Thankful List

It's been a couple months since I've been able to type out my gratitude list, but I love that I can resume at any time.  I'm struggling to find rhythm in the summer, but am enjoying it all the same.

Today I am thankful for:

1.  Spiderman Fruit Snacks
During his lunchtime prayer yesterday, Paul said, "Thank you God for the Spiderman Fruit Snacks that Mama bought that were on sale at ALDI."  I love both is gratitude for the snacks and the recognition of the money-saving aspect as well.

2.  Perfect presents
Claire and Paul both celebrated birthdays recently and several people bought them items that we all cheered for.  It was great to hear the kids saying, "Ms. X always picks out the best things for my birthday." Or "I have been wanting this forever!  I am so excited!"

3.  Friends that make you take care of yourself.
On Saturday, my friend Stacy noticed a bite on my arm and told me I better take care of it or I would get my arm chopped off.  I didn't think it was a big deal, but since I was headed to the doctor on Monday anyway, I went ahead and mentioned it.  I now think it was a spider bite and I am so glad she made me ask the doctor about it because it got worse before it got better and that's just like me to throw some hydrocortisone on it and forget about it.

4.  Friends far away.
Claire's godfather, Chris and his wife, Ashley, live in Kansas, so we don't get to see them very often. Chris had to come to town last week, though, and made sure to have dinner with us.  Though we hadn't seen him in nearly a year, all four of us picked right back up where we left off.  Next week we are taking a short trip to Galveston where we will meet another friend whom we haven't seen in a while.  I am so grateful that we can feel loved all over the USA.

5.  Manual sprinklers
We do have a sprinkler system, but tree roots screwed it up and Adam has been unable to repair it yet.  We also have this handy dandy tool called a "hose" where we hook on something called a "sprinkler" and it works great.  I just turn it on and move the hose occasionally and presto! the yard doesn't look as brown.

6.  Internet coupons
I thought I was awesome at cutting coupons from the newspaper, but now I get emails about Internet coupons for even more cutting goodness.  I like to call myself a professional grocery shopper.

7.  A marketing plan that I made
I am learning so much at my job.  This week I created a  marketing plan so for every major event we have approaching, I have mapped out a uniform way to promote it instead of trying to remember everything.  I am so excited to put this into use!

8.  My husband
I just want to note that I believe Adam Boyette kicks ass.  He's in charge of games at VBS this week and every night he's outside in a bathrobe and headscarf leading groups of kids in funny games.  He's good at it.  I'm grateful for that as well as the way he can say one word to me and make me laugh so hard I can't breathe.

9.  A place for my grandpa
My grandfather recently moved to an assisted living facility.  He loves it and is doing well.  So well in fact, that now he needs new clothes, new shoes, and new housewares for the new home.  I'm so glad he's got his desire to live and some spark back.

10.  A fly killing machine
We have fruit flies in our house, which I have experimented in killing a number of different ways.  The most effective way has been a gift that Stacy and Matt gave Adam for his birthday.  It's called FlyWeb Fly Light and it combines an attractive light with flypaper so the flies are drawn to it and then stuck.  You can buy it here.

Worth a Read

Here's an article I came across that is worth a read.  It was written by Kare Anderson of the Harvard Business Review blog.  I am always trying to figure out how to be a better listener.

If you don't have time to read the whole article, read this at least:

"To learn about your own attention patterns, examine someone else's. Most motivational speakers, self-help writers, therapists and pharmacologists encourage us to focus on "me." They suggest that we look inward to understand and improve ourselves for a happier, better life. That's not wrong; it is just incomplete. Instead of just asking, "What most preoccupies me? Does it make the world seem welcoming or withholding?" reach out to someone else. Be the best listener they've had in months. This is the first and most basic ingredient in any interaction. Simply gazing steadily and warmly at that person, nodding at times and reiterating what you heard will activate an empathic, mirror-neuron response in both of you.
Giving and receiving undivided attention, even briefly, is the least that one individual can do for another — and sometimes the most. And yet, attending to others doesn't just help them — it helps us, by evoking responses that help the listener feel cared for, useful, and connected to the larger world. Paying attention may be an individual effort, but it's also a kind of social cement that holds groups together and helps them feel part of something greater than themselves. It's not always easy, but you can improve with practice — and find yourself becoming more flexible, more open to new ideas, and better able to resonate with others. Inevitably that leads to a richer, more meaningful life."

Must focus my attention today.

First Week of Summer Recap

We are in full-on summer mode around here.  Here's some photos to recap our first week.  My last post told everyone what we did last Monday.  I am learning that it seems that we will have one day of academic excellence and awesome activities followed by a day that everything moves slower.  That's okay, though.  It's summer.

Last Tuesday night was the transit of Venus.  Apparently the next time Venus will pass in front of the sun where we can see it on Earth will be 100 years from now, so Adam made sure we got to see it. 

At the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, they had many professional telescopes set up on their front lawn.  You'll have to ask Adam to explain all this, but this is a picture of the reflection of what was happening in the sky.  The white circle is the sun and the dot is Venus.

Here Claire and Paul were looking through a fancy telescope.  I have an eyeball phobia (seriously) and everyone kept telling each other not to look directly at the sun because their eyes would burn up and they'd be blind.  I couldn't tell you what any one's faces looked like that night, but I can tell you about their ankles.  I kept my face to the ground the whole time.

This facial expression is what Paul looks like at the beginning of swim lessons.  For some reason, he has a lot of anxiety about it and it takes him several minutes to warm up to it.  We're taking lessons at the Benbrook YMCA and both kids teachers are fantastic.

Here's Claire jumping into 7 foot deep water.



Here's Claire with Miss Alli, floating on her back in 7 foot water.

After swim lessons last Thursday, we headed to downtown Fort Worth for a picnic and other activities.  We ate outside at Burnett Plaza, and the kids climbed the spider web.  Then, predictably, one of them needed to use the restroom, so we pretended to know what we were doing and went into a fancy office building.  Guess what!  They had a tunnel that went underground.  Here's a picture of the kids in the tunnel.  Paul was trying to make a weird face.

After our adventures underground we went to the Sid Richardson Art Museum for Kids at the Sid.  The kids got to make fabric puppets with fancy materials for FREEEEE!  Paul's is SuperMan with a goatee.

After we made puppets, the kids toured the Sid Richardson Art Museum.  It's tiny; just the right size for kids.  The staffed docents that really like kids and were interacting with them about the artwork.  Here Paul is completing a puzzle which is a picture of a painting hanging above his head.  I highly recommend Kids at the Sid.  The museum actually likes kids and wants them there!  And it's free!

On Saturday, I took Claire to a kids sewing class at JoAnn's Fabrics.  The class was on sale for $17, but of course we had to buy supplies.  I think we ended up spending about $50 in all.  She learned how to make a pillow with a pattern and hand-sewing.  It was fun, but harder work than I anticipated.  Keeping her focused on sewing for three hours straight was the most difficult part.

Claire's puppet is a cowgirl with a feather in her hat.

The First Day of Summer

My plans for the week.

This summer, my goal is to keep the kids busy.  I also want them to go back to school smarter than they left.  Claire is already reading on a first grade level, but I want to get her to chapter books before the end of summer.  My goal for Paul is to get him to read simple sight words like "and," "the," and words like that.
Other goals include learning the names of all the planets, learning to add and subtract (Claire), learning to count to 100 (Paul), and learning all the state names.  Yes, I know that some of these are high goals, but I'm trying to shoot for the moon and no matter what, they will be learning.
Last night I got ready for this morning.  We have swim lessons at 11 a.m., so from 8 to 10:30 a.m., I planned on teaching.

Here are the kids reading words, math facts, and journal prompt for the day.  Yes, Paul is still three and I'm making him write in a journal.  Mostly he drew, which is just fine.

Claire was excited to get to work.  She didn't even want to put on regular clothes, but got to work in her pajamas.


It was the first day of swim lessons at the Benbrook YMCA.  Claire was in a beginning swim class, but she and her classmates did so well that the teacher advanced the entire class.  Now she's in a "Can Swim" class.

Paul was more apprehensive than we anticipated, but Mr. Marco got him going pretty well by the end of the swim lesson.  We love that both kids are in extremely small classes.  Paul's class has five kids and Claire's has three.

This afternoon we visited the Wedgwood Branch of the Fort Worth Public Library to see Lucas Miller present Science Rocks!  This guy is hilarious, and if you get a chance to see him, do it.  He sang songs about animals and other zoological issues.  He even rapped and wore different costumes.  Claire and Paul were picked from the audience to be backup dancers.

Now that we're back home, it's 5:20 p.m. and we're winding down for the day.  The kids are excited to read their newly checked out books and I'm about to make dinner.  Tomorrow will be another day full of excitement.

What Would Wax Jesus Do?

I would like to preface this post with the statement "I love Jesus!"  That being said, here is my tale of Wax Jesus.
A few months ago in my church atrium, I found a little business card someone had left.  The card advertised a life-size wax interpretation of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting, the Lord's Supper.  I did some research on it and found out it is at the Christian Arts Museum, pretty close to church, but only open during business hours.  I was intrigued, but didn't feel this was worthy of making Adam miss work.  Nor did I want to take the kids in case it was slightly too realistic and unsettling.  Instead, I took my pal, Rev. Jason Valendy to see Wax Jesus.  Jason is in the process of moving churches, so I wanted to make sure to pin him down before he moved away. 

Lucky for us, a docent was on the scene who told us all about the sculpture. Apparently in the 1950s there was a very rich family in Fort Worth.  Somehow they had opportunity to view a life-size wax sculpture of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting, The Last Supper, and they were so moved by it that they took money to commission an identical setup here.  A mother and daughter team from a small town in Germany crafted each figure with wax, paper maiche, and REAL HUMAN HAIR!  The docent made note of the authenticity of the hair several times.

Wax Jesus.  His hair has faded over time, but others' haven't.

Oh yeah, that's me, right in front of Wax Jesus himself.

 It was made in 1954 and was on display at a local religious television station for a number of years.  Then they put it in storage for around 20 years and have recently brought it back out.  Apparently each body part was crafted individually and was stored as such.  I don't know the details of who kept this sculpture or where, but the docent told us there were cardboard boxes filled with hands, others with feet, and others with heads.  A skilled wax artist was hired from the Palace of Wax in Grand Prairie.  The artist was able to match up the hands, feet, and heads to recreate the sculptures to their initial splendor.  The hair, being REAL HUMAN HAIR, must be dry-cleaned once a year with a powder shampoo, similar to ones used in nursing homes.
In my personal life, I see Jesus and God in a number of places.  Walking down the street to Claire's school, I thank God for birds, trees, and various other parts of nature.  Offering hugs to friends is another time when I feel God's presence.  To me, anywhere where I am a witness to love, I am also a witness to God.  That being said, looking at Wax Jesus did not make me feel closer to him.  It just made me feel creeped out.
I don't mean to judge those who see Wax Jesus as a gateway to a stronger faith life.  More power to them, I say.  I was fascinated by the stories the docent told us of mysteries surrounding the sculptures, like the reason Jesus' hair has faded over time but the other sculptures' hair is the same color.  And the time that no lights would work except for the one above Judas.  But personally, seeing Wax Jesus satisfied some sense of morbid curiosity in me, not my faith.

I don't know which disciple this is supposed to be (I think Peter), but his eyes really gave me the willies.

Judas is in the center of this picture, and we're supposed to notice his hands raised in frustration and the salt and pepper toppled over by him.