Cutest airport award!!!

 

I am not a world traveler, however, living across the country from my family for many years has given me the opportunity to visit several airports. 

By some twist of fate, I have found the cutest airport I have ever seen.  When I told my family I had flown into Augusta, GA – they looked at me as if I was crazy (which is a debate for another day).  Apparently nobody KNEW there was an airport in Augusta!!! 

 

Only 6 departure gates.  Mere steps from security (which gives a very nice fanny massage on occasion), to the boarding gate. 

It was so easy, so unhurried, so beautiful…..  In essence it was very “southern”!!!

 

And if the front was not cute enough, the inside is adorable! 

When did you last see cute wallpaper in a public restroom????

Finally, just when you think it cannot get any better, there is a little balcony, INSIDE of security, where you can go to dream about your next game of golf.  I’m sure for some, this must be heaven. 

 

Hand on the Rod

 

 

There is a scripture that has always fascinated me.  It is found in the Book of Mormon, and speaks about how Satan tries so quietly to win us, to trick us, so that all us will be as miserable as he is. 

 

The scripture is found in 2 Nephi 26:22 – and says …..For he is the founder of all things; yeah, the founder of murder and works of darkness;  yea; and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever. 

 

I am not sure why this one has rolled around in my mind lately, as I have come across it again in my reading.  But it seems to roll around – and is coupled with another scripture found in 1 Nephi 11:25  - … that the iron rod, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life…. or the love of God. 

 

As I have pondered these two scriptures, an idea began to form – it is not written in any type of proper form – just as it hit my brain, then my hand, then my pen as it became a real stream of thought. 

 

Hand On the Rod

 

Hand on the rod

we are told

from the time we are small

 

Hand on the rod

we are told

as we enter the waters of baptism

 

Hand on the rod

we promise

as we grow and begin to understand

 

But sometimes with

our hand on the rod

our eyes begin to wander

 

And they see

a large and spacious building

excitement, friends, entertainment beckoning. 

 

Sometimes, as our eyes strain to see

with one hand

on the rod

our mind begins to wonder

 

How can I let go

of the rod

if only for a minute

 

Sometimes, we long to go and see

to experience, yet we know

we should keep

one hand on the rod. 

 

But How

 

How to show obedience and keep

one hand on the rod

and still wander

just to see

 

Then from a pocket comes a silken strand

a flaxen cord

and with it

a glimmer of an idea

 

Perhaps – maybe – if only

 

we fashion that silky cord to the rod

give a little pull

to test the strength

and smile

 

Because it is

 almost as good

as having

one hand on the rod

 

With the newfound tether

we can step away

and take a peek

ever knowing

we still have a hold

on the rod

 

Excitement, friends, experiences

just to watch

just to see

 

A peek into the world

still tied by the flaxen cord

to the rod. 

 

Further and further

still secure in the knowledge

that perhaps, even if your hand

is not

on the rod

 

that flaxen cord is stronger than  it appears

It should keep you safe, as you

walk further

from the rod

 

What happens when

the unexpected happens

the winds pick up

and the dust blows

life suddenly gets stormy

sending all in its path

swirling

 

and in sudden silence

we find that the flaxen cord

which we thought

had come from our own pocket

 

Is instead a flaxen cord

attached to a shackle

on the neck

that with the wind, with the storm

 

Has become a web, a binding

of strong cord

attached not to the iron rod

but instead, is held

by the father of darkness

 

that he may call you his. 

 

 

 

My new favorite ugly shirt

Admittedly, I stole it. 
  

AND

It is sort of ugly 

I was not even smart enough to steal a new one,

or even one that matched my skin tone,

BUT 

I love it.  Three months now I have had my  Ugly Brown Shirt, and I love it. 

Don't be afraid for me - the guy I stole it off of was not using it anymore.  He'll never even miss it.  

And really?  If I can't find it, there are several others around here I can swipe.  Not as easily, but now that I have fallen in love with 

The Ugly Brown Shirt

I have to wear it.  No matter that it has spots of glue from left over patches.  No matter that it is 4 sizes too big.  

I may never give it back.
 

My Ugly Brown Shirt

My new Ugly Brown Shirt is, in fact Robby's Scout shirt.  He has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and flown from our home nest, leaving his shirt behind.  

I received the opportunity three months ago to become a "wolf den assistant" which is a cub scout leader working with the 8 year olds.  I was happy for this opportunity, because it allows me to be with one of my children.  We go together, work together, learn together.  Perhaps I will get to be a Wolf den assistant long enough for my last three boys to go through cubs.  

A girl can dream, can't she?  

Yet with all the excitement of being in cub scouts with my son, I was hesitant each week I donned The Shirt.  It was too big (I did NOT want to purchase a new one for almost $50, thank you very much), the color was sort of brown/olive/ewwww, and I sort of felt as if it made me feel like a wannabe - a die hard scouter - something I had never planned to be.  

Then one day, as we were starting our den meeting, I stood with my group of 8 year old boys, raised my arm and began to say the Cub Scout Promise, I heard a distant voice echo in my head.  The voice had a beautiful slight southern accent.  The voice said "I Cindy Watson, promise to do my best to do my duty to God and my Country, to help other people, and to obey the law of the pack."

It was the voice of my mother.  A voice that I have not heard in 14 years now.  A voice that I miss tremendously.  And in that moment, I fell in love with The Ugly Brown Shirt.  

I have no tangible memories of my mother being a cub scout leader.  As the mother of 6 boys, it is no surprise that she was one - I was just never a scout, I have had no reason to remember her leading the  small meetings.  

I must have been there, as she repeated that promise with her group of scouts.  I must have been an observer on the sidelines once or twice.  Because I can her her voice in my mind, each time I raise my arm and say to my group of 8 year old scouts, "I, Andra Stowe, promise to do my best............

A Forever Valentine

Valentines Day always reminds me of high school.  

After 22 years -  

Valentines Day STILL reminds me of high school.  In my mind, it looks something like this:  

 This

is a vase of roses, from Carolina Roses

Except that in high school, I never got one of these for Valentine's day.  Not that I didn't date.  I did.  Not that I didn't date exclusively.  I did.  One of the boys I dated had his mother pick up flowers for me (as most boys did in our area).  This is what she left at the office for me:

     Having waited and dreamed for what felt like eons for a "relationship" at the right time of year to qualify for being cool enough to get ROSES at school - this was a little embarrassing.   I did not get mine in a vase, just wrapped in newspaper.  Must have been a glitch in son/mother communication.  Or his mother hated me?  

In reality, this post is not about the flowers themselves.  

It is about the heart of a teenager girl.

Who wanted so very badly

to be special enough

to get flowers

on 

Valentine's Day.

Who dreamed of walking away from the office

with a beautiful vase 

that would make her grin from ear to ear

and know

all would be as in the fairy tales.

Flowers on Valentine's Day = Happily Ever After

And Now - 22 years removed from High School.......  21 years into marriage with a wonderful man.  Eight children into parenting.  One child into his own apartment.....  

I sat this morning, pondering my own valentine's day experience, and I had an epiphany.  Possibly one that should have hit me years earlier.  

I think the fact that I now have a 15 year old daughter and a 13 year old daughter helped to direct my thoughts.  I thought of them at school, thought of the girls who are "in relationships" who would be rewarded today with flowers, stuffed animals, candy, or balloons - simply because they are currently "with someone".  

What an awful thought!  Bob and I have spent all of our years of parenting, since our children were old enough to have their own first crushes - discouraging premature pairing off.  

I heard it said once that going steady and breaking up in jr. high  and high school are practicing divorce.  We believe it is a fundamentally important time in their lives when they should have MANY friends of the opposite gender.  Where they should be able to learn how to be comfortable around boys/girls.  Where they do not practice pairing up - when there is absolutely nothing positive to be gained by fueling the hormones and the thoughts of "sparkly love".

Plenty would not agree with me.  And that is ok with me.  That is the awesome thing about parenting - each parent can do what they feel is best for THEIR children.  And in our discussions, Bob and I feel it is important to encourage our children to wait until they are mature enough to handle the roller coaster of tumultuous feelings, as well as choose a spouse when they feel right about it.  

With our boys - who are both past the age of 16, we have encouraged dating in groups, having lots of good, clean, creative fun, learning about personality types, styles of conversation, family influences.  Hopefully when it comes time for then to choose a spouse, they will not act ONLY on hormones, but also be able to choose wisely - a spouse with qualities that will make them happy forever.  

With our girls we will encourage the same thing.  Group dating.  Lots of fun, clean activities, being comfortable with the opposite gender, and hopefully a thoughtful choice about a spouse when they are ready.  

But today - I was saddened at the thought of my "unattached" girls

feeling left out at school.  

So I bought one of these:

And one of THESE:

     And took them to school so that my girls will not feel as if they need to be "dating folk" so that they will feel special on Valentine's  Day

So that my girls will know:  

Happily Ever After

can be every single day

Every day that you do something special for someone else

every day you are loved

Every day you are part of a family.

 ONE DAY they will grow up and choose

wisely - 

A Forever Valentine

who will give them so much more than 

newspaper wrapped roses

or even roses in a vase.

Because my Forever Valentine

has given me 21 years

8 children

and more happily ever after

than I could have possibly imagined.  

 

 

 

A few of my favorite pictures!

The best thing about cleaning out the cabinet that has been yelling for my attention for months now?  Finding the pictures that I have been missing since we moved 4 years ago!!!!

Perhaps if I put them HERE, they will not be displaced again so easily!!!

Justin and his look-alike cousin (Carter)

Savannah and her look-alike cousin (Elaina)

3 of us girl siblings, and two of our sisters in law had babies in a 6 month period.  

So glad we thought to document the cousin growth before two of them 
moved away (and one moved back a few years later!)

"We do not doubt"

“And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it”

 

Years and years ago, before I was old enough to understand just what my mother was talking about, I remember hearing her tell me about an "overpopulation movement".  Something about people who were very upset when other people had a lot of children.  

 

She told a story now and then of going in for the delivery of her 6th child, and realizing the doctor on call was one who had informed her on her 2nd or 3rd child that is was not "responsible" to have too many children.  

I remember her saying that she was afraid that doctor would hurt her, or hurt her baby, as he would certainly think that #6 was beyond irresponsibility.

 

My mother made a conscious decision to have many children.  Ten to be exact.  In truth, she always lamented that she never got to number 12.  

There were many slim years, many hand me downs, almost all home cooked meals with never a penny to spare for restaurant food. 

 

There were the years when (with 8 children) my parents decided to further my father's schooling.  He spent the next 5 years (and two more children) in Chiropractic college, unassisted by "financial aid", getting up in the wee hours of the morning to run a janitorial business, and studying late into the night.  

There was no "demand on society" to raise these children, to feed, or to clothe these children.  There was simply hard work, much prayer and dedication.  

 

And now - There are 10 productive adults, all with families of our own.  For each of our families, there are trials, decisions, sizes and unique family patterns.  We are certainly not all the same.  

 

And our parents never told us "go and do this JUST like we did it".  And I am glad!  I'm pretty sure Bob and I could not have made it to #10.  

 

We do surely love our eight though.  The last two were a wonderful surprise, perhaps even a "tender mercy".  I look at them and wonder how I would have ever survived without them. 

For now, they are the icing on my cake.  

 

And by having eight, we have created our own pattern of trials, of dedication, of placing no demands on society, but of hard work, of faith, and of prayer.   

 

In a recent conference address by Elder Neil L. Anderson, 

http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/children?lang=eng&cid=facebook-shared 

this statement was made:  

Many voices in the world today marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family. My daughters recently referred me to a blog written by a Christian mother (not of our faith) with five children. She commented: “[Growing] up in this culture, it is very hard to get a biblical perspective on motherhood. … Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get.” She then adds: “Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for."

I could only think of the many sacrifices that have come with parenting, and how I would not trade my children for anything.

  I thought of my mother, telling me how nervous she was to have baby #6, knowing of the Doctor's opinion on having too many children. And her stubborn determination to try for 12. 

Tonight, I came across an article in the news. 

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=968&sid=17897192&title=as-un-announces-birth-of-7-billionth-person-real-crisis-in-europe-is-not-enough-children
 

I had heard a brief clip about it twice today, but took a minute to read it tonight and was astonished.  It said:  

More importantly, the serious reality is underpopulation. Most of the developed countries of the world, particularly European countries, are experiencing depopulation.

“We need to turn out the lights at the U.N. population fund and put that money into productive uses,” said Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute (Washington), at a satellite news conference in Moscow last week linking Moscow, London and Washington.

Mosher pointed out that the U.N. Population Fund was set up in 1968 “at the height of the hysteria over overpopulation.”

 This must have been what my mother was talking about, all those years ago.  I must have been very young, but remember her words, and the sound of her fear.

This article goes on to state:   “It is important to impact the values. It is only through values that is the salvation for humankind,” said Beloborodov. “We need to demand from international institutions, including the United Nations, a family-oriented policy to be pursued. It is only through this we can prevent genuine depopulation.”

As I read this I can only think - but I always knew, because my mother (and father)  taught me.  I did not doubt. For the lessons from my parents on faith, on dedication, on sacrifice, and on self reliance - I will owe an eternal debt of gratitude. 

 

Happy Birthday Party Day

for Matthew and Evan!!!

Mom had waaaaay too much fun

and spent wayyyyy too much time on your

road construction cake!!!!!