Family Secrets

I love ancestry stuff. Like, I lose hours looking up my ancestry and studying ancestry....it's kind of a weird hobby I have. And tonight this got sparked again by a conversation with my mom.

There are so many dark secrets once you start looking into family histories. I don't get very far with my own because of them. I mean, we're talking hundreds of years with affairs, pregnancies out of wedlock, people being exiled, others being murdered, some coming to Ellis Island, others completely denying their heritage (yes, all of these are a part of my family history at some point along the way)....family acestry is dirty stuff. I love it. But it gets hard to track a family line when there are so many sidetracks.

I love figuring out who I am, where I come from, why I look the way I do, why I have certain characteristics that I do and who I get them from....I'm seriously fascinated.

I can't remember how the conversation with my mom started exactly, but I found out some information that I didn't know before. I don't get far in my searches, but I never really even tried looking into my mom's father's side of the family. I never knew him, and no one has much to say about him, so I never really thought I'd get anywhere if I tried to look. But tonight I was told names of my great grandparents on my mom's dad's side (well, I got my mom's grandpa's name and the maiden name of her grandma)....names get you somewhere in the ancestry search, I learned that pretty fast. You don't get much info if you don't even know a name. Tonight I got a name, and she told me his parent's came from Holland to Ellis Island (how cool is that? My great grandparents are listed in the Ellis Island records). I knew it was a long shot but I took to Google, went to the passenger search of Ellis Island, and guess what....I found him. He came here on July 1, 1922 from Bussum, Holland.

I always make jokes of how I'm part Mexican (yes, I actually am but you'd never guess...hence the jokes), and even though I knew I was Dutch I never really looked into that part of who I am. I was telling my mom earlier that I wanted to know more about her family because: one it's a part of me that I know nothing about, and two because I don't look like anyone in the family. According to my mom my looks come from that side of the family. Now I'm really fascinated to find out more about this side of me.  Maybe I'm much more like the VanZyl's than I ever knew?


Another thing I learned tonight from talking to my mom was there was a murder in our family. I don't know details yet, my uncle just found a newspaper article about it (I'll be getting the article soon) but I'm sooo curious about the story! All I know is this: my great, great, great, great (?) grandparents who lived in the south were really wealthy, like....really wealthy apparently, and one night some people broke into their house intending to rob them but my great, great, great,great (?) grandma refused to tell them where they hid their money. So the intruders almost beat her to death, murdered her husband, and something with a baby....

I'm tellin ya....family histories are dirty, scandalous stuff.

Is anyone else as intrigued about ancestry as I am?
Does anyone have any "search" tips for me?

I have no idea how to do immigration ancestry searches....

*Update: I got the newspaper article clip from my mom. Let's just say the past hour FLEW by while I searched both the husband and wife's names like a madman.

If anyone who stumbles upon this happens to know more about Hannah Reeves Grinder Baker (or Willem VanZyl)- let's chat!

Heaven is for Real

The very first thing I did in the new year (other than kiss my husband, hug my dog and drink some sparkling cider) was read a book. That's right. I read a book. And I want to talk to you about it, which means of course that you need to read it so we can discuss.

The book I read was

 

I just can't stop thinking about it.  I went to bed dreaming about it, it's all I talked about yesterday. I gave my copy to Amy (sister-in-law) so she could read it; I'm getting another copy of it and I'm going to let Tina (other sister-in-law) borrow it so she can read it. Seriously guys...it did something to me. There's no doubt in my mind that this little boy saw Heaven and I'm so grateful his dad wrote a book about it so that we could have that little extra glimpse. Sure, we know the streets are paved with gold, and that God is sitting on a throne with Jesus to his right, we do have a glimpse of what Heaven will be like through the Bible...but did you ever wonder what the rest of it is like? Like...who sits on the left side of the throne? I know I have. If you'll recognize and still know people who have passed? I know I have. Have you ever wondered what events go on in Heaven? I have. Are there animals in Heaven? I've wondered that too. Being a Christian I know I fall short. I know I don't deserve to go to Heaven, but because of God's love, mercy and forgiveness we have that chance through his Son. This book heightened my feelings of "I definitely don't deserve that"; I just felt honored reading about it....but I know that someday I'll get to see it all for myself and for that I can't wait!

I'm sorry if this is a little preachy. But I can't contain my excitement. It's kind of like what I felt when I read The Jesus I Never Knew (one I also highly recommend), it changed me forever. I think this one is on that same kind of level. I'll never think of Heaven the same as I did before, or the Holy Spirit, God, or Jesus. It's just that good.

From 2011 to 2012

2011 was a truly fantastic year...most of the time; however, the times that weren't so great were really hard.We've survived our first year here in Oregon, and it's from our move that the best times and toughest challenges came.

We visited the coast more than ever. We went camping and crabbing in the same month, sometimes in the same week. We visited a couple lighthouses, made new friends, lost some too. We got our baby Duke and learned the challenges of owning a Husky. We had people from back home come visit us and hotel Merrigan was full for 2 months straight. We went to and were in multiple weddings. We were able to go back home twice this year. John started out in a job he hated and found the Lowe's job which has been a blessing. We searched for a home church and finally found one we feel welcome in. I finally found a job in my career field and got out of the worst job on my resume' to date. I flew out to NC to reunite with Lizzie who I hadn't seen in 11 months. My brother moved to Oregon and announced his move to LA all  in an 11 month time period. My great grandma passed away and I couldn't go out for the funeral. Kevin & Jaici announced their pregnancy. My little sister got a boyfriend. Tina, Dave, Karen and Mike all moved out of Utah to Oregon.

I'm sure that's not all of the major events that happened in our lives this year, but those are the ones that stand out and had the most influence. The best part of this year to me was Duke. He's made our lives so much better, maybe a little harder too, but the good definitely outweigh the bad. The worst thing that happened was the passing of my great grandma. There was nothing good about that. I'd do anything to have her back.

Who knew one year could bring so much change. Our first year as a married couple and as Oregonians has passed and I'm ready to see what this next year brings. I know for certain I'll start school again; I know I'll become an aunt, and I hope maybe a mother as well.

I've decided not to make a new year's resolution. But I've decided to pick one word that I want to describe this new year. I've thought about this word a lot, and I want my word for 2012 to be: productive. I feel like during the day while I'm at home I'll do some laundry...I'll clean a little....and but I sit online and I browse pinterest far more than I should; I "have" to watch my tv shows; I "have" to check my facebook, but none of that results in me having a productive day. So, 2012 will be a very productive year. I want to be productive in my daily routines. I want to be productive in my marriage. I want to be productive as a pet owner. I want to be productive in my schooling and in my job. I want to look back on this year and think, "Wow, look how much I did". I guess that is kind of a resolution huh? Either way...2012, let's get to work!

Healthy Living Revelation

I didn't tell you guys this, but last week I was extremely sick. I mean in my pajamas for 5 days, lost 10 pounds, had to miss Thanksgiving dinner sick. It was awful.

But they say that there's "always, always, always something to be thankful for". Before getting sick I had been eating better, working out, and hadn't lost a pound. For those of you who have been in my shoes you know how incredibly frustrating that is. While I was sick though, I couldn't stomach anything but saltines and liquids so I lost a lot of weight (in an unhealthy way but I didn't have a choice). I've put back on some of the pounds because I can eat again, but seeing the weight loss has re-encouraged me to get back on track with my good eating habits and exercise. 

In the beginning I wanted to get back down to the weight I was at when John and I got married. Now, I'm only a couple pounds away from that goal, but now that I'm so close I've realized that's not really the goal that I wanted. Sure, it's what I thought I wanted, but what I really want is to be healthy and toned. So, even though the loss in the pounds have helped get me back on track, I'm excited to know that the number isn't what's important to me anymore- it's health. Some of you know my lifelong inner battle with health/weight/self-perception and all that jazz, so having this revelation makes me happy. I'm quite proud of myself.