Murmuring Israel

I am supposed to be finishing up my Corporations reading (but I cannot bring myself to do it on a Sunday).  But I thought to share a few ideas before reading our scriptures and going to bed.

Today was a first for me.  Initially I had been asked to stand in for a priesthood ordination and I was happy to do that.  Well, the other two people who had been asked to stand in forgot.  It felt bad for the man being ordained since this was something that was very important to him.  Last minute, I was offered the privilege of conferring the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordained him to the office of an Elder.  It was an honour and a privilege.  It was the first time for me to have ever ordained somebody to any office in any priesthood.  In typing up the priesthood lineage, I almost felt like I had gained a son.  From here on out, at least as an Elder, I will be a part of his lineage and that will bind us throughout eternity.  Somehow I felt like a part of me went out and into him.  I don’t know if he feels or recognizes that, but I sure do.  Anyhow, I am glad the method for the ordination was clear in my head, and there was one right before for a refresher in verbiage and procedure.

Stake Conference last night and today were powerful.  I am impressed by how humble and simple our Stake Presidency is.  I have to admit, President Curtis Crane is a man I want to be like.  I see in him a type of person I want to be like.  I hope there is time.  The meetings included our Temple President speaking last night and our Mission President speaking today.  Of course the Stake Presidency also spoke.  It was good.  Something about hearing a large group of people singing together that always impresses me.  Powerful.

I know I had commented I would give some thoughts about the scriptures as we have been reading along.  Amanda has joined me in the reading and it has been good.  We will be starting in Exodus 32 tonight.  But the last few nights have held a couple of impressions I thought I would share.

The constant view of God to the people continues to amaze me.  The plagues that were taking place in Egypt were surely not unknown to Israel.  Furthermore, the fact that they were spared from the plagues would also be obvious.  While the magicians were able to reproduce some of the early signs (I cannot imagine they were weak reproductions) the power and magnitude became greater and greater.  Each miracle was more recognizable.  Finally, Israel finds themselves crossing through the Red Sea and headed towards a promised land.

“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”  Exodus 13:21-22.  I find this thought simply beyond comprehension.  Then I wonder if it is so obvious to the people of Israel what is really going on.

The people didn’t seem to recognize what power was leading them.  “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?  wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us out of Egypt?  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?  For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”  Id. at 14:11-12.

Then in the next breath, “And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.”  Id. at 14:31.

Right afterward, “the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”  Id. at 15:24.  “[T]he whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.”  Id. at 16:2.

The Lord responds to their pleas.  “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”  Id. at 16:4.

“How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?”  Id. at 16:28.

“Why chide ye with me?  wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?”  Id. at 17:2.

“And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?  Id. at 17:4.

“Is the Lord among us, or not?”  Id. at 17:7.

“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine.  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”  Id. at 19:4-6.

“Speak thou (Moses) with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”  Id. at 20:19.

Anyhow, this is only Exodus, but we see this exchange going back and forth between Israel and the Lord (through Moses).  When will we ever learn to just be obedient and quit expecting the Lord to coddle us?  The next chapter (32) shows where Israel got themselves into quite a bit of trouble for their inability to be constant.  I hope I can be more constant.  I always remember the verse from 1 Nephi 2:12, “And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.”  Hopefully we can all find that relationship with God so that we learn his ways, and his dealings, and we don’t end up like murmuring Israel.

Days of Thanksgiving

Life seems to be a constant blur as the days fly by with such speed that it almost becomes alarming.  The variety of reading, the topics, and the constant barrage of information in law school is enlivening and thrilling.  On the other hand, the lack of change, and the sheer amount of information thrust upon us, and the endless days of a self-imposed imprisonment make the days not pass fast enough.  The diligence required of the situation is wearisome, and yet I beat myself up for not being diligent enough since I cannot seem to digest the material to the degree that I want.  Another week, and the full final preparation mode kicks in.  I am so numb from school now, I have to find something extra within me to endure to what will be an inevitable end of the semester.  Hopefully I can pull all above average grades again.

I have nothing really to offer with relation to school.  Income Tax requires so much time and effort that I can spend up to 3 or 4 hours on it a night.  The problem is that I then go to class and find myself still getting half the problems wrong.  It is hard to stay motivated when no matter hard I try, I seem to be incapable of making it all work out.  The final scares me in that I have no clue how I will work through the entire semester and the huge amount of material during the semester.  The only consolation I have is that with all I speak, they assure me it is the hardest class any of them ever took.  That does make me feel better, but makes me wonder why I thought I would take it the heaviest semester of law school!?  (insert swear words of choice!)

The rest of the classes are cake compared to tax.  Evidence is more memorization of rules and knowing the interpretation surrounding them.  The same is pretty much true for Legal Ethics.  I took the MPRE two weeks ago and have no clue how I did.  I prepped for two weeks and felt really good going in.  That test came from somewhere else though, so we will just have to wait and see.  I just have to get above an 85 for Idaho (Utah is the highest at 86, Oklahoma one of the lowest at 75).

Criminal Procedure is a class that heavily relies on case law and the nuances that come with it.  Sometimes I admit I wonder what the Supreme Court is thinking or what mind-numbing drugs they are on.  Sometimes I wonder if we ought not to abandon stare decisis and revert to the civil code.  Boy, it sure appears to be a whole lot easier than taking a course on 80 years of the Supreme Court trying to make a sentence of the Constitution mean something.

In addition to all that, I still serve as Ward Mission Leader.  How I dedicate another 10+ hours to that each week I don’t know.  J. Reuben Clark takes an hour or two, and then an hour for LDSSA/Institute.  President Gillespie of the Oklahoma City Temple pulled Amanda and I into his office a few weeks ago and invited us to become temple workers.  We have turned in all that paperwork and it looks like we start training to be temple workers right after Christmas.  We will start working two Saturday’s a month.  Where I will push my other Saturday activities, I am not entirely sure.  We will make it work.

Anyhow, I wish I had a day to sleep in beyond 7:00 AM.  But then again, I have always been selfish that way.  12 hours a day at school, Fridays at work, Saturdays in missionary work and trying to catch up on the yard and homework, Sunday’s full of church and missionaries, and the week starts all over again.  It is not so much that I feel like I am not spending my time in worthwhile pursuits, it is just hard to keep my mind about it and keep the purposes in mind.

We spent all day yesterday working in the Oklahoma City Temple for the Days of Thanksgiving.  We did an endowment, 2 hours of working in the baptistry, and 4 hours in sealings.  While tiring physically, it was a much needed boost spiritually.  I will look forward to working there on a more regular basis.

What will happen when this semester ends?  I really don’t know.  I think we are going to paint a kitchen and hang a new door in the bathroom.  We have to drive to Dallas to attend the temple there and buy our temple working clothes.  Then we start another semester.  I am definitely going to try and take a lighter load next semester.  Until then, endurance is the name of the game.

Shout from Idaho

I am writing from sunny and green Idaho.  The amazing thing is another rain-storm is pondering the roll through right now.  The reservoirs are all full and life seems to be looking pretty good here.  The locals say it has been a bit humid for the past few days, but I can handle 20 or 30% humidity with little issue.  Especially after 100+ Oklahoma with a heat index into the cent teens.  I thought I would share a couple of thoughts of our little trip.

This morning found us at the bright and beautiful Twin Falls Temple.  I will have to post some pictures later, but it was a full session.  It was a clear morning and we could not have asked for more.  We ran into my cousin on the session and it was fun to catch up with her.  We took some pictures after we got out as Dad and Jan were going in.  Amanda needed some R&R so we came back and crashed for this afternoon.  We did have lunch with Ms. Felicia Poteet and her cutest daughter, Evie.  I am glad I have friends, that I get to hang out with them, and learn from their life experiences.  Where would we be without family and friends?

The week was busy getting Derek off into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo.  All went off, pretty much without a hitch, on Wednesday.  His farewell went well, he spoke well, and the family congregated to the Hemsley home in Kaysville.  All enjoyed the food, spent some good quality time with family, and plenty of stories.  I was exhausted after the whole thing and I didn’t even have a role to play in the open house.  There must have been 50-70 people who came through the home during the open house.  We helped Derek pack, finish shopping, fulfill a few last requests, and enter the MTC.  We also had a meeting or two with friends of Amanda’s from high school to catch up on old times.  We stopped to visit Amanda’s Grandpa in Springville, Utah as well.

We drove up to Idaho yesterday but took our time doing it.  We took the old highway from Snowville up through Strevell, Bridge, City of Rocks, Oakley, and home.  Everything was so green from all the rain and it looked good.  We enjoyed the drive.  We took some pictures of the old homes in Elba, Idaho.  Someday we want to design our own home with a design that is both unique but that has some classic designs, one of which is found in the early pioneer homes.

Tonight we head off to a melodrama at the restored Wilson Theatre in Rupert.  Tomorrow morning we have the Scout Breakfast at the Rupert Square and then we will watch the parade.  Tomorrow is also Dad’s birthday.  Jan’s was last week.  We treated them to dinner last night and the show tonight.  I am certainly looking forward to the parade.  Then we drive back down to Kaysville to watch fireworks at fly out Sunday Morning.

Tuesday Derek and I went hiking up Adams Canyon near Kaysville, Fruit Heights, Layton.  We hiked it very quickly and then pretty much jogged all the way down.  I sure did hurt the next day.  I thought I was getting old but Derek felt the same way the next day so it wasn’t just me!  We also got some pictures at the waterfall which I will have to share as well.  Anyhow, no nuggets of truth in this entry.  I don’t do them as often as I used to.  Someday I will be smart and have something to offer…

Rambling June

Today we did a deposition for several hours.  Very interesting.  This is the second one I have attended and both were so different, yet so much alike.  Somehow getting to ask nearly any question you want that relates to an individual has a strange sort of appeal.  The one today included what would be some very embarrassing questions that I wouldn’t ask some of my closest friends, but we asked them because they really were pertinent to the litigation.  This case continues to proceed closer to trial and I am getting some pretty good in-the-trenches experience.  Who would have thought the summer would turn out this good.

I found another dead bird in my yard.  Somehow they seem to be dropping dead all over the place (literally!).  I wonder if they are eating the fertilizer that was put down or if there is something else going on.  Perhaps a non-transferable form of the Avian flu?  I don’t notice any tale-tell signs of the flu with these birds.  Who knows.  Sadly, all the dead birds are robins, bluejays, and cardinals.  Four dead birds in the past week and they look like the just fell to where they laid.  Not sure.  On a lighter note, Amanda told me the other day of a patient in her chair with her toddler.  A bird landed out the window and the little boy commented something like, “Look mom, a redjay!”  I had a good laugh from that one.  How do you answer that without turning off the inquisitive nature?

We fly out for Salt Lake City on Saturday.  Another lame pit-stop in Denver.  As much as I hate flying, I think the layovers are getting to be even more deplored.  We will be a week in Utah/Idaho for Amanda’s brother’s farewell (technically Mormon-speak should be, “opportunity to speak before leaving on a mission”) and open-house (again Mormon-speak, since open houses are no longer permitted, is family get-together to wish him well on a mission).  Then on Wednesday he enters the MTC for his whopping 21 days before flying off to the heat of summer Atlanta, Georgia.  I am glad they don’t let anyone go into the MTC anymore.  It really is a mini sacrament meeting that was pretty much a farce with the constrained, canned talks in the highly charged atmosphere.  I feel sorry for the poor MTC Mission President who had to give the same talk multiple times a day every week for his whole tenure.  Honestly, I am glad the church did away with the farewell, homecoming, and MTC bits.  But as Mormons float between culture and doctrine/practice we always seem to prefer the happy, feel-good side of culture.  Anyhow, nothing really against missionaries, missions, or family bonds and connections about to be stretched and strengthened for two years just the heed we seem to feel for a tradition and culture that has no foundation in truth or doctrine that somehow becomes more important than the everlasting.  Anyhow, in telling of what we are going to do I got into an expose on something else that has nothing to do with our trip.

Then we make our trip up to Idaho, probably for a day or so.  Dad’s birthday is on the 4th of July so we would like to go up for that.  However, since we fly out Sunday morning, we will spend that evening in Utah so we cannot spend the entire 4th in Idaho.  We will probably go up the day before, go out to dinner, and I would really like to hit the Rupert Parade on Saturday before heading south.  We will see.  Hopefully Amanda will be able to come up.  She seems to be pretty set on the 4th in Kaysville.

Amanda is in the throes of another murder party.  She made me a pair of chaps already since it has a western theme.  You will have to keep your eyes on the look out for the cowboy coming out long after the last time I rode a horse.

Second Semester

Monday starts the new semester.  What in the world will school hold in store this semester?  I must confess, I feel some anxiety in starting again.  I feel comfortable with what happened last semester.  I have learned my lessons and just need to be diligent in implementing the changes.  Ultimately education is about time and review.  Making sure I incorporate that understanding into my studies should make me more successful.

Torts is a thing of the past, unless I decide to further that line in the 2nd and 3rd years.  Unfortunately, contracts starts again on Tuesday.  I don’t think it is so much the subject, as exciting as contracts sound, it is more the professor.  However, he looks past my idiosyncrasies, if he knows them.  Legal Writing and Analysis I really like but it is diminished to one less credit hour.  As much as I like it though, I feel it takes too much of a back seat with all the other classes.  I hope to rectify that this semester as well.  Hopefully I can deal with that appropriately too.

Civil Procedure is the old stand by.  I really enjoy Civil Procedure and the professor makes much of the experience.  I am really looking forward to more of it this semester.

This semester adds two new classes.  Property, which sounds dry anyhow, and everyone assures me it is.  The second is Criminal Procedure which sounds fascinating.  Now I have two dry classes, one that I really like but just consumes loads of time in writing, and the other two I am looking forward to.  Hopefully I can maintain optimism throughout the semester accordingly!

In other news, I have spent the week working on the bathroom.  I am happy to say I have replaced the floor, ripped out the divider wall, tore all the walls down to the studs, and have sheetrocked the entire bathroom.  The plumber came in and installed the shower and replaced the ventilation pipe behind the toilet.  I did not do this myself.  I am happy my good friends Brian Peters and Andrew Curtis came to help.  Some of it just cannot be done by yourself.  Some of it we worked through and we are learning more and more.  Tomorrow we start the mudding process in preparation for plastering.  Mudding and taping I have done before.  I have never plastered.  We have to plaster to make the walls match the two walls I did not replace.  Besides, who doesn’t like that textured look?  From what I have read online, plastering takes a day or two, so it won’t be finished this weekend.

After removing the divider wall, I have discovered this country does not have two sided tubs!!  I had them in two of my missionary flats and never considered they were not available in this country.  Geez!  I might end up building a pony wall at the end of the toilet.  However, due to space problems, I don’t like that option.  We will have to see.  I hope to have a functioning shower in place for when Don and Lolane Andra stay with us in February.  I think that is a good goal.  Even if there is not floor covering or painted walls by that time.

We also had an electrician come and look at the home.  To fix everything the inspection said needed to be done, we will be out about $2,500.  That will consolidate the two breaker panels, close all the junction boxes, get all the wire off the ground in the crawl space, find and remove the useless wires laying in the attic, and secure all wires throughout the home properly.  We have wires laying all over under the house and in the attic.  We don’t know which are hot, which are not, and where they go.  Plus they should be secured properly, not just laying around.  This $2,500 itself will increase the value of our home at least that.  We will get a return on that investment.  He also gave us an estimate for about another $1,000 for fixing plugs that don’t work, putting in switches where they should be, and miscellaneous items.

It was actually pretty humorous the night the electrician came.  The plumber was working in the bathroom.  The nurse was in the kitchen filling out paperwork for life insurance.  I was trying to coordinate everything.  Andrew had just left from helping and I was putting things away.  I ended up giving the plumber and electrician a tour of the attic for everything that needed to be fixed up there and Amanda was calling for me to have my blood drawn.  It was pretty hectic.

Anyhow, life continues on in the Ross household.  I have been pretty busy outside of school.  Oh, I pruned all the trees and keep building up the compost pile with leaves and flowerbed scraps.

The ward and missionaries have kept me busy.  We organized the ward mission over the past two weeks.  We secured permission from the Mission President for exchanges in the ward.  We organized the Elders and High Priests to go on the exchanges and who they would be meeting.  We organized the goals for the entire ward and how we are going to achieve them this week.  Additionally, we are jumping on the new member discussions for the new members who have been neglected in the past.  Hopefully we have the ball rolling in such a way that things will work since I will be MIA during the semester.  Hopefully everything I can take care of through e-mail.  Sunday will still be busy, especially since we will be meeting in a school for the entire year of 2009.

Time to sign off.  Amanda and I have renewed our goal for the year for reading the scriptures.  We decided to start with the Doctrine and Covenants to be on for Sunday School.  When we finish D&C we will start the Book of Mormon.  Ultimately on that schedule of one chapter a day, we have about 20 chapters left over at the end of the year.  We will have to read two chapters a day for the last 10 days of the year and we will complete the goal proper.

What Thanksgiving Break?

A quick update is in order.  A week off for Thanksgiving.  Well, not really.  We didn’t have any classes beyond Tuesday.  All day Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday were spent at the law library mostly wrapping up the Contracts Outline.  Those days really were not full days.  I took some sleep-in time until about 8 or 9 each day.  Arrived at school around 10 and then worked until about 5 or 5:30.

Contracts is really falling together for me which I am much relieved about.  I really need to alter my Torts Outline as I put too much emphasis on the cases.  I need to put more emphasis on the Restatements and rules.  It isn’t bad, but I think I am focused too much on case names.  Some ideas, like Duty and Causation are still fuzzy to me so I need to focus on them some more.  Civil Procedure has been sorely neglected.  Hmmm, when will I get to it?

Legal Writing & Analysis is done!  I handed in my Memo on Tuesday.  It was a relief to see it go.  I did the best I could.  I am sure I could have gone over it a few more times.  Alas, I would have gone crazy.  So it is best I could not.  I am content with my final version but apprehensive as to the myriad ways our dear professor may spill her ink.

We went in for Tithing Settlement today.  It was a good little meeting.  Sadly, I have been offered a calling.  I cannot disclose it yet as the congregation may still not sustain me.  It is a calling that could take as much time as I wanted to allow it.  I don’t know how well it will work with school.  I may have to confine it mostly to the weekends and coordination during the week.  Plus I have no clue how the calling really works since they completely altered the program in the past decade.  Here I thought I was doing a great job of finding the Lost Sheep and staying under the radar.  President Uchtdorf rings in my mind as I realize I was trying to avoid a calling.  Either way, it didn’t work.

Thanksgiving was great.  We did a little communal Thanksgiving Dinner with a number of law students from the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.  All of the food was tasty and filling.  Wonderful turkey, sweet and regular potatoes, and a whole heap more.  Very, very good.  I wish I had taken the time to get to know some of the other students more.  Hopefully there will be another chance.

It is definitely a good thing they are renovating the ward buildings here.  It has been a long time since my feet were so cold in Sacrament my feet were almost numb.  The Edmond Building where we had Thanksgiving Dinner was the same way!  We still don’t know where we will be meeting for church in 2009.  Looks like an elementary school is the best option at the moment.  I surely hope not.  I wish they could work something out with the Seventh Day Adventists (they don’t use their building on Sunday!!) or the Baptists down the street.  Either way, if we were diligent, it could turn into a brotherhood!

This will be a busy week.  Classes through Wednesday and then the final race for finals preparation begins.  I should mostly be missing in action from the 3rd-19th.  Good thing I secured all the Christmas presents for Amanda already.  I got her three.  Two are under the tree she already decorated.  The final should arrive at a friends house this week!

Just so all know, I do still squeeze in at least one Squash game a week!  I wish it was more but I cannot seem to justify the waste of time if feels like.  Who knew law school would so rule my life.  Amanda is a poor law widow consuming multiple books a week to fulfill her time and sorrows.

Lastly, a cousin paid a visit to Dad this past week.  His name is James Ross.  I don’t know where he is from yet.  Dad passed on James’ e-mail to me and I have been corresponding.  Interestingly, he has found the journal for my Great, Great Grandfather!!  Apparently it states exactly who his father is!  I have previously covered the topic of the elusive Meredith Clan in Western Virginia.  I was unable to nail down which James Meredith is my Great, Great, Great Grandfather.  Well, apparently Mr. James “Jim” Ross has found the journal somewhere.  I am looking for confirmation before I reveal the revelation.  It appears the census is wrong despite how incredible it seems from our culture today!

MTC anniversary

The 28th was the 10 year anniversary of when I was supposed to enter the MTC.  Time has certainly flown!  Who would ever have thought then I would be in law school 10 years later.  I wonder how many people even thought I would attend law school.  Who knows what they thought I was going to end up doing.  I was glad to be able to go on a mission.  The first eggnog of the season found its way into our refrigerator.  Boy does it bring back memories of may Christmas’ from long ago.  I know, we haven’t even hit Thanksgiving yet.  I guess the eggnog is just early.  I had a happy tummy for a day or two, regardless of the season.

One of my school buddies is looking at the home next door.  Wouldn’t that be great to have neighbors who I went to school with?  We could work on our homes together, we could have parties.  I could ride to school with Andrew and Amanda could sleep in for another hour.  She would be happy about that.  We will have to wait and see.  Since they probably cannot get into the home by themselves, we are taking about signing with them.  The great thing is the house is owned by a trust.  Both of the parents have died and the family really just wants to sell it, even for about 2/3rds of its value.  So we worked it out that in signing with them, they would share a portion of what they make on the house when they sell it in a couple of years.  All the more incentive for me to help when they are fixing it up!

Last night was the last of my classes.  I did not mind it was on Halloween.  I never cared much for the holiday.  Besides, what better way to remember the dead on Halloween than teaching a class on family history and new FamilySearch?  There was wonderful attendance all 4 classes.  I am relieved it is completed.  On that note, the temple work continues forward at a wonderful pace.  I received over 75 completed cards in the mail this week.

It has been a quick, but dragging week.  I have felt somewhat oppressed in soul.  Nothing I can attribute it to other than just weariness and exhaustion.  A good number nights of sleep have helped me recover.  However, I fear I will not completely recover from Contracts.  I really like Torts and Civil Procedure.  I could do with more understanding in Contracts and perhaps I would enjoy it more.  I started outlining it today.  We got about 1.5 chapters completed.  I got a headache by that point so we called it for the day.  I am not sure if it was Contracts or the salty pretzels.

We watched The Kite Runner last night.  I really enjoy shows like that where I get to see some insight into other cultures.  I enjoyed it.  The insight into Afghanistan and Pakistan were very interesting.  I would really like to learn that language and travel those nations.  A whole world to learn.

I finished Deuteronomy this week.  I enjoyed it.  The end reminds me much of a General Conference talk.

Here are a couple more of updates on stories about the family.  Here are some more stories I received about the family from two individuals.  Most of them are about my Grandparents, but I also included the one about an experience with the church.  I am so completely disappointed in those who did this.  This is not at all what the church teaches.

“[Colleen] loved dancing.  She taught me how to be a better follower.  [My husband] put an extra step in his 2 step, I would stumble every time.  When I watched her and [my husband] dance, it was always smooth.  She taught me how to relax and follow his lead.  I am sure that she had much pride watching you grow into a man.  Dancing with all the “old ladies.”  Can you imagine how special and young they felt to be dancing with you.  That is a very special thing you gave to them.”

“Once we moved to [a small town in Idaho], [my son] was old enough and began his religious education at our small mission church in town.  I was very involved with “taking care of my church.”  It was during this time that I met and interacted with “practicing” mormons.  People were not afraid to tell me that I was wrong.  Of course, everyone knew [my husband] was LDS.  The church rolls tracked every one and missionaries, relief society, and elders would stop by before I could finish unpacking.  I had some disagreeable things said to me.  Especially about how awful I was to cheat my son of a greater life.  I felt I was treated meanly by many.  At cub scout functions, no one wanted to sit near us.  Sometimes, we were even told the wrong times for things so we would be very late.  Every one would stop and stare, whisper.  I felt so bad.

“Our ward president’s wife had no difficulty telling me I was an awful mother, but that “scouting” could be for everyone.  Blah, blah, blah…  In order to survive I asked for permission to attend Seminary.  Which I attended at Soda Springs High School.  I had my mother find me out of print books in San Francisco.  I began to read everything I could.  Pro and Con.  I was asked to not return to seminary, it was because I asked too many questions.  I was disruptive to the education of the young people I was told. My father’s youngest sister converted to Mormonism.  She lives in Clearfield, I think.  I don’t have much contact due to the way she treats my father.  She and I had a relationship back then.  She is still very active in the church and assisted in my education.  She wanted me to convert.”

“Colleen had said something about being disappointed in the “church” in Preston.  That Grandma and Grandpa Andra had given land to the “church.”  That the trade-off (my word) was that they would be “taken care of” by the church.  Some one else will have to fill in these blanks.  Something to do with the church wanting the rest of their property.  She spoke harshly at this time and used the term “church” in general.  Not a specific Ward.  Sandy was very upset about the Temple marriage to Evan because she did not like him and the “celestial kingdom.”  Her family would never be together again.  She would yell at Grandma about this, they both yelled.  I really do not remember anyone in the family attending church at all.  [My husband] always welcomed the missionaries, he would have conversations at length.

It was not really a topic of discussion between Colleen and I.  She never openly criticized me or anyone regarding religion.  She did express regrets about her children and Norwood. I don’t remember her expressing regrets about herself.  I felt sometimes that lack of religion in the household was used as an excuse for the way things were.  An excuse for the choices made.  It seemed to always be in a negative reference.  I did find it interesting the times that the “church’ was brought up.  When a person did not want to assume responsibility for a choice made.  It was blamed on the “church.”

“I know that Norwood was always pretty mean to Colleen.  He scared me a lot, but I was pretty little.  I did hear my parents talking about how he did hurt your grandmother and they were not impressed.  I will talk to [my sister] and ask if she remembered more than me.  He was awful when he had been drinking, I did see that myself when we stayed at Colleen’s for a week.”

“[Doug and Linda's wedding reception] took place in the basement of the library in Richmond.  [Colleen] had made all the arraignments.  She did the decorations.  I remember the spiral staircase with the gifts displayed.  It was very nice.  I had met most of the family that was there at Norwood’s funeral.  [Doug] wore the Tux that his folks had bought him in High School.  I remember how handsome he looked.  We stayed at Sandy’s.  I think she was living on Main St in Logan. I just don’t remember the fine details.  For a Jonas gathering, you might say it was uneventful.”

“The initial call from the police came to [Colleen's, about your mother's wreck].  Colleen was not there.  I asked about you, the police said there was no baby.  I had seen you with her prior to her drinking.  Sandy was not above leaving you in the car when she would drink.  So the police began the search.  By the time [we] arrived at the wreck, they had found the dog, I think he was under the jeep.  It was dark, I remember the field, the tumbleweeds.  The shadows cast.  The jeep upside down.  Sandy was at the ER.  The baby carrier that she used had been found, but no Paul. I remember hearing someone say, if you were out there, you were dead.  The smell of the blackberry brandy all over the carrier, the inside of the jeep. (I am crying right now.  This is hurting my stomach a little.) Okay…  I remember [your Uncle Doug] yelling, “I’m going to kill her.”  Typical of the family, he rambled about every single thing she had done wrong in the past.  Making himself madder and madder. I was freezing, terrified, my stomach hurt so bad.  One of the deputies radioed and we were told that Colleen was at home and that you were with her.  [Doug] was so angry by the time we got to you.  He fought with his mom about Sandy.  All I could do was hold you and cry.  Grandma was concerned about Sandy and Doug did not want her to go to the hospital.  Colleen had been spared the emotion that Doug and I had just gone thru.  I think Colleen had run into Sandy and had taken you so she would not leave you in the car while she drank.  Probably because it was cold.  I am curious about Doug’s memory of this.  Your mom would probably not remember, she was drunk.  I don’t remember anyone but the police and Doug and I looking for you.  I believe we looked for a little over an hour before the call.  Thing is, you were never missing.  No one else really lived the terror, so this would not be a story connected with the rollover.  There would/should be in the police report, we did search for you.”

Family History Class #1 Outline

I have received a number of requests for an outline of sorts for what is being taught in the new FamilySearch classes.  Mostly overseas, here is a quick summary of the first lesson. 

The first class deals with the basics of the program and what its strengths and capacity is.  Most of the individuals who are attending the classes already have signed in a played with the program to a certain degree.  I still walk them through the registration process.  Once we enter the program, the first thing we touch on is claiming submissions to Pedigree Resource File, Ancestral File, IGI submissions, and other various submissions.  I have them search an individual they have submitted in the past, find the contributors, find the one that is them, click on it, and click on the link to declare the legacy as their own.  For the most part, this will claim all submissions the person has submitted.  I have heard of being required to find other submissions done under a maiden name or under another address.

Next, I take them through the program generally.  I look up an individual and give them an overview of the pedigree view and then of each of the tabs down the left side of the program.  We work through the summary page discussing how to make certain information dominant over other information.  We discuss the notes at the bottom, the sources button, and the combined records button.  We don’t spend much time on the first page since much of the manipulation possible here is done more on the Details tab (the tabs are available there too).  But I do point them out.  I point out that if information has been made dominant then we can click on the individual who made it dominant and can e-mail them with suggestions, questions, or complaints.

On the details page we discuss the information listed and available.  How sparingly we use the dispute option except for blatantly wrong information.  If it is that off, perhaps we should check to see if we have a merged individual who should not have been merged (on the summary page for unlinking).  On the details page I show them how to make a dispute and how to remove it.  I show them how to add a source and how to remove it.

I show them the LDS Ordinances tab.  I point out what the ordinances needed, ordinances in process, and ordinances completed buttons look like.  I show them how to reserve ordinances and explain that only the oldest ordinances for a person show.  We don’t spend much time on the map or timeline tabs since they don’t have much value for genealogy and the maps is often wrong (It doesn’t always pull the dominant information, or assumes information sometimes).

We walk through the Parents and Siblings tab along with the Spouses and Children tab.  I show them where how they can merge siblings who are the same individuals.  I show them how to merge parents and spouses.  I emphasize the fact that very, very rarely should we dispute an individual.  Rather we should dispute the relationship to the mother, the father, or both.  But if we dispute the person, even if linked into the wrong family, we are disputing the person in all families in which they fall.  Only dispute the relationship, not the individual.

While working through the whole above scenario, I answer the wide variety of questions people pose.  How to merge a couple when the same individuals are listed as male and female (an example of my own is a Pleasant Bayes, some list him as a girl, but he is a male).

I had to interrupt my writing to eat dinner.  Amanda made some amazing Jambalaya and steamed broccoli.  It was very, very tasty.

Anyhow, I will have to write more another time.  I finished my first memo today, but now I should be reading Contracts.  I should sleep well tonight!  Hopefully no nightmares with the mix of jambalaya and contracts!