Planning Team Letter - July 30, 2012

  

 KONSELA COUSINS GATHERING

 Saturday, August 18, 2012

Dear Cousins,

Welcome to all of you who have signed up for the Konsela Cousins Gathering!!! We have in store for us a whole day to see cousins again—those we know and those we don’t know. And there is no other purpose for the day than having fun getting to know each other. The great philosopher, Plato (428-347 BC) said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” If you think you don’t know anyone, you soon will.

“Great and well planned family gatherings aren’t just magic for a day,” said someone.First, there is the anticipation of it. Those of us who view the BLOG can vouch for theanticipation it creates, thanks to Beverly Thoma Keltner, our personal Konsela Cousins BLOGmaster. For those of us planning, it has been many months of unbelievable fun, working together, getting to know each other with all our strengths and foibles and senses of humor, etc. After all is over, the day will provide a bank of memories for each person to store, mull over and talk about for many days and years to come.  We extend a special welcome to the younger cousins. We want you to know that you too, are “blood”. You are the children of our aunts and uncles who were a big part of our lives and whom we saw often in the early years and less often in the more recent years. For your and everyone’s benefit all cousins will be wearing a name tag with notonly their name, but the names of their parents. This will help you to know something about everyone immediately. We want all our Konsela cousins with us on that day.  If you haven’t joined us yet by making arrangements for the day and sending in your money, please do so as soon as possible. It is now time for us to pay our bills, order the right amount of food and see what we have left for necessary incidentals. Check out the “See Who’s Coming” tab of the BLOG to see who is already signed up. If you have a sibling who hasn’t paid up yet, let them know that now is the time. We are not planning to handle money on the 18th. We want money matters taken care of ahead of that day--now, at this time--so the day will go smoothly and we will have the entire timeto spend with all of you, our cousins.

An exception is welcome. If you thought you or your Significant Other couldn’t come and find at the last minute you can come, please feel welcome. In all other cases, please help us out by signing up now.

At the Gathering each family has a tripod with a 20" x 30" poster board. On it will be an 8 ½” x 11” Family Chart. It is up to you to add your Parent’s wedding picture and other old pictures, letters, etc. Each of you and your siblings might choose to make a Family chart with your children. Let us know if you want a blank chart. Part of around table is also given to each family to exhibit memorabilia, pictures, old letters, artifacts you have kept, such as a quilt, pen, lantern, purse, dish, knick-knack, doily, pillow case, hammer, game, deck of cards, etc. Now is the time to huddle with your siblings to see what you can find in your collective attics and closets that you can display on your table. We want full tables for all the cousins to view as they move from table to table to see what wonders each family has brought. Also, the most interesting and informative table will be “recognized”.  You might consider reading the letters we sent you earlier for reminders of what to bring on that day. If you can’t find them or the dog chewed them up; find the old letters from the planning team on the home page of the BLOG. E.g. bring your camera and your parents’ wedding picture.

It is now 3 weeks to the event. Are all your siblings’ names in red on the BLOG? Ifyou know of anyone who needs encouragement to come, please give it to them. If they need help with getting on to the BLOG, please let us know so we can help them.  It would be good if everyone has seen the blog and its contents prior to the gathering so we all know what everyone else is talking about. We now have over 35 cousins signed up. That is over 50%!!! Watch this tab on the BLOG to see the percentage of numbers increase.

Watch also for new information on the BLOG. Our 2nd cousin, and in some of our cases, our nephew, Joe Heath has, by exception, been given blogging privileges due to his expertise in researching our ancestry. He has proven himself to be avery industrious, reliable and willing source of information, posting rare and very old documents, piecing together boat lists, village census’ and information from many other sources—all for our information and edification and in honor of the Konsela Cousins

Gathering. Please acknowledge him by your comments on his posts. Let him know you are following his posts. My hunch is that one day we will see Joe in print. And more power to him. Good work, Joe.

See also, the list of prizes to be given away on that day. If you wish to add to that list, let us know. The program for the day will be posted soon. Tune in to learn of a special guest, another resource of our more recent ancestry who will speak to us as a group as well as be available for individual conversations and questions.

Here is a very beautiful quotation. See it also on the Planning Team tab of the BLOG:

A family reunion can be a very personal and privileged gathering. A good way to learn to love our relatives is to spend time together in well-planned family reunions. If you have never organized your family for a reunion, start now - you will receive joy far beyond your expectations. Yes, there will be discouragements. Some family members will say they don't have time or that they are too busy.  But the rewards more than compensate for the discouragements. --Alma Heaton (Alma sounds like a woman’s name, doesn’t it? He’s male, and an interesting person. See more about him by clicking on this link: 
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1975/06/really-getting-togetheryour-familyreunion?lang=eng

If you would like to help, please contact us. We would like help before the day, on the day and when the day is over. See the “Volunteer Tab” on the BLOG for where we’d like help. You will also see our list of prizes on this tab.

Given our tight budget we invite you to bring finger edibles and/or traditional or favoritedesserts such as poppy seed coffee cakes, bars, cookies, etc. Consider this invitation to bring something at your convenience. We welcome these extras for the afternoon and evening snacking.

Thank you to those who have already signed up. You truly have given us encouragement and hope for the day. What started out in our minds as a thought is soon to manifest for us and for those of the 66 Konsela First Cousins who are living.  We look forward to seeing all of you on August 18, 2012.  Again, know that your generous sharing of yourself on this day will make the Konsela Cousins Gathering enjoyable, fun and memorable for all.

Your cousins,

Barb Pasala

C-1-630-529-0590 barbpasala@gmail.com

 Gene Pogreba

H-1-630-932-7432

C-1-630-564-4547 genepat@comcast.net

Marge Nicolai

C-1-715-797-6971 mnicolai55@gmail.com

Mary Jane Konsela

H-1-651-771-8768 mkonsela@myexcel.com