Remembering Kenny on his 37th Birthday

Today is my son's birthday. He would have been 37 years old.

It's one of those days where remembering him is both joyful and sad.

I have been thinking about the day he was born. How my contractions started in the early hours of October 10, 1980. 

I remember that we had to go by the place where your Dad worked to cash a check because we didn't have enough gas in our car to get to the hospital. 

I remember hitting every red light on the way there. 

I remember Sr. Mary Kay, our midwife and a Catholic nun, putting you in my arms and telling us we had son.

I remember counting your fingers and toes.

I remember the little boy who was always quick to smile and laugh.

I remember the moody teenager.

I remember the good and the bad times.

I know that you were working hard to put the bad behind you and looking to the future.

Happy Birthday, Kenny! I love and miss you every day.

Kenny's birthday celebration, c. 1987. Personal photograph of Dawn M. Kogutkiewicz

Double the Joy with Twin Boys!

 

Congratulations to my cousin Jackie and her husband Luke on the birth of their twin sons, Milo and Mika! Congratulations to my cousin Mike and his wife Kristy, Milo and Mika are their first grandchildren. Also, congratulations to my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Kenny because Milo and Mika are their 16th and 17th great grandchildren!

Dear Milo and Mika,

Welcome to the world precious little boys!

I hope you have eyes that are filled with wonder.

I hope you are as mischievous as all little boys can be. 

I hope your laughs are big belly laughs.

I hope your hearts are full of grace.

I hope you will always be each other's best friend.

I hope you will be reach for the stars and the moon and everything this world has to offer.

Most of all I hope you know just how much you are loved little ones!

Love,

Dawn

Remembering Camden

My dear sweet Camden,

You were gone before I could say hello and I love you forever, yet alone say goodbye.

Your tiny, precious little foot prints were carefully put on paper but are now imprinted on my heart.

All summer I kept seeing butterflies and dragonflies more than I have seen in a very long time. It was you who came to mind each time. You have your wings my sweet little one.

As you celebrate your first heavenly birthday I want you to know that you are always in my heart.

I take comfort in knowing that you my sweet grandson are with your Uncle Kenny.

Dede loves you!

 

Welcome to the World, Kennedy!

I am thrilled to add another leaf our Kitts line! Congratulations, to my great niece, Brittney and her husband Michael on the birth of your daughter, Kennedy who arrived in July! I am so very happy for you! 

Dear Kennedy,

Welcome to the world precious little girl! 

I hope you have eyes that are bright like starlight.

I hope you are sugar and spice but mischievous too!

I hope your laugh sounds like the tinkling of bells.

I hope your heart is full of grace.

I hope that you reach for dragonflies, lady bugs, butterflies and the wonders of the world.

Most of all, little girl I hope that you know how much you are loved!

Love,

Aunt Dawn

Top 5 Posts for Dawning Genealogy in 2016

While I didn't write as many posts as I had planned, I did have great responses to those I did post here at Dawning Genealogy! I am constantly amazed at how you my readers are always there to encourage and support me and I thank you one and all.

Here are my Top 5 Posts for 2016:

1. A List of My Favorite Websites is a list of all my favorite websites in regards to genealogy. 

2. What Else Can I Do to Prove These Are Two Different People? This is the story of two women, Victoria J Neel and Victoria Spradling. I had been told that these two women were the same person so I set out to prove that in fact they were not and could not be considering that they never crossed paths in life.

3. Check, Check and Check Again! This is a post about two men named William G. Kitts. One was born in 1838 and the other circa 1819. Everyone seemed to think that these two men were one in the same but my first clue was the year of birth discrepancy, 19 years is a big difference! 

4. Genealogy Education ~ Researching Civil War Ancestors in South Carolina in August 2015 I had the opportunity to attend a workshop at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History about researching Civil War Ancestors in South Carolina. It was very informative and gave me new sources to check for my children's paternal grandmother's line in South Carolina.

5. Are You Having Problems Finding Your Favorite Blogs? This post was about an issue with Google and their requirement for readers of Google/Blogspot blogs to have a Google account.

Here are my 3 Favorite Posts for 2016:

1. Happy Father's Day My post for Father's Day for the three most important men in my life, my Dad, my husband, Tommy and my son, David.

2. Movin' On Up! My post congratulating my son on a new job and the next adventure in his life.

3. Monday's With Easton # 6 My last post about Monday's with Easton! Once his ear infections cleared up he was back at daycare and keeping him in a routine was vital for Mommy and Daddy! However, that doesn't mean I won't be writing about my Doodlebug in the future!  

 

A Look Back at 2016 and My Plans for 2017

Wow, 2016 seems to have flown by at a pretty good clip! I remember as a kid thinking that a year moves very slowly and wondering if the time would speed up when I was an adult, boy did it ever! 

Last year, I set seven short term goals for 2016 and while I didn't meet all of these goals I still feel that I accomplished a lot. Here are the goals I set for myself last year.

My Goals for 2016

1. Begin the NGS's American Genealogical Studies program no later than April 2016. NOT MET and I have postponed starting until this year.
2. Find more genealogy webinars and/or programs that are going to help me reach my goal of becoming a Certified Genealogist. DONE. But more are needed in my opinion.
3. Progress from writing for one blog to two. DONE. 
4. Contribute 2 to 3 posts about family for both blogs. Not including already set weekly and/or daily posts. DONE. However, not to my satisfaction and because of things "popping" in my biological family tree my weekly posts fell to the wayside.
5. Plan for at least one cemetery research trip close to home. DONE. I visited 3 cemeteries on a trip to Charleston.
6. Plan for at least one research trip for this year. Ideally I would like to plan at least one out of state and maybe 3 or 4 small day trips that are close to home. STARTED but not completed. I started with a trip to Charleston and then drove Savannah for a death certificate!
7. Add one new series of posts. That would be my "Remembering Those From the Past for the Future" inspired by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen and Ryan Kelly. I will publish these posts once a month. NOT MET. This was one I really wanted to do but found to be the most difficult. I have several half written posts about my son Kenny but the writing and the memories lead to a lot of tears that it makes it difficult to write. 

As you can see, two of my goals were not met. I did manage to meet five of them even though I feel I could have done better. I had intended my series, "Remembering Those From the Past for the Future" to be about my son Kenny so that his nephew, Easton (and any siblings he may have in the future) would be from my heart and how much he was loved. Unfortunately, even after nearly 17 years it is still painful. Trying to write through my tears when I can't see the keyboard proves to be difficult. I have decided to expand the scope of the series to write about other family members in the hope that Easton and company will learn about their ancestors from the memories of myself and others.

Another project I am instituting for both of my blogs is an idea I found on Facebook from a radio station in Columbus, Ohio known as 104.9 The River. You begin with an empty jar (the example shows a quart size Ball Mason Jar) and the goal is to fill the jar once a week with a note of something good that happened during that week. Then on New Year's Eve 2017, you read each of the notes to see what an amazing year you have had. I have decided to do this from a genealogical perspective to see what I can accomplish in one year doing genealogy. I have one really big candy jar that I will be using and I have chosen to use one color for Dawning Genealogy and one for Scarlet and Dawn.

In addition to the two projects listed above as my goals for 2017, I also have the following goals for 2017:

1. Begin the NGS's American Genealogical Studies program before the end of 2017.
2. Continue to find webinars, classes, books and other materials to reach my goal of becoming a certified genealogist.
3. Write at least 1 or 2 posts per week for each blog.
4. Plan at least 2 research day trips and 2 cemetery research day trips.

These are my honorable intentions for the coming year and I hope that next year I can write "DONE" next to all of them! What are your goals for 2017?