The Captain of My Soul

Jared and I recently watched the movie Invictus. The film features a poem by William Ernest Henley that was inspirational to Nelson Mandela during his 27 years in prison.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I thought that the poem made a good point about taking charge of your life and not letting yourself be controlled by circumstance. However Jared told me about a response to this poem written by Orson F. Whitney which outlines an even better path:

Art thou in truth? Then what of him
Who bought thee with his blood?
Who plunged into devouring seas
And snatched thee from the flood?

Who bore for all our fallen race
What none but him could bear-
The God who died that man might live,
And endless glory share?

Of what avail thy vaunted strength,
Apart from his vast might?
Pray that his Light may pierce the gloom,
That thou mayest see aright.

Men are as bubbles on the wave,
As leaves upon the tree.
Thou, captain of thy soul, forsooth
Who gave that place to thee?

Free will is thine--free agency
To wield for right or wrong;
But thou must answer unto him
To whom all souls belong.

Bend to the dust that head "unbowed,"
Small part of Life's great whole!
And see in him, and him alone,
The Captain of thy soul.

I found this response even more inspiring than Henley's poem. It was a good reminder to me of the humility it takes to allow the Savior to be my soul's true Captain.

River Front Park

On the weekedn of the 4th we decided to drive to Spokane to visit River Front Park.


Ever since Abby watched Mary Poppins she has begged me to take her on a Carousel ride. This Carousel was built in 1909 and these horses were hand carved out of wood. It was a fun piece of history to revisit.

Maddy had fun riding with her daddy.

The girls enjoyed riding on and feeding this goat. If you put garbage near the goat's mouth, he sucks it up like a vacuum. It is a great idea for keeping a park clean since all the kids were searching the ground for any liter so that they could feed it to the goat.

The girls also enjoyed this slide shaped like a giant red wagon.

We didn't really dress for it, but since it was so hot, we decided to enjoy the splash park too.

Ready, set, go!

We walked out on the bridge for a view of Spokane falls.

The girls liked the little kid-sized peep holes so they could see the waterfall too.

June 2010 Update

MADELINE
Maddy is starting to enjoy dress up and play acting with Abby. Here they are having an un-birthday party.

Maddy loves to play in the pool, not that she loves swimming, but because she enjoys buckets and dumping water on things.

Here is Maddy trying to hide the fact that she colored all over herself with markers when I wasn't watching. Luckily they were the washable kind.

JARED

Here is Jared enjoying his new BBQ grill. It was a birthday/Father's day present that the whole family is enjoying.

Jared with Nathan on Father's day morning. You can tell Nathan loves his daddy.

The girls painted him pictures and each gave him a jar of Nutella (one of Jared's favorite snacks).

The girls used the recipe from their favorite Blue's Clues book to make Jared some muffins for Father's Day. Other than barbecuing and being a great dad, Jared has been busy this month gardening, doing home improvement projects, and trying to figure out what his new career goals should be. He also spent a week in Atlanta attending the National PA conference, and was sorely missed here at home, although the kids loved the whale shark toys Jared brought back for them.

ABBY

Since Abby doesn't have her own prince charming yet, she decided to dress up her dog as her dance partner.

Abby loves to dress up and play act. Here she is pretending she is Alice in Wonderland.

Abby is a little fish, and is always begging to play in the pool.

Abby's new favorite past time.

NATHAN

Here is our handsome, happy boy.

Nathan loves to roll around with the living room pillows. He has just started army crawling and loves being able to move around more.

He loves splashing in the water too.

MARY

Here I am with my friend Jamie who is spending the summer in Tri-cities while her husband does an internship. She was my Freshman roommate at BYU 13 years ago. It was fun to catch up with her and remember our lives when we were 18. It is crazy to think that I'm now 31 and running around after 3 kids and loving it.

TRIP TO BOISE

Jared's parents bought us tickets to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. It was nice to enjoy good theater and see family.

On Saturday Jared's brother Bryan took us out on his boat. The girls had fun riding up to the lake in his truck. When he started driving they yelled "weeee!"

Riding in the boat.

Bryan did some amazing water skiing, and Jared made some good attempts.

Abby driving the boat with her Uncle Bryan.

Maddy of course had to try it too.

Nathan had fun, but got a little worn out.

We went swimming in JoyAnn's friend's pool on Saturday night. Do you think Abby has enough flotation devices?

Maddy had a lot of fun kicking her little legs.

Nathan's first time in a swimming pool.

Abby's First Ballet Recital

Maddy was a little jealous of all the attention Abby was getting, so we had to take a few pictures of her with the flowers too.

Isn't she cute?

Abby got a little impatient waiting for her performance, so she started doing somersaults in the grass, which of course messed up her hair. Oh well.

The girls all stood a little too close together so they didn't have room to move their arms.

Big smiles. Abby loved the pink tutu and the flowers in her hair.

Abby's short solo portion. I think she was a little thrown off by the music stopping right as she was turning around.

Trip To Boise

We drove down to Boise so we could welcome Jared's youngest brother home. He has spent the last two years in Brazil serving as a full time missionary for our church. Here he is being welcomed home by his parents.

Here is a happy, but very tired Elder Collett.

Nathan trying on Kevin's Brazilian hat while he hangs out with his Uncle Bryan.

The girls had a fun trip to the zoo with their cousin Courtney. The Boise zoo isn't very big compared to Philly, but it was just the right size for kids this age. The girls had a lot of fun looking at all the birds, lions, giraffes, and monkeys.

Here they are exploring a tunnel with the ground hogs.

Nathan's first trip to the zoo.

These aren't real elephants, but the girls enjoyed the cool shower on such a hot day.

Aunt Jessica and Courtney trying out the tiger.

Abby pretending to be a turtle.

Of course Maddy had to try it too.

Jared's mom cooked a nice birthday dinner for Jared.

She also made him a delicious German chocolate cake.

The weather was perfect all weekend. Here are the girls enjoying some shade.

Nathan hanging out with his cousin William.

William teething on the table.

Abby had lots of fun on the tramp with her cousins and Uncle Bryan.

At church on Sunday Kevin gave an amazing homecoming talk, and Jared and his brothers sang a beautiful musical number. Afterwards we had a nice family dinner outside.

We loved our trip. It was fun to see Kevin and catch up with family. Good times.