Six Generations

Left Side

Right Side

These were fun layouts to do. My Grandma Hopkins had her wedding bouquet pressed and behind the glass of a serving tray. This always hung on her wall in the dining room. My Aunt Grace, who is an oil artist, painted color onto the aged blooms. I'm not sure where this 78 year old treasure is, but likely my Aunt has it. I was looking at a German site, Scrapbooking Heaven and liked some of her work, but it is too bright for my usual tastes. I tend to like muted, soft or jewel tones, not bright and for fabric and paper I like an old fashioned or shabby chic kind of look with a little touch of country and a smidge contemporary - in other words eclectic, but not bright and wild eclectic! When I saw the Cherished Memories kit and Cluster package it reminded me of Grandma's wedding bouquet.

I have long wanted to do a page layout with the six generations of married women on my Mom's side. When my daughters marry that will be seven! It's so neat to have these pictures and I wanted to do something special with them. This won't go in my regular heritage album, but may go into an album that I want to create about the people who have influenced me in my life and faith. This took a long time and I probably won't do many of these "fussy" pages, but it was gratifying to accomplish something, even though we were all too sick to do much else today!

October Awareness

Most of us think of October as the month that ushers in fall, even though it began in September. The skies can be crisp, clear blue with cotton ball clouds or gray and brooding. Trees across the northern hemisphere change. We anticipate celebration. October has long been one of my favorite months and especially since my first born arrived on the 10th.

Did you know that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Have you done your self breast exam? Have you been squished with a mammogram lately? Even though there have been conflicting study reports recently on their effectiveness, I won't be stopping. Too many people I know found their breast cancer through self exams and mammograms.

My job-share nurse friend Michelle has now survived breast cancer about 15 years! Praise God! My friend Betty Boop did not survive; God chose to heal her in Heaven. Elaine battled bravely for more than ten years. She taught God's Word boldly, shared His love gently and LIVED every moment she was on earth. Two of my grand Aunts... Mickie and Betty, battled twice, succumbing to cancers secondary to their breast cancer. And in case you are a man or you love a man, don't think men are excluded. A friend of my Hubby's has an ongoing battle with breast cancer and HIS name is Ed. Probably everyone reading this could list at least one person they know who has battled breast cancer.



Do not be afraid. Be Aware. Be Educated. Do Exams. Do Mammograms. Encourage a cancer fighter and PRAY!

Did you also know that October is also Down Syndrome Awareness Month? This was news to me until I read Sherri's blog. This month she is posting "31 for 21" which is a post for each of the days of October for Down Syndrome Awareness because Down Syndrome effects Chromosome 21.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to find out that you have a child with Down Syndrome you should read Welcome To Holland, Sherri's October 1st post. Sherri's posts about her "Imp" as she calls him for anonymity purposes always delight me. I'm sure that I am seeing the sunshine and not the shadow, but her family has been an amazing picture of love as they have surrounded this young man and raised him together. I found Sherri's blog when I was just "surfing" one day and followed a link, but I came back and stayed because of her posts on the Imp.

I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to experience this myself, but I have a huge heart for "special needs" kids. When I was done with high school before high school was done, I volunteered in a special education pre-school that was part of my school district, working with children ages 3-10 of varying diagnoses. Several had Down Syndrome. I looked into teaching special education but after 3.5 years in college dismissed teaching altogether. That must be one of God's little chuckles considering what I do now! lol

One of the jobs I had in college was respite care for a little girl with cerebral palsy. After college I worked as a Certified Medical Assistant for ten years, most of which was pediatrics. In pediatrics you see the whole gamut of population and it is probably the most varied specialty in medicine. I loved so many of my patients and enjoyed working with parents to meet their children's needs. Sometimes we had to be advocates for the parent and/or child with the school district, insurance company or other agencies and it was something I found fulfilling - sticking up for the "underdog". Maybe I should have pursued social work, though my tender heart would probably have been in a permanent state of brokenness!

My heart for the "special needs" person began at an early age, long before these experiences in life.

L to R: Winnifred Lucy Kirkland Tisdale, Dorothy Winnifred Tisdale (front), Holly Mable Tisdale Hopkins, Fred Tisdale, Clifton K. Tisdale and Homer K. Tisdale about 1913.

My Grandma Hopkins' little sister, "Aunt Dorothy" did not have Down Syndrome. About 1918 she was thrown out of a Model T Ford in a car accident. To her dying day she was afraid of cars and always asked if you were a good driver and if you ever had an accident! She suffered a severe brain injury in the accident and never attained full mental maturity. After 2nd or 3rd grade, she left school and lived at home. For awhile some attempts were made to help her live on her own, but events that I don't know or understand about made this impossible. In the 60s it was popular to treat anything related to the brain with electric shock treatment, which Aunt Dorothy received at a state mental hospital. All of my life she lived in nursing homes.

This photograph was taken about 1918 and by her searching expression, I can't help but wonder if this wasn't taken after the accident. L to R, Homer Tisdale, my Grandma Holly Tisdale Hopkins, Dorothy Winnifred Tisdale, Fred Tisdale, Winnifred Kirkland Tisdale and Clifton Tisdale.

Mother and daughters, probably in the 1930s - Winnifred Kirkland Tisdale, Holly Tisdale Hopkins, Dorothy Winnifred Tisdale. (Mom, the dress Grandma is wearing reminds me of the one you wore for Grandma's memorial service 60 or 70 years later!)

I always knew that Aunt Dorothy was "different" and that she needed special help, but she was part of the family and was very loved and welcomed. Many times she spent a few days with us over Thanksgiving or Christmas. My Mom who self admittedly is not a "nurse", was always so gentle and caring with her. A day or so away from the nursing home and she became alive! Likely they had her medicated to zombie status so that they wouldn't have to deal with anything more than they wanted to. Looking back, some of those times where family were all gathered together and she stayed with us were some of the happiest.

Many people look at Aunt Dorothy, or probably the Imp or other special needs people and think they are stupid, don't get it, are annoying, ignorant, embarrassing... fill in the blank. Aunt Dorothy had spunk, a great sense of humor, was playful, collected dolls, souvenir spoons and her favorite color was yellow. She enjoyed beautiful jigsaw puzzles and in her 80s had a "boyfriend" in the nursing home. "He's an Indian!" she would whisper, having grown up in a time when that would be scandalous!

When we first came to our church, it was Christmas and there taking part publicly in the service was B.M. who has Cerebral Palsy. I held my breath subconsciously and looked around for others' reactions, being used to seeing people's embarrassment and non acceptance. To my surprise no one appeared any different than they should. Here was a person who in the world's eyes is "disabled" and unable to participate on their level, taking part in a "normal" part of the church service. Even in church circles, this is sadly, not common. Right then and there I knew it was a fit! Later I would learn that we have wonderful family in our church whose son N also has Down Syndrome. One day his Daddy shared a testimony of their discovering that N had Downs, their grief and how much they have grown in love and faith by being blessed to be his parents. N is like a little evangelist and must have the gift of hospitality. He walks through the halls, passes out tracts and greets people.



Top: my grand Aunt Elaine Horstman Hopkins (the only one living from this picture), my grand Uncle Philip Sedgewick Hopkins. (I'm not sure if they were married at this time or not. On the Right side: Winnifred Kirkland Tisdale and Homer Tisdale.

On the bottom, my Grandparents George "Alden" Hopkins and Holly Tisdale Hopkins (Grandma was never fat, so I think this may have been taken in 1934 when she was pg with my Aunt Grace.) Left side: Aunt Dorothy Winnifred Tisdale and Fred Tisdale.

Awareness is a good thing. Be aware that people who are different are not necessarily ignorant to what is going on around them, that they are people too, not inanimate objects, that they share the same needs, wants and desires that we all do and that they deserve to be treated with respect.

The next time you see a parent struggling with a special needs child, you might ask if they would like some assistance (if it is appropriate). Also, don't be afraid to hug (if appropriate), shake hands, encourage, pray with and share God's love with them. It's not likely that they will come up to you and ask for help, but a kind and genuine offer is appreciated even if it is not always practical to accept it. And if you see injustice, please speak up. It takes a coward to make fun of someone different than them. Sometimes we need to stand up for the rights of those who do not know how to do it for themselves.

So, in light of awareness month, if you know someone with Down Syndrome, breast cancer or other special needs, please say a prayer for them and maybe see how you can help! You will be greatly blessed.

I miss you Aunt Dorothy! Thank you for teaching me to see people with my heart!

Please Pray For My Cousins

My cousins' Wife/Mom, Barbara passed away today. I mentioned her earlier in the year as she was fighting brain cancer, the same type that Ted Kennedy has. Last night she went into a semi coma and the Lord granted her sweet sleep this morning and she is gone. Today she is Home. Please pray for Dan who is in Asia and his family and for Ted and Ted Jr who are at home in Alaska. And though he is not one of my favorite people, please pray Ted Kennedy and his family. Money might buy time but not life.

Iris and Herringbone

My Mom and Jack frequently take beautiful sunrise pictures. So I told them to wake me up one morning if there was a good one. So, knock, knock, knock. Mom rapped on the door, I grabbed my camera and pried my eyes open to be greeted by a spectacular sunrise!


I did not adjust this, this is a straight out of camera shot. The original is not blurry, it's because I save these low resolution for the blog.

One of the many bird houses and the Cascade foothills in the background.

When I came in the house, I noticed the light on my Mom's depression glass.

This pattern is called Iris and Herringbone.

This shows about 1/3 of my Mom's collection.

It all began with these - a set of six water glasses that belonged to my Mom's Grandma Tisdale. If you saw the post with pictures of my Grandma's house, that was Grandma Tisdale (Winnifred Lucy Kirkland Tisdale) on the porch with my Mom on her lap. She probably bought her glasses at Woolworth's or some other such place. Maybe they were a gift. We don't know. My Mom had them for years before we really paid much attention to them. One of these glasses was used for our communion cup during our wedding covenant.

Over the last twenty years, the collection has grown piece by piece. There are many serving bowls, dessert bowls, various glasses and even a candelabra set that I bought my Mom on Orcas Island. We used the candelabra for our communion table during our wedding as well.

I had meant to go back and take more pictures when the lighting was better and my eyes were open and my brain was coherent, but it never happened. Still I am happy to have gotten these photographs to remember special treasures.

Prayers For Barbara

This is Barbara and her husband Ted cutting their wedding cake in 1959.

This is Barbara, taken with her family in March 2008.

A difficult decision was made this last week to discontinue chemotherapy for Barbara's brain cancer. The brain cancer is more and more aggressive and is affecting her brain's ability to do things like see, talk and walk. Outside of a miracle from God, it will be only a matter of time. Her family is trying to find the best care facility possible for her and hospice has been called in.

Please pray for Barbara's passing to be gentle and easy and that she will not be afraid.

Please pray for my cousin (her husband) and their two sons. Pray that they will feel the Father's loving presence and strength as they go on this difficult journey with their wife and mother.

Pray for my cousin Dan who is in Asia and is unable to come back at this time. It was a blessing though that he was able to see his Mom in March while she was still coherent and "herself". Still it is difficult to be so far away from your family at a time like this.

Thank you for praying for my family.

102 Years Ago Today...

Holly Mabel Tisdale Hopkins was born in a little house on the prairie, in Edens Valley Township, near Sherwood, North Dakota. Her father and Uncle Harry had adjoining 160 acre homesteads. Grandma says that she was named after another adjoining homesteader, Miss Hall, whom they all called "Hall-y". However, since her Mother Winnifred had a 12 year old younger brother die who was nicknamed "Holly" (short for Hollis Hobart Kirkland), my guess is that she was actually named for him. Her middle name Mabel, is after her first cousin Mabel, daughter of her Uncle Tom, who died at about age 10 from appendicitis. Here she is pictured with her little brother Clifton K. Tisdale (1907-1963) who was also born on the homestead. This was taken about 1910 in Ilwaco, Washington.

One time when she was about the age of the above photo, someone told her that she had beautiful hair and she said, "I know." When her mother corrected her, she said, "But I do know. Everyone always tells me that!" LOL She had thick, wavy hair that had only minimal thinning (though it was white) when she died at almost 96.


This photo was taken about 1935. L to R Winnifred Kirkland Tisdale, Holly Tisdale Hopkins and Dorothy Winnifred Tisdale.

Growing up I often shared my birthday with Grandma Hopkins and didn't like that my birthday was always sandwiched in and shared with her birthday and Father's Day. How I would love that now! Grandma was born the day after her mother and my birthday is their two birthdays added (June 9+ June 10=June 19). I miss Grandma a lot, but I know I'll see her again! :o)

125 Years Ago Today

June 9, 1883, in Ojata - a place where freight trains paused and no longer exists, in Grand Forks County, North Dakota - this lovely lady was born. Winnifred Lucy Kirkland Tisdale, likely named after her brother, Winfield Scott Kirkland, who died before her birth and her great grandmother, Lucy Parks West, was my great Grandmother. Sadly she died 9 months before I was born. I would have enjoyed meeting this lovely, Godly woman who was married to a school teacher and raised 4 children, including my Grandma Hopkins. This photo was taken about 1904 before she left Grand Forks to move to Toledo, Washington with her Father Hiram Kirkland and her brother Ralph Kirkland. She played organ in the local Methodist church and fell in love with the pastor, Frederick Tisdale. They married at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington January 19, 1905 and began their adventurous journey which eventually led to me!

Worth Clicking and A Child's Heart

My Mom forwarded me some pictures via email that our cousin in Fairbanks sent her. As a photographer and creative artist, I want to respect Ross Fotheringham's creativity and copyright, so I checked it out. The email was unauthorized, but he gave permission for people to share with his name left on his photos and a link to his pictures ! Click on them to see them large, they are incredible and powerful images of Washington State Ferries taken on October 18th during a 50mph windstorm. You can read more about it at the Kitsap Sun site.

I have ridden all the ferries pictured. The photographer, who is from my birth place took these at the Mukilteo Ferry dock and lighthouse. It is a place near and dear to our family. My Grandma Hopkins lived there as a little girl while her father FW Tisdale taught school there and was Mukilteo School District Superintendent in the late teen years. I also lived several years in Mukilteo, graduated from high school there and have fond memories of doing college homework, walking my Samoyed dog Sasha, having long talks with Mom about how we would piece together our life after Andy died, BBQs with the Campus Crusade group, sunset and lighthouse photo shoots and late night discussions with friends on the beach next to the ferry docks. However, I have NEVER seen it look like that! Pretty amazing.

And I just had to share another pearl from the children. As much as they are driving me nuts lately, I can see the Lord working in their lives. Today as part of our Bible class we watched the DVD of Jesus, a children's version of the Jesus Film. I was surprised that they watched because it's a drama with live actors, but some of the actors are children and they tell the Gospel events from a child's perspective. It's really good. When A realized that Jesus was going to die, she began SOBBING hysterically and screaming, "NO! I don't want Him to die!" D and I tried to assure her that Jesus did die but that He rose again and is alive today. Nothing would calm her.

I debated turning it off as it might have been too much, but then decided to continue. I wish many adults could feel so empassioned by these historical, real life events that have eternal impact on our lives. I held A in my arms and let her cry. She was glad to see that He rose again. And maybe now she has taken another small step closer to understanding what her decision for Christ really meant.

Afterwards we took turns sharing how we felt about the movie and then we prayed. In her sweet little soprano voice, A prayed, "Father God, I don't want Jesus to die! Please don't make Jesus die! I love Jesus! Amen!"

It melted my heart.

I love you Lord

And I lift my voice

To worship you,

Oh my soul,

Rejoice!

Take joy my King

In what You hear.

May it be a sweet,

Sweet sound,

In Your ear!

Thank you Jesus that you did die and rose again that we may draw near to the Father. I love you too!

More knitting soon. I have been having pain in my shoulder, neck, arms and wrists, so I am taking a break.

Fibery (but non-knitting) Content

I would like to introduce you to Helbo! Helbo is a family quilt that has been around a LONG time...almost 100 years! A couple posts ago I shared a picture of my Great Grandmother who died just before I was born, Winnifred Lucy Kirkland Tisdale. My Grandma Hopkins remembers her Mother, Winnie, carding wool for the batting of her quilts.

I am privileged to have three quilts from her. One is a crazy quilt in cotton and without the decorative stitching...she made one for each of her three granddaughters (my Mom and her sisters) and they were made from pieces of family clothing or the scraps leftover when articles were cut out to sew the family's clothing. Both my Mother and I slept under this quilt and enjoyed looking at the fabrics and knowing the stories behind them. The second is a Rose of Sharon applique quilt made about 1935 for her son Clifton Tisdale's wedding. Clifton's wife 'Nora gave it to my Mother when she got married and my Mother gave it to me. One day I will pass it on to my children.

The third quilt is Helbo. Helbo is rough, heavy and sometimes smelly and he has a funny name! LOL As a child, when I asked about Helbo, I was told that he was the name of the tailor who gave Great Grandma Tisdale wool suiting samples that were being discontinued. She then used these to sew these into a warm blanket. Interesting, I thought at the time, and I wondered who Helbo was and where he lived. Grandma Hopkins was in her late 80s-early 90s when I started asking genealogy questions and she could not remember who Helbo was, other than a tailor.

In 1995, I was still single and zipping about in my little Volkswagen Fox (which I still miss!) and after a nice Hopkins family reunion at Pacific, Washington, I decided to take a few extra days and explore the southwest corner of Washington State. I knew that Grandpa Tisdale had been a teacher in Naselle, Ilwaco and Humptullips, so I headed to Ilwaco and stayed in a motel there and took day/scouting trips from there. It's a tiny fishing village with two beautiful lighthouses near Long Beach, Washington, home to the largest international kite festival. I was poking around in a local pharmacy store, purchasing souvenirs from my trip and headed back out to the car.

There it was: "HELBO THE TAILOR" in large letters above the coffee shop across the street! I was jarred by the recognition and stood there amazed for a minute. When I realized what I was seeing I headed back to the little museum which had no information on Fred Tisdale. The nice ladies there did find some information on Helbo the Tailor and later sent me his obituary and a 1916 advertisement from the local paper. I learned that he immigrated to the United States from Finland, along with many other residents in that corner of Washington State, thus the unusual first name of Helbo. It was kind of fun to get this information to document my quilt.

Helbo is not the most attractive quilt I have ever seen. As I mentioned he is a little smelly and he is a bit moth eaten too. But, I think he has held up pretty well for someone who has been around since about 1915! My Mom had him dry cleaned a few years back and brought him to California for his new home. We don't use him as a blanket...he's not so comfortable...but maybe one day I will have a home large enough to display him in some fashion.

I have enjoyed reading about other people's treasures in their homes, on their blogs and so I have decided that I too will begin to document some of my treasures and their history.

Grandma Tisdale

Today was the birthday of Winnifred Kirkland Tisdale, aka Winnie, who was born June 9, 1883. Unfortunately she died 9 months before I was born, so I never had the joy of meeting her, but by all accounts she was a wonderful lady. She was the mother of my Grandma Hopkins that I write about frequently. In nearly every photo she tilts her head to the right...so do my son, my mother and I! It's not a conscious effort, it just happens somehow. Strange. I love this photo taken in 1903 or 1904, in Grand Forks, North Dakota where she worked as a milliner. Her mother and two of her brothers stayed in ND and she went with her father and one of her brothers to Washington State shortly after this photo was taken. They first settled in a small town (even smaller today) called Toledo. In 1904 my Great Grandfather F.W. Tisdale was pastor at the Methodist Church in Toledo, WA and he had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Miss Winnifred Kirkland who played the organ for services. She had been trained in music and playing the organ by a Professor James in Grand Forks. The two fell in love and married January 1905, embarking in a journey that eventually included me and my family. I wish she were alive as there are so many things I would like to ask her about her life as a young bride on the prairie near Minot, ND where they moved and her years going town to town because that was what teachers often did in those days. (Great Grandpa went to teaching after being a minister and ended up as a school superintendent in Lake Stevens, WA) My Aunt Grace, while recently visiting, told me that Winnifred told her that one day a "twister" came and picked up the buggy and team she was driving along with her and her two toddlers, my Grandma Holly and her brother Clifton. She said she was not afraid, she knew God would put her back down! I would have been terrified, if not for myself, for my babies! I hope we get to "visit" people in Heaven because I really would love to get to know her myself. And I am thankful for the Godly woman that she was and the seed she sowed in her children which bore fruit in my own life.