Skip to main content

mothers day 2015

i've been so blessed with an abundance of great mothers in my life.  i suppose that's why mothers day seems like such a natural time to truly celebrate the nurturing, maternal spirit of the mothers in my life, and motherhood in general.  so today i celebrate my own mother, my mother-in-law, my grandmothers, as well as those who have acted like mothers to me when i was away from home.

but as i help do whatever i can to raise up three boys into young men, i am especially aware of the difficult job of being a mom, as modeled so beautifully and gracefully by my wife, shannon.  and i want to foster in my children a kind of awareness of and gratitude for her and all she does and who she is.  so we've been making videos for 7 years now to try and cultivate those things, and honor shannon with a tribute that, if it doesn't capture her doing her mom thing, at least captures the fruit of her labors (literally) in this particular moment of their growing up.

so, without further ado, here is our latest installment of a series of videos meant to celebrate the life of our family, and the way shannon nurtures and blesses each of us in a way that causes us to grow and be full of life in so many ways.




the collage which you see the boys working on is part of her present.  she had wanted another one i had made like it, but it was sold from an art gallery, so we decided to make her her own.  but this one is even more special.  for the past few years shannon has used old forks in our garden here at home to mark the various vegetables.  she just sticks an old fork in the ground (i have dozens and dozens of the because of my collage work), and writes with a black marker on the handle.  over the last few years, the forks have become rusty and weathered.  i used those old forks to write the word "grow" on this collage, as a symbol of the way she is nurturing us and helping us to grow.

happy mothers day, and thanks to all the moms who helped me grow into who i am still becoming today, especially my own Mom!  love to you all!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus...

i'm giving away the swamp

so this is a collage called swamp. i made it in february of last year. it is currently framed in a homemade, hand-painted frame. it is paper collage on a book binding panel. it is 7" x 10". and i am giving it away. i've been wanting to have a blog giveaway for some time, and the time has finally arrived. here's how it works. all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. by leaving a comment you are automatically entered into the contest (as long as your comment offers a way for me to get in touch with you, or you know that i know you). the contest will be open until next wednesday at noon, eastern standard time. at that time the contest will officially be closed and i will pick a random number. the person whose comment matches that number wins! for example, if i happen to pick the number 33, the thirty-third comment will win. oh, and one more rule: you can only post ONCE. if you win, i will send you the collage, signed by me, the artist, free of c...