Family Past and Present ~

Graphic by LeAnn@Living Waters and Photo by Barb's Blog

It's been a challenge to be somewhat grounded at home during the COVID 19. We thought about some things that we could accomplish during this downtime. Our thoughts turned to our ancestors. We started to look up stories about some of them. It has been a remarkable adventure. Reading their stories have given us courage during this particular time of struggles. 

Our next thought was since we can't go to our precious Temple and do temple work for our ancestors, we would take a day a week and make a day trip. This adventure was to visit in different communities the gravesites of our ancestors, and then go to the park or other safe places for a picnic. This has been such a great experience. 

We have also had some treasured family moments. We have felt comfortable being around the family if we social distance and then, of course, wear masks as needed. I have to hug them, so covers are a must right now. We are in that high-risk age group, so we love all those who are kind and willing to wear masks during this time. It makes it so we can do a few things. 

We were in Brigham City Cemetary for this one. We found the grave markers for Roger's Great Great Grandfather Lewis N. Booth and Great Great Grandmother Mary Jane Rees. Along with some other relatives, too. The sprinklers were turned on, and Roger got in the way. We had a nice lunch in Brigham City Park. 

We had a fun trip to Lehi Cemetary. I didn't have a clue there were relatives buried there. I found the headstones for my Great Great Great Grandfather and Grandmother; John Brown Sr. and Mary Brown. The other marker is of my Great Great Great Uncle John Brown Jr. and Juliet. Our picnic today was in Riverton Park. 

We had a lot of fun trying to find these grave markers in Payson Cemetary. It was fun to locate them. Mathew H. Daley and Mary E. Wightman are my Great Great Grandparents. Then William Daley and Mary Ann Graham are my Great Great Great Grandparents. Then we discovered that Charles and Elizabeth Dixon are buried there, and they are my 4th Great Grandparents. We are finding wonderful pioneer stories from these discoveries. Then we went to a small park in Payson for our picnic. It was a beautiful one. 

This was a trip back in time for me. I did come to the Murray Cemetary many years ago with my parents to visit the McMillan side of my family. This was extra sweet on this day. I found the Head Stones of my Great Grandparents John B. and May I Daley McMillan. The story of my sweet, great Grandmother May is a one to share. She passed away when I was two years old. My Great Grandparents had 4 children, the oldest Michael, lived to be 8 years old. Maggie, my Grandmother, died at the age of 23. She had two children; the oldest Matthew, died at age 2. and then my Dad, Millan was born. Maggie's husband, my Grandfather, died in the 1st World War a year and a half after my Grandmother died. Thus my Dad was raised by this Grandmother. Then when my Dad was 6 years old, my Great Grandpa died. I find that heartbreaking. 

Then I found my Great Great Grandparents, Michael McMillan Sr. and Mary Brown McMillan. 

This was another somber find for my husband. We went to Springville Cemetary to find the Head Stone of Roger's Great Great Great Grandfather, Enoch. He is buried all alone without any family around him. My dear husband became a bit teary of that one. Enoch's story is Sorrowful. He was married to Elizabeth Pride in England. They joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had 14 children. Only three children, George, Martha, and Eliza, lived to adulthood. Nathaniel died at age 2, Charles, age 5, George, age 2, and Eliza, age 8 years. They had three sets of twins that died shortly after birth; Alex and Peter, Sarah and Amelia, and Anne and Thomas. Another son, Hyrum, died at 14 years of age. Enoch traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with his three children. His wife didn't come, and we don't know why. Although I think she had to be heartbroken through all the losses of children. 

Our next adventure was to go to the Bountiful Cemetary and locate the Headstones for my dear husband's well-known pioneer ancestor, Anson Call. He was called by Brigham Young to Colonize 6 different communities, and Bountiful is one of them. Anson Call and Mary Ann Flint, his first wife, is Roger's Great Great Grandparents. Also, his Great Grandparents, Chester Rufus, and Mary Angelina Packer Call, are buried there. There is a book on Anson Call and other excellent resources on his settling areas of Utah. It's been fun to read his history, which is part of the Restoration of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a close friend to the Prophet Joseph Smith and gave him money for one of the editions of The Book of Mormon. 

 In all of the areas we have visited, we looked up some of the oldest homes still standing in the various cities. Here is just a sample of a few of them. I have always loved the architecture of the older homes. 

I had an extra fun time with our Stake Relief Society Presidency. We have served together for 3 years, and We have become very close friends. During the COVID restrictions, we have had a few Zoom meetings. Recently, we decide that if we wore masks and did physical distancing, we could meet on a backyard patio. We celebrated Sister Kordsiemon, 1st. Counselor's retirement from her work with Delta Airlines. My Second Counselor is Wendy Pilcher, and the Secretary is Nancy Oliverson. We had a great lunch and discussion. I love these dearest sisters, and we enjoy serving together. 

We have had a couple of getting together's with my daughter, Jenni, Michael, and their children Alyssa, Emma, and Ben. They lived with us a while back, and it's been hard through this COVID not to have them over. Again, we wear masks if we can not physically distance. 

Our daughter, Tiffani, Dave, and their children came down from Spokane, WA. to bring their oldest son Michael to BYU and then have a family vacation. They came and spent most of a Sunday with us. We had a Sacrament meeting at our home with them, which was very special. They are a great family. In the family photo below is Kaitlyn, Michael, Tiffani, Dave, Sarah, and William. They had us take some family photos of them in our backyard. 

We also celebrated Michael's 21st Birthday. We haven't seen Michael for over 2 years. He served a mission and then came home when missionaries were brought home due to  COVID 19. He served in the Texas, Lubbock Mission, Spanish Speaking. It was a marvelous moment to hug him. 

After the birthday celebration, we went out on our patio, and Michael shared with us some of his missionary experiences. It was the best ever. Our Granddaughter Sariah in the 1st photo is here with her boyfriend, Alex. Sariah has been living with us and just left this weekend to attend USU. We will miss her. 

Here are some photos of our Grandson Austin and his beautiful bride, Shamra. He is a return missionary that came home in February. She waited for him while he served a mission. They got engaged  August, but decided, due to  COVID temple restrictions, to get married last Friday, August 28th. They will then be sealed in the Temple when they can in December. We were not able to attend this due to a COVID. We felt sad to miss this but will enjoy the video they took of it. 

The top photo is our family; Ethan, he is going on a mission at the end of September to Los Angelos, Ryley, Kason, Karli, Shamra and Haven, Austin and Layton, Amanda, Travis, and Justice. 

 The final photos are of the engagement of my dear granddaughter, Sarah Adamson, to Josh Lee. They are planning a December wedding. They got engaged while on the Adamson family vacation here in Utah. My daughter, Tiffani, took her to look for wedding dresses. The one above isn't the one, but they did find one, which was awesome. 

Well, that's about it for our last couple of months. If you ever want to look up and see if there are any stories about your ancestors, here is the link. You can use this site for free, just go in and sign up and then do a search for your ancestors. The site is called Family Search. I am sure you will find some. We are all brothers and sisters and connected and a lot of research is being done on family lines. 

Sending loving thoughts and hugs to all! 

Happy 18th Birthday To Averi; Our Priceless Treasure

Our precious granddaughter, Averi, is 18 years old today. We wish her a spectacular birthday celebration. She holds a special place in our hearts and is a treasure to our family. 

Averi is a special needs child. She is blind and autistic. Right now, Averi has been going to school in a regular school environment. She has an aide with her all day. In the schools she has attended, the students love her. Averi is loved wherever she goes. Averi is basically happy all the time except for a few stubborn moments. She has some unique skills with numbers and music. When you first meet Averi, she will touch your hand and ask you, your birthdate. She can then tell you the exact day of the year your birthday, anniversary, or special day will be on. Once she has your birthdate, she will generally identify you by that. I am an 11-20. Although she does call me Grandma too. She has also learned to read Braille. She can take care of many of her daily needs and get herself ready for school. 

Averi has several good friends, one is a piece of cloth that she has had since birth, which she calls 6th. Other stuffed animals and objects are called by numbers too.  Averi can play the piano by ear and makes her own editions. Averi loves music and listens to it a lot and enjoys dancing to music too. She loves to spin in a chair for hours.  

The story below will tell you about the rare disease she had. We call Averi our miracle girl; because that is what she is. 

 Averi had a rare bone marrow disease called osteopetrosis, which was diagnosed when she was 4 months old. In this disease, there is no joint formation, and the bones are dense. It can cause blindness and deafness. At first, they felt they had caught it early enough to prevent those complications.

Our son James told us that one night, while in the hospital, they spent the entire night crying and talking through the possibility they could lose her, and they had read everything possible about the disease. Their only hope was a bone marrow transplant. 

Her brother Christian had a 100% bone marrow match, which was the first miracle. Averi had chemotherapy, and there were complications. She was in the PICU at Primary Children's hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, for 5 plus months. She had a tracheotomy and was on the highest level of ventilator called an oscillator for most of the time. Her lungs were compromised, and her kidney's failed. She had to have Kidney Dialysis. She also suffered from Congestive Heart Failure. The staff told us that she was one of the sickest children that they had ever worked with. At one time she had 17 different medications going into her IV's.  The bone marrow transplant failed the first time and had to be given again. She did have side effects from the transplants. She eventually became blind from the disease. Later on, she was diagnosed with Autism. The Physicians were not clear on what caused that. 

During this time, my son, Averi's father, was trying to finish Pharmacy school at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. He couldn't be with Amber and Averi.  They had two other children; Christian, age 4, and Taylor Jo, age 2. Amber's mother and I took turns caring for the children in Shelly, Idaho and then staying with Amber at the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City.

During this challenging time, Averi would have a few good days, but her life was on edge most of the time. There were several moments when we were told that it wasn't looking good, and we would call James to come up. He would come, and then she would improve a little bit, and he would return home and back to school.

She was given priesthood blessings, prayers were offered by not only our church congregations but also many who are not of our faith prayed for her and held prayer circles. Her name was put on the prayer rolls in our Temples. We had many of our faith fastings and praying for her.

On March 20th, 2003, James and Amber were told by the physicians that they needed to think about taking her off the ventilator because they felt that there was nothing more they could do. They thought she may have brain stem damage and possible damage to the thalamus gland. They wanted to decrease her Nitric O2 so they could take her down for an MRI. In reducing this, they told them she might go into a cardiac arrest, and they needed to know how progressive they wanted them to be.

At this time, I was in Las Vegas visiting my mother, so I flew back, and My husband Roger came back to Salt Lake from a work trip in New Jersey. Amber's parents Bob and Barbara came up from Idaho. We had a good discussion with the children, and we all felt that they shouldn't do the MRI test at this time. We discussed this with the physicians, and they agreed to wait. The physicians, after debating the medications with James and Amber, decided to decrease some of her sedation. This was prompted by James, who had been following closely the medicines that she was on. Being a senior in Pharmacy school, he was very updated on the drug choices. Both Amber and James had been proactive in finding a Physician at St. Jude Children's hospital who had experience with this disease, and he became a consult on her case. 

She received a blessing on March 23rd. James told Heavenly Father that they were willing for her to go home to Him if this was His will for her. He then gave her a marvelous priesthood blessing, which brought us all to tears. We felt a peace and comfort fill the room. We attended a church service that day at PCH, and it was a lovely experience. The spirit was so strong in that meeting. We later received word on that day that she was 100% in grafted, which was a great blessing.

After that, Baby Averi continued to improve. She moved all over once the sedation was decreased, so the physicians now felt that she didn't have brain damage. They did an MRI finally, and it was inconclusive for any brain problems. She continued on dialysis with the hope that it would improve. Her lungs were doing poorly, but the physicians felt the lungs would heal.

By the end of the month, her lung and respiratory function improved, and she was taken off the Oscillator ventilator and put back on a conventional ventilator.

We knew that she had improved through priesthood blessings, faith, prayers, and proper medical care. She is our miracle baby.

Here are a few thoughts for February and March. Those two months were some of the hardest in my life. It has been difficult to see little Averi so sick. However, I felt at peace and knew that she was in the hands of our Heavenly Father. I feel she was being watched over; Amber had felt this also. I have had many spiritual moments, and I pleaded with the Lord many times, even kneeling on the bathroom floor for her life if it was his will. We are all in agreement that Heavenly Father's will would be done.

In this circumstance, faith preceded the miracle. She is still here due to the many priesthood blessings and prayers offered on her behalf.  

Averi truly is our priceless treasure. We have learned so many lessons from being with her as a special needs child. She has taught many others how to be more kind and caring for those that have various needs. individuals that take time to know Averi love her.