I'm Back!!

I am finally back in Bryan. I have been in Arkansas for the past 3 weeks straight, and am so glad to be back home. I have started a few entries over the past several weeks, but just have not gotten around to finishing and posting them.

I just got in late last night, and have spent the last hour just going through my mail. Fun, fun. A few things I have been up to besides work is completing our week long trip to Ohio, further researching genealogy, and taking brief side trip to Jonesboro, Arkansas, where I had some grandparents live in the 1890’s. Now that I look at the list, it has been pretty much all I have done, besides work.

History and genealogy are completely fascinating, and it appears I may have a few other members of the family hooked. I will have to give an update on how that continues to go.

So here are some updates:

Chloe – She still has to have the tube in her nose so she can be drop fed special formula. She has pulled it out twice, so it looks like they will have to surgically input it into her stomach for now. She is maintaining weight and getting bigger, so she is healthy. She just cannot digest food/milk normally right now. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

(Me, Mom, and Dad at Lake Erie in Cleveland)

Ohio trip – We were traveling for right on 7 days. Long drives, but a good time. Dad has not been out of the state for awhile, so it was good for him to get out and away from work. After visiting with my great-aunt Dot, who was wonderful, and so knowledgeable, we left Cleveland and went to the small town of Pomeroy on the Ohio river, where my dad’s dad lived. Very interesting little town. I thought it was cool. And here is the story of our Pomeroy adventure:

(Small town Pomeroy, on the river)

We got there mid-morning and needed to leave by 5:00 or so that evening. We didn’t have any contact with any relatives in the town. Known relatives had already passed away, and we didn’t know if any children were there or not. Dad had an idea of what his Grandmother’s house looked like, and it was a small town, so why not just walk up and down the street looking for it? Our goal was to find the house, and also Dad’s dad’s gravesite.

That morning I had a feeling like something big, or unusual, or miracle was going to take place. But the day started out poorly. Me and dad got out and walked the river front looking for the house, and he just could not remember. There were a couple of possibilities, and we asked neighbors, but didn’t find anything concrete. So we went and had a late lunch. After lunch, I was getting tired, and with no prospects, and a deadline approaching, I was discouraged and expecting nothing to come of this trip. Well, mom had the idea to go to the Veterans office and see if they had anything on dad’s dad, since we knew he had medical help from them. The guy at the office was very helpful, made some calls, and gave us the last listed address he had. We went down on the river and found the address, which was indeed Dad’s Grandmother’s house. It was one of the ones he thought it was, he just wasn’t sure.

This is the fun part: As we went up to the house, dad being dad, saw a couple mowing the neighbor’s yard next door, and went up to talk to them. He mentioned what we were doing and that was his Grandmother’s house, and the guy said that he knew them, and played with the son that lived there, Dad’s cousin Jerry, when they were kids. In fact, he knew Jerry’s son and wife, and knew where she worked! They were just packing up and heading that way, and would take us over there. So they took us by there, and we got to meet with the wife. The crazy thing is, is that they wanted to keep the grandmother’s house in the family, so they bought it, and it was sitting there empty. So she took us inside, and she also knew where the family cemetery was and gave us directions.

Turns out that Jerry had two sons, when dad thought he had only had one. The one that dad knew died, so we got to talk with the one dad didn’t even know about, Mike. And Mike was really close with his uncle, my dad’s dad!

So we got to go out to the cemetery where my dad’s dad was buried, and there were all the children, all in a row, next to their parents. We had no clue they were all right there, and it just did something for dad to see them all there. Pretty cool stuff.

So from knowing next to nothing going in, we not only got to find the grandmother’s house, we got to go into it, and not only finding one gravesite, we found the whole family’s, and from not knowing anyone there, we made contact with long lost cousins, we didn’t even know existed! Miracles do happen.

Well, that is all I have for now. I have a couple of days off, so I plan on enjoying them.