Family History Work

It's been a while since I have been able to post on this blog. I had lost my password. Also, I have been doing a different route of family history work. I have been having a lot of "success," really, it's miracles in finding ancestors on my father's line. I even found relatives living in Utah that are Mormon like me, and one of these cousins does a lot of family history work. It's incredible! I found one line of grandfathers up to my Great-Great Grandfather on my father's line. It's amazing to me to think I went from thinking I didn't have grandparents (my dad actually told me this as a child) and believing I was a bit of an oddity. I was like a pod-person or something. It was strange how I did and didn't accept what he told me about my family tree. I ALWAYS dreaded that assignment at school. You know the one, "Okay, children tomorrow I want you to bring your family trees to class and we can discuss them." It was very upsetting. This is when I got the line, "No tenemos eso. Tu no tenes abuelos." I know better now. Just because they are dead, doesn't mean they are no longer my family. I now know that my family can be together forever. It was a promise I made for my dad when he passed away, and I honestly believe he is helping me from the other side of the veil. I will be trying to post more as I can, but I won't post many pictures here. I will post the remainder of my photos on familysearch.org as I trust this site will make sure these pictures will be available for many, many years to come. I want my children's children to know where they came from and the stories of their ancestors. I am hoping my siblings will want to add to these stories here, and will let me know if it's okay to make this blog public. I worry if something should ever happen to me this blog will be lost again, and no one in my family will be able to find it again. Also, I want to link this blog to familysearch.org for generations to come to find and read about their ancestor's lives.

Family History

I'm very excited to report I have more information on our family tree. I will be posting one of our Dad's tree.

Merry Christmas! Welcome to Your Blog!!!

To: Mom & Dad, Rodrigo & Jovanni; Ismael, Ish Jr. & Meghan; Steve; Abel, Delia, Josiah, Caleb & Jared; Sergio; Suzie, Chuck, Zaq & Ani; and Tonie


From: Your daughter, sister (in-law) and Tia Mia or Lucy Lowry


I am excited to give this gift to our family this Christmas. I had been wanting to gift this to you two Christmases ago, but I did not have it together. I still have tons to add to it and this is where ALL of you come in with this gift. It is meant to be the gift that keep on giving.

Ok, so I have more to say about this blog; so, please read on and if I repeat myself I apologize. I feel really awful and can't really think straight right now. Getting use to the local germs are a killer and I am currently under attack. Normally, I would review this post, but to be perfectly honest, I just don't feel like it right now. So, I know there will be mistakes in this blog.

All of you have data/memories stored in your minds of events, history, etc... pertaining to our family's history that I do not have. I would like you to send me an e-mail and I will happily add it to the blog. You can leave it as a comment, but then it won't show up on the sidebar under 'posts' and I would hate for your contributions to not be part of the main blog. I would like the comment sections of the posts to be for additional insights on a particular 'post'/story. You know, like if I said it was so-and-so sister who did something when it was so-and-so brother. Know what I mean??

I do hope you like this idea and enjoy reading what I rushed to put together. Please forgive the type-os, but PLEASE let me know about them and I will correct it. I want to eventually add ALL of the family pictures Mom has, Tonie, Suzie, or anyone else has onto this blog. If you can help by scanning them since I am no longer in Arizona then send it via e-mail or disk would be better. I would really appreciate it! Then we will all have access to her pictures to enjoy them whenever we desire to view them. :)

I want our blog to be as factual as possible and it is not meant to embarrass, hurt or cause any negative feelings. This is not only for us, but for Mom and Dad's (great)grandchildren. They will not have the opportunity to know Dad or anyone else who will die before they are born. This is meant to preserve their stories, their history for all of us to enjoy.

So, my hope and desire is that ALL of Francisco and Lucia's children will contribute (and yes, this means grandchildren too!)to this blog with their stories. All it takes is at least 5 minutes or so to write a story you remember about anyone in the family. It can be short, long or however you want to have it be shown on the blog. Just please contribute to it.

I love you and really miss you all. I wish I could see your faces when you see this, but then again, you might hate this idea and if it's the case then I am glad I won't see your faces. hahahahaaa

Oh, one more thing....this blog is private. You can only see it if I let you. So, I have to give you permission.

Merry Christmas!

Photos

Eek! Sheesh! I did not realize how little time I have before this Christmas. I am not going to procrastinate this any more and I have to make sure I gift this to you all this year. Where did my time go? Ay! Curse you facebook! I need to stay away from it and dedicate my time to this blog. I have hardly any pictures in here. I need to start uploading them. I know that Tonie has tons and Mom and ay, I have 4 boxes of pictures. I know I need every one's help on this project. I only hope you all will have time to e-mail pictures: I need some from each of the 8 branches of children. I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Plus, I still need to decorate for Christmas and send out 3 letters with the picture of this blog, not to mention I need to figure out how to make a copy of the blog header for my envelope gift. I am sending one to Tonie's since Christmas will be at her house this year (from what Mom told me), Abel's and Steve's. Tonie will open it up for Rodrigo, Ish, Sergio, Suzie, Tonie, Mom and all the grand kids.

It is REALLY late!

So, I finally had time to work on this blog. I have been a busy bee working on my other blog. www.primaryphunnys.blogspot.com. Yes, it's a shameful plug, but I only have 2 followers right now. As you read from the title it is REALLY late. It's 1:45 a.m. Yes, I stayed awake to upload photos. Well, not really the entire truth. Glenn rented a movie-Alice in Wonderland, but he fell asleep and I started blogging.

I wanted to post as many pictures....well, I had hoped to get to the grandchildren, but my back is killing me from all the posting. Then I realized something just now. I am busy posting stuff, and I was just labeling them by photos. I should have been putting names on the labels too. Then you can go and read your name. What a pain!!!! I have to go and edit everything now. Am I complaining? Well, just a little bit. I just want to make this the best Christmas present ever!

I just wonder if you all are going to expect something next year too??? LOL!!! I think this about covers it for the rest of my life, don't you think? Kidding! To be sure, this is the gift that keeps on giving. My goal after I enter all of our stuff. Is to track down the family-the extended one. I want to trace our ancestors back to...ummm....to Adam would be great! Yes, I mean as in Adam and Eve, Adam.

OK, so it's late, and you know (Jovanni, Meghan & Ish) how I get when I am tired. Can you say Crazy Loca???? I am just SUPER excited about this project, and I am glad we can afford the Internet right now. Plus I am grateful for my lap top that my husband got me. Yay! Glenn. Woot! Woot! I totally love that guy.

OK, so now I am rambling on....and....on....and....on.....It's now 1:51 a.m. and my children wake up with the dawn. Ugh! That means they will be up at 6ish???? YUK! I hope they sleep in tomorrow, please, please, please!

(excuse the mistakes, I am not even going to proof read this one....umm....maybe tomorrow I will?)

The Red Chair from Mexico

In this photo: Mia Lowry

Oh! How I loved that chair. This is my favorite picture of me as a child. Mom said one of the boys broke it, and I was crying like crazy. But when was I not crying!?!?

Lucia's Baptism

This is a picture of Lucia's Baptism, by a man named Ortiz. There is a funny story behind this picture. When I was a little girl I thought the microphone was a shower head. I thought people were so poor they had to use a shower head instead of a baptismal font. I told Bro. Ortiz this story, and my Mom, Lucia, says he has been sharing this story ever since.

A Cousin

I am very excited. I started contact with our cousin, Luz Maria Villanueva. She is the one Mom has a picture of that we think looks like Meghan. I am very excited, and thought I'd share it with you. She added me to face book today. Yay!

Blog Recommendations

I highly recommend www.shabbyblogs.com and www.thecutestblogontheblock.com. This blog has been decorated by both of these helpful websites, and the best part of it is it's FREE!!!!! I am very grateful to these women for making these applications available to us for FREE.

What a wonderful blessing you are to us. I thank Heavenly Father for these kind women.

New Look!

I realize none of you have seen this blog before, but I must let you know that I changed it's look today. It took me a very long time to do it. How long? Mmmmmm......four hours or so.

I must say I am happy with the results thanks to Shabby Blogs. Yes! I am very happy to have found you, Shabby Blogs. It is the best!!!! It took me some time to find the one that would look good with what I had, and then to make the picture, title and reason for the blog to work for me.

I have heaved a gigantic sigh of relief. I am sure you all felt it and did not know why. Once Christmas 2010 hits; then you will say, "That's why I felt all that tension on Memorial Day weekend, and then a huge relief." Yes, you were feeling your kid sister's stress.

Yay! It's done....well, almost. This is a work in progress. I am getting really excited for all of you to see this on Christmas. I can't wait...I can't wait...I can not wait...until Christmas. I only hope I do not bust into a million pieces with this secret. I must admit I did tell Jovanni about it, and Meghan knew about the family history book Christmas present. I started working on it the first year I home schooled Meghan. However, she does not know about the blog.

Only Jovanni and Glenn know about it. OK, Jovanni knows because I only wanted to tell one person (Glenn) and he wasn't home when I started this; so, you know me. I HAD to tell somebody because I was SUPER DUPER excited about this blog. Glenn found out today because I needed him to see the header and blog to make sure the colors complimented each other. He's the artist and composition man of the family. I trust his eye for detail. I hope these two can keep my secret. Well, if anyone else finds out it better not be from me.

Now I am going to try to add some fun stuff. Then I must go to bed. It's really late.

Yay!

I'm done entering all the stuff I had on my computer for Dad/Frankie. I can start on Mom's stuff now. Wooo Hooo!!! I have more stories I want to put in here about Dad. Like how he had all these different jobs and Steve would tease him about it. The big wooden fork and spoon Mom had on her wall. I think there is an Everybody Loves Raymond about those decorations. These are just the funny stories with Dad.

I have not forgotten the grandchildren. Jovanni brushing his hair, and Ish's diaper change, which are the first two that come to my mind.

I want to start on Mom's since I only have until Christmas to write something in here about everybody in the family. I don't expect to have everything written down by Christmas, but just enough to represent everyone. This is an ongoing project that I hope EVERYONE will like and help (hint, hint) me work on it.

Ugh!!!

So, I thought this was going to be easy. WRONG!!!!!

All of the work I have done so far is in Word 2000, and I can't just copy and paste it into this blog. I can copy it, but when I go to this blog to paste it, the word 'paste' is not bolded. You know what that means, right? I can't do it. Ugh!!! Frustrating!!!!!

I want to enter Mom's information now, but I still have all of Dad's stuff to enter. I don't have a lot left. I am just retyping it into here. I hope I am not missing stuff from his stories. This is where my work in data processing helps me. Why am I complaining? Well, the history from his funeral program is in Spanish. If I retype it I will lose all of the accent marks. Those take a long time to do. I am racking my brain to figure out how to put this in here.

Also, how do I add the program. I think I am going to have to scan it, and put it in here like a picture. I guess there are some advantages to having this blog in here, and some disadvantages. I will just make do because this history needs to be done before anyone else dies, and the stories are forgotten.

The sad thing is that I thought of doing this when Dad was already loosing his hearing, and I was not there on his last anniversary to document his life story. Why???? Why did none of you think to write it????? (Sorry, I hope I don't make you feel bad, but maybe bad enough to write it in here. Hee, hee.) I hope those of you who were there remember some of what he said and add it in here. Now does it make sense to you why I was frustrated that I was not there? I had been working on this for a while.

I knew he was dying. He knew it. I only hope you remember all he said, and please, please, please write it in here. OH, and please don't be made at me for making this blog. I am really worried about that too. I hope you all think this is a good idea too.

I won't know until this Christmas if you are going to chew me out or be happy I did this for us. My stomach is in knots just thinking about it. How are you going to receive this gift??? How, how, how.....happy or angry????? I wish I could get my hands on a crystal ball right about now.

Would it stop me from making this book if you were mad? No, I still NEED to do this, I HAVE to do this for us. This work is consuming me, and I hope you unstand why I chose the blog.

Here's the explanation:
I was going to make the book, and have it all printed out for you, but Wow! that is a lot of money for me to gift this to 8 people. Especially when you think of the printing costs of photos. Then I thought I would put it on a disk, but disks scratch, and cost money too. Then the blog idea came to me. Now that is great! No cost and it's out there for all of us to view and copy at our leisure. Plus, you can add your stories to this too.

I want ALL of our stories in here. Any contribution you want to put in here is great. Oh, and I want the in-laws to participate too. Delia, Chuck, and Glenn are a part of this family. So, your life stories are WANTED too. Also, you had dealings with the family and memories with us that we may not remember.

I want the grandchildren to participate too. Any Nana/Tata/Abuelito/Abuelita, Your parents, Aunts, Uncles, etc... stories are very much WANTED. So, please feel free to contribute to this blog. I hope you "kids" (using this loosely as some of you are adults now) like this idea, and add any story you want to add.

OK, this post is too long. So, I am going to stop now. I hope you get my passion for this project, and understand why I NEED, NEED, NEED to do this for us. If not, here is a Bible scripture that I hope will help you understand.

Malachi 4: 5, 6
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Excited!

So, this is not part of my family's story, but I am SUPER excited about this blog. I have been working on my family's history for....mmmm....about two years now. I have been putting it on my home computer, but NEVER had the idea of creating a blog come to me until recently.

The blog is the BEST idea ever. OK, here is the best part! I am going to work on this until I add all the stuff from my computer on here, and keep it as my little secret. That is, unless, you find it here on the Internet. Yikes!~ I had not thought of that one, oh well, if you do find this....please keep my secret. I want to give each of my seven siblings a hard copy of this blog for Christmas this year (2010), and my Mom is going to get one too. After Christmas, we can continue to add to the blog, and we can print off the additions at home.

I want anyone, and everyone who knew my parents to add to this blog. The more information (good and bad---just the facts) about my family I can put in here, the better for our future generations. I am ecstatic about this idea. This is the fulfillment of a life long dream for me. I ALWAYS wanted to know about my ancestors, and now maybe with this blog we can put it together for my parents posterity. Yes!!!! Isn't this exciting?

Oh, one more thing...I said the bad too because we learn from the past, and other people's mistakes. Adding the bad is not meant to embarrass anyone or shame anyone, it is meant to help each of us grow and become better people. Becoming a better person, should be a life goal for everyone (at least I think it should), and avoiding pitfalls that others have encountered along their journey in life is a good lesson for the children, and the children's children. Don't you think? I think it is important.

Now, how do I add our family tree???? I love this project! I am going to learn lots and lots. Again, I must ask....isn't this exciting?!?!?!?!?

Introduction

I am starting this blog to assist myself with my family history. I have started to write it with the desire to gift it to my seven siblings, and mother. With the recent death of my father, I am more concerned with continuing my work on our geneolgoy. This has been my desire since my childhood.

My hopes is that my family can submit their stories, and help me create our history of the living and the dead. Hopefully, we can find more of our ancestors and maybe some live relatives to help our blog grow.

This blog is for our ancestors, our families, our children, and our children's children. I dedicate it to my mother, Lucia Flores Haro de Villanueva, and father, Francisco Villanueva Andrade.