God Bless America

On my last day of teaching in June, a student came up to me after class and asked if he could speak to me alone.

This is not uncommon. Students always have questions about grades, the final exam, how to get their papers back, etc.
But this student's question had nothing to do with the class.

He asked me if I would be willing to sponsor him as he applied for citizenship in the United States. (He's from South America.)

You see, he has been sponsored by his in-laws who are from Chile, but are now US citizens; however, they are serving as Mormon mission presidents (mission leaders) in South America for the next three years--and since they will not be living in the country for those next three years, they can no longer serve as his sponsor.

If he does not find a sponsor, he will need to return to his homeland.

"Oh," I said, "Phew. That's all you need. I thought you wanted a grade-change." LOL!

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. (My humor doesn't always cross cultural boundaries. Apparently understatment isn't funny/popular in So. America.)

But my point!

As we spoke I asked Felipe [name changed] about living in his country, what it would mean to return to his country, and whether he had opportunities there, etc.

And that's when he said it: the words that just hit me square in the smacker:


"I want to live in America because people matter here. All people matter. Life matters here; it has value."

His words made me feel so small. I had forgotten that the life I live is unlike the life most people are offered/given here on Planet E.

Who am I to offer someone sponsorship in our country? Because I am pretty sure in the grand scheme of things, I am no more deserving of the opportunity than Felipe.

How strange: being born in America offers so many entitlements--entitlements others simply don't have.

It is such a blessing to live in the United States of America.

Gulp.

God Bless America.

(And God Bless my student Felipe, who deserves to have his life and talents nurtured by a country where you really do matter.)

A Few of My Favorite Things

One day when I was listening to The Sound of Music Soundtrack on XM Radio's "Broadway" station, I took the time to really listen to the lyrics in "My Favorite Things."

And it made me realize, ya know, some of the things in Maria's "favorites list" are definitely NOT my favorite things. (Cream colored ponies? Uh, no, they wouldn't make my list.)

So since that time, I've tried to stop and write down a few of my own favorite things every now and then (and post them here).

I haven't put my list to music yet, but one day. You wait.

Question of the Day: What are YOUR "Favorite Things?"

My new Jane Austen Action Figure--a bday gift from a friend. Is that the coolest thing ever?

Take that, GI Joe and Spiderman!

The GLEE, volume 3, CD. (I LOVE IT!) (And I love it even more because our kids pooled their own money and bought it as a surprise for me for my bday. THANK YOU!)

Thyme. I love the feel and smell of this plant. (Is it a plant, Janae? Can I call it that?)

Eclipse, the movie. (And how excited our kids were to see it. And yes, I let our older kids see it. I'll probably get a few cranky emails about that. But the way I see it, I'm teaching them to stay away from vampires and werewolves, supporting Mormon artists/Stephanie Meyer, AND buying myself 2:05 hours of ME-TIME.)

I'm nervous everytime someone slips or slides, but I love the slip 'n slide.

Sparklers and June weddings.

(PS: Can't wait for the 4th of July!)

What Are Your Sub-Topics?

I'm trying my best to expand the content on my blog--not because I have some crazy amount of traffic, but because I realize my blog is kind of part personal, part not-personal. And I'm just not sure how to combine "Happy Birthdays" to close friends and family WITH a recipe or a "Q & A on Fostering."

I'm realizing that my life isn't really contained to one subject (ME!).

No, I'm more like an onion: I got layers. (I'm like Shrek.)

One idea I had was to create a separate blog for journaling and family things and another for more "public matters."

But I really don't know that I can write on more than one blog each day. (Something about raising 6 kids tells me that's a lot to juggle.)

So for now, my plan is to kind of expand the blog by adding subtopic pages.

So here's my question of the day:

What would the subtopics on your BLOG be?

(It's deep stuff here, I tell ya.)

I'm struggling with that very question. It's hard to know what my life is really about. Being female? Yes. Being married? Yes. Mormon? Yes. Teaching? Yes. Adoption? Yes. Comedy? Yes. Staying positive? Yes. Yes. Yes!

But my life is also about laundry and bread-making. Hmmm.

Anyway, we'll see how it all works.

And if it doesn't (work), I'll just go back to one main subject: ME without the layers (Oh, that's funny . . . to me.).

**********

And in case you're wondering, I'm still ironing out the kinks.

Perspective

When I turned ten I remember thinking that I was old.

No, really.

I vividly remember sitting on the steps leading from our house to our driveway--on the actual day of my 10th birthday--and thinking, "Most Olympic Athletes started learning/training for their sport before they were 10. And I'm 10."

I knew that very day that I would never be in the Olympics.

And honestly, that realization kind of crushed me.

It's funny. Flash forward 30 years . . .

I hardly recognize that crushed 10 year old.

How's that?

Well, I guess in 30 years of living, I've adopted two perspectives that have changed my life:

1. Nothing is impossible.
2. Everything is going to be okay, even if it's not okay. Okay?

You see, I don't really want to be an Olympic athlete (and I'm not really sure the ten year old ME wanted to either), but I fully believe that if someone had the goal of being in the Olympics, that's possible.

What's even more funny?

The 40 year old me believes even a 40 year old could achieve that Olympic dream.

(There are 40 year old atheletes at the Olympics, ya know. Sure, you may have to move to a remote country where the population is so small they don't have enough athelets to field all of the sports. Sure, you may have to learn archery or curling. BUT, it's possible.)

Yet, the 40 year old me also believes there are times when the effort it takes to achieve our goals is determined to be "too much."

In those times, the goal ends up not being so much about the end goal, but the process itself. (Deep, I know.)

And in those cases, the 40 year old me believes that the world, God, our families, and friends help us adapt our dreams/goals--or help us come to a place where we lose/accept the desire to have those goals.

And we move on to new goals/dreams.

So, in the end--or the beginning or the middle--

Everything's going to be okay,

even if it's not okay.

In fact, it's going to be fabulous.

Okay?

(Nod your head and say okay.)

(And finally, I apologize for speaking about myself in third person. It won't shouldn't happen again.)

SURPRISE!

No, we didn't adopt a baby (that's our friend's beautiful baby!) . . .

Dave threw me not ONE,

but TWO,

SURPRISE Birthday parties this weekend.

The first came Saturday when my brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, mom AND dad, suprised me by coming up from California. (They were literally hiding in a room and came walking in . . . which shocked me to no-end!)

The second came Sunday when I answered the door to find 40+ friends on our doorstep with a cake and potluck dishes in-hand ready to celebrate.

Is that too much?

(Yes.)

But that wasn't all.

Dave also made me a tribute slideshow with photos of me from babyhood up to now. It was really so kind and thoughtful. And so embarrassing. (Let's just say I have a lot of hair. And apparently I like to color it. Heaven forbid OK! Magazine ever does a "through the years" spread on my hair. Woo!)

Thank you Dave, our kids, mom, dad, Dane, Juany, Lil' Dane, Kate, and all of our friends!

You made me want to turn 40 twice!

Much love to each of you.

My heart is packed with smiles and love.

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

My parents got me a computer for my bday--which was really over-the-top kind and thoughtful. I was so excited. (My favorite part of this pix.: Jr. looks like "I don't think I'm as excited as you, mom.")

"Surprise" (See cute Morgan with the cake--THE 100lb cake, that is.)

Beautiful friends.

100lb Cake. (Thank you, Debi and Ken!)

Two of my favorite people ever.

Cousins.
(BTW: There were 4 Danes at this party. Is that possible? A Dane Convention ON the same day as my surprise party?)

Aunt Juany and the cousins.

Lorraine, Dave and my parents.

Gpa Austin (background), Josh, Rebecca, Taryn, Nicole and Ang.

We love Aunt Juany. (She braided our hair!)

Debi, my Oprah, and Dave.

P took this photo--and she's 7. Need to teach her about zoom. Anyway, it's Cam, Julie, Nicole, Whitt, Liz, our fav kiddos, and myself. (And no, I didn't get the lime green memo.)

Thanks for a beautiful day everyone.

Making a Life List

This week one of my absolute favorite people on the planet had a massive stroke. He's still holding on, but the future does seem uncertain (and, at this point, difficult to imagine). I'm sad. I'm sorry. I'm worried.

But, I'm grateful for his life.

And I'm thankful he's been an influence in my life.

So, in honor of Gpa Huck, I've decided to go ahead and create what Maggie Mason calls my "Life List--100+ Things To Do Before You Go."

Why? Because I think Gpa Huck has this kind of list laying around someone. He may not have written it down, but he has certainly done some incredible, inspiring, and exciting things with the time he's been granted here on Planet E.

And I think everyone should live a life like Gpa Huck's. (Love you Gpa Huck. You get out of that hospital now, you hear!)

PS: You should create a Life List, too. It doesn't matter whether you complete everything on the list, Ms. Mason says just the act of writing it down is life-changing. (While My Life List isn't fully written yet--see link on blog-- I think I have to agree with Ms. Mason: just writing some of my ideas down gave me an enthusiasm and excitement about life. I like it!)

EnJOY your day--wherever you may be.

Tiny Ninja Theatre

Did you know there's a theatre company that puts on complete productions of Shakespeare using tiny ninjas?

I think some people are so cool.

http://www.tinyninjatheater.com/