The Saturday 7

1. This week Lucy brought home an assignment from school to research why her ancestors came to America. I've never put much stock in genealogy research. We don't have any cool stories or cool ancestors that I know of. And our ancestors have been in America for a long time, so we don't have a strong connection to a "homeland." I pretend that we're super Dutch just because of our super Dutch name, but that's all for show. So I didn't have high hopes when I sat down to peer into the past. I started with a facebook group my mom's extended family is a part of. That led me to familysearch.org. I didn't realize it at the time, but it's one of the few totally free genealogy websites available. And it totally sucked me in. It led me to all kinds of historical records, complete with photos of handwritten documents and photos that make my heart flutter.

That baby on the right is my Great Grandma Hazel, and the man holding her is my Great Great Grandpa Levi. I didn't even know I had an ancestor named Levi. 🤣

Hazel grew up to marry Harvey. This is his draft registration form.

My favorite part is line 12. He wanted to claim exemption from the draft because of his occupation (farming) and "wife supporting." Lol

I traced my grandma's family back to 1630 in Mistley, Essex, England. It's incredible to see how many kids these women had. Familysearch has a timeline feature, so it says Hepzibah age 24, gave birth to John. Hepzibah age 25 gave birth to William, Hepzibah age 26 gave birth to Mary . . . continuing for the next 10 years. These poor women!! And it's so sad to see how many of the children died the same year as they were born. There were also a couple notations in various documents of wives and children being killed by Indians! Yikes! I found 4 different Lucys in that line of the family. Oh, and there's also this gem . . .

Got that? A little intersecting of the family tree branches . . . (If you know my family now, I figured that would be like me marrying Rieley's dad.)

Just a couple more things. I know this is probably boring. On my dad's side of the family, my Great Great Grandma Jennie is listed as a "household servant" of the John Ball family on the 1880 Census. John Ball is who our local zoo is named after. Yes! My ancestors were "the help!" I also found this:

Say whaaat? She wasn't in our direct line of ancestors, but a cousin or something. And she lived with her parents til they died, never married, and died alone in her 80s.

And then there are George and Henry Spoelstra. I can't figure out how they're connected to my branch of the tree, but the 1900 Census records them both as being in jail in our area! I couldn't find out what their crime was, but I did find an article in a Toledo newspaper about their sister being killed under "suspicious circumstances." I read another article with the details though - she was killed in a hit and run in Ohio while her brothers were at home. Guess they're off the hook for that one at least.

Also, my great great grandpa was named Klaas, but in a couple places I found him listed is Klaas Nicholas. So basically I'm related to Santa.

Unfortunately, I never found any personal stories about why our ancestors immigrated (emigrated?). I haven't delved into Justin's side of the family yet because he's a man and he doesn't know his great-grandparents' names. But I'll find out from someone, and hopefully get some good stories for Lucy.

One more tiny sidenote: could y'all please stop giving your kids the same name as their fathers? For the sake of future genealogy researchers!

2. Ok! Enough of that. Lucy had her doctor appointment on Tuesday. I had emailed the doctor with my concerns ahead of time and she had a long chat with Lucy about how we need to take care of our bodies, fuel them appropriately, move them often, etc. Lucy nods and agrees with everything while we're sitting there, but doesn't actually do anything about it when we get home. Talking isn't getting us anywhere. She knows what she needs to do, but she isn't willing to do it. (Typing that is like an arrow through the heart, because that is exactly my problem in so many areas as well!) The doctor did agree to refer us to a nutritionist (I didn't tell her that my sister is a registered dietician - lol). Maybe if Lucy hears it from someone else or they give us some specific foods to try or something, it'll click. More likely the nutritionist will say, "Yeah, this girl's problems are outside my wheelhouse. She needs occupational therapy." I found a resource that looks really amazing, but I sincerely doubt that it takes our insurance, and I'm certain that the out of pocket expense is way more than we can afford. Blurg.

3. I had my own counseling appointment yesterday with the free therapist at my doctor's office. I think I'm getting what I'm paying for . . . She's just really awkward. I think she specializes in eye contact and silence - two of my least favorite things. I get that she's trying to get me to open up, but I don't think she realizes yet that 1.) I'm an open book and will tell her anything she wants to know, and 2.) I will fill silence with whatever comes to mind, whether it is constructive or useful in any manner. I need direction. Ask me questions. Tell me what to talk about. Don't just stare at me. I left feeling discouraged that there's no hope for my depression. Therapy is allegedly this amazing thing (and I did really like the first lady I went to), but I felt like the counselor yesterday didn't know what to tell me or how to help me. Blurg again. (I have gotten some recommendations for income-based Christian counselors in our area that I'll look into, but I'm going to give this lady a few more tries. She's free, and her office is 3 miles from my house.)

4. I accidentally stumbled on something this week that is equal parts creepy and amazing. Have you heard of the Google Maps Timeline? Maybe I'm just way behind the times, but I didn't know there was such a thing. Because I enabled location history on my phone, Google is always stalking me - and keeping track of my movements . . . literally! I was going to screenshot it, but then decided I shouldn't let everyone stalk me (only Google gets that privilege). I have random blog views from all over the world and should probably be more careful about my privacy. I don't care if Google wants to target ads to me based on my movements, though.

Basically, it creates a report every day, complete with a map showing where I drove, how long it took me to get there, how long I stayed there, etc. If I took a picture while I was at that location, it'll be added to my "report." I kind of love having a detailed history of my life recorded that way. Let me tell you, my great-great-great-great grandchildren will know alllll about my exciting life!

5. Big news people. We finally sold Ol' Rusty - my stupid van that no one wanted. Haha. Can I just say that facebook marketplace is the worst?? Rather, people are the worst. I can't tell you how many times someone was "interested" in my dumb van, to the point that they said, "I can be there in half an hour with the money." I'd respond, "Ok. Here's my address" and then . . . crickets . . . Like I want to respond after a day or two, "Did you die? Are you ok? Should I contact the authorities??" Anyway, today someone finally came through - with a pittance of cash. But it was about what we'd get for scrapping it, and we didn't have to do the work of getting it to a scrapyard. #winning!

6. Next week is going to be madness. I have a different person watching Levi for some reason or another every day except Wednesday. Isn't February usually a slow month? I feel like it's out of control this year! Between Valentine's Day parties and field trips and VBS meetings, and school fundraising meetings (yeah, it's coming - get out your checkbooks), and doctor's appointments, and ballet (did I mention Lena started ballet class?), and birthdays (yes - it's Leap Year. Levi will have his first real birthday this year. He's been telling everyone that his birthday is on "Leap Frog Day."), my month is booked! Secretly I'm glad though. February is the worst, and I'm hoping that being busy will make it go faster. The first week actually wasn't too bad, thanks to the unusual amount of sunshine we got! Thank you, Jesus, for little victories.

7. Pictures!