Family Friday: Bill and Kid Speed

So-- inspired by other bloggers such as Big Mama
who has a fashion Friday which I l-o-v-e and Vicki Courtney
who has a Flashback Friday, I am instituting Family Friday. I have always had a big interest in genealogy, old family stories, and just a love of my family in general-- as much as they may think-- she's crazy, she gives us such a hard time-- no, really I love you all like crazy! So-- I will try to write each Friday on some aspect of family whether it be past, present, or future.

Today I am starting with William "Bill" Frederick Spell and Keziah "Kid" Spell. I have never met them, they are/were my Grandpa's grandparents. He spent a lot of time with them as his own father left when he was 2 and he and his sisters spent lots of time rotating between living with his mother and their grandparents. The Spells are good keepers of family history. Lots has been recorded within the family. They even have a very cool website that has some great stuff on it: recipes, old songs Kid sang, memories, as well as some well-documented family history. I've read some of it before. I was reading it again when a few things really popped out at me. I had just finished reading Beth Moore's Breaking Free that talked about breaking free from generational sin but also cherishing legacies passed down. So, in short, keeping the best and trashing the worst. Good thing to do, I say! Beth even has you record what you have gained from each side and how to evaluate it for your own life. Now-- that is a list you will never see here! =)

On to the legacy I want to record today. It seems that Bill and Kid were extremely involved in their churches. Bill held many leadership roles and even helped begin the Union Church in Covington , Co. Mississippi. From the recorded family history they not only held leadership positions but they truly loved their Lord.

Here is an inspiring and bold speech made "..the most embarrassing feature found in connection with the Sunday School work was the need of bold, fearless, Christian teachers whose moral and Christian characters were above reproach. Teachers who, regardless of blame or praise, would seek to fashion young immortal souls after the image of Him who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

I love this! He was not afraid to take people to task especially in the Biblical teaching of children. Hooray for Bill. I think I have inherited a bit of that getting up on the "soap box"-- ask anyone. But I'd like to think I also stand up for what is right.

Both Kid and Bill were known to have good voices and could sing very well. That certainly didn't get passed down to me, wish it had. But I will take this-- I will praise the Lord with the voice I have!

Here's my favorite part:
Kid was known for having a spicy temperament, and a well stocked cupboard, especially the "tea cake jar".-- Now this I can relate to!

And this:
Granny was a high-spirited young lady, full of fun. It was always told that she rode a horse to "Midway Soldier Station" and danced 'til she wore holes in the bottoms of her shoes.

This may be my favorite by Frazier Vaughn, one of their grandchildren, my Grandpa's cousin:

"After Grandpa died, one of us Vaughn boys would have to go down and sleep at Granny's every night. We would take turns. We would sleep in the little room off the front porch. Uncle Tom and Granny each had a bed in the big room. Granny was really spoiled. If she wanted a drink of water during the night, she would call to us to get it. She wouldn't drink water that was already in the bucket, she wanted fresh water drawn from the well. And we'd get it, too."

Just before I read this, I had been repeatedly asking Brett to get up and get me water, not just tap water, I wanted the filtered water. Oh, man did he get a kick out of this when he read it. I guess I need not be as spoiled as ol' Granny Kid, huh? From now on I will get my own water. (Brett, please don't hold me to this!)

So-- all in all, I am so thankful to the legacy that Bill and Kid impart: to stand up for what is right, praise the Lord and work for His glory, and to love life.

I am guessing that picture of them doesn't do them justice, huh!