Reflections of My Soul
Books 1 and 2
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I am thankful that I took a lot of time in the beginning to do some investigating in the bible, Irish history and history of our family names, the Boland’s and Donlon’s. I had done a lot of investigating our family names since 1995 so I felt I could not find much more than what I knew. I did a little more on Irish history but must say I spent quite a bit of time on our family bible. I was amazed what I found in the first ten pages of Genesis, read them over many times and did a lot of thinking about it as I had never thought about what I read so much before. I checked on the number of years that were involved from the time God made Adam and Eve until Christ was born; I thought it was more years than it actually was. It was 6,140 years ago, this year 2012, that God made Adam & Eve. What to me was most interesting was what happened after Noah set down on land and started to rebuild life here on earth and after 350 years the population was quite large. Here was where they were going to build “The Tower of Babel.” According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where they resolved to build a city with a tower "with its top in the heavens...lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth." God came down to see what they did and said: "They are one people and have one language, and nothing will be withholding from them which they purpose to do." So God said, "Come, let us go down and confound their speech." And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel "because God there confounded the language of all the Earth."(Genesis 11:5-8). I feel that we have all the different countries, languages and cultures of the world as we see them today because God gave them these different languages and different ways of communicating with one another. So to trace where we came from we need to investigate where our families originated from and go with what we find as far back as we can go with the tools we have today. How many of us have ever given any thought to the “Tower of Babel” that literally changed the world to all the different cultures we have today? That is why we have so many different cultures, languages and beliefs we have today. Have you ever given any thought to the “Tower of Babel”? Do other countries ever think of how this event changed everyone’s lives from that day forward? I found this one of the most profound unknowns before I started writing “Reflections of My soul.” I hope after reading this that it may give you some different views on all of our lives. Here is the picture of the Tower of Babel. Just thought it may help you to remember an event that changed everyone’s lives from that day forward. Joseph William Boland 2485 Londin Lane E. #123, Maplewood, Minnesota 55119
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
We all have been told that “Our Eyes are the Windows of our Soul.” I have tried to recall events in my life and tell all I could remember in this book. First I investigated where we came from and found in the Bible, that God was not happy with all people from Noah’s family at the “Tower of Babel.” So God said, “Come, let us go down and confound their speech.” And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel “because God there confounded the language of all the Earth.”(Genesis 11:5-8). Some scientists believe that only part of the world flooded, I am sure now that all of the earth flooded as we know “All things are possible with God”. I wondered all my life how all the different races, languages, colors of people came to be and never really gave it much thought until I read the above information in the bible. Being of Irish decent, I have no idea where the Irish came from, much like so many of us. So in the year of 2012, after reading more of Genesis, I found it is 6,140 years ago God made Adam. I tried to remember events that happened by year or groups of years to come up with the events in my life and my families lives from 1932 – 2012. I am sure anyone could do the same with a little effort. Joseph W. Boland
About the Author
The books title is "Reflections of My Soul", so it is about my life and what I have seen and done over the past 80 years, so I think that should qualify me to write this book. I was born in Elkader, Iowa in January, 1932 and spent the first 11 years living on a small acreage during the Depression in the early 30's. Our family’s life would be classified by today’s standards as living in poverty. We moved to town in 1943 where we had plumbing, electricity, water in our faucets & a bathroom in place of an outhouse. I went to a Catholic school until I graduated in 1950, then two years of Catholic College. Work and funds kept me from going back to college and I was classified as "4-F" for military service. Went to work at a Meat Packing House for 10 months then on to Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids Iowa to work & learned the "EAM" (Electric Accounting Machines) as a trade. I met my wife Patti & we got married in November, 1954. Moved to St Paul, Minnesota went to work for "3M Company" for 13 years. During this time my wife and I adopted a 3-1/2 year daughter and a year later a 3-1/2 year old boy, both were mixed race. Went to work for Bemis Company, Inc. in Minneapolis in 1967, built a new home in 1969, and raised our children. Our daughter married in 1985 and had 4 children. Our son never married but had a son who grew up with his mother in California. Our son was an alcoholic and still is to this day; also his son is an alcoholic & had adopted one daughter and had another of his own but left his wife in 1999. I retired in 1995 and my wife and I moved to Ft. Myers Beach, Florida in 2000 for 11 years. My wife became quite ill with scared lungs in 2008 and we moved back to Minnesota in 2011 and she died from not being able to breathe on 08-13-2011. I moved from the care center we lived in 7 months and purchased a condo in Maplewood, Minnesota and that is where I reside. During our lifetime both my wife and I did a lot of volunteering in many organizations. We also did a lot of traveling during our life time. We both helped the church we belonged to for 50+ years. Today I go to "Mass" at a Catholic church daily and have for over 17 years. I have helped at church in many ways. I now have very numb legs with neuropathy and can only walk a block or so in a day because of pain. I cannot stand in one spot more than 5 minutes because of the pain and wobbling. I live lone and take care of my condo and all the cooking. I have had migraine headaches all of my life even as a small child. My mother had the same headaches and take medications to try and prevent them. I still enjoy working and talking with people at church but cannot do much work unless it is a job where I can sit. I maintain Family Histories of the Boland Family and several others. I have 212 nieces & nephews so you can see our families were large. In the book I have just written I show all 212 of them in several pages with their faces and names. I thank God each day for all the gifts He has given me and that I make use of those gifts wherever I am as long as I live and hope my children and their children do the same as long as they live. God has always been the most important person in my life and always will be. That was one thing I learned from my 2 years at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa in `1950 to 1952. My studying skills were not too good or I may have become a Medical doctor as that was what my dream was to be.