New Blog: Bilingual Ed

For anyone interested in issues of bilingual education, I've started a new blog about my school's upcoming launch of two-way immersion: http://two-way-launch.blogspot.com/

5K Here I Come

I decided yesterday that it was time to "ponerme las pilas" (literally: put the batteries in me; in other words: get fired up, get energized, recommit, etc) and really get active again. So...I created a VERY transitional 10 week plan that should take me from my current all-but-completely-sedentary state to running a 5K--something I did periodically in college but something I haven't done in at least 2 years. For the most part I've really done a better job with my eating since spring break, but you can only go so far with food while still sitting on the couch. Less computer, more exercise!

I was showing my plan to Sergio and told him I wanted to sign up for an August 29th run here in Mission, and he said he wanted to do it too, which only makes me that much more excited! We've got a lot to do before August 29th!

Vacation Exhilaration & July 4th Musings

I went to bed last night with the exciting feeling that I still have an entire week of vacation ahead of me. It's been a wonderfully relaxing holiday so far. I've pampered myself here and there with a manicure, pedicure, and highlights/haircut. I've got several massage gift certificates yet to redeem--will do that Wednesday or Thursday. Serg and I took Michael for his first beach outing--priceless!




We'll be taking him again as we spend the July 4th weekend back at South Padre Island; Sergio's mom was able to rent a beachfront condo from a friend for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Total relaxation!!

It will take me back to our 4th of July celebrations with Grandma and Grandpa Dolman at the beach house on Rincon--celebrations and traditions that turned July 4th into my all-time favorite holiday (yup, it even beat Christmas!) and left me with unforgettable family memories and a deep and sincere love for my country. It's exhilirating to feel such passion for my country and to manifest it through (among many ways) the traditional red-white-and-blue, John-Phillips-Sousa, hat-off-for-The-Star-Spangled-Banner outward shows of patriotism. It 's something that's often equated with what many of my peers consider "unenlightened," didactic, and religious-right conservatism, and their tendency to steer clear of traditional manifestations of American patriotism has given me the chance to think carefully through these traditions and decide what I do or don't want to pass on to my own children. I've concluded that what I feel is a very real patriotism that I've never found incompatible with my political positions regardless of how far right or left I lean on any issue. Nor have I ever struggled to reconcile it with my Australian-American dual citizenship. Getting chills as I listen to the national anthem, insisting that we begin every day at school with the pledge of allegiance, sporting red, white and blue clothing every July 4th, attending patriotic breakfasts and parades, raising the flag in the morning and folding it carefully after retiring it before sundown...all surface-level manifestations of a much deeper love for a country I firmly believe was founded on inspired principles by very imperfect but visionary men. Is it a perfect union? Not even close. Is it a more perfect union than it was 50, 100, 250 years ago? I like to think so. Is there much in terms of policy and politics that I disagree with? Absolutely. However, that's what I feel like I'm celebrating with my outward patriotic displays--the fact that I live in a country where so much happens that I do disagree with, yet I remain consistently inspired by the fact that I and my opponents on issues can argue, debate, demonstrate, and disagree to our heart's content. I hope those who consider such outward shows of patriotism to be ignorant or out-of-style will realize that they don't represent a platform or right/left position but are displays of loyalty and hope for a country that, in spite of its rough and rocky history, has produced visionary men and women each generation who had the courage and freedom to effect deep societal and political change, pushing our nation--ever so slowly but surely--toward fulfilling the ideals that were once simply words on paper.

I'm not your typical straight-ticket democrat or republican...I think less and less of my generation are. I get annoyed with people who try to define me or put me in an ideological box, because it's an outdated framework. Let me lean a little to the left while I simultaneously raise my American flag with pride, sing God Bless America with gusto, and work hard to be a devout and sincere Mormon. I will praise the current administration's stand on education and criticize what I consider complete inaction in the international arena. Some things are black and white in my world, others are not. No matter what, don't underestimate the importance of what happened 233 years ago this Saturday and don't be fooled by those who would have you believe that being proud to be American is backward, ignorant, or out of date.

Recent Pics

I realized I've been posting all sorts of random thought and events, but without pics of my bub!  Milestones reached during the past month (or so)...

* Crawls at breakneck speed

* Pulls himself up to a standing position

* Takes steps to move around furniture (as look as he's holding on with at least one hand)

* Climbs over anything and everything he possibly can (thank goodness no attempts to climb out of the crib have been made yet)

* Claps his hands

* Tries to wave when we wave to him...concentrates ever so hard, wiggles his hand ever so slightly and then finally claps instead of wave

* Weighs in at a little over 22 pounds

Home Sweet Home

We're in!  We've been packing and transporting boxes to our new house for a good week now and can now officially say that we're out of the apartment and into the house!  Once again, Chapa's Moving Service made the process of moving all the "big stuff" relatively smooth and painless (and all at only $40/hr!!) though I should probably add that I was at work all day Thursday as Serg guided the movers--he may not say "smooth and painless" quite as enthusiastically as I did.  Regardless, we're in and are now in the middle of phase 2: unpacking.  Every day consists of at least 10 "have-you-seen?"s or "where-the-#$@-is-the...??".  Unfortunately, I've had hardly any time to unpack with all the end-of-year craziness going on at school.  We'll get there...

Our new house is a pretty simple and unassuming little place and still needs a ton of landscaping work to spruce up the outside, but the inside is fantastic.  3 bedrooms and a study, 2 bathrooms, laundry, garage, and a nice spacious kitchen, the layout is great.  We finally have a real pantry with nice wide shelves and a kitchen you can fit more than 2 people in at once.  The only problem we've encountered so far is discovering that the bedroom doorways aren't wide enough to move Michael's crib through.  We've tried every possible position but there is no way that thing is getting into his bedroom without first dismantling it completely.  For right now the crib is sitting in the study until Serg gets the courage to take it apart and (hopefully) put it back together again in the room.  Until then, it's pack-n-play living for the baby....sorry bud!

The yard is a good size but desperately needs some work.  Within the next month or two we plan to completely till everything and plant new seed, hopefully in time to have a nice little lawn in place before Michael's 1st b-day bash in mid-August.  Serg is already planning the menu for a big BBQ get-together for friends and family, but first we gotta have a place to grill and eat outside!

We've got lots of great memories in our cute little apartment on Colorado St, but we're more than ready to make some new ones in our new place!

[pictures to come!!]

Goodbye Baby Weight, Update II

I've now hit the 30 lb mark--lots more to go, but it's gratifying to see weight coming off in spite of my insane work schedule right now.  I'm gearing up for a much more intensive summer work-out regimen, as I've got to stop losing fat AND muscle weight.  Poco a poquito!

Redemption

Some of the most intimate and powerful dialogues I have with my Heavenly Father take place while I'm driving...it's quiet, I'm alone, and my heart and mind are constantly reflecting on things I don't have a chance to think about or feel when I'm surrounded by people and noise.  Today I felt the renewal of strength that comes with redemption.  I thought about what redemption really means--deliverance, rescue salvation, atonement, advocacy, freedom--and felt a rush of faith as I thought through the examples of redemption from my life, especially the ones that have blessed and, very literally, saved my marriage and family.  Every so often I stand back in awe at the miracle the Savior has worked with me and my family...today was one of those moments.  I remembered a time when, desperate for hope, desperate for redemption, I read the words of President Howard W. Hunter:  "Whatever Jesus lays his hands upon lives.  If Jesus lays his hands upon a marriage, it lives.  If he is allowed to lay his hands on the family, it lives." (Ensign, Nov 1979, p.65)   I remembered the first time I'd dropped to my knees and pleaded with God that His Son find a way to lay His hands on me, on my marriage, on my family, and I remembered the months that followed--many months--where it seemed that this redemption was not to be.  These months were heartbreaking and even hellish, but I learned to trust that my will is and must be subject to God's and that, paradoxically, submission to Him is the water that grows unshakeable personal strength.  I learned that no one and nothing can be saved that doesn't want to be (nor should it) and that redemption was something that must be both granted and accepted.  I learned, as Elder Maxwell once testified, that the Savior's redemptiveness is relentless, something I would not have learned without those long difficult months of wondering and searching and trusting.  I remembered the first time I knew--I mean really knew--that even though I didn't know where life would take me, I knew it would be OK, I would be OK.  That realization would never have come without my life having been pulled out from beneath my feet a few years ago, without having tumbled to my knees, without wondering if I'd ever stand again.  Then I learned what relentless redemptiveness really means.  It's being picked up and brushed off  in the middle of the uncertainty.  It's having Jesus walk you across the water as the winds get wilder and the waves more menacing.  It's knowing you'll be OK even when that's the only thing you know.  It's being so completely dependent on something bigger than yourself that you are quite literally filled with power and hope every time you fall to your knees in prayer and every time you search for answers in the scriptures.

All of this flew through my mind and filled my soul in the minute or two spent sitting at the stoplight on Shary Rd and 495.  The green light (and horn honking behind me) snapped me back into action and I turned left onto 495 and then right to pull up to Michael's daycare.  I rushed in and hugged my beautiful little boy, more grateful than ever for this very real and eternal evidence of the redemption of our family.