Several months ago I started to put together our family tree and became obsessed to find all I could. Matt questioned my new passion wondering where it all came from. .. Since I am from such a small family (my mother was adopted) knowing all I could about our family and our history became a goal of mine. Several days and long hours later I found over 756 family members! It wasn't easy but most of our branches are now all the way back to their native land. 8 steps up on the Douglas side: John Douglas was from Glasgow, Lancaster, Scotand and on the Aswegan side, my great-grandmother, Elise was from Germany. While searching through my sites, I came upon her mothers immigration records as well and my heart skipped a beat with enjoyment!
First Name: Pauline
Last Name: Polzin
Ethnicity: Germany, German
Last Place of Residence:
Date of Arrival: Aug 22, 1893
Age at Arrival: 21y Gender: F
Ship of Travel: Weimar
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany
Manifest Line Number: 0097
Through the search I also came about my grandfathers enlistment paperwork and that the Douglas family was married into Scottish royalty: the Dunlop's of Garnkirk. There are many other things I found along the way each one bringing happiness to my heart.
Then after several days of obsessing over finding more and more members of our family, I decided to call our tree complete. I branched out in so many directions to distant cousins of cousins of cousins and realized it was silly of me to find all of them so I told myself unless I find more direct branches: older generations making the 9 steps up 10 or new additions (marriages and kids) come into the picture I am done! While I wait to add on, the site myheritage, links me to other family trees from all over the world who maybe in our family making our tree bigger and bigger!
To see our tree go to: www.aswegan.myheritage.com
Some of our tree will be private so if you would like to be added to the site please email me at mwrena@gmail.com!
Almost 16 weeks ago, our dear friend's, Matt and Katherine McPherson, main concern was not on the flood waters which were inching closer to their house. Their focus was on two little babies which had decided they wanted to come into the world sooner than we all wanted. Just 27 weeks into the pregnancy, Bryce and Zoey were born on June 15, 2011 at 9:53a, and 9:55am. Weighing just over 4 pounds combined, Bryce and Zoey were rushed to the NICU. Here is a picture of the beebops on day 24! :)
These kids, with the support from their parents and grandparents, fought each day making huge strides in weight gain, temperature control, and meeting all other developmental markers. After 12 weeks at the NICU in both Fargo and Minot these miracle babies were able to come home!
Today, Bryce and Zoey are meeting all their developmental expectations and exceeding many of them! Both are now approximately 7lbs, eating from their bottles, and getting closer to sleeping through the whole night.
Just one day after Bryce and Zoey came home, Matt and I were able to finally meet the miracles and immediately fell in love. We are so happy to have you in our lives and happy to watch you grow. We are super excited for what the future has for you and love you four lots!
For more information on Bryce and Zoey, check out Matt and Katherine’s blog at:
http://airforcemcphersons.blogspot.com/
Yet again, it seems we need to get everyone up to speed on what has been happening with us in the great north! After Matt's captain promotion my parents left on June 1st and Matt's first deputy he had when he became a commander, John Nordstrom, moved in. An estimated 10,000 Minot residents began mandatory evacuation following a noon announcement to "get out of harm's way as soon as possible," due to the water level of the river. We had a record high of 82 inches of snow last winter so the ground was saturated and the dams north of us had to let out water so they didn't break! Thankfully since we live on the base, approximately 10 miles north of town, we were out of harms way and able to lend a helping hand to those in need. Since spring we had been dealing with flooding on Highway 83 which is the only road we can use to get between base and town. We watched as one area of this hwy was taken by water making those who commute on this road have to drive through several feet of water. Construction began to raise the road and at one point they believed they beat the water, but as most of the Minotians know more was to come with the rain and dam waters.
Over the next few days we watched the river levels and waited. The town worked to build up dikes and sandbagged with the help of 900 National Guard personnel. The water crested at 1555.8 ft above sea level on June 3rd and we were able to contain the water! Everyone was allowed back in their homes with the understanding that they may be required to leave again.
On June 20, Mandatory evacuations were ordered again in Minot giving everyone in these areas just a few days to pack up their homes. This time, however, the water was expected to reach record highs and flooding was inevitable. I was gone at this time for the weekend in Chicago to see NKOTBSB with my best bud Christine! While I was there Nate and Christine took me downtown to see the sights. We went to the Bean, Navy Pier, and the Science Museum!
We also painted the nursery to get ready for baby evans who is expected Oct 28th!
On June 21st, after 4 hours of waiting due to plane issues, I finally arrived back in Minot with many stressed passengers who needed to get to their homes or family member's homes to help load them up and leave in less than one day.
On the 22nd Sirens sounded to evacuate all Minot flood zones. Two days later, the town announced a water level four feet higher than previously expected and the evacuation zones grew further than expected.
On June 26th the moment Minot had been waiting for occurred...the river crested and we watched as our town was taken and transformed. The Souris River set a new record crest of 1561.72 feet above sea level, three feet higher than the record set in 1881! A boil order came in to effect for all of Minot and the surrounding areas as many of the mains had broken, contaminating our water supply. Matt and I went out to Ruby Tuesday one night as grilling out for each meal was getting a little boring. Here is the list we could have and the dinnerware we used!
As the month of July began, one by one the people in the flooded zones in Minot were allowed back to their homes with the last zone to open on July 15th. Our boil order was lifted just a few days later. About 12,000 people were displaced from their homes, 20% of Minot was under water, and more than 4,000 homes sustained damage. The total cost of damage to infrastructure, private property, and fighting the flood in the Minot area is estimated at more than $1 billion. An estimated 800 homes will have to be demolished.
When July came, Matt and I were thankful to had placed leave over a year ago for the 14th-19th. It was intended to be for a trip to Minneapolis but with my folks coming in September and a trip to the Mall then, we changed the game plan. Thanks to Allegiant Air flying to Minot now we headed to Las Vegas for the weekend! It was the shortest time I have spent in LV so we were BUSY getting everything we wanted in just a few days. The weekend began with some Margaritas, of course!
We decided since it was the first time it was just us in LV, we wanted to stay somewhere new! The Luxor won with the best deal: We got a room upgrade and a free meal a day at any MGM hotel! :)
We ended the trip by going to see the Blue Man Group. It was an amazing show!
As August arrived Matt and I were glad to welcome Deb, Matt's mom to Minot. Though we were sad that her first and only visit would be while our magic city wasn't so magical, it was a great way to get our minds off all the devastation. On August 4th and 5th, we celebrated Deb and Matt's birthdays. The funny thing is that both nights ended the same way at our local wine bar, Off the Vine: Deb's with just us 3 and Matt's with lots of friends out this time for dessert and drinks!
Just like when my parents left on June 1st and John came in that day, the same occurred the day Deb left. One out, one in..... Our friend Katherine McPherson's mother, Mary, came into Minot to help with their house. Since they weren't able to stay at the house yet with the mold from the flood water, she stayed with us! On August 12th, the McPherson's were able to move back into their home (their story in the next blog!) and we spent the next few days helping them out as much as we could! They were victims of the flood and lost their basement to it. Life for Matt in the shop got quite busy as he tried to take the work load off of those who were trying to start the rebuild from the flood so before we knew it it was September!
September came and Matt and I went to the Black Eyed Peas Benefit concert for Minot. The Black Eyed Peas benefit concert held Sept. 3 in Minot didn’t just raise the spirits of the flood victims of Minot, it raised more than $1.3 million for the Minot Area Community Foundation Recovery Fund. Josh Duhamel, a Minot native and Hollywood actor, is the honorary chairman for the Minot Area Recovery Fund, which helps Minot and the surrounding area in its long-term flood recovery needs. Duhamel is married to Fergie, the lead singer of The Black Eyed Peas.
The next weekend came and Matt and I found ourselves leaving town again. This time I went back to Chicago for Christine's baby shower. My day began the morning of the 11th at 2:30am with a flight out at 5am. I arrived in Chicago at 830am where Nate picked me up and we went back to the house to surprise a sleepy Christine who thought Nate was just out to get bagels! :) It was a fantastic surprise and a great day! We used the weekend to go set up the nursery: We put all the items from the shower in their place, decorated with the wall decal I got them, and made thank you cards for the shower gifts!
On Sept 12th, Matt headed out on a TDY for F.E. Warren in Cheyenne, WY with 5 other guys. I returned the 14th to our girls (Samantha and Sallie) and prepared from not only Matt coming home the 18th but my parents getting in as well! When the 18th came my folks picked Matt up in town and headed to base for the week. We had no plans lined up while they were in town as many of the events that we could have done together were cancelled due to the flood. We did have our Christmas together while they were here. We were given an electric smoker and Keurig with lots of coffee and teas for it from them! So, we spent the week breaking in the new gifts! :) The following Saturday we all hit the road and drove to Minneapolis for a Mall of America shopping trip! While there we went to not only the mall but IKEA (Love!) and met up with my cousin, Kelly and her fiance', Matt, for dinner two nights. It was great to see Kelly again and meet Matt. We are hoping to use the leave we put in for the end of October to go see them again before they move to Arizona. So fingers crossed that the weather is decent here and we can go!
It's crazy that October is right around the corner since it feels the summer just began... Before writing this blog it felt like we didn't have a summer at all but WOO we did a lot!
