Birthdays and Growing Up

In the past few weeks, we hosted grandparents (all of them!), celebrated Easter, Jason turned 16, and Grace turned 19.  Jason got to celebrate his birthday by getting his driver's license, going on a camping and fishing trip with his dad and some of his closest friends, and going to an Oakland A's game with his mom and uncle (yes, my brother flew down from Portland to go with us to the A's-Tigers game, so it was as much a gift to me as it was to Jason.  He's my hero, even though he was bad luck for the A's).  Then we were able to met Grace at a Cal Poly baseball game the next day (he was bad luck for them, too - they lost the game as well!) and take her out for breakfast on her birthday before I had to drive Uncle Charles back to the airport in San Jose.

A friend of mine asked me if I now "mourn and cry" on my kids' birthdays for the passing of time, and confessed to me that she has cried on every one of her childrens' birthdays since the oldest one turned ten.  This seems a little wacky to me.  I actually think it's quite fantastic that my kids are growing up.  They are such AMAZING people and I totally enjoy hanging out with them!  Grace is always available to text me 

fashion or decorating advice when I need it, and now that she is 'away' at college, she will have lunch or coffee out with me whenever I want.  And Jason is just hilarious and keeps me chuckling all the time (I will actually miss driving him and his friends around and listening to their conversations.)  It is so fun to have kids who grow up to be people you actually like!

Spring = Hope

Spring and all that comes with it gives me so much to hope for and look forward to!
Right on cue, the daffodils disappeared and the first tulips started blooming on March 21st.  This year we have purples and pinks and reds.  There are buds everywhere, and blossoms on every fruit tree.
And it's GREEN all around!
 I got to sit and enjoy the green and the quiet yesterday, because I was driving the Camry (308,000 miles and still mostly humming along) and, on this country road between Templeton and Atascadero, the engine totally quit (we are hoping that it is a timing belt; that would be pretty simply fixable), leaving me stranded in a nice shady spot, right beside an olive orchard.  While I was waiting for my knight in a shiny silver truck to come and rescue me, I got to sit here and watch birds, ground squirrels, and the trees in the breeze.  Not a bad deal!  Then, he handed me the keys to the truck, and said, "You go ahead and finish the shopping, and then pick me up at the mechanic.  I'll wait here for the tow truck."  What a great guy!!
March Madness is currently in full force, and Jamey and I are right up at the top of the pool, thanks to our alma mater making a great run into the Sweet 16.  Makes me hopeful that one of us will see victory this year.  Or, even better, that the Cats will take it all!  I even have hope that the Pittsburgh Pirates will win the World Series this year!  Of course, the season hasn't started yet, but they are having a pretty good spring, and are not yet mathematically eliminated from the postseason....
Jason turns 16 in a week or so, and is hopeful that he will soon get his driver's license, so I in turn am hopeful that he can do some of my errands for me on his way to and from school.  And Grace, a couple of weeks after that, is turning 19 (holy cow, how did that happen?) and she just pretty much gives me hope constantly, because she is just so stinking capable and generally grown-uppish.
And then there are all of the babies making appearances in the neighborhood....twin goats around the corner, baby chicks everywhere, little lambs (my personal favorites), and this miniature horse baby that was born the day before this photo was taken.  He is about the size of a medium dog;  currently a little bit smaller than Max-the-Dog.  He is a mini mini horse.  And because my neighbor loves old Hollywood, she named him Valentino, of course.

Ah, the potential of everything this time of year!

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!