Merry Christmas Ann!! We of the Job family do indeed thank you for all the great work and dedication you have given to the Job family history!! Thank you, without those like you, we would not know!! God's Blessings to you!! Char ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Ann (Jobe) Brown" <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [JOB] Merry Christmas! Date: Fri, 24 Dec 2004 07:54:01 -0500 Trust everyone has enjoyed the letters that were posted and hope that more will share their memories or at least their wishes and greetings to the rest of us. We on the Job list, have become family, not only by blood, our common surname, but by our love of sharing, our caring and concerns for each other. I hear from so many of you privately. The archives don't always give a 'full view' of the list and its members and the behind the scenes. Each and every one of you are SPECIAL to me and in the coming year I do hope to get to actually meet several of you in person. This has been a dream of mine for some time. What I want everyone to know is that Christmas time can bring back memories of all sorts and it a time that we reflect on or remember the most for years to come - whether it be joyous or sorrowful But remember the sorrows are only for a 'season' - they do pass and once again are intermingled with the happy occasions of childhood, when our children were young or watching our grandchildren. And as you can see, it isn't money or riches, but the 'little things', 'family love or love for a neighbour or friend' that really matters. It is also the time when someone is most likely to have a camera around. I knew when I asked everyone to 'write their Christmas story' or to interview a Job(e) descendant and record their memories that for some this would be a difficult task. And believe me, for me, it was one of the hardest things that I've ever done. But it was also a time of 'healing' and also 'remembering some of the 'little things' that I had forgotten. In some of those pictures in the late 70's, when I look so sad and 'far away', my children are smiling and laughing. In some of those early pictures in Texas, even as a child, I was smiling. I had forgotten about decorating the house with garland, the cards that I received and put on the wall. Though I cropped some of this when I posted the pictures, I still saw it. So you see, I wrote the 'story' the way that I remember it now, and then I looked for pictures and the pictures also 'revealed some Christmas memories, that were there, but I, overshadowed with the grief, etc, at the time, that I had truly forgotten them. When I started this, actually I had no intention of writing my own story. Some of the memories were just too painful, but then I thought, how could I ask my cousins on the list to do what I wasn't ready to do myself, - so I said, okay - one paragraph will be my story. As you can see that paragraph turned into a journey and eventually 7 parts filled with MANY MANY PICTURES - all going back and forth - showing the 'different seasons' that my life brought. I'm so happy that I've gotten to know you and we have become family. Just never realized how 'big' and 'caring' the Job(e) family actually is. Used to think that there were only a few of us - but we are a HUGE family. Whether you're part of Job(e) Legacy, Job(e) Branches, Job(e) Twigs or Job(e) Leaves or the Jobs/Jobes spelling - each and every one of you, I wish you a Merry CHRISTmas and the best of health, friends, love, and 'searching' in 2005. Ann (Jobe) Brown ==== JOB Mailing List ==== Not an Andrew Job Sr (1620-1699)descendant, then see: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ajobebrown/jobe/notandrew.html ============================== Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx