Last Day of School

It's so hard to believe that the school year is already over.  It seems like just yesterday, the boys were starting Summer Orientation at Urban Montessori Charter School and we were frantically still trying to find a place to live so that we could be in Oakland for the start of school (two weeks later!)

First day of Summer Orientation at Urban Montessori - August 2012
This was taken on the porch of the Milheims, friends of friends who had never even met us but let us stay at their home for a week while they were on vacation.  We were thankful for a place to stay so the boys could attend 3 days of orientation and we could keep looking for places to live.  

Last day of school, taken on our front porch, the house we moved into three days after school started.  It was a wild and crazy school year, filled many ups and downs but we made it! 

Poor Jonah...after switching classrooms mid-year, his new teacher AND his new, beloved assistant teacher both resigned mid-year for various reasons, leaving the class with no teachers and no opportunities for closure.  They finished out the year with substitutes.  Really rough year for Jonah.  I don't even want to include the picture I took of him on the last day of school with the substitutes.  It's just too depressing!

On the other hand, Nicolas and Riley had a wonderful year in which they learned to read, write, add, subtract, multiply, and so much more.  They drew dozens of maps, learned about all of the continents and can name more countries in the world than I can.  Best of all, they formed a wonderful classroom community and made a ton of special new friends who they will get to be with again next year.

Riley and Nicolas on the last day of school with their super amazing teacher, Ms. Jen.  

We celebrated the last day of school with a special treat!  That afternoon, our old neighbors from across the street in Sacramento, came down to Oakland to go to the A's game with us.  It was the perfect way to kick-off summer vacation.

Jonah with one of his favorite people on the planet, Robbie.  These two grew up together and spent nearly every day with one another when we lived in Sacramento.  Jonah misses Robbie very, very much and was so happy to be at the A's game with his buddy!  

The crew, reunited!  They really wanted to catch a fly ball, but no such luck. 

 We went on a special Superhero Fireworks Night so when the game was over, we got to go down onto the field to watch the fireworks - super fun to be on the nice grass of the outfield!

It was pretty late by this time but rather than getting sleepy, Jonah got more and more hyper.  He was dancing around, being a goofball, and keeping everyone entertained while we waited for fireworks.  

Really fun family night and a great kick-off to summer!

The very next morning, Riley woke-up, went to the couch and starting reading the book that his teacher had given to him as a gift on the last day of school.  I think that's the sign of a good kindergarten year.  

First and third grade here we come!

How-to-Have-Fun on Minimum Days

Last week the boys had minimum days at school because of Parent Teacher Conferences in the afternoons. It was a great excuse to schedule some play dates with friends after-school. They are always so happy to have a friend over!  

On one of the afternoons though, we just rested at home. Jonah spent a long time in his room building with LEGOS. And when he came out, he was very excited to show us the awesome catapult he had built! So excited, in fact, that he asked if I would videotape him explaining how to make it. I thought it sounded like a fun idea (I need to remember that Jonah often comes up with better activities than I do) so I grabbed my iphone and started recording away.




Not bad for unrehearsed and spontaneous! I was especially glad that he didn't get frustrated when the LEGOS would break or when he needed to correct a mistake.

While Jonah had been building with LEGOs that afternoon, Nicolas had been sitting at the art table drawing - his usual go-to spot. So when we finished up Jonah's video, I asked Nicolas if he wanted to make a video and I was thrilled when he said yes. He told me that he could make a video explaining how to draw a rocket ship. Great! Again, we whipped out a little how-to video.



And of course, not to be outdone by his brothers, Riley also wanted to make a video.  When I asked him what he wanted to teach on his video, he knew exactly what it should be.  He wanted to explain how to make paper boats. So, off we went with Riley's video.



I was so proud of all 3 of them for doing these presentations for the camera with no rehearsing or prompting on my part! And I love how they each came up with something they felt they were good at and wanted to teach - each one so different.

When we finished up with Riley's video, the boys said they wanted me to do a video too.  It was interesting how quickly I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach.  They had immediately known what they could teach to others, but when it came to be my turn, I honestly didn't have a clue!  I'm not artistic.  I'm not crafty.  I'm not a chef or a baker.  But then I looked over at the stack of books and fliers that had been accumulating on my table over the last few weeks and I knew just would I could do.

(Disclaimers:  Lest any of you think I have this whole full-time, stay-at home mom thing figured out...fear not - I definitely don't.  I enter this summer with great fear and trepidation, quite sure that our summer will go nothing like I have planned - and quite sure that I'll be ready to pull my hair out every single day.  But since I'm not helping to plan a Day Camp for an entire community this summer, I had to put  my energy somewhere!).    

 Who knew? How-to videos! Fun, educational, and free!

What would be YOUR how-to video for this season of your life? Please share! I'd love to hear!

Contrasts

Today I'm headed up to Sacramento.  It'll be my first time back since my "farewell events" at The GreenHouse so I'm a mixed bag of emotions this morning.    

I've got three things on the agenda.  First, a late lunch with this guy.  I'm pretty excited.  He invited me to join him at "his restaurant" (where he works).  Should be a fun time of catching up and sharing. 

Second, a meeting to discuss how to help this young woman.   A small team of us will be gathering with her mom this afternoon to discuss how to come around and support this teenager who is struggling with all areas of life and rapidly spiraling downward.  We'll also discuss how to support the entire family through an ugly eviction process (the eviction is the result of the teen's behavior).  If you are the praying type, please pray for this young woman, her family, and the team of people who will be meeting today.  God has done miracles in this family before and we are praying He does one again.  

 

 And finally, tonight I will be going to Grant High School to celebrate the graduation of two very special young woman, Lola and Crystal (Lola is pictured below).  I've known them both since they were itty bitties so we have loads of memories together.  I love them to pieces and couldn't be more proud.  In the fall, Lola will be starting at Sacramento State University!  In the entire time I've been at The GreenHouse, I know of only ONE other student that went directly from high school into a four year university.  It's a really, really big deal.  Crystal will also be going to college in the fall, at American River College.  And third senior from the GH, Johanna, will be graduating tonight, too, across town at a different high school.  Sadly I will have to miss that one.  But she too, will be going on to junior college in fall.  Three cheers for three young woman finishing high school and going on to college!       

Such stark contrasts.  My mind is reeling about all of the factors that go into a young person's life - some have factors in their lives that seem to hinder them from ever "making it."  Others have factors that help to ensure that they will be okay.  Family structure and cohesion, immigration status, resiliency, addictions, job stability, housing, education, health, friends, mentors, opportunities, faith.  So many factors.  Praying that Hope wins this time around for all of these young people. 

Lucky, Lucky Boys

Our fun hike at Tilden Park on Mother's Day

Steve, Nicolas, and Riley having special time together at Wednesday's day game.  Getting picked up from school early to play hooky with your dad and sit behind home plate is pretty darn exciting.

Jonah's turn for special time with Daddy - his first concert!  On Thursday night they saw Of Monsters and Men at the Fox Theater in Oakland.  Getting home at 10:30pm on a school night because you're at a rock-and-roll concert makes you feel like one cool kid.

Unexpected Gifts

It's been three weeks since the new Executive Director started at The GreenHouse.  We've been working very hard trying to transfer volumes of information from my brain to his.  It's a lot of ground to cover.  Add to that all of the emotions that go along with leaving, loooong days of commuting up to Sacramento, and trying to work through issues of pride, identity, reputation, control, and jealousy (doesn't that sound fun?!) and you'll understand why I've been a wee bit tired lately.

Overall though, the transition has gone really smoothly so far.  Most days have been a-ok, but there have been a few that have been harder for me (emotionally) than others.  Today was one of the harder days.  The board and staff of The GreenHouse left today for their retreat up in Lake Tahoe.  It's really, really weird for me to not be going with them.

I have full confidence in our team and their ability to connect, learn, and plan really well this weekend.  Still, it's hard to not be there with them.   

In an effort to keep myself from working on GreenHouse stuff for too long today (I'm supposed to be tapering off, but I really don't know how to stop working!) and to try to get my mind off the retreat, I forced myself into my car this afternoon at around 2:00, one hour before I needed to pick the boys up from school.  I had no idea where I was going.  I just knew that I needed to get out and do some form of self-care (ie: not cleaning my house or sitting at a computer).  I started to drive one way and then the next and eventually ended up at Mills College, a beautiful oasis not far from my house.  I figured I'd take a quick walk around the campus and try to clear my head. 

As soon as I got out of the car, I saw a sign that read, "Come walk our Labyrinth," with an arrow pointing where to go.

Okay!  (Um, God, is that you?  Thanks for being so clear with the sign and the arrow!)   

I walked up a short path and found a lovely chapel with a beautiful little labyrinth just outside.  What a treasure to find!

 
While I walked toward the center of the labyrinth I tried to let go of some of the icky feelings I'd been having today.  When I reached the center of the labyrinth, I paused there for a moment and felt the very gentle breeze that was blowing.  It felt like God was wrapping me up in his arms and giving me a hug, letting me know that I wasn't alone and that everything was going to be alright. 

While walking out of the labyrinth, I focused on being open to the new opportunities that God has waiting for me in my new community.   

I have a feeling I'm going to spent a lot of time in this special spot next month.  (I'm naming May my "Healing Month.")

Later tonight, we had another wonderful and unexpected gift.  The weather was just perfect today in Oakland and I was itching to be outside so we picked up some burritos from our local taqueria and headed-up to the Oakland Hills for a picnic dinner.  The park we planned to go to was closed, so off we went on an adventure to find a new place where we could eat and play.  We found a truly gorgeous spot with a perfect hiking trail.  It was just the fun and adventure I needed tonight with my family. 

Put these three in nature and their imaginations run wild!  They were Explorers fighting off all kinds of bad guys with their swords. 

Here's hoping you are opening your eyes this weekend to the unexpected gifts that are just waiting to be discovered. 

Flu and Other News

After

16 consecutive days of treating at least one child with a fever,

12 combined school absences

4 bottles of children’s ibuprofen consumed, 

3 co-pays at the doctor,
1 prescription for amoxicillin,

loads of packets of Emergen-C consumed by yours truly,

and gobs of stress from trying to balance work and home,  

finally (crossing fingers),
we are all done with the flu.
Ironically, this was the first year we got flu shots for the boys. 
They were NOT-SO-EFFECTIVE for us.   

In other news...

Sorry for the completely vague blog post about Jonah (see previous post).  I got some concerned emails and texts from people wondering if we were okay.  Thank you!  Yes, we are fine.  I just needed to process a really hard day and writing a quick and short blog post seemed like a good way for me to do that.  I’ll try to remember that in addition to this being a place for me to process and record life, it’s also a place for friends and family to stay connected.  Hard to stay connected when you have no idea what I’m writing about, right?

So about that.  Quick version is this:  Jonah had been having many, many unsuccessful days at school for several months.  We had tried everything we could think of to make it better.  We’d given it (his classroom, his teacher) many chances.  But it just wasn’t getting better and we felt that it probably wouldn’t change if he stayed in that situation.  So we made the very hard decision (after many conferences with teacher and principal) that we should switch him to a different class.  I had misread Jonah’s cues and thought he was going to be just fine with switching classrooms.  I was wrong.  It ended up being very hard for him.  He was really, really sad about leaving his teacher and his friends.  I think there was probably some leftover sadness from moving last fall mixed in there, too.  He cried a lot about it, which then made me cry.  Steve and I knew we had made the right decision.  It just was hard for me to see Jonah so upset by it.  I tried to teach Jonah that sometimes in life, we have to go through hard things.  But we shouldn’t be scared of them.  We need to have courage and walk right through the middle of the hard things.  When we are in the middle of the hard things, we can’t see what’s on the other side.  But, we can take comfort in knowing that if we are brave and we keep walking, there is hope just on the other side.  (And by the way, his new class and his new teacher are about 1000 times better.  We are very thankful).   

Some of you may also be wondering about the hiring process at The GreenHouse.  We did in fact offer the ED position to the person I alluded to in an earlier post, and he accepted.  His name is Brian Heller de Leon and he will start April 1^st.  In a word, Brian is wonderful.  He is a very clear answer to prayer.  You always hope that God is going to be clear and that he will answer your prayers.  But you never know, right?  Sometimes you pray and pray and pray and you still don’t know what God is saying.  I’m incredibly thankful that God was clear on this.  My faith has been strengthened so much during this process.  I know that God is REAL because I’ve seen Him at work through this process.  I know that He is LOVING and KIND and GENTLE because He has been all of those things to me.  He has given me just the right amount of time to keep working at the GH after my move so that I’d be more able to let go.  He’s provided a person that I have full confidence in and someone who will be kind and gentle in our interactions.  He’s allowed me to stay on and complete, or nearly complete, a project that I’ve been working on for five years (our Clubhouse renovation).  He knows me and He loves me.  WOW! 

There are still swelling waves of sadness that hit me when I think about leaving The GreenHouse.  But each day, it's getting a little better.  I wrote my farewell letter to our supporters last week (it went out in the mail today) and while it was hard to write, it was another important step in the grieving/healing process.  I now know when my last day at the GH will be (April 24) and when I will get to say my good-byes during some farewell events (May 3 and 5).  All of that helps.  There aren’t as many unknowns anymore. 

There are other things, too, that are making this seem like a particularly full season.  There's Steve's avalanche of work this past month that's keeping him up til the wee hours of the morning for nights on end. There's my work overseeing a major construction project at The GreenHouse (it's pitfalls and successes), fundraising for a capital campaign, and finding time for my regular job duties as well.  And there's the sadness, shock, and confusion surrounding the loss of teenager who held a special place in my heart and who was just way too beautiful, talented, kind, and young to die.

Is this too much for one person to carry?  Yes.  Trust me.  I tried last week to control all the madness in my own strength and I failed miserably.  Was I ever intended to carry the load?  No.  That's why God created community.  Right on time, community has stepped in to help carry the load, send an encouraging email or text, pray for our family, remind me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus when I've lost my way.     

Thanks for being part of our community.  We're especially thankful for you during the ups and downs of this season of change.   

Dear Jonah,

On the other side of hard is hope.  

If we are brave and push through the hard, we can get to the hope.   

Today was a hard day - for you and for me.  But, we were brave!  And you know what?  Tomorrow is a new day.  Hope is on the way.

Tonight, I’m thankful that we are on the other side of a hard day.  I'm thankful for your daddy, who is wise and strong when I’m fearful and weak.  I'm thankful for friends who listen, care and pray for our family.  I'm thankful for the courage that I saw in you today.

All my love son,

Mommy