Family, The Best Front Porch, and a Surprise!

Hi everyone,

We just got back from a family reunion in Iowa. My sister flew from San Diego to our house, then we all flew into St Louis, MO and drove 2.5 hours to our Airbnb. We had such a great time but the only souvenir I brought back was a cold.

We stayed in the small town of Hamilton, Illinois which was right across the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa. My grandma grew up in Keokuk, and the reunion was about 45 minutes north of there, in the tiny town of Salem, Iowa where a lot of our family live.

The house we stayed in overlooked the Mississippi, and the Keokuk Locks. Deb and I spent a lot of time out on that porch.

The weather was hot - in the upper 90's and the humidity, oh my word! It was hard to be outside in the mid-afternoon. We were so thankful the reunion was in the Community center. It was a smaller group than the two previous times we've been there but it was so good to reconnect with everyone. 

So many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews I didn't know I had!

A few weeks ago one of my nieces sent me photo of a huge mural they had just completed so Deb and I just had to get our pictures taken in front of it!

We went out for breakfast one of the days we were there. Hawkeyes Restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Keokuk. We eat there every time we go!

We got to see the house where our grandma Neota lived for a short time. This house was standing in the early 1900's and people still live in it today! Being a 'west coaster' my whole life where things are newer, this just blows me away.

My grandma was the second of seven, and her mom died two weeks after giving birth to her youngest brother. Her dad couldn't take care of them so he put the baby up for adoption, and her aunt (her mom's sister) took in the kids and cared for them for quite a few months. But she had kids of her own and realized she wasn't going to be able to keep them long-term. It broke her heart to give them up but they went to live at White's Institute.

The article says it was a home "for orphaned children to receive a religious education." My grandma and her siblings are on the far left. (Someone put check marks on the photo.)

These are photos of my grandma and her brothers and sisters, taken at the Institute. My grandma is the one in the dark dress.

In this photo my grandma is on the far left.

She rarely talked about her childhood. I knew she grew up in an 'orphanage' but that was all. I can only imagine what it was like for her.

After they grew up, three of them went to California, including my grandma and they didn't see each other for many years. Of those that stayed in Iowa, the oldest sister married and had 4 kids, but died fairly young. One of the other sisters married that man and became step-mom to her sister's kids.

It's a story filled with tragedy but also a deep love for one another.

And this picture? The lady in the gray sweater is the daughter of the baby that was put up for adoption. The woman in green is the wife of that baby's brother. They're in-laws but Betty and Margaret act more like sisters. What a treasure to spend time with them each year.

The day after the reunion we went to Margaret's to sit out on their back porch, then she and her daughter showed us around town.

Our last night there, Deb and I were sitting on the front porch watching the sunset when she noticed something out in the grass.

Fireflies!! I've never seen fireflies before! We called Chuck and Beth out and we sat on that porch for over an hour just watching them. It was incredible! I was able to get a few videos too. (I've never been able to get videos to play on Blogger but I may try to post one later.) It was amazing! We don't have them out here so this was quite a surprise. I loved it! It was a perfect way to end our trip to the midwest!