Family
Hitler never had feeling of any kind toward mankind of any nationality, race, gender, or religion, even though there were those he hated more than others…specifically, Jews, Gypsies, Blacks, and anyone not blond haired and blue eyed. Nevertheless, Hitler had long ago decided that anyone was disposable, except him. He didn’t tell other people about that, of course. On July 8, 1941, the German army invaded Pskov, a city located 180 miles from Leningrad, Russia. General Franz Halder, the chief of the German army general staff recorded Hitler’s plans for Moscow and Leningrad in his diary, and it wasn’t good. Hitler planned “To dispose fully of their population, which otherwise we shall have to feed during the winter.” Basically, he considered them all to be “useless eaters” and planned to kill them. Then, he planned to turn Moscow into a lake. 
The Germans first launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, called Operation Barbarossa, on June 22, using over 3 million men. Since the Soviet army was unsuspecting and unprepared, the Germans were very successful in their attack. By July 8th, the Germans had captured more than 280,000 Soviet soldiers and almost 2,600 tanks had been destroyed. With the Germans already a couple of hundred miles inside Soviet territory, Stalin was in a state of panic. He began executing any of his generals who had failed to stop the advancing attack. That was likely a big mistake, because he was basically defeating himself from the inside.
As chief of staff, Halder had been keeping a diary of Hitler’s day-to-day decision-making process. His documentation of Hitler’s processes showed the flaws that Hitler had. I don’t know if that was his plan or if he had wanted to emulate Hitler, but as became emboldened by his successes in Russia, Halder recorded that the “Fuhrer is firmly determined to level Moscow and Leningrad to the ground.” It was Halder’s opinion that Hitler 
had underestimated the Russian army’s numbers and the bitter infighting between factions within the military about strategy. Halder and several others thought they should head straight to Moscow, as taking the capital would bring down the entire country. Nevertheless, Hitler was the leader, and as such, he wanted to meet up with Field Marshal Wilhelm Leeb’s army group, which was making its way toward Leningrad. The biggest mistake Hitler made was the fact that Winter was coming, and the Russians were much more used to the Soviet Winter’s frigid temperatures than the Germans…an advantage that would eventually catch up to the Germans. The advantage of such conditions would give the Russians the victory over the Germans in this battle.
My grandniece, Taylor Masterson is growing up so fast. I can’t believe that this is her 16th birthday already. I remember when she was born, and how excited everyone was that she managed to July 7, 2007 (07-07-07) date, without any help. That was the way her natural delivery went. Now 16 years later, she is learning to drive and looking for a job…in fact, she has an interview at Wendy’s. They emailed her 10 minutes after she put in the application, saying they wanted to interview her. Very exciting.
Taylor is such a beautiful soul. She loves “her” people so deeply. She has a very caring nature, and she tries to make sure everyone around her is happy and comfortable…sometimes sacrificing her own comfort. It hard to be the kind of person who is always taking care of others and never taking care of themselves. Her mom, Dustie Masterson hopes that one day soon, Taylor will learn to take care of herself in the same way she takes care of everyone else. Dustie tells me that she has never known someone with such a pure loving heart, and truly, anyone who 
knows Taylor can attest to that loving heart. She is a blessing form God to all of us who have been blessed enough to know her. One thing you don’t always see, unless you know her well, is Taylor’s funny side. Nevertheless, if she is in a mood, she will tell the best, cheesiest “dad” jokes ever!!
Taylor, her sister, Rae (Raelynn), and Dustie have started doing diamond art together most nights, since Dustie transferred stores (Walgreen’s, where she works). Dustie tells me that it has been amazing for her to get the opportunity to spend that hour or so with her girls…to just hang out and chill. Even Taylor’s brother, Matt will come upstairs and chat with them while they work on their art. It is something they all enjoy, because it’s been a while since they were really able to just spend time together doing something enjoyable. I didn’t know what diamond art was, so I had to look it up. Diamond Art is a hobby where you stick diamond jewels onto a pattern to look like a mosaic. Sometimes called diamond art painting (although there is no paint involved). The pictures are really pretty, and 
they add a bit of sparkle to the room.
Taylor is learning to cook and is meticulous about doing things right. She was learning to dice vegetables, and she was careful to do it right. She didn’t chop them up and then have to go back and fix it, she diced them the first time. There are many things that Taylor would not tell you about herself, because she is not the type of person to “blow her own horn.” She is a quiet person when she is around people she doesn’t know well, but then when she gets to know you, her true self comes out. It’s when you get to know Taylor’s true self that you are truly blessed, because she is a wonderful girl. Today is Taylor’s 16th birthday. Happy Sweet 16 Taylor!! have a great day!! we love you!!
Most people know that wine gets better with age, but I wonder if there is a limit to that statement. Some wines, I’m told wine can be aged for 10 to 20 years, but there really is a limit. In a Roman tomb in Germany in 1867, a bottle of wine was found that is believed to date back to 325 – 350 CE. The oldest bottle of wine ever found. Those who found it, named it Speyer, for the city of Speyer, near where the bottle was found. The bottle was discovered during an excavation of a 4th-century AD Roman nobleman’s tomb. The tomb contained two sarcophagi, one holding the body of a man and one a woman. It was a very unique bottle, with dolphin-shaped handles, and it is sealed with wax and olive oil. I’m sure that was the hope that by so preserving the wine, that it would be able to be used later, but then it was found in a tomb, so I’m not sure of the actual purpose. There were several other bottles found with the Speyer bottle, but they were all empty or broken.
Of course, given the age of the bottles, no one will ever drink the contents. It would not be safe, so the exact contents remain unknown. Nevertheless, archaeologists believe the liquid inside was made from grapes planted in the region. The Speyer wine bottle (Römerwein in German) is a sealed bottle that is will not been opened to check the contents. Even without verification, it is considered the world’s oldest known bottle of wine. Since the discovery of the bottle, it has been exhibited at the Wine Museum section of the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer. The “Römerwein” is housed in the museum’s Tower Room. It is a 51 US fluid ounce glass bottle with amphora-like “shoulders” that are yellow green in color and with dolphin-shaped handles.
It is thought that the man in the tomb was a Roman legionary, and the wine was a provision for his journey to 
Heaven. People had some strange customs back then, and some may still have. Of the six glass bottles in the woman’s sarcophagus and the ten vessels in the man’s sarcophagus, only one still contained a liquid. There is a clear liquid in the bottom third, and a mixture similar to rosin above. While it has reportedly lost its ethanol content, analysis is consistent with at least part of the liquid having been wine, although I’m not sure how they made that analysis without opening the bottle. The wine was infused with a mixture of herbs, but the preservation of the wine is attributed to the large amount of thick olive oil. Since I’m not a scientist, I’m not sure how that would work, but apparently it did, as it was added to the bottle to seal the wine off from air, along with a hot wax seal. The use of glass in the bottle is unusual, however, as typically Roman glass was too fragile to be dependable over time.
Scientists have considered opening the bottle to further analyze the contents, but as of 2023 the bottle has remained unopened, mostly because of concerns about how the liquid would react when exposed to air. The museum’s curator, Ludger Tekampe has stated he has seen no changes in the bottle in over 25 years, so whatever they are doing to preserve it is working. It seems to me that scientists would be remiss in their care of this bottle by opening it for no good reason. I think it should be left as is.
The American Revolutionary War actually began on April 19, 1775, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. At that time, it wasn’t considered a full-blown war, and attempts were still being made by July 5, 1775, to avoid that full-blown war. The Olive Branch Petition, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8th, was the final attempt to avoid the full-blown war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America, that became known as the American Revolutionary War, and ended with full independence of the United States.
It seemed that in the early days of the Revolutionary War, the main weapon was a volley of petitions and proclamations. The Second Continental Congress had already authorized the invasion of Canada more than a week earlier, but the Olive Branch Petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain, asking King George III to prevent further conflict. The petition was followed up with a July 6th Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, making the success of the Olive Branch Petition unlikely in London. By August 1775, London officially declared the colonies to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the Olive Branch Petition was rejected by the British government. In fact, King George had refused to read it before declaring that the colonists were traitors.
The Second Continental Congress convened in May 1775. At that time, most and most delegates followed John Dickinson in his quest to reconcile with King George. He could not picture a world with an independent United States. I suppose there are always those people without a vision for the future. However, there was a small group of delegates, led by John Adams, who could see that war was inevitable, and that we would need to become independent of Great Britain. Nevertheless, there is a right time, so they decided that the wisest course of action was to remain quiet and wait for the opportune time to rally the people. This allowed Dickinson and his followers to pursue their own course for a reconciliation that would ultimately never happen.
Dickinson was the primary author of the Olive Branch Petition, along with Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, John Rutledge, and Thomas Johnson, all of whom also served on the drafting committee. Dickinson claimed that the colonies did not want independence, but rather, wanted more equitable trade and tax regulations. He asked that the King establish a lasting settlement between the Mother Country and the colonies “upon so firm a basis as to perpetuate its blessings, uninterrupted by any future dissensions, to succeeding generations in both countries” beginning with the repeal of the Intolerable Acts. The introductory paragraph of the letter named twelve of the thirteen colonies, all except Georgia. The letter was approved on July 5 and signed by John Hancock, President of the Second Congress, and by representatives of the named twelve colonies. It was sent to London on July 8, 1775, in the care of Richard Penn and Arthur Lee. Dickinson hoped that news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord combined with the “humble petition” would persuade the King to respond with a counterproposal or open negotiations.
Finally, Adams wrote to a friend, telling him that the petition served no purpose. Everyone knew that war was inevitable. Adams said that the colonies should have already raised a navy and taken the British officials prisoner. Unfortunately, the letter was intercepted by British officials and news of its contents reached Great Britain at about the same time as the petition itself. British advocates of a military response used Adams’ letter to claim that the petition itself was insincere, and it was rejected. The hostilities which Adams had foreseen undercut the petition, and the King had answered it before it even reached him.
With the King’s refusal to consider the petition, came the opportunity Adams and others needed to push for independence. Now the colonists viewed the King as unwilling and uninterested concerning the colonists’ grievances. The colonists finally knew that they had just two choices…complete independence or complete submission to British rule. They chose complete independence, and the rest, as we all know, is history.
While Independence Day is celebrated on July 4th each year, with all the festivities, days off, barbecues, and fireworks, our nation…formally known as the thirteen colonies, actually obtained legal separation from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain’s rule. Called the Lee Resolution, it was also known as “The Resolution for Independence” and was the formal assertion passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2nd. The Lee Resolution resolved that the Thirteen Colonies, at the time referred to as the United Colonies, were “free and independent states” and were now separate from the British Empire. The resolution created what became the United States of America.
After passing the vote for independence, Congress could turn its attention to the Declaration of Independence, which would be the official statement explaining this decision. The Declaration of Independence had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. While Jefferson collaborated extensively with the other four members of the Committee of Five, i,t was largely his writing and his wording that made up the Declaration of Independence. It was composed in isolation over 17 days between June 11, 1776, and June 28, 1776. Jefferson was renting the second floor of a three-story private home at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia at the time. The house, within walking distance of Independence Hall, is now known as the Declaration House.
Of course, as with any document brought before Congress, they debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, and for reasons unknown, removed wording in which Jefferson had vigorously denounced King George III for importing the slave trade. They finally approved the document two days later on July 4th. John 
Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3rd, stating, “The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
Of course, as we all know, Adams’s prediction was off by two days. Nevertheless, his idea that a day should be celebrated forever, did become a tradition, not on July 2nd, but rather on July 4th, because of the Declaration of Independence. That was because of the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress. In addition, historians have disputed whether members of Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Many historians believe that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4th as many have believed. Nevertheless, they have been unable to prove their theory or to change the date on which we celebrate our independence.
One thing that I find very interesting is the fact that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who were the only two signatories of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as presidents of the United States, both 
died on the same day…July 4, 1826, and within five hours of each other. They were also the last surviving members of the original American revolutionaries. It was also the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. James Monroe, while not a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, but who was another Founding Father who was elected president, also died on July 4, 1831, making him the third President who died on the anniversary of independence. There was one president who was born on Independence Day…Calvin Coolidge, who was born on July 4, 1872.
My grandnephew, Lucas Iverson has had to fight for every success in his life, because he is a child with Down’s Syndrome. Nevertheless, Lucas is a fighter, and he looks at each new obstacle as a challenge to be met and conquered. Lucas is an adventurer. He can find adventure anywhere. He is always on an adventure doing something in the house or outside. From Dino toys, to snakes, or to his favorite thing lately, which is playing with plastic hangers, Lucas is a busy boy.
Lucas has struggled with a number of health issues, and it hasn’t always been easy to manage then and keep his allergies and sensitivities under control. The family is on a dairy free diet now for his ears, because dairy causes inflammation. He has had some issues with digestion, and for a time, he had a 
Gastrostomy Tube (G Tube), but with diet changes and the help of a number of specialists, Lucas in finally free of the G Tube. He is also getting taller and bigger, looking like a little man. These are all signs of a healthy turnaround, and for that we are eternally grateful to God. Much prayer has been sent up, and now comes answered prayer.
Lucas is doing well in school in his new town. Moving from one town to another isn’t easy, especially for kids in school. For Lucas, it could be harder still, but this change seems to have been a good one. He is learning about reading and much more. Lucas seems to be thriving in his new home, and he is always 
learning. It’s in his nature.
This year has certainly been a year of change for Lucas, and for his family too. Six months ago, Lucas became a big brother again, and his sister, Zoey became a big sister for the first time. Their sister Alicen has been a wonderful blessing to the whole family, but Lucas is especially proud to be her big brother. When his sister, Zoey was born, Lucas was in no position to perform any big brother duties, and in fact, Zoey taught him many things. It was the lessons of his little sister, Zoey that will now allow Lucas to be a great big brother to his new little sister, Alicen, and he is very excited to get started. Today is Lucas’ 12th birthday. Happy birthday Lucas!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My niece, Chelsea Hadlock is a giver, through and through. She loves to donate things the family no longer uses to the rescue mission. She has a heart for kids and single moms, and much of her giving has focused on those kinds of things. Chelsea is a kind and loving woman, who has always wanted a family of her own, and she is an excellent wife and mother. Her family is so blessed by her. She sews and sometimes makes jewelry. She reminds me of the story in the Bible of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:10-31, in which the wife makes so many wonderful things for her family, so that her family can excel. It is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, 
and truly one that people should strive to be. She loves being in a large extended family too, and she is a great sister-in-law, as well as a great older sibling.
As for Chelsea, the Bible has been a source of strength for her too. She has been focusing on Bible study habits over the past few years. She has been attending adult Sunday School and church services every possible Sunday. She is spending a lot of time doing her Bible studies and talking good notes for future use. She has grown so much in the 17+ years we have known her. She has such a sweet spirit, and is a great blessing to her whole family, and to anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing her.
Chelsea loves the outdoors and camping. She is a fulltime mom to 14-year-old Ethan and almost 12-year-old Aurora. She works hard to find fun opportunities for her children and her whole family out of town. They love to go camping and have already been camping at Guernsey Reservoir and in the Big Horn Mountains this year. She 
loves bike riding and that is another fun outdoor activity that the whole family can enjoy.
As to extended family, Chelsea and her mom do lots of fun thing whenever she comes to town, like craft fairs and Comic Con events. Her in-laws, Allyn and Chris Hadlock and the rest of the family try to get together for Sunday dinner each week. Chelsea always contributes to the fun and relaxation. And…no small thing…Chelsea is a really good cook, so the family always gets the benefit of that!! Chelsea loves doing things for the family and for so many other people too. She is a giver through and through!! Today is Chelsea’s birthday. Happy birthday Chelsea!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
When things were heating up between the Confederate and Union soldiers around the town of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, most of the town’s 2,400 civilian residents did their best to make themselves scarce. They didn’t want to find themselves pulled into the conflict on the basis of simply being in the vicinity when the Union needed reinforcements, so they did what they could to get out of the way…either staying shut up in their houses and basements or leaving for someplace calmer.
Not everyone felt that way, however. John Burns, who was about 69 years old at the time, although some said he was older, had fought a half-century earlier in the War of 1812. So, he was no stranger to war, but he took offence with the way a bunch of Rebels had come in and taken over his hometown. When he heard the sounds of battle on July 1, he told his wife he wanted to see what was going on. Grabbing his old flintlock musket, Burns left the house. He came across several Union officers and offered his services. The Union soldiers were basically amused by this strange character with his old musket, just showing up to offer to fight with them…and he wasn’t a young man, so that made it all the more strange. Still, Burns would not go away, and when he found a wounded soldier who would no longer need his rifle, Burns picked it up, and as the fighting heated up, Burns calmly took position behind a tree and began firing at the advancing Confederates. I guess the Union soldiers figured out pretty quickly that he meant business…especially when he was wounded three times in the intense fighting that day, and he still wouldn’t quit. One soldier recalled, “It must have been about noon when I saw a little old man coming up in the rear… I remember he wore a swallow-tailed coat with smooth brass buttons. He had a rifle on his shoulder. We boys began to poke fun at him as soon as he came amongst us, as we thought no civilian in his senses would [put] himself in such a place…”
The soldier then went on to say, “[When asked what] possessed him to come out there at such a time, he replied that ‘the rebels had either driven away or milked his cows, and that he was going to be even with them.’ About this time the enemy began to advance. Bullets were flying thicker and faster, and we hugged the ground about as close as we could. Burns got behind a tree and surprised us all by not taking a double-quick to the rear. He was as calm and collected as any veteran on the ground…I never saw John Burns after our movement to the right, when we left him behind his tree, and only know that he was true blue and grit to the backbone and fought until he was three times wounded.”
I’m sure it really upset the soldiers when they were forced to leave the injured Burns behind as they were ordered to retreat through the town. Burns was then found by the Confederates. Of course, since he had no uniform, they didn’t know that he wasn’t just a civilian who had been caught in the crossfire. Had they known he was fighting against them, they might have executed him, but a wise Burns had gotten rid of his weapon and pretended to be that helpless, unfortunate civilian who had been passing by at the wrong time. So, the Confederate surgeons treated him, and he was allowed to return home. The Confederates were none the wiser, and Burn had exacted his revenge. Burns was a happy man, because it just doesn’t get any better than that!!
So impressed were the Union soldiers with John Burns, that his story was told to their superiors, and Burns is now memorialized with a statue on the Gettysburg battlefield, and his valor was called out in an after-action report by Major General Abner Doubleday. The memorial reads: “My thanks are specially due to a citizen of Gettysburg named John Burns who although over 70 years of age shouldered his musket and offered his services to Colonel Wister, One Hundred and Fiftieth Pennsylvania Volunteers. Colonel Wister advised him to fight in the woods as there was more shelter there but he preferred to join our line of skirmishers in the open fields. When the troops retired he fought with the Iron Brigade. He was wounded in three places.” John Burns truly was a civilian hero, but the real moral of the story is “Don’t mess with the cows.”
For a number of years now, my daughter, Corrie Petersen has been on a wild ride!! Nursing school can’t be described any other way. It is difficult for everyone who embarks on this journey, but Corrie faced a number of other obstacles along the way. Set aside classes and clinicals for just a minute. Like most people in school these past few years there was the Covid-19 angle, and all that it entailed, including being sick. Secondly, Corrie and her husband, Kevin Petersen faced three loses in his family…his stepdad, Dwaine Skelton; his aunt, Nancy Jackson; and his uncle, Rex Jackson. That was followed by two weddings, her son Christopher and wife Karen Petersen on July 23, 2022; followed by her son, Josh and his wife, Athena Petersen who actually married right after Corrie passed her NCLEX test, on June 24, 2023. Also, during that time, Corrie and Kevin became grandparents to Cambree, Caysen, and Justin Petersen, with two more babies, Axel and Cyler Petersen on the way. In addition, to that Justin spent about ten days in the hospital right before last Christmas, with the flu. Oh, and did I mention that Corrie worked full time as a CNA throughout all of this!! Now, let’s get back to that studying. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know where she found the time to fit it all in. I do know, however, that she was one exhausted girl, and all I could do for her was pray over her!!
Nevertheless, all of that journey (with the exception of the two babies on the way) is behind her now. On May 11, 2023, Corrie graduated Suma Cum Laude from nursing school (and as a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing) in Las Vegas, Nevada, and it was an amazing time. Her husband, Kevin; my husband, Bob Schulenberg; and I couldn’t have been more proud. Kevin got to go on stage to place her pin for the pinning ceremony, and then she walked across that stage to receive her Batchelor of Science in Nursing 
(BSN)!! Going back to work as a CNA, while waiting to take her NCLEX had to be one of the hardest things she had ever done. She scheduled the test for June 14, 2023, and then came the question, “Will I pass??” It doesn’t matter how well you did in school, the NCLEX is not guaranteed. It’s a hard test, designed to tell them if you are a new nurse with the ability to be trained in the practical side of nursing. If a degreed nurse tells you they aren’t nervous or even in a panic, they are either a genius or lying. That test is brutal…or at least the days leading up to it are. Nevertheless, on June 16th, Corrie passed her NCLEX on the first try, and on June 20, she started her new job at Elkhorn Valley Rehabilitation Hospital. Her outlook on life did a full “about face!!” Her life went from a lot of hard work, tears, fatigue, and full-blown exhaustion, to “Oh my gosh!! I’m a nurse, and I absolutely love my job and the people I work with!!” What a great day that was, and what a great career change this has been for her!! Happy doesn’t begin to describe how I feel for my daughter!!
Today, Corrie will work her 5th shift as a nurse. I’m sure that in the grand scheme of things, that these days when Corrie was just starting her new career, just embarking on her future…would seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the years ahead in which she will become a seasoned nurse and take care of countless numbers of patients, but I know that to Corrie, these days will always be among the sweetest of memories. These early nursing days will always be the ones that prove she could do it…that all her hard work, sleepless nights, exhausted days, and even time away from her family (as hard as that was) had paid off. Corrie’s career 
really began as a caregiver in 2005, helping to take care of her ailing grandparents, Allen and Collene Spencer, as well as Walt and Joann Schulenberg. Truly they had to be mentioned, because it was in their care that the seeds of nursing were sown in Corrie, and I know that they would be, and in reality, they are very proud of their granddaughter…as are we. Today is Corrie’s first birthday as a nurse!! Happy birthday Corrie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
When my oldest daughter, Corrie Petersen was born, it was one of the happiest days of her great grandmother, Nettie Knox’s life, because her first great grandchild had been born on her birthday. It’s called “birthday twins” and it’s been the coolest thing for both Grandma Knox and Corrie. When Corrie was little, and indeed until grandma passed away when she was just a month past 82, and Corrie was just a month past 15, they celebrated their birthdays together. It was so important to both of them. Their bond was a very special one and lasted for the rest of Grandma’s life…and beyond. I know that with Grandma in Heaven now, Corrie feels sad sometimes, and her birthday is just a little bittersweet, but I hope Corrie knows just how proud Grandma always was of her.
These past few years…the craziest ones Corrie has ever spent, have brought her to a new career, and I have been thinking about just how proud Grandma would have been of her birthday twin. She was always proud of Corrie, and it didn’t matter what kind of work she did, but the hard work to get where she is now…that’s what Grandma would have been proud of. Grandma was a hard-working woman in her younger years, but most of it was housework and raising her children. These days many women work outside the home. It is more unusual for someone to be a stay-at-home mom. The opportunities for Grandma were different than those available to Corrie. Then again, the things she did, that Corrie will never do, are many as well.
Grandma was born on June 30, 1908. Life was quite different then. The automobile was invented, but still very new, and it was not unusual to see horses and buggies on the same streets as the cars. These days, people are fighting for a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour, but back then, the average factory worker made around $12.00 a week!! Of course, the prices of things were much less then too, but it does show a markedly different 
world when Grandma was born, than the one we live in now. When you think about it, if we cut the price of everything and then cut the wages, we would be in the same place we are right now. Grandma Knox saw a lot of changes during her time here on Earth, and I’m sure some things seemed as strange as the first laptop did to us. Progress is a big deal in any era. Still, for Grandma, little could top that fact that her first great grandchild had arrives on her birthday. She considered it the best gift ever. Today marks the 115th anniversary of Grandma Knox’s birth!! Happy birthday in Heaven, Grandma. We love and miss you very much.
