Super-wanna be

SuperEric.  It's an accurate self-descriptor I learned from Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis.  Rob described a time in his life at Mars Hill when he was trying to be everything to everyone and it was burning him out.  When I read about his experience and heard his words of exhortation to "put down this book and kill your super-whatever inside of you," I realized that he had nailed me.  This has been me!  In college, at First Reformed, here in Philly.  I try to be SuperEric.  And it's stressful.  I tried to kill off SuperEric like he said.  I tried to do it.  But it's hard.  And it's only something that God can do--not something I can do by simply trying harder.

You see, I like to please people, so it's hard to say no to things or to delegate when it's something I could squeeze into my schedule.  Yet, saying no sometimes is healthy.  I believe this is a lesson I'll have to remind myself of time and time again, but for now--I'm going to do my best to be Eric.  Nothing special, nothing super...just growing, imperfect, little ole me.

In a seemingly unrelated event, our friend Sandy had our home group over to his house today for a citrus brunch.  We had a wonderful time consuming two crates of fresh oranges he ordered from Florida.  After we had eaten our fill, we got a tour of his apartment.  One of our favorite parts was when he showed us his deck, complete with a ladder to go up to the roof.  Here are a few pictures of Sarah and me, ironically portraying superheros as we attempt to save the world:

Superwoman/Superman

Spiderwoman/Spiderman

Ski trip!

Tonight, Sarah and I returned home from a ski trip to Killington Ski Resort in Vermont.  We drove up with four other friends from Jefferson--Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina.  The trip took about 6 hours. 

Going in, I wasn't too sure what to expect.  Sarah is the ski expert in our family, and this would be my third time skiing--and first in the last two years.  Plus we were going to stay with a family who has kids with basically built-in skis.  My main source of comfort was Will, who had never skied before. 

The slopes were gorgeous!  We had a beautiful day to ski.  My first few moments on the skis were less than flattering.  Thankfully, I had some great teachers in Sarah, Adina, and Michelle.  After some warm-ups on green circles, I moved onto blue squares...and eventually onto two black diamonds (note: I did not say double black diamonds...I did two separate runs on different, single-black diamond slopes).  I was so proud of myself!  Sarah said I looked far more comfortable on my skis than last time.  Both Krista and Adina had strong visual memories of how I skied last time (picture the Hunchback of Notre Dame on skis), and I was much more relaxed this time. 

Here's a picture of us on the top of Killington's slopes:

My friend Will and I played some NHL 2007 on Sunday morning while the rest of the crew went skiiing.  It reminded me how long it's been since I played "real" video games (Wii not included).  We had fun!  A bit later, Sarah and I hiked along a snowmobile trail that kept us looking for snowmobilers along the path. 

The rest of our time was spent playing bunches of games, eating, talking, eating, and giggling like middle schoolers during a sleep over (the six of us were in one room).  A wonderful way to spend President's Day weekend!

Valentine's Day at school

Spruce Hill doesn't have school tomorrow (teacher in-service day), which means that we celebrated Valentine's Day today!  Here are some pictures from our mini-party:



This weekend, Sarah and I are driving up to Vermont for a skiing weekend with Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina (Jefferson friends).  We're looking forward to the long weekend and outdoor adventures!!  I'll be sure to put pictures up after the fact.

Snow day!

The snow days gods have smiled on Spruce Hill this year.  After going all of last year without a snow day, we have had snow days on the last two Wednesdays!  This morning, I got a call at 5:19AM saying that school was cancelled.  Like last week, I had a hard time returning to sleep due to excitement and mental analysis of how I was going to shift our schedule around to compensate. 

There are few joys in life that rival those early morning calls announcing the cancellation of school.  However deep the inner child is hidden in one's adult life, it springs to life when that news is heard!

We had several inches of snow last night, with icy conditions.  Whenever we have a snow day, I immediately think of West Michigan and try to decide of this amount of snowfall would have canceled Holland Public Schools where my dad and sister work.  Gauging from my 3rd story window, I don't think this would have been a snow day in Holland...but I'll take what I can!  (Philly is certainly less able to cope with snow than Holland.  There isn't any space to begin with--especially when snow is added to the mix!)

Last week, Sarah and I had some friends over for Trivial Pursuit and speed Scrabble (our latest game addiction...similar to Facebook's Word Twist).  Home group was at our house, so we never ended up leaving our apartment the whole day!  I think we'll go for a walk or something today to enjoy the sunshine and quiet city.

A new era

Today marked a new era in American politics.  Voters elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.  While people around Philadelphia were--for the most part--extremely excited about this event, I know not all the country is not as thrilled.  But regardless of if people voted for Obama or against him, today was a historical event.  Part of me really wishes I had gone to DC last night to watch the Inauguration, but another part was glad I got to experience it with my students in West Philadelphia.

At 11AM, grades 3-8 walked down the street to the University of the Sciences building.  They let us use one of their lecture halls for the ceremonies.  After some sound issues, they got the technology working.  I have to say that I felt a little emotional as I looked around the room at 100+ African American students, so enthused and passionate about our country's new leader...one that finally looked like them.  I thought back to four years ago when I was teaching in the rural farming community of Hudsonville, Michigan, and how much deeper this meaning is for my students here in Philadelphia.  With the Phillies winning the World Series, the Eagles/Steelers making it to the conference championships, and Obama getting elected, this is a great time to be in Philly!

It's pretty cool that just yesterday we celebrated Martin Luther King day, and today we swore in our country's first black president.  As I showed my class MLK's I Have A Dream speech on Friday, I got choked up as I thought about Inauguration Day.  In a way, Martin Luther King's dream was fulfilled today at the same mall he shared it with the world.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

One of the tough parts of Christmas break for me was the organization of my old room at my parents' house.  They had several boxes of stuff just taking up space in there.  As a teacher and self-proclaimed pack rat, I have a hard time throwing anything away.  My motto is, "you never know when you'll need it again!"  Fortunately, God paired me with a spouse who is good as speaking truth into situations such as these.  Sarah was a champ at helping me cleanse my room from clutter with dignity and a sensitivity for my nostalgia.  For example, do I really need four pairs of old watches?  Old ticket stubs?  (granted, if I had kept all of them, I'd want them all.  However, I only have a few random ones) Trophies?  Now, I was able to talk Sarah into letting me keep a few trophies, but I had to throw away most of them.  As a kid, I remember being so proud of those trophies.  They were proof that even though I was homeschooled, I could make it in the sporting arena. 

Probably the best trick Sarah brought with her into this process was to take pictures of objects with sacred value.  Here are a few of our snapshots:

In the end, we made a lot of progress.  It felt good to create more space in my room, even though it cost me a few memories.  Does this mean I'm actually growing up??

(For my non-Facebook friends, here's a link to some of the pictures we took over break.)

Food of the year, 2008

The last year or two, I've talked with Sarah about my "food of the year"--in other words, the food that I discovered I LOVED and consequently consumed mass quantities of during the calendar year.  In 2006, it was pita and hummus.  In 2007, it was guacamole.  This past year?  *cue drum roll*

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2008 was the year of smoothies. The original inspiration came from our friends Mike and Anna, who introduced us to easy smoothies with just frozen strawberries, a banana, and milk in a blender.  Other fruits/berries can be added to taste, but that simple concoction goes a long way!  So, congratulations to the smoothie, my official food of the year 2008!