Again, with the modesty.

I just read the most beautiful post I have read in a long, long time. In Beach Baby, Melissa M. describes a sequence of beach-memories beginning with her childhood. As a seven year old, she gathers shells, encounters stranded stingrays, and walks down the beach hand-in-hand with her grandfather. As a teenager, she gets sunburnt while reading Jane Austen and mooning over a boy. Then she's a honey-mooning newlywed, a young mother, and finally a mother with growing and almost-grown children.

Exquisite. A gut-wrenchingly beautiful read for me as I fight an almost constant yen for Someplace Else and a wish that escaping to a beach was a lot closer than a days drive. And it was an interesting look at life's progression and time marching on. (Just this morning I was musing that in one week, Brandon and I will have been married for seven years and how that's equivalent to high school and college. But these seven years have passed by a lot more quickly than high school or college did alone.)

Then.

One of the commenters asked about her honeymoon bikini: Why did she think she should wear one? Just because she was now married, she didn't need to be modest anymore?

REALLY??

Good feelings gone. (Dori, Finding Nemo)

Winning the Germ Jackpot, Winning a Coveted Parenting Award, and An Update on Our Lives

I. Do not read if you are nauseous or have a strong gag reflex.

My little Pete (15 months) loves splashing in the toilet. And he was really having a moment last night. It does not matter that there were poopy streaks left behind by his older brother; he still splash-splash-splashed the water all over the floor, all over himself and when I caught him, he was SUCKING ON HIS FINGERS!

It always completes the experience for him when I catch him and wail, "Noooo! Peeetey, that's disgusting!" He laughs his little head off.

So I pick him up to wash his hands. I'm balancing a wet, wriggling, laughing 15 month old on my knee in front of the sink. I take the soap bottle and the pump top comes out of the bottle and the bottle (full) flies out of my hand and falls to the floor. I yell for my husband who makes his way upstairs as the thick liquid soap starts oozing out onto the floor. Glug, glug.

I'm pretty sure Luke stepped in it. And even though Brandon tried to clean it up, he didn't think about the residue that we've both sinced slipped on. I hope the baby doesn't die of a staff infection or some other feces-related illness. I really am trying to keep bathroom doors closed and my home more clean.

II. And if you are not sure that I'm a qualifying contender for the bad mom awards this summer, let me tell you this. Yesterday we took the kids swimming. Family hours were from noon 'til 3:30. We lathered on sunscreen. But completely forgot to reapply. Luke, thankfully, was in a life jacket. But all the rest of us: Brandon, myself, and the baby have bright lobster-red shoulders. I find myself hoping we'll get a job in the cloudy and wet Northwest.

III. And speaking of the job seach. We are not currently in the job search! It's official. We're staying here for one more year. Brandon will be a Visiting Professor at the Rawls School of Business here at Tech this coming school year. It's a wonderful opportunity for him, especially because he has been and will continue to be working with top researchers in the Entreprenuership and Leadership disciplines in Management. We're grateful for their interest in him and excited because Brandon is really enjoying his new studies. It's also a wonderful opportunity for him because he doesn't have a Business degree. So, he's getting his foot in the business door without needing a second PhD.

AND on the subject of PhDs...he's finally getting his!!!!! Brandon will graduate August 8th. Hallelujah. He's worked so hard and this next year will probably be the toughest yet, but this is still a huge milestone and a big accomplishment! Yea for Brando!!!!!

Virginia Beach

If you look carefully, you'll see he's covered in a layer of sand from head to toe.

Where the High Seas Will Take You

Yesterday Luke said, "I'm Spy-Boy. Pete's Spy-Baby. And you're Spy-Mom."

Today, he had a rolled up piece of paper in each pocket (treasure maps) and a cardboard telescope. "We're the pirate family. Pete's Baby Pirate, I'm Pirate Brudder, you're Pirate Mommy. And my Daddy's Pirate Dad. He's-he's-we're on a pirate ship and he's on another pirate ship workin'."

The conversation continued: "We're sailin' to..." long pause.
I start to fill in destinations: Bermuda? The Carolinas? The South Pacific?

"No, no, we're sailin' to Ok-ah-homah."

(Oklahoma.)

Keep scrolling down for pictures. I'll post more of our Virginia trip later.

Colonial Williamsburg

In the vegetable garden.

I was inspired by this garden. I was really jonesin' for a backyard and a garden of my own. If you had a garden, what would you plant? Me: strawberries and peas, squash and beans for starters. A period-costumed gardener assigned L a watering job.

The big barrel in the background collects rain water, and mosquitos perhaps. That's Bruton Parish Church/churchyard in the background. Different varieties of peas are growing up the trellis. I did not know there were so many different varieties of peas. Also, the gentleman let us try Alpine Strawberries, but the other three varieties were not ripe enough.And I loved the miniature greenhouse (above)--white planter boxes with window coverings to let the sunlight and warmth in when it's still too chilly outside. Brilliant. Also, the Governor's Palace Gardens had large glass bells covering some of their plants for the same reason. (not pictured, also brilliant.) And I just missed huge flowering pink peonies (pee-uh-knees, please.) I love them. Meanwhile, P. was rummaging for snacks. Jackpot, an apple. On the ground, the white stuff is crushed oyster shells. The colonists lined their garden paths with oyster shells to reflect the moonlight, so they could see where they were going in the dark.

In the graveyard of Bruton Parish Church I found this tombstone. Savage is a family name on Brandon's side. Do you have places that are sacred to you? This graveyard is sacred to me. I feel the generations before me, these Virginians. I feel a similar feeling about all of Jamestown Island and much of Yorktown.

Bruton Parish Church. This pic makes me feel like I'm in the Old World. In the United Kingdom somewhere with Christianity not completely established. The first little while we were there, it was strangely chilly and one night we stopped the car on a bridge and just sat and listened. It was sweater weather and so drenchingly green and misty. It was magical. I wish I could have captured that moment to relive it. I think God must have some kind of recording system for times like that. When I was 10, we hid our eggs in this spot. The boys are sitting in a grassy area across Duke of Gloucester Street from the Palace Green and the Governor's Palace in the distance. L (4 1/2) is sharing his apple with P (1).
Share apple, get bitten.

A different day in Colonial Williamsburg. My dad treated us with tickets so we could go inside the buildings and watch tradespeople work. Anyway, here's a peony!L. and my dad.
L. really wanted to see the inside of the old jail. But we didn't have tickets the first day we went, so we couldn't go inside. We were about to go home, and I told him we had time to see one more thing and asked him which way we should go. He chose the jail. I said that we could walk down there, but they probably wouldn't let us in because we didn't have tickets. L. said carefully, "But if we done sumpin' bad, they'll let us in for free?" Anyway, we did eventually get to see it and it was creepy. This photo is not near the jail. It is next to the Courthouse. L's in the stocks.

These flowers were in the trees lining the Green. I do not know what kind of tree they are. I even tried looking it up. Do you know?

Behind the Governor's Place there is a formal garden. The Governor was the King's representative in the Colony. This is the Royal Coat of Arms above the door to the ballroom. It got a new coat of paint in honor of Queen Elizabeth's visit in 2007. She comes every 50 years to celebrate the 1607 Anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.
Feeding chocolate chip cookie bars to the fish in the pond. This college-aged couple sweetly shared their "fish food" with L. The kitchen garden. See the glass bells I mentioned earlier?The maze. This picture is taken from the top of the icehouse mound. I include this picture because I like it of Pete.

Brandon's missing from all these pictures because we often dropped him off at the library so he could work while we played.

Car Travel

We went to Virginia on a trip for a few weeks. We drove. And Drove.

A 3-day drive there. I highly recommend DVD players. But eventually, even that gets old.

Poor little Pete. He tried multiple times to bust out of his car seat.

Ah, Coca-Cola Moment.

Check out this guy's cargo! A big semi-truck with a flatbed trailer carrying nothing but this little tonka dump truck. Seeing this was like a little gift to our family of mostly boys. Trucks are popular around our house. Trucks and Coke. Yep, that just about covers it.

How appropriate that I have pictures to fit this very moment.

HUH? Why does everyone think I have bangs? I wasn't being brave.

HOLY CRAP! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

These are actually both self-portraits while we were on the Jamestown ferry. Luke wanted to pose too. See?

Virginia is for lovers.

Luke didn't get the memo.

By the way, I didn't make it up.

Wire: I'm back--STOP--

Went to Virginia--STOP--Pictures are coming--STOP--Bought digital camera--STOP--NO, DON'T STOP! Why didn't anyone tell me how cool they are?!--STOP--Been living in Stone Age--STOP--Or least in the age of the Pony Express--STOP

a page from this chapter: Connected

There is an ad I see fairly often on "pbs kids." It shows a little paper person kicking a ball and the little paper person kicks the ball off the table onto the floor. The little paper person goes to the edge of the table and leans over to look at the ball far below, unable to reach it. But then, a chain of little paper people are revealed as they unfold from the first little paper person. They retreive the ball by unfolding all the way down to the floor. Once on top of the table again, the little paper people form a circle and the kick the ball to each other. The announcer says, "Connections make life meaningful."

I saw this ad for perhaps the 50th time on Tuesday. (Yes, my son really does watch that much t.v.)




The Spirit confirms to me that personal connections do make life meaningful, but even more than that, that spiritually, we are connected:

That our individual welfare is linked to others and we are to help one another, That our Heavenly Father answers our prayers through other people, That we are instruments in His hands to answer other people’s prayers, And that when we kick the ball off the table, we need not, and cannot, retrieve by ourselves. And although it is through our direct relationship with the Savior that we are saved or helped, often other people are supposed to be involved in the process.

Developing understanding of this personal-interconnectedness is perhaps the biggest lesson I have been learning while we live in Lubbock.

B. and I are often--continually?--blessed by the generosity of others and their willingness to listen and obey heavenly promptings. It is both daunting and happy to hope to become like them--to be one of the little paper people in the chain that retrieves the ball.

And I hope that through regular temple attendance and spiritual progress, I can become more capable of the love it takes to be a good servant.

More capable, more responsible, more willing.

Spring Mosaic and Two Spring Poems

A Prayer in Spring
by Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid-air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfill.

I Meant To Do My Work Today

by Richard Le Gallienne

I meant to do my work today,

But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.
And the wind went sighing over the land,

Tossing the grasses to and fro,

And a rainbow held out its shining hand--

So what could I do but laugh and go?

Jana inspired me with her recent post. If you happen to post a Spring photo or mosaic of your own (or of generous flickr fairies) I want to see it! Poems, too.

References:

Poems found at: http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/poem/ (I want to explore it more.)

1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/92674583@N00/356587889/">Robin egg blue, 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fleurhallam/2206940086/">Spring Walk Together, 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/2237123651/">I want to be a robin! #1, 4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamuudsen/145813811/">"weet weet weet tsee tsee", 5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissaa/416418795/">Thirsty Bee!, 6. Untitled, 7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnintokyo/2330766508/">easter basket, 8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardpeters/499329541/">Spring Lamb - 2007 BBC Countryfile competition winner., 9. :: faith ::

(Maybe if I type something down here, the spacing and font size will work. Nope.)

Do I get "pain and suffering" for this?

Because property damage just won't cover it.

Why I haven't posted lately:

Breathe.