My family

My Family-I have been rereading my blogs and the thought that struck me is
how
often I repeat the same things. But, then, my life doesn't have much
variety. I told the Lord that I wanted to write about something different.
The thought crossed my mind to write about my family. I am not sure where it
came from, Holy Spirit, most likely. This blog is a product of that thought.

First, I will share a bit of family history. At least, what I know. My
father's family has been traced to Sweden a couple of hundred or so years
ago. They emigrated to the US, Idaho, I think. After that they came to
Canada. My father was born while they were still in the US but I am not too
sure how old he was they came to Canada. The name they went by was Holmsted
but, apparently, it had been changed from a Swedish name that nobody could
pronounce. That is my father. My mother's family is German but, so I hear,
they had emigrated to Russia before coming to North America.
They first settled in the US, one of the Dakotas, before coming to Canada. I
think my mother was born after coming to Canada but I am not sure. All this
family history I got from relations so., if it is not accurate, I am not to
blame.

I don't remember either of grandfathers at all as they passed away before I
was born. My father's mother passed away when I was around 6 so I don't
remember much about her. I just vaguely remember a tallish lady with lovely
white hair. I do remember that, just before she died she got gangrene in her
leg and
it had to be amputated. The grandparent I remember best was my mother's
mother. I remember us visiting with her quite often, even after we had moved
to Medicine Hat. She lived in Redcliff, which is a mere couple of miles from
Medicine Hat. I can't really pinpoint a date when she passed away but, as it
was before I came to Cold Lake, I was probably in my teens.

My parents were Wayne and Irene Holmsted. The only part of my family's
history that I hadn't heard is how my parents met. Dad was quite a bit older
than Mom so I grew up with a father who looked more like my grandfather.
Because he passed away when I was 16, my memories of him are a little fuzzy.
While we lived in country, I don't recall seeing that much of him. Part of
that was because he was always busy rounding up cattle, mending fences,
bailing hay or whatever. But I was also pretty little back then so I
probably just don't remember. Once we moved to Medicine Hat, he didn't work.
I guess we were living off the money from selling the place in the country.
Except for a couple of summers when he helped an uncle near Brooks. My dad
was not strict but he was no pushover either. He gave me my last spanking
when I was 15. How embarassing is that! I badmouthed him so he spun me
around and swatted my behind. I was a lot more careful with my words after
that.

My mother, I thought, was a bit more of a pushover. That was probably mostly
because I was the youngest and they usually get away with more. Plus, once
Dad died and my sisters left home, there was just her and me. I was already
married and living in Cold Lake with one kid and another one on the way when she
passed away. I have always wondered if she was a Christian or not. I know
that she had been to Bible school before she was married and there were
always Bibles in our house. And, yet, we didn't live like Christians in our
day-to-day life.

I have 3 older sisters, none of which I have seen in years. The oldest,
Marge, is 7 years older than me. Because of the age difference, we were
never close. She was the "black sheep" of the family and never seemed to fit
in with anybody. As far as I know, she still lives in Medicine Hat but I
haven't heard from her in a few years.

Gladys is 4 years older than me. When I was a kid, she was often helping
Dad. She now lives in BC with her husband of almost 50 years (she got
married at 19). They are still active and do a lot of camping and quading.
We exchange cards at Christmas and e-mails on birthdays.

Verna is 2 years older than me. We always were, and still are, close. Living
in the country, there was nobody else to play with so we played with each
other. We were too small to help with a lot of the chores that my 2 older
sisters had to. Even when we moved Medicine Hat, we spent a lot of time
together. She now lives in Claresholm, AB. We stay in touch regularly by
letter.

To me, one of the saddest things is that I don't really know my own
children. They were so young when I had the stroke, not even 5 and 3. Now
Donovan is almost 37 and Heidi is almost 35. When they were still living at
home, their father made sure that they spent time with me. But, now that
they are on their own and don't live here any longer, I seldom see them.
Donovan lives in Edmonton and, I believe, works for some department of the
city of Edmonton, doing graphic design on a computer. He is also a DJ so he
is a busy guy. Heidi lives in Leduc with her little boy. I believe she works
in Nisku, though I am not too sure what she does. She did apprentice as a
pipefitter but I am not sure that is she is doing.

One last person I must mention is Fin, my dear little grandson. He will 5 in
January. Because he lives in Leduc, I seldom see him in person. That is one
of the rare times that I am thankful for technology. At least, I can watch
him via Skype.

So that is my family. Definitely material for prayer as I am pretty sure I
am the only one who is a Christian.