Word Search

I'm working on a word search as I eat my breakfast and drink my morning tea. What a lot of memories niggle at the back of my brain over such a simple exercise!

You see, I was an experienced traveler from my infancy. The story goes that I was six weeks old when my parents moved from Fort Wayne IN to Graceton MN. Before that they had taken some weekend jaunts to Kentucky to visit family and friends.

After a time my little sister Ladina arrived, and my family moved to ND for a year. We lived in ND but we went to church in MT. There is a difference in time so we left our house at 10:00 and arrived at church at 10:00. (It is always best to travel west!)

The trip home was not as nice. We stayed for lunch and afternoon visiting. If we started for home at 4:00 we got home at 6:00 ... a long, full day.

We moved back to MN in time to welcome another little sister named Trenda into our family.

Remember, all of this traveling was before car seats. (Just a little side note)  We must have stayed in MN for two years then moved to IN where my dad was learning the painting trade with Joni Beachy. It's possible we spent two summers in IN. ?? I can't ask dad now how long he worked with Joni. I do know that the girls in our family had lots of play dates with the girls in Joni's family, making friends for life ... Anita and Merilee.
Please forgive me if I spelled your name wrong.

At the end of the summer we lived in a little brick house and were next door neighbors to my friend, Linda. We went to kindergarten together. Linda and I still send each other letters and family pictures.  Maria joined our family October 1966.

Somewhere along the way Dad went to Rosedale Bible School so we traveled to OH for that. I don't think I was doing word searches yet at this point. (You are being very patient with me waiting to hear what word searches has to do with any of this.)

I am trying to imagine how my parents traveled with four little girls 5 1/2 years old and under. I know Mom read to us. A lot.
Of course we had dolls, too.

Back home to Graceton after Bible School. I started first grade at Williams MN. *Mrs. Tallefson worked her magic with phonics and the alphabet and I learned to read.

Dad went to OH for Bible School and again took all of us with him. I went to a Christian Day School for a couple months while we were there. When we went back to MN Miss Farmwald had all of her students write letters to me. A packet of letters I still have to this day.

After that our travels were confined to summers and Christmas vacations. Every summer we drove to the Angle to visit cousins. Every Christmas we drove to WI to visit cousins by the dozens. In July we went to a Bible Camp in ND.

All of this prepared us for the trip of our lives. Our lives up to that point, at least. In which we were introduced to word search books to keep us out of our parents hair.

*If any of you readers went to school in Williams MN and know how to spell Mrs. Tallefson's name please correct me if I spelled it wrong. Phonics does not always help when spelling last names. Take Skrivseth for example -- a name that gives people the heebie jeebies when they try to pronounce it. It's really quite simple if you forget phonics for a second. Skreev set  There - isn't that easy?  :)

And now I will leave you to finish my word search. See you tomorrow!