Short Cut

Tonight Annika was playing "Mommy and Kid" with Katia. She tells Katia, "Hurry up, you have to go to Art Class." She explains to me that Katia is going to art class while she goes to work.
Me: Oh, how long will you be at work?
A: 15 minutes.
Me: Oh, is that all? How long does it take you to get to work?
A: Umm, about 18 hours.
Me: 18 hours! I think you need to move! [We go on about this for awhile] 18 hours is a very long time to be in the car! That's over a day of driving!
A: Oh, it's okay, I take a short cut.

Join us in Helping Haiti

A Plan for Helping Haiti

Hello Everyone,

Zac posting here. I've been struggling with how to provide support to Haiti given the horrific toll the earthquake has taken. As you may know, I'm a planner, and I've felt we've struck a good balance between what we give and what we save. However, I've felt convicted on my own behalf, and on behalf of my family for not doing anything specific to assist those who have been devastated by this tragedy.

Here's our plan: We are going to give a material amount today to Compassion International to help the Haiti relief effort. However, we are considering this a loan that we will pay back. We'll do this by sacrificing things we would have otherwise purchased between now and June. Attached to my refrigerator is a piece of paper with the amount written at the top. Each time we find a way to save specifically with those in Haiti in mind, we'll write it down, and pay down the balance. When it shows zero, we are done. This will cause us to think and pray for the people of Haiti, and to move more in the direction of sacrificial giving. It also will provide a good teaching opportunity for our children.

Will you join us in this effort? The amount may be more or less for your family, but the principle can be the same. Give up some things for those in desperate need.

10 ideas on how to get there:

1. Tax Deduction-30% done right out of the gate.

2. Take lunches to work ($5/day savings).

3. Skip Starbucks for a month ($4/day)

4. Get competitive quotes on auto insurance. You'd be amazed how much this can save.

5. Call your cable/phone company and tell them you need to reduce your bill. See what options are out there. Or get rid of it for a few months.

6. Make your spouse a romantic dinner rather than going out on Valentine's day.

7. For your birthday, ask for money that will be used for Haiti.

8. Clip coupons for a weekend.

9. Drink tap water for a month rather than the bottled stuff (it's healthier anyway).

10. Cancel eating out 1x/week until the balance is gone.

I'm going to donate through http://www.compassion.com/, an organization we've supported for years who already actively supports 65,000 children in Haiti, has a local organization, has flown volunteers in from the Dominican Republic and is a good steward of funds. The red cross is obviously another great place to donate http://www.redcross.org/

Will you join us?

Zac

Halloween 2009

We had a full weekend of Halloween fun!

Thursday we got messy with pumpkins at our church playgroup.


Friday evening was the "Tots and Treats" carnival put on by our church. It was good old-fashioned fun! Annika chose to wear her butterfly costume again this year, and Katia got to wear Annika's hand-me-down angel costume.










Below: Annika and Katia waiting for the puppet show. Annika had a little speaking part that she performed beautifully. When Mother Mouse said, "Annika, have you seen my mice," Annika said with enthusiasm, "No, but I sure hope you find them!"


Saturday night began with a neighborhood Halloween party



. . . followed by trick-or-treating, a first for both girls!






Next year Annika would like to be a lady bug or a tarantula. Hmm.

Rainy Day

The girls were thrilled to stomp around in the rain this morning. Katia donned her new raincoat that I found at a garage sale and some warm boots that were Annika's. She needed a whole rain suit, though! She wanted to jump right into the flooded street gutters. We made a garbage bag poncho for Annika and she wore her purple rain boots (also from a garage sale). I will have to get us some more gear, because we'll have many more opportunities for puddle walks.

Hidden Villa Farm

Today we got to visit Hidden Villa Farm, a small organic farm about 15 minutes from our house. It was Homeschool Day, so there were lots of activities going on and a delicious lunch was included.

In the morning we helped harvest vegetables for the lunch salad. We got to sneak some bites of fresh tomatoes--delicious!





The rest of the lunch consisted of roasted tomato soup, homemade bread, roasted potatoes, watermelon, and apples--all prepared this morning by kids and workers. After lunch, we explored the rest of the farm and got to visit several animals.









Annika was fascinated by what these blacksmiths were doing. She wanted to stay and watch a lot longer than I wanted to.



The chickens were the biggest hit of the day. Katia could not stop waving her hands, panting and pointing at them! She did not want to get too close, though. Annika enjoyed feeding them and chasing them around.









A patient volunteer farmhand brought Annika and another boy into the henhouse to see the eggs. He taught them to enter quietly and said that only he could handle the eggs, but he gave in to their curiosity and let them each hold a warm egg.






Next to the chickens were the pigs. Katia did lots of pointing and gesturing at them, too.



Annika and the other kids were all keen to "feed" the pigs straw through the fence, until a farmhand came over to remind them that pigs have sharp teeth and don't see well.





These piglets were only 5 days old! They reminded me of little puppies.



I have a feeling there will be lots of pretending this week about picking vegetables, feeding animals, and maybe even blacksmithing. It was a day well spent.

Day Trip to Mt. Madonna

Yesterday we drove about an hour to visit Mt. Madonna county park where several families we know were camping. They are part of a homeschool support group that we have recently joined (as we are looking into homeschooling our girls), and we had a great time getting to know them better yesterday. The kids ran around in a pack all afternoon while the adults got to sit around and chat. One thing I have enjoyed with this group is seeing Annika interact with a variety of age groups. She especially tends to gravitate toward girls who are older than her. We see the same thing at our small church, where the Sunday School class is multi-age. On a day like yesterday, it's nice to have older kids around who can watch out for the younger ones.


The kids spent a lot of time in this "fort."


A fun craft: faces out of nature artifacts


A nature mobile





We dressed for a warm day based on the weather forecast, but the campground was almost entirely shaded, so we were all a bit chilly!

The group was generous enough to invite us to stay for dinner with them, so we enjoyed some hot dogs and hamburgers before heading home. Maybe next year we'll be ready to join in on the real deal--tent camping.

Seymour Marine Discovery Center

Last week the girls and I took a daytrip to visit the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz, where we met up with some new friends. It was a very enjoyable day, except for the traffic we encountered on the way home--two extra hours in the car! Still, I was glad we went. Here are a few of the things we got to do:





We saw a variety of ocean critters in tanks, and got to handle these critters.




We went on a tour of the marina, where we saw this full-sized whale skeleton. We also got to see some dolphins, but my hands were too busy with both girls to get pictures.


Annika holding a whale bone