sharing our Love at Thanksgiving

The Mercado family came to visit us during Thanksgiving. Here we are at the Parade near the Philadelphia Temple at the end of the parade.

Val, Jim, Jason and Karissa

Me and Erik 4 enjoying the floats

Swimming races / turkey time

Running up the Art Museum

Where our Freedom was born

Right down town Philly

Philly cheese steaks, of course

ly

Independance

Rocky  runners

and we are loving every minute of our time together with family

Thinking at the Rodin with Victoria, Karissa, Erik and Austin. Love love love love

Bits and pieces

As the seasons are changing, we are enjoying our colorful times here. We have found artisans from all over the world sharing their talents and joys. Jim is now in leadership with the High Priest and is looking forward to preparing new members for our new Philadelphia Temple. Lights on the outside of the temple shine in the evening and the surrounding buildings and streets are preparing for the big holiday season that is just beginning

At the library we have many groups come to get training in the history and use of the library. This photo is taken near the entry by the beautiful large stairs with many of our friends. Here we are preparing for our group photo for our Christmas card.

this photo is just on the other side of Kelly Drive

Here is another view of the entry way into the Historical Society

in the very large Fairmount Park

Sending off our wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving. And prayers for peace

Sadness for France

We have made so many dear friends from different cultures, countries, and languages. We enjoy sharing our loves and talents with the people we meet and hear about their lives. We have been blessed with opportunities for service both in our communities and our church. This weekend we had the joy of picking trash and cleaning up near Kelly Drive over looking the Schuylkill River. 

As we talked to people this weekend about our opportunity to live and serve in France and Switzerland we are reminded of so many good memories of our friends in Europe ( I have even found myself talking in French)  As we reconnect with them through the internet, we feel sadness for all the trials they are having, but happy to hear that all our connections have been safe.

The Philadelphia Temple has  the East side spire up, we are looking forward for the arrival of Angel Moroni. 

We send our prayers and love to all of those who have lost loved ones during this past terrorist attack in Paris. It is very hard for me to post my deep feelings of sadness for this attack.

I look forward to sharing hugs and food with family coming for thanksgiving, oh the joy of family!

why are we here?

Today we finally got to go to the Washington DC temple and enjoy other Philadelphia Stake members share in the spirit and love of the temple. We enjoyed the 2 plus hour drive hearing all about our friend Sarah's conversion, family trials and joys, and local area tidbits.

Then on Sunday we walked to the Christ Church which my ancestor Thomas Woolley and Sarah Coppock were married in Aug 1729. This is the very same church on the water front that Benjamin Franklin had a pew and many other prominent leaders in the community worshipped. Now, according to family history, the Woolley family that are my relatives through my mother's mothers line (Celia Woolley) were Quakers. They settled in Chester County. The passed few weeks we have been scanning many books from the Friends Meeting Minutes, and other records fro Cemeteries and churches. In these books I have found documents with my relatives names included!  WOW, This is why we are here! As hard as it is to leave our family, our children and grandchildren and home, we know that we are helping others find out more about their family history. The bonus is we sometimes find records about our own family. This is why we are here--- Familysearch.org. helping families help their families.

Our temple here in Philadelphia will have a similar look to the top of Christ Church. 

Here is a document including Ann and john Woolley. These records can be viewed at findmypast, HSP, and familysearch,org. as soon as they pass inspection from our various second witnesses who preview our work before it goes out. We are working fast and hard to get through everyone of the counties in Pennsylvania and here it is November and we are still in the letter C- Chester County. We are here doing the work that needs to be done to pull families together, past and present.

wrapping up the month

 We ended this month with the Angel costume just because it felt like the best idea for  missionaries and Jim got to use his skills to design the wings.  And as most of us have experienced, the next few weeks will go flying by as we celebrate so many wonderful holidays of joy and love of friends and family.

We had a delightful drive to Norristown, stopping by the Valley Forge Ward Building, which I always thought we helped build. But, after visiting with my friends, the Fulmers, I was reminded of so many wonderful memories of my formative years which help mold me into the person I am. The Fulmers have been in leadership in Norristown and the Valley Forge Ward since before my family moved in. The chapel started being used a few months after we moved to Devon, ( I always thought my dad was the building fund leader, which must have been the Trenton Ward). One of the gems of our visit is the way Brother Fulmer honored my father with his help and advise in investment. Sister Fulmer remembers me as being a cheerful, obedient, leader of the youth. It makes me so happy that she had such great memories of me as a teenager!

We worked really hard at the Library and are now starting Chester County where the Woolley Family, as Quakers, first heard about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have found many documents of Wills and other papers which I will include together later

We finally managed to get a quick visit to the Art Museum on a Wednesday evening, What an impressive building and display of impressionist artist work. along with Americana artists. That night was just lightly raining and as we left the famous stairs that Rocky ran up to get in shape for his boxing, we pondered and were reminded of how blessed we are to serve here in Philadelphia, at this time, at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To be able to interview people that knew my family when we lived in Devon and to see documents on the first Woolley family members to accept the gospel, what a joy!

Priesthood Restoration Site, Susquehanna, Pa.

The beauty of the sun shining on the Susquehanna River was our highlight this week.  In order to justify our spending the whole  day away from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania scanning books, we really needed to work hard all week. And we were blessed to find the books in Bucks and Berks County that were next on our list were in great shape and many had images on both sides. This meant double the work, so one day we did our record 2,900images in one day! So, we got up at 4am and drove to Pennypack building (our stake, about 40 minute

 away at that time of the early morning.) We traveled with a big bus full of young Sisters and Elders for the 3 hour trip north. Here is our group at the end of this highly recommended tour of Harmony, Pa. the home of Joseph and Emma when they were first married. where they had to bury there first born. The beautiful large home of the Hales family. This areas is where 15 revelations where received and much of the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized in this river after receiving the Priesthood Authority from Peter, James, and John.

 Harmony, Pa. is just inside the Northern part of the Pennsylvania and New York border and a very important part of church history. Most touching for me was  to see the cemetery where Joseph and Emma buried their first born. I remember when my son Erik died and how I made a promise to serve in Special Education, to use my talents with these wonderful children of our Heavenly Father.

colorful times

 Enjoying all the colorful times here. We went to a flea market to get Jim a Man bag. He needs to carry all his important stuff on his shoulder now to protect his stitches.

We also visited Valley Forge Park and Conestoga High school, where I learned to drive. We drove on Pugh Road and by Narrigan pond where we used to go ice skating.

I showed Jim the Devon Horse show and where I used to catch the train to ride into Wayne when I was in 8th grade, We thought it was a big deal to ride 2 stops all by ourselves and go to the 5 & 10 cent store and buy makeup. Both the drive to my high school and the train station seemed very far away. Even though I didnt start running until after college, I guess I really enjoyed walking and visiting with my friends. It is so good to be here and revisit the places that helped mold my childhood.

One tender mercy this week happened on Friday afternoon when a family came to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. They came from Calif, to do research on their family. Turns out that their son Blake answered my prayers. He is high functioning Autistic (he even had APE). After a few minutes of much sharing he spent the rest of the afternoon helping me organize books and get ready for Monday. I loved having him with me and remind me how blessed I am, to have worked in special education and have the opportunity to grow and share my joy of family and the gosple with others/