I wanted to take a moment and thank the family who made George possible. There are some I could not find photos of but I was able to get my parents Salinas mom and my 4 grand parents. Then I found on my moms side where George A comes form where his name is from Great, Great great, and great great great grandparents of George!
I have been putting this off. Seeing it makes it real. I sure do miss my Aunt Sue. My friend Mark made these for us for the service which was lovely:) We have had too many family funerals in 2011. Each is sad because I miss seeing them here and now. Aunt Sues was especially life changing as my world had to go on without my buddy. 
I have been thinking about our family and the callings they have held in church. It gives us courage to know that we were not the first in our family to have the blessing to serve. Also I thought it would be nice to have a record of our own assignments. We are lucky to have support from both sides of our family in giving service. After all-- our time and everything we have is not our own, we owe all we have to God. I wish I knew or remembered more but here is what i recall right now.
Sometimes when I feel a little stretched thin I remember my roots. I never knew my Grandma Scharrier as she died the year before I was born. I have heard wonderful stories about her all of my life and I adore her two children. My Grandpa Scharrier I saw on an old video a few days back holding and talking to my little brother on Thanksgiving the year he was one. It would have been shortly before his stroke when He had a voice. I miss him. Then i think about my dad. He was larger than life and full of adventure. All of this helps me make it through the roller coaster of Aunt Sue.
My mom just called me. It is the pitch of her vocie that alerts my emotions that she has bad news. I have had too many similar calls in my life from her with the news that another family member or friend has died. She is always composed but errie somehow. I can hear the pain in her voice as her third sibling dies all alone and lays there unnoticed for days. I try to reassure her that God lives and loves each of us and they were not alone. That angles attended them, that grandma and grandpa were there maybe too. That is when she falls apart, after she knows I am OK. She loved her brother. He had a very hard life. He was rough around the edges. I loved my uncle. He was hard to be close with. He was sometimes scary due to addicitons that morphed him into almost an unrecognizable man. But I had memories from my childhood before he totally withdrew. I know his smile and his love for music and family. I know his wit and how he was cursed with superior intellgence. I see how he is very much a part of our quirky family. The way he celebrated Halloween with the elaborate pumpkins, they way he called me butterfingers as I have no sports talent at all. How he loved talking to Scott about fishing and how he told me when I married Scott that Grandpa would love him as Scott reminded him of Grandpa. I cherish the stories from his childhood of his imagination and love of the outdoors. Esther just found him, plans are not yet set. The joy for me is I know he is no longer in great physical pain nor is he suffering from all the ghosts that haunted his past. He no longer is missing all the loved ones who have gone on before him. He is now going to have the chance to heal and find rest.
There has been several sad baby news in our little church. 2 families have buried their little tiny babies. I went with Scott to comfort the mothers and it was heart breaking. One looked so lost and sad in her eyes. I started to get really scared for the others who were close to delivery or had babies under 4 in our church. I can't imagine burying a child. There is no word in the English language for a parent who loses a child. Why? I think it is the worst death and loss. We call children without parents orphans; we call spouses without each other widows. We should have a word for that loss. I know the deaths in our family circle of children-- leave a hole that just is not totally mended. I guess you never really get over a death- why would you want to get over someone. But time does heal and life goes on. But where a child is gone there is a sadness that lasts- no matter the age. My moms cousin was shot by accident while they were all playing, he was a teenager; everyone is still sad. The other ones are even more sad... and the parents never quite the same. I know the pain that so may who planned to have children feel. I know that Christ will right all wrongs and pains but I think that we may have to wait until the next life for some of the answers, some of the healing. The good news is 5 friends have had health babies this year. My friend had to have an emergency C-section last week and the baby was sent to another hospital for the NICU help, but he is getting stronger and he is darling. We keep praying. Now his mommy is in the ICU. We are going to go and see her:(
I found this old photo of my uncle Dave. I had never seen it before. He really reminds me of myself in looks, and a few of my cousins. Kelly and Tom the most. I don't ever remember seeing him a suit. He was always a band member to me. Kind of like a hippie. He has had a tragic life. He did just have a reunion with the little girl in the photo-- who is his daughter whom I have never even met. I never met the wife either. I did get to have Aunt Esther-- who was wonderful, and cousin Rachel who was the best. But it is sad how one choice can effect so many people and one painful memory can effect your entire life. I guess forgiveness really is very most important for the one holding the grudge or hurt. That is the next lesson I am teaching on Mother's Day. It is a powerful lesson but hard to really grasp. It is easy to say forgive and forget. It is another thing entirely to do just that. I know that if I want forgiveness I must forgive. I have felt how awesome the healing can feel when I allow Christ to mend aches and sorrow. Imagine if everyone could really allow Christ to heal them. It would be AWESOME. Life would be sweet.
I love to collect happy marriage stories and examples. If you look for them they are easy to find. One of them is Trudy and Al. They were sweethearts from the get go. Trudy is a feisty loving New York lady. She teaches me things like "When you gotta go-- go. Nevah hold it." and "it doesn't matter what you think it matters how they feel." Trudy married Uncle Al Charrier. Trudy was a foster child. Trudy loved life and Al. I found out that Trudy is dying. I hate cancer. I know that we will see each other again but I miss them in this life, now. I ache for Al. He sounds really lost and lonely. She didn't know him today at hospice. It all seemed to happen really fast. They don't even know what kind of cancer it is. I loved listening to her. I loved teasing her and listening to stories about my dad, Aunt Sue, my 
Grandparents and how much she loved Al. I'm glad to have had her in my heart and life growing up. I'm glad that she and Al had a successful marriage. The down side is it makes separation almost unbearable. I hope Al will be OK, he is amazing. He is the most fit man of his age I know. He loves to walk and we love to talk to Uncle 
Al. I think he is the most handsome of the Charriers, my dad always thought so too. The are only one month apart and lived together for many years. My dad adored Al. It is fun to be a Scharrier because there is so much love. I cried listening to Aunt Sue console Al by phone "it will be OK darling." They are all so sweet on each other-- it is wonderful to belong. Al would love for Anthony to change the Scharrier back to the real spelling of Charrier. My dad wanted to do it but he was FRUGAL, and never spent the money. Anthony wonders if he should change his name before he has kids. I hope he has kids so the Scharrier name lives on. I'm sick about Trudy... she will really be missed in out family and our hearts.
I have been blogging about the loves of my life. There are many loves of my life. I even made an album of the 
top 20. I am including them here but I wish you could see how cute the pages turned out. This is one of the photos that surfaced when I stared family history. It is my dad and one of my older siblings. The other photo is my great uncle and second cousin in Germany. Her name is Astrid and she came to America for a visit recently. I love family and I love history so I don't know why I didn't get started sooner. 
Scott Travel with Scott
Temples and Family History
Prayer and Priesthood
Beach Club with Scott and our Epcot/ DW tours
This is my cute cousin Kelly. We looked alike when we were little. People thought we were twins. He has an awesome wife who is one of my best friends and heroes. He has a son that looks like me, and he is like me. He can't smell, he likes acting and reflections contests. Stevie has an overactive imagination-- just like me. He is also very sensitive and loves family-- just like me.
