HISTORY

A Little History:
Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.

From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.

In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.

Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.

Our Mission Statement:
This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.

We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.

As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.
_____________________________________________________________

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Since You've Been Gone...

I put this post on my blog last night, I thought I would add it to our family for those of you who don't frequent the VanderLouw blog much.  Enjoy!!

Ray left about a week ago for Spokane. I told him that I would post lots of pictures on the blog of how we have been spending our time. These kids are sure keeping me on my toes, and trying to entertain them for 15 hours a day is exhausting!! I am sleeping really well at night, except when one, or two, of them crawl in bed with me!!

Maggie learned how to climb on to Elliot's train table. She gets up there then cries and screams until I come in and get her down, she hasn't figured that part out yet!

Elliot found the bungee cords in the garage and made some letters with them on the driveway. Elliot likes to make letters with anything he can- crayons, pretzel sticks, markers, etc. Great job Elliot!

Maggie LOVES to be outside with the other kids. She gets on the big wheel and just sits, or she pushes it around. I win the bad mom of the week award, my precious little baby had little sunburned arms after we came inside. I felt so bad!!

We had a painting extravaganza the other day. They painted lots of great pictures!

Inevitably, they turned the paint brushes on themselves...(Lori, you were my inspiration to let them do this!!)

They got in the bath right after this was done, Grace told me that it looked like they were swimming in chocolate milk!

The read lots of books-Grace puts the books in Elliot's little clothes hamper and drags them out to the living room. I also shaved Elliot's head earlier this day, I think he looks so cute with his little shaved head!

A couple of nights ago the kids all went in Elliot's room to play. I was so relieved to do the dishes in peace, as I heard no fighting coming from the room. This took them about 10 minutes, those are the pieces from the train table on the window sill. They took all the books from the book shelf and put them in the now open train table and emptied Elliot's drawers. Grace told me that they wanted to make a club. It was really cute...until I had to clean it up. I know I should have made them help, but I just didn't have the energy!

Maggie enjoying the club...

Maggie figured out how to crawl under the gate, she about gave me a heart attack!! She was so proud of herself!

Maggie is just really good at being cute!!
Posted by at

5 comments:

Colin & Lori said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 7:18:00 PM MDT
Colin & Lori said...

Maggie is crazy! I can't believe she can crawl under the gate. Ahhhhh! I love the paited bodies. I am sure the 3 are wearing you OUT!! Colin had to be on call today and I thought I would go into labor by the end of church I was so stressed out. Hang in there! You can do it!

Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 7:18:00 PM MDT
Colin & Lori said...

Maggie looks a lot like Jack in a couple of those pictures. By the way I told them not to schedule me on call on Mothers Day but they did it anyway, and I couldn't switch with anyone. Looks like you're having a great time being a single mom. I'm sure Ray is pretty bored by himself.
Colin

Monday, May 12, 2008 at 7:49:00 AM MDT
Leslie said...

the vanderlouw kids rock! as a personal witness, they have never-ending energy. i'm sure you're exhausted, bec. hang in there!!

Monday, May 12, 2008 at 9:11:00 AM MDT
Jason and Dana said...

Maggie is SOOO ADORABLE!!!!! I can't get over it. She reminds me so much of Grace at that age in some of those pictures.
You are my role model Becky. You're doing great.
I gave Colby a haircut the other day and it looked SO horrible that I wanted to buzz his head, but Jason won't let me. I think he'd look so cute. Elliot sure does!

Monday, May 12, 2008 at 10:19:00 AM MDT

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)