Big Boy

I am a big boy! This month I started doing so many fun things. I can crawl now. I can pull myself up to stand next to whatever I want to. I can make fun sounds like BA, MA, NA, DA and of course my signature chuckle. I found out that I like to eat macaroni and cheese and other pasta dishes. Oh yeah, and Dippin' Dots are the best! And now for the really big news... I have a new tooth! Yep, just came in this evening. Maybe that explains the fevers, runny nose and why I have been wanting Mama to hold me every waking moment. Don't worry about her though, she likes to cuddle with me. She even helped me take these pictures today so you can see for yourself my new tooth.

Mother

The hustle and bustle of getting all the little cousins ready to go to brunch on mother’s day was hushed by the matron who entered holding a faded piece of paper. The endearing way she gazed on the page held close with both hands made everyone in the room be still. Seizing the opportunity to escape the older of the wee ones scurried off to continue their fantasy play of pirates and fairies leaving the adults to their grown up musing. And musing we were. What could be so precious about this paper? We didn’t have to question long for the lady took her seat and began to explain.

“This poem was written by Mom,” she looked over at her sister and smiled. Her lips were pressed together showing fond remembrance mixed with bitter regret at the loss of their dear mother not so many years ago. How she wished that she could have her still by her side to read the words that she had personally penned so lovingly. Oh, to be able to hear her voice speak out the simple ode.

In her stead, my own mother began to read the poem that my grandmother wrote. There came a moment when she tried to have someone else finish reading, not able to go on because her eyes were blurred by tears. Recovering, she read the rest broken and shaky.

Upon finishing we dried our tears. Did anyone know when she had written this? How is it that you found it? Why had we never heard it before today? None of these questions found answers. Perhaps a bit sacrilegiously my aunt asked her sister to make a photocopy as I told them I was going to post it on my blog so that the whole family could see. My mother was now the mother of three mothers and I was saddened that only I had been present for the reading, alongside just one of my aunts. Wouldn’t all the other sons, daughters, aunts, uncles and cousins like to see it?

Being an egocentric pre-pubescent when my grandma passed away the memories that
I have of this special woman are few yet fond. While my youth did not afford me the wisdom to value our encounters my station now in life draws me to close my eyes and remember the details of the time I spent with the mother of my mother. After hearing this poem I can understand how selflessness was formed in my mom so that in my rearing I also received a giving and unselfish heart.

That plain piece of paper with a bunch of words on it has changed into a treasure. Then again, maybe it was not the paper that changed at all; rather it was I who changed. These words hung framed on the wall of the hall in our house during our formative years. I had never taken much notice of them. Now they will occupy a space on my own wall.

“Reflections on Motherhood”
a poem by
Laura Kavan

As a day honoring Mothers fast approaches,
I, as a mother, am thinking and thinking.
This whole celebration is quite out of order.
So little of the credit belongs to me
Who just happens to be a mother.

As I sit and write, great humility fills my soul.
To think that so much honor and praise
Can go with the most wonderful thing in the world
The honor of being a mother.

A feat I could never win alone
Yet on this day, the honor is mine.
But the trophy is so great, I guess I’ll just accept
Then try in this small way
To make you all, who I love so dear
Understand just how much you mean to me.
For without you, a mother I would never be.

Mother and Gram and Gramp or whatever you’re so fondly called
Your part in my fame is supreme
For without your love and teaching and help along the way
A wife and mother I could never be.

Les, ‘Daddy’, ‘Dear’, ‘Honey’ or whatever else I may call you
My love for you must tell you all the things in my heart
Because feelings so deep, words cannot express
But your contribution to my great day
Is ever increasing as each year passes
Til now, you must share this honor with me
For apart from you, this wonderful person, a mother I could never be.

And to you dear children –
Joyce, Jerry, Jill and Kristy
I’m so proud to be your mother
Tis honor enough to share the happiness you produce
Without a special date to honor someone so humble as your mother.

Now as my thoughts begin to ebb.
I must praise and honor you, dear God
For this wonderful way of life
And ask you to help me be, a Mother
As understanding as Thee.

family weekend

What a wonderful weekend! I don't know about you all (y'all) but I was so blessed to be around my family, even if it was just for a few days. We had fun. We had adventures. And we had Wii. What more can you ask for. Well... what would have made the weekend even better would have been to have the rest of the family with us. (aka DaRonn Lucas) But it was really nice any way. And I am so glad that the Wichita group decided to come too. It made it even better. I am so glad that Sasha had a chance to hang out with all of her cousins. She clearly bonded with all of them. She just loved all the playing and attention that she got. I came away from the weekend wishing that we could get Sasha a dog and a big sister. But alas, neither is possible.
I just wanted to remind all y'all that we love you guys so much. Angie, we will be praying for your trip on Sunday.
-Shawn
P.S. It would be cool if there was a way to share pictures from the weekend.

Kent's Graduation

We had a great time at Kent's graduation on Friday night. He was the star of his class! As the graduates came walking out to take their seats for the ceremony the music started playing. It was very emotional to see all the young people in their caps and gowns respectfully walking slowly out. Then came Kent. As he came out he paused and looked around. With a big smile on his face he lifted his hand in the air and pointed to the sky; then both hands were up in the air as he marched triumphantly along. While the rest of the crowd made some admiring remarks and filled the room with approving laughs his family lost it. Our eyes filled with tears of pride and joy at Kent's accomplishment made ever so much more meaningful with his unique flare. The ceremony that followed sealed the fact that these students had completed their educational career. Speeches were made, a slide show presentation set to music showed growing up pictures of all the students, names were read, diplomas were handed out, proud graduates shook hands possibly for the last time with the principal and finally came the presentation of the students to the audience. My brother was one of the first to gleefully toss his cap in the air amidst shouts and applause. The little cousin girls had brought pom-poms and were jumping up and down shaking them with all their might to celebrate their uncle's special day.

Saturday afternoon the open house was well attended by family and friends. Kent received lots of cash, cards and well wishes. It was a good party. Kent even gave a nice speech of gratitude to all present.

No Good Deed, Packrats, Finals, and Mufflers

Hey there my family! I am so excited to see all of you soon... if not this weekend then the next!!! Right now I am blogging to take a break from cleaning the fridge (which really needed it) which I was doing in between studying for finals.

But before I talk about finals, I'll tell you about the fridge. As I said, it really needed cleaning, I didn't want all my family to come this weekend and peak into our fridge and see the mess it was in, so I cleaned it, no big deal right? Well, I was almost done, on my last shelf, I washed half the shelf and as I was turning it to do the other half it twisted or something and shattered into a million little pieces, none bigger than my thumb nail. Dad heard it and rushed to get the vac and as I shop-vacuumed the pieces from the sink, disposer, counter, floor in the kitchen and the dining room, he found a piece of plexi-glass (that was in the basement) and cut it to size, so now we have a new shatterproof shelf! So don't worry, when you come, the fridge will be like new.

Speaking of like new, my car is reborn. You know it's an old car, I love it, Grandma gave it to me as my college graduation gift (early of course, I am still in school). It's a comfortable car for your seat but may get a little hot in the summer. Well, I thought that since it was so old that it was normal for it to have some quirks, say like shaking violently especially at higher speeds or say like giving me headaches and nausea occasionally. But the other day when Terry drove me somewhere in it, he got a little concerned and had it checked out. Within twenty-four hours it had new front tires, balanced and aligned, oil change, new antifreeze, and a new muffler (the old one crumbled at any light touch). So, THANK YOU TERRY FOR SAVING MY LIFE! He said the tires were ready to blow out at any time, he could see the inner wires in the tires. And the new muffler took care of the exhaust leak. It rides soooooo smooth now. Even Allison said it doesn't "wiggle or be rough" anymore.

So it's been a rough semester at times, but it's almost over. Tomorrow I have a photography final critique at 8:30am and an individual critique at 11:00am for my art history final paper/project and at 5:30pm my art history final exam. Then I'm done until Tuesday morning when I have my politics final. I hope to leave my painting project hanging at school so maybe people can go see it this weekend. I also have here at home all my paintings of us kids that I'm getting ready for my show. Also, make sure to check out my black and white photographs I took of Kent for his open house. They're cool.

Now I'm pooped out and might skip dishes tonight and head straight for bed. I love all you guys and am very excited for this weekend and next. Allison and I picked out some goodies for her cousins today and she is very excited. She especially seemed interested in getting things for Gabrielle, I had to keep telling her we had enough for Gabrielle and were looking for Timothy now. But when we got home it was Timothy's stuff she wanted to play with. It will be fun to have them all together!

Posting photos tips

Motivated by the most recent photo post of our adorable Sasha girl I wanted to give some photo posting advice. Hopefully this will help you all to pop on some shots of your life. (And by the way, Shawn, even though it was difficult I personally think that it was worth every minute of it to see that cutie pie.) :-)

1. A smaller photo will upload quicker.

2. A photo saved at a lower quality will upload quicker.

3. So - in whatever photo program you are using edit the photo that you wish to post before you post it.

4. The first edit you are going to do is to go to the option "save as" (or some kind of equivalent that will save a new copy of the picture). Label it whatever you want followed by the word 'blog' or 'small'. Then look for an option on the saving screen that allows you to choose the size of the picture - choose small. After you have done this you will have two pictures that seem to be identical - yet one is smaller.

5. On the picture labeled 'blog' or 'small' you can now go in and edit it by cropping it down to only the very most important part of the image. Don't forget to save your work.

If you follow those five steps you should have a photo that is easier to upload from your computer. Go ahead - try it now - we would love to see what is going on in your life. (The picture you see here took less than a minute to upload.)

10 months

10 Month Old Today!!
Getting so big!!!

p.s. mommy figured out how to post pictures, but i dont think it will happen all that often because it was very difficult.

First Tooth

On Friday Sasha had a fun mile stone. Her first tooth came through. (Bottom right) On Thursday she had a day of sleep. In 36 hours she was only awake for 4 hours. Then the next day she had a tooth. No fussiness just a lot of sleep. On Sunday she will be 10 months old. I think that now that the first tooth is through the rest will follow shortly. Hopefully we will have luck and no fussiness with the rest. She really is getting big.
Nick and I are planning a big party for her first birthday. We are not sure on the detailes yet but when we have them then we will pass them on. We would love to have anyone there that is able.
Love you guys.