Unforgettable

I am not proud of the fact that I have sorely neglected family history. I am grateful for the fact that I have now fully embraced it. It has been such a comfort and blessing to me. We did some work about ten years ago because one of Bill's non member relatives prepared a pedigree chart. A lot of the work had already been done, but we did what was left. It was all on his dad's side. We had a dead end on his mom's side. These days we are now saying "No" to dead ends. We first discovered Hattie Hallberg in Kansas City, Missouri, Jackson County in 1895 married to Enoch Malmfeldt. They are the parents of May, Bill's mom. We were somewhat aware of May's siblings, but none of the work had been done for them. We then HAD to discover Hattie's parents. I made family trees for all of the kids for Christmas, and there couldn't be any blanks. So after hours and hours in SL at the Family History Library with a very patient and instructive Swedish consultant (she was convinced that I had to learn Swedish before she would let me go). We found Hattie in Sweden with the rest of her family. Of course, then she was Hedda Christina Bengstdotter. We found her parents Bengt Johan Anderrson and Olena Jakobsen, and all of her siblings. She came alone to America on a boat named the Orlando when she was 15. We have a picture of her name on the log of the boat. Eventually we found the whole family reunited in Osage, Kansas in 1885. So finally, after a comedy of events which included temple recommends expired by a day, wind storms that cancelled church and recommend interviews, sinus surgeries, and two week trips to Florida, we made it to the temple last night. Isaac, our amazing grandson that just turned 12 last April, made his very first trip to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. He was inside of the temple with his parents for the very first time. Liz and Josh joined us for the very special event. Isaac stood in for the men with Jeff baptizing and confirming, and Liz stood in for the sisters, with Josh baptizing and confirming. So about a dozen women and a dozen men were baptized and confirmed. These precious spirits included Bill's aunts and uncles, his grandparents and his mom's aunts and uncles. We enjoyed a very special spirit. Like I said.....the evening was "Unforgettable."