Sweet English Nasheed by Ahmed Bukhatir

Walayah

Love of Allah (swt) - Walayah


One of the most central and important concepts of Islam and of our very existence is that of walayah. Walayah is one of the pillars or foundations of Islam, and is fact the most central of the foundations.

Imam Muhammad Baqir (as) described the foundations of Islam as follows:

“Islam is built upon five foundations: communion (salah), pruning of wealth (zakah), fasting (sawm), pilgrimage (hajj) and dynamic loving (walayah). And nothing has been called to the way dynamic loving (walayah) has been called to.”

Most people are more familiar with another tradition that relates the fifth foundation or pillar as the witnessing (shahada) that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad (saw) is His adorer-servant and messenger.

Of the five activities that form the foundation, walayah (dynamic loving) is the first and foremost foundation. While the more often heard hadith mentions the foremost as the shahadah, there is not really a conflict between these two traditions, but this shall be explained later.

First let us understand what walayah is. Walayah denotes the activity of coming or working to be in the closest possible proximity to something. If one has walayah with another, then the two things are so close as to be almost inseparable.

Walayah really denotes two activities that take place due to this relationship of being so close. The first activity is that of pure loving, affection, attachment and intimacy. This kind of love can be between two people such as parent and child or husband and wife. The second activity is that of comforting – providing aid, assistance, guidance and support. This activity can also between two people, but at an uneven level. For example, a parent may provide comfort aid, assistance, guardianship and guidance as love to a child, but the child can respond lovingly but not equally, not with the same kind of activity. Instead the child who responds positively does so with loyalty, allegiance, devotion and obedience.

God gives walayah to those who would receive it. For example, in the Qur’an it says, “Allah is the Comforter (doer or giver of Walayah) of those who are dynamically faithful (receivers and responders of walayah - believers); He extracts them from all manner of darkness into light….” (2:257)

Someone who does walayah is called a waliyy. “Waliyyu Allah” is a phrase that describes a devotee, intimate follower and lover of Allah. People who are such lovers of God are mentioned in the Qur’an also: “ Indeed! The devotees of Allah (Waliyyu Allah) will have no fear upon them nor will they grieve.” (10:62)

So, the reason why there is no real conflict between the two different forms of the tradition is that the Shahada is a manifestation and application of walayah. When someone bears witness that God is their waliyy, that person is acknowledging his or her role in the relationship to respond with allegiance and obedience. In the shahada we witness that God is the ultimate source of love, comfort, guardianship and authority and is deserving of allegiance, service and adoration. He is the ultimate and true waliyy of us all. At the same time, one is pledging one’s love, allegiance, loyalty and obedience to this ultimate source of true love. One also acknowledges that Muhammad (saw) is the perfect waliyy (adorer/servant) of God and pledging love, allegiance and loyalty to him (saw) as well due to his relationship with God.

All love - all walayah - ultimately comes from and is due to God. The Qur’an says: “Say O Prophet: My Comforter (waliyy) is Allah, who gradually sent down the Book; he receives the dynamic love (walayah) of the righteous.” (7:196) God both gives and receives walayah, this dynamic love. God loves us, and we respond, either positive or negative. The positive response to the love of God, the walayah of God, is the fundamental activity of Islam and the distinguishing characteristic of a Believer. The positive response is the return of love, obedience, loyalty, allegiance, etc. It is what Islam is all about and what our lives are ultimately all about. The one who becomes a true waliyy or devotee of Allah (Waliyyu Allah) achieves a state of righteousness. Allah loves as the Comforter, then the righteous person responds with love as the Devotee, and then Allah responds with a deepening of walayah toward the Devotee and it can be an ever-deepening cycle. So it all comes from Allah swt and continues to grow and deepen as far as the recipient of God’s love responds. It is only the limit of our response to God’s walayah that limits the depth of return of God’s walayah, which is nevertheless ever present.

The means to achieving this ever-deepening cycle is also explained to us in the Qur’an:

“Oh you who are dynamically faithful (doers of walayah to God, or Believers)! Obey Allah and His Messenger. And do not let yourselves be oriented to a walayah other than this ( or be turned away from him….” (8:20) “Whoever obeys the Prophet has definitely obeyed Allah. And as for whoever lets himself be oriented towards another walayah, then Allah has not made you (the Prophet (saw)) their keeper.” (4:80) Thus, the Qur’an tells us that the method of obeying and doing walayah with Allah swt is through following His Prophet (saw).

This is further explained in the traditions. Truly, Islam is the way (deen) of love. Imam Muhammad Baqir(as) related a tradition as follows: A man was traveling to visit the Imam (as) and the travel caused his legs and feet to become blistered and chapped. He told the Imam (as), “Nothing brought me here from whence I came except the love of you, the Family of the Prophet.” Imam Baqir (as) replied, “By Allah! Even if a stone were to love us, He would gather it up with us (on the Judgment Day). Is the Deen (of Islam) anything but loving? Surely Allah says, ‘Say: If you have come to love Allah, then follow me! He will love you.’” (3:31) Then Imam (as) said, “He loves whomsoever migrates to them (Ahlulbayt (as)). Is the Din anything but loving?” Thus, Islam is all about the giving and receiving walayah relationship between Allah and us, and we respond to His love by loving those who are closest to Him, the Prophet (saw) and his family (as), and in turn Allah swt responds with even deeper walayah.

Further, a positive response to God’s walayah for us is to be just. “O you who are dynamically faithful! Be those who stand for manifest justice, witnesses to Allah, even if it be against yourselves, your parents, or those who are close to you; even if it be against someone poor or rich, for Allah has more walayah than anyone else with both of them (the poor and rich). And do not follow your personal whims and desires and let them prevent you from being just. And if you deviate or turn away from justice, then surely Allah is well-informed of all that you do.” (4:135)

In the Qur’an, Muslims are not addressed directly, but believers who return walayah to God are, for the Qur’an and God make distinctions between Muslims and Believers. Believers are the “dynamically faithful”, the positive responders of walayah. Muslims are those who submit in body or word but not necessarily in this dynamic loving with God. “The desert Arabs say: We believe (are doers or positive receivers of walayah with God)! Say to them, “ You have not yet believed, but rather say, “We have submitted (become Muslims)”, for faith has not yet entered into your hearts. And if you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not let your good deeds go to waste. Truly Allah is Ever Forgiving, Singularly Compassionate. The truly believers are only those who believe (and are dynamically loving with) Allah and His Messenger, then do not doubt, but strive with their wealth and their beings in the Way of Allah. Those are the truthful ones.” (49:14-15)

God loves and is merciful to all of creation. The mercy He shows to all creation is denoted by His name Rahman. He cares for and provides for all. But there is a special mercy for those who respond positively, and that special mercy is denoted in His name Raheem. When we turn to God, God turns to us. The means of developing an ever- closer relationship with God is ultimately what Islam is all about. Every aspect of Islam is to guide us as to how to achieve greater closeness, to deepen our walayah relationship with God. The remaining four foundations of Islam – the prayer, the fasting, the hajj, and the zakat, are all means of deepening walayah with God, as are all other aspects of the deen. But, as the Qur’an has distinguished for us, it is possible to do all these things in word and deed without the benefit of deepening relationship with God. That is, we can be Muslims without yet being Believers. The keys to being Believers are the acceptance of God’s love and the response in heart with devotion, obedience and love, not only to Allah swt but with those closest in walayah to Him, the Prophet (saw) and Ahlulbayt (as).

Reference: Islam Dynamic: The Cosmology, Spirituality and Practice of Walayah by Idris Samawi Hamid

Goats Eat Weeds

Something else going on around here I'd like to see.

Destination Truth

Destination Truth is a new series on the Sci-Fi channel that comes on after Ghost Hunters on Wednesdays.

I recommend it for an entertaining hour. The host, Josh Gates, in real-life possessing the perfect combination of degrees in archaeology and drama, is this guy who travels around the world to investigate cryptozoological claims. Of course we believe the network is funding it all, but you can imagine this independently wealthy explorer character out of an 1800's Lost World - type story, with modern technology and with this colonialist confidence that he just might be able to show up and in a few days solve the great mysteries/problems of a region that no one there could solve. But no, he's not that arrogant or disrespectful - this is play.

The premise of the show would be absurd if it took itself too seriously. While he is really traveling and doing quasi-investigations, it all plays like one big parody (almost), and he seemingly is a gracious guest wherever he goes. Destination Truth is an adventure show in which Josh Gates plays himself carrying out the explorer and mystery-solving fantasies of the viewers in a documentary style. And while he's at it, he might as well do some sort of investigating and use a bit of both of his college degrees.


When he decides on a story to investigate, he travels to the locale and interviews witnesses before conducting his 'investigations'. You always get the impression you're only seeing an abbreviated form of the interview - or else he is just a rather poor interviewer. While some reports are credible, some of the reports people give him are totally ridiculous - yet he still listens to what they have to say and checks out their claims. If he gathers any potential evidence, he makes at least a mediocre attempt to have it analyzed by experts. The show typically ends with a summary of the results that leaves open that slightest chance for 'something' unknown to be out there.


His deadpan narrative commentary is at times hilarious. For example, he was investigating claims of a Loch Ness - type creature in a particular lake in South America, and someone (whom Josh notes decorates his house entirely in self-portraits) was telling him a theory that it was created from nuclear experiments that a German Nazi scientist had done on an island in the lake in the 1940's. Josh has these comments about going out to the Island of Dr. Moreau or being in a Stan Lee (think Marvel comics) story. His facial expressions occasionally give him away - a roll of the eyes or a laugh that confirm he isn't believing what he is hearing. But he nevertheless goes out to the island to investigate, and finds out the experiments were real however with no evidence for the creation of a lake monster.

His investigations are one-stop brief high-tech invitations for any monster that wants to be found to show itself, but certainly not likely to find anything. Even if you were looking for something known to exist, it wouldn't likely be found through these methods. For example, "Oh, I heard a noise after there, let's run after it!" just doesn't strike me as being the best technique for actually finding something. That's a good way to get hurt or killed or to alert any animal in the vicinity to get away.

There are further examples that theinvestigations seem rather ill-conceived. They find guides to take them places when the guides really have no idea where they are going, or they go out on a lake they are not supposed to be on in the middle of the night in a rickety boat low on fuel. Or they crawl into an unknown, unstable cave that they can't even see into because it might contain evidence of a giant bird even though its entrance could not conceivably admit such a creature. The results can be amusing to watch, but any hunter knows a real hunt is most often a game of patience, data collection, and quiet observation - it just doesn't play as well for television.

If you're not paying attention, you might take this show seriously for the first few minutes if you happened across it turning the dial. You know, maybe he'll really make the cryptozoological find of the century. Anything's possible!

Ghost Hunters is the same evening and recommended as part of the full night's entertainment. Better (more serious) in terms of more legitimate scientific methodology but a bit biased toward believer's interpretation of results and with light soap-opera drama of the team members' lives in the context of their work added for good measure, once again with the TAPS team on Ghost Hunters, anything's possible.

By the way do all these guys assume just because we can't see infrared neither can anything else? I know for a fact certain animals see different parts of the spectrum we can't - for example, bees seeing UV patterns in flowers. If somethings see IR, all those "zero lux" and "night vision" cameras would be making it bright as day for them.

No rain for 400 years

Atacama Desert - World's Driest Place

Evidence suggests this desert had no real rain for 400 years, and parts of it have not seen rain in hundreds of thousands to even possibly tens of million of years.

Byron Rose

Picture from The Gazette published June 14, 2007.



Picture taken at the lot.
(Pictures posted with permission from Laura.)


I see several people are coming to this site doing searches about Byron Rose. I will be sure to post any significant updates about his condition. Laura feels he his making a bit of progress or at least staying stable each day but it is slow and she hopes for your continued prayers.

My Asian lilies that I bought mail order last year are starting to bloom. They didn't come up last year, but I have literally like 50 coming up this year. The first color is pink - looks like orange will be next insha'allah!

But here is a picture of another plant - I forget what it is called - Santorini or something? - I bought it at the annual Horticultural Society plant sale at Monument Valley Park a few years ago. This is the best place to get plants as long as you go the first day before they're picked over a bit. I've never had anything bought there die on me, and that's pretty impressive if you know my gardening. (What gardening?) It is like this sagey color, but then it gets these green shoots with tiny yellow flowers. Strange, cool plant! Especially because it doesn't need much of anything from me in terms of maintenance.




And here is a "mystery" photo, in that I did not take it. :) Niece must've picked up the camera while they were playing computer games. Bonus points to you if you know the game they're playing!!!

Hiking Club

Today we went hiking with a group of retired teaching ladies. Well, most of them are retired. I found out about the group through a lady who works in the math department with me named Nancy (so, obviously she's not retired, but most in the group are). This is a group of women that meet to hike every single Thursday no matter the weather, all year round. The numbers vary as different people show up as they wish. Most of the ladies are probably in their 60's, but one lady was in her 80's. However, this lady is a super woman - she is very very fit - well-muscled and could probably run a 5k without hardly breaking a sweat. I was impressed!

We hiked the Catamount trail and at times had a lovely view of of the north face of Pikes Peak to our left. Apparently there is another Catamount trail that has its head at Green Mountain falls, but this is a new one that opened last year and maybe connects the other one. Its head was up the Ute Pass beyond Woodland Park but before Florissant or Divide, off a side road. We hiked almost 7 miles we think. Actually, 5 of us did, including my niece, but the rest of the group headed back a bit earlier and so hiked closer to 5 miles. My niece and nephew were the only children on the hike and they did get tired but they loved playing with Nancy's dog Gus. Gus loves going on hikes and playing in creeks and especially carrying and fetching sticks. Although the temperatures were to get into the 90's today, we were fortunate that up at the elevation we were hiking at it didn't get quite that hot and in fact by the time we were coming back some storm clouds were blowing over and it was breezy and in the 70's - so that was very nice.

I do need to remember to bring my GPS on such hikes in the future as sometimes these ladies aren't quite sure where they're going and a GPS can show you your tracks so you can at least make sure you take the same path back as you came in on to get yourself "unlost" if needed. I hope to hike with them again - it was a good day.





This is after we finished hiking and just got back to the cars at the trailhead.



This is a lean-to shelter we passed on our way around the upper loop.



This is my nephew eating a cinnamon roll as big as his head when we stopped at The Donut Mill in Woodland Park on our way home. Apparently that is a tradition with the ladies to stop there or somewhere similar.

Update on Byron

Mom and I visited him this evening. I think lots of friends and family have been visiting, which is good. He is in a coma and basically the condition of his head injury has not changed. He had swelling and that is less. This time when I visited he did not move at all. My mom said, "He is far away right now." Doctors are still hopeful that eventually he may wake up. So please keep him and Laura in your prayers.

Special Urgent Request

My friend Laura's husband Byron Rose was in a serious car accident Wednesday morning. He was hit while both cars were at high speed. He had his spleen removed because it ruptured, broken ribs, collapsed lung, and head injury. He is not waking up right now. Apparently there was a picture of the accident in today's Gazette but I haven't seen it yet. Just yesterday, he got a new job in Virginia and they were planning to move back where they are from. It is uncertain what the recovery of his head injury will be as he is not awake yet and those kind of things are wait and see.

Please pray for him and Laura.

Bent's Fort

Today we went to Bent's Fort. It is a neat place kind of in the middle of nowhere. We drove around on back country roads and found a few caches. Bent's Fort is a virtual cache itself. It rained hard most of the way there, but we were fortunate that pretty much every time we got out to do something it stopped or turned just into a sprinkle. We also placed a cache in La Junta because there did not seem to be any there, amazingly enough.


Walking to the fort.


On the roof of the fort.

While there, I learned of another place I would love to go to sometime in the future:

Picketwire Canyonlands - best dinosaur tracks in North America

Caches 100,101 and 102 in Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Today we found the caches at the southern end of the park: Talon #1 (on Talon Trail, not very far from where we start out), Talon #2 (a two-stage multicache that took most of our hiking effort to find) and Wild Bunch (at the southern tip of the park, but much lower elevations than Talon #2). We hiked maybe 7 miles today. And it was pretty hot today - upper 80's for sure.

That leaves just one left in the park for us to find - maybe next weekend!

Here are a few pictures from our caching:

I hope Cheyenne Mountain State Park does expand

Negotiations underway for state park to expand to include the mountain.

Shia salat tutorial

For anyone wanting to learn Salat according to the Shia school of thought (Ja'afari madhab), Praytime.info seems to do a good job. It also has prayer times, Qiblah directions, etc. I've mentioned it once before, but it is worth mentioning again.

Praytime.info

Lineage

I found this Fan Genealogy Chart online and uploaded it to my iDisk for people to download and use. It is a good one for doing longer family trees - if you get to the end, just start a new fan for that person.

I'll come back to geneaology in a little bit, but first just some random stuff.

Paying attention to my dreams, I've come to the conclusion that my recurring places in dreams are normal for me. There have been several other recurring places I've dreamed about since I last blogged on it - different places than those I've mentioned. So my dreams must have a landscape all their own - at least certain kinds of dreams. This morning I woke up from a dream that struck me as odd - I was a junior high music teacher and we were putting on a musical production of Planet of the Apes that I had written. I have no idea why that came up - I haven't been involved in anything Planet of the Apes related recently. When I was in junior high my choir teacher was who I wanted to be like when I grew up. I was really into choir at that time. As for Planet of the Apes, I remember my brother had some of Planet of the Apes comic books that came with 45 records - you would listen to the story on the record while reading the comic book. We had some Star Trek ones too that I really liked as well. Those things were awesome!

I took my nephew to a circus on the base at Fort Carson last night. His sisters were both doing something and he had a free ticket from school and wanted to go out so I took him. We were just a little bit late because he didn't tell me until it was about time to go and we had to get through the gate security line to get onto the base. The circus was the typical cheesy lame stuff I remember from every circus I've ever seen except Cirque du Soleil (which is awesome, literally). And the ticket for me to get in was outlandish at $20 - but my brother gave me the money so I can't complain. Nephew had a good time.

So today for no apparent reason I went through the family charts I could find at my parents' house. A few pieces are missing and may be located later. I'll share what I found, starting with my grandparents - maybe someone will find it in a search for their own family history sometime.

Grandparents -

Mom's side - Ralph Gordon Anderson born somewhere back East December 13, 1915 and Frances Marie Andritsch born November 11, 1917 in Colorado Springs, CO.
Dad's side - Park Forsythe Beatty born April 5, 1927 Toquerville, UT. Served in Navy WWII in San Diego, and Gladys Marie Allison born 11 25 1924 Fairplay, CO, also served in Navy in San Diego in WWII.




Great Grandparents -

parents of Frances - Josef Andritsch born 1893 immigrated from Fohnsdorf Austria through Ellis Island at the age of 14 in 1908. Went to McCurtain Oklahoma then Elbert County, CO, then Colorado Springs where he was a Coal Miner at the Peakview Mine. Married to Ethel Nancy Cummings (Nancy Ethel Cummings) here in Colorado, born 12 28 1895 in Newport, KY. I

parents of Ralph - Albert Anderson born July 27, 1883 (from Sweden maybe?) and Rachel Guddal born January 21 1892 somewhere in the U.S.

parents of Gladys - Viola May Ooley - of Coffeyville, Kansas ???- family lore says that her mother pulled her off the street when the Dalton Gang shootout happened on October 5, 1892 - Viola was very emotional about it, very angry at the gang for the violence. But that would mean she was a lot older than her husband and I don't know if that's true - maybe the story comes from her mother instead. Gladys' father was Millard Ernest Allison born February 22, 1900 in Tablerock, Colorado (a potato farming community near what is now Black Forest, in El Paso County but close to the Elbert and Douglas county lines). He worked as a shoe cobbler in Leadville, Fairplay and Colorado Springs, and he served in the Navy in WWI. I did find that Millard's dad's brother was married to a gal from Coffey KS - that would be a farfetched connection to the Dalton gang thing but you never know.

parents of Park - Vera Forsythe born June 1, 1894 in Toquerville, UT and Walter Lamb Beatty born July 7, 1892 in Toquerville, UT. Walter was semi-famous in his day - he was a real 'cowboy' who served as a guide for 20 years in Zion National Park and is mentioned and pictured in some books about the park and had several roles as a movie extra, including at least one speaking part, in the films Ramona (1936), The Badman of Brimstone (1937), Drums Along the Mohawks , Stagecoach (1939), Union Pacific (1939), My Friend Flicka (1943), Thunderhead Son of Flicka (1945), Ramrod (1947), Bugles in the Afternoon (1952), Brigham Young (1940), Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949), Red Canyon and maybe more.





Great Great Grand-parents

parents of Josef Andritsch - named Josef Andritsch and Maria Rogi

parents of Ethel Nancy Cummings - Frances A Bryant b. 1887 and Ira George Cummings, b. 7 1 1857 Tobin Township Perry City Indiana, died 1927 in Colorado Springs.

parents of Rachel Guddal - Gabriel Guddal born January 1 1870 in Tonstad Norway and Christina Mydland from ?

parents of Albert Anderson - Anders Petterson born February 5 1848 and Botilda Olsdatter born 3 17 1841

parents of Millard Ernest Allison - Millard M Allison born 10 14 1873 in NC and Nettie Jones

parents of Vera Forsythe - Benjamin Henry Forsythe born 11 18 1868 in Toquerville, UT and Barbara Lamb born 2 17 1872 in Toquerville, UT.

parents of Walter Beatty - John Thomas Beatty born May 25 1869 and Helena Lamb born 10 2 1869, both born in Toquerville, UT. (Helena and Barbara were first cousins.)





Three-Greats Grandparents -

parents of Frances A Bryant - Alexander Bryant b. May 1826 Kentucky and Eliza b. 10 1836 Tobin Township Indiana.

parents of Ira George Cummings - Issiah Cummings b. 2 19 1823 Perry Indiana, and Nancy Butler. (Family history says Ira George Cummings was a full-blooded Osage, but census records do not confirm and it appears to be untrue - maybe it comes from the Bryants or Butlers, if at all).

parents of Anders Petterson were Petter Jonasson Al and Elin. (Obviously, Petter's father was named Jonas).

parents of Botilda Olsdatter were Ola Mansson born 3 21 1810 and Sissa Olsdatter.

parents of Gabriel Guddal - Johannes Aslaksen Guddal born 1 25 1844 in Tonstad and immigrated to the U.S. with wife and kids. Married to Ragnhild Gundersdatter born 6 30 1847.

parents of Millard M. Allison - Thomas B Allison born 10 12 1836 in Burke near Old Fort, North Carolina and Martha Bird Hicks of Burke/Old Fort, NC. Thomas Bird Allison died in 1902 in Elbert, Colorado.

parents of Benjamin Henry Forsythe - Thomas Forsythe born 9 20 1813 in Kelso, Roxburgshire, Scotland and Mary Browett born 6 25 1823 in Bottsford Leicester England.

parents of Barbara Lamb - Mary Hardy Foster born 5 1 1834 in Bradford Essex New York and Brigham or Brighman Young Lamb b 6 27 1833 (Yes if you haven't figured it out yet, the family in Toquerville were all Mormons from the very beginning of the church, continuing today for large parts of the family tree, although I don't know where this name Brigham Young comes from as he was born only a few years after the famous Brigham Young.) born 6 27 1832 in Avon Longton New York.

parents of John Thomas Beatty b 10 24 1845 - Maryann Duffin b 1 29 1852 and John (also Thomas?) Beatty/Batty

parents of Helena Lamb - Edwin Lamb b 12 23 1831 (brother of Brigham) and Elizabeth Hardy b 8 29 1839(sister of Mary Hardy Foster).




Four-Greats Grandparents -

parents of Olsa Mansson were Mans Olsson and Hildegard Persdatter. (Obviously Mans had a father named Ols/Olsa and Hildegard has a father named Pers).


parents of Ragnhild Gundersdatter - Gunder Knutsen born 1816 and Anna Svensdatter born 7 2 1814. (Obviously Gunder's dad was named Knut and Anna's dad was named Sven).

parents of Johannes Aslaksen Guddal - Aslak Johnsen Guddal born 6 20 1802 and Astrid Isaksdatter Liland born 9 12 1802

parents of Thomas B Allison - Moses Allison born 7 15 1805 in Old Fort North Carolina and Susannah ? born 10 10 1806.

parents of John Thomas Beatty - George Batty Jr. b. 8 14 1819 Pilley York England and Encora Woodcock b. 10 15 1822 England - immigrated to US.

parents of Martha Matilda Bird Hicks - Wilson Lee Bird born 4 5 1807 in Burke NC and Rebecca Lyttle b 7 18 1807 in Burke NC

parents of Mary Browett - Benjamin Browett born 1775 in Bottsford/Bottlesford England and Mary Sparks born 3 14 1782 in Bristol Gloucester England.

parents of Thomas Forsythe - Thomas Forsythe b. 6 4 1782 Kelso Scotland and Isabella Jackson

parents of Brigham Young Lamb - Almira Merrell born 6 15 1807 in Hartford, CT and Able Lamb born 3 9 1801 in Rowe Franklin Massachussetts.

parents of Mary Hardy Foster - Samuel Hardy born 9 21 1804 in Bradford Massachussetts and Caroline Bacon Rogers born 9 6 1806 in Noragewalk, Maine.

parents of Elizabeth Hardy - same as those of Mary Hardy Foster

parents of Edwin Lamb - same as those of Brigham Young Lamb

parents of Isaiah Cummings - Uriah Cummings b. about 1780 Virginia and Sarah Lanman born 1779 Derby Caswell North Carolina




Five-Greats Grandparents -

parents of Astrid Isaksdatter Liland - Isak Eilefsen Liland born 1757 and Karen Olsdatter Tunstand born 1759.

parents of Aslak Johnsen Guddal - John Nicolaysen Guddal born 1775 and Berthe Torgiesdatter Guddal born 1773.

parents of Moses Allison - Thomas Bird Allison born before 1755 in MD and Cassandra Bird born 10 3 1760 in Rock Creek Prince George's MD

parents of Wilson Lee Bird - Reverend Richard R Bird b 8 27 1769 in Rowan NC and Elizabeth Westlake born 5 22 1780 in Greenbriar, VA.

parents of Rebecca Lytle - George M Lytle born 11 27 1785 in McDowell NC and Ann Clark born around 1785 in NC

parents of Almira Merrell - mother was Phebe Shepard.

parents of Able Lamb - Aeneas Lamb and Anna Blackmore.

parents of Caroline Bacon Rogers - John Rogers and Rhoda Davis.

parents of Samuel Hardy - Benjamin Hardy and Hannah Brokleback.

parents of Thomas Forsyth - James Forsyth b. 1 18 1756 Nenthorn Scotland and Jean Minto

Parents of Isabelle Jackson - Christian Ladlie/Laidley and Henry Jackson

Parents of Uriah Cummings - Thomas Cummings b. 1750 or 1754 VA, and Sarah Henry b. about 1740 Rocky Mills Hanover VA

parents of Sarah Lanman - James Taylor Lanman b. 1752 Fairfax, VA and Sythe (Seth) Blake Sommers b. 2 29 1756 Fairfax VA







Six-Greats Grandparents

parents of Karen Olsdatter Tunstand - Ole Torgieson Guddal born 1731 and E Berte Halvorsdatter Seland.

parents of Isak Eilefsen Liland - Eilef Eilefson Leilan and Gundvar Olsdatter Tonstand.

parents of Berthe Torgiesdatter Guddal - Torgie Mauritzsen Guddal born 1755 and Tora Johannesdatter Lindeland.

parents of John Nicolaysen Guddal - Kristi Omsdatter Lunde and Nicolai Atlaksen Rosstol born 1733, son of Atlak Nicolaysen Rosstol and Ragnhild Tongiesdatter.

parents of Thomas Bird Allison - Mary, born around 1725 and Benjamin Allison born around 1725 in MD.

parents of Cassandra Bird - Benjamin Bird born 6 13 1775 in Prince George's MD and Elizabeth Allison born around 1735 in Dorchester MD

parents of Reverend Richard R Bird - same as parents of Cassandra Bird

parents of Elizabeth Westlake - Thomas Westlake born 1 1 1755 in Trenton NJ and Mary Bracee born 9 21 1762 in CT

parents of George M Lytle - Captain Thomas Lytle born 6 6 1750 in Rowan NC and Susanah Perkins born around 1752

parents of James Forsyth - Thomas Forsyth b. 10 19 1718 Nenthorn Berwick Scotland and Isobel (Elspeth) Madder b. 11 20 1719

parents of Thomas Cummings - Thomas Cummins b. 1716 VA

parents of Sarah Henry - John Henry and Sarah Winston b. 1709 Richmond VA (sister of the famous Patrick Henry "Give me liberty or give me death".

parents of James Taylor Lanman - George Taylor Landman b. 4 4 1715 and Elizabeth Taylor b. 1712 VA

parents of Sythe/Seth Blake Sommers - George Sommers/Summers b. after 1724





Seven-Greats Grand parents


parents of Benjamin Bird - Thomas Bird born around 1680 in England and Anna Benedictsdottir Stedham born around 1691 in New Castle, Wilmington, DE

parents of Benjamin Allison - Thomas Allison born around 1696 in Charles, MD and Barbara Burch born 1697 in Newport Charles MD

parents of Isobel Madder - dad George Madder

parents of Thomas Forsyth - Walter Forsyth b. 1688 or 1690 in Nenthorn Scotland and Janet Leach of Stitchell

parents of Thomas Cummins- Malachi Cummins b. 1695 Fauquier County VA and Elizabeth

parents of John Henry - Alexander Hendrie Foveran Aberdeenshire Scotland and Jean Robertson

parents of Sarah Winston - Isaac Winston b. about 1680 Hanover VA and Mary Dabney b. about 1676 Hanover VA

parents of George Taylor Landman - William Landman b. 1680 or 1689 Richmond Co VA and Catherine Thomas b. 1680 or 1693 North Farnham VA

parents of George Sommers/Summers - John Summers b. 1687 Maryland and Seth Harrison Lucas






Eight-Great Grandparents -

parents of Thomas Allison - Charles Allison born around 1663 in Charles MD and Elizabeth Posey born around 1675 in Port Tobacco Charles MD

parents of Janet Leach - Ninian Leach and Catherine Williamson

parents of Malachi Cummings - Alexander Cummins b. 12 10 1677 St. Stephen's Parish, North Cumberland Co VA and Sarah Muttoone Great Wicomico Parish VA

parents of William Landman - John Landman b. before 1673 Richmond Co VA and Jane Barrow b. before 1673 Richmond Co VA

parents of John Summers - John Summers died 1702 VA







Nine-Greats Grandparents -

parents of Charles Allison - Thomas Allanson born 10 6 1639 London Middlesex England and Mary Roberts born 1 29 1645 St. Andrew Holburn Middlesex England

parents of Alexander Cummins - William Cummins b. about 1659 St. Stephens Parish VA and Anne

parents of John Landman - William Landman b. 1647 Northumberland VA and Ann b. 1651 Richmond

parents of Jane Barrow - Jonathan Barrow b. 1647 Richmond VA




Ten-Greats Grandparents -

parents of William Cummins - Nicholas Cummins b. 1636 England and Elizabeth Hooper b. 1635 St. Stephen's Parish VA

parents of William Landman - John Landman Northumberland VA and Mabel b. 1618 Northumberland


Eleven-Greats Grandparents -

parents of Nicholas Cummins - Nicholas Comins b. 1602 England and Ellen Elison b. 1610 Hampton Parish York County VA

parents of John Landman - John Landman b. 1600 VA and Mary b. 1604 VA





Twelve-Greats Grandparents -

parents of Nicholas Comins - William Cummyne b. about 1575 London England






That's about as far back as our records go for now. If anyone has any information on Viola May Ooley who married Millard Ernest Allison let me know!

Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth.
For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures,
and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.

- Francis Bacon

Catalpa Rescue

A good episode of one of my favorite TV shows: Secrets of the Dead. Airing this week.

True Sportsmanship?

Two of my brother's three kids (grades 3,4, and 5) are very good athletes, especially the boy (and the third isn't bad, either). They are very competitive in nature.

It is not like him to be what I would consider as a true sportsman because he is so into winning and being competitive that he gets upset and angry if someone doesn't play well and it hurts his team.

So, I was not at all surprised to hear my brother tell me that a few days before field day his son was standing around and clapping and saying, "Good job! Good job!" to no one in particular. My brother asked him what he was doing. "I'm practicing so I can win the Sportmanship Award on field day."

And he did.

Alegria

There has been a great deal going on at work, but since most of it isn't settled yet there isn't much to say. I don't know if I would blog about it anyway. Seniors are finished, and finals start tomorrow. Everyone is ready for summer. I am really happy we've been having cool weather, and rain has been continuing to come, alhumdooleluh.

I went to see Cirque du Soleil Alegria with my mom several years ago at The Pepsi Center. I think I had bought the tickets for Mother's Day that year or something like that. Cirque du Soleil is definitely impressive. Here is a clip from the show I saw (no, not that exact show, but you know what I mean, right?)

Super Balls!

A student at school showed me this video and I thought it was interesting:



Apparently they released a quarter million superballs down a street in San Francisco for this commercial.

As for what's going on, school is almost over. I wouldn't be tired of it and ready for summer if it were just teaching and working with the kids.

FRONTLINE: When Kids Get Life

This is appalling. Click the link and you can watch the whole episode.

This is about juvenile offenders going to jail for life without the possibility of parole. When you hear some of these stories from my own state of Colorado and realize juveniles are being sent to jail forever for snapping under a lifetime of abuse, for being present when someone else committed a crime, etc., it is so horrific and sad - and very important. There are what seem to very obvious miscarriages of justice and violations of human rights of our own kids and no one is helping them.