Remembering Our Heritage with our Huggin' Cousins

Heritage - valued objects and qualities like traditions, that have been passed down from previous generations; legacy

"Remember Grandpa's preaching? He spared no words." "Remember Grandma and how precious she was." "What about those huge meals she'd cook -- roast AND chicken AND squirrel? She was the best cook EVER!" "I remember going to church with them." "I remember Grandma saying 'You just gotta' love!" Those were words that were said when four cousins got together after 40 years apart. My dear cousin who lives just a few blocks from me, Mary Ellen Snow and her husband, Charles, and dear Halbert cousins (my Mom's side of the family), Olan and Lola Halbert, and Johnnie and Mary Halbert, and I came together for a cousins' reunion. We're all from Texas. Other cousins couldn't make it, but I loved relishing the memories of many years gone by with these ones, and we expressed such gratitude for our ancestors who planted deep faith and strong moral ethics into all of us.

Those were words that were said when four cousins got together after 40 years apart. My dear cousin who lives just a few blocks from me, Mary Ellen Snow and her husband, Charles, and dear Halbert cousins (my Mom's side of the family), Olan and Lola Halbert, and Johnnie and Mary Halbert, and I came together for a cousins' reunion. We're all from Texas. Other cousins couldn't make it, but I loved relishing the memories of many years gone by with these ones, and we expressed such gratitude for our ancestors who planted deep faith and strong moral ethics into all of us.

Mary Ellen and I found out some of our family roots go back to John Rolfe and Pocahontas. They were our 10th generation great grandparents. Yay! I'm multi-racial!! There's a tiny percentage of Native American in me! And I thought I had no famous folks in my family lineage. 😁

After that "cousin" get-together, then cousins from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada (my husband's uncle's children) came in to town and we had such a special time of celebrating the great heritage of hockey that we were so familiar with when we lived in Winnipeg in 1986 to 1993 -- 7 great years of living in such a diverse and multi-cultural city that celebrates its diversity every summer. We always loved the Folklorama Multicultural Festival. It is an exciting, two-week event where throughout the city, you can visit and experience the cultures, their foods, arts, dances and entertainment. Winnipeg isn't a "melting pot" where everything blends together. It's more like a salad -- delicious in every way and distinctly different in every way. Gord Neufeld and Sher Neufeld reminded us of the heritage that our family passed on to us. Again, the most important tradition was that of serving God and teaching their children and their children's children to love God and others. Obviously, our forefathers did a really good job.....because we're passing it on!

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. Let these words that I’m commanding you today be always on your heart. Teach them repeatedly to your children. Talk about them while sitting in your house or walking on the road, and as you lie down or get up. Tie them as reminders on your forearm, bind them on your forehead, and write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates.”