Honored?

Have I mentioned that things are a bit busy these days for me?  In addition to the normal life that I lead, I am doing 100 hours of coursework to receive my TEFL certificate.  (I finally started it, and I love it!!)  I am coordinating a team of at least 15 different people from several different western countries to come this summer and volunteer at a conference.  We have some guests coming in May.  I am helping Mindy with her wedding planning.  We are preparing for a big cross-country move.  Plus, it seems like everyone is crawling out of hibernation.  So, pretty much every single one of our friends has called us in the past two weeks to schedule a time to get together.  Etc, and so on.  Everyone is busy.  I get that.

Anyhow, that was just background info for today's (actually yesterday's) story.

Friday at about 11:15 I get a call from the class mom.  Roughly translated, "Hello, blah, blah blah, pleasantries and a sundry greetings.  When you drop Lucy off at Chess Club, are you free for a parent meeting about the school fundraiser?"

(Chess Club starts at 11:40.  Thanks for the short notice!)

Me: "Uh... ok."

So I hurry everything along and I manage to just get us to chess on time.  Poor Lucy!  I practically dragged her the whole way.  Actually, I take that back.  Poor me!  I am too old and out of shape to run to school, carrying a surprisingly heavy backpack and dragging a 7 year old.

Lucy goes to chess.  I go to my meeting.  There are 8 of us.  Of course it is a social visit for the first 30 minutes, complete with tea.  Then we get down to business.  Each year the school holds a bazaar to raise funds for the school.  Please do not ask me what on earth they do with these funds.  I have yet to see the results!  For three (gruelingly long days) moms make a ridiculous amount of food and sell it to whomever will buy it.  People also donate all sorts of crap items to be sold.

The fundraiser can be a controversial topic.  We all have very different ideas about the best way to go about things.  Also, the same 10 moms do pretty much everything.  While we are happy to help, it does get annoying that everyone does not pitch in.   So the meeting is going on and everyone is offering their thoughts and opinions... all at one time.

I'll save you the tedium (as if it hasn't been a total snoozer up to this point!) and tell you one of the results of the meeting.

I was elected to be the person who gathers donations for our class!!

There are many crazy things about this.  The first one is, that I was pre-selected for this honor (I use that term loosely!) without my knowledge or consent by the principal and our teacher.  I will get an official certificate from the school, and my job for the next month and a half is to go to as many places as possible and solicit donations.

I was shocked and asked them if they really wanted the foreign lady begging for our class.  I tried to use the, "Um... but I don't speak the language well!" excuse.  "You're language is awesome!" they manipulated encouraged.  I guess I'm in good company.  That excuse didn't work for Moses either!

They went on to say that since I don't have little kids at home, I am more available.  This is true.  They also went on to say that they think people will be more likely to give to me because I am foreign.  To which I responded with many thanks for using me!

In the end, I'm the class beggar.  Regardless of the fact that my schedule is a bit more than full (see the first paragraph) I am so excited!  I am going to have to learn some new begging vocabulary!  Time to make some new notecards!

Anybody got anything they want to send for a school fundraiser?

Pi Günü

Happy Pi Day!!

Like the standard system of measurement, the US is about the only country in the world that writes the date- month/day/year.  Throughout the world it is typically written day/month/year, making today:

3.14

I had never heard of this or even thought of it until my kids entered middle school.  It's a bit of a thing here, at least at my kids school.  They go all out!

Here's my Callie with her Pi Günü- Pi Day- cake and t-shirt:

Just in case you are interested, she made Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever recipe.  The frosting is chocolate pecan.  It is downright sinful!  Triple YUM!!  I almost didn't let her take it to school because I wanted to eat the whole thing myself!  Surely a bunch of 11 year olds can't properly appreciate the extreme yumminess!!

Anyway...

Hope your Pi Day is all you ever dreamed it would be!

BookWorm

I LOVE to read.  These days life is busy, so sneaking away with a good book feels like a guilty pleasure!  Praise the Lord, we were given a Kindle a few years back.  It is so difficult to get good books in English at a decent price here.  So, my Kindle is a HUGE blessing!!!  In fact, Noah got one for Christmas, and Callie got one for her birthday.  It's just the best thing on earth for us!  They have both started reading so much in the past 4 months.  It's awesome!

Anywho... Today over at Kelly's Korner she is doing Show Us Your Life: What are you Reading. Since I've read some really good books lately, I decided to share.

Of course, I've read A little Salty to Cut the Sweet by Sophie, and Melanie's books, Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room.  I'd recommend all three.  Thoroughly fun reads!

Right now, I am halfway through Wild.  It is quite an interesting read- a little gritty in parts.  But a good honest story of one woman's crazy adventure trying to find herself.

 I just finished Gone Girl.  It was a real page turner with a twist at the end.  I want to say so much more, but I'll stop lest I spoil it for you.  I'd recommend it, but again, it's probably rated R.  At least for me.

I fly through fiction, and always have a few non-fiction books going, too.  I read non-fiction really slowly because I'm trying to really absorb the information.  And, quite honestly, because there's no story to get caught up in and make me stay up too late reading!

One of my current non-fiction reads is Grace Based Parenting.  It is really good.  I'd recommend it!

 Another non-fiction read that I have going right now is Miraculous Movements.  It's an amazing book if you are in my line of work or have a particular interest in reaching out to Muslims.  If not, you can skip it.

In the Fall I zipped through a ton of Adriana Trigiani.  My  mother-in-law recommended her years ago.  But it has taken me awhile to get to her stuff.  I LOVED every book I read by her.  The books I've read all have a tie to Italy and even sometimes involve bits of plot set in Italy, which I love!  The Big Stone Gap series is really good: interesting and fun with a sweet love story.  (It reminds me a little bit of Jan Karon's Father Tim Series... which I would also recommend!)

The Shoemaker's Wife was super interesting.  The plot involves late 19th century Italian immigrants.  I loved reading about what life was like in America during that time.

The Astronaut Wives Club was a thoroughly interesting read.  It's a non-fiction account of life told from the perspective of the wives of the first astronauts.  It was fascinating to put yourself in their shoes and think about what life would be like.  Can you imagine being Louise Shepard, Project Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard's wife and watching your husband enter space on television with the rest of the world?  Who knew what would happen?  What about the wives of the Apollo 8 astronauts who were first to leave the earth's orbit and orbit the moon.  No one had any real idea if it would work or if they would just float out into space and die.  Anyhow, you can tell that I loved this peak at the glamor and terror of being an astronaut wife.  Plus, the mid 20th century Americana is fun, too!

I just finished reading Black Beauty to Lucy.  She and I are horse lovers so this was a must read!  It's a classic!  So good, and so heartbreaking at times.  

So, those are my recommendations.  I've read several other books, but I wouldn't really recommend them, so no need mentioning them.  I can't wait to see what everyone else is reading and add a few to my must-read stack... in my Kindle, of course!!

Tough Decisions

I was shopping the baby department (don't get excited- no announcements here- just wanted a gift for a friend's baby!!) and ran across this display!

Um...YUM?  And also, hard choice!

This is Love

Justin saw my post about the Butterfinger Cups and searched high and low to find some for me when he was in the States.  What a sweetie!!

As for the Butterfinger cups... meh!  They were yummy.  But, truthfully, I'd rather have either a Butterfinger or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  Full disclosure, I'd rather have BOTH!  Ha!

Winter Time!

Yall!  It is practically mid-March and winter has finally arrived!  Now, I know all of yall in the States have had a very long, very cold, very snowy winter.  But our winter has been so mild- more like a nice crisp Fall.

I had dutifully taken all my geraniums off the balcony and put them in a winter-safe place last November.  When March rolled in and the skies were sunny I decided to put them back out.  Sure enough, I got those flowers out and winter came to taunt me!

These last few days have been so cold and rainy here.  I had to turn on the heat again!  March always seems to trick me like this!

Because I am a crazy person, I have a little routine that I fully believe helps to coax Springtime into existence.  It starts with finding the perfect Spring scented candle.  I did that when we went to the mall for Callie's birthday several weeks ago.  Of course, I knew that was too early to conjure Spring.  So I waited until March 3rd to light it.  I also put all my flowers back out on the balconies and spruced them up a bit.  Then I cleaned everything in sight.

(This girl is cray-cray!!!)

This is my tried and true Springtime conjuring method.  Sure enough, we had a few beautiful days.  A torturous taunting of Spring-like weather.

Alas, it's over!  Winter has finally come.  I am trying to be a big girl about the situation.  However, I really want to throw a temper tantrum!

Deep Thoughts

This was our scripture during our family devotion tonight...

"The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
    He delights in every detail of their lives.
Though they stumble, they will never fall,
    for the Lord holds them by the hand."

After I read it one of the yahoos asked, "If God's holding your hand and you do fall down, what would happen if He fell on top of you?"

Really?!

What planet are these crazy kids from and how do they come up with this stuff?

Sunday Sneak Peek: Airport Run

I LOVE picking people up from the airport.  I sit at the Starbucks watching the arrivals board and my heart thumps with excitement.  It is such a blessing when people travel across the world to see us!  There is no better form of anticipation!

Confession Time

It's Friday!  Praise the Lord, we are rolling into the weekend!  Every Friday night we have Family Fun Night.  I make pizza and we watch a movie together.  The truth is, after a long week, we're all a bit too worn out to be civil to each other.  We watch a movie together so that we can hang out without having to interact!  Sad but true! Ha!

On that note, here are a few other confessions...

* I dozed through most of the movie tonight.  It seems like I feel more jet-lagged than Justin!  It's 9:30 and I can barely keep my eyes open.  As an extreme night-owl, this is usually the time I am perking up and ready to start a project!  Anyhow, I'm going to bed!  This may be the earliest I've ever gone to bed when I wasn't sick!

***Edited to add... I didn't wake up until 9:40 on Saturday morning!  Mercy!!  I guess I was tired!  I sure do feel chipper now!


* It has been a loooong winter cooped up together!  The kids are bickering constantly and Lucy follows me around all morning before she goes to school.  I am going crazy!!!

Dear Spring, Please come quickly so the kids can go outside and play in the street (literally!)!!


* For some crazy reason I have been on an ironing kick.  Before this week, if my kids saw an iron they would be like, "What's that machine?!"  Now, all of our shirts are beautifully pressed and ready to be worn.  Doubt this will last long, but I know Justin has his fingers crossed that it will!


* Our dear friends are coming over for dinner tomorrow night.  I'm making an American feast complete with cheeseburgers, all the fixin's, roasted potatoes, and a trifle (layered pudding) for dessert!  Yum!  Hope they like it! (Local folks are intensely loyal to local food!)


* Old Navy had jeans on sale just before Justin left the States.  So, yay, we each got a new pair of jeans!!  I tried to take a picture of us in our new jeans, but it turned out crazy so I'm not posting it!


* I still have not started the TEFL certification program that I need to finish soon!  Ugh!  I suppose that I've even resorted to ironing to avoid it!


* I am pretty sure I got the teaching job that I applied for last month at the kids' new school for next year.  Every day when the kids come home and complain about their teachers or laugh about the crazy things that happened at school that day I die a little on the inside.  I am terrified to actually stand up in front of these kids and teach!  They are going to rip me to shreds!


* Today is my best friend, Mindy's birthday!  It's her last birthday as a single woman, cause she's getting married soon!  Triple YAY!!!


* It is so nice having Justin home!  I am loving every second with my man!!!


* I love it in the evenings when it's finally time to change into my pajamas.  Like over the top love it- it makes me giddy!  I announce with glee, "It's jam-jam time!"  For a stay-at-home mom, it's sort of like clocking out at the end of another long hard day!


That's all I've got to divulge today.  What about you???

Okul Şenliği

The PTA equivalent at Lucy's school organized a school festival- okul şenliği- full of inflatables for today.  They typically do some sort of field trip. But the transportation and admission costs are prohibitive to a large contingent at our local public school.  So, this year they brought the party to school.  

Inflatables aren't really widespread here.  The way the parents were talking and fretting, you would have thought the PTA was wanting to strap children to wild bulls or something!  Their worry over the whole thing was a bit intense.

After much convincing and cajoling a majority of the parents did end up sending their children to school today.  So, the lines were long for the different inflatables but all in all the kids had a good time and no one was injured (minor miracle!).

Pondering Lent

Did you know that today is the first day of Lent?  Typically it sneaks up on me, but this year for some reason, I've been anticipating today.

Through the years I've failed at, succeeded at, and ignored giving up things for Lent.  So, this year as I was praying about what, if anything, to give up for Lent I realized something.

In the past, for me, it's been a bit of a game.  More often that not, like a way to challenge myself, instead of laying something aside and choosing more of the Lord.  I wanted to see if I could make it to Easter, not see where I could go with the Lord.

(As a painful sidenote... In 2009 I gave up chocolate.  It did not last 48 hours!  I realized that chocolate was completely and absolutely necessary for survival in this country!!!  Complete Lenten failure!)

This year I realize that the Lord wants me to focus on my attitude in the next 40 days.  I am pretty good about doing what I am supposed to do.  But, unfortunately, my attitude often stinks!  I do things out of duty instead of with joy and a servant's heart.  I grumble about situations, friends, and neighbors... and my kids.  (But not my husband!  After being gone for a month, I appreciate him more than ever!!!)

So, this year, I'm giving up my bad attitude for Lent and praying that it doesn't come back after Easter!

Where He Belongs

Praise the Lord!  Justin has arrived home safe and sound tonight!

We are all so happy to have him back!  His snoring never sounded so good!  Ha!

Sunday Sneak Peek: Homework Time!

Prayer

 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

Colossians 4:2-6