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.
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Friday, October 7, 2011

Happy Birthday!








Dear Debby~

The request you sent on Sept 1 to do something for someone else on your birthday, today, was just beautiful. What a beautiful heart you have. What a willing soul, you are. I guess it was my good luck that our family had just decided to adopt Bria (I blogged about her here), my sweet friend from Charlottesville, as she studies at BYU.


Bria is 25 and has a heart for service herself. She is one of the few people who always remembers my birthday, every year and calls me. She helped pay for our Thanksgiving last year, and gave us our Christmas dinner as well. She also took Valerie and I to get a manicure and pedicure for Christmas. My first pedicure, ever, and second manicure. Then, she took us out to eat. In April, she gave us a new flat-screen TV and in August, she gave me all her amazing MAC makeup and brushes collection + a giftcard to Ulta and some amazing loofa/goat’s milk soap. She spent her last pay check on me. How… humbling doesn’t even touch it.

BLESSINGS Because I have been given much


Bria is living in the heart of Mormon culture, with several roommates who get phone calls from home, letters from home and care packages often. She never once has complained, I am sure she felt lonely though. She is a biology major, taking hard math, chem, and bio courses. This is such a hard, rigorous major.

Anyway, we chose to show Bria she was loved and missed and adored by sending her things in the mail . Bria got her first box (sent Parcel Post), after 2 weeks, she got it last Thursday. Bria is vegetarian and vegan, and has had a really tough time finding anything to eat in Provo. Sooooo, I went to the Friendly City Food Co-Op and found lots of packaged organic fruits. Veggies and snacks for her, along with some things she left because she ran out of boxes to ship to Utah.

Thursday, Bria got home and called me and said “So THIS is what it feels like to be loved?” It was such a sweet feeling.

heart-in-hand.jpg

During conference, we also had 3 service projects we worked on through out the weekend. During the 2nd session on Saturday, I made dinner for our missionaries, and a lady from our ward who has very little family support here. She is on a pretty rough diet- so I made a chicken pot pie with homemade noodles (WOW!), fresh bread, and pumpkin cake. Nancy and her family were happy and the missionaries were too.







THEN, we put together an October package for Bria- lots of Halloween candy (even if it is not vegan, she will make friends with that candy!), magic wands, glow sticks, cozy socks, a kitty cat purse, pictures of all of us, and letters from each of us except Asher.



I mailed that Monday and it was delivered today. I am sure Bria will call tonight or tomorrow. A surprise for her, was that Eco-Emi also opened Monday, so I finally go to subscribe to that for Bria with a gift subscription, I know she will love it, I look up the E-E box contents and drool every month!

Anyway, this was a REALLY WONDERFUL group effort for us- we have been working on and thinking about projects since you asked us to a month ago. We will me making a Bri-Box every month. It really is a wonderful family activity. Thank you for the nudge forward. It really is a great gift to be do things for other people.

As for another birthday- what a blessing your birth has been to us all. We love you and hope your birthday is filled with love, appreciation, kindness and goodness. We are all so grateful for you and sooooo wish we could make you dinner and dessert for your birthday dinner! Thank you for the patience, love, kindness and goodness you have brought to the world since day one. We LOVE you.


UPDATE! Bria posted about box #2. I love that she always says thank you!



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4 comments:

David and Debby said...

Wonderful post Crystal, and a very nice birthday tribute to a wonderful woman. I hope all of you will post your own project experiences. Can't wait to read them.
Dad

Friday, October 7, 2011 at 8:10:00 AM MDT
David and Debby said...

crystal, i should have been the first to respond. you just ooze service. this was a wonderful thing for you to do with your family, but you are always serving people. you are such a great example to all of us. thank you for this incredible post. since she lives so close, could Bria come and visit us sometime? xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:33:00 PM MDT
Jason and Dana said...

Awesome job. It is always nice feeling loved so far from home.
Jason

Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 1:33:00 PM MDT
Jason and Dana said...

Bria is so lucky to have you in her life, Crystal. SO lucky! What a blessing you are to her, and it sounds like she's been to you. Some people you just know you knew before you came to earth, right?
And that food looks delicious! I totally agree with my mom, you are someone who seems to constantly have service on the mind and in action.

Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 9:06:00 PM MDT

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