Pioneer Day

We celebrated Pioneer Day with our ward on Saturday.

We arrived for pancakes, sausage, and eggs.

Sweetheart stepped up to flip pancakes.

A bike parade was held. Hurricane brought the side car.

Sweetheart brought out his Scout and drove it around all day.

The day before we watched 17 Miracles and talked about our ancestors.

We talked about their courage, faith, and determination.

We asked the boys how they were pioneers and to think about it.

Bowling - 100 Year Old Tradition

Some where in the early 1900s, Martin Christensen introduced into the family bowling ONCE a year only New Year's Day.

My great-Grandparents continued the tradition with their children. The tradition continued to my maternal Grandparents to my Mom and now our family.

My Auntie Lyn sent a report to the Christensen family sharing:

After a few decade hiatus we are trying to pick it up again. We had a great, GREAT morning. They invented bumpers after I had mostly finished raising our children. Due to the lateness of this innovation Eric and I didn't carry on the bowling tradition with our little ones. Pay for 4 preschoolers to throw gutter balls all morning while I'm chasing them off of the lane - no thank you. Our health insurance didn't cover that much psychological post-bowling care.

Cousins then responded that the tradition is alive and well coast to coast in the United States. Since New Year's Day was Sunday we all went on Monday. I'll share a few of their responses.

"I don't think I've EVER had more fun bowling. Even if I was slaughtered by a 3 year. Next time maybe I'll try the Zoolander move after every bowl." ~ Nicol

Utah

"The Christensen tradition is still running strong in Southern Maryland. I have great memories of when we all younger and together enjoying this tradition." ~ Colleen

Southern Maryland

"The tradition is still hanging on in Northern California followed by chili and corn bread at the Christensen's home in California." ~ Todd

California

My favorite response was from my Auntie Ann, "Bumpers are all fine and good but I'm not playing unless they invent a ball that doesn't break your nails." Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them. It didn't come through on my email...

Arizona

Look at the triumph in his face! He threw the ball all by himself. Around frame 5 he insisted on carrying his OWN ball, throw his OWN ball, and cheer for HIMSELF! What a determined boy!

Pioneering Today: Education

Lindsay is my guest pioneer today, and she hails from a private family blog. Lindsay and I met when she moved to Idaho State University. We are buddies. Every end of semester I would got to her and have her braid my hair into cornrows. No fuss hair. She has always been a great cheerleader and a super-loyal friend to anyone she calls friend. She has never been a quitter in school, relationships, family, or love.

I always knew I would go to college.  I wouldn't say that it was a requirement or even expected in my family.  It was encouraged, but I never felt that if I decided not to go that I'd be kicked out of the family.  It's hard to describe, but it's just one of the things you did.  I think it comes from being in a family of educators.  My parents are teachers, my mom's dad, stepmother and brothers were teachers, my dad's sisters are teachers, you get the idea.  We, ourselves, were not allowed to be teachers, at least not as our primary job.

Anyway, when I moved to Utah at the age of 16 and would tell my friends about my plans to go to school, it never occurred to me that it wasn't ok until I saw their reactions.  I actually had a friend once tell me that it was an "unrighteous" choice to go to school and not plan to get married after high school.  I don't know if there were talks then from general authorities about women getting an education, but I remember a number of them while I was in college getting one.  What I didn't know then, was how going thru the college experience and getting the degrees I did would lead me to where I am today.

ISU Valentine's Day - Lindsay, Mr. Awesome, Lisa, and Me

I started out at Dixie College in St. George, Utah with the ambition to be a pharmacist.  That hope was dashed when I got to Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho and never got into pharmacy school.  I finished my BS in Microbiology and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to start working, with the goal of entering physician's assistant (PA) school after a year of working.

Lindsay and Me - Thanksgiving 2009 - Many years after ISU

The Thanksgiving after I graduated from ISU, my grandfather told me that I should look at getting a master's degree.  When I explained my plans of PA school, he thought it was a good idea, but that I should look into something else as well.  Being that I just finished my BS and had a good job, I was a little discouraged, especially with the idea of having to write a thesis.  Luckily, I found a program at the University of Utah in which I wouldn't have to write one.

During my last semester of my master's program, I was invited to interview at the Arizona School of Health Science for the (PA) program.  I made the alternate list, but that's as far as I got.  I tried again the next year, but didn't even get an interview.  At that point I had been at the same job for over three years and was ready for a change.  I started thinking about looking for a new job.  A former co-worker was leaving for medical school and suggested I apply for his job at a different section of the reference lab I worked at.  I applied, with a lot of coaxing from friends, and a few weeks later I was offered the job, and I moved to the basement of the building where I had a cubicle, my own desk, my own computer, my own phone and an AMAZING boss!

After a couple of years I was starting to get board again, and my brother suggested that I look at going to medical school, since he was having so much fun.  I took the MCAT a couple of times, but didn't do well, so I didn't bother applying.  In the meantime I was talking to medical testing vendors that I had worked with.  One of them asked for my resume and forwarded it on to her company's HR.  A couple of months later I was working for a new company, still working at the lab I was familiar with most of the time, but also traveling the west coast of the United States, with occasional trips to the east side of the US and out of the country.  The company had me on a track to become a manager of a region, and I was contemplating the possibility of going to nursing school.

Lindsay and Hubby on their wedding day

Before I either of those could happen, I got married, instantly became a mom to 2 beautiful little girls, quit my job and moved to a foreign country.  Never in a million years would I have thought I would be where I am today, but the degrees I got opened doors I never would have dreamed of, and possibilities that I never knew existed.

Pioneering Today: Vision of What Can Be

Lindsay is a spunky, energetic pioneer guest. Lindsay hails from Lindsay Sue Photography and her family's private blog. Lindsay is always gracious, merry, and quick with a joke. She and her husband are expecting their first baby in a week. Last week in church someone asked if she was going to have their baby. She replied that the due date was in 2 weeks, but a baby could come late. She is much more the realist than I was with my first baby who came only 13 days after his proposed due date. I hope the best for when her daugther comes!

A modern day pioneer?  Never really thought I could have endured as the pioneers of old.  Physically they had some amazing trials.  It makes me question what a pioneer really is?  To me it's someone who has a vision of what can be and works and sacrifices all to achieve that goal.  Someone who has more faith than fear and willing to step into the unknown.  I suppose it was soon after being baptized that I even considered being a 'modern day pioneer.'

I was 18, on my way to college and the only member in my family.  Though that wouldn't last long because my sister and brother soon followed, not to mention doing baptisms for the dead (after that I truly felt there was an army in heaven of my ancestors who now were members as well).  Serving a mission in Japan was also a first for our family.  It was challenging in every way but I knew I needed it.  

For me, for my parents and for my future family.  I'd say the biggest decision (after being baptized) in my life was choosing to be married in the temple.  Satan knows how and where to pull.  Dating a non-member who wanted to marry me made things tough.  Maybe he'd change and accept the gospel someday.  But maybe he wouldn't.  I'm not a gambler, but deciding wasn't easy either.  Thank goodness for patriarchal blessings.  I already knew my answer before praying and fasting about it.  I made the decision that I'd rather be single my entire life than not be married to someone who was worthy and be married in the temple.

Lindsay and Her Sweetheart

I'm so grateful for that decision, which has brought be some of the greatest joys in my life thus far.  I'm thankful for the pioneers of old and for those men and women today who, despite all obstacles and trials, press forward in faith.  I'm thankful for good friends and family who surround me.  Those who have challenges I might not even be aware of- but they are good people doing the best they can.  Being pioneers, stepping into the unknown with hope and faith that they are on the path of happiness.

Pioneering Today: Parenting

My sweet friend who wrote this has a very quick humor and is a very observant and driven individual. When she does something, she does it well. Because of her pioneering story and per request, I am keeping her identity a mystery. What she has to say touched my heart. I never would have guessed about her background from knowing her. She is a beautiful, supportive wife and a very purposeful, focused, and loving parent. I learn from her with each of my interactions.

My father grew up in an abusive home and my mother in a neglectful one. Therefore, I received abuse from my father and neglect from my mother as a child. After many years, I realized that it was not that my parents didn't love me, it was just that they didn't know how to show it. They did not have the tools. I endeavor to hold back the tide of familial tradition in order to create a better kind of home for my children. I learn from friends, mentors, the Gospel, and the Holy Ghost in order to forge from ore the tools that have not been passed down through my family's generations. While I am not perfect, I am a vast improvement on my parents' example. I hope my children will improve on my example, but I hope to at least begin a tradition of trying to do better.

Pioneering Today: Never Speak Guile

Nicole is my guest pioneer today. She hails from Lance, Nicole, and Jacob.

Nicole is often found with a smile on her face and a kind word on her lips. She seeks for the good in other people and openly recognizes others' accomplishments and feats. She is most proud of her son, Jacob, and rejoices in Jacob's abilities and love. She and her husband, Lance, act as if they are still honeymooners with always a gentle touch or a quick smile.

Why, in our country, is faith is considered fanaticism? Public references to religion often bring suspicion. Television shows dramatize secular groups being attacked by Christian zealots. Political candidates are viewed apprehensively if they are too dedicated to their beliefs.

That's why I think that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is like pioneering a new frontier in today's world. A pioneer has courage. They are among the first in an enterprise, and fearlessly go where others have not gone before. Many of us do that, in the choices we make every day, by standing up for our beliefs, fearlessly telling about our religion, and trying to be true Christians.

The more a person rises in the public eye, the more closely their religious beliefs are scrutinized. As I watch the various presidential candidates begin their campaigns, I can't help but cringe when I read things like this, from members of the LDS faith:

“I can’t say I’m overly religious,” Jon Huntsman told Fortune magazine last year. “I get satisfaction from many different types of religions and philosophies.” In a TIME magazine interview, he said, “I’m a very spiritual person and proud of my Mormon roots." Pressed on whether he is still a member, he said, “That’s tough to define."

On the other hand, when I read the following, I was much more impressed:

There are some who “would prefer it if I would simply distance myself from my religion, say that it is more a tradition than my personal conviction or disavow one or another of its precepts,” Mitt Romney said in a 2007 speech. “That I will not do. I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it."

I don't support Mitt Romney just because he's Mormon. In fact, I don't agree with several of his policies. But I do think it's awesome that he stands up for his beliefs. He's being a pioneer.

Though it's difficult to be a pioneer when everyone's watching, it's even harder to be a pioneer when no one is watching. Like my friend Jenna. We met in college. Our group of friends was having a hard time getting along. A bunch of twenty year old girls, all living together, trying to date, go to school, and work? No stress there...

Well, gradually, everyone started talking behind each others' backs within our group of friends. All kinds of critical, ugly, jealous things. And it got worse and worse. Talking just seems like talking, until it changes the way you act to the person. My friend Jenna got sick of it. She was tired of listening to her friends speaking unkindly about her other friends when they weren't around. So she asked me to join her - we would be the first two of our group to make the pact. Hopefully the rest would follow. We promised to each other that we wouldn't speak unkindly about any of our friends, or let others do it in our presence.

Well I'm still trying to keep that pact! Being critical of others is really easy. It's a path travelled more often than not - a wide road full of people. Jenna is a pioneer. She was taking the road not taken, the path less travelled by. And it has made all the difference to me.

Pioneering Today: Embracing Adventures

My first pioneer is Cyndy. She is a great supporter of her husband and a champion for her children. She embraces life! She hails from Life is a Great Adventure! I have learned from Cyndy about friendship and having a friendship of balance, accepting life's circumstances and making the best out of those circumstances. She's a farm girl and knows about stepping in and getting to work. (Not that non-farm girls don't know about work. It is just shoveling out manure that molds a character in some way.) She has shared with me how she accepts God's plan and how He will direct her path for me. Now to Cyndy

Thank you for inviting me to this series.

Now, onto being a pioneer.

There have been many times in my life when until someone made a comment or pushed me through an unexpected door, I may have sold myself short.  Going to college was never a big goal of mine.  However, my senior year a friend made an interesting statement to me, that made me realize that I had potential. I then received an acceptance letter to a college out East, one that I had not applied to, yet due to an organization I took part in, not only was I accepted, they offered me their Presidential scholarship. While I turned it down, it made me realize that I needed to get serious and stop selling myself short!

While in college I had the opportunity to travel with the orchestra to Russia.  What an amazing and beautiful country!  I believe they do everything bigger in Russia (sorry Texas). After college I went to Mexico on a mission trip, wonderful! And on one to Chicago, moving.

I grew up on a farm, which my parents still live on.  Yet, whenever I have had the chance I have traveled. Short trips, long trips, international trips, mission trips, work trips, fun trips. My husband also lived in the same house growing up, since he was 3 years old.

So now, with twelve years of marriage under our belt, we have lived in seven different homes, in five different states.  We're really not settlers.

Cyndy & Her Sweetheart

My husband joined the military after we were married.  I am not the only military spouse. I am not the only one who has to deal with deployments, or TDY's (shorter trips state side or abroad), or training schools far from where we live.  I am not the only one who never knows just what to expect from my husband's schedule, the long hours, the crazy hours, the unexpected.

There are days that a smile easily comes to my face. There are days that it is hard to get out of bed.  We all have those days.  I cannot count the number of ways I could choose to handle any of these surprises or changes in life.  Life is fantastic at changing things up just when things get a bit settled.

"Pioneers, by their nature, are ready to adapt to whatever may come their way." Pr. Alan Field.

Tomorrow is a new day with new adventures. I may think I know what tomorrow may bring, however, when tomorrow brings its shining face to my window, I am ready to adapt to whatever, however, I may need to.  In that way, I am a pioneer. I embrace the uncertainty, the challenges, and the adventures. One day I may become a settler, a part of me longs for that. Right now, I am okay with being a pioneer, moving on to the next trail that needs to be blazed.