Last week January 2014

It is hard to remember what our school week was like this week.  Were we in school the entire week?  Yes, I think we were with one day being a two-hour delay.  I enjoy those because they make the morning time so much more leisurely.    We've had snow on the ground for about two weeks now--really unusual for Virginia.  But today a lot of it is gone since it was in the 50s yesterday and today.

Steve was in a recovery mode much of the week, trying to catch up with his body from the jet lag and frenzy of travel to Nairobi, Nashville twice, and a day in New York City thrown in.  His fellows class for The Falls Church began on Monday, but much of the rest of the week had flexibility to not drive quite as hard each day.  He thinks he may be getting back to East Coast time about now.  That's good.  Though I often wake in the middle of the night to the light of his cell phone screen as he reads or uses it to light other reading, I like it better when he sleeps through (and I do too).

Sunset at The Holly and the Ivy

A highlight of the week was dinner at Eden and Charlie's on Friday night.  It was the first time we'd been there as a couple, though I had been there once or twice before since it had been settled.  They live on the 11th floor of The Onyx.  David lives on the 7th floor.

The Onyx

Lobby Desk

   Eden and Charlie both had prepared dinner--a curry over rice.  Charlie's dad was also there since he had just arrived to spend some time with them for the weekend. The vegan dinner was in his honor and was delicious.  What happiness it is to see Eden and Charlie settled in their home and navigating the new waters of "family."                             

View of the length of the apartment--living area

Eden exhibiting some of her newly finished handiwork for a special someone.

With the beginning of the new month, the John Baillie prayers start over, and as some of you know, I love the prayer for the first day. With thankfulness one is led in being grateful for a range of things, but the one that always grips me is, "For the great and mysterious opportunity of my life;"  It is a wonder to begin with that there IS any great and mysterious opportunity that is especially mine. . . and yet, I know that there is.  Whether that opportunity seems great and mysterious to anyone else is completely beside the point. It is defined so by my Maker and given to me as a gift. This alone gives me great pause and many moments of self-reflection, repentance, and inspiration--in that order.

The prayer ends with this:

O God, who has been the refuge of my fathers through many generations, be 

my refuge today in every time and circumstance of need. Be my guide through 

all that is dark and doubtful. Be my guard against all that threatens my spirit’s 

welfare. Be my strength in time of testing. Gladden my heart with your peace; 

through Jesus Christ my Lord. . . Amen.

As I prayed that again, I realized anew that this is the experience of everyone pretty much everyday: We encounter the dark and are doubtful; things threaten our spirit's welfare; we are tested on fronts great and small.  In response, I am called on to remember that God is and has been the refuge/hiding place/dwelling place for his people throughout many generations, and to ask him to be my guide, and to gladden my heart with peace.

There is no winter storm watch or warning, but this is the forecast for tomorrow.  It is unlikely to be cold enough (after today's warmth) to really accumulate much snow, but the big question is always what decision the schools will make, if any.  If we did get a snow day, it would be our seventh of the winter season.  We'll have to see!

Rain Scare!

Just before the Sicilian Garbers' arrival, we had a deluge of rain over a couple of days.  The ground became saturated, and on the second day of rain, we got worried about the basement.  When the water begins creeping up our yard in the front, it means the sewers are overwhelmed.  That is a pretty good sign that our sump pump may not be able to manage the intake of water--no place for it to be pumped out to.  So we began to get ready for a basement flood just in case.  That means lifting the couches up onto blocks, rolling up the rug, making sure that any box touching the floor is a plastic one, get all electric strips up off the floor, have the water vacs at the ready.

                           

At this point the well of the sump was filled to within a few inches of the top.  Yikes!  And then, a few minutes after this picture, the water was at the lip.

                             

I quickly laid all old towels around the sump hoping to sop up the first bits of run-over.  Hearts beating fast!  We sat down and prayed that, even though it isn't a big thing in the economy of a troubled world, would the rain please let up enough for the water to stay out of the basement.  Literally, thank God, within about 2 minutes the sheets of rain dissipated to a light shower and then stopped.  Nary a drop ran out of the sump, and we could see the water in the yard going down again.  Soon the sump began to manage the water and look like the picture above again.  Sighs and prayers of grateful thanks that we wouldn't be trying to dry out a wet basement just before the Garber Stay-cation began.

                         

The Falls Church Fellows Last Hurrah

During the spring semester, Steve teaches a course to our own church fellows class of young post-college students.  He enjoys it a great deal and gets to know the students pretty well.  They usually have a banquet at the end of the year of their "fellowship," but since we no longer have a church building, it's more difficult to plan and implement.  This year a man in our congregation offered the large conference rooms of his office for the event which had morphed from a banquet into a reception.  The room, with a large outdoor balcony, overlooked directly the U.S. Capitol--a beautiful sight!  There was rain earlier in the evening, but by the time of the reception, clouds were clearing and everyone was getting pictures from the balcony.  We were no exception!

Memorial Day and Forward

Can't believe it's been two weeks already since Memorial Day!  But it has.  A lot has been happening and some of the most fun things, I forgot to take pictures of.  However, I think that's good.  One should be able to enjoy life without taking pictures too :).

Memorial Day was the day after Steve left for Paris.  I thought I might be staring at a busy but lonely week ahead.  It turned out to be--yes, busy--but full of fun time with the (big) kids as they popped in and out for various reasons.

David and I spent Memorial Day evening seeing "The Great Gatsby" in 3-D.  I liked it better than I thought I would, though it is still the despairing story we all know from past literature classes.

I took this picture THROUGH the 3-D glasses for this AMAZING effect!  They won't be writing me up anytime soon in Popular Photography.    

We saw the movie at this relatively new theater in Falls Church called the Angelika Film Center.  It's part of an interesting new development close to my school with mixed-use spaces of residential apartments, upscale stores and ordinary ones, and entertainment.

The fountains outside the theater with the huge multi-story Target store lit up across the street.

On Wednesday of that week, I got to take a friend whose in 3rd grade to her band concert at Trinity Christian School because her parents were on a trip to Israel and her college age sister was going to her brother's choral concert at a different school that night.  I hadn't been back to Trinity since Jessica graduated from high school there.  There is a huge new building on campus where the concert was.  It was fun to see the changes.

On Thursday, Charlie (my soon-to-be new son-in-law) came out to spend the night.  He'd been locked out of his house by a negligent land lady.  Nice to have the company in the house!                              

On Friday night I went to see "The Mikado" at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts with Eden, Charlie, and a couple other of their friends.  We sat on the lawn, and it was the perfect evening.  The weather was glorious and the operetta was fun and entertaining.  This picture is afterwards when the audience had largely left.  We weren't really there alone.

Eden and I there!  I guess you could say she doesn't get her skin tone from me! (fortunately!)

The next morning, Eden and I had an appointment at The White Swan Bridal Shop.  We enjoyed a couple of hours of on and off gowns...and really loved one, which we put on hold for a couple of days in order to compare.  After all the trying on, we ate Mexican food out before heading home--me to pick up Steve at the airport and she to be picked up by Charlie and head back to town.

On Saturday, Steve arrived home in the mid-afternoon, rested from his trip in business class from Paris.  Jonathan and Erika came home in the late afternoon after spending the afternoon at Erika's family's house to help her twin sisters get ready for prom night.  She enjoyed the fun by putting on her wedding dress again for photographs with them in their senior prom dresses.  They invited a good friend and high school classmate of theirs over for dinner.  I went all out and ordered Chinese while Steve headed out to the McLean Presbyterian Church Fellows banquet, as the professor in their first semester course.

Though awkwardly articulated we decided that this was probably a good "fortune."  I am useful, despite the fact that I  may not be bringing in much money.                               

Later that evening on a dusky walk, I snapped these honeysuckle not because their physical beauty is so great but because I wanted to remember how beautifully they scented the air all around them.                               

And the hydrangeas are just beginning to bloom...each little flower opening individually to form the gorgeous  and richly colored flower.  It's just in time for Becca's visit :), reminding us all of Elliott and Becca's January wedding, decorated with potted hydrangeas.                                 

Late that Saturday night, Jessica came home to spend the night after a college friend's wedding on the Eastern Shore.  She came to worship with us the next morning and had our typical pancake lunch before heading back to Charlottesville to work the night shift.  

Monday morning, though with feet dragging a bit, Steve headed out again to Chicago to his cohort of D. Min. students for their semi-annual get-together.  This time they were meeting at Trinity Deerfield, though they are Covenant Seminary students, because their other professor, Don Guthrie now works there.

A typical dinner-time while Steve's out of town--tonight:  oatmeal with raisins. 

For the first time this spring, it got warm enough to induce me to turn on the AC.  It didn't work! :(  I called out neighbor two houses down who runs a heating/AC company.  He agreed to come the next day to have a look.  The night wasn't as sticky as it might have been.  Grateful for ceiling fans!

And...remember the replacement backpack I'd been waiting for?  It came this week!

                                    

                                   

Late Thursday evening I remember that Friday morning book club must have treats!
Yes, they are bribed with treats to come.

The treats always include strawberries

Thank you, Mrs. Garber!

Last but not least...my radish is growing.

The Ordinariness of a May Week

Most weeks are pretty ordinary for most of us.  These weeks leading up to the end of school (three weeks to go) are still full of projects, routines, and tasks that must be finished before June 19.  

This is Akshara and Benji.  They are in kindergarten, and have been coming to me each week for about five weeks to do a "research" project.  They are both fluent readers but very much just-turned-six-year-olds in every other way.  We made a big book together about the life of   . . . well, you can see as well as I can!  The inside of the book consists of their questions about Ben Franklin along with the answers they found to them.  It is all hand written except for the title, though the pictures are colored and not hand drawn.

Here are some of my Friday morning before-school book club members.  The girl in the blue jacket had been asking me all year to have a club (as we had done last year), and I finally pulled it off for the last six weeks of school.  We meet at 8:15 in the library, and I bring treats (a major drawing factor)!  I had spots for 15--the first 15 to sign up, but in the end I allowed 17 because I couldn't say "no" to someone who wanted to be in a book club after all! They are all 5th and 6th graders.  We are reading The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankwieler.  The author of the book recently died, and she was a Falls Church resident.  The boy on the far left is Norsang, of Tibetan heritage.  He's my most voracious reader this year.  He's read every series I can get and recommend, including the Stephen Lawhead series on Arthur.  Kim is next, the adopted daughter of a single mom who works for Ranger Rick Magazine.  Then comes Redeit, an Ethiopian girl whom I love.  Her family has been to our house before.  She speaks perfect American English but has lived here only about four years.  Her mom works for World Bank and her dad for Lufthansa airlines.  Then Arijana is next.  She's training for a kids' triathalon.  I see her sometimes after school when I'm driving home running while her mom bikes behind her.  There are, of course, about 12 other kids too, but they don't all make it on any given day.

This is Julie (in pink).  She's new this year from Alabama and has a really southern accent and always "mam-ing" me.  She's really smart and nice and vivacious.  That's Soo-Bihn (not her best picture) in black.  She's a sweet and quiet girl whose mom used to volunteer in the library.  They are Korean, and I don't know if they're staying here permanently or not.

Below are home scenes from the week.  Dad has been working hard in the yard and with flowers.  He tried hard to get many of our flower pots planted with fresh flowers before going to Paris.

                              

Here Steve is pulling up the pansies that have been around the beech tree ever since October. They became so pretty again in early spring, but now they've become leggy and past their prime.  So go they must!

                                 

Good-bye pretty pansies...

Hello, periwinkles....  Where we've normally had impatiens, we can't this year.  All the impatiens are dying in this area due to some fungus in the soil.  We wondered what was wrong with them last year.  The nursery says to wait a few years before trying them again.

My radish is growing!

Awaiting their permanent locations

Good-Bye, Virginia, and hello, Paris!  Bon Voyage!

The Backpack that Died & Apology Letters

Dad gave me a backpack about seven years ago when we were going to Switzerland together.  I've carried it on many trips since then.  About two years ago the zipper on the front organizer pocket broke.  I finally decided to try and get the company to give me a new one since I saw they have a lifetime warranty.  So I've been in correspondence with them for about two months, emailing pictures and then more pictures (at their request)...etc.  My latest correspondence with them said that I should pick four different choices of backpack I would like from their website, and they'd decide which one they could send.  However, I had to cut a hole 3x5" in my backpack around the insignia and send a picture of that so that they'd know I couldn't use it again and it was being disposed of.  Below are the pictures of that.  Kind of a hard thing to do for someone who is basically thrifty.  I sure hope they send me a new one soon!

                      

                      

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Last week on Friday at the end of the day, I had a first grade class in for their usual library time.  I was reading frog stories to them for about a month now and using that topic to jump off into a very brief introduction to basic reference resources (You know--looking up "amphibian" in the dictionary and encyclopedia, etc.).  I wanted to show them something on the screen so I had them sit in a different part of the library than usual.  That meant I would be talking to them from behind their backs while using my computer to show them the library website.  On top of that, they had a substitute.  Well, after numerous attempts to get them quiet and focused, I sent them back to their classroom without getting books.  They were in shock and very remorseful.  About a half hour several representatives arrived back with a handful of apology notes.  Here is a little sampling: (I have a feeling the substitute put some key vocabulary words for their notes on the board for them to think about using.:)

"Ms. Garber, I am sorry for making bad choices.... Do you forgive me? I was derepestful."

            

"Dear Mis garbre, I am sorry because I made shado bunny pupets (in the light of the projector--always a huge temptation when using the projector!). I put my hed down (back in the class on his desk)." The happy gift of this one is
that I may "smell" the spot where this student
used a fragrant marker! (Though I was a little nervous to "smell" at first.  
What if it were a bad trick?!)

                  

This one speaks nicely for itself, including the self-lined paper.

                   

Abdullah wanted to fill the paper so included, "Sooorry!!! Sorry Sorry!!! SORRY."
However, I think he did do a nice job!

                   

This was one of my favorites from Bethany:  "miSS Gardir, I'm sorry I did not mean to tak. library is my favearite subact and that is wie I'm riting tise latter I'm going to not tak nast class.  I'm goin to tell my parins and sit in timaot.  Sinserale Bethany

               

We have a school-wide postal system called Wee Deliver.  Students are encouraged to write to fellow students or staff, put it in the post office box in the lobby, and then once a week a team of students distribute the mail.  It all has to be addressed correctly to the classroom and with a return address and stamp (drawn or any sticker) or it is returned to sender.
So this is what I created and sent back to the first grade class.
I hope they liked and understood mine as much as I liked and cherished theirs. :)