Resurrection

Easter weekend was bittersweet for me. I was away from my family for the first time on the holiday, which wasn't super sad except that I missed seeing my dad sing in the Messiah. However, let's rewind to Good Friday.

Billy, Megan and I made our own Easter dinner Friday night which was lovely. We had a yummy little ham from Aldi, green bean casserole, and crescent rolls! It was simple but wonderful. After that, we headed downtown to 4th Presbyterian Church for a choral service. The service was a little disappointing i my opinion since it was a little opera-y for my tastes, and they didn't sing in English so it was hard to stay in the moment.

Anyway, after that, I headed up to Lincoln Square for a sleepover with cousin Hannah! We arose early the next morning and headed to Grant Park for the Bunny Rock 5k! Although I've been running for a while now, I was still nervous for the 5k since I hadn't worked my way up to running the whole distance on the treadmill. However, I proved myself wrong! I ran the whole distance and finished at a faster pace than what I was shooting for! It felt good to accomplish that. Special thanks to Hannah for running slowly with me- she's quite the runner (did the marathon in October) and probably could have run circles around me, but chose to stick with me :)

Here are some of our photos from the day:

They had a petting zoo :)

 If you're interested in some action shots from the race's photographer, click here.

I decided to go to 4th Pres again on Sunday. I thought it would be neat to experience Easter at that venue, being a big downtown church, and I also just wanted a more traditional worship on a holiday. (Can't have Easter without singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today"!). I arrived at 9am for the 9:30 service, and boy was I glad I came early! The line was already wrapping around to the sides of the building and when we were seated I was only about 4 rows from the back! That sanctuary, which is beautiful by the way, holds 1,000 people! It was a great service, but I did feel a little sad and awkward to be the only person I noticed that was flying solo that day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Presbyterian_Church_%28Chicago%29

http://my52wow.com/2011/01/28/52-weeks-of-worship-a-contemplative-mellow-way-to-worship-taize/

After the service I sat and people-watched outside for a little bit. I wanted to enjoy the outdoors, and it was fun to look at everyone dressed up for Easter. :)
I headed home and then Billy invited me to lunch with his aunt and uncle at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro, where Billy's cousin (their daughter) is the chef! They had a wonderful buffet with traditional Irish stuff like amazingly tender corned beef and super yummy bread pudding! They also had a build your own omelette station which I LOVED. Omelettes have been my new favorite thing for a few months now thanks to my weekly lunches with Linda. Just ask her, I order breakfast for lunch every chance I get! Anyway, it was nice to hang out with them for a while and eat some great food on Easter!

All in all, it was a pretty good Easter. I still would have liked to have gone home to be with family, but staying in Chicago enabled me to do some pretty unique stuff that I may never get the chance to do again.

Spring Break

Hoppy Easter everyone!

April has been a good month so far, full of ups and downs as always!

I had a birthday on the 9th, the big 2-3. Despite being sad about not being able to sing TSwift's 22 about myself, 23 is good too. I mean it was Michael Jordan's number so that's cool. Anyway, my birthday was pretty fun. We had a board meeting for Grace Seeds at TGI Friday's, which was pretty good. I think most people don't like board meetings, but I really like our meetings because they're small and intimate and everyone is friends! So that took most of the day, and then I was able to meet up with Chelsea! We had dinner and dessert (of course) at a cool place in Lincoln Park. It was a nice surprise to get to see her and share some good food, fellowship, and laughter with one of my dearest friends :) After that, I headed over to my small group gathering, which was nice too. Megan made me a cake and we shared it with the groupies which was another special memory.

Sorry I don't have any photos to share from my birthday! But anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for the birthday love too. Whether you wrote to me on Facebook, sent a letter, a text message, or said a prayer for me- I want you to know that I appreciate all of it. It was good to still feel the love up in Chicago :)

Also, It's SPRINGTIME! I planted some daffodil bulbs this fall (embarrassing to admit but I had never planted anything myself before!) and THEY CAME UP! Well, some of them. Ha. I planted some in pots that got knocked over by neighborhood hooligans, but oh well. Look at these little beauties! They even survived some snow we got last week!

I also planted some in front of the house, which haven't come up yet. I looked a little closer today and saw this, so maybe there's hope! Any bets?

So, last week was Spring Break for the kiddos in CPS (Chicago Public Schools). So that means no classroom time for me, but Build had 9-5 programming for them to go to. Tuesday I went with the peewee's (7-8 year olds) to see the Muppets! I was anticipating that they may be a little squirrelly during the show, but they would settle down eventually. My mental bar was set a little high. ha. They were pretty chatty/giggly/wiggly for the whole movie. I was already a little edgy for other reasons which I will get to, and was a little grouchy that day. Also my little friend Markell took an extra dose of attitude that morning which was fun to deal with. Long story short, it was a pretty frustrating day. I was drained.

Ok, so I was also a little sad to begin with on Tuesday. I've never been away from my family on Easter before, which was a little sad but not terrible. It only made me really sad because my dad was singing in the Messiah at Bethany College this year. (It's a big choral performance of Handel's Messiah, attracts well over 1,000 people each year. It's a big deal.) I was sad that I couldn't be there to watch him and support him after all of my performances that he's been to. It was also kind of a rough week for my family due to other things that I won't share with the world. I was just sad not to be with people that I care about when I know they're feeling blue.

Wednesday served as a good refuel day for me. Linda needed a day with her new computer, so I just did my own work from home which was great. I did my own thing for the day, met Megan at IHOP for dinner (yay birthday coupons!) and then went to small group. Then I came home and realized that Thursday was only a few hours away. I was totally dreading work. I don't know that I've ever dreaded a day at work more. Thankfully, Thursday was a lot better than I anticipated. Thanks to all of you who knew about it and prayed for me. Yeesh, I really needed an attitude adjustment going into that day. Anyway, we took the kids to a carnival (kind of like a conference too though with workshops and stuff).  Everything went surprisingly well! I even had some happy moments and feel like I gained some ground with one of our Spencer kids, Ronald.

Ronald is 10 years old, and a pretty good kid most of the time. He's got a little brother in first grade, and Ronald takes really good care of him. It's precious. Anyway, Ronald and I were in the same group so we spent a good amount of time together that day. He laughed at one of my comments when I wasn't even trying to be funny! It sounds stupid but it made me feel really good. During the morning workshop, the kids had a chance to talk about peer pressure. Ronald shared that he'd experienced that when someone wanted him to set a car on fire. He did the right thing and stood up to that person, who ultimately did the deed and was caught by the police. I was pretty proud of him for that!

Later, Ronald asked me to help him look for his little brother's glove. He'd lost it somewhere outside/in one of the giant inflatable bounce house things. Everybody else headed in for the talent show, so it was just me and Ronald looking for the silly glove. We found it in the grass, and then I challenged him to a race through the inflatable obstacle course because I hadn't got to go through it yet. I may be an "adult" but I still got game, ya'll. (DISCLAIMER: I realized that there was probably supposed to be a trained person supervising us buuut I was feeling rebellious. And I thought it would be a special secret for me and Ronald. Hear that? A SECRET! Shhhh! Don't tell anyone at Build!) We counted off, and dove into the thing, crawling over and under all sorts of things, running into stuff, and ultimately went down the slide into victory. At one point, we ran into each other and had a good laugh. Then, after I KICKED HIS BUTT, we joined everyone else at the talent show, grinning at our ornery awesomeness.

This is kind of like the  obstacle course we did. (found on Google)

That was just what I needed. I shared a special memory with Ronald, laughed with him, bonded with him. It reminded me of being at camp again, which is kind of how I started loving kids in the first place. It's amazing what an attitude adjustment, prayers, and a big inflatable obstacle course can do!

That sums up last week, next post will be up soon, about my Easter weekend!

Not in Vain

Hi, I'm back again as promised!

I have a lot of random thoughts to share with you tonight.

First of all, I read this after I posted about the trip to DC and thought it connected quite well.

"On this planet, we share an awareness of injustice because we have a deep, foundational sense that there ought to be justice. There is a standard that defines right and wrong, good and evil. We may differ on where that line is but we do not differ that there is a line."

 -Billy Sprague in Ice Cream as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe (Yes, that is the title of a rather thoughtful, delightful book about theology. My friend Chelsea knows me well!)

Then tonight I watched this video about how Wal-Mart should raise their wages since many of their employees are on food stamps. (it would cause an overall 1.4% in their prices to pay their employees like the video suggested) I really liked what the video said except for one thing but that's a whole different issue. If you would like to chat with me sometime about SNAP and other public assistance, I'd love to hear your opinions.

So, where to begin about life lately. I had a rough few weeks with my job at the school, but I'm back on the up-swing now. What carried me through that time? What made my feet walk toward that school on those days? Well, my pride was one thing. ha. The LORD, definitely. I couldn't get through a day, no, an hour, without Him! Encouragement from folks like you all, absolutely! And these quotes:

"If I have helped one person then my life shall not be in vain." 

 

I can't find the original source, but it's on a mural in North Lawndale (Chicago)

and

"Forgive me, most gracious Lord and Father, if this day I have done or said anything to increase the pain of this world. Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture, the hard and selfish deed, the failure to show sympathy and kindly help where I had the opportunity, but missed it; and enable me so to live that I may daily do something to lessen the tide of human sorrow, and add to the sum of human happiness."

-Prayer to Do Good (F.B. Meyer England, 1847-1929) (from my Lenten Daily Devotional through YouVersion)

That's what carries me through. As I walk out the door each morning, I know that my efforts will not be in vain if I can even help one person. And I have to say, Ms.D. is so appreciative and affirming to me that I know no matter what the day holds, I know that I can bring a smile to her face and somehow make her day as a teacher a little less crazy. (have you ever been in a room with over 30 second graders? you know what I mean.)

One reason why it was a little difficult at Spencer a few weeks ago: (Confession alert!) I let a 7-year-old hurt my feelings. It's pretty embarrassing but, alas, it is true. You remember Markell? He was the little guy who always gives his artwork to Ms. D. because it doesn't get appreciated at home. After hearing that, I tried to buddy up to him, take him under my wing, be a nice person who cared about him. It was all going very well until about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Basically he had a rough day, I had to discipline him, and then he got really mad at me and said mean things. "I hope Mr. Bonner fires you" (Mr. Bonner isn't even my boss but Markell tried to tell me that he was.) "You do too much, Ms. Clarissa. I don't like you." "I'm not coming to Build anymore because I don't like you." So, after school that day, I asked Megan to meet me at Dairy Queen for comfort food. Which she did :)

Things with Markell got better. I gave him space, but still said Hi to him and gave help when he asked for it. The next week he even hugged me and said "see you after school!"with a SMILE. Today he walked into class and gave me a hug, too. Then I saw him and another girl getting into a fight and went to investigate. They were shooting rubber bands at each other and then went at it with their fists. Anyway, Markell kept going after her with rubber bands and tried smuggling them into his pockets so I took him out for a time-out with another teacher. He said those same mean things to me, and tried to tell me that I didn't care about him. That's the only part that was really hurtful- I can put up with the attitude to an extent, but it really hurts me to think that these kids don't think I care about them. Anyway, I assured him that I did care about him and I know he can do better, which is why he was disciplined. That, and I care about the other kids enough to not want them to get rubber bands shot in their faces.

So, the battle with Markell today made me realize that he associates someone caring about him with letting him do whatever the heck he wants. He and his brother give me the impression that they are the bosses at home and they can walk all over their parents. So, Markell doesn't like me because I make him follow the rules. And I'm ok with that. He actually did come to after school today despite his threats not to. Not that his attitude changed at all, but that's his problem and not mine. I'm tired of his drama, so I'm not going to listen when he talks like a diva to me. But I will always smile at him and be there when he needs me, because that's what I'm here for. Booyah!

Marching On (corny but true)

Hey, sorry that I have been a major slacker in the blog department lately. I don't know about you all but March was a crazy busy month for me! I went out of state 3 weekends in a row- Skiing in Wisconsin with Chelsea and our friend Julia, Amy and Aaron's wedding (in Kansas), and then to a conference in Washington DC.Then, last weekend my old roomies Michelle and Kelsey came to visit!

Skiing was really fun. Wisconsin skiing is nothing like the Rockies but it was still pretty fun. Some of Julia's friends came with us too. Sunday we also went to New Glarus, a small town with a brewery (Spotted Cow, anyone?), and took at tour of their brewing facilities. and may or may not have taken a few samples, too ;) Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera :(

My sister got married March 15th near Sabetha, Kansas. It was so fun and refreshing to spend some time with family again. It was a really busy weekend and flew by so quickly. We had a reception in McPherson the night of the wedding that many old friends came to. It was really great to see so many familiar faces that day. It was very really cool to see how people came together and offered so much support to Amy and Aaron as they began married life. It was also really nice for me to see so many loving, familiar faces who offered me a lot of encouragement as well.  Sorry I don't have more legit pictures to share- I currently only have the few that I took with my camera plus a couple from Facebook.

Friday morning a bunch of us ventured out for some fun at a park near our hotel!

My niece Anna & cousin Jacob playing at a park near our hotel.

Dawwww :) Photo credit: Whitney Cathleen Photography

These cuties were fabulous flower girls!

Getting in some last minute hugs before everybody flew the coop on Sunday.

That Sunday I stopped to see my friend Shelby who had just completed her VERY LAST CHEMO TREATMENT!!!! so very proud of her for being so positive throughout the illness and never giving up! She has about a month of radiation treatments now, but the worst is definitely behind her.

Then I went home and had a good cry by Rosie's grave. It was sad to relive her death but felt good to be there and see where my dad lovingly laid her to rest. I'm tearing up again just writing about it.

Lexie

Rosie's view :) Dad picked a good spot

Then this the next weekend I was able to attend Ecumenical Advocacy Days in DC with my roommates and Krista. It was basically a conference/gathering of Christians to talk/learn about issues relating to peace. The 2 main issues we focus on were gun violence and military spending. It was very good for me to be immersed in this group of really passionate people and talk about these political issues although it was a little uncomfortable at times. I'm not a super active or passionate person when it comes to politics but this experience was pretty convicting for me that I would like to be more informed and involved in some of these issues.

The only thing I did not like about the conference was that all of the information was very one sided. All of the presenters and what felt like most all of the attendees had pretty liberal stances on these issues. That's great for them but I really value hearing all sides of an argument before I form a solid opinion. All of the liberal arguments were respectable and made pretty good sense to me but I would have liked to have heard some counter arguments. Or even better, a good OBJECTIVE description of the issues with pros and cons of each view!

So there were all sorts of workshops and such, which were pretty good. I went to one about wage standards in the US. It was pretty interesting- the minimum wage (currently $7.25) is well below the poverty line for a family of 3 (working full-time). There are some people working FOR THE GOVERNMENT in kitchens, etc in federal buildings who don't make minimum wage, let alone receive any benefits. Isn't that ridiculous? Disclaimer: All this information came from the workshop presenters. Perhaps there is a missing piece to the puzzle that can explain this discrepancy??? Anyone??

Anyway, the whole weekend was designed to gear up toward lobby day on Monday, when we all split up into our respective states and went to Capitol Hill to talk to our legislators. There were 6 or so of us from Kansas. Most of us were able to attend meetings with both reps from Senators Roberts and Moran and then we split up into our congressional districts to meet with our House Representatives. Unfortunately Sarah and I couldn't get an apppointment with Rep. Huelskamp's office but we left a handout.

The meetings were pretty interesting-- going with a group of liberals to present liberal ideas to elected officials (or their staffers) from a pretty conservative state. We went into the meetings knowing that we would receive some pushback (most of our reps have voted "100% pro-gun" and a lot of constituents support this) but it was interesting and valuable to hear about how we could reach some middle ground. We can all agree that gun violence is very real and very horrible. People have a right to feel safe. It's just a matter of how you go about achieving safety and peace.

Dinner banquet Sunday night
Photo credit: Sarah Ullom-Minnich

This awesome girl, Sarah, is from Moundridge and currently doing a year with Brethren Volunteer Service in Chicago! We met each other at church one day in Chicago (and became friends), and then I saw her unexpectedly at EAD! We were lobby day partners on Monday!

It was pretty empowering for me to walk around the National Mall and talk to legislators. I had always known that these people were elected to represent the people of Kansas, but had never really thought of them as MY representatives. So I really kind of do have a say in what happens in the government. HA!

View from our hotel!

Missed the cherry blossoms

All right, folks. That's all I've got for now, but stay tuned for another post on how life has been for me back in Chicago lately! As always, prayers and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated!