COMING UP FOR AIR...

The months and weeks have flown by as we anxiously watched the completion of our home and were finally able to move in on February 16.  Moving is always an adventure but when things have been in storage for 2 1/2 years it can get pretty crazy. Some of our belongings were damaged or lost which was sad. We have downsized by 1/3 so several items had to be sold or discarded.  The past 6 weeks have been a flurry of unpacking and setting things in order. Most of our belongings are in the correct rooms although there are still pictures to be hung and lots sorting to be done which will wait until we come home from our research trip. We could not have survived it without the help of our children who helped organize the kitchen, put together shelving, measure for and hang blinds, move furniture and boxes around, setting up TVs, etc, etc, etc. Not to mention our kind neighbors who helped us move in. Provisioning a house when we did not even have salt and pepper was challenging as we tried to stock our cupboards. There were days of extreme fatigue. I don't think I EVER remember being so tired for such long periods of time. But we survived! We are beginning to breathe again and we love our new house!  We have good neighbors and a good ward with the church building just 5 minutes away.

Progress despite the winter weather.

In the kitchen

Days of winter

View from the upstairs window as they work on other property.

We had so MANY boxes to unpack!

We live in a beautiful valley. Every day we enjoy the mountains!

It has been delightful to spend time with our family - they are all such great people! Five of our children with their families, and two of our grown grandsons live within an hour's drive. We have seen another daughter and also a granddaughter when they have been in town with their families. We squeezed in a short weekend trip to Denver to be with 2 of our other daughters and their families. But our time has been so short that we had to cancel trips to San Antonio and Yuma to visit good friends. My brother-in-law passed away so we did make a short trip to Kelowna B.C. to be with my sister, siblings and family for a Celebration of Life for my brother-in-law. It was good to see family but a sad reason for the trip.

family gathering playing with balloons!

Part of our Denver family

Family at the Celebration of Life for Dietz Nicolay

Part of our Denver family.

When a granddaughter brings her family for a visit.

The Mt Timpanogos temple is only 10 minutes away and it has been our great privilege to attend  there almost every week. It thrills me to see the parking lot filled each time we are there. It is a busy place.

We have met with Steve's sister a few times to discuss research plans. And it has been our great joy to discover a will for Evan Jenkin in 1738 that proved a relationship we have been trying to prove. The three of us read over 600 hundred wills on the website for the National Archives in Aberystwyth, Wales,. Evan Jenkin was a tailor in Neath, Glamorgan, Wales and as a bachelor without children left his considerable belongings to about 25  nieces and nephews outlining for us many family groups. 

And one small paragraph "Also I give and bequeath unto my nephew Evan Jenkin David son of my nephew Jenkin David the sum of 10 pounds and to my nieces Anne and Margaret daughters  of my nephew Jenkin David the sum of five pounds each." proved the link between Jenkin David and his son Evan Jenkin David. There had been some strong opposition to the idea that patronymics was actually in use in Wales. But, the name Evan Jenkin David actually means: Evan, son of Jenkin, son of David. Evan Jenkin David shortened his name to Evan Jenkin by the time he married Anne Bowen in Colwinston in 1765 and by the time their children were born patronymics was no longer in effect in that area so they bore the surname Jenkin and which ultimately became Jenkins.

That was such an exciting discovery and a great beginning to our research.

It is only 2 weeks until we leave for Wales to begin our family research adventure. We will spend 4 months in Pontygwaith, Glamorgan, Wales a village of about 4200 people. It is close enough to several archives where we will research, and also close enough to see the areas where Steve's ancestors lived. Then we will spend 2 weeks in Aberystwyth doing further research in the National Archives. Hopefully in that length of time we will make more exciting discoveries on the Jenkins ancestral lines.

Then a ferry ride to Dublin to see the area where some of Steve's ancient Irish ancestors lived, a few days of touring Ireland before another ferry from Belfast to Scotland where we will see the areas in Glasgow and Falkirk/Stirling where his Stewart and Gillespie ancestors lived.

So now our minds are turning to serious trip preparation. And I am getting excited about our trip. For awhile it seemed like it was almost a burden that we were going. It just seemed overwhelming to consider all the preparations needing to be done. But as our house has become more settled my mind has cleared and I have been able to focus more on our trip and have been able to get excited.

After spending almost 5 months of working on Steve's family history the focus will turn to my ancestors. We will stop in York, England to see a Viking exhibit before traveling to Preston, England so we can attend the temple there. Then we will drive to London, fly to Amsterdam and then drive to Rügen where my German ancestors lived. After a month there, we will go to Denmark where I was born to do some research and to visit family and good friends before returning to London to spend Christmas with our son and his family and then returning home on New Year's Eve. 

We have been asked why we didn't wait at least a year after our mission to take this trip. We have been asked why we would move into our new house just to leave it. And I guess the answer is that we feel we need to go NOW. We don't know why but then we rarely do understand why we are directed to do something until after it is done. But we feel that as long as we try to do the Lord's work He will bless, sustain and direct us.

So, we press on in preparation. This Friday will be our first Mission Reunion for the Sydney Australia Mission. We are so looking forward to connecting with missionaries young and senior with whom we served while we were on our mission! 

And then we have General Conference on Saturday and Sunday when we will again hear counsel from our Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, as well as apostles and other Church leaders. We are grateful that our TV is set up so we can sit in the comfort of our home and watch the sessions. Technology can be such a blessing!

It is my goal to write regularly in this blog to share our adventures. So, see you soon!