This and That Sunday: Life is Just An Ordinary Miracle

This is a long, meandering post that covers things that I did, learned or thought about this week.  You'll need to go down to the very bottom to leave a comment, but please do!

"Ordinary Miracle"
Performed by Sarah McLaughlin

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Last night, I was looking through my pictures to find something blue for Blue Monday, and came up with this picture taken in La Pine at last year's 4th of July fair.  I can just imagine sitting up there in the blue chair and being able to see for miles around. I got to thinking about life.  How it is so precious, and how we had better try to do our best to enjoy it and not get so bogged down in the things that make us unhappy.  Celebrating the positive is a good thing.

Life is often compared to a roller coaster, especially if you are in a dysfunctional relationship.  Perhaps if you are on drugs it is really more like the Tilt-a-Whirl.  I don't really know.  I think that life might be more like a Ferris wheel for most people though.  Sometimes we have our heads in the clouds. At the very top, it seems that from our view we can see forever, and there will be blue skies from now on.  Sometimes our stomachs lurch on the way down as we experience the breaking of our hearts.  Sometimes we hit the bottom.   Other times we are on the way up, experiencing new things and sensations as we rise to the top.  This past week was brought many things into focus for me ... from the bottom to the top, as I focus on the families around me.  

I have spent a lot of time with my own family recently, being in Eugene last weekend and having Mom over at her cabin in Mayberry this week.  I have been working on my Pioneer History and Genealogy website to record the stories and match them up with pictures of family members and their headstones, if I have them.  In the middle of that, I am meeting more long lost cousins, The Hedricks, through my blog and emails.  They are planning a family reunion in Drain, Oregon in August.  Among others, we all share this lady in common, our Great-Great Grandmother Louisa Jackson Hedrick:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Here are some of the things that have happened in the families of my friends this week.  This first one is very sad.  My friend in Texas called to say that her son had died unexpectedly at the age of 31, due to an aneurysm.  I can't imagine this.  I'm so sorry, Sherri. Could you guys please keep Sherri and her family in your thoughts and prayers today?  Thank you so much.

Source: Link to Leprikin

This one is not sad.  My friend Lisa and her sweet husband Jack (I always think of him as that for some reason) are celebrating their seventh wedding this month, and have decided to get going on adding to their family through adoption.  All I can say is that the child who gets Lisa and Jack for parents will be the luckiest and most loved kid (or kids) in the world.  Please read all about it by clicking on this link to Lisa's blog post, after you are all done here: 

Big Yellow Ric Rac: Think About What You Want Your Family To Look Like

Big Yellow Ric Rac ~ Lisa Plumb Photos

"Versatile means that I can change with ease from one thing to another."   Charlotte of  "Charlotte's Web"

I was given an award this week!  Thank you to  Rhonda over at  O.E. Books for passing on this Versatile Blogger award to me.  What a sweetie you are.  I was really happy to read this comment that Rhonda left for me:

"Hi Kathy, wow, you have so much going on here.  But this is great.  I like the variety, which is why I nominated your blog for the Versitle Award!  You can grab the badge and pass it on.  Thanks for sharing such a great blog."  ~ Rhonda 

I am supposed to tell you seven things about me and choose some people to pass this on to.  I am going to bend the rules a bit here.  I'll tell you seven things, but if you consider your blog versatile and want to grab this badge and keep this award going, then please do.  I consider mine eclectic; maybe we should make an award for that!

I'll try to stay on theme here and tie my seven facts into things about my family:

* I have two ancestors who were named Beulah Barker, one on my Mom's side and one on my Dad's side.

* I have a Great Uncle Kit on my Dad's side, and a Great-Great Uncle Kit on my Mom's side. 

* My Hedrick cousin Bill told me this week that I am related to Shirley Temple, about 9 times removed.

* My Great Grandpa Ben did not like President Roosevelt, because he didn't feel that FDR was fair to farmers.  During the Great Depression, Grandpa had to move from the farm where he was born and lived his whole life until he lost it due to the economy.

* My Great-Great Grandma Louisa (pictured above) was 15 when she married 17-year-old Great-Great Grandpa John Hedrick.  The newlyweds  worked their way to Oregon on the 1852 Drain Party wagon train.  Louisa drove a wagon, and John tended the cattle.  He also swam across the mighty Columbia and back to see if that spot was an appropriate place to cross the river with the wagons and stock.  

* My Great-Great Grandma Sarah Letsom came across the Oregon Trail with her husband.  One baby died along the way.  They settled on a ranch in Yoncalla and then he died, leaving her with three children and a 320 acre ranch.  One day, John Letsom came to town via ship and by foot, took up the claim next to Sarah's and then married her.  They began having their own children, and one of their girls, Talitha (Litha) Letsom married Grandpa Ben Hedrick and they eventually became my Grandma T.'s parents.

* My Aunt Sondy was born on the same day as her Great Aunt Myra (the one with the colorful Drain house in posts below this).  Grandma T. said, "We've got to hurry up and name this baby before Aunt Myra gets here, or she'll make us name her Myra!"

This is a Blue Monday post on top of everything else.  Please  CLICK HERE to visit Smiling Sally and see some other fun blue things!

If you miss a day, you miss a lot!  Don't miss out on the news ... Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.