JUNE BIRTHDAYS

It is birthday time again! Our darling Danielle is 14 years old today! Happy Birthday Danielle! This photo is from last summer, and since she is coming to see us at the beach, I will have a chance to take more current pictures soon! Can't wait!

My sister Linda also has a birthday this month, and out of respect for the elderly, I will not disclose her age. But she looks darn good for a card carrying AARP member! And I never get tired of rubbing it in!

This, of course, is my beautiful mother, Louise Chambers Winspear, who passed away January 1, 2000, just a few months after this photo was taken. She was born June 9, 1923. Just last week I was in Minneapolis and visited her grave. It was a beautiful and peaceful day at the cemetery, and I shared a diet coke with her. I miss you Mom.

LISA GRADUATES

 

Our darling Lisa graduated--yes, from college! It is difficult to believe when you look at this sweet face that she is 22 years old!

We were delighted when Lisa told us that she wanted to come to Virginia to visit us on her way home to Hong Kong. We couldn't quite believe it, but she actually showed up here with her mother, Joanna. They spent three nights here and we loved every minute. Lisa has grown so much in the five years that we have known her. She is not as shy as when we first met her. She has a sweet and bubbly personality, and a good sense of humor. (We base that on the fact that she laughs at our jokes!)

Unfortunately it rained most of the time they were here, but we did manage to catch a few sunny minutes looking at the beach from atop a sand dune.

Joanna insisted on making dinner for us. Fried rice with crab and shrimp, and tomatoes with beef. She also stir fried shrimp in soy sauce, which we loved. I watched and tried to learn from her.

Joanna also made Chinese soup with bok choy and pork. Everything was so good and so pretty! We are so happy to know Joanna. She is lovely and so easy to be around. We hope they will come back and visit again when the sun is shining!

How blessed our family has been to have this special young woman in our family for the past five years. We will always think of her as our own and we are happy that her Hong Kong family was willing to share her with us.

We love you Lisa!

SINGING THAT SONG AGAIN!

This happy little girl just turned five years old! She says it will be a "whole new experience"! One thing is for sure, we can never get enough of her! Happy Birthday granddaughter!

Chris and Polly both have birthdays this month as well. Here they are at Becky's wedding, looking as happy as can be!

No birthday this month for Renn, but Jennie does have a birthday! This photo was from "a few" years ago, and darn cute! Happy Birthday darling Jennie! 

We sure love you all!

FAMILY CONNECTIONS

This is my Uncle Burt Winspear, Grandpa Jim's younger brother. I love this photo of him! He was about to be made captain when he died fighting a fire in Buffalo, NY in1975. He and his wife, Margie, had four children. Recently his daughter Donna left a couple e-mails on Grandpa Jim's blog. I contacted her by e-mail and then we spoke by phone. We have not been close over the years. We moved from Buffalo when I was 14 years old and Donna was a baby. I remember Grandma Bessie was so delighted with Donna because she finally had a grandchild with red hair like her own! 

When I was 18 Linda and I went back to Buffalo for a visit.

 Linda, Cheryl, Donna on my lap, Grandma Bessie and Margie

When Dad and I lived in Rochester for a brief while we saw Aunt Margie and her family again. Donna had grown up and had twin girls, by then. Cheryl couldn't make it that night and I hope to connect with her soon also.

Now another 20 years has passed! I am so delighted to be talking to my cousin again. And now I find that we have something in common that we can share. Donna has recently taken an interest in genealogy! We spoke for over an hour last week catching up on family and family history. She and her daughter, Lindsay-in the above photo, have been going to the County Court House and looking up records and searching microfilms. etc. They also went to the Lancaster Rural Cemetery where my mom and Jennie and I went back in 1988 to the Winspear family plot. Donna was as thrilled as I was to find the resting place of almost all our ancestors (the American ones).

It is a rather funny feeling to go to the cemetery and find all the grave stones. We felt the presence of our ancestors around us. Of course we know their spirits have moved on, but somehow we felt them, as though they were watching and knew we were there searching for them and wanting to say hello!

Our Winspear ancestors left Yorkshire, England in 1831 and settled in the Buffalo area. They raised large families and were active in their communities. Donna teaches 5th grade and talks about them to her class as part of their local history of Cheektowaga, NY. Isn't it fascinating that her family is still located in this same community where our ancestors settled? Her daughter is the eighth generation living there! 

Just thought you might like to know... 

APRIL BIRTHDAYS

We have a few family birthdays this month! 

• Becky turned 21 on April 11
• Matt and Anna Marie both celebrate together on the 16th
• And Mike becomes another year older on the 29th

 Time marches on and we march with it, tho the pace might slow a bit as the years go by!  Happy Birthday everyone!

LOOKING FOR SOMEONE?

As you all know I dabble in genealogy. Recently while playing on line I googled my great-grandfather's name and found a link to a genealogy website where someone was looking for information on his family. I shared what I knew and the woman had this photo, above, that she emailed me. What an exciting find! It reminded me of that commercial that has been on TV for Ancestry.com where the woman says, " you don't even have to know what you are looking for, just look"! Kate Spencer North is my great-grandmother, and her father, John North, is my great-great-grandfather. We are not sure of the names of the others in the photo, but all are family, surely. They lived in Syracuse, NY, where Grandma Bessie is from, and Kate is Bessie's mother. This was a very exciting photo for me to come across.

Years ago when I was doing research I sent to England for a birth certificate for Kate. Look at all the great information on this document! Today most of this is available at Ancestry.com. You have to pay to join and then search for the info on line. What a fabulous boon to genealogists! In case you don't already know this, you can go on line to lds.org and download a program called PAF for free. Here you can begin to enter your family genealogy on charts where you just fill in what you know and search for the rest. At new.familysearch.com you can find additional information that the LDS church has compiled. Keep in mind that I have already entered a lot of information, so don't reinvent the wheel. Just ask me!

I want to encourage you all to watch the TV show, Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC, Friday nights. It has been really great! It has followed the ancestry search for Sarah Jessica Parker, Emmit Smith, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Broderick. If you missed any of them you can see them on line at the above link. You may also have an "on demand" button on your TV remote that lists that show. This coming Friday they will show the episode with Brooke Shields. Check it out!

Love you all!

MOM

ANNIVERSARY BELLS RINGING

I don't know if there is such a thing as anniversary bells, but I am ringing them regardless! Oh how the years fly by! Matt and Anna Marie have been married for 19 years this month! How lucky our whole family was the day Anna Marie said "I do"! And what a wonderful family these two have created! We look forward to having you visit us this summer!

And for Renn and Keira it has been one whole year! You have to wonder how that happens so quickly. They have already blessed us with a new grandson, Isaac! We rejoice in their happiness and love seeing our family grow!

Love to everyone!