Kosuke

So, for the last 5 or 6 years we have been opening our home to kids from Japan as part of a Japanese exchange program.  The first couple of years we did it through various local organizations, but for the last few we have gone through the Everett Community College.

It has been wonderful each time, and I can’t say how much we have loved getting to know each of the kids.

The unfortunate thing is we generally only get them for a couple of weeks – never enough time, and this time was no exception.  Kosuke was a great guy and a lot of fun to be with.  We’re looking forward to staying in touch and maybe someday getting together again.
He will always be welcome in our home.

A Little Catch-up

Ok, so the last couple of months have been crazy busy and I haven’t had much of a chance to sleep, much less write up a new blog post.  I’ll see if I can somehow get things kick started again and write more often.

One thing you may have noticed is that I’m playing around with colors/themes again.  In the last week or so I moved the hosting of the shurtzfamily.net domain over to Blogger, so it allows me a lot more flexibility in everything.  I haven’t had a chance to look into the fancy ways of customizing this page yet, but I’m sure I’ll get to it at some point.  According to Khalina, the current look is “ugly”, so it will most likely change soon.

Ok, I also wanted to point out a couple of the photo galleries that I’ve pushed up in the last month or so.  If you’ve been watching the “Recently Added” section in the photos.shurtzfamily.net site, you may have already seen them, but just in case here’s a summary:

Ammon had a birthday in May:

Later that month we hiked up to Wallace Falls with Ny & Val:

For pack meeting that month we went ice-blocking:

The first Saturday in June is always the Highland Games.  It was
as spectacular as always:

To get ready for our High Adventure bike trip, we did a shorter ride over to Cascade Park:

Khalina’s birthday was in September when she turned 12!

In October we went over to Moses Lake to visit with Dad Peterson:

Later that month we went over to Carlton Farm to pick a pumpkin and walk around:

And Christmas was peaceful:

Well, that’s it for now.  I haven’t finished going through last year’s pictures yet (there may even be some from 2007 that need to be pushed up), but I’ll see what I can do to speed things up a bit.

More later…

An Early Christmas

I can’t tell you how much I have loved the weather this week.  It has been cold and snowy and wonderful!  It snowed on Sunday for the first time this winter and it never really stopped.  School has been officially cancelled for the week and we’re starting vacation early!

They’re even saying that the next couple of days will be clear and cold and then another round of snow swings by.  I can’t remember the last time we had a white Christmas – I can’t remember one in all the years I’ve lived in Washington – and I am almost giddy with excitement.

In between working from home, playing with the kids and drinking hot cocoa, I decided to take a minute and document the occasion with a couple of pictures.

Khalina – The Early Years

Back when Khalina was turning eight, I thought it would be great to have a slide show of all the pictures I had taken of her up until then.  I’d throw it on a DVD and we’d all sit around and enjoy seeing the first eight years of her life.  The problem was they were all from film and I needed to scan each of them one at a time – and we have many, many albums. I never finished the task (story of my life), but when mom asked for a couple of pictures the other night I figured why not toss the ones I did scan for everyone to enjoy.  I should note that it’s now four years later and my little girl is not so little anymore.  I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by.  It seems like just yesterday that we held her in our arms for the first time and now she’s already asking me to teach her how to drive.

So, click on the picture below, hit the slideshow button and get a little of the effect I was going for originally.  She’s beautiful and we love her dearly.

Pictures from the August trip are up

http://photos.shurtzfamily.net/f698518083

Carolyn, I'll push up a couple more family shots tonight so you have a little more to choose from.

 

A Few Words Here and There

From my journal, Sunday, March 27, 1977:

“Last Friday I went to a birthday party for Marie Munger.  We had hot dogs.  We had punch, potato salad, potato chips, cake, and ice cream.  There was a playhouse in Marie’s bedroom.  We ran races and hopped in the basement.

We went to Sunday School this morning and I went to my class.  We talked about Jesus.  We went to Fast & Testimony meeting.

We bought this journal on Saturday and today we started to write in it.

We went to Verdell & Joyce’s and I had come candy.”

I won’t bother to scan it, but if you took a look at this particular page in my journal you’d see that I drew a picture of a saw, probably some kind of jig saw.  I’m not really sure why, but it looks kind of cool.

I can’t say I wasn’t taught right.  Mom and dad did a great job of teaching me correct principles and giving me a push when I needed it.  I was taught very early on that writing in a journal is important and I only wish that I had somehow stayed in the habit over the years.  That first journal entry when I was four years old (in mom’s handwriting – thanks mom!) was not the last entry, but there are some pretty big gaps now that many years have gone by.

I’m getting old, but I hope it’s not too late to get going again.  One thing that has deterred my efforts over the years is the fact that I really don’t like to hand-write things any more.  I’d much rather sit in front of a computer and type it out.  I tried Word for a while and OneNote, but it just didn’t work the way I wanted it to.  Last week I learned about a web site that I looks like it has a lot of potential, www.ldsjournal.com.  It’s secure, put together really well, and seems to meet all of my needs.  They’re even working on the one feature that seals the deal, to be able to publish your entries into book form.  Anyway, I’m going to give it a shot and see if I can’t do better at keeping our family history.  The tools are in place and I’m excited to see how it works out.

I’m almost done, I promise

 

This is one cool kid!

Laney

Ryan

Living a Higher Standard

Last night Rosa and I had a conversation that didn't go so well, mostly because I didn't get what she was saying.  Not because she wasn't explaining it well, but because generally I'm pretty bull headed and wasn't listening well enough.  Today I've had a chance to ponder on it a bit more and I understand much better what she was trying to teach me.

The thing that I most needed to learn was the need to hold each other at a higher standard.  If you think about it, at work we are held to a higher standard.  At home we are held to a higher standard with each other.  We hold our youth at a higher standard in their lives.  And definitely with the Lord we are all held to a higher standard.  So I don’t know why we should not expect others to also live at a higher standard with the things they do every day.  I know I should expect it of myself at all times.

Personally, I believe that it’s those higher standards that really help us to progress and become better people, husbands, wives, sons or daughters.  It’s true that because of this attitude, there will be more disappointment and sadness when things don’t work out, especially when some people are not used to being held to any standard and take things a bit too casually.  But, I believe it will be worth it in the end as those around us will be better people.

This is where I really struggle because in general I don’t like to feel bad, so I’m often too forgiving of others (or try to make excuses for them) when they don’t come through for me.  I'm not sure if we can really be too forgiving, but I personally need to not be afraid of holding those around me to that higher standard. 

Rosa has always done that for me, and I'm a much better man as a result.

The Wedding

A few of my favorites.  The full set can be found here.

Thanks Nicole & Matt for letting us share such a wonderful day!

A Very Long Time…

Well, summer is basically over now and I am way behind on many, many things – this blog just being one of them.  There have been all kinds of things to keep us busy this summer – trips, weddings, camps, exchange students, etc, etc.  And, now school has started again and fall is fast approaching.  This may sound a little far-fetched, but it’s true – I’ve got about 3,000 pictures to go through and I’ve only had a few minutes here and there to work on them.  You’ve heard the saying, “how do you eat an elephant?”  Answer: one bite at a time.  Well, I’m taking it one bite at a time and hopefully will have things in a state to be shared soon.

Tonight I worked a little on Nicole’s wedding photos and I should have them up soon.  This one was a couple of days after the wedding, when Dustin and the kids were helping me get the lights set up for family pictures.

 

I thought this one of Dustin and Avery was adorable.

Oh, and I’ll try to post regularly over the next couple of weeks until I get caught up.  Just one bite at a time…

Ammon

I’ve been wanting to practice some techniques with taking pictures in full sunlight for a while now but there hasn’t been much of the two things necessary for it, time and sunlight.  But it seems that summer has finally come to western Washington and somehow I ended up with a few extra minutes tonight.  So, after dinner Ammon and I rode our bikes to the school and I snapped a few shots.  I’ve still got some different variations I’d like to try out, but I’m happy with the first attempt.

 

A Mother's Day Wish

As you are well aware, last Sunday was Mother's day.  Rosa says it's her favorite day of the year - not only because of being able to honor our mothers, but because all of my usual Sunday morning meetings are canceled and I get to go to church with the family and generally "hang out" with her all day.  I have to admit that I look forward to that particular aspect of it as well.

Anyway, on Saturday when I asked her what she would like for Mother's day, she said she only wanted two things: 1) a clean house, and 2) a new family picture.  So, Saturday was spent cleaning and Sunday when we got home from church I gathered everyone together for the picture.

Now, our kids are getting older it's true.  But, it's still a little like pulling teeth trying to get them to all "stand here", "don't fidget", "push your glasses up", "look happy", "yes, you will cooperate and take a decent family picture or else", etc, etc.

As I was going through them last night this one immediately jumped out at me and became my favorite.  I was taking some test shots to adjust the lighting and caught one of those "candid moments in time" and thought I'd share.

Stay tuned for the more "official" shots.

Spring? It's Just Wrong

I don't know, maybe it's the same everywhere else in the world. All I know is things are a bit off up in the great Northwest.  So far it hasn't been much of a spring.

 

 

 

 

And yes, we did put an umbrella over the pear trees.

"Yuko", by Khalina

Just act calm and be yourself, then you won’t catch any attention. That’s what they always say. I know that it’s easier to say something, than to actually do it. How is everyone else a normal dog, but not me? Being a strange exotic dog isn’t easy at all. Everybody stares at you; some call you an alien, and other’s call animal control as if I’d hurt someone. Most say I don’t have feelings, but they’re wrong. I have just as many feelings as anyone else and I’ll prove it. I’ll show humans that I’m an ordinary dog.

Sadly, I have to hide whenever I’m in an urban town. When people see me, they think I’m deformed or something. At night, I have to find left over berries. I’m sort of a vegetarian, though I will eat cooked meat on occasions, though I don’t hunt like some of the real beastly dogs around town. One thing I enjoy doing is flying. I guess that’s what makes me exotic, my freakishly large ears and wings. I try to ignore everyone’s rude remarks, but it gets really tough when some of the children and teenagers bring out water balloons. I really don’t like kids that much. I’ve never met a single child who didn’t scream or laugh when they’ve seen me...

Yesterday, I saw this poor dog being abused. I couldn’t help it, but I interfered. I snapped at the man and scratched his wrist. This got him mad and he broke my wing. Luckily, for me and the other dog, we managed to escape. I was surprised at how the reaction the dog gave me after I practically saved his life. He didn’t flee like most dogs do when they see me, but he came up to me and helped me lick my wound. Soon, he thanked me, and then left. He probably has a family of his own. I never saw him again.

Of course, I’m on my own again, going from town to town. I’m meeting other dogs, sleeping in a tree, on a roof, or in an attic. I’ve helped other animals and even a few humans from time to time, but I’ve never been thanked ounce, except for the generous Labrador. There’s one rescue I’ll never forget though...

It all started when a large commotion was suddenly starting. I was confused and younger then. From all the noise, there was one sentence I could hear clearly, a child was stuck in the fire. I wasn’t sure exactly where the fire was or if there even was one, though I knew I had to hurry and see for myself. While running, I decided that it would be much quicker to fly then run. So, I flew in the air and quickly spotted the burning building. Diving, I heard some screaming of a woman. She was the mother of the lost child. I looked around. Why wasn’t anyone trying to blow the fire out? Some fire men were sadly nodding their heads, saying it was too late. Sometimes, humans can be so selfish and lazy.

It was hard to decide whether I should help or fly away. I strained my ears to listen for any more information and what I heard was all the information I needed.

“Mommy, help me, please.”

I’m thankful for my large ears, they saved a life.

I fearfully dove in and quickly found the hopeless little girl. She was still breathing, though she looked lifeless. I crawled under her belly and she was safely propped in between my wings. Panting, I flew out. Nobody noticed me fly out. I dove towards the weeping mother and barked. She looked up at me and screamed. This caused everyone’s attention. I flipped over and the girl woke up, landing in her mother’s arms. The girl stared at me in horror, as if I did nothing for her and I was just flying around for no good reason.

I left.

That was a few years ago and the look the girl gave me sends me chills when I think about it. She was so selfish. I’ve done so many things for people and they never do anything in return. I catch a burglar and cops shoot at me. I put out a fire and nobody thanks me. I’m not only a small fan of kids, but I really don’t like humans in general.

Now I’m outside, behind a restaurant. If I’m lucky, the small amount of light can hide my ears and wings. That can earn me a few scraps of fruit, I think.

2 Years later

I am happy. Along time ago, I didn’t know what happy was. Now I do and I like it. I’m a pet to an old Asian man. He calls me Yoku, one of the Japanese gods. The man keeps me warm and feeds me fruit and rice. I don’t mind people as much.

Others say I should act calm and be myself. Maybe they’re kind of right. I love being scratched behind my ears. I may not be a normal dog, but hey. I like being treated like a king. Maybe

I can’t prove everything to humans, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m old and happy.

The End