NPR

David and I currently have 2 cars.  One is our '04 Corolla that is still in pretty good shape.  The other is my parents '84 Bronco that they lent to us until we move away or until the engine falls out the bottom.  I usually drive the Bronco because my work is closer than David's and that thing is a gas hog.  But when I do drive the Corolla, one of my favorite things to do is to listen to NPR!  I know, that sounds weird.  It's also our classical music station and, unless they're playing jazz, I always listen to that.  My favorite thing about NPR is the stories you get to listen to.  I love telling other people the things I learn, so that's the main topic of my post.

While David was finishing up some work at the cemetery, I was waiting in the car listening to the radio and I heard something really interesting.  They were talking about how a lot of parents in China aren't satisfied with the school system there.  It sounds like it's a lot like American schools where you basically just get information, memorize it, and spit it back out.  They were unsatisfied because it won't help their children learn to be creative and adapt to new situations, which is what they need in order to keep up with the current job market.  China tends to model its school system after other countries, those that have figured out a method that works.  It makes China very flexible and helps their children learn to adapt and change.  China changed to its current system back in the 90's after American schools, but they feel it's no longer effective.

That was one aspect that they talked about.  The other I found even more interesting.  A thought was brought up that culture plays a large part in your thinking patterns.  Americans, for example, largely believe that if you are smart, it's because of your genes.  That genetics plays a large part and those people that are smart simply lucked out.  Europeans tend to go with tradition.  If your father was a plumber, then you will be a plumber.  But the Chinese believe it is all about work.  If I want a good job, I have to work the hardest.  I have to put in the longest hours and be a team leader.  This isn't true for every person out there, but as a majority, that has been the trend.

I thought that was so interesting.  It helps me to understand that culture, as well as our own, a little better.  Anyways, I love to tell people these types of stories so I'm sure you'll get to hear more in the future, but for now I hope that gives you something to think about!

How Blessed We Are

David has been working at the cemetery this summer.  It's not bad work, he mostly just keeps the water going and occasionally filling in graves.  He doesn't mind it and it pays better than the job I've been at for the last 5 years... Sometimes I go out to the cemetery with him and walk around while he changes the water.  I've noticed something while I've been walking around, especially in the older parts of the cemetery.  There are so many graves of babies and small children.  I would guess that almost half of the graves out there are from children under the age of 10.  Some of those headstones don't have the names of the children, presumably because the child was still-born.  Those graves are marked as "Baby Smith" or "Infant Gray".  Usually there will be a headstone for the parents, and then 3 or 4 right next to it of children of theirs that died. 

It makes me feel so sad to see those.  Whenever I see that, I try to imagine what it must have been like for that mother.  To have so many children die at such a young age.  I don't have any children so I don't know what it's like to have that bond, but I know what it's like to have a husband and family that I'm very close with.  I know that at the turn of the century, the child mortality rate was very high compared to what it is now.  I found a few different sites that all stated basically the same thing.  Here is one site's statistic- 165 per 1,000 children died in the first year.  That's 16%.  Other sites say anywhere from 10-16%.  In 1997, the mortality rate was 7 per 1,000.  Less that 1%.

It's amazing what advances have been made.  Amazing that people don't have to suffer like they once did.  Of course, we have all new sorts of ailments now, but I'm just so glad our medical system can help as many people as they do.  It's amazing. 

As for those small little graves, I always think of my mother when I see those.  She wrote a blog post that I like. She found an app for her phone (it's called BillionGraves) that lets her take pictures of the headstone and, along with her GPS coordinates, she uploads it to a website where people can look and see where their ancestors are buried.  I think it's a great way to do family history.  My little brother even started helping her!  I would help, but I'd have to go a long way to find a cemetery she hasn't already visited.  Maybe when (someday) we make it back to North Carolina I'll start on the east coast and we'll meet up somewhere in the midwest!  If you look at her blog you can hear lots of stories about her adventures while doing this. 

I just hope when people see my grave in 100 years, that they'll try to think about how I might have lived just like what I try to do with others.  I think it helps bring all of humanity together.  And helps us realize what's really important.

Family Pictures

A couple of weeks ago my brother and his family came up from New Mexico to visit.  While they were here my dad wanted to get a family picture since we were all together.  It's the first time we have all been together because my younger brother was on his mission when Joni and I got married.  It was a lot of fun, we giggled and yelled and made good memories that day.  I'm glad I get to see my family all the time and it will be sad when David and I move away, but I just figure that when we move away they all have a new vacation spot! 

We wanted this to be pretty casual so all the family pictures were set-up and taken (with a tripod and the timer on the camera) by yours truly.  I don't think they turned out half bad!  The last picture Was really fun, I had to set up the tripod on a little deck, hit the trigger, run around a tree, over a stream, and up some rocks, all in 10 seconds!  Here are some of the after-pictures pictures.  We were all hanging out and talking and my mom was snapping pictures.  This is us when we're all by ourselves!

Nathan thought this was hilarious.  David (my bro) tried doing this with his other son, Zach, but that didn't go so well....

This is Emily, David's wife and Nathan's mom.  I love this picture because there is more than meets the eye...if you look in the background, you can see Nathan loved the water so much he wanted to take a swim!

My mom wanted a kissy shot.  Lisa and Tyler were all ready for this one!

Joni and Chade.  They'll have a new addition to their family coming this October!  She hides it pretty well for being 5 months along!

David wouldn't do a kissy shot with me, so I smashed his face.

But he smashed my face right back so I guess we're even.

I really like this photo, except Zach looks scared out of his mind...

This is my favorite picture.  All 13 1/2 of us!

Van Gogh

I love learning about artists and what they did with their lives.  And I realized I haven't put a post on here in awhile that spotlights and artist and that makes me sad.  So here we go!  This time, I wanted to do someone that I absolutely adore.  Vincent Van Gogh.  Born in 1853, died in 1890, and one of the most well-know post-impressionist painters.  Van Gogh was a Dutch painter by birth, but traveled around Europe throughout his life, with his journey ending just outside of Paris. 

At age 16, Vincent began working for an art dealer, Goupil & Co.  This is the same art dealer that his brother, Theo, would work for later.  Theo and Vincent were very close and Theo financially supported Vincent throughout his short life.  There are hundreds of letters written between the two of them, and this is where most of the information about Vincent comes from.  At age 20, the firm moved Vincent from London and later to Paris.  It was then that he became increasingly interested in becoming a minister.  Not long after, Goupil & Co fired him for lack of motivation.  He spent the next few years pursuing a career in the church, but after 6 months his pay was dropped but he continued on anyways.  He lived in a small mining town and became very worried about the miners living conditions.  It was during this time that he started fiddling around with charcoal drawings. 

A couple of years later, he took the advice from his brother and started painting in earnest.  He lived in Belgium where he took painting lessons.  The most famous of his paintings during that early period was "The Potato Eaters".  You may notice the absence of bright colors, which is typical for his later work.  But during this period, he mainly used earthy tones and sharply lit. 

Shortly after he finished this painting, he moved to Paris where he lived with his brother, Theo.  While in Paris, Vincent met some of the most prominent painters of the day.  The list includes Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin.  Gauguin was later to become a good friend to Vincent.  Vincent bought a house in Arles, France where Gauguin later accompanied him.  They both lived in the house for a short while and painted a lot.  It was in this "yellow house"  that Vincent painted a majority of his sunflowers.  As a tribute to my mother, who loves sunflowers, I have to post a picture of one of the most famous from that collection - "Vase with Twelve Sunflowers"

While spending all this time together, Gauguin even painted Van Gogh painting a sunflower.  Here is "The Painter of Sunflowers".

It wasn't long until the two painters started fighting.  One thing that fueled the fire was Van Gogh admired Gauguin greatly and wanted to be treated as an equal, but Gauguin was too arrogant.  Van Gogh (who most likely battled with bipolar disorder most of his life) was afraid Gauguin was going to leave him, so he confronted him with a razor blade, but dismayed at what he was doing, he ran off to a brothel, cut off a portion of his own ear, wrapped it in newspaper, and handed it to a prostitute for safe keeping.

The only painting  Van Gogh ever sold was called "The Red Vineyard".  It was created in 1888, 2 years before his death.  It's sad to think that he probably didn't realize what an impact he was making on society and how well known he would become.

Vincent van Gogh now exchanged painting dots for small stripes. He suffered from depression, and in 1889 on his own request Van Gogh was admitted to the psychiatric center in France. During his stay here the clinic and its garden became his main subject. Pencil strokes changed again, now into spiral curves.  

In May 1890, Vincent moved to a different clinic where he could be under the watch of the physician Paul Gachet.  Gachet had treated artists before and was recommended to Vincent by Pissaro.  His depression, however, continued to get worse.  On July 27, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh shot himself in the chest.  Two days later, with Theo at his side, Vincent uttered his final words "La tristesse durera toujours" translated - The sadness will last forever.  Theo, unable to come to terms with the death of his brother died 6 months later and his grave was placed next to his brothers.

In one decade, Van Gogh produced over 2,000 pieces of art.  The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is dedicated to Van Gogh's work and that of his contemporaries. On May 15, 1990 his Portrait of Doctor Gachet was sold for $82.5 million at Christie's, thus establishing a new price record.

 It's interesting to think that Van Gogh didn't know what he was giving the world while he was alive.  Most artists don't become famous until after they have died, which I find sad.  Hopefully they know what they have given the world now they are in the afterlife.  I want so badly to talk to these people and see how they view the world.  Van Gogh's most famous painting "Starry Night" can be viewed in many different ways.  I found one article that I like a lot.  It talked about how Starry Night wasn't just a painting.  Van Gogh was a religious man, almost to a fault.  Some people say that having eleven stars is no accident.  In Genesis 37:9 it states "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."  I like to think that, even though Van Gogh had such a deep depression in this life, that he still had faith in God.  That he wasn't scared of dying because he knew there was something after this life.  That all the beautiful paintings in this world are just a glimpse of the beauty to come.