Abram

Ms Katie and Abram are twins.

The story says that Ms Katie and Abram were born in a hospital in Niverville, close to the farm and the summer kitchen where the rest of the family lived. Abram was born first - a seven pound boy. Ms Katie was a tiny surprise at just over two pounds. The doctor said she wouldn't live. Oma took her home and cared for her as best she could. Ms Katie slept in a bread pan close to the oven door to stay warm. Drops of milk kept her nourished until she could nurse.

The doctor was wrong, Ms Katie is alive and well; Abram died shortly after birth. His grave on the farm was marked with a small, white picket fence.

I wonder what Abram would be like...
Would he have the glint of trouble in his eyes like Uncle Jack?
Would he have Mary's sense of humor?
John's quick laugh?
Harry's heart of kindness and compassion?
Or Ms Katie's artsy creativity?
I wonder...

Abram Penner
born and died
August 4, 1927

It is not easy...

...being an immigrant.

Ms Katie's parents, my Oma and Opa, were immigrants from Russia to Canada in the early 1920's, aound the time of the Russian civil war. I grew up hearing the stories of persecution, violence, traveling by night, family members disappearing, illness and finally freedom. Early in our journey, Ms Katie's niece handed us a bag of papers that her mom, Ms Katie's sister, had given her.

Treasures!! There are passports, immigration cards, letters and naturalization papers all with names, dates and birthplaces that I have never heard or seen before and much of it in Russian. There are many questions loudly rattling around in my brain - why did you leave when you did, how did you prepare, how many miles did you walk, how long did it take, who or how many were lost on the way and who are still in Russia...

As Ms Katie and I drove through Manitoba we saw the name signs of familiar towns and the stories of old family history began again.

Oma's brother immigrated first, several years earlier. He settled on a farm in Manitoba and raised chickens. Lots of chickens. Thousands of chickens! When Oma and Opa arrived in Canada, they and Ms Katie's five older siblings lived in the summer kitchen. A summer kitchen is a small, one room out building designed to be a kitchen and nothing else. So, here is a family of seven, with two more on the way, struggling, destitute, dependent on the grace of others, deciphering a new language and culture, grateful to be alive and working toward becoming independent once again. It takes years. It is not easy to be an immigrant.

I remember as a child playing on this farm with Ms Katie's cousins children; running, scaring chickens, eating fresh eggs and homemade sausage, listening to stories - some in English, some not and never knowing until now that this is the farm where Ms Katie and her twin brother, Abram, were born!

Catching up

It has been a long time since the last post.

Ms Katie and I have been busy. We spent the last weeks reconnecting with family and friends including several days in Winnipeg visiting family and friends. While it is all very good it is also very difficult.

Ms Katie has many friends in MN. She was able to see many of then at a luncheon - I have to say the lunch of senior women was loud, loud and more loud!! There was lots of conversation and laughter between women who don't get to see each other very often! It is so good to hear it all!! It is difficult because there are those who were missing because of illness and others who are already gone.

I'm reconnecting too...
Linda from gradeschool,
Dawn from junior high,
Colleen, Beth, Judy, Shelly from high school. We have shared stories from the past years - many, many of the good ones and the ones that break hearts. We have also shared the dreams and schemes for the future!!

The time in Winnipeg included meeting the next generation of family members!! More second and third cousins! All wonderfully cute and rambunctious!! And it included hospital time with family who are ill. Prayers for a cousin who faces a long and difficult recovery.

Time keeps passing...
...and more stories are being written.