A Busy Sunday

I've had a really busy Sunday, but I'm so thankful for it! I'm feeling tired, but satisfied!

First of all, I was the Worship Associate today at ERUUF. This is my second year in the Worship Associate program, and I've really enjoyed it. The service was about secrets, inspired by Frank Warren's PostSecret art project and books. I met with the minister last weekend to start talking about today's service, and wrote a 2-page "reflection" about my personal observations about secrets, to present during both services 9:15 and 11:15). For the reading today, Rev. Southworth and I alternated reading several secrets from the PostSecret books (there are four out right now). It was a nice service, I thought, and I got some good feedback. (After the 11:15 service, I got to catch up with a friend I met while I was on the Rice Diet, which was a real treat!)

My sister, Lisa, and her family are in town, as daughter Emily is on Spring Break, and they're doing the college tour. (Emily has interviews at Duke tomorrow and Wednesday.) So Lisa, as well as Mom and Dad, came to the 11:15 service at ERUUF to hear me do my thing (though they stayed for the whole service!).

Afterward, we all (the churchgoers plus brother-in-law Craig, Emily, Laura (Emily's big sister and a Duke sophomore), and George, met at Watt's Grocery for brunch. I'd been there once before, lunch with a co-worker during the week, but never for a weekend brunch. I had an omelet with asparagus, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and spinach. This may well be the best omelet I've ever had! I kid you not! Awesome!

Once we'd finished eating, Dad and Craig headed out, but the rest of us stuck around to coach and encourage Emily on her upcoming interviews. Time just flew, as we had a lively conversation in the quiet of the restaurant, which had cleared out by the time we looked up! The staff was very patient and let us stay on, not even interrupting us with the offer of drink refills. We were too engrossed in the conversation to care or notice!

George and I got home around 5:00, give or take a little, and I'd been going since 6 AM, when I got up to get ready for a 30-minute workout (shorter than usual, but my leg is still healing, so that was fine), then get ready for two rounds of church services.

George needed to run some errands, so after we got home, he headed out again. I decided to stay home and soak in the solitude. Being an introvert by nature, today was a bit draining, to be honest. I loved doing the church services today, and lunch and the ensuing conversation were stimulating and fun, but I felt drained on the way home.

So, I read for a while, but got restless, so I got on the computer for a while, and was drawn to my genealogy research again. I get a lot of satisfaction out of working on my family tree, though it's a hobby that fades in and out, depending on other time commitments. That's one of the great things about genealogy, I can put it aside and pick it up again easily. I've been working a lot on my McLamb line of late, and the past few days, I've been putting a little more time on it. (Okay, "more" is relative here, since I've been busy getting ready for today's worship services as well.) A little while ago, I printed out a "book" of all my McLamb relatives. (I do this periodically to have all the information I have on a given line in RTF format, and to see what needs editing or correcting.) The information, with sources listed, for my McLamb line comes to over 1200 pages! And I'm not even done entering the information I have on the McLambs! This really excites me! (I'm grinning as I type!) I'm not the type of amateur genealogist who prefers quantity over quality, by any means. This is not a contest. It's just exciting to see the fruits of many years of research, and know that there's still work to be done! I love putting the pieces of the puzzle together, doing research and verifying information, meeting and communicating with relatives. Part of what inspires me is that I'd love to organize a family reunion for the McLamb line someday, and the more (and accurate) family tree information I have, the better.

George has come home since I've been typing, and I've just noticed it's heading toward 10:00! I'm still "hung over" from today's experiences, so I think it's time to turn off the computer and head for bed a little earlier than normal. (Maybe it's too late for that!)

I just love a day when I have quality time with people and quality time alone! Today was one of the best.

Winding Down

My two-week vacation is winding down, and while I've thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine of work and normal things. I didn't do any excursions this week, as I'd hoped. Today and yesterday were too chilly to enjoy getting out and taking pictures in the places I would've visited, and I didn't really want to go just drive around, with gas prices going up again. Good thing I'm not on a deadline, huh?

I have enjoyed working a lot on my family tree while I've been on vacation, though. Between trips to the State Library and the Clinton, NC, library last week, and a wealth of good fortune on Rootsweb this week, I've made a lot of progress, especially on my McLamb and Tart lines. One thing I've been reminded of is how important documenting sources is. Thoroughness has helped me out in other ways too. When inputting spouses of related people, I've been including parents, grandparents, etc., of spouses when provided. It's been fun to discover connections to some of those families from other sources. It's reminded me of the phrase, "What goes around, comes around." Never underestimate the power (and fun) of a sliver of information!

Tracing My Roots

I've enjoyed getting back into my genealogy work this weekend. I'm on my second genealogy software program since getting a new computer back in August. The first, The Master Genealogist, is supposed to be for serious genealogists. I found it to be a bit tedious, to be honest. Granted, I had a busy semester with school in addition to work, exercise, the Rice Diet, Junior League, church, etc, so I didn't have the time I'd hoped to spend learning the program.

I finally bit the bullet and purchased a second genealogy program, RootsMagic, the succcessor to Family Origins, which I used to use. (It was discontinued and support ceased.) It was such a relief to install and pull it up on my computer! It was as if I'd come home! It reminds me a lot of the Family Origins software, but I can tell it's been updated. Needless to say, it's been much easier for me to use.

I've spent some of my free time this weekend entering data on my McLamb line, and it's been a treat. One of my projects for 2008 is to put out a McLamb family newsletter. It's nice returning to work on my family tree!