Heritage

This past week we celebrated my husband's Norwegian heritage and godly family.  We all gathered in upstate New York at my husband's grandfather's mountain home.  It was a wonderful reunion of over 50 relatives from my husband's mother's side of the family.  Both my husband's sets of grandparents were strong Christians who had immigrated from Norway in the early 1900's.  All 4 of his grandparents have gone on to be with the Lord, but my mother-in-law is the youngest of 6 girls and 3 of them are still living.  I love embracing my husband's Norwegian heritage since I'm a typical Southern girl who is a mixture of about 5 different nationalities, but mostly Irish I think.  It's so awesome too, because they can trace their family tree back to the 1500's due to all the good record keeping in Norway.  My children all say they are half Norwegian and half "Southern American."  But what is more important than the Norwegian heritage, is the godly heritage.  Both sets of my husband's grandparents were strong God fearing Christians who truly raised godly children.  It was a long trip up north for us, but so worth it just to feel the connection and for my children to know they are part of something bigger than themselves.  For those of us not from such a Christian family or even as close of a family, may we have a vision for our own.....looking forward to the generations we are building.....God is using us to build something so much bigger than ourselves.

My mother-in-law right in the middle with 20 of her 24 grandchildren!

Mary Kate in front of the home her great-grandfather built about 80 years ago!

The 3 sisters who are still living.