Thanksgiving for Our “Family Tree”

As I look forward to our family gathering on Thanksgiving this year, I am filled with thankfulness when consider all the past circumstances that have clicked into place to make us “family.”  Like the pin tumblers on a lock that fall into place only in response to the right door key, so is the myriad of choices and circumstances that have unfolded to bring our family into existence.

The analogy of a “family tree” becomes more meaningful the more I think of it.  Like a large tree, our family has both branches and roots that have grown during the last fifty years since Abby and I were married on June 14, 1969.  We thank God for His salvation by grace through Jesus’s obedient sacrifice that has given us both Life in Him.  Then, He allowed circumstances to bring us together as students on the campus of Malone College.  Two first-born’s, each with our own self-centered wills and priorities, could never have “become one” and “remained one” for over one-half century without God’s grace and mercy.  Yet, Christ spanned the infinite gulf between God’s holiness and our sinful separation to redeem us, purchasing our forgiveness (Titus 2: 11-14).  Because of His loving sacrifice, we see the gulf of our differences as tiny and manageable as we lean on our Savior for our daily needs.

Our marriage has also produced a family tree with two wonderful branches, a son, Bradley Allen, and a daughter, Melinda Maetta.  They eventually married and their loved ones will now take their places at our Thanksgiving table.  As we gather this year, I realize that our two branches have grown and branched more to form a wonderfully diverse “international family” representing numerous nationalities.   But, in order to appreciate our international family, let’s refer to our “roots” derived from our parents and grandparents.

Abby and I understand that her grandmother, Alva Mae (Kennedy) Bright, was one-fourth Native American, representing the Cherokee Nation of western North Carolina.   Alva married John E. Bright who was of English descent.  They settled and raised ten children in East Tennessee near their places of birth.  Alva’s oldest daughter, Marietta Bright, married Ralph Moser who was of German descent.  Marietta bore seven daughters, the oldest being Alvadell (“Abby”).

My grandfather, Earl Bauders, was a descendent of British and Irish lineages.  When Earl who was an Englishman “came courting” my grandmother, Naoma Troyer, he had a challenging time earning the trust and respect of her family.  The Troyer’s were part of the Amish culture of Holmes County, Ohio.  The Amish are of Swiss German Anabaptist origin.  Earl and Naoma’s daughter, Esther Mae Bauders, married my father, Bert Silvius, who was of German descent.  Although I have not explored Silvius genealogy back to the Revolutionary War era, the Silvius family is rumored to have come to America during the late 1700’s.  The Silvius’s may have been among the Hessians who fought against the Continental Army led by George Washington at Valley Forge.

Large trees depend upon hundreds of miles of roots!  Each major tree root is anchored and nourished by untold numbers of tiny roots and rootlets extending throughout the soil.  Likewise, our current family tree is rooted in a myriad of past choices, marriages, and circumstances that God has allowed to occur among our ancestors representing many nations and tribes that Abby and I have never met. 

If we are all able to gather together on Thanksgiving this year, the two branches that God allowed Abby and I to form; Bradley and Melinda, will have brought additional international flavor to our table.  Brad’s wife, Raquel, came to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Rio Grande do sul, the southern-most state of Brazil, South America.  According to historical records, Rio Grande do sul has had a gaucho culture like neighboring Argentina and Uruguay, and has since been influenced by Portuguese, German, and Italian immigrants.

Meanwhile, Melinda, married Steve Salyers.  The Salyers name is traceable to Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain.  The Salyers may have come to America in response to religious and political persecution.  Melinda and Steve have three children, Caleb, Kiara, and Della Rose.  This year Caleb and his new bride, Gurvinder Mahi Salyers, will be the latest couple to form in our family.  Gurvinder (“Soni”) was born in America, a daughter of parents who emigrated from India.

And so, this Thanksgiving, our gathering will represent the newest branches of our “family tree” rooted in a wonderfully diverse international heritage and branching outward and upward in ways that only our Sovereign God can foreknow.  Abby and I thank God for His provision of our marriage and family, and we pray and hope for HIs blessing and provision for our offspring. 


Know that YAHWEH Himself is God;
It is He who has made us,
and not we ourselves;
We are His people
and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
And His courts with praise. 
Give thanks to Him;
bless His name.   – Psalm 100: 3-4