The Rodgers Family Poet Laureate

Robin entered a poetry contest at BYU and she won!

The theme or prompt was "The education of the whole soul".

By Study and By Faith
By Robin Rodgers

The beauty in nature,
The vibrant hues of the seasons
And of vegetation,
The breathless sight of the sky
Whether cloudless and bright
Or monstrous and stormy
Or black and filled with stars,
The majesty of mountains
And sloping fields alike,
Has led me to believe that
The Lord is an artist.

The perfection of our planet,
The balance of the seasons,
The way rain, sun, and plants
Work together to create life,
The strength of our bodies
And their ability to fight illness
And extract nutrition from food
And pump blood
And breathe,
Has led me to believe that
The Lord is a scientist.

The thought behind His plan,
The possibility for men and God
To interact,
The necessity for opposition in all things,
The ability for temporal
And spiritual things to coexist,
His gospel and the logic
That makes eternal laws work,
Has led me to believe that
The Lord is a Philosopher.

The patterns of the past,
The instruction given
From ancient records
Whether scriptural or not
And the way they apply so easily
To the present and future,
His personal delight in records kept
And genealogy studied,
Has led me to believe that
The Lord is a great historian.

And if God once was as I am
And I may become as He is,
Should I not be vigilant in
Becoming all of these things?

So I will rise from the dust
And will now and forever
Strive for a higher education
Of the whole world,
Of my whole mind,
Of my whole soul.

Happy Birthday My Sweetheart!

3 Christmas Stories

Sara, Gabrielle, Josh, Rachel 1975

1~ I think I was 5 years old, so 1974?, we were lived on Randolph Street in Riverside, California. I shared a room with Sara and eventually Gabrielle. We had a bunk bed, I slept on the top bunk, Sara slept on the bottom. The foot of the bed was like a ladder and I would get into the bed by climbing up the end.

So it was Christmas Eve and we were sitting in the living room. Mom and Dad, Jake, me, Sara and Josh; I think Gabby was born that next June. Our parents' yearly fight . . . oops . . . I mean discussion, about whether or not we would open one present Christmas Eve, was over. (I loved this tradition so much that I have carried through to my family.) Sigh, good times.

Anyway, we were all in the the living room, my dad was sitting near the fireplace, and he suddenly froze and said, "Did you hear that?! I think I hear Santa!"

Well, I was outta there! Terrified, I raced straight to my room and jumped up on the bed (no ladder) hid under the covers and sobbed. My mind was racing . . . He wouldn't leave presents if we were awake! He was too early! I hope he doesn't come and talk to me!

A minute or two later, Dad came in chuckling. He talked me down and carried me back into the living room feeling dumb.

Later I tried to jump up on my bed without the ladder, I never could do it.

2~ In 1979, it was our first Christmas in St. George. We had Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Pack's house. Santa came to see us there. We each took turns telling him what we wanted.

As he was leaving someone said, "I guess you'll be back later?" (wink wink)

He answered, "Um no, I won't be back this way."

The adults tired to save him, "Santa, later . . . with the toys . . . you know??"

He was pretty adamant that he was finished for the evening.

After a little more confusion Santa finally understood. "Oh!! Yes!! Ho Ho Ho, I'll be back after you boys and girls go to sleep. Ho Ho Ho!"

Nothing like Santa promising not to be back on Christmas Eve.

Rachel and Santa 1979

3~ About 3 weeks before Christmas, Dad and I were at Grandma and Grandpa Pack's house. Dad had this happy smile on his face and said, "Can you keep a secret?" After I told him that I could, he took me into the garage and showed me a huge electric train set up. It was up on sawhorses and it was as big as a ping pong table. It had a little town and mountains and train station and little people. It was very cool.

Well I kept the secret, kind of.

Christmas Eve came along and 2:00am found us (us included Rachel, Sara, Josh, Gabby) all in Sara's and my bedroom reading books, doing mad libs, giggling and waiting for morning to come. I told them I knew what one of the presents was. Without much encouragement, I spilled my guts, and told them about the train set. About 4:00am, after a little too much noise, Mom came downstairs and sent us all back to our beds and told us we could get at 6:00am.

Later as we were reveling in our abundant Christmas morning, the presents unwrapped, stockings unstuffed, Josh piped up and said loudly, "Rachel, you said we were getting an electric train."

Crap! Dad was so mad at me.

They were saving that for later. Thanks Josh.

I don't really have a point to this post. I was just thinking about being a kid at Christmas. And these are such vivid memories for me, I thought I should record them.

Happy Birthday Aunt Robin!

Aunt Robin and baby me

It is my Aunt Robin Kendall's birthday today and I am just thankful for her!

Robin was a favorite with me when I was young. I remember sitting on a log at the beach after Uncle Kim and Aunt Joan's Wedding and listening to her talk about being a mother. I can't remember if Scott was born or if she was just expecting him, either way, I was enchanted. Enchanted by her words, Enchanted by the feelings she expressed. Enchanted by the way she and Uncle Chris looked at each other. I don't remember a lot about Uncle Chris but I do remember how soft spoken he was, how kind his eyes were and I remember his beard.

I love Robin because she is kind and patient and accepting and I've never heard her say anything derogatory about anyone.

She loves to hear or learn about new ideas. She loves to be a part of interesting conversations. And she knows the questions to ask to get the really good ones going.

She is an expert chef and the most generous and lovely hostess you'll ever meet.

I love this picture of Robin Jordan posted and I was jealous of everyone who got to eat at Robin's house for Thanksgiving.

This summer I read the 1st Lord of the Rings book. There was a paragraph that struck me.

"The house was as Bilobo had long ago reported, 'a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.' Merely to be there was cure for weariness, fear and sadness."

I read that and I immediately thought of Robin's house.

When Paul was in Iraq and Sara and I planned our trip, I knew where I wanted to go. I knew I would find refuge from my worries and my heavy heart would be lightened while I was in her home.

I was right. I love you Robin.

24 Days of Christmas ~Revisited

So just for the record, I am very thankful for many many things. My life just couldn't be a lot more peaceful and happy and satisfying than it is right now. I am just sorry that I only managed to record 3 of those things before I was inundated with lots and lots of little fires to put out. I felt like there was hardly time for me to catch my breath in November, let alone sit down and write anything. Sorry.

Moving on . . .

Well, it's December. Last Saturday morning, the girls wanted to watch a movie while the house was still quiet and they had control of the television. Sara started scrolling down the list of movies I had recorded for them and then asked happily, "Why did you record so many little kid movies?" I answered, "Because I have so many little kids." They picked a movie and then as she snuggled up to watch, she sighed a little and said, "It's nice feel like a little kid sometimes."

Well that just broke my heart, but I think I needed to hear it because sometimes I forget how young our youngest are. I expect them to enjoy and be interested in the same things the older kids are.


Our family is spread out and it is hard to find things for us to do where everyone is engaged and enjoying themselves. It's why I love going to the beach so much. But many times someone is bored and being dragged along and I am afraid more often than not, it is the younger ones who are being dragged.

I was thinking about this as I was planning our December. Last year we did this. It was a good thing and I am glad we did it but as I stated earlier, it was really geared toward the older children. This year I made an advent calendar for my kiddos, partly guided by this.

It turned out so cute!

Every box has an activity for us to do. December 1st we finished decorating the tree and then went to Dairy Queen for a candy cane Blizzard. Last night we painted snowflakes on our windows because of this post by Becky.

Some of the things are simple and include things that were already planned, like the branch
Christmas party, other things take a little planning or a little cash. I tried to keep all activities under $20.

Tonight? . . . well, I can't tell you until the box has been opened but it is a big one.