I've been staying with the Follett family for a week now to celebrate Atlas' arrival. Here is what today looked like . . . 6:00 am
I woke up to this banner that is stretched across the mirror propped on a shelf near the foot of the bed. I read the scriptures, sent a few texts, made a few phone calls, and waited to hear Levin's feet patter on the wood floors upstairs telling me he was awake . . . and hungry. 7:00 am
I still hadn't heard Levin's feet. He was sleeping in, so I took a shower and got ready for the day.
8:00 am
Levin was awake and helped make bran muffins for breakfast.
9:00 am
Took Levin on a walk in the stroller. He always points to this rooster. The owner said he gave it to his wife for her 17th anniversary and told me where I could buy one if I needed one.
10:00 am
Levin played in the Sound and sand in his rubber boots while I sat on the bench and watched.
11:00 am
Ray met us on our walk so that he could take Levin with him for the afternoon. I pushed an empty stroller home and walked by this house that has well over 50 plastic tubs in the yard and a car full of Target shopping bags. Its a conundrum and we wonder about it every time we walk by the house.
12:00 pm
Gave Atlas his bath. His hair is so soft and fine, his breath so sweet.
1:00 pm
Helped Cali take pictures of Atlas.
2:00 pm
Folded laundry.
3:00 pm
Ate lunch on the deck with Cali. It feels so good to soak in the sun while looking over the monochromatic blue Sound, mountains, and sky.
4:00 pm
Held Atlas.
5:00 pm
Ray returned home with Levin. He found the sprinkler in no time.
6:00 pm
Ate supper and held Atlas.
7:00 pm
Had family scriptures and prayers. Levin knows all about right and wrong. The other day I told him no and he said, "Grandma, obey."
8:00 pm
Dishes and dinner are over.
9:00 pm
Everybody's getting tired.
10:00 pm
Ande stopped by on her way to the airport to pick up Joe. She came with fresh bouquets of sweet peas for Cali and me.
The Lord's plan of the family is absolutely brilliant. It is wonderful being here with the Follett family watching Ray be a father and husband, Cali being a wife and mother, Levin being a son and brother, and Atlas soaking all that love in and reminding us of what is pure, simple, and most important.
I love to watch good dads interact with their kids. When I make a list of ten things that make me smile, it's always on it . . . right above getting ice cream cones, so of course I would love this video.
We're all concerned with society's shift of standards. One Sunday night my nephew, who then lived in a large inner-city, was expressing his concerns about the lack of men and fathers in his area to carry responsibility. He said that fathers were few and far between where he lived and consequently the community was weak. His words resonated with an article that a criminal court judge once wrote entitled, Nine Words That Can Stop Juvenile Delinquency.1 The judge suggested that the nine words were, “put father back at the head of the family.” My nephew’s views were similar, “We need whole families - families with husbands and fathers.”
James E. Faust, a former family lawyer, quoted an article he had read in a newspaper. The article said, “Social scientists across the political spectrum tell us that father absence is a stronger predictor of criminal behavior than family income, education, or . . . race. And while individual youngsters can manage life without father reasonably well in many cases, few are able to come unscathed through fatherless communities.”2 All of this to say, Happy Father’s Day and thank you to good fathers everywhere. We frequently give tributes to mothers, and rightly so, yet sadly, fathers often go unheralded. Perhaps we treat their paycheck as their reward or rationalize that they don’t need to hear they are loved and appreciated as often as females do; but statistics and common sense tell us we need to better recognize and encourage the powerful effect fathers have.
Calvin often tells the story of Lance Sijan. Lance Sijan’s final words made an impact on me.
Lance Sijan, an Air Force Captain, was a POW in Viet Nam and was shot down on November 9, 1967. For over 36 hours he lay semiconscious, seriously injured with a compound fracture to his left leg, a concussion and a fractured skull. Lance made radio contact with a rescue unit, but they were unable to retrieve him from the dense jungle and abandoned the search two days later.
For six weeks, Lance crawled through the jungle at night to evade his enemies and once he crawled into a sinkhole which only added to his injuries. Finally, on Christmas Day he passed out on a dirt road and was captured by the North Vietnamese a few hours later. Though he was starved and in pain, a short time after his capture he was able to overpower an armed guard and escape. He was recaptured several hours later and tortured, but would not leak pertinent information as to his country or mission.
By the time Lance was put in the Hanoi prison camp he weighed less than 100 pounds, though he was over 6 feet tall. He was placed in a cell with two other American soldiers and they later reported that though he often drifted in and out of consciousness he would push on the walls of his cell and scratch on the floor trying to find a way to escape. They said that even though he was consumed in pain, he would quiz them about the camp’s security and try to think of plans to break out.
Lance was interrogated several times by the enemies and “savagely beaten” for his silence and refusal to betray his fellow comrades or country. Once, after having endured hours of torture, he weakly said, “Don’t you understand? I’m not going to tell you anything. I can’t talk to you. It’s against the Code.”
His two buddies, cellmates, tried to make him comfortable after the torture sessions. In his final few hours, they cradled his head in their laps and talked quietly to him of courage and bravery and encouraged him to hang on. At last, the guards came for him and Lance knew it was to die. When they placed him on the stretcher, he said to his buddies, “It’s over . . . it’s over." As the guards carried him away, his buddies said he called out to his father for help.3
When Calvin tells the story, his voice often breaks when he gets to the part where Lance calls to his dad to help him. He said it reminds him of Jesus calling out to his Father as he was tortured and hung on the cross.
There is nothing like a father when you need rescued. There is nothing like a father to protect you from the bullies and beatings. There is nothing like a father to help you be strong. Like Lance, our society is calling out for fathers.
I am eternally indebted to men who have filled a good father’s role for me. Likewise I am grateful to Calvin for being an incrediblefatherto our children. Now it is exciting watching our sons, Trevor, Trent, Ray, Abe, Ty, and Joe fill that divine role for the next generation.
Happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers. Your success is vital to our success. And, Happy Father’s Day to all of the future fathers - we need you.
1. “The Father and the Home,” Improvement Era, June 1958, 410; quoting from Samuel S. Leibowitz, “Nine Words That Can Stop Juvenile Delinquency,” Reader’s Digest, Mar. 1958, 106. 2. Raspberry, William. “Crime Rates Rise from Fatherless Communities,” Deseret Morning News, Oct. 10, 2005, sec. A, p. 11. 3. Collier, Peter. Medal of Honor. Singapore: Artisan, 2006. pg xiv-xvi.
Ande- sadly my curly hair went straight after having Zeph. I'm wearing curlers for the first time. Wish me well.
Zeph - smiling because I get to spend the day with Grandma and Follett cousins.
Grace - Enjoying the pool with good friends
Abe - watching the NBA finals at the clubhouse since we don't have TV
Michelle - We've been in Tennessee before, but last time we got there by crossing over the Mississippi River so we couldn't take a picture with us in it. This time it was from Mississippi state, so we could. (By the way, this is Afton's 13th state. Cue the Twilight Zone music.)
Afton - Surprising Grandma Page.
We just sent Afton running their direction in the airport.
(Jane speaking here: Brian surprised Kathy for her 50th birthday by getting all of their kids together. I
love the look on Kathy's face when she begins to realize what is happening! She said, "Best day ever!")
Aunt Elizabeth gave Afton some Dr. Pepper.
She kept wanting more despite what her face might tell you.
Ty - my solution to no changing table in the bathroom at Cafe Rio
Joe - a lady paid to break chips by hand in Africa at a food factory.
Thanks family! I love seeing these roll in each month. Ray and Cali thanks for adding another participant. His timing was perfect, too. Welcome to the world and the family, Atlas.
It's time to catch up from the last week or two . . .
Afton, Michelle, and Ty
Ty and Afton riding the Terp
Two weeks ago Ty graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. They have since moved to Mississippi so that Ty can attend pilot training.
Afton loves balls and dogs. She has a deep, little, gruff voice and barks at everything. Thank the heavens for holding up the satellites that give us face-time and video sending capabilities. Thank heavens for Michelle who is so good to send us pictures, videos, and texts so that we can be a part of their lives from afar.
Butcher
Ray
Calvin
Ray, Cali, and Levin came over to help cut up meat. We turned the garage into a meat-packing plant and cut and wrapped 800 pounds of beef.
Car
I had to take our eleven-year-old car in to get new brakes and the oil changed. When I went in to pay the bill the man called out across the showroom, “You win the prize!” Then he walked over to the trash can and said, “Ma’am, you’ve got to see this. This is the dirtiest filter any of us in this shop have ever seen.” He lifted the filter out of the trash and said, “See this? This is what you’ve been breathing. It’s bad.”
It was disgusting. It looked like an animal left his fur behind. I said, “You mean all the times I’ve been getting my oil changed at that other place they haven’t been cleaning or changing the filter even though they say they do?”
He said, “No, ma’am. From the looks of it it’s never been touched. This is the original.”
And then he dropped the filter back in the trash and pulled out the heavy duty germ-buster and slathered his hands in it and told me to use some. I think he thought I should put it up my nose too. He was clearly revolted at what I’d been breathing.
$610 later we had new brakes, a battery, a filter, and the prize. Some win for beauty, some win for dirty.
Dan
Nothing like a femur for supper.
Eggs
Can you tell that Levin gathered the eggs while they were here? The flapping, squawking, dust, and flying feathers don't faze him. You never know how many whole ones you'll get when he gathers. Ray gave him five, whole, pretty, little sparrow eggs to give to Cali for her collection. By the time he handed them over there were two.
Free
Today is the last day of school. Tomorrow starts to use up the days of summer vacation but today is a free day - the responsibilities of the year are behind, but you're not using up your vacation time yet.
Grace and Abe
Afton watching Abe play football
Grace and Abe took care of Afton for a few days last week while Ty and Michelle were making arrangements on their new base. Grace made Afton this little dress (as well as a matching one for the new baby coming in September).
Hop in
Yesterday Calvin had to drive an hour and a half to fix a five minute problem and invited me to hop in and go along. We saw two looooooooong trains on our way to the five minute problem. This one was loaded with coal and had three engines in the front pulling and one engine in the back pushing. It was so long that I had time to think about taking a picture, decide not to take a picture, rethink taking a picture, reach in the back seat and get the camera out of the camera bag, turn it on, wait for the camera to warm up, and then take several pictures.
Inland Northwest Blood Center
It was give-blood-day today. The phlebotomist said I have juicy veins.
Just have to do.
I haven't been able to think of a j for this blog post, so this picture will just have to do. Calvin's dad gave him this several years ago and it usually sits in the garage, but today it's out.
Kindness
We went out to dinner and were seated next to a family with several well-behaved and interacting children. The father looked familiar but I couldn’t place him. When the waitress brought our bill she said, “Your meal has already been paid for.”
I said, “Really? Who would do that?”
She nodded towards the father of the family in the booth behind us. Calvin and I turned and he said, “Thank you for cooking for us last year at scout camp. That was a lot of work and I really appreciated it.”
It was very humbling; especially knowing he already had a great big bill of his own.
Lilacs
We didn’t get one bouquet from our lilac bushes his year. Not one. It was disappointing. I mentioned it to Grace and she sent me a lilac candle from Bath & Body Works (as well as King-size candy bars for Calvin and me). What a great surprise.
Moses Lake
Today was an end-of-the-year party at the sand dunes on the lake. Here was my car load of boys. I really enjoy each one of them.
Ngu-nngu.
Abe before a game
Never give up. Never, never give up. That was the Moses Lake high school football creed for several years. Abe took it literally - he's still playing football ten years after he graduated. They have a game every week and I do wish I could see one. We made plans this week to go and see Abe and Grace at the end of the summer. I have never been to the South. Ever. Calvin and I are excited to go.
Over in the Meadow
Our kids often requested that I read the counting rhyme Over in the Meadow to them. They liked the rhythm; I liked the rhythm. However the pictures and the words in our version are wearisome. (For example, verse 10 goes, “Over in a meadow in a cozy wee den lived an old mother beaver and her little beavers ten.” Then it says, “’Beave,’ said the mother. 'We beave,' said the ten." I ask you, who in the world thinks a beaver beaves? It simply doesn’t make sense.) Eventually our children outgrew me reading picture books to them and I forgot about the book that I liked but wished was different.
That is until a month ago when Levin pulled it off the shelf for me to read to him and, just like our kids, he requests Meadow again and again. Considering great-grandchildren come after grandchildren, there is a good chance that I’ll be reading this book until the day I die. That’s a lot of times reading about beavers beaving.
For a writing assignment this week, I rewrote Over in the Meadow. I expected a poor grade as not only is it a rewrite of someone else’s work, but it's rhyme and our textbook says rhyming is not for the novice and should be left to the experts. But I decided to spend my time and energy on something I'd use versus something I'd throw away at the end of the class, so I attempted it. In the new version the six beavers gnaw and paddle near their dam built of sticks and the nine mosquitoes whine and dine near the honeysuckle vine. I hope I can find some good pictures to illustrate it and then I'll be happy to read it for 30 more years.
It was a bonus that I got a good grade on it and the teacher said my version made more sense.
Peonies
A friend gave me a peony bush after Clara died. She said, “It will bloom every year just before Memorial Day so you’ll have fresh blooms for Clara’s grave. “ It was/is such a thoughtful gift and she’s right, it blooms just in time every year. This year it had four big beautiful blooms.
Quilt
Cali made Calvin and me this quilt for our bed . . . just because. Incredible.
I love it.
Ray, Cali, and Levin
They
have a new baby coming. Soon. The baby however is back-paddling and had to
be turned in the right direction again last week.
Sacrament Meeting
I spoke in Church and invited Anna and her family to come. Moldovan is their mother tongue and we attend the Spanish Branch, but it didn't matter. After the meeting was over and the chapel had cleared, Anna’s husband (who is an accomplished pianist) played the piano while the kids and Anna sang to us. Then the kids recited scripture verses. Little Sava (2), who has a perpetual smile except in this picture, shouted his so that it could reach the very last pew. It takes a whole bunch of Russian words to say "GOD IS LOVE." Their music was beautiful, their verses inspiring (funny how you don't always need language to understand) and great to have them with us.
Temple
Do you remember how good it felt to get on base when you played tag in elementary school? That's how I feel when I sit down in the temple: "Whew. I made it. I can rest now." Calvin
and I went to the temple Tuesday night and it felt good to be on base.
U-tube
It's a phenomenon. Calvin got the idea from u-tube to build a plucker so we can butcher the chickens, and whenever he and Ray needed advice on cutting the meat from the carcass, u-tube was their teacher.
And then in a click you're to a whole other kind of inspiration. I love these Bible videos.
(I especially like how the Lord teaches Peter in this one.)
Vernon
As in the Mt. We got
this cool profile postcard of George Washington in the mail from Joe. He
met Ty, Michelle, and Afton at Mt. Vernon as they were moving south. We get the best postcards from all over the world from Joe.
Writings of John
I just finished the book of Revelation. That is one book that even Hollywood cannot exaggerate. I had to keep reminding myself as I read it, “God wins in the end. Good triumphs over evil. Just remember, it all turns out okay.”
Xpired
Levin was very concerned that a calf (different from the one we butchered) died over the weekend. At different times he'd say, “Gwampa. Calf. Sick.”
Grandpa said, “Yup. The calf is sick," until finally he had to say, "Nope, the calf isn't sick Levin, it's dead."
The process of watching a calf go from sick to dead was simultaneously disconcerting and fascinating to Levin. See his hands clasped in the picture?
Calvin and Levin drove the tractor out to the pasture where Ray helped load the carcass so it could be hauled off.
Yard
We
weeded the garden for family night. Calvin hoes between the rows and I crawl along and pick the weeds out of the rows. It's a good system.
Our strawberry patch is fairly pathetic. Between it being a new bed and the dogs, kids, and robins it gets pretty hammered; nevertheless we get a few every day.
Zeph, Joe, and Ande
It is so nice to always have a cute Z for alphabet posts now.
We have gotten to have Zeph and Ande with us a lot lately because of Joe's extensive travel schedule. It is so fun to have them here. Zeph has found himself in a mirror and coos and smiles to himself. It's so cute to watch him. I think it wonderful that of all the things Heavenly Father could have sent us to earth with He made sure our self-esteem was fully in tact. Babies smile, coo, and kiss themselves; they recognize their value. It doesn't matter to them they can't do anything for themselves, don't have any teeth or hair, or drool and mess their pants. They appreciate themselves and that they're alive. But, then life happens and it's not so easy to remember our value or purpose and we let other things determine how we see ourselves. Watching babies watch themselves is a good reminder of how we should see things.
