Waxing Poetic

I've written two fun poems today:

Herbert likes his choc’late
He eats it all the time
Breakfast, lunch, or snacking
Whenever it comes to min’

He eats it with his cereal
That’s not that hard to do
Count Coco’s double chocolate crunch
And Chocolate syrup goo

He eats it out at recess
His buddies like to share
Herbert always brings them extra
There’s some sticking in his hair

Bananas dipped in chocolate
A carrot and some peaches
They all go in the chocolate sauce
While Herbert’s teacher teaches

At lunch he eats a well rounded meal
He eats some chocolate bread
Fudge goes in the middle
With peanut butter spread

After weeks and months of nothing else
Herbert’s body changed
With only one thing to grow on
His molecules rearranged

His hair turned brown, so did his eyes
And wouldn’t you just know it
He even smelled a chocolate smell
While going to the toilet

So in alarm, his mom declared,
“Herbert William Twist
You must stop eating cocoa
On this I must insist!”

She switched out all his goodies
With healthy wholesome snacks
Broccoli, beans and carrots
With nothing on their backs

Not near as good or tasty
He ate his beets and leeks
It seemed like every meal time
Lasted weeks and weeks

But Herbert William soon discovered
One day while so down hearted
His mother gave him strawberry milk
And his new obsession started


The second one:
A dad’s most dreaded nightmare
Is going down the aisle
With birds and chirping nightingales
To cross it takes a while

No not the aisle all dressed in white
It’s different than you think
The one that’s filled with cute stuff
The one that’s dressed in pink

This doll has got real girl’s hair
You can brush it if you like
That doll has her own corvette
She likes a guy named Mike

This kitchen set has all the stuff
That you’d find in our home
A little fairy princess
Is sitting all alone

Oh please, please Daddy! Oh don’t you care
That princess is so sad!
Oh get her for me daddy!
I promise I won’t be bad!

Oh curse you dreaded pink aisle
You’re nasty and so stinky!
For nothing proves so well to all
I’m wrapped around her pinky

Our Christmas Newsletter

2007

Our Family News & PicturesL to R: (on branch) Bug, Bam-Bam, Miss M, Angel Face, Tiny and Lucy

P (holding Lucky) and K Bug, Miss M, Angel Face, Tiny, Lucy, Bam-Bam, and Lucky

This summer, P had the opportunity to go to Scout camp for a full week. He had a wonderful time with the boys. He came back with a face full of hair, and it has stayed put for the remainder of the year. He is continuing to work on his MBA, and is (slowly) making progress there. We have decided that to maintain some semblance of family life and church service that he will only take one class per semester. It's moving him forward, but not very quickly. He continues to spend time each week with the 5 oldest children as they make breakfast together. The children have vastly improved their cooking skills, and P has the added benefit of getting to spend one one one time with one child each morning. He was able to attend his parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration in Salt Lake City in July. The rest of us stayed here and finished preparations for our Lucky #7's arrival...just 2 weeks after that date. K signed up as a Stampin' Up demonstrator in late February of this year and was asked to help with the memory book for the 50th wedding anniversary. It was quite a stretch for her to work on a "scrapbook" as most of her paper crafting has been cardmaking. She is loving teaching others to make things with paper and enjoying the extra supplies she has acquired. She attended Women's Conference in May with some dear friends. On the way up to Provo, they stopped in Manti and were able to go through the temple there. It was a wonderful time to regroup spiritually, and for her to step away from being "mommy" for a few days.

Bug, now 12, was ordained a deacon in our ward. It is a joy to see him take on the new responsibilities he has been given. He can pass the sacrament now and he does it willingly and likes it (his words). He continues to play both the piano and drums. This is his second year with the drums, and he is working on rolls and on improving his ability to play different kinds of drums. Miss Em is finishing up elementary school this year (5th grade). She is a fantastic helper in every sense, and enjoys organizing her room. It is always the cleanest room in the house. Her efforts to put things in order have been very helpful as K has been working hard to get things purged and clean the house on a deeper level. She lost her second front tooth this summer...(her other one fell out in 2nd grade)...and we're still waiting for it to come in. Angel Face turned 8 this year and chose to be baptized. He was able to be baptized on 07-07-07 (I don't think he'll forget that date!). His cousin, Karina, was able to be here for the week before his baptism and was here when he got baptized. He has a very good sense of humor and loves to show his love for life and laughter in pictures (He's a ham!). He's in 2nd grade this year.Tiny is 7. He is in 1st grade this year and has vastly improved his reading skills in the last semester. He had a great foundation coming out of kindergarten, and it has been fun to see the pieces fall into place this year. He has the most difficult time being woken up in the morning, even knowing how fun it is to cook with Daddy. He usually gets carried into the front of the fire...and a free back scratch as well on his mornings with P. We continue to try to understand his low vision and work with the challenges it brings. He has a great attitude and is starting to understand that he doesn't see the same way other people do, but that he can do anything he sets his mind to. Lucy is our kindergarten cutie. She LOVES school and the sociality it brings to her life. She loves learning and it is fun to hear her make connections with letters, and rhyming words. She has been given the ability and desire to dance and sing (she gets it from her dad), and enjoys her weekly dance class. She makes every she is around happy! Bam-bam is enthusiastic about everything. It is really fun to see his personality develop and watch him grow. He's a typical 2 year old in that he lives life to the fullest and seems to never stop and slow down until he crashes on the floor somewhere (we have about 5 similar pictures to the one below in the pictures for this year). He wants to help and be included in doing chores and other things he sees his older siblings doing. (He loves to help with dishes and setting the table). He loves watching Little Einsteins and Blue's Clues. It's just fun to be around him.
Lucky was born this summer (at the end of July). He surprised us all by being a boy...we were expecting a girl (even though the doctor had never given us a specific guess as to the baby's gender). He is rolling over now and absolutely enjoys his sibling's attention. His smile lights up any room he is in. He was blessed on the same day that Bug was ordained to be a deacon.
(This picture below was to mimic the one that P drew to fill Lucky's frame on the picture wall until we got his actual picture taken and enlarged.)

We are grateful for our many blessings (health, home, and happiness being the foremost that jump into my mind). It is always a joy to hear about you and your families at this time of year.
We continue to see miracles worked by the Lord in our lives and pray that you see the same.
May you have a blessed Christmas season and beautiful New Year!
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
P, K and crew


PS: If you need a hard copy of our family picture, let me know and I'd be happy to send you one. I always wonder what people do with our picture once the holiday season is over. I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one faced with the "What do I do with this picture (of my friends) now?" syndrome.

Today's Inspiration

I watched the sun coming up on the hill at the entrance to work. It inspired this poem.


I walked down a canyon
At the breaking of dawn
The shadow enveloped
The side I was on

Like a candle just lit
The other side burned
By the light of the sun
The shadow was spurned

I raced to the bottom
Seeking the light
The light raced to meet me
Oh glorious sight!

We met at the bottom
In a long warm embrace
And welcome warm kisses
Soft on my face

I walked up the hill
From whence it had come
And saw there a cross
And God’s Holy One

The shadow rejoicing
The Son was put out
Dark surrounds everything
The world full of doubt

Three days sat in darkness
The world in despair
Would the Sun e’er return
To that hill o’er there?

Then warm welcoming kisses
Broke forth on my cheek
The light had returned
The world to the meek

My hope in the Son
Forever in light
My darkness he’s taken
And banished the night

Though only in spirit
Have I witnessed this scene
My heart feels warm kisses
And I know Truth serene.

Scoutmaster

They've made me a scoutmaster in my church. I've been associated with the scouting program since I was eight years old and I have always enjoyed it. You'll never here me complain about being asked to help out in scouting.

I have fond memories of my scoutmasters. For the first few years my dad was it. He was always a different man when we were out camping. Not better, not worse, just different. I feel like I know him better because of the time that I spent watching him interact with my friends. My second scoutmaster was the scoutmaster in his troop for decades. He still had the scouting spirit burning strong when I moved back to my hometown a decade after leaving. He was awarded the Silver Beaver for his decades of selfless service.

I see the young men I am teaching now and I marvel at the potential they all have. We're going camping tomorrow, (I'm writing this late Thursday night,) and once again I find myself feeling that thrill of anticipation before the big event. I'm scoutmaster to one of my own boys. I hope he'll have the same fond memories of scouting with his father that I do. I hope that decades from now, I'll still love scouting and the joy of teaching scouting to young men. I hope that some day my boy will look back at his youth and want to be a scoutmaster too. And make a difference in at least on person's life.

Tribal Politics

I realize that political parties are a pemenant reality of the American landscape. I am glad that we have developed forums for the large masses of people inhabiting America to state their viewpoints, build concensus, and fight for a common good.

I have just one question. When did politics turn into a religious debate?

I am a religious man. I hold dearly to the values that my parents have tought me and I indeed feel on my own. I will readily admit that the political debates that we have around gay marriage, abortion, sex scandals, and the interaction between church and state move me to strong emotions. It upsets me; however, to be so deftly manipulated.

What are the real issues that the state should be concerned with?

Establishing Justice, insuring domestic Tranquility, providing for the common defense, promotingthe general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.

If a candidate has a platform on healthcare. That's a real issue. If a candidate has a platform on prayer in school, gay marriage, or condoms in the school. Pay attention. That candidate thinks you're a dupe and will fall in line becuase he or she has successfully pushed your hot button.

I won't fall for it this go around. I'm going to vote for the cadidate that talks about what they are really going to do for America. Not the one who talks about what we should believe in America. I'll leave that job up to my conscience and the Sunday School teacher.

As you hear the tribal drum beating this election cycle. Just realize its meant to make you dance.

A quick catch up

I apologize to the four people that are at all interested in my ramblings. After three months of a no excuse absence I have finally felt a stirring of a desire to post some of my thoughts online once again.

A quick recap of my life happenings while I've been away.

I took the scouts to scout camp (where I grew a Fu-man-chew for the first time in my life.) Bug's first year... We had a blast.

My parents had a fiftieth anniversary... My wife was two weeks away from delivering our #7. I flew up to Salt Lake to celebrate with my parents and spent the whole time wishing that my wife and kids could have come with me.

Lucky #7 was born on July 30th. We thought he was going to be a girl. I'm sure he'll have to endure some teasing about that point for the rest of his life. He does have some luck heading his way. He is the seventh child, of a seventh child, of a seventh child. Not quite a seventh son, of a seventh son, but still cool. He's also the fiftieth family member on his paternal side starting with the grandparents and including spouses.

I've started back to school after a month off during the summer.

They've hired a new man at work to take on about a third of my previously assigned responsibilities. He's gung-ho and doing a great job. I'm stressing a lot less at work as you can imagine.

I've started teaching myself Mandarin Chinese. Mainly just to keep the mental juices flowing.

I'll try not to take nearly as long of a hiatus, but I can't make any promises for two reasons: Blogspot is now a taboo website from work, so I won't be checking anybody's posts except in my spare time from home, and that is a pretty rare commodity.

Immigration Bill Failed

You know, I just can't help but wonder how short sighted our congress is. They just shot down the latest immigration naturalization bill that would allow the current estimated 12 million illegal immigrants an easy path to citizenship. (I actually don't like the "Z Visa" concept which is basically just a glorified work permit, we should give them an easy path to citizenship like our forefathers were given, but you've got to start somewhere.) I know that by posting about immigration I am hereby declaring to the world that I do not march in step with most Republicans on this matter. I don't care.

Here's how economics works. If you run a business that takes raw materials and makes them into a useable goods you must make those improvements for the least amount of money possible. If you don't, you will have your product copied by someone that can and they will. Their substitute product will replace yours and you loose. Now, this process isn't instantaneous but it is pretty quick in our globalized world.

So what do we do in the United States? We discourage immigrants from entering the country by making the naturalization process so difficult that they don't feel as though they can work within the system. So what do they do? They sneak in. The cheap labor comes, but the government doesn't get the increased tax base.

It's not about whether or not its legal. Its about whether or not its possible. And to these immigrant getting in is easy. Getting legal is hard.

Lets build a wall! How stupid are we? If we build walls to keep them out all we are accomplishing is to isolate ourselves. If they want in they will come in. But their government sees our attitude and translates it, "The US thinks they're better than us." We become socially isolated.

In the meanwhile. Our competative advantage in the United States is ebbing. Eventually, China is going to catch up and nothing will be made in the USA because it can all be made in China for cheaper cost and just as good value.

What's more is it is argued that with immigration comes crime. Yeah, but let's look at where that crime is really coming from. Having lived in the Southwest for most of my life, every immigrant that I have met has worked harder for his daily bread than any of his American counterparts. They don't come here to steal and loaf. They come here to work and get ahead.

One last point. The current population trend in the US is to less and less children. This is normal for educated populations. However, if we don't increase our population somehow, how do we expect to be able to grow our economy? Stock market investments?

Continued immigration will save this country's production capabilities. Its time that the nation stopped resenting the culture clash and encouraged immigration as what it is: a replacement working base for a sagging and aging American economy.