Did you hear the story about the few Valentines?

The opportunity to celebrate the life and memory of Edna brought with it the chance to spend time back east with my father and his siblings.
As wonderful as that was, it also was a great chance to connect with the Klausman’s and show our appreciation for their saintly matriarch. We each commented at least once how much it meant to us for their inviting us in so readily into their lives as the two families joined with their marriage in 2003.
Spoken of often was Edna’s faith, friendship and fervent devotion to her family. Her empathy and caring nature impacted everyone she met for good.
—-
Did you hear the story about the few Valentines? via Instagram

My grandmother’s diary,1946

The trip to Virginia yielded this jewel, my grandmother’s diary from 1946. This was the year she married my grandfather, Robert Valentine. She’s pretty consistent the first 6 months of the year, including the months leading up to the marriage (April 6) and for a few months afterwards.

I’ve begun the work of transcribing it and it’s been an awesome experience to get to know her a little bit better through the process. By the time I was old enough to remember Grandma, she was already in a lot of pain from a life of adventure.

See the transcription of Margaret’s Diary

Margaret Hickey, Diary 1946

My grandmother’s diary, includes the year she married my grandfather. via Instagram

Travelling with Dad

This weekend has found us on the road. My dad and I flew out to Atlanta to attend the memorial service for my late Grandfather’s second wife, Edna. A few years after my grandmother passed away he married Edna.

We flew into Atlanta to ride up with my dad’s brother, Daniel and my cousin Melanie. I’m writing from the road, currently in the middle of North Carolina. It’s been nice spending some extra time with my dad.

Before getting on the road, we visited the Kenesaw Mountain Civil War battlefield near Dan’s house. The Illinois Monument (below) is situated on the steep point of Cheatam Hill where despite the steepness and difficulty of the assault, the Union charged and broke through the line, prompting the Confederate retreat. The survivors of the battle referred to this position as “the dead angle.”

April 1865, Jay Winik Book cover

April 1865, by Jay Winik

The area is beautiful, full of tall, old oak trees, pines and vines that are typically of the deep south. Visiting these sites is so fascinating for me to consider the blood, violence and death of that was had there, and to juxtapose that against the tranquil scene before me. It’s all a little extra poignant as I’m currently rereading through one of my favorite books of all time: April 1865.

Images
Unknown US Soilder, Kenesaw Mountain battlefield. via Instagram
Illinois Monument at “the Dead Angle.” via Instagram
Mornings with Dad. via Instagram

What my son taught me about my father

With the birth of my daughter, I came to understand my parents on a deeper level of what I even realized existed. My daughter has taught me so much about love and life. Now, with my son I’m discovering a new world of emotion and hope that makes up a father’s hope for his boy.

Thank you, Dad, for marking such a clear path. Happy Father’s Day.

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Book of Mormon Notes – Page One…again.

We’ve started reading the Book of Mormon over as a family.

Book one, chapter one is one of my favorite sections.

For one, it begins with a man who witnesses a spiritual revival in his country, prays, receives a vision from God, receives a book from which he bears testifies of the Savior, and is rejected to the point that the people seek his life.

I wonder what it was like for Joseph as the restoration of the Church rolled on to go back to that opening scene. What a tender mercy–from the very chapter that gave us that phrase–for Joseph as well as for the rest of us. For not only does it serve as a pattern for what Joseph Smith was called to do, it is the invitation and expectation given to each of us.

It exemplifies the honest pursuit of truth. As Lehi heard from the prophets, he turned to the Lord in personal prayer and reflection to seek his own confirmation. Part of that process involved the scriptures (represented by the Book he received and like the Book of Mormon we invite investigators to read and ponder). As Lehi’s testimony of the divinity of the Savior grew, his natural inclination was to share it with others. By the end of the next chapter, that commitment to the Savior will require great sacrifice, taking his family and leaving his homeland and worldly possessions behind for a new world.  The story of Lehi also doesn’t skate around the sometimes drastic changes in life or lifestyle that come from following Jesus Christ.

That is an important legacy that ripples down through the generations of Lehi’s family and to our experiences today. And yet all of this is mentioned in Nephi’s narrative to catch us up to what he experienced. The whole first book of Nephi is easily one of my favorite not only because of the compelling narrative but the growth and challenges that they experienced as a family are so deep and full of insight.

 

How Firm a Foundation

A personal favorite, mentioned as part of a great talk in a Church meeting (Stake Conference, Adult Session) this evening.

How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
Who unto the Savior, who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,
In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,
At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—
As thy days may demand, as thy days may demand,
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

E’en down to old age, all my people shall prove
My sov’reign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs shall they still, like lambs shall they still,
Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

Text: Attr. to Robert Keen, ca. 1787. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835.
Music: Attr. to J. Ellis, ca. 1889

Isaiah 41:10; 43:2–5
Helaman 5:12