Monday, September 30, 2013

          The Home Evening assignment for tonight was to bring a picture of an ancestor and tell a family history story.  Thomas Grover was easy to find on the internet and Glade had Jeff send him his grand-parent stories from the histories he compiled.  Glade found a couple of stories and decided on the one about Hannah Evans.  She was the 74-year old grandma who tired early while commencing her walk across the planes.  There was no room in the wagon for her.  She stopped to rest, became separated from the group, and then they couldn’t find her.  They looked and looked for her and prayed for her, but it wasn’t until they reached the Salt Lake Valley that they found her—learning she had arrived three days earlier after catching a ride on a log-filled wagon.

(Oops, he didn’t tell that one after all.  He chose Clarissa Reed.  Maybe we’ll share her story excerpt tomorrow J)

I told about the rescue of the men in the Mississippi River by Thomas Grover from his flatboat and the resulting disaster after one of the angry men who was rescued spit tobacco juice into the eye of an unsuspecting ox whose chaotic response caused the sinking of the flatboat.  The family had just left Nauvoo and started their journey to the West.  The flatboat carried two yoke of oxen, two large covered wagons loaded with the Thomas Grover family belongings, and about 25 people.  No lives were lost, but the wagons, oxen, the people, and all their belongings were plunged into the slush-ice of the river.  The oxen drowned.  Their journey was delayed for four months until the spring of 1847.

There were so many things we could have talked about.  We read lots of histories and Thomas Grover’s alone could have taken an entire evening.  I am in awe of our faithful and courageous ancestors.  Family history stories make for a great read!!   

          Wow!  September is over already and we are so excited for General Conference.  It just doesn’t feel like conference time, but feels like the middle of summer instead.  Nonetheless, we are anxious and plan to have cinnamon rolls (or at least yummy muffins) and hot chocolate and sit in our “comfy” clothes to watch as usual, although it will be on a laptop.  (At least we have big screens, excellent picture quality, and it will be in English!!!!)  We will imagine all of you doing the same.