So, apparently if you don't post for over a year, "they" do something weird to your blog and all of the sudden everything is gone. Or, at least that's what it looks like right now. I have been super busy the past nearly year, so I am going to try and start to update this a little more. One exciting thing has happened lately. My brother traveled to Slovakia in the past year and he, my dad, and my aunt have been doing some cool research to find out exactly where our Kucher and Skasko ancesters came from. A rather small town (that doesn't exist anymore. My dad is a member of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. We find out all sorts of neat information through it.

It's been a while

So, I made a book of G. Hanks' mission for Grandpa. It's super cool and I really like it, hopefully he will too. . .

http://www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf/bookviewer.py?d=tq%3Ey-cppl%60je%3E3352%3A91

Grandpa Hanks' Mission

I am pretty sure this is a photo from my great-grandpa's mission. We have all of grandpa's mission pictures and I will have to admit that the majority of them are absolutely hilarious. It makes me wonder what it was like to serve a mission in the 20s. It looks like they are having a blast in most of the photos. (Grandpa is the one on the right!)

Last Week at the Temple . . .

In the Roswell, GA stake on Good Friday, we are encouraged to spend as much time at the temple as we can. Robb and I had the privilege of going to do an endowment session that evening. One of my favorite parts of going to the temple is sitting in the Celestial Room, however, this time is was a little different that usual. I loved walking into the Celestial Room and seeing so many familiar faces of ward members and friends. Just like when I went through the Provo Temple to receive my own endowment, I know that is how it will be when we leave this life. When I went through the temple for the first time, I had the normal feelings of being overwhelmed and anxious. . . however, all of those feelings quickly vanished the second I stepped foot into the Celestial Room and saw my husband-to-be, my mom, my dad, my sister, my grandparents and my future in-laws. Just like on Friday, seeing so many familiar faces in that type of a setting is exactly how heaven will be-it is definitely an exciting thing to think of!

I love this photo. Taken in Spanish Fork, Utah it is of the Bearnson Girls. Pictured starting back right then counter clockwise: Sarah Ellen, Mildred, Hannah Sophia (Fay), Elva Christine, Wilma Gudney, and Bertha Wilborg.

Great-great grandma Anna Skasko Kucher

Taken from Grandpa Chester's history [speaking about his trips to visit his grandparents, in Pennsylvania, who were Russian Orthodox]:

Grandma made what was called pot cheese. She would wrap the curd in a cloth and hang it in the springhouse to drip. One of our [Virginia and Chester] jobs was to squeeze the cloth and force out the liquid. There was also a smokehouse and Grandpa smoked his own ham and bacon. They sold their surplus milk and eggs. Grandma would boil up a big pot of potatoes and our diet for the next several days would consist of boiled potatoes and green onions mixed with clabbered milk. This was milk that had soured and thickened. We would eat this with thick slices of ham and bacon. We would have thick slabs of homemade bread toasted on the top of the kitchen stove.

At Easter time, Grandma would make big round loaves of bread from a special recipe used only once a year. I remember that she always topped the loaves off with a little swirl of dough that made them look like nesting doves. The bread would then be taken to the church and blessed by the priest. It would then be be taken into the parlor for dinner. Large white napkins were used, and the bread would be broken over the napkins. I know now that this represented the Sacrament of the Last Supper. Every piece of bread and all the crumbs had to be eaten.

Grandma Sarah

 

So, this past week I was ambitious and I taught a sharing time on Family History. Hopefully some of the kids caught on a little bit. I told the story of Grandma Sarah's birth and the quart jar and all of that. The kids found it very interesting, in fact, that was the only time that I believe I had all of their little eyes looking at me. At 4:30 in the afternoon, that is a great accomplishment. I told them that if they ask their parents, they may have some cool stories like that as well.