"Sheriff Pete"

Sarah's Lament...

What does it feel like to send my child out into the world? It's like having my own heart walking around outside of my body, outside of my protection, exposed to the elements...whatever may come.

Kindergarten has been a learning curve for all of us. So far I have proven myself to be a little slow at this whole deal. For example, the Friday before the first Husker game every single soul in the school was wearing red...except Peter! How in the world am I supposed to know about the Friday spirit-day tradition? I faithfully read every word in the weekly newsletter so we don't miss a thing. Peter came home that day and said, "There sure were a lot of people wearing Huskers today. Even Mrs. Jaworski [his teacher] was wearing red." He notices, and he cares about fitting in. I spent the next week shopping for Huskers shirts in every variety--short-sleeved in "Blackshirts" black and classic red, and a long-sleeved red one for cooler weather. I'll admit I went a little overboard, but my son will not go without Friday spirit again!

Rewind several weeks to our back-to-school shopping adventure. Here's the dilemma: Do we buy a character backpack (like Spiderman or Batman) or a more subdued, big-kid one? Surely these kindergartners are way too cool for "babyish" character gear now. We'll go with the safe, army-green camo number with cool reflector strips across the back pocket. Peter came shopping with me and chose it himself. He donned it with pride and looked like a big kid! And what did we find when we arrived the first day of school? We were surrounded by every character known to man: Spiderman, Batman, SpongeBob, Princesses, Dora, High School Musical...You name it, they're wearing it! Peter was one of the few with a "regular" backpack. He eventually took notice, but didn't seem to mind. The consolation? He really does like his backpack. And he told me he has the coolest lunchbox in his class--a Hot Wheels blue one. Whew! I guess it's all about mixing and matching.

So now we are learning. Read every newsletter, network with others to figure out the system, and watch out for Fridays. I think I can do this! Until this morning...

It's another Friday. Watch out for spirit day! The Millard newsletter declared today as "Dress Western Day" in celebration of River City Round-Up. All the kids and staff will dress up, and the cafeteria will serve a special BBQ meal for lunch. I was on top of this one! Peter definitely needed a good cowboy hat. I asked him earlier this week what kind he wanted, and he said, "I want one that's a 'real' one." I didn't know exactly what that means to him, but I thought I could take my best guess at the store. So I chose an authentic-looking black one with a leather strap on it. Then I saw the cheap-o straw one with a Sheriff star on it, and decided to buy that one too. Might as well have a choice, and then Clara can use the one he doesn't want. I also found this great Sheriff's badge--a gold star--that says, "Sheriff Pete" on it. Top it all off with a red bandanna and he looks like a classic! (Okay, so I'm getting a little crazy about this assignment too).

So this morning he got all dressed up (adorable!) and checked himself out in the mirror. He was excited to show his ensemble to his friends at school. John had the day off, so he walked Sheriff Pete to school (a rare occasion), and as they walked down the sidewalk together, Peter held his Dad's hand. What a precious sight! On their route to school they started noticing the other kids were not wearing cowboy hats. Maybe they just forgot or will put theirs on later? Peter still wanted to wear his. "It's cool," he said. When they got to the crosswalk near the school there were more kids without hats. This was looking more and more suspicious! John asked the crossing guard teacher if this was indeed Western Day, and she said, "We usually dress up, but they didn't announce it yesterday." Great! Peter still wanted to keep his outfit on, so he continued toward the school. As he began walking down the final hill, he turned around and looked back at his dad. John went down the hill to meet him and when he got there Peter sheepishly said, "Dad, I want to take it all off!" No one else was dressed up at all, and he wasn't going to be the rodeo clown today. Poor boy! John lovingly helped Peter tuck away his prized cowboy gear in his backpack, and sent him on his way. In one crushing scene our precious Sheriff Pete went from enthusiasm to embarrassment. Peter, please forgive me for imposing this embarrassment on you. I would never have intended for this to happen! I guess we all have a bit more of life to learn...

As for now, my heart aches just a little each day as I send and re-send Peter out into the world. And really, if this is the worst of the world through his eyes, then his life is pretty sweet after all. I'm learning a lot about my own insecurities as I strive to get kindergarten right. I'll count this as one more lesson learned--about myself as a mother.

And, by the way, we may or may not participate in the next Spirit Day. I guess it's not the most important thing after all.

Clara, A Woman of Character

Hi Everyone...This is Sarah, finally trying my hand at this new-fangled blogging!

I recently caught the end of a TV show featuring the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Clara was with me and sat beside me to watch the pretty girls dance. As they were getting ready to take the field for their preformance Clara said, "Ha, ha! Their underwears!" She had noticed those classic teensy-weensy white shorts and thought they looked like underwear. I immediately laughed and affirmed her observation....They are completely like undies (minus the chunky belt, of course)! She didn't miss a beat a few minutes later when they started to dance, "I see those bottom. They funny!" Again she noticed the immodest uniforms in action. I couldn't stop laughing! And then I thought about the lesson learned. I was thinking she would enjoy the pretty girls dancing, while all the while she was distracted by the girls dancing in their underwear with their bottoms showing! I can only imagine the vast affect these women have had on our culture and the "modesty" gague in so many families. I'm so sorry I even let her see it! I hope and pray that her fresh eyes of discernment will not become clouded over time...

Lesson #1 Do not watch the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Lesson #2 Consult Clara, a 2-year-old woman of character, when grappling with questions of modesty

An Interesting Solicitation

Warning: The views expressed in this blog may be considered inflammatory toward certain people groups. Reader discretion is advised.

I received a call from Lakeside Hospital yesterday evening. For those of you who do not know, Lakeside is the newest hospital in the Alegent health system and opened a couple of years ago. They pride themselves on being state of the art, and providing a “entirely new approach to health care”. The very nice woman on the other line started out by saying that this was not a billing call, or for any other emergency (thank the Lord), but wanted to talk about a campaign they were having. This in and of itself is not surprising, and I figured it was a wellness campaign of some sort. Well I was wrong. The very nice women proceeded to explain that the new hospital was going through some renovations to expand the rooms in its cardiac care unit, blah, blah, blah. She then asked me if I would be willing to support their cause and donate $50 per quarter for the next 3 years ($600 for those of you who don’t like math). This took me a little off guard, but I replied no. The very nice woman then asked for $25 per quarter, with the same answer. Finally the very nice woman asked if I would make a one time contribution. Same answer. This was about the time where I was getting ready to go off on the very nice lady, but then the very nice lady asked the perfect lead in question…Why? This was great. For those of you who don’t know there are three industries that leave a bad taste in my mouth: Health Care (sorry Katie), Insurance (specifically health, but sorry anyway Dave, Carey and Kate), and Law (sorry Dan). For those of you thinking Politics that is a close fourth, but hasn’t made my list yet. This is not to say that everyone involved in these industries are bad, I know that is not the case, but this is my chance as a blogger to write in broad strokes across subjects that I really don’t know all the intimate details. What I do know is that almost every time I have to deal with someone in these industries, I come away angry….not good. Back to the story, I proceed to tell the very nice lady that I think it is wrong that they are trying to solicit money from known patients and that the outrageous amounts of money that they charge people for using their facility should be enough to cover all of their expenses including the expansion of their own hospital….in so many words. Of course I did this all with God’s love in mind….well not really, but I wish I had. All of you know that I am a pretty calm person so you know that I didn’t go off on the very nice lady too much, but I was direct and the very nice lady understood my position when the conversation ended. We both wished each other a good night, and that was that.

By the way check out pictures from this labor day weekend here.

Labor Day/Family Olympics

This Labor Day weekend was a blast. We headed to North Platte to visit my family and stayed with my brother. We got a late start on Friday night because I had to attend a retirement party of a co-worker of mine. I felt bad for Sarah, she sat in a quiet car trying to let the kids sleep, and I was listening to Tony Kornheiser on my Ipod. Side note....I don't think there is anyone more entertaining to me that Tony. I could listen to that guy for hours without getting bored (or sleepy). Maybe I will blog on the T K man from DC town at a later date. Anyway, we got into town around 12:30 a.m., put the kids to bed and hit the hay ourselves. The next morning Sarah got a tour of their new home, I mowed the yard (about 3/4-1 acre) did basic party preparations, etc.... Sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it? Well it was, I like to keep busy, and it was a good time to hang out. Everyone showed up at about 1:00. We watched the first half of the Husker game on a fuzzy channel (which was okay, and kind of reminded me of times before we had cable....I am spoiled). At half time of the game we began the Family Olympics. There were four teams: My family, my brothers, my sisters, and my sister in laws parents and grandmother. There were a number of events and points for win place and show. Each family member had to sign up for different events up to a maximum of five. The games were: Horseshoes, Golf (chipping), Badminton, Bocce, Soccer, Old Maid, UNO, Hi Ho Cherry'O, Let's go Fishing, Scrabble, and team events of a relay and Paper Tower (build a tower as high as you can with 10 sheets of printer paper with no tape). It should go without saying that my family dominated! But that wasn't the fun part, and isn't what was important. You see, although it is fun to win, and fun to tease, it is even more fun to see the reaction of the rest of my family. I have a very competitive family, and times like these bring us closer together. We can talk and communicate much better when we are doing something than when we are doing nothing. I think that is why I get uncomfortable in social settings, because nothing is getting done. I am a doer and feel better doing. I suppose some would say that is no way to relate, and that you cannot get to deep issues that way. That is fine for them, but we can get to plenty of issues this way too. The MVP of the Olympics was Sarah. She won 4 of the 5 individual events that she entered. Peter did great getting a first place, a couple of seconds, and a third. And I didn't do too bad myself. We scored points in every event entered and took home the trophy. Yes there was a trophy and a trophy presentation with acceptance speech. I wish we could have video tapped it for you all. It was a great moment for my family and me. Peter loved the trophy and wanted to hold it. He almost didn't question that it was for Girls Basketball. We came home late Sunday night around 12:30 a.m. again. Monday was a resting day with the whole family taking good long naps. In all I couldn't have asked for a better long weekend.

Step Out and Serve

Wow....I guess it has been a while since the last post. A lot has happened in the last 2 plus weeks. On August 26th our church participated in an outreach called Step Out and Serve. This was a really cool event. About 20 churches in the area participated and did community services for various organizations. The group I was with did some work on the Turning Point campus. Turning Point serves as a base for many Christian Organizations in the Omaha area. Some of these include the Omaha Street School and Release Ministries. This campus was huge! It was located on the old Nebraska School for the Deaf and is absolutely gorgeous. On a side note, I think that North Omaha is a really pretty area. I love the huge trees and hills. I have always been drawn toward there....I think it probably has something to do with my Grandparents. Anyway, the size of the campus also provided a great opportunity to do a wide variety of tasks. I was lucky enough to get put on gutter duty. They were replacing the gutters on an older house on the property and the real expert needed some help, and my services were requested. This was interesting work. We did seamless gutters, and it was neat to see what goes into that type of project. I guess I didn't think of it, but there is a lot of little details that need to be observed to make sure the gutter will look good and work properly. I did okay with the work. My tin snip skill left a little to be desired, and that tool belt sure does cause you to sway a little more on the extension ladders. But I managed to hold my own. I think I will continue to count cars for the railroad though. Toward the end of the day we also cut down a huge tree on their property that was dying. I have never seen a clearer example of how many hands make light work as I did on that part of the project. I think it was because the job was pretty self-explanatory. Big tree gets cut down. The men with the chain saws cut big tree into little pieces. Other workers move little pieces into a pile. Clean up twigs. It didn't take a foreman or supervisor to get us whipped into shape and put on the straight and narrow. We had about ten guys, and from first cut to a stump left took about a half hour to 45 min. What I took away from the day the most was how God truly put it on the hearts of these people to serve. There were probably 45-60 people on campus, and maybe it was only the people I was with, but I didn't hear one complaint. We all served with joy and a greater purpose. That is much different than my day job.