Family History

I grew up in a traditional Irish Catholic family. All of my grandparents immigrated from Ireland so I am second generation American. My heritage was something that was always a constant-whether verbal or non-verbal. I think probably the Catholic part was emphasized more but none the less the Irish was always prominent. I grew up on tales of the old country much like children of other immigrants. The stories I was told we not merely stories but I believed every bit of them.
So one of the traits of being Irish is that I am very gullible. I was always extremely proud of being Irish and often, in my youth, looked down on other people who didn't have a lineage to speak of. I still can't believe how horrid I was at times! God's grace certainly changed me. By the time I had children of my own, my Irish ancestry was important but had taken a back seat to my Christian ancestry. My lineage was in a Jewish Carpenter named Jesus and that was all that mattered.
Every waking moment and breathe I took was consumed with learning more about His love letter to me and teaching my girls about Jesus and His Word. From the time they could sit for stories our stories were from the Word. When they were in school, we would walk to school singing children's praise songs. At night they would drift to sleep listening to Psalty, GT&the Halo Express, the Music Machine or other tapes.
When my side of the family got together there was always lots of fun and jokes that went on. You see, somewhere in southern Ireland is a castle-or so legend tells-that is named after my maiden name. I haven't been to Ireland yet but have been told, it is right next to the dump.
There were lots of teasing about the stories I grew up believing and we always laughed til we cried. I love my heritage and hope someday to get to the Old Country and visit, see the hills my grandparents were from but I love my Heritage more...my lineage in Him. I still love to sing praises with my grandkids whenever we are together and I pray the memories they have of me are ones that touched them for Jesus.
Tomorrow is a special memory day for me and I'll be sharing more of the stories I grew up on.