Elephants at Play

Fernando has always loved reading. He tells of how he would hide in the log pile outside his home just so he could finish reading. His life as a resident has cut all possibilities of reading for fun and limit his selections to the scriptures and medical reference books which I am sure that his patients enjoy whether or not they realize his sacrifice. Thank heavens for audiobooks.

Now, as he drives to and from work, he can listen to book after book. Some of the best books I have "read" are from this endless collection of audiobooks Fernando has gotten for himself. Currently, I am overtaken by the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Amazing, frustrating, incredible, almost unbelievable. More than once I found myself shaking my head in disbelief and audibly guffawing.

Last night, as I listened to the story of Louis Zamperini, I became livid with the choices people make that drastically effect the lives of others. Some upstart Lieutenant, unfamiliar with the workings of airplanes, ordered Zamperini and his crew to go on a search and rescue mission. The only plane available was unfit for flight in the sight of all pilots, but passed all the "test" some book read inspector gave the plane. Even upon explaining that the plane was unfit to fly, the men had to follow orders with devastating results. Over and over in the war, men were killed in non combat situations. Thousands of men lost to "war" because of the ignorance or inattention to detail by the superiors. It made me think of the saying my mom often says "When Elephants play in the mud, the frogs are the ones who get hurt."

Get the book. Read it. Or, better yet, listen to it. It is not for the faint of heart and there are war scenes that are unpleasant, but it has been an amazing life story to remember.

This is SO Tiago!

Tiago has been wearing his Darth Vader costume for days.

Best Laid Plans

So remember those dozen donuts? I decided to freeze most of them, and "hid" them in our ice cube making machine box. This plan seemed so genius until the day Fernando found both plastic and chocolate donuts in his ice water. Whoops!

Musical Fans

I don't really understand what possesses me sometimes. I have this problem of starting into big projects when the more important day to day chores (dishes, vacuuming, showering) are left undone. Such is the case this past week. I have been going to bed ridiculously early and waking up at 2 am. Too lazy to get out of bed (even though I had slept 7 hours) I would ponder various things like: how long would it take me to pressure treat my fence and seal it or how easy would it be to replace my light fixtures above my garage and outside my front door or how could I maximize the ceiling fans I currently own and fix the mismatched configuration that we have been "enjoying" these many months.

Realizing that the ceiling fans were the most irritating to me, I promptly headed to Lowes one day after picking TIago up from school to purchase the cheapest yet most effective ceiling fan for our downstairs family room. Then came the moment of musical fans. The downstairs ceiling fan and the ceiling fan in my room were identical which made placing them in the children's room ideal. The ceiling fan in one of the children's rooms was worthless while the other was fantastic in ability as well as ugliness (were talking gleaming gold metal with 80's oak blades). I opted to spray paint the blades black to match our bedroom set and deal with the bling since it is close enough to the antique brass hardware on our furniture in our room.

Five fans later and a repaint job, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Luckily, reality hit in when I turned on the fans in the kids' rooms only to realize my foolish error. The fans had dimmer remotes that also controlled the speed of the fan. To install, the fan must be set on high and then controlled by a remote located in the ceiling and on the wall. Because a little remote spelled disaster in my head with kids and playing too much with a non toy item, I opted to leave the remotes out. So now the fans have two settings---off and turbo jet speed. Good thing San Antonio weather makes such speeds desirable, because the problem has been solved for now.

Good Grades

Thanks to all the hard work of Tiago and Mia during this last grading period, we all enjoyed a fun lunch at Cheesy Jane's and a dozen doughnut from krispykremes for free. I guess studying hard really does pay off! I think I will have to remind them of this the next time someone whines about homework.

Freedom

For Martin Luther King day, we showed the kids a few clips from movies to help them understand the importance of the day. The first clip was from Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Then we decided to stress the importance of his message by watching the TV series America The Story of Us that showed how the slave trade operated and, in essence, was worse than cattle auctions. The show recounted the need for colored people to carry papers either stating their status as a freeman or who owned them. It turns out that Frederick Douglass , on his final and successful attempt to leave slavery, used borrowed documents from a friend to gain his freedom. It also showed how Harriet Tubman, a woman who already escaped to freedom, risked her life several times in order to offer that same freedom to over 300 other "slaves".

Still interested, I showed the kids part of Gandhi. Surprisingly, they watched over an hour of the movie asking questions the whole time.

I don't know if it was due to just finishing the book "The Hiding Place", but for some reason, the importance of standing up against injustices seemed more amazing and important to me this year. I wonder what I would do faced with such injustices. Sadly, I already know the answer. There are injustices all around and I do nothing about it.

Then my thoughts turned to the thoughts of Gandhi and his peaceful non-violent non-cooperation campaign. He spoke of how they would face pain and violence and even death, but all the people would have was his body. No one could take his spirit and will.

Our Family Home Evening lesson focused on the scripture in 2 Nephi 2

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and call things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

29And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.

No matter our life situation, freedom is found within. I loved the metaphor of staying within bounds:

Oh, no he didn't!

I wish my camera would have worked to show you Fernando's reaction to this video. . .it was almost as entertaining.