Math Superbowl

David got to compete on the Peabody Charter School 4th grade Math Superbowl Team. The Math Superbowl is a competition between 30+ local schools each with teams of 4 in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. To make the Peabody team was a big accomplishment!

He has been preparing for over 6 months and had so much fun

working on logic, word, and math problems.

In this picture, he is with his 6th grade friend, Taylor Dixon, who placed 5th out of all the 6th graders. David tied for 7th place out of all the 4th graders.

And, best of all, their school team made a school record. They placed 5th out of all the schools. That has never been done before and they were so excited to get their trophy.

How fun to get a trophy for an academic achievement!

(He's his mother's son. I do math for fun, too. Seriously.)

Johnny Quotes

"Mommy, do you know how much I love you? Around the world a google times!"
~
"Knock Knock"
Who's there?
"But"
But who?
"But why are you such a butt?

Isn't that a funny joke?!?"

~

"Mommy, why am I almost always happy?"

~
"I like to move it, move it." (repeated 20,000 times)

~
"Some people don't like their brothers, but I do!"

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"Everyone is mean to me except God and Jesus!"

~
"Mommy, I don't like that picture because your face looks fat.

You have a head like Sponge-Bob Squarepants."

~
"God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and ssseeeelllfff-ccccoooonnnnttrrrooolllleed."

~
"My daddy knows everything. But he doesn't know bad words."

Monday Night Reflections

Jill, Alyssa, David, and me (2007)

I have a very good friend - I'm lucky that way - who I do a meal swap with each week. She brings me dinner on Monday and I give her dinner on Tuesdays. It works out beautifully for me since she is a far superior cook than I am.

Jill and I also share quite a number of book series where she owns the even numbered books and - you don't need to comment - I own the odd ones.

Most of my favorite Christmas ornaments have been made by Jill. Yes, she is definitely a do-it-yourself-er and even owns (and uses) a sewing maching. We are not similar in that regard, but I am a very thankful recipient of her creative and thoughtful gifts.

Our kids share life together at school and even walk home together every day where Jill and I are waiting at my house for them. David and Alyssa have been in class together 4 out of the last 5 years. Jill's kids call me Auntie Krista and Jill is Auntie Jill to mine. For a while, Andrew even thought Taylor and Alyssa were truly his cousins.

I'm not often reflective. I don't really like to sit and think. I much prefer to cross things off my to-do list which never happens to include "Reflection". However, as I sit here on a Monday night after eating a delicious, organic, prepared-by-Jill meal, I am wondering what I'm going to do on my first Monday night in Argentina. There is so much I could write about Jill, her family, and our friendship, but the one thing keeps returning to my thoughts is the need for intentionality. I'm not the best at being intentional. I continue to learn that this is an area I need to work on. I also realize I will struggle with loneliness in Argentina if I don't learn how to do this better (although I do realize that, regardless, I will struggle with loneliness).

Thankfully, my friends are patient with me. And typically send the first email or make the first phone call. For some reason, though, Jill and I have both been good at that with each other which is one reason why I think our friendship goes so deep. How grateful I am that God gave me this sweet friendship in my mid-twenties that has only gotten better and stronger through the years.

Okay, I'm tired of reflecting now (it's making me weepy)... I just know that I love Jill and her family!

Halloween 2008

Note that my boys are all wearing purchased Star Wars costumes, though some were hand-me-downs (Buddy was Yoda).

Also note that Alyssa & Taylor share their mother's creative genes and came up with their rock star & hocky star costumes on their own.

Family picnic (2008)

Alyssa & David (2005)
I LOVE this picture. I do also want to point out the difference in their gingerbread men....

Disclaimer: Rich and Chris have lots of pictures together from college through the present. Including amazing surfing shots from Central America. Chris is allowed to blog whenever he wants about his special friends.

Another Disclaimer: Rich is one of my very good friends too. I just don't have easily accessible pictures of him... he tends to be the one behind the camera.

May Day

Years ago, I was not one to think much about May Day: the crowning of the Queen of the May, its Maypole dancing, or the May Day call of distress. However, that changed in 2003 when I received a true May Day call from Cari. Her brother, David, died May 1, 2003.

This year, as I was preparing, mentally, for this day, I was looking through photo albums trying to find pictures of Cari, David, and me from when we were younger. You see, I've known Cari since we were 4 years old and along with gaining a childhood best friend, I gained an older-brother-type relationship with David as well. I have vivid memories of sitting around their dinner table alone with their parents because they couldn't stop bickering at the table and got sent to their rooms. I remember asking David questions about how boys think. I remember late night bike rides with both of them. I remember how smart David was in Math. I remember, well, a lot.

Since we're packing up our life to move, I was only able to find one picture of David and it happens to be the one in my David's baby book. My David was born when Cari was living in Colorado, but Cari's mom and brother couldn't wait to meet baby David. It is one of my sweetest memories of David Stone... he couldn't take his eyes off my baby.

I have definitely grieved in my life. Watching my good friend grieve is heart wrenching. Walking alongside her has made me stronger and, hopefully, a better friend. I love her and I loved her brother.

I think that I'm especially moved on this May Day in 2010 because of the fact that it marks 3 months until we leave for Argentina. I wish I could talk to David about it. He loved our world and I know he would love what we are doing and would have made plans to visit. I miss him.

Sunday Church

Yesterday at church during the "meet and greet" (insert eye-roll), I introduced myself to the elderly lady directly behind me. After telling her my name, she asked me if she could give me a comb.

"Why?" I asked.

To which she responded, "To comb your little doggy."

TO COMB MY LITTLE DOGGY?!?

Unaware of my current state of speechlessness, my very good friend chose that moment to walk across the sanctuary to greet me in a much more appropriate way (ie, "Hi! I saw your beautiful, curly hair from across the room and couldn't wait to say hello!")

While Cari was helping to coax me out of my state of shock, the elderly woman was continuing the monologue with my husband, informing him of the comb, the little doggy, and my obvious need.

There were many inappropriate responses that were running through my head during my pastor's sermon on "See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else." (1 Thes. 5:15)

I will not write any of my responses here, but I will say that I continued to poof out my hair throughout the service.

Grrr....

Gratitude

Here are a few reasons I'm feeling grateful today:

• David is done with his California Mission report and project. He made it with Legos and wrote a 22 page report and is presenting an oral report this afternoon. I didn't do much except help him type, but I am very glad to be done with his, um, dedication to this project.



• I have a wonderful mom who is always looking out for me.


• My mother-in-law is incredible and is getting married to an amazing man in June. Frank taught me how to make crepes (we're having them for dinner tonight) and makes the best margaritas I've ever drank (I dream about them). I'm feeling particularly thankful for both of them today.


• We received a huge check in the mail for our work in Argentina.


• Strawberries are back in season.


• I crossed off 8 things off my list this morning.


• We had the money (after scrimping and saving) to pay our stupid tax bill. Actually, this is a huge provision from the Lord. I keep very good track of our finances and I wasn't sure how we were going to pay it, but it worked out.


• I have a great friend named Roxanne.


• A 24 year old woman told me I have gotten "even hotter" since having kids. I'm laughing as I write it, but it sure made my day!

I hope you're feeling thankful today too.

The Last 48 Hours

Our dog thinks he's human and is very comfortable with himself (and not allowed on the furniture).

Andrew had a gnarly asthma attack on Thursday night and is still wheezing pretty bad so we are nebulizing him 3x/day per doctor’s orders.

David played 3 full soccer games today (1 in Goleta, then 1 in Oxnard, then 1 in Goleta).

Johnny got to have quiet time in his room during dinner because he belched like an infamous truck driver.

I sorted through 20 decks of cards (yes, TWENTY) while purging our "stuff". I'm also on a cussing fast. Clearly I'd much prefer to say another s-word for "stuff".

Chris got to use his BB gun to kill a rat that wasn’t quite dead in a rat trap. He shot it 4 times before it finally breathed its last.

That sums up our last 2 days. How are you?