Visit to Palmyra

Last weekend Ammon, Emilie, and I went out to Palmyra, New York to visit my parents on their mission. We visited all the sites and had a great experience. We had several experiences where the Spirit was very strong. It was a very memorable trip. Emilie's favorite was the Sacred Grove although we weren't able to stay there long because it was extremely cold and the wind was really blowing that day. Ammon said his favorite was the Spirit. I really enjoyed the Grandin Building. We also attended their Christmas fireside at the Fayette building. It is a beautiful building and the music was outstanding. This picture is at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center.

Birthday document

Hello. This is my first post to this blog. This is a very late response to the June Happy Birthday posting which referenced the transfer of Grandma Ruth's birthday on December 23 to June 14. I recently was given the opportunity to go through some old documents and scan them (thank you to Joe). I found the contract, signed and witnessed, officially transferring Grandma's birthday.

Happy Halloween!

Hi Everyone! Just thought we would post a Halloween pic of our family.

Please take a minute to share a picture from your own family's Halloween fun! Thanks!

Met a Distant Cousin

I wanted to share my great expericne with all of you.

A few months ago, a new family moved into our ward with the last name James. Me, being the curious person that I am, had to investigate. I quickly asked him who his grandfather was and then went straight home and called Millie. She then called the oldest living James that she knew and we discovered that indeed this is one of our long lost cousins. His name is Trevor James and his great-grandfather and my great-grandfather are brothers. Their names William through is line and George through our line. What a small world, but we are continuing the search for more info. Interesting right? Now Jonas has a cousin in his nursery class.

What are your thoughts guys?

Happy 100th Birthday to John and Ruth!

(The following excerpts were taken from a letter written by Millie Lee, June 2008.)

John William James- born June 14, 1908 and Ruth Lucille Thompson born Dec. 23, 1907/June 14, 1908.

(Ruth always disliked her "too close to Christmas" birthday, so John by a special decree changed it to his and that made them the same age.)

June 14th is also Flag Day.

Some quotes about each other-

John to Ruth- "I must say something about my eternal companion. She took wonderful care of our children- look at their accomplishments. I could never have had all my Church, Scouting and service experiences, if she had not been there for all of us. My life was full and rich because of you and all that you shared with me!"

Ruth to John- "There were many outstanding things about him. One was his great love for his family and his willingness to sacrifice all of his time for their welfare. No man ever worked more diligently to support his family or fave them more love. Another thing was his love for the Lord Jesus Christ and his willingness to serve in His Church and do His work. His funeral service was a fitting tribute to the great work he had done."

John and Ruth were married on Halloween, October 31, 1932.

Grandma's real birthday is on Dec. 23rd and is shared with Joseph Smith.

There are three others in the family who also share this special day....

Mark L. 1983, Seth D. 1984, Isabell G. 2005. Happy Birthday!

From the 2001 Family Reunion--Tune: Primary Book #285, You've Had a Birthday

We are the "James Gang;" shout "Hoo-ray!"

We've come to gather here today.

Getting acquainted is lots of fun.

Happy together; "Hoo-ray!"

Thank you Millie for putting that together for the family. We appreciate all that Millie does to keep the family informed and connected.

Our most frequent family visitor

Who'da thought it would be our cousin Greg? Yes, he comes to Alaska quarterly because of his work and usually comes over for dinner and to play games whenever we get a chance. We have enjoyed getting to know him better and love a good reminder of all that is loud in the James family genes. (I also told Greg we would get him on the family blog one way or another so this is the token picture.)
I hope all of you know that you are very welcome to come to Alaska for a visit. We would love to have you! We love showing off this beautiful place that we live and there are endless things to do here. We can promise you lots of fun and a few late nights playing games too.

From the Thomas Lee Family

This is my first time contributing to a Blog and I'm excited. Grandpa James would be pleased. I've attached a picture of my grandson Eric. He doesn't use the water wings anymore. He swims like a dolphin. In July, I'm going to New York to promote my book, The Battle at Otter Lake. If you'd like to know more about it, please log on to my web page www.otterlakeny.com. Hopefully, I'll get to Palmyra to see Mo and Co. Otter Lake is about 3 hours away. Thanks for creating this. Tom (Kate's oldest son)

Celebrations

Happy 17th Birthday Crystal !

We love you!

We have had a great six months getting to know Crystal. She has been a lot of fun to have in the house and is doing so well. I will be sure to blog the party in a few days.

THE RJ GIRLS SAY HI!

We spent Mother's Day in California visiting our Grandma. Since we haven't been together for a sister picture in years...I thought I would show if off. By the way love the blog...heres my first post!

Happy Mothers Day!

Hope all of you wonderful women in the James Family have had a nice Mothers Day! We are so grateful for all the women who have influenced our lives and that includes Sisters, Sister-in-laws, Aunts and cousins too! If you get a chance share a comment with us on how you spent your day! Thanks!

Torsten Johnson turns one!

Our little boy turned one in March. We didn't celebrate until April because of scheduling.

Luckily he didn't mind! All he cared about was digging into that cake!

Happy birthday little T!

Letter from Elder & Sister James

Dear James Gang,

What a great way to stay connected! We miss all of you, your pictures and your news, so this is a way to get some periodically. We have had our own blog, palmyraexperience.blogspot.com on the web since December, but not everyone in the family knows about it. We have a posting for each of the historical sites here in Palmyra. We have also enjoyed Jan's blog from England where she is at school, jansenglandadventure.blogspot.com.

Senior missionary work is an amazing experience. We love taking visitors through the four historical sites, explaining the miracles and sacrifices made here from which we all benefit every day of our lives. Our journals are growing fat from many spiritual experiences and good stories we have heard from visitors, experienced with visitors, or learned in conferences and meetings. The Lord puts the right person with the right tour in some kind of ongoing miracle, where both are edified together in some particular way. For instance, a sister came who had my identical kind of cancer and who was struggling with joint pain from the aftercare drugs like I did, and I was able to tell her about being a guinea pig for all the drugs and finding one that makes it easier for me to get around and sleep without the awful hip pain. That's no coincidence that she was on my tour and that the subject came up. But, goes the saying, coincidences are God way of staying anonymous. There are no coincidences in missionary work.

We also use our specific talents as situations make it possible. Mo spent half a day fixing drawers for a couple of sisters whose dressers were falling apart, and he is the master breakfast cook in the mission. His pancakes and crepes are legend. We have also been working on a musical production for investigators which takes the Restoration lesson from Preach My Gospel (a great manual--no more memorizing discussions!) and presents it in scriptures and hymns. We will put this on in September to kick off a monthly series of lectures and musical performances for members to take their families and investigators to.

Hill Cumorah Pageant is coming and is the 6,000 pound gorilla in everyone's living room right now as we prepare the Peter Whitmer Site and the other historical places to have upwards of 8,000 visitors. We are the site supervisors at Whitmer, so anyone who comes out for Pageant will find us there during July 11 - 19.

Our address is 603 State Route 21, Palmyra, NY 14522, and our phone number is (315) 539-8624. It is permissible for senior couples to talk to people at home. We don't have the same communications restrictions as the young Sisters and Elders, thank goodness!

Welcome!

We thought that this might be a nice way for us to stay connected! If you are already a blogger we would love to get your blogging address so that we can add it to our family list of blog sites. It is still a work in progress (so bare with us) but if you have any great ideas or would like to help out in any way please feel free to contact me via email! This is a free site and I am happy to do this as a hobby to help keep our growing family in touch!
I will be making this site accessible to everyone who has shown an interest in this concept. If anyone in the family has something that they would like to share with our John James relatives they can post it here. Thanks for your interest and participation! More info will be forthcoming as it is made available!
Please feel free to email me if you can't figure something out. For the most part it is pretty self explanitory. Have fun fiddling around with it!