Historically

Family

Wouldn’t tracing your roots and family back to Adam and Eve would be great? Family history is fascinating, and I’m filled with stories beyond one’s wildest imagination. Family history is like reading an entire library; just think of your own life, then times that by infinity, the stories would be vast indeed!

To know where you came from, where it all began, who began what, why, and how. There are so many questions, so many possibilities, so much history, just so many things I’d like to know!

One day, perhaps I will. Until then, I’m happy with what I have learned about some of my kinfolk. After all, I owe it to them for making it possible for me to be here and even perhaps were born with some of their characteristics. What I do know for sure is that I love my family!

Love understated…

I am grateful to my parents and grandparents for their love, support, and guidance. I’m wholeheartedly thankful and love my children and all the joy they have and bring to my life. I’m in awe and splendor of my grandchildren that they have brought into this world, and the ability, enthusiasm, and love they have to raise them fills me with utter bliss. I’m thankful for a husband who loves me and with whom I can share a life.

Love…

Family is a love of the most significant kind and can be felt, given, and shared in so many ways. I think love is tremendously powerful, so much so that I decided when speaking of the greatest love, I’m going to call it Super Love! Super Love, like love, you can hear, feel, express, receive, give, accept, and hold it dear in the most super capacity. It is felt in your stomach, your heart, your skin, it’s felt in your face, your brain, and in your breath.

Super Love

I have always felt this about my children but didn’t know how to categorize, honestly label, or even express it in a statement. Yet it was always there but in some ways unorganized. That was until I met my first-born granddaughter. She was born in Germany while my son was stationed in the Army. I couldn’t travel to meet her until she was 8 months old and anxious. Then I met her, I immediately fell in love, but that wasn’t all, her eyes, the way she looked at me, I felt her love in my heart, that love radiated throughout my entire body as if I became a superhuman of love with all its powers and might. It was glorious, it was Super Love!

A few years later, while thinking about her when she was still distant in miles and obstacles, I still felt her love and love for her. Even though she wasn’t beside me, I still felt its power and wondered if she thought the same.

I looked at photos, facial expressions, and body language and then got it! I knew it; I saw the power of love plain as day, and I sat down and wrote a children’s book about it. Naturally, I titled it Super Love. 

Here is a quick excerpt from the book (and btw it’s such a fun-loving book, you ought to read it for yourself, wink, wink): “Of all the things that matter the most, Love is the greatest from coast to coast. Love is the king of them all; Love makes my heart sing. Love makes me feel so tall.” The story is a tribute about love dedicated to my grandchildren with all their Super Expressions about LOVE!

This week, I visited that granddaughter in her 1st-grade class and read my children’s books to them. It didn’t take rocket science to see that when I began reading Super Love, their faces went from school children learning manners and curious and anxious to sweet, loving, pure heavenly angels with love in their smiles and full-hearted attention. It was written all over them!

After all the readings, I asked the kids which story was their favorite, and they all yelled out, “SUPER LOVE”!! They came and hugged me and expressed their joy for the story that I donated my books to the classroom; they were elated !!

I can genuinely say that I think about my family when I wake up. They are in my thoughts several times throughout the day, my final thoughts, and the end of my night. I have no other thought that is and will forever be constant. I genuinely am passionate about my family. I want what’s best for them; I desire them to be safe, sound, happy, healthy, productive, and of good choices and work. I constantly contact them in all its forms; my family is a massive part of my life!

Seeking love…

It was hard back then, but my great, great, great Grandfather William Williamson ran away from home with his brother at age 6. They hopped on a train headed to anywhere but the abusive home they lived in. His biological father died a few years back, and his biological mother remarried only to have died shortly after, and he was being raised by his cruel stepfather. William and his older brother wouldn’t have that; they required, needed, and desired LOVE!

153 miles away, he was taken in by a rancher who raised him and his brother with that love, and thank goodness for good people, right? After a spell, he met and married the love of his life, Joachine Williams, and they began a homestead and raised 11 children. I have one clear photo of William. he didn’t smile much, maybe in that era, but something in his eyes are tender and tells a story of how hardship and hard things weren’t going to impact him negatively, for there was joy in that beam you could clearly see just inside those crows feet!

I only have one photo of Joachine as well. At first glance, I immediately think of an Indian Chief. I honestly thought this was where my Native American Indian lineage originated, but I was wrong; that’s from my grandfather’s side. Joachine may have looked like she led a few hostile tribal battles, but her stories are all about raising a happy and loving home, surviving the brutal winters and cruel summers, raising all those kids off the land, cooking and cleaning and supporting her soulmate, they loved each other, everyone!

I think hard times, such as the ones they endured, made her brave and bold. Plus, photos back then didn’t have any filters; she was who she was, a loving wife and mother and a homesteader.

Out of that family came my great, great grandfather Jasper. Jasper,  a pretty good-looking fella, reminds me of Wyatt Earp, played by Kurt Russell in Tombstone. He seemed well put together, studious, and ambitious. He worked hard and was always working. He didn’t have time to date, so his buddy showed him a photo of his sister who lived in Canada; her name was Mary Jane Baker, and he liked what he saw. He wrote her a letter, sent her a photograph of himself, and asked her to marry him, a true mail-order bride! She liked his letter, obliged, and said “ I do”! They married and fell head over heels in love.

They had 3 babies: Edna, Margaret, and Abb. Mary Jane died 6 weeks after baby Abb was born. Jasper was heartbroken. After some years passed, he remarried, and the new step, Maggie Ann Myers, was loving as if they were her own children. They had 3 children together, and then she died, just how it was back then, hard times but not broken!

My Great Grandmother died when I was 13 months old…

Maggie (Margaret) was a rambunctious girl, social, fit, studious, and loved to dance. Dancing and music were her favorite things. She knew her husband as a youth; they used to play marbles together. Ellis Hayes could sing, dance, imitate, play the violin, be a magician, and do anything entertaining. Maggie shared in a memoir she loved how talented he was.

Ellis was a jack of all trades; they married, and he and Maggie had 5 children. Out of those 5 was my Grandmother Inez.

I loved my Grandma Inez with all my heart!

Inez loved her siblings; she loved life. She played with her dolls and always wanted to be around her dad. Like those before her, she had her fair share of tragedies, but again, she was a survivor.

Inez married Sam Hubert Armstrong.

Sammy loved my grandmother; he was a good provider, was good-looking, and served in the Navy in WW2. He wrote my grandmother to marry her, and they eventually married. They had 5 kids, and the eldest is my mother, Marian Jean Armstrong (Nolte, Milo). I spent most of my childhood weekends at my grandparents’ house; never was there a shortage of love from them. I was so blessed and probably spoiled, spoiled with Super Love!

My folks, in a nutshell…

My mom loved to sing, sew, play Laurie in Oklahoma, meet my dad in high school, were both in the choir, fell in love, married right out of high school, and began a family. They had 4 kids.

My dad, Dwaine Nolte, had an indomitable spirit to serve and be a good steward all his youth. He was in Boy Scouts and JR ROTC and would go out of his way to help an old lady cross the street. He joined the Army after marrying my mom and became a Police officer.

My parents are alive, kick ‘n, and yes, you got it, they love their kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren!

Here I come…

They had me on May 5, 1971. I’m the second eldest and middle child.

Genetically

According to my GenoType, I am a Hunter. My legs are longer than my torso, and my lower leg is longer than my upper leg. I am a meat eater, I have a high capacity for endurance, I rarely get sick, and I have dense bones but a small frame.

Mentally…

I love to lead and strive to grow in leadership. I’m a realist. A straight talker, straight shooter. I tell it like it is. Things are black and white to me; what’s good is good, and evil is wrong. Middle of the row is limbo, and I don’t like being there or anyone else as I find Grey indecisive. I’m principle-centered and love to tell things in a way that all can enjoy with fun stories and life experiences, having learned something from them and those of my ancestors. I also love humor; it’s the golden part of life. I add humor to life; you can’t go wrong with humor and love!

My mentality is that of a Sheepdog. I am a protector. I’m a teacher at heart and love to serve, and I believe I was given the talent to do so uniquely.

Spiritually

I believe in a Heavenly Father and in a Heavenly Mother. I believe in Jesus Christ; he lived, died, and was resurrected, and he loves me tremendously. I also feel the companionship of the Holy Spirit, his guide, and my deceased ancestors, who I think look out for me, too. I feel love in lots of places.

Religiously

I am a church member of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My kids are members of the church and most families on my mother’s side, but my family is diverse, and I honor and respect all my kin folk and what they believe, and I am happy for everyone’s freedom to choose. I have family who are members of the Baptist, Catholic, Rosicrucian, Methodist, Atheism, Agnostic, Presbyterian, and so on…I strive to live a joy-filled life and serve my fellow human brothers and sisters!

My story is full of epic experiences and stories, all to be shared one day. It suffices to say I’m excited about life and love myself, allowing me to love and super-love others freely!

My children, grandchildren, and husband, as shared in the earlier part of this story, are some of my top motivations. They inspire me to be better each and every day. They amaze me, and I am passionate about all the good and love they stand for. I hope you see why I use the word passionate. The definition is showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief. There you go; I got that belief and feeling because of my Super Love for one another; it’s indeed wonderful and exciting!

Stay tuned for another sweet entry, and feel free to share my post!

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Thanks, friend; until next time, be unique!

Renee