“There are few things more powerful than the faithful
prayers of a righteous mother.”
-Boyd K. Packer
I want to wish everyone a Happy Belated Mother’s Day to those
that have children, or who have influenced the life of a child. You are appreciated.
I am really kicking myself for not taking pictures
yesterday. We had a wonderful day. I love that Mother’s Day is celebrated on
Sunday. I love being treated
extra-special at church. At our church
being treated special means they ply you with chocolate all day long. Treat after treat was passed out and there
were so many talks and lessons about mothers and families that touched my
heart.
After church, we had my parents over for an early
dinner. Let me tell you, this family
knows how to prepare for an early dinner.
We had barbecue chicken in the Crockpot and potato salad already
prepared in the refrigerator. After
church, you don’t stand between the Fortenberry’s and dinner.
Afterwards, we had a fun and informative Family Home Evening. We learned about our family ancestors. MaMaw, Grady, Fred and I all shared a picture
and a story about a family ancestor. We
all learned something new and saw pictures that we hadn’t seen before. Fred thought the kids already knew about his
dad, but they really didn’t know anything about him. Jonathan had plenty of questions about his
grandfather. The best part was that
Jonathan also had plenty of HARD questions for Grady and then commented that
Grady took way too long on his turn.
We learned that Grady had a pet pig when he was growing
up and we learned that half of my grandfather’s family was born in Tennessee
and the other half was born in Arkansas.
Jonathan wanted to know which siblings were born in Tennessee and which
were born in Arkansas and what years they were born. I just love Jonathan’s questions. He keeps you on your toes.
MaMaw taught us about her grandmother, Dovie. We learned that she had three sons and two
grandsons deployed in WWII at the same time.
And, the biggest thing that we learned was that Aunt Judy was everyone’s
favorite, but MaMaw isn’t bitter!
Fred taught us about his Dad that left this earthly world
way too soon. He told us about how he
was stung by a jellyfish and how he later had to have his leg amputated. He also told us about fishing trips and
father/son campouts. He and his dad and
enjoy doing much of the same things that Fred and Jonathan enjoy doing. Hopefully, these hobbies will pass on to
Jonathan and his son, too.
I told about my Granny.
We talked about how she played basketball and softball in school, and
how she only went to school until the 8th grade. This was confusing to my kids, but we
explained that was very common back then.
The best story that we told was that she married my Papa on December 24,
1929. The marriage was witnessed by my
Papa’s brother and his date. After the
wedding, they each went back to their own homes. They hadn’t told their parents and my granny
was afraid that her daddy was going to kill her. I think her sister eventually ratted on
her. I passed around pictures and her billfold.
At first the kids weren’t sure what to make of this
activity, but they quickly warmed up and had a great time. As we started spouting out little known and
interesting facts, they really started enjoying the activity. It is so very important for us to remember
and to learn about our ancestors.
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