a sailing ship by way of Florida, New Orleans and up the Mississippi River to Omaha, Nebraska.

The voyage on the ship was rough! Everyone on board suffered immensely. Little Caroline, who was only six months old, fell desperately ill (reportedly with measles) and as the small boat was tossed to and fro, the waves lapping its sides like a thirsty sea monster, members of the crew feared sharks might attack the ship. Believing the baby's life had been despaired of (died), they advised Helena to throw the seemingly lifeless body of the child over board to the sharks, but a mother's LOVE nourished the little one until life flowed back into her body and with her baby in her arms, after two months or more in crossing, they reached the shore of America.

NEXT WEEK: Their difficult trek to Utah!

(((Editor's note: Little did I know that my (your) ancestors would have a tie to Ephraim K. Hanks / read next week's writeup to see how - pretty AMAZING coincidence!!!)))

THE WIND IN UTAH HAS BEEN HORRIBLE

Text from Monica:
"This is our Rexburg faces! We sometimes MISS Rexburg so we go to the garage and turn on the leaf blower!!!"
(((Editor's note: LOL, LOL, LOL, LOL, LOL! ! !)))

UPDATE: LEO (aka: Leah)

Everything has been good over here!

I just finished my 2nd semester at school study Elementary Education.
As my dad mentioned earlier I got a dog named Chester and he is a German Shepherd and VERY cute!!!
I have a job at a Montessori school this summer as an assistant teacher and I’m super excited to start!
My dad is on a trip in Hawaii living his best life- go Cam!

Other than that, nothing much is new!