Real. Simple.

Simplicity: An Inner Reality*

Real: adj. 1. genuine and authentic; not artificial or spurious.
2. free of pretense, falsehood, or affectation.

Simple: adj. 1.having or composed of only one thing, element, or part.
2. Not involved or complicated; easy.

"Keep your life free from the love of money,
and be content with what you have;
for He has said,
'I will never fail you nor forsake you.'"
Hebrews 13.5


"But godliness actually is a means of great gain
when accompanied by contentment."
1 Timothy 6.6

"Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you as well."

Matthew 6.33

*from Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

It feels good to be a gangsta.

If I could reenact that scene from Office Space in my office, it would definitely be with this machine.

"Last boat leaving tonight Is the boat for Ellis Island"*

Two weeks ago, this was the extent of my knowledge about my great-grandparents, John and Freda Childers:

*they lived on a farm in the middle-of-nowhere- Illinois.
* we visited them when I was about 7- I remember Grandma Freda making an amazing farm breakfast...and their house being really hot.
*that's pretty much it.

What I didn't know...

*My Great-Grandma Freda's parents- Harry and Minnie Leadill, took a ship from their home in York, England with their one year old son- and came to Ellis Island in 1909.

(Yes, that's the actual ship)

From there they moved to said 'farm in the middle of nowhere IL' and raised their family. My dad remembers meeting Harry and Minnie and hearing their strong British accents (suddenly 1909 doesn't seem like that long ago, does it?)

Minnie Leadill in 1934

Harry Leadill

Apparently, Illinois agreed with the Leadills, because they stayed and raised children who became Illinois farmers...

John and Freda (Leadill) Childers with their son -my grandpa- Lawrence

* "Ellis Island", Lyrics by Marc Cohn

who do you think you are?

Has anyone else been watching the show Who Do You Think You Are? and then spending hours (um, hours!) on Ancestry.com?

I put down the novel I was reading and haven't picked it up for days, because apparently family history is a page turner! Besides being an opportunity to connect with relatives I haven't seen in years, I have already found out things about my family that my parents and grandparents didn't know.

So, if I can tear myself away from reading the 1910 US Census, I'll be back soon with some stories about these people...