Catching Up!

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I cannot believe it's been almost TWO weeks since I last posted!!  I think I have writer's block lately. I usually write in spurts and have late night moments of creativity, but they have all escaped me lately.  Maybe it's the fact that school has started, and all of my attention has been on packing Micah's lunches, volunteering in his classroom, taking Jaden to preschool, and enjoying all those in-between moments.

Micah is L-O-V-I-N-G Kindergarten.  He leaves happy and comes home happy.  I am volunteering in his classroom every Tuesday, and Martin is volunteering on Thursdays.  At least 1-2 moms volunteer every day of the week.  It is highly needed, as the class has 29 kindergartners, and 9 of those are very young 4-year olds.  The day I helped out, a kid went missing from the classroom and I found him in the cafeteria (during class time), and the day Martin volunteered another kid wandered off. There is just no way for 1 teacher to have an eye on all those kids at once.  It is disheartening that this is the way things are in many areas of California.  The class has one girl who speaks no English whatsoever, and she is just the cutest thing but I feel so sad for her.  All the moms who volunteer feel overwhelmed, and I am just thankful I had two years of teaching junior high to prepare me for this.  Thankfully it does not seem to phase Micah, who works independently and actually seems to be more advanced than many of the kids in his class (after ALL that stressing about whether to hold him back or not).

In other news, which may surprise you, I stepped down from my role as the Women's Pastor at my church.  It was weighing me down and wearing on me, and I always felt that I could barely do enough just to keep up with it.  I am learning the fine art of saying "no",  and I definitely feel this is a season for saying "no", even to good things.  Having that pressure off of me is enabling me to focus more on my family, and I am going to be spending more time writing (if this writer's block ever ends) and speaking at a few places this Fall.   I am very excited to be in this new season of life and am enjoying every minute!

I leave you now with a few pictures of what we've been up to lately...

Last weekend I celebrated my friend Heather's birthday by having a "girl's night" away at a hotel near my house. I had a free gift certificate there, and had already used one night with Martin a few months ago.  I planned a scavenger hunt for her in Borders bookstore, that led to her gift (which I'll write more about later), and it was so fun!  We had dinner, saw a late movie, ate breakfast at a cute cafe by the beach, looked for whales, and more.  It was so refreshing - it is amazing how one night can refresh and re-energize you!

We endured a week-long heat wave, where temperatures reached up to 103 degrees in our city; the highest temperature EVER recorded here!  We got the pool back out and the boys had fun.

I hope you all have a great, relaxing weekend.  What have you been up to lately?