Growing a man

 

 This boy of mine.

He loves his mamma.

He asked me for a XBOX.

I said no.

Playstation?

NO.

Our neighbor has one.

I don't mind it a little here and there.

But,

NO.

You may not sit in your room

with your very own big screen TV,

with head phones on,

and play for hours and hours.

NO WAY.

I say, 

I'm raising you into a man.

I'm raising a missionary.

You've got to know how to work.

How to talk.

How to get along with out being plugged in.

I was addicted to Super Mario Brothers.

We didn't have it at home,

thank goodness.

Just at our cousins.

He has a DS.

I don't really like it much either.

He only has 1 game right now.

He does pretty good.

In the winter I've got to remind him to put it away.

I'm so thankful for our ease of life.

We don't have to hunt for food,

or build or own home from the trees on our land.

But man,

I bet families back in those days knew how to really get things done.

Everyone must have had to pitch in.

I hated work when I was a kid,

but now I see what it did for me.

Ethan.

He's learning way before I did.

Its not easy for him.

See's how some live a different way than we do.

But,

 he's not a brat about it.

He hugs me.

He says he understands.

I'm thankful for him.

He's a sweet boy.

 ♥

Growth

I am not very patient,

especially while learning.

Growth,

Persistance,

Trial and error,

Mistakes,

Time.

All of it can be insanely frustrating.

However,

there's is so much to learn,

about ourselves,

about others.

There's character to build.

 Its taken maturity and time to figure this out.

I know that growth is necessary.

I know talents and character won't land in my lap.

But,

sometimes I act like it should, even though I know better.

Joy in the journey.

Easy to say, 

hard to do.

I got married about 13 years ago.

We were given a Nikon film SLR.

Jeff knew all about aperture, and shutter speed.

He knew all about film and lenses.

He tried to teach me.

Guess what?

I didn't wanna.

I was kind of a brat about it.

It was way too complicated,

 over my head.

 A few years ago

with an attitude change,

and some try

the lights finally came on.

 There was still sooooooo much to learn.

Sometimes I felt like giving up.

I knew that I could learn though,

so many people were.

The internet is such an amazing tool.

 A week ago

I took pictures of my beautiful niece.

She's expecting #1 baby girl any day.

Speaking of growth.

I've watched her grow from a toddler to

a beautiful woman.

She and I have a history.

I was part of her growth,

and my heart is full to watch her now.

What a blessing she's been to me.

I'm so proud of her.

I'm so happy she is happy.

I was in tears while I edited these photos.

Technically,

I felt very confident, 

and was super excited how they all turned out.

Photography is such an amazing gift.

And then there's the bond we have with each other, 

this allowed me to relax and apply all the growth

from prior experience.

  I have lots more to learn,

but I'm really excited about it.

 

♥

When? Where? How?

Do you ever feel like there's not enough time in the day to understand all the things you're interested in. Right now I want to figure out so many different things.

Planning and preparing RAW meals.

Understanding how my new camera works.

Taking professional type pictures.

Learning how to reupholster furniture.

Creating a budget that our family can thrive on.

Designing a system to teach my children how to work, make money, save it, and spend it wisely.

Digging deep into the doctrine and principles of the gospel.

Learning how to create and streamline a system to clean my new house so I have more time to learn.

Teaching my children to be responsible, caring, adorable people.

Learning how to not take myself so seriously!

♥