art of being an artist

I must say that some of our kid's character traits can definitely be traced to their parents. Some good and some bad. One such gene that has been passed down by us is the gift of drawing. I remember winning my first city wide art contest when I was not yet a teenager. I always liked to draw things around me, but the painting that won me the first place prize was an abstract painting of what I thought racing cars was all about. I may even find a photo of that painting one day and post it. My mother picked up painting when she was 70 and is wonderful. She lives in Tucson, Arizona and likes to paint desert scenes. I need to take a photo and post one of them as well. Then my wife picked up painting when the kids were small. She just pulled out one of her first boat paintings from the back of a closet a couple of days ago. one of her boat paintings is hanging up in her parent's house in their living room. Sounds like I need to have an art show in my blog one day! Our oldest son is a artist as well but he has to be in the right mood in order to create, but when he does it is special. Which brings me to the reason for this post as our middle son has recently been doodling as he sits at the computer. I think he would have thrown them away if we had not captured his drawings and put them on the refrigerator door. I have scanned them in for your viewing pleasure, from the family of artists.

babies vs. teenagers

I have decided that all newly married people should consider that their cute cuddly adorable babies may one day become hormonal teenagers. It was the furthest thought from our minds when our small children were amusing us with their feats of splendor.

For the last week, everyone in the family has been looking at photos we have saved through the years. It has brought many a laugh to us all. Maybe it is news of day, like our son quitting his job before he finds another or our son who has a bad habit of being loud and waking me up in the middle of the night or our youngest son who is one minute pleasantly happy and the next like an uncontrollable hornets nest. I think I like looking at baby pictures more than the current reality.

A good friend of mine told me once that we had no hope for calm obedient children as I have rebellious disturbing genes. I can recall those teenage years and glad I never have to relive them. I was definitely out of control and only a small group of faithful friends could stand me. I was only grief and trouble for my mother. My dad was not present as he left the house when I was 14. Just as well, as life was not any better when he was around. I only heard recently that dad got fired from every job he had and typically that was yearly. I always knew that following Jesus would be the cure for my nasty life, but I never even thought about the consequences of my genes! I think mixing my bad ones with my wife's at least diluted them as none of my kids are as bad as I once was - thank goodness.