Old, Last, and New

Losing trees is one of the saddest things. The previous owners’ daughters called this grove and the stepping stone path through the periwinkle “the beautiful.” I will miss the flicker of light filtering through the leaves. It hurt my heart to see two trees go, but aspens don’t live forever. The trees really called to me when we looked at this house the first time, and I feel some nostalgia for the days when there were tall aspens lining the path.

Speaking of moving to Utah, that was almost six years ago. Leaving Tucson meant leaving the incredible piano ensemble experiences our kids had every spring, where they played duets on a stage with twelve grand pianos. There is nothing on this scale here, but there are “monster concerts” the kids play in the mall with five pianos. It was nice to hear the boys perform duets together one last time before Daniel leaves.

We came home from the monster concert to discover that the corsage Daniel ordered for prom was the wrong color and the flowers were wilting, so I made my first wrist corsage on Saturday. I felt more stress about this corsage than I thought was possible over some flowers and glue. Daniel went to prom with McKenna and I just hoped the flowers would stay on that wrist corsage all evening. I probably should have hoped he would have fun, but that was a given since he was with McKenna and happy friends.

Good Things from Last Week

Paige was accepted into the Illustration BFA program at BYU and things are moving forward with her internship in New York this summer.

Mark was awarded three ranks in Scouting. He achieved the rank of First Class, just in time to turn twelve.

Paige and I drove to Cedar City for lunch with Richard’s female relatives to celebrate his mom’s birthday. I didn’t capture everyone in this picture. With so many schedules it was amazing that so many could make it.

Dessert in Beaver

Daniel learned he is Valedictorian of his class and received the Heritage scholarship at BYU.

Not pictured: Timothy in his tux playing at the State Band competition, winning Frisbee points at the tournament on Saturday, and the electric guitar he is making in his woods class.

Richard and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary.

 

Not every week is a harvest, and I am thankful when one comes along.

One page of the Book of Mormon

I pause at the corner store near my grandmother’s home in California when I visit and feel gratitude for the store owners who simply gave a Book of Mormon to each of their neighborhood customers. The Book of Mormon they gave to the Sanchez family sat on a shelf for years before my dad, a teenager, decided to read it.

Sometimes I think we forget that the biggest tool to bring people to Christ is the Book of Mormon. I loved this account of a BYU advertising project which asked people of all faiths to read one page of the Book of Mormon, highlight references to God, and tell what they thought and felt as they read. The responses were remarkable.

Here is what a few people said after reading:

Danny, Christian, page 4

I’ve never heard of the Book of Mormon before. But it wasn’t foreign. It was more familiar reading it. It’s like I was listening to a song that was familiar, but I couldn’t remember what it was called or who it was by…It makes me want to find out more.

Amna, Pakistan,Muslim, page 397:

This [experiment] is a brilliant idea. You should take out an ad and tell people to be here. I woke up and turned on the TV today, and all I saw was war, refugees, violence, and problems. The world needs to see this [experiment]. To see that there is hope and love in the world and that God is good…I am so grateful to be part of this project today. The whole world needs to see it. Thank you!

The full (short) article is here:

https://magazine.byu.edu/article/an-experiment-upon-the-word/

To Myself

To myself:

Take these tender experiences and allow them to take a flight with you in your soul. Above the winds and the pull of distractions and Earth, examine each, and ask, “Does this provide a lesson for the mind or heart?” Lessons of the heart require more time aloft.

Avoid the tendency to land too early in your assessment of the big lessons. “I can’t do it,” and “Why?” are things we say when we have landed too soon.  Trust that as you fly, your heart will grow into lessons too big for you right now in your current state.

And the ugly lessons, the ones that tear the heart and torture the mind? The longer you fly, the softer the lesson will seem when you land, aged and wise. What burdened you once will seem like a light thing, perhaps even a sweet thing then. So keep flying.

Illustrator

I would pick up a book with this illustration on the cover. That’s one of the ways a great illustrator affects us.

This school year, Paige’s art studio has been her tiny apartment kitchen, and some of her best working hours were well after midnight. Art takes an inspired artist time, work space, and supplies. I think it also takes a lot of courage.

Fifteen is when…

You need a ride home from a friend’s house, but the back seat is full of old junk. And since it is almost midnight, you hold that enormous television or light fixture on your lap because you are out of options to get home.

You get shuffled from driver to driver.

You can drive, but your mom has to be with you.

You might not get a ride at all because your mom forgets to turn up her phone.

(I am feeling sorry today for Timothy and the realities of being fifteen.)

 

 

Art by Mark

Mark has decided to keep his art projects top secret. I am not even to ask the medium he is using in class. He rode his bike to art this week even though wind gusts were strong so he could keep the secret a little longer. This is a pretty large piece and he says he held it flat with both hands as he rode his bike through the wind. Now that is dedication to art and the concept of a dramatic presentation.