Big brothers relaxing with their new sibling. I’d say Duane is about a week old in this one.
My dad, “Poppy” and my mom - Poppy and Grandma Lind. Al and Lois Lind. It was nice to have them with us in Texas for a while. My dad had already retired from his position as the Postmaster in Equinunk, so they were able to travel.
Typical photo of Mom with new baby, about 6 weeks old. As any new mom knows, we catch some zzzzz's whenever we can!
This one cracks me up. Duane might not be too happy with me for showing this one. :-) He was about six weeks old here. Isn't there an old expression, "Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?" How about "Bright-eyed and bushy-haired?"
And here's the sleepy dad with the new baby.
This is a good one of the DuBois men. I was so outnumbered!! It just wasn’t fair, you know?
Grandma Vivian (Mike’s mom) DuBois with Duane. It was great to have her visit us in Texas, too.
I like this one of me and Duane. He’s 3 months old here.
Here's where we start to see an alert, adventurous baby (can't you see adventure in those eyes?).
So there's a sample of photos from the first three months of the life of Duane David DuBois in Midland, TX. Perhaps my inspiration is coming now, as I look at these old photos. A friend of mine recently wrote to me, "Photography is a walking Philippians 4:8." I had to look that up and think about it. The Message reads like this: "Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds with and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious -- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse."
When you've lived as long as I have (I will never, never, never admit to "old," but I will acknowledge that I have been around a bit longer than some of my readers --*smile*), you've experienced "the good, the bad and the ugly." The bad and the ugly can make us bitter or better, to use an oft-repeated phrase. I firmly believe that the choice lies within each one of us, whether to become bitter or better. If we choose to think on the bad and the ugly, we will become bad and ugly, or bitter. If we choose to think on the good, we will become better. So I think what my friend meant was that photos help us to be reminded of the good, the real, the lovely, the just. When I look at my old family photos, I am reminded of the happy times. We don't normally photograph the angry times, the sad times, the tragedies, the sicknesses, but only those things that we knew at the time that we would want to remember. I knew I would want to remember what Duane looked like at birth, at one month, at two months, at three months, and so on. Even now, when the grandkids are doing something cute (which of course happens every day), I run and grab my camera. I don't remember nearly as much of the good parts of life that I wish I did (now how I wish I had kept diaries and journals all my life), but I did take a lot of pictures. And I still do. And how happy I am that I did, and that I do.
So, fill your mind with the best, not the worst......
Fill your mind with the beautiful, not the ugly......
Fill your mind with the things to praise, not the things to curse.....
We really do become like that which we behold.
I am the friend to which you refer and what I meant by saying "Photography is a walking Phillipians 4:8" was that a photographer searches for what is good and beautiful in Creation so it fulfills the admonish of the Scripture. Photography then becomes a decission about where we are going to put our focus.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote what I wrote, I thought "I should say, 'what it means to me is'" ... because I realized I could not know exactly what it meant to you. Thank you for explaining. :-)
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