Thank you all for your kind words and prayers about the recent passing of my mother. Just as I am not ready to let her go, I am not ready to write about it. I miss her so much. I just wanted to let you know how much she cherished all of you and your support of heycuz and preserving the family history.

The presents have been unwrapped, the sweets devoured, the tidings sung, which leaves this last toast to share with you.

Thank you for being a part of my life and sharing your research, knowledge, laughs, and friendship in 2009! 

May this New Year be one of joy, abundance, good-will, peace and discovery.

May our children see the Light of Love in our eyes.  May our elders be honored for the wisdom each bears.  May every Heart trust they are Divinely endowed with the birth-right to thrive, and wake each day celebrating the Great-Full-Ness of life.

This is my prayer.

Happy New Year to All My Cousins

I close with an update on my mother's health. For those of you who don't know, my mother, Donna Heath, recently had surgery for a tumor found in her brain. The biopsy results won't be known until after January 5th. They did a scan on the rest of her and no cancer was found which is good news. Please keep her in your prayers.


Love,

April

NOTE TO NEW REGISTRANTS: I have been trying to update all of the new registrations to give you the ability to edit the family information. Some of you have written to me and asked why you can't edit immediately after registering. You can't edit because your user level has to be validated and upgraded. It is not automatic. We get a lot of hackers trying to break in to the site so I have to approve all users one at a time. Please be patient. Once you are validated, the "suggest" button will change to an "edit" button and you can make your corrections and updates

I am so thankful for all of you. You have made my life so much richer and helped solve some of the deepest questions, not only in genealogy, but in my life. So, today, I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

I have been getting a lot of Suggested Corrections on the Family Tree. In some ways, that's good. I appreciate the fact that we need to keep our information as accurate as possible. On the other hand, these Suggestions are unnecessary. If you are Registered--which is free--you then have the ability to make the corrections yourself.

Since I work and am only able to make corrections in the evenings and weekends, it would help a lot if visitors could make their own corrections by becoming Registered Members of Heycuz. If you find yourself making more than 10 suggestions, please register for Heycuz. It's fast, free, and easy to register. Members' email information is kept private, so there is no need to worry about spam.

Once you are registered and logged in, the Suggest link turns into an Edit link. Click on it to make your corrections, hit save and you're done. Thanks for understanding.

It's the party of the year! All across the country, in every city and small town, cousins are celebrating with parties, fun and community get-togethers. Celebrate your liberty! Display the flag, wear red, white and blue, sing patriotic songs. However you spend your day. Just make sure that you have fun.

Be good cuzzes,

or, if you can't be good, be safe!

Below is a past heycuz group post by my Aunt Norma Josephine Sullivan Davis.

Love,

April


Cuzzins,

Thought I would share this report with you. It was written by my 13 year old Grandson Daniel Uptegraff. The beginning is a letter written by my brother Ray Sullivan.(V-MAIL)

I have to admit, getting use to living in a new place would be easier if it wasn't inundated with bugs. Last month it was beetles. I mentioned it to my Dad and he said, "You mean June bugs." No, Dad, I explained that I knew a June bug and this was a black hard-shelled water beetle. Wouldn't cha know it, the very next night after talking to my Dad, the June bugs arrived. They were hardy folk. If you had any light on by a window you'd hear the thud thud thud of them hitting against it.

The first year we got here there were wormy things. Some farmer, according to the news, had planted his first crop and didn't realize he was supposed to spray it. So, it became infested with wormy things. They lost interest after they'd had their way with the crop and swarmed the surrounding neighborhoods. Even though our yard, outside walls, and cars were covered by those things, I really felt sympathy for the poor young farmer who was being hounded by reporters about his innocent mistake. This place is a far cry from Southern Cal. Here it's breaking news when a cow gets lose and is on the highway slowing down traffic. The poor guy couldn't even pull up to his crop without having cameras and mics shoved in his face.

Now, its tarantula-sized spiders. They aren't tarantulas, they're greenish brown, but their full bodies and harry legs evoke similar shudders just the same. It's not as though they haven't tried to fight the bug problem, we've had pest control in the neighborhood so much that they know I'm the lady who stocks bottled water. I got little sympathy from Steve, who thought I was being girly when I mentioned our new "little friends."

Then last night, Steve was coming inside from the back porch when he was pushed aside by a big spider. He was a hoopin and hollerin for a shoe, as I casually looked up from my computer. I'd kind of gotten use to the spiders but he was hell bent to chase this one down. Finally successful in squashing the spider with my son's size 16 shoe, he motioned for me to see the work of the mighty hunter. I held out a tissue for him to clean up his mess. He chuckled, "I need something bigger than that." He got a big swatter and scooped it up and showed me the evidence. It was pretty big, I'll give him that.

Big? he said, "that thing needed a license plate."

...

My son asked me the other day, who was my first Superhero. (He's a big fan of Spiderman.) Visions of caped crusaders flashed through my mind and settled on my first hero. My Dad. Cliche, maybe. But as a kid my Dad could do everything. Fix a flat tire, whip up a meal for 6 famished kids, build a tree house, coach little league, build a champion go-cart, serve as den master, install a pool making me the envy of the neighborhood, and make a booboo stop hurting. As I grew older, inevitably the day came when I realized that he was just another human being and had some faults. It's funny that an innocent question from my son would remind me just how much my Dad had done for us as kids.
I want to wish all of the men in our cousins' group the happiest of Father's Days and thank them for being Super Heros!

Mother's Day in our family is typically celebrated by a bouquet of flowers and breakfast in bed. Some other mothers I know celebrate it with a brunch at their favorite place. Some others enjoy a family barbecue with all their grown children and their grandchildren surrounding them.
But in other countries, the tradition is much different. Do you incorporate your familial heritage in your celebrations honoring Mom? Here are some of the ways other countries observe Mother's day.
Australia. Mom's receive gifts of perfume and tea. Children wear colored carnations if their mums are still living and white if she's passed on.
Mexico. On Mother's Day, the public plans special masses and celebrations for madres. Children are expected to be home on the eve of Mother's Day to share a special mean and to sing her a song the next morning.
France. Family members plan a dinner to honor their meres and traditionally make a cake in the shape of a flower bouquet. They celebrate on the last Sunday in May.
Finland. The father leaves the aiti to sleep in, while taking the children for an early walk. The family gathers spring flowers for a bouquet they deliver while serving breakfast in bed.
Britain. Early celebrations date back to the 1600s. On "Mothering Sunday," the British shower their mums with flower bouquets. A special almond cake, called "Simnel" cake, is often served as dessert after family gatherings.
Whether you call her mom, majka, or mater, she deserves all the special treatment we can give her. Thank you Mom! And, a special thank you to all of my extended moms in our group. Happy Mother's Day.

Quotes about Mothers "The most remarkable thing about my mother is that, for 30 years, she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." -- Calvin Trillin "I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them." -- Phyllis Diller "Mother's all want their sons to grow up to be president but they don't want them to become politicians in the process." -- John F. Kennedy "The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant -- and let the air out of the tires." -- Dorothy Parker

 

I almost forgot to wish you all a Happy Easter. Please forgive me when I tell you I forgot about Easter. It's not that I've been so busy that it skipped my mind and its not because I've lost my faith (I haven't). It's because I am married to a Greek guy and our family celebrates on Greek Orthodox Easter, which is next week.

My son reminded me when he asked if he was getting two Easter baskets. Puzzled, I asked him to explain. His reply," You know, one for Greek Easter, and one for normal Easter."  When my parents lived locally, it was our tradition to visit my parents on "normal Easter" and my husband's family on Greek Easter so he got the best of both worlds until my parents moved away.
What ever day you celebrate it, Easter is the most joyous day to those of the Christian faith. Whether you say your greetings like the Greeks, "Christos Anesti!", or "He is Risen!", my wishes for you are the same. May his love fill your hearts and may you spend the day surrounded by those you love.

On a bit lighter side, I have learned five important lessons from the Easter Bunny. Because you're my cousins, I'll share it but it's for your Ears only.

Five Lessons I've Learned From the Easter Bunny

5  Break out of your shell
4. Balance is the Key to Happiness
3. Make each of your tasks a masterpiece
2. Joy is in the air -- you just need to catch it..

and the no. 1 life lesson I learned is ...

...