Easter Eggs and Daffodils

April 16, 2006

Dear Family,

Easter came gently this morning, as it does in Oregon this time of year, with sunlight peeking through a gap between cloud cover and a snow-dusted forest on the horizon. Occasional showers put a glisten on our apple blossoms and daffodils. Later we had enough "sun breaks" to cheer up the place and lure Kyrstyn and me into the yard to hide Easter candy and "real live" dyed and decorated Easter eggs. It has been a good day to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.

Bill and Mary Griffiths were our speakers in Sacrament Meeting and they both presented thoughtful and moving messages. I sat in the choir seats and looked at many faces drinking in the spirit of their inspiration, the fruit of their spiritual work preparing a feast for us today. I sang in a quintet "Were You There" (When they crucified my Lord), I sang in the choir (Suzanne Mosman at the piano) singing "He Is Not Here" - one of my favorites from the old "Choir Book" but which is much too high for my voice and Brittany Foushee sang a beautiful rendition of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." with Laura Walhood at the piano. Just after the beginning of the closing hymn, "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today, Halleluia!", tiny Natalie Glausi climbed off her mother’s lap in the choir seats and tripped over the organ power cord, pulling it loose. The congregation sang on under Ed Winkler’s steady direction with no accompaniment. After a moment, I reached for a hymn book and slid onto the piano bench, quickly turning the pages to the hymn so I could pick up at the beginning of the second verse. At the same time, Teresa Jolly was figuring out what went wrong and then working to get the organ plugged back in. As luck would have it, we were both ready for the second verse and began playing at the same time, full tilt. This gave the congregation a start and they began to sing more energetically. We played together for the rest of the closing hymn and everyone seemed to be pleased. Lots of folks commented to me after the meeting how much they enjoyed the sound, and this by accident! This gave me an idea. I’d like to have a regular LDS version of the ubiquitous evangelical "worship band" for hymns in our Sacrament meetings but, of course, with "approved" instruments. We have youth in the ward who play in high school bands and adults in our ward with good intonation who can play cello, flute, violin, classical guitar and whatever other instruments. Wouldn’t it be great to have them play with hymns on a regular basis - to involve more people in the musical worship and liven up our hymns? I’ve never wanted to carry the load of a bishop, but the thought of being able to try some of my ideas makes me think it could almost (almost) be worth it. Oh, well... Maybe in some other life.

Sometime recently, Krystyn and I were having a conversation about Easter and she volunteered to decorate eggs. Of course, Kyrstyn had much more in mind than dipping them in some PAAS dye kit and you will see from the photos what she has done. I stuck to the PAAS coloring and enjoyed making some two toned and three toned

eggs. But Kyrstyn inspired others of us, even Jared for heaven’s sake, to try our hand at decorating an egg with some creativity.

Yesterday, Kyrstyn finished up her many days of body cleansing regimen with mixing up potions and making asparagus soup. Bryce cleaned out the refrigerator again. Photos galore of each.

We had our traditional Easter egg hunt in the yard in between showers. Logan and Caden had fun, but so did Kaaren, Bryce, Kadra, Kyrstyn, Skye, Jared, Courtney and Jason carrying Ashlynn about the gardens. I guess we’ll keep this tradition. We had a lovely dinner of Black Forest ham, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, perfect sweet bread and fruit. Ashlynn slept through the whole thing. Kaaren read some scripture. We had some nice conversation. It was a good dinner.

It’s getting to late to write much more, but I want to tell you about an experience I had this week.

I stopped in Deseret Book - sometimes I do sometimes just to see what’s new - looking for a cheap copy of God’s Army (Did one of you borrow my DVD? ). I saw a new book being promoted near the entrance - an illustrated story by Elder Dieter Uchtdorf about a Sister "Eternal" ("Ewig" in German) and picked it up. It was a short story with only one paragraph on each page opposite an illustration, telling the story of his family’s conversion to the Church in East Germany through the influence of Sister Ewig whom his mother met in a bread line. Something about the simple and direct narrative in Dieter Uchtdorf’s style of speaking touched me deeply when I reflected on the deep faith of the German saints. Germans are not famous for their spirituality; they are known, rather, to revere "Die Wissenshaft" (Science) more than God. But here was a story that paralleled the lives of so many Germans I knew and loved including German people that I brought to the Church and baptized. He told a story of his family living their Gospel each day with simple, deep faith in the face of economic disaster, political danger, religious intolerance, and long suffering such as you and I may never know. I teared up reading his story while I thought of my friends in Darmstadt: Helga Koehn and her son, Hartwig and Ruth Litta and their daughters whom you know - just of few of the faithful living lives of obedience and humility even today. I couldn’t stop crying and left the store still wiping my eyes. This was the sort of simple faith that led my Grandfather and his family to be baptized and associate with the Mormons in Hannover and to leave their home town of Barsinghausen and emigrate to Salt Lake City. A couple of hours later, going into the courtroom in Portland on a contested Probate case, I was still fighting tears in my eyes over this story that Elder Uchtdorf told. In these days, many of think we are very sophisticated and discriminating in matters of religion and religious history and philosophy and I usually like to count myself among them. But this experience was a little reminder to me why faith is one of the first principles of the Gospel. It is worth while, in the face of criticism or spiritual difficulty, to withhold judgment and continue in faith. Perhaps I am not making much sense to many of you and only preaching to myself. Nevertheless, I needed to write this down and share it with you. My German converts are teaching me today to continue in faith.

Continue in faith.

Happy Easter!

Love,

Dad

Spring Camellias

April 10, 2006

Spring Camellias

Dear Family,

This was the view from our bedroom window Sunday morning. Our camellia is blooming beautifully just as the daffodils are fading. I hired Matt Sullivan to mow our meadow (our mower is dead) Saturday and so our "estate" is looking better.

I also hired Matt’s father, Gary Sullivan, to repair a rotten bathroom floor and walls in the Sunset apartments last week. He has been "in between" full time jobs for several years now, making do with all kinds of temporary employment. He does good and conscientious work. In church Sunday morning, the Sullivan family sat in the pew in front of us and I thought of the blessing of being able to employ people who need work, family and otherwise. When I worked for "Killer Ken’s Termite and Pest Control" while going to law school, I admired the position Ken Kenworthy was in - owned a business that gave him the ability employ people in his ward and acquaintance who needed work. I formed a goal for my life at that time that I would like to one day own a business where I could likewise employ people who needed the work - that was a kind of "rich life" I sought after. Thirty years later, I think all of my children and many of our friends have been employed in some capacity, if even for only a few hours and some for more than a few years, in my law office, and several of you have worked in the Pixton Properties projects and some in Kaaren’s school art residencies and installations. My last letter about my sons and daughter plowing my fields illustrated that. So, sitting in the church pew, I counted my blessings and saw the realization of at least one of my life’s goals.

Saturday night Kaaren and I saw Cirque De Soleil’s show "Varekai" under their colorful circus tents. The over-the-top creativity is hard to comprehend. The freedom and beauty of the art, the clothing, the music, the kinetic energy of dance and circus aerobatics in costume makes our everyday lives seem so banal. Kaaren rode home grieving for her lack of ability to achieve everything that comes to her mind. This is what eternal lives(s) are for, I guess. When Kaaren has more ideas each day than even a large cultural art foundation could fund, you need a grander sphere to bring those ideas to life. But we can start here and I want nothing more than to enable her to produce all she can before she wears out this mortal coil.

This last Sunday was not one for quiet contemplation, peeling oranges while lounging with the newspaper. Here was my schedule: We started with Music and the Spoken Word at 8:30 am. 9:30 , Ward Council; 10:30 Choir Practice; 11:30 Sacrament Meeting; 12:45 Sunday School; 1:45: HP Quorum Meeting; 3:00 Home Teaching at Fouchees (OK, this is not your typical home teaching assignment - Lloyd and Sandra Hale and Kaaren and I meet at Foushees for Sunday break-the-fast dinner and discussion); 4:00 Marylhurst Symphony (one of my choir members was soloist for the Mozart Halleluia aria); 6:00 telephone and fax with Ed Winkler going over music he wants on the Organ to back up a solo in two weeks in church; 6:30 help Kyrstyn with her tax return; 7:00 Birthday gathering for Jason at Atacks place; 10:00 home for the remainder of rest and relaxation.

Friday evening Kaaren and I went to dinner (Chinese in L/O) with three other couples in the ward - Bishop Mike and Carol, Fuhrimans and Rasmussens. We had a very enjoyable discussion - almost completely about ways to improve teaching and raising of youth in the ward. Don’t you think it is wonderful that this was the focus of these couples evening out together? Speaking about the upcoming screening of STATES OF GRACE in this area, I was stunned to hear that two of those couples had never heard of the film, God’s Army. So many have no idea that there is actually good cinema out there by LDS film makers.

Last night at Courtney and Jason’s birthday gathering, I loved holding Ashlynn for a while. It is hard to believe that each one of you was at one time a tiny snuggling bundle perfectly happy to be held and held and held. At one point, Jared mentioned picking blueberries in his youth but being outworked by an "elderly couple" that were 50 or 60 years old. I think of the stages of our lives. Kaaren will be 60 in a couple of weeks and I will follow her into the ranks of the "elderly" in about 6 months. My though so far is that I would never go back. I have enjoyed and celebrated each state of life - this coming "elderly" stage is richer than you can imagine. Hard, too, but rich as well.

I hope you are writing in a journal or something. I think too much of our lives, though deeply felt and experienced at the time, goes by with the current of time unaccounted for and lost to your family. It is hard, but try to pick out the pieces that are worth remembering and save them for your posterity.

Enough for now.

Love,

Dad

April 2, 2006

Dear family,

This week I reached my life time goal - to sit on my wooden porch, rock in my rocker and watch my children plow my fields. That's the metaphor being laughed about while Skye, Bryce and Kyrstyn worked in my office this week on a scanning and archiving project. Here are a few pictures of them working and one of them taking a break. It was really wonderful to have them all there at the same time, animated and engaged in a project, figuring out solutions together and getting the job done. This was a nice thing, rewarding for me.

This week Kaaren has been finishing up the tyvek pictures for TyBook. I don't recall seeing her work so hard and long on a project in all our years together. She is frequently up til close to mid-night most nights and works down in her studio alone - not her preferred mode of artistic creation - except for a radio and CD. Here are some photos of her with a final layout on the kitchen island.

This morning during conference I made four lemon pies. Bryce helped me. I took one to Skye's place where we had a brunch (for which Skye made cinnamon rolls from scratch successfully) with her friends, one to Courtney and Jason's place with dinner we brought to them this evening, and there is some pie left here at home after our own dinner. Courtney and Jason's little Ashlynn is really, really sweet. I held her today for the first time (coughing last week). I looked into her tiny, perfect face and walked around the living room of Courtney and Jason's home and thought how blessed can this little soul be to be allowed to come to this sweet and holy family for the beginning of her sojourn on Earth. Logan loves her. He told me that she likes to hold his fingers.

Bryce is playing wonderful arpeggios and chords on the piano. He was playing the other night when Kaaren and I got home from a movie and I thought for a moment that it was Kyrstyn. He was also playing the guitar a little this evening. Here is a picture of him playing in his room.

Daffodils are blooming all over our garden (see, I've learned after 37 years to say "garden," not "yard"). There are many varieties and Kaaren has made a lovely bouquet for our buffet table.

Yesterday Bryce and I drove to the airport in hail and heavy rain. But after a while it was clear in the valley and we spent some time in the air - quite smooth for such a stormy day - looking at mansions and rivers and our house and other points of interest. It was a nice time. Kyrstyn and Bryce were working in the office yesterday, and then Bryce and I went to General Priesthood Meeting. I really like Pres. Hinckley's talk upbraiding the brethren of the church for disparaging or discriminating remarks about people of color different from their own ("Racial strife lifts its ugly head right here among us"), for men who were otherwise able bodied sitting at home and refusing to get a job; (sounds like Russian/Ukrainian culture doesn't it?) and for unwelcome attitudes toward non-Mormon neighbors (Why do any of us have to be mean and unkind to others?" "Why can't all of us reach out in friendship to everyone about us? Why is there so much bitterness and animosity? It is not part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.")
This was a leader of the church taking the church by the lapels and getting in our faces about some things that need fixing. Amid all the sanctimony we hear at conference time, and the "us" and "them" ("the World") mentality we sometimes hear in our wards, it was refreshing to hear this from Pres. Hinkley. Aren't you pleased to see how vigorous he is at 95?

It would be nice for me to hear what your favorite talks of the conference were and why.

We learned this week that Kaaren's brother, Terry, is having a baby with his young girl friend, Simone. So you will have another cousin this year. Terry's mother and daughter are wide-eyed but Kaaren is, of course, very supportive. This could actually be a good thing for him. "We need another Oswell," says Kaaren.

The Community Chorus is coming along nicely. It is a lot of work but it is rewarding, too. They are sounding better and better all the time. I have a fellow acting as an assistant director who takes my place when I'm gone, who takes sectionals and helps with the ensemble. We work together well and it is a pleasure to share the joy of directing this group and collaborate with someone.

I hope you got a chance to take a look at the pictures I posted last week from our trip to SLC to visit Forrest and Kaarina and her parents, Michael and Detta Bendio. I liked Michael and Detta very much and both Kaaren and I look forward to a bond with another great family. We are working on our wedding/reception announcement invitation list tonight. Forrest and Kaarina appear very happy together and what could a father wish more for his son? We are very blessed.

Light rain all day, washing our travails away and nourishing our fields while my children all over the country plow away with their lives.

I love you.

Dad