Good Timber - A Family Favorite for Generations

Good Timber

by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight


For sun and sky and air and light,


But stood out in the open plain


And always got its share of rain,


Never became a forest king


But lived and died a scrubby thing.


The man who never had to toil


To gain and farm his patch of soil,


Who never had to win his share


Of sun and sky and light and air,


Never became a manly man


But lived and died as he began.


Good timber does not grow with ease:


The stronger wind, the stronger trees;


The further sky, the greater length;


The more the storm, the more the strength.


By sun and cold, by rain and snow,


In trees and men good timbers grow.


Where thickest lies the forest growth,


We find the patriarchs of both.


And they hold counsel with the stars


Whose broken branches show the scars


Of many winds and much of strife.


This is the common law of life.

Kensington's Study of Proportions

She Knows

This little girl knows Jesus.

As in, she knows Jesus. A couple of months ago we were all outside at night, and the moon shone brightly in the crisp sky. We pointed out the moon, and she immediately, urgently pointed straight up to the heavens and said, "Jesus! Jesus!" She looked at each of us, as if to make sure we were all listening to her, and she repeated, "Jesus! Jesus!" in the same direct and urgent manner. It took my breath away, and we all recognized the boldness and confidence spoken by our little year-and-a-half-year-old.

And it has happened again and again.

And lately, for unknown reasons, it happens multiple times daily. We will be stirring around the house, each of us enwrapped in our own pursuits, and she will point straight up with the same urgency and remind us about Jesus using the same words. It was astounding at first, unbelievable as it continued, and now a humbling reminder of Whose presence she has recently left, yet Whose presence is still nearby.

We have (sadly) just one hanging picture of Christ in our home. It is the picture of Christ calling the apostles to be fishers of men. I love that picture. I have pointed out Jesus in that picture to Emery on the wall many times since she was old enough to see and recognize the Savior. But I have not made a point to sit with her and look at other pictures of Christ in the church magazines or other places.

I don't have to.

She brings them to me.

She will find church magazines, flip to various paintings and depictions of Christ, and she knows who He is. Many of these paintings have a different representation of Christ's face and features. But she still knows who He is. There is a famous picture of Christ ordaining the apostles with many different men in the picture. Without any prompting from me, she pointed to Christ's face.

We were at my friend Audra's house this past week, and as we were talking together, Emery interrupted us and pointed to a statue on the desk: "Jesus! Jesus!" And then when we were down by the front door, and she saw another framed depiction of Christ, she pointed out to us again, "Jesus."

They seem to know each other.

Emery reminds me that it is "out of the mouth of babes."

And I love our little witness of Jesus Christ.

Lunchtime

These girls make me smile because they make each other smile. When Kensington comes home from preschool and we all eat lunch together, it is a happy time of day!

And one of the blessings I have right now in life is providing good, healthy, colorful, nutritious food for them. It really makes me so happy to put good food into their little bodies.

Unless you're like Emery and prefer to eat your plate.

Sweet Cousin Love

Big Sister, Blueberries, and a Baby in Bloomies

Valentine's Boxes

I love projects.

I do not love messes.

I love my girls.

I do not love their mess.

I decided to be a cool mom Friday afternoon, and this is what we made with potato stamps, red, pink, and white paint, cereal boxes, and craft paper:

Turns out it was a success!

Even little Shorty here got into the action even though she couldn't see anything going on above her. But . . . she had important business to attend to.

Lil' Scrumptious.

2011 Catch - Up: Christmas with the Purdys

It was so nice for us this past Christmas to have Nate and April's family in town, and we were able to have most of the cousins together! What fun! (We missed you, Henry and Gunnar.)

We met at Grammy and Grandpa Bear's chapel for church, and then we headed back to their house for our traditional Christmas Day omelets. This tradition dates back to when Grandpa Jerry was mayor of Kaysville, UT, and he would invite everyone in the town, it seems, ( . . . am I getting this story right? Was it when he was the Davis High principal or football coach?. . .) for omelets.

The Purdy boys are master-chefs, and they are always the cooks. The women love this tradition so much, maybe this is why it has lasted for so long! It was so good, but I have to say that the white chocolate-covered Bugles that Kenda brought were a very close second!

This was the best photo we could get.

My lovebug.

Miss Choobies loved her new "American Girl Doll." Santa was so good to her!

At one point in the evening, all was still, and just about everyone in the room was playing on one electronic gadget or another.

Raleigh and Madeline are mastering Angry Birds.

Not sure what Emery is mastering . . .

. . . or Choobers and Calvin.

We also had an afternoon/evening with Nate and April and their kids and my parents at our house. Here's our gingerbread girl getting excited for her guests:

She was so cute that Choobers kept pushing her over. Have you ever seen something so cute that you just want to push it over? Maybe not? Well, that's how Choobers responds. It is not so endearing.

Madeline is everyone's cuddlebug.

I think James and Emery look similar.

See that cute little head right there? It houses the genius brain of Calvin Purdy. I am not kidding when I say that Nate and April's kids are going Ivy League! They are little geniuses. April might beg to differ, arguing that they are "just boys" and play "the way boys do," but this is my blog, so I get the last say! She is WRONG! They are smarty-pants. And not to mention cutie pies.

Choobers and Calvin hit it off and had quite the gigglefest.

And Emery made a new buddy: her Uncle Nate! She kept wanting him to hold her, which was expecially cute because she is a Mama and Daddy's girl, and she's reached the phase of stranger-anxiety. Nate, you are a superstar!

The buddies. More 2011 Catch-Up to come.

Do They Know?

One thing I love about when Ray and Lisa (Dallas' parents) visit is that our girls know how much their grandparents really enjoy them. They cannot soak up enough of the girls' unique personalities and individuality. Ray, especially, takes such pride in each of his granddaughters. It is very endearing.

I cannot remember where or when I began thinking about this idea, but I do remember concretely last year at our old apartment thinking, "Do my children know that I enjoy them?" Not just, "Do my children know I love them," but do they know that I enjoy them? And what do they see in my words and actions that shows them this? I'm not talking about entertaining them here. I'm talking about showing them love in how I respond to them, the thoughts I have about them, the way I parent them, and how I spend my day. Am I trying to hurry them along to get to "better things," or am I showing them that THEY are the better part of my day?

I am a Martha by nature (or was it nurture, Mom?), and I love to have a smooth-running household. But I also think and philosophize a lot, and I recognize that each day I have what feels like such a short window of time with each of our daughters. That is why I frequently make new resolve to hold each of our daughters in my arms, look into their eyes, and listen to them. Daily. It sounds so simple, yet I have to really plan on it and think about it to make it happen. I am not always successful.

I have certain times in my day when I have more energy. That is why I make dinner around 10:00 am. And I have finally discovered the power in making three dinners at once. It goes a long way to help me be more effective and present when the girls bound off of the schoolbus, which, unfortunately, is the time of day when I have the least energy. I miss the times when they were little, and we would check out 30 books from the library each week and read and read for hours. I hope they remember those days. I find myself trying to reawaken old traditions (like reading for hours) with the younger two now. I can learn a lot from the mother I was just a few years ago. I think as the years have passed, I've become more tired. :)

I found some old pictures I had flagged in iPhoto that I don't remember blogging about. Some of them are from a year ago. I hope that when the girls see these pictures, they can feel how much Dallas and I enjoy them.

We love you, girls.