von Niederhausern Family

OK, I have been blogging for one week now and have realized that I write too many details. I am a detailed person so of course this is how I am going to blog. But, to spare all of my family and friends from dying from boredom, I have come up a with a plan. I will write every possible detail to my posts in a family journal document and then only post the essentials. My apologies to anyone who has read too much info already!

Heaven on earth is a sunny Saturday that includes work and then a family date. It is so satisfying to me to have our family work and play on Saturdays. After our work and a nap we headed to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. We saw the largest lobster I have ever seen. I had to keep going to back to look at it because I was so amazed. It weighed approx. 40 pounds. I won’t lie, I was probably so enthralled with it because I was dreaming about eating the poor thing. YUMMY! They had stingrays and jellyfish you could touch, and an octopus that didn’t do much. Afterwards we ate at the Olive Garden. What a heavenly day!

Somehow Easter slipped by without me posting any photos! We had a wonderful Easter with two easter egg hunts, one in Provo with the primary and the annual Morris Easter Egg Hunt (this is our favorite because there is always money). Ava and Lauren were in Heaven with all the loot they collected. Little do they know we throw half of the loot away the next day, but ssshhhh, it’s my secret!

The first half of Lauren’s loot.

Ava eyes hers hungrily.

Lauren looks a little ill from too much of a good thing. Ava is still going strong!

I had to post this one of Lauren and her best buddy Claire at the egg hunt in Provo. Whenever they saw each other they would always hug.

I am on a quest to get other people’s feedback about the book “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. I finished it Friday night and I am still not over it. I don’t know why it affected me like it did. Am I alone in this? I guess it is because Steinbeck’s writing is so vivid, and the story-line was so sad, and a couple of times I wanted to stop reading it, but I couldn’t. I was sucked in and I had to know what happened to the characters in the end. It was such a powerful story to me because it is the ageless story of Cain and Able, all about human nature and our ability to choose between good and evil. One of my favorite parts is when Lee explains the Hebrew word ‘timshel’, which means ‘thou mayest choose’. Lee says: “That is the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws is right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’ it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Now, there are many in their sects and churches who feel the order, ‘Do thou,’ and throw their weight into obedience And there are millions more who feel predestination in ‘Thou shalt.’ Nothing they may do can interfere with what will be. But ‘Thou mayest!’ Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win…It is out of laziness, out of weakness, to throw oneself into the lap of deity, saying, ‘I couldn’t help it; the way was set.’ But think of the glory of the choice! That makes a man a man.”He goes on to say about Genesis 4:1-16, “These sixteen versus are a history of humankind in any age or culture or race…I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed–because ‘Thou mayest.’”So if anyone has even read this far (sorry for the long rambling!) read the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-16 and give me your feedback on verse seven. In the King James version it reads “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Replace ‘thou shalt’ with the correct Hebrew translation of timshel which is ‘thou mayest’. This implies that Cain still has the choice whether to choose good or evil in the story. We always have our agency, our ability to choose. That is so beautiful to me. 

 We went to Logan for the past few days to attend the funeral of our beloved grandmother and great-grandmother, Dottie F. Whitney. We lovingly call her “GG” because she is such a Great Grandma. The service was so inspiring because my grandmother was such a true lady. I can’t think of a time when I would see her that she wouldn’t tell me over and over how much she loved me. I am thankful for her extraordinary example to me and my family. Funerals have a way of making me reflect on the circle of life, and what it means to really live. I hope I can follow GG’s example and “live until I die.”

To quote the book East of Eden…

“…A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well–or ill?…It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of tho
ught of action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.”

Our very fist blog post happens to be on Steve’s 30th birthday! So Happy birthday to the best father and husband around, and happy Earth Day to everyone else (as Steve would say). We celebrated today by going on a family birthday date to Chadders. The best thing was the purple warthog Ava drew on Steve’s birthday card. She said she wanted to draw an animal for him and then she had me spell warthog underneath it so he would know what is was. On Saturday we threw a suprise party for Steve at a gymnastics place near our house. It was so satisfying for me to see the shock on his face when we walked in and he saw Matt Croshaw jumping toward him yelling “Suprise!” I chose this venue because Steve is a big kid at heart and loves nothing more than to jump, twist, and flip. I know he will still love doing that in another 30 years. Happy Birthday Steve! We love you!