Packing for Portland

Woo hoo! Sarah just called to say she's coming home from the hospital. That means we're leaving in a few minutes for New Castle, PA where we'll spend the night and morning with the Gardners. Then, Michigan, Chicago, and finally...Portland! The land flowing with milk and honey. =)

Philly summer events

Mayor Nutter announced some more free summer activities in Philly. Just add this to the previous list I wrote about last month:

The Music Movement: A Phillywide Summer Concert Series
The City of Philadelphia will take the music to the people with a series of concerts in neighborhoods throughout the city being held every Thursday through July and August, beginning July 10th. The series will culminate on Monday, September 1st, at an ‘Old School Jam Session’ at the Mander Recreation Center, 33rd and Diamond, being headlined by The Sugarhill Gang.

All concerts are free and will start at approximately 6:30pm. They will go ahead rain or shine. Details of concert sites are below, artists will be confirmed at a later date.

Thursday, July 10 Kingsessing Recreation Center, 50th and Chester, Neo-Soul
Thursday, July 17 Shepard Recreation Center, 57th and Haverford, Gospel
Thursday, July 24 Capitolo Recreation Center, 9th and Federal, Alternative/Rock
Thursday, July 31 Cecil B. Moore Recreation Center, 22nd and Huntingdon, R&B/Hip Hop
Thursday, August 7 Cruz Recreation Center, 6th and Master, Salsa and Samba
Thursday, August 14 Simons Recreation Center, Walnut Lane and Woolston, Jazz & World Beat
Thursday, August 21 American Legion Recreation Center, Torresdale and Devereaux, Pop/Rock
Thursday, August 28 Myers Recreation Center, 58th and Kingsessing, Jazz & R&B
Monday, September 1 Mander Recreation Center, 33rd and Diamond, Old School Jam Session feat. Sugarhill Gang

City Hall Film Series (‘Movies Under Penn’)
The first ever City Hall film series will run every other Friday night in July and August in the City Hall courtyard. Films will begin at sundown, approximately 8:30pm, and vendors will be on site to sell popcorn, candy, pretzels and other refreshments. In the event of rain, no film will be shown.
Friday, July 11 Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Friday, July 25 Italian Job
Friday, August 15 Unbreakable
Friday, August 29 Invincible

I work part time with Craig

One of the things I've been doing to give myself a part time job and clean up the house is to sell some of Sarah and my extra/old things on Craigslist. This has been surprisingly fun for me! The mixture of business, sales, describing, marketing, and internet has been a great match for a new hobby. I sold Sarah's old computer, my old digital camera, my old mp3 player, and a few other items that we cluttering our apartment. In all my transactions, I've found my fellow Craigslisters to be very friendly and helpful--at least the ones who I've been able to meet in person. The ones who say they're coming and never do are either poor pranksters or incredibly noncommital people. Glad I'm not married to one of them!

One of the great blessings of having less space than usual is that it forces both of us to ask the question, "do we really need this?" We've answered that question negatively many times. Tonight I get to pack my suitcase for a month, and I'll get to answer that question some more.

Thoughts on the summer...so far

This summer hasn't been too hard on the old noggin yet. So far, I've been able to make my schedule every day and fill it with activities I want to do. Sounds great, but it's been hard for me to have a lack of structure. God is really teaching me how to relax and not go-go-go! After a year of getting engaged, planning a wedding, getting married, moving in with Sarah, teaching my first year of fifth grade at Spruce Hill, and being enrolled full time for my masters, I've had a lot on my plate! Part of what I'm feeling is a let down from the constant activity. I find that when I have opportunities like this in my life, it takes me some time to wind down before I begin feeling settled and relaxed. I'm not there yet.

Thursday, Sarah and I leave Philadelphia until August 1. We'll be in Michigan for the weekend (to celebrate our wedding with friends there as well as celebrate Rebecca and John's big day), then take off for Portland from there. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. We're going someplace completely new where we don't know anyone, living in someone's house, and have no set plans for the month. Yikes! Welcome to the West Coast, Eric. I think this will be good for me.

Babysitting the Bradfords

We are big fans of the Bradford family. Geoff and Susan did our premarital counseling with us. They have five boys, all of whom are less than 11 years old. We volunteered to babysit for them a few weeks back, and I never shared the pictures. Susan was at liberti's women's retreat, Geoff/Sam/Garrison were at a wedding, so that left us with Ezra, Clay, and Henry. We had a great time, as you can see by some of these pictures. They reminded me of when Jordan was young and had a similar set of armor. Click here to see all the pictures.

Summer vacation

Being a teacher in the summer is the best. Every time I think I'm taking advantage of the system by waking up late and not having an agenda for the day, I remind myself about the stress from the school year. Suddenly, any guilt or negative emotions disappear!

I've done a poor job of chronicling the new De Boer family's adventures during our first two months of marriage. I'll try to catch up a little this week--starting today.

Sarah and I are going to Portland, OR for the month of July. Yes, that's the other side of the country from where we are right now! We're pretty excited about it. Sarah will be at an esteemed hospital for family medicine, and I will finish up the last two online classes for my masters degree in reading. Our friend Kristen hooked us up with a family who will let us stay with them for the month so we don't have to do a frantic Craigslist housing search. We're going to Holland for our Holland wedding reception on Sat, June 28, staying for Rebecca and John's wedding, then driving to Chicago that night so we can make our early morning flight out of Midway Airport to Portland Sunday morning. Should be busy, but it'll be a blast!

Students Run Philly Style on TV

Here's a video clip of the program Sarah and I were involved in last year: http://video.nbc10.com/player/?id=255715