Ash Wednesday

These sweet pictures were taken when Jenna was just two months old on her first Ash Wednesday. Today, we mark the beginning of Lent and tonight, I will brave the 7pm church service that has never been a successful experience.

I've tried to take the girls to the Advent and Lenten services over the past few years, and every time I leave incredibly frustrated and a little bit embarassed. You see, these services are at 7pm, which is a half an hour before their bedtimes. And my kids are usually the only kids in the service. Most other parents don't even consider bringing their kids to church on a school night. I completely boycotted Advent this year, and most of the Lenten services last year.

So, I am going to take the girls tonight, because I want them to experience Ash Wednesday. (And I also want to go:) ) I'm particularly excited about Nate's sermon series for Lent. He bought over 500 copies of The Shack and is having the congregation read the book. His sermons will then relate to certain aspects of the book. It's a tad bit risky, but good and I'm really looking forward to it.

I am going to heavily rely on crayons, coloring books, snacks, and my good friend Megan to help get the girls through the service without embarrassing ourselves, knowing that a nice glass of wine will be waiting for me when I get home!

The California Budget

California finally passed its state budget and every single person will feel the sting of the budget cuts that were made. Our sales tax is going up, the amount we can claim for dependents has been drastically reduced, and worst of all . . . it's going to cost us almost double to register our cars in California (and I thought it was already expensive). But the most difficult cuts (in my opinion) were made in public education.

I teach in a public school . . . not in the K-12, but in the adult school. These do not exist in most states, but they are schools that really have an impact on the community they serve. Our particular adult school offers all kinds of classes, but mostly we serve the immigrant community by offering ESL classes. I teach the GED preparation class, helping to prepare people to earn their GED and go on to get better jobs or higher education.

In the past few weeks, we have seen a dramatic increase in our enrollment because people are losing their jobs and need GEDs or better language skills to get a new job. In our particular school, we have taken a 15% cut this week. And next year another 5% will be cut from our budget. This means that several people have lost their jobs, me not being one of them (thank God!) But it also means that the filtered water that's available to the staff is gone. It means that once the copier paper is gone, it is gone. We will have to buy our own paper. It also means that if I need staples or dry erase markers, I can only hope that there are some left in the supply closet, because there will be no more purchasing for the rest of the year.

So I am thankful to still have a job and am serving the people of our community, but it's not a pretty picture for many in California.

Pieces of My Week

I am home this week from work. It's apparently President's Day Week. I've never heard of a whole week devoted to that, but I'll take what I can get! I LOVE working part-time because it is a good balance for me, but I've really enjoyed this week at home. I have cleaned out our whole office, played with the girls a lot, and cooked some good dinners. It's nice for a break every once in a while.

Here are a few random things that have happened this week.

1. For three days now, Abby has been persistent about drawing on her left leg with a pen. I am not exactly sure where this came from, but every time I wash it off, she does it again. She keeps telling me that "T.J. will love it!" T.J. is a little boy who goes to our church and to the same babysitter with Abby in the mornings. I think she has a crush on him:) She is saving her leg drawing so that she can show it to him:)

2. I have an appointment for the girls to have their yearly pictures taken tomorrow. I have to cancel it, though, because Abby has a mysterious scratch accross her right cheek. Seriously . . . I have no idea how it happened and wish she would have waited a few days to get the scratch. I hate rescheduling things. Hopefully, it'll be gone by next Saturday.

3. I got to meet all the Kindergarten teachers at Jenna's school for next year. I'm very excited about her being in Kindergarten and think she will thrive there.

4. Jenna will be playing T-Ball in the area league this spring. She's on a little girls' team, ages 4-6. Guess who is their coach? Yep . . . Nate. Oh, and he roped the our vicar (student pastor) into coaching as well. Nate is super excited and already has his practices planned out. First, his goal is to get them to run around the bases the correct way. Next, he wants them to know that they always have to throw the ball to first. And lastly, he wants to teach his girls what tagging up means. He says that he never wants his kid to not know what it means to tag up. I think this is a little lofty for 4-6 year old girls, but it will be so fun! I will be impressed if they can hit the ball and run the right way around the bases. I love that he's coaching and that he is so excited. Their team name is the Royal Highnesses. Very cute!

5. Jenna is in a weekly dance class. There's 6 other little girls in the class and I've had fun getting to know the other moms who hang out outside the studio window during the class. We all get along and have gotten to be friends, but there is this one lady who I am pretty sure thinks I am an idiot. And I think it's because I am different from her. Different culture and different socioeconomic class. That's all I'll say about that . . . but I don't think it's because of any problem we've had with each other, because I really like her or did like her untilt his week. It's just that I don't make the same decisions she does. Here's what happened this week at dance class.

* I walked into class with a reuasable plastic water bottle. I thought I'd drink some water while we were waiting for the kids. She immediately asked me if I thought it was safe to drink out of the plastic bottle. It caught me off guard, so I had to ask her what she was talking about. She said that it's not safe to drink out of plastic due to chemicals in them. Now, I know that it's not safe to heat up plastic in a microwave with food in it, but I wasn't aware that all plastic was unsafe. Hmmmm . . . .

* Every week, this mother tells me that Abby should be in the class because she dances in the hallway and seems to follow along with the girls from the window. And every week, I tell her that the two year old class is on Saturdays and that doesn't work for us. The real reason is that I am not willing to pay for Abby to be in dancing. She would love it, but she'll get to do something like this next year. We just can't do it now.

* About ten minutes later, this mother tells me again that I need to sign her up for dance and asks why I won't do it.

* I was sitting on the floor with Abby, and we were practicing counting her fingers. Abby is just learning to count things (which I think is pretty normal). And Abby wasn't getting all the numbers right. After three, everything became two or six. I thought it was cute, but this particular mother told me that her daughter, who is about six months older than Abby, can already count to 20. Well good for her . . . I am in no rush to push my kids into academics they aren't ready for.

* The last activity for dance class is always freeze dance. This mother walked up to Abby and told her to go join the other girls because she could tell that she wanted to dance too. I simply looked at this mother, said nothing, and picked Abby up. There was no way I was going to send Abby into a class that she wasn't registered for.

* And last, but not least, right as we were leaving, she looked at the scar on Abby's head (remember the jumping on the bed/emergency room incident?) and told me that I should be putting lotion on her head so it doesn't scar. I nicely (although by this point, I think she was getting the point that I was ticked) told her that we have special cream that we put on twice a day.

Now, if it were appropriate in any way shape or form to kick this lady in the shins, I would have. But that would be awful and not very nice of me. But if she treats me like I'm an idiot again, I might have to tell her that I would appreciate her keeping her opinions to herself. But I think that I will really want to kick her:)

Trip To The Snow

It's crazy to me that we have to drive to the snow, but it's also kind of nice that we can pick and choose when we want to brave the freezing temps and mounds of snow! We took a mini-vacation this past weekend to the snow, which was about 20 miles west of Yosemite. It was the girls' first real experience in the snow, and they had a blast! When we got there, snow was on the ground, but it was quickly melting. We took advantage of what we could, but then decided to venture out to Yosemite to find more snow. Unfortunately, after getting about five miles up the highway, we ran into a huge snowstorm and had to turn around. However, we did find a little park to stop for a while to let the girls play. It was nice to be around snow again:)

so happy to be in the snow!

learning to make snow angels!

cute Abby!

Jenna sledding

their very first snowman:)

a beautiful snowy road

I Hate To Tell You This . . .

but that's not blonde hair, it's gray:(

So I went to see Bruce, my hairdresser, today for a haircut. It's the first time I've been back since he convinced me to put a darker color in my hair to even things out. And might I remind you all that I was mortified and hated the dark color until it lightened up enough to look okay. Now, it is blending well with my real hair color that is growing in (which I've never really seen before).

We were talking about what to do with my hair and here's how our conversation went.

Me: See Bruce? See the top of my head? The hair is coming in a little bit blonder, but still matching pretty well.

Bruce: Silence

Me: What? Don't you agree?

Bruce: Well . . . I wasn't going to tell you this, but that's not blonde. That's gray hair . . .

Me: I can feel the color drain from my face as I try to not show the horror I am feeling.

Me: So what do we do about this gray hair?

Bruce: Nothing. You don't have a lot, but if it really bothers you later, we'll put some color up there.

GRAY HAIR! Seriously. I am 32. I expected gray hair, but not yet. I don't know exactly why this bothers me so much. I was cool with turning 30. I've accepted the stretch marks and repositioning of body fat that comes with having babies. I even really love my mini-van. I have been okay with my age and all that comes with it---until the gray hair incident.

This is so disappointing, because after years of highlighting my hair, I was excited to let it grow out and have "natural" hair for a while. But I don't think I want this "natural" hair now. Do I color it for the rest of my life or let it grow in and deal with it? I hate the idea of having to color it forever and I hate the fact that I am feeling vain about this whole gray hair thing.

If any of you out there have this problem and have found a good solution, I'd appreciate suggestions:)

A Going Away Gift

I am going to a pastor's wives retreat this weekend. Yes, you heard me right, a pastor's wives retreat. I have never gone to one of these and I'm not sure I would have ever been interested in something like this until recently. I just never thought I needed to go. I never saw the benefit of spending time with other pastor's wives (whom I don't know) but now crave their insight, wisdom, and experience. I am no pastor's wife model, and I hope to learn from the women I meet this weekend. Oh, and I get to go with our student pastor's wife, Megan. We have become good friends this year and I am looking forward to a weekend with her.

In honor of my leaving, Jenna drew me this precious picture. I love seeing her art progress and seeing new little details that show up . . . like the eyelashes and the dot in the flower and the blue line for a sky. Notice the red hair? In case you are wondering if it's a picture of me or Jenna, look at the red hair:)

A Boycott

I am officially boycotting the 25 Random Things About Me on Facebook.

Yes, I was one of those people who posted 25 Random Things About Me, but in the end, I wish I hadn't. After reading a few people's notes, I thought about doing my own, but kept saying to myself . . . no, all 300 of your friends on Facebook don't need or want to know that you used to call yourself Skeeter the cat as a child. I felt incredibly narcissistic doing it, but in a moment of weakness published my note. Soon after, I deleted it from my account entirely.

It's really a harmless, fun little activity on Facebook, but in the last few days I have seen similar notes being written--several about names. And I feel like so much of my Facebook feed is now filling up with these notes that I try not to indulge in. I like connecting with old friends, reading statuses and looking at pictures, but really, how MUCH do I really need to know about all 300 people on my friend list?

Now . . . I'm not condemning anyone for posting these notes because #1 I wrote one and #2 I read lots of them. I just feel like Facebook has become even more voyeuristic than it already is. And I just wish that I hadn't convinced myself that everyone needed to know 25 Random Things About Me.

Where's Dr. Shuta When You Need Him?

Dr. Shuta was our theology/doctrine professor at Concordia who was incredibly smart and knowlegable about Lutheran doctrine, but a bit on the quirky side. I'm not sure he would have the ability to explain anything to a five year old given that he could never number the pages of his "book," but I thought back to my Doctrine days for some reason today when Jenna started asking questions about God.

We were in the car (of course, that's where all the good convos happen) and all of the sudden she said, "Mommy, I really love to learn about God and everything around us. I just want to learn more all the time. (This is such a good sign for us!) She goes on to say . . . "But I just don't get how God can be God and Jesus at the same time and that Jesus is God's son, but that must mean that God is Jesus's son, and I just don't get that."

So I am sitting in the car thinking about the fact that my five year old basically just asked me about the Trinity. How can I explain a topic that I can't get my brain around sometimes to a five year old? But how cool is it that she was asking that question?

She's at a great Christian preschool and I have loved every second of her time there. She has wonderful teachers who have inspired questions like this from her. I also love when she comes home and says stuff like, "Hey Mommy! Did you know that Joseph's brothers sold him and that he still loves them after all of that? I would never sell Abby:)" I just love when I can see her love and knowledge of God grow.

The above pictures really have nothing to do with the story, but I took them yesterday and thought I'd post them. They are getting so big . . .