Smiling Mom

Dear Grandma Bryan,

So writing this letter is pretty hard for me to do. Not because I don’t have fond memories, I do!  But because I fear that I won’t be able to tell you eloquently enough just how much I love you and how grateful I am for the life I’ve had.

I have lived a very blessed life.  A life filled with love, learning and acceptance.  I have grown up with the benefit of having a two-parent household.  And, amazingly enough, my parents have loved each other throughout the good and bad times.  How lucky am I to have had this experience?

My mom is an amazing woman, a woman you reared.  A woman who you single-handedly raised to be an adult.  For this I am eternally grateful.  When I look at you and your life, I see a woman who was forced into a life where you were required to become a single parent well before your time.  You worked hard and raised three beautiful children who were, essentially, the same age.  I can’t even imagine!  But you did it!  You did it all while working full time, paying a mortgage, and providing your children with the things they wanted and needed.  I admire you so much for this.  It must have been such a challenge at times to keep it all together.

I have vivid memories of Christmas Eve at your house from years ago.  I remember all the cousins getting together to open presents, eat dinner, and play.  (I always wanted to eat at the bar! But usually had to sit at the kid’s table) We use to have so much fun.  I know this was a wonderful time in your memory as well, having your house filled with the sounds of laughter and family.  One memory in particular that I have is when I received a huge Barbie head for a gift.  This head was equipped with lots of makeup, a girls dream!  So instead of the intended use, Barbie, I decided to make up myself, my clothes, the carpet, my cousins and just about anything I could find.  Needless to say, the makeup disappeared from my Barbie head by the next morning.

Each Christmas Eve as we drove home, I remember watching the moon in the sky and searching for Santa’s sleigh.  These are memories that I cherish each Christmas.

I also remember many days spent with you picking blackberries, peaches, and oranges.  I loved playing on your jungle gym in the backyard and playing hide and seek with Jeff, Shauna, and Kathlyn.

But now, as I write you this letter, I’m holding my daughter, Ella, in my arms and realizing that it is because of you and the family you’ve created, that I am blessed with the life I have.

You have worked hard, so hard.  You’ve lived a life filled with family, The Heavenly Father, and friends.  You’ve created many knick-knacks to remember you by.  Both my children have a blanket, made by you.  And each holiday I take out my decorations, the porcelain Christmas tree, Halloween cat and hat, Easter bunnies, and think of you.

And when I speak my daughter’s name, Ella, I am reminded of my history, your mother, you.

Writing this letter is extremely hard.  Time is never enough.  I don’t feel like I’ve had enough time with you, and neither have my children.  You, likewise, didn’t have enough time with Grandpa Bryan.  But you will!  You are about to embark on a whole new journey one filled with eternal love and happiness.  For you, I’m excited.  But for me, selfishly, I feel sad as our time together begins to come to an end.

I love you Grandma.  I love you.

And I thank you so much for the life I’ve had.  I have been so blessed.

With my love,
Nanette

My dad is currently an elementary school principal and has been an educator for more than 20 years, and in one month is retiring.

Jeff King has spent the last couple years as a co-principal of an Los Penasquitos Elementary School. He’s reinvented himself numerous times over his past twenty-something years in the business. He started as a 2nd grade teacher, spent time doing administrative work in the district office, as a middle-school math teacher, then a middle school vice principal, elementary school principal, high school principal, and finally is finishing up his years as an elementary school principal yet again.

But more importantly my father has begun a revolution. It all started with a dream, and morphed into a reality.

His dream? He believed that all students could learn and be successful.

Revolutionary:
-adjective
1. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.

The day he became principal at Los Penasquitos Elementary School, he began a revolution. Over the past eleven years with the tireless effort of all Los Pen teachers, support staff, and their two principals, Jeff King and Damen Lopez, Los Pen went from a school that was “doing as well as could be expected” educating some of the poorest kids in the community; to a school who routinely out performs their other more affluent neighboring schools.

Revolutionary:
-adjective
2. radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc.: a revolutionary discovery.

Educating poor and underprivileged kids is my dad’s life work, his passion. I, as I’m sure many of his colleges, have gotten an earful on more than one occasion about why it is possible, important, even critical for all underprivileged children to be educated.

He along with Damen believed they had a message that must be shared with a larger population than just one elementary school. They believe that all children in low-income areas have the right to be educated and successful. As a result, Jeff and Damen started TurnAroundSchools, a company providing training for teachers based on the following principals:

* All children, even those who live in poverty or who are learning English, can be academically successful and attend college.
* Public K-8 schools have to power to make that dream a reality.

Now my dad along with Damen is educating teachers, principals, and superintendents in masses so they can begin revolutions at their own schools.

Jeff King.

A man who can be quite impossible and rarely takes no for an answer.

A father, husband, educator.

A revolutionary.

-noun
1. a person who advocates or takes part in a revolution.

Since I cannot be there on Thursday to toast my dad at his retirement party, I’d like to say the following:

You are a man who has changed the lives of thousands of students and teachers. You believe in the unique ability of each individual you come across. Because of you and your leadership, many children who previously did not have a chance, do. Because of you, lives have been changed. Because of you, I am a better teacher. Because of you, this world is a better place.

The mark you leave on education is one of high expectations, a belief that all students can learn, hope, and success.

You have inspired teachers to greatness, and children to dream dreams they never believed they could. Because of you, we all are better.

As I’m sure your staff is, I am saddened to see you retire. But we know you have great things in store. We know that you’ve been called to make a difference in many more children’s lives.

You have begun a revolution.

And we are so proud.

***************************************

Now it’s your turn… do you know Jeff King? Is there a funny story that sticks out in your mind that you’d like to share? A thought or toast? Please leave a comment and I’ll make sure he reads each and every one. Thanks!

When I was a little girl my family went to Chuck E. Cheese. I must have been five or six years old. We had a blast! Chuck E. Cheese was a total treat. Funny how things change, huh? My two brothers and I each got a stack of tokens to use at will. It wasn’t every day that we were allowed to run around and play virtually any game we wanted.
Life was good!

I was down to my last 2 or 3 coins when my little brother, who would have been around three years old at the time, came up and asked for one of my tokens.

I told him no.

Then I got the look from my mom.

She told me to share. Boy was I mad as I handed over one of my last coveted tokens. I pouted, stomped my feet, and probably threw a fit. Sharing was for the birds!

Anyway, a few minutes later, I’d sunk into one of Chuck E. Cheeses dark under the stage hiding places where you could go, put a token into the wall and watch a mouse-filled movie.

I was hiding. And pouting. And for some reason, I happened to check the coin return slot. To my amazement, a token was sitting there ready for the taking.

A token. To replace the one I had to share with give to my brother. For me!!

And then I felt it.

I knew God had a hand in giving me that coin.

From that moment on in my life, I’ve whole-heartedly believed in God.

Funny, isn’t it? Something as silly as a token left in the return slot could make me believe in God. But it happened and now I look back on that moment from an adult perspective and laugh.

That moment was so real for my 5 year old self!

Flash forward to last week. As you might remember, I mentioned that we had a few house/car repairs that potentially was to cost us lots of money in a very short period of time. Remember?

Ya, that was a stressful week. And to top it off, Hubby just found a leak-turned into a crack in a pipe- in the main water pipe of our house. Apparently it shouldn’t cost too much to fix, but added onto the other repairs, it’s a lot of money.

So anyway, I’ve been a little stressed, which is always evident in my lack of blogging.

So a few days ago, I had another God Moment. My neighbor whom we share the replaced fence with knew we had a lot of financial hits in a small amount of time. So she encouraged us to give her smaller payments versus one large check for the cost of the fence. (Thank you sooo much!)

The Civic ended up needing a seat-belt sensor replaced, which was under warranty. Free!! (Thank you very much!!)

And, here’s the kicker, we received a $500 check in the mail for a previous repair that was made for to our Civic, which, funny enough, ended up being free of charge!

That $500 ended up paying for the water heater we had to replace.

Repairs that could have cost us upwards of $2500 ended up costing us just under $500.

Now I’m just crossing my fingers that the pipe replacement will be inexpensive too!

A God Moment.

It happened again!

_______________________________________________________

So here’s a question for you! Have you ever had one of these moments in your life, where it became quite clear to you that God had a hand in the event? If so share your experience in my comment section.

This morning has been the best morning OF MY LIFE!!*

After almost two weeks of sleep deprivation, cranky days, aggressive kids, exhausted parents, and children who fight about anything and everything, my kids did an amazing thing.

They slept in.  (collective sigh of relief please!)

Until 8:25!  My usual morning awakening happens first at 4:00, and with finality at 6:30.

Today, they slept until 8:25!!

BC woke up this morning with a glint in his eye, skip in his step and a song on his lips.  I think I even heard birds chirping outside!

OH and both my kids ate breakfast without any reminders.

Today’s going to be a great day!

*this may be a slight exaggeration. maybe, but not really, I think.