Being positive

At the age of sixteen I find that my daughter is a much stronger teenager
than I was at her age in many areas,
everyday I am more and more profoundly amazed by her.

she uses her creativity in many ways and her favorite is to make collages or
take photos from different sources and then find quotes that she likes to
go with the photo.

recently she redecorated her room
and took her favorite photos from magazines and placed quotes she liked. I tell her it is the wall of empowerment. I really love the above photo, she sees things so greatly and feels the passion. she has told me over and over how she knows the Lord will lead her to the right guy in her life when the time is right, and watching her friends that are dating and the struggles they go through seems to impact her. She is a much stronger young lady than I was at her age. She is a normal teenager with some of the same struggles in life but yet her faith keeps her grounded and sustained
In her room she also has a dry erase board where she writes a daily quote and has her friends write positive things she calls that her "Truth Box"

she awakens the feelings that over the years I simply have misplaced in my self and to be honest it is such a good feeling to be embracing those feelings again.

( thanks for all your prayers regarding her school- God has answered and she
will be returning in Aug)

Croces

One of my favorite folk singers was Jim Croce, I have always loved his music and
even in my husbands family there is a rule that applied to son's and daughter's it now really applies to the grandchildren that when they get married the rule is they must dance to " Time in a bottle" with the grandparents. It is a joy to see, 3 years ago at the oldest granddaughters wedding watching her dance with my husbands parents to that song was simply breathtaking.

Jim Croce's widow Ingrid opened a restaurant and Jazz bar in what is known as the Gas lamp district ( downtown) San Diego. my son( being the fan that he is)has always wanted to go there and have dinner and listen to the music. of course we have not had the chance to have dinner there, but while my hubby and I were on our mini trip we went in had a drink and bought my son a T-shirt . It was such a joy there are photos and albums of Jim Croce all over the bar wall and I am sure in the restaurant as well. the atmosphere was great.

when we returned home and gave our son the T shirt he immediately asked if we ate there ( no, I replied because this is something we are going to do together!( we are planning a trip so we can do this sometime in the coming year)

I am amazed at the variety of music my son and daughter love, I kind of influenced my son while
I was pregnant he grew up listening to Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin and many more
and though he has a variety of music interest he still enjoys the classics! so much so that before there were Ipod's he would take our CD's and keep them for a very long time. we do have it loaded in our ipod as well but now and then it's fun to take the cd out and play.
goes to show classics will always live on.

Orientation

On Tuesday myself and Hubby and Our Son attended orientation at UC Santa Cruz it was interesting to say the least. we had to be there by 8:00 am and then they sat all the students and parents outside where it was very chilly and had a continental breakfast, had some speakers welcome us. as we checked in we were handed recycled cotton tote bags that were created by the environmental studies classes at the campus and we were handed schedules the students had a blue schedule the parents had a yellow. after the welcome speeches were given the students went one way for the day and the parents the other. well the parents and students were split by what colleges(dorms) their student will be living in. we are in Merrill which is high on the mtn!
while on the shuttle all the parents were talking with each other do you have a son or daughter coming here? where are you from? I chatted with some real nice folks one from New York, and others from Southern Ca. we arrived at the dorm area and met the people in charge there had a question and answer session and toured a dorm. the sun came out the weather was warm and beautiful, then back to were we started for lunch with our college students then they were on their own again, parents attended a information booth fair needless to say between myself and husband we gathered many ink pens, pencils etc!

The students had enrolled for classes taken placement tests if needed ( ours did not need to!)

I can honestly say this is going to be a very interesting and exciting year for all of us.
my son bought us a gift we both got UC Santa Cruz Sweat shirts mine says Mom and hubby's of course says Dad!

The Old Sagus Cafe

On our way home from our little get away my hubby wanted to drive through his home town so we did and
he stopped at " The Old Sagus Cafe"
this cafe is historical it was established in 1887 has been open 24 hrs since 1938 has served many celebrities who have done so many western movies
while we ate lunch in this cafe I saw autographed photos of William S Hart,
John Wayne, Sam Elliot, and many many more.
This cafe is the oldest operating restaurant in Los Angeles County. I found it funny that my hubby and his family never ate there. so it was a first for both of us and have to say it was very inexpensive and the food was good and the staff was just plain nice folk which in this day in age can be rare.
if you are ever in the area I recommend giving it a try.

beautiful

" Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful we must carry it within us or we will find it not"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anticipation

Do you remember the Heinz Ketchup Commercial that played the Carly Simon tune Anticipation? the line went Anticipation is keeping me waiting!
well, this week that is how I am feeling! This is my last week of work before I start my vacation for a few weeks, and I am so looking forward to it. don't get me wrong I love my job. in a few weeks I will have been there for a year. but I really need some down time. and since my daughter is on her vacation and my son is busy working till he leaves for college, my husband and I are going to take a few days
and get a way! so we are leaving Fri afternoon and of course will be back in time for our daughters return.

aside from the days away I hope to do some fun things that I have not had a chance to do in quite a while. I have a few Dr appts. and one day I have a day at UC Santa Cruz( parent orientation ) then I hope to spend some quality time with
family and friends

so yes Anticipation is keeping me waiting at least for 1 more day I'm not sure where we are headed for our few days away but I will blog upon my return!

Left on a Jet Plane

Today, I took the day off of work so that my husband and I could take our only daughter to the airport and we watched her take her first airplane ride with her friend they are going to visit another friend for a week in Texas. we are kind of nervous about it but this was her birthday present from last month that she truly wanted. I know once I get the call that she and her friend arrived safely I will feel better, until then I am a bundle of nerves! Her dad gave her a great deal of safety information that I hope she paid attention to I know in my heart that she did.
Last night I was up till midnight helping her pack one suitcase! she was trying to pack her whole closet! so we took everything out and I made her eliminate quite a bit of the extra stuff she would not need. making sure she knew how to repack this for when she comes back home on the 15th! I know during this week she will have fun they have it all planned out, amusement parks etc! and the friend she is staying with will take great care of her.

At 16 my daughter is so full of life and brave about so many things that I was not at her age
I am proud of her for that. she has and is growing into such a beautiful young woman, Last January she had given up her scholarship from a private Christian school to go back to public high school because she felt the need to Evangelize and hope to bring the Lord to someone
bless her she did she brought the Lord to this young teenage man and not only did he become apart of youth groups but he accepted the Lord and also got baptized and he thanked her for
bringing something to him that he knew he needed but did not know how to get there. He has since given up the old friends and feels like he has a church family with my daughter and her
group of Christian friends. My daughter feels that she did what she was set out to do and now
she feels the need to return to her Christian School. we are hoping that the Lord will help us and provide the means so that she may get another scholarship and return.

It's never to late

" It's never to late to have a happy childhood"

Shari Lewis