Winter Lessons

Lesson 1: Style always comes back around. Last week, the spring-like weather made me dig out my old Ray Ban wayfarers and wear them around.  The girl at the Starbucks drive-through (yes, I went there, sorry, but I had some time to kill and needed to use the internet) said, and I quote, "Your shades are totally awesome!  Where did you get them?"  I told her the absolute truth - my sunglasses were a gift from my inlaws before they were my inlaws, a Christmas present in 1988.  And I still have them (I don't really lose glasses, keys, wallet, etc.  It's kind of weird).  I also have my Von Zippers from the late 90's, purchased when the Ray Ban's went hopelessly out of style - they will surely come in handy in a couple of years.

Lesson 2: Kids grow up!  I know this, of course, but some days it just smacks you in the face again.  Grace and 5 friends secured their housing for next school year.  It's a beautiful, historic house in downtown SLO, across the street from a park that we used to go to when the kids were little (they called it "Spaceship Park" because the climbing structure looks like a rocket).  I didn't become a renter for the first time until after I was married, so it just gives me pause when I really think about it.  It's such an adult thing to happen, but then isn't that what we want anyway?  And then there's the soccer photo here, from the last home game of the season.  Where did that man come from?  The one who now keeps a razor beside his toothbrush in the bathroom, and is significantly taller than me, and drives me around town when he can?  Sheesh!  It does tug the heartstrings to think about it.
Lesson 3:  Last year, we had an extremely mild winter, and rejoiced, because soccer season was really easy and enjoyable for the fans.  This year, it was colder, and it rained more, but that was okay, because I got the world's most awesome umbrella for Christmas.  And yesterday, I saw a pink hyacinth blooming in the yard.  I love hyacinths.  They are pretty and they smell really good.  I suddenly realized we didn't get any last year when the weather was mellow - they need lots of freezing weather and rain to set and bloom.  And isn't that the way life is?  Sometimes there are really difficult seasons that we go through - the dreariness might seem too long to bear.  But beautiful things come out of them, that maybe just can't grow any other way.  And then there is a sweetness to be enjoyed for a little while.  So I am enjoying the beauty of the hyacinth in the yard, and am thankful for a cozy house to stay warm in until spring truly comes.

What I Learned Last Week

Last week I learned that life can be tragic and beautiful, sad and amazing, all at the same time.  Dear friends of ours lost a baby boy, just weeks before his due date. We spent last week helping them, in very small ways, because that is all we muster, deal with unimaginable grief.   I spent the week feeling, on an endless rotating basis, very sad, helpless and frustrated (because I can't fix it), angry (because I don't understand why this would happen), and guilty (because my life goes on as usual, and theirs has seemingly stopped, at least for a while.  I was reading in Psalm 23 that "we walk through the valley of the shadow of death", but it seems my friends are stuck there, have been forced to camp there, to build a house almost, not just go through it).  Bible quotes feel so trite I don't even recite them, but at the same time Biblical Truth is what we are clinging to.  And oddly, at the same time, I saw beauty in the way their family and friends have gathered around them, in person and in prayer. 
 And even though sadness was like a blanket over the week, several good things did happen - a favorite former student dropped off a cd that he recorded and I spent much of Tuesday listening to it (it is really good - in fact, you can listen to it for free at chrisvanoli.com/music/).  Each of my children texted me at different points during the week to report getting A's on two tests they had studied hard for, and we were all excited and relieved.  On Thursday night, we had a freshman girls' Bible study over for dinner, and 15 girls showed up...with homemade cupcakes!  We later hosted 25 freshmen for the Super Bowl, and enjoyed Jamey's almost-famous smoked ribs, chili, and amazing peanut-butter-chocolate-swirl cookies made by a freshman boy (I could hardly believe it!  I want to call his mom and thank her for raising him so well!)  
On Friday, I attended a small memorial service for little Charlie, along with Jamey (who spoke at it) and a few friends and members of the family.  While there was overwhelming grief, and many tears, there was also hope and grace and childlike faith, and an awful lot of love.  After the memorial, going from one emotional extreme to another, I headed to Jason's soccer game and got to watch my son, who was team captain that game, stop a couple of goals and play a great match (even though they lost; but just to watch him play was quite enough for me that day).  
Our days have gotten easier; our friends' days may get easier, after a long while, but they will be always changed.  I was reminded again and again that this earthly life is just temporary and that we hope for things to come, and we do not lose hope, ever, though things around us, that we see and feel, are sometimes exceedingly painful.  
In God's uncanny timing, my Bible verse for this morning was this one, from John 16: "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."

Why My Kids Are Awesome, Reasons #347 and #348...

Two words for two stories:  humble and determined.  I got to experience these traits over Christmas break while Grace and Jason were at home.  Here are the stories:

1. Humble - On the first day of soccer tryouts, I went to pick Jason up and counted at least 35 boys trying out for the team (this is a lot for Atascadero).  Now, this is Jason's second year playing, and he had a great season last year, and he knows both coaches well, and they know him.  But alas, since my hobby seems to be conjuring up things to worry about in the wee hours when other, normal people are asleep, I found myself worrying about tryouts.  What if he doesn't make it?  What if he quits all sports because he is so discouraged?  What if he then hates school and starts hanging out with kids who ditch class and ends up becoming a stoner?  There's no end to the thoughts I can come up with!  So, on Thursday, on the way home, we had the following conversation:
Me - "So how are tryouts going?"
Jason - "Fine" (the universal teen boy answer for every mom question)
Me - "There were a lot of boys at tryouts the first night!"
Jason - "Yep"
Me - "When do you think you'll find out if you made the team?"
Jason - "Oh, I know I'll make it; Coach told me the first day that I'm going to be one of the captains."
I so admire that boy's humility.  If I was trying out for a team in high school and was told that, I would have plastered it all over Facebook and would have purchased a T-shirt for myself with the word "Captain" all over it.  And probably a hat to match.  And would have told everyone to call me "Captain G" from that day on.  Needless to say, I slept very well that night.  And we are enjoying another season of soccer games.  They are so much fun.  Colder this year, but still fun.

2. Determined - While Jamey and I were in El Salvador, Grace got a paper back that she had written for a psychology class.  It was a survey class and was taught by different professors, so one teacher had given the assignment, and another had graded the papers, and it seems that they had different ideas of how they wanted the students' sources to be cited.  So Grace was marked down on her paper, even though she had actually cited it correctly according to Professor #1.  This is unfortunate, but it happens.  And when she approached Professor #2 about it (that takes guts!) to explain what happened, she was told that her grade wouldn't be changed, even though the mix-up wasn't her fault (?!).  Now at this point, if this was me, I would have considered dropping out of school, or would have written perhaps a mean yet anonymous letter to the editor of the paper.  I for sure would have curled up in a ball and cried for a few days.  And I someone should have warned this professor, "Don't mess with her."  Grace's grade in the class was now an A- (yes, an A-minus.  I'm sorry, but that is to this point in her life as low as it goes.  I have been telling her for years that when she gets her first B, I will make her a cake and take her out for dinner, but it hasn't happened yet).  She could have, at this point, taken an A- (a perfectly respectable grade!), but I think she was probably still mad at the injustice of it all.  So she studied and studied and studied for the final.....and got 100%.  On the final exam.  And got a very, very well-deserved A in the class.  Take that, Professor #2.  I love that girl's determination - and that she uses her powers for good.  If she ever turns to a life of crime, we are all in trouble.

I sit at my favorite coffee place (see the photo of my chai latte?  How can you not love a place that makes lovely stuff like this?) and think of how amazing it is that out of all of the kids in history, I happened to get the best ones!!!  Crazy.

The Abundant Life

I'm trying a new tactic this year to keep myself from being all stressed out during the holidays.  It's pretty simple - just a perspective change.  I thought of it while I was preparing for a talk I gave last week at my church's women's Christmas dinner.  One of the Bible verses that reminds me of the very 'essence' or point of Christmas is John 10:10, where Jesus says He has come to earth to give us a full and abundant life.  In the past, I have looked at many activities as events that interrupt my holiday preparations.  But this year, I've been thinking that all of these things are not really interruptions, but signs that I indeed have been given an abundance of blessings.  We get to do amazing things for our job, like visit students in El Salvador and bring them suitcases full of goodies from home.  We get to watch our son play soccer games and even captain the defense.  I get to spend a fantastic day shopping with my amazing daughter and enjoying a lunch at the one-and-only Madonna Inn.  I get to have my farmgirl friends over for food, chatter, and a craft project to make empty jars look like beautiful sea glass.  These are the things that make my life full and abundant.  They are amazing and wonderful things, and in the midst of card-writing and present-wrapping, I feel incredibly blessed, not overly-stressed (honestly I was not trying to make that rhyme; that is so cheesy!).

Colder and Colder

 It is slowly but surely getting colder out.  We began the week in the 80's and are ending it today with our first dip into the 30's this morning.  Around the neighborhood, there are many signs that it is cooling off.  
Yesterday, for the first time this fall, I came around a corner in the car and almost nailed several turkeys who found the middle of the road a nice place to gather.  I don't know why they do this (I think they might like the warm pavement in the sun, but I'm no bird expert.  In my opinion, this is just further evidence of the stupidity of poultry).  
Also, our apricot tree starts dropping gorgeous yellow leaves onto the grass (as you can see in the picture - not seen in the picture are a few gopher holes.  We are officially at war presently with a few gophers.  It's always something here!).  The walnut  tree is also dropping nice big walnuts for us (Ha!  Take that, evil squirrels!).  
Soccer season has started at the high school, which I personally love, because it gets chilly out and I have an awesome orange coat to show my school spirit, and a hat and mittens, too.  
I harvested some horseradish from the herb garden today, washed it, peeled it, and put it into a jar of vinegar.  This is what the web site said to do... I have no idea how to actually use it, so any suggestions are welcome. 
 I also canned some plum-cherry jam today - delicious! I was waiting for it to cool off enough to have two pots of boiling water on the stove, and the oven on (I keep the lids and jars in there so they remain sterile).  I am starting to feel more confident in my canning ability after this, batch number 6.  The bag of plums pictured is the second bag from the summer - and I still have another bag down in the freezer, so I am anticipating more jam making at some point.  I need to get more jars.  As I made the jam, I thought about my Aunt Betty, who makes the absolute best sour cherry jam in the entire world.  My jam turned out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself....but it's no Aunt Betty's sour cherry jam. I wonder how many batches of jam she has made, not to mention all of the other stuff that my aunts have canned over the years (they have it down to an art form!).  I am just happy that it's cool enough now to practice - because practicing is quite delicious with toast and a cup of coffee! 

Max's Night of Gastronomic Delight

This is a photo of how Max-the-Dog looked most all of Saturday.  We referred to it as a 'doggy hangover' or a 'gastronomic-induced coma'.  
It all started on Friday evening.  In a moment of madness, Jamey and I thought it would be a fun idea to host this year's Junior-Senior Overnighter at our house.  Our staff team wanted to appreciate our junior and senior students for all of the work they do, so we decided to give them a free tri-tip dinner and a movie, followed by a campout and some breakfast burritos.  Now, normally, we have about 75 people show up for dinner, with about 20 or so spending the night at the camp ground.  This year, however, the word spread (thank you Facebook events!!) and as of Friday afternoon, exactly 140 people had rsvp'd.  

In the chaos of feeding and enjoying the company of all of these students, we didn't keep a close eye on Max.  At one point early on, I caught him, in an act of desperation, licking up the tri-tip juice that had dripped off the table and onto our gravel driveway. You have to really want meat juice to resort to licking it off of the rocks.  I am not sure how many plates he snuck food off of - he got more and more brazen as the night went on.  I do know that he ate about a third of someone's paper plate when they set it on the deck (in his defense, the plate was soaked with tri-tip juice, barbecue sauce and salad dressing, rendering it delicious and therefore irresistable).  I heard that he took an entire piece of pizza right out of a girl's hand (his rudeness knew no bounds at this point), and later on grabbed an apple core away from another girl.
After we started the movie ('Sandlot', outside, just like the drive-in but without cars!), Max made it his duty to wander around eating all of the popcorn that students dropped onto the grass.  And probably some right out of their hands, too.  He also helped himself to a crumbly granola bar that a boy spilled onto the ground.
At about midnight, I put earplugs in and went to bed and left about 60 students out in the yard.  

Max faithfully keeps watch over the campers....and their food

At 6 a.m., I got up to feed the cats (they did not reappear until the afternoon - they wanted no part of this whole thing!) and looked out the window and saw Max, snuggled up between a couple of students on their blankets.  He looked like he had had the night of his life.  He is quite an extrovert, after all.  Upon going outside, I also noticed that one of the many bags of trash had been opened, and several more paper plates had been nibbled, along with some napkins.  
And finally, while we were preparing breakfast, Max somehow found a large roasting tray with some leftover cooking oil in it and proceeded to lick it up happily.  Oh, and he ate a few eggshells that dropped out of the bag while I was taking the trash outside (we cooked over 200 eggs that morning - all outside on the grill!)
The students left at ten that morning, and Max proceeded to crawl up onto the porch, where he remained for the entire rest of the day with a sad, slightly embarrassed look on his face.  I also think he was a little depressed that all of his new friends had gone away.  It did get rather quiet.  
It took his stomach the rest of the day to recover (I myself actually took a nap on the couch and spent most of the afternoon watching baseball and football.  In other words, just another fall Saturday for me!) but I am happy to report that he is back to normal today, eating dog food out of his bowl and chicken poop wherever he can find it.

Silver Linings

If every cloud has a silver lining, we have spent this month looking for silver, and finding it.
Grace moved to Cal Poly on September 12. We miss her.  Silver lining - she LOVES college.  On the first day of class, I received a text that was a photo of the table of contents of her psychology book with the message, "Can you believe I get to study this?"  Friday night she came home (she had a cold and wanted to take some NyQuil and go to sleep) and for almost an hour, told us all about the friends she is making, the classes she is enjoying, and how much she is loving college.
Cru at Cal Poly and Cuesta keeps us busy - up late (midnight entering names and numbers into a database, or talking to students after a weekly meeting) and up early (6:30 a.m. meeting with student leaders).  Silver lining - hundreds of freshmen have come to the weekly meetings, to the dorm Bible studies, and to an amazing Barn Dance that we put on.  So we are off to an amazing start!
The annual battle for walnuts with the squirrels has begun.  Yesterday I 'scared' one out of the tree and it dropped right in front of Max-the-Dog, who tried to pick it up in his mouth to toss it about (a favorite hobby of his) and got a bite on the lip for his trouble (the squirrel crossed the  fence to safety).  Silver lining - the walnut tree is loaded with walnuts, and Max was quite entertained for several minutes (and his lip is fine!).
As we approach October, there is a heat wave expected and it is supposed to hit 100 over the next couple of days (ugh).  Silver lining - finally, after a summer of nothing, the tomatoes are in!  So we now have a big jar of dried tomatoes, and several cups of tomato sauce ready for winter.  And more every day.  It's about time!
I had so much hope that the Pirates would finally have a winning season, but alas.  A very-late-season collapse has made that impossible (they were so close).  Silver lining - the A's (Jason's favorite team) are in front in the wild card race with just a few games left!  
And now, it's time to make lunch for some students (Grace's friends are coming over for burgers), then hunker down out of the heat and enjoy some football before another busy (but wonderful) week!