field trippin'

This week I declared a break from formal school work.  We have completed 9 weeks of curriculum (one quarter) and the kids and I are zombies.  I wanted to take some time to enjoy learning so this week we are taking a different approach.

Step one:  Hit the library.  No, not the San Miguel library, the one that's the size of my living room with all the same books that we have been reading for the past 3 years.  We went to the big city and checked out books and movies about things that interest the kids.  For Cameron, we found art, ballet and fashion design books.  For Jason, we found books about how stuff works and history.  Every morning this week we have spent a leisurely morning reading and enjoying our special interests.

Step two:  Get out of the house!  This is a big deal for me.  With the recent death and resurrection of our car I had spent WAY too much time cooped up in the house with my lovely children.  On Monday we went to Avila Valley Barn for some apple picking and today we strolled around the grounds of the San Miguel mission.

I think the kids and I need two kinds of field trips.  We need trips that are fun.  These trips like apple picking appear to be only for our enjoyment but they secretly open the kids eyes about where food comes from and how it takes a lot of work to get it from the orchard to their plate.  The second kind of trip we need is one that makes connections.  I need to express to my kids that the history in their books is real and actually happened.  We can walk the grounds of historic places and talk about so many things.  Today Jason and I discovered that the California mission system was developed during the late 1700's to early 1800's.  Our mission was founded in 1776, the same year that the boys back in Philadelphia were literally sweating out our country's founding documents.  We also made connections between the mission and the cathedral he had visited in Glasgow.  We call our mission a "poor man's cathedral".  It is the same design idea constructed with our local materials (clay and straw).

While Jason made a lot of connections today, I could see that Cameron was still in fact finding mode.  She was creeped out while we sat in the sanctuary and talked about the pictures on the walls.   She liked the idea of Bible stories in paintings so that illiterate people could understand, but she DID NOT like the all-seeing Eye of God staring down at her from the front of the sanctuary (picture a fluffy cloud with sunbeams bursting out from behind it--not bad, but then in the middle of the cloud is a gold triangle with a giant eyeball staring out into the room).  She also had a big problem with the musty smells of the buildings :)

Tomorrow and Friday we will have more adventures.  Until then we will enjoy our fresh homemade applesauce and plenty of good books!

living in the in between...

Yesterday Darren texted me and suggested I put up a new blog post, it had been a month since the last one.  All I could think was, where did this month go?  And then I got to thinking...

1.  We had a major yard sale.  Well, not as major as I would have liked, but as I told people : "This time, I'm selling stuff I actually use!"  If you've ever been to a yard sale you know exactly what I mean.  The early birds swipe anything resembling a good deal and all that's left for the folks who enjoy sleeping in a bit  are the castoffs of your garage or attic.  As soon as I decided to let go of a lot of my extra serving dishes, storage containers and kitchen stuff that I only use once in a while, this happened:


2.  We've been hosting friends and get-togethers like crazy!  Yeah.  I'm not really an impromptu kind of girl, but this past month we've had a lot of unexpected drop-in moments that have been quite fun.  It's a good learning experience for me in creativity and scouring the pantry for ways to make food and drink stretch.  Also, it's been humbling to be satisfied with a half-decorated house and a limited kitchen.  As if that weren't humbling enough:


3.  Hayden is potty-training.  Yes, this is a humbling experience for me.  Have you ever chased a 2  1/2 year old around, trying to convince her that dancing will not make the pee-pee feeling go away?  Have you ever showed up to home group with a froggy potty seat?  Have you ever just barely put your slip-covers back on after a fresh wash before company shows up at the door?  Ha, ha!  Maybe I just eliminated point #2!

She's doing a great job and I think she's finally got the hang of it.  Although, I'm not sure we are ready to end the M&M rewards!


4.  The Kia died and came back to life.  I know, stop right there:  we bought a Kia, therefore we should have expected a major mishap.  But honestly,  I don't think this was a coincidence.  We have been experiencing lots of bumps along the road to Scotland.  We are extremely grateful to all who have surrounded us with support as we went through this ordeal.


5.   Despite the earlier remarks about the kitchen stuff, I am really enjoying giving stuff away.  I just recently gave my desk to a friend.  My dining table is promised to another friend, my couch is claimed and I'd really like to give my treadmill to another friend.  As I look around my house I realize that the stuff we own is trivial.  I have a husband who loves me, healthy children and most importantly a great God who has called us all to pick up and go.   I'm so excited about the call that I could care less about the stuff in my house!


So that's what's up at the Rusco House.  I've heard that it's fall, but nobody gave San Miguel the message, so we continue to bake in our 90 degree weather.   We are preparing to drive to Colorado next month for some training.  The kids will have a break from school, but I'll probably be a dorky home school mom and make the road trip a learning experience anyway!  Hopefully, I'll blog about that journey :)

step by step...

Little things are happening here at the Rusco House.  This week, the kids received their passports in the mail.  Jason and Cameron had old passports from our trip to Uganda in 2007, but it was time to renew and get Hayden her first passport.  This process was not simple.  The first major hurdle was getting a picture of our girls.  Both girls have a crippling shyness issue when it comes to strangers taking their picture (I'm actually quite ok with that... there's a lot of creeps in the world!).  Darren found a passport photo app for his phone (insert Apple slogan here) and tried to get a good picture of the kids.  Jason agreed right away, look at the camera, don't smile, etc, but Hayden had a bit of difficulty.

 And then there was Cameron.  For a while now we had been impressed with Cameron's progress from turbulent toddler to fantastic five year old.  Unfortunatley, the girl hit a major setback.  This summer she has been in a phase where she refuses to have her picture taken, you may remember this:

Sweet, isn't it?  So we have a whole summer of shots like this and my stealth attempts to take pictures while the little darling is unaware of me.  And then it was time to take a passport photo.  She had a meltdown the magnitude of which we have not seen in these parts for nearly 2 years.
Epic.
Horrific.
Laughable.
Because honestly, wouldn't you laugh if your kid refused to have a picture taken?  Finally, in an eleventh hour attempt, Darren snagged THIS photo:

My little Lindsey Lohan.  I am one proud mama.  When she got her passport in the mail, I think Cameron was a little embarrassed at what she had done.  So for the next 5 years Cam will travel the world with this little number, let's all pray that she is in a better phase the next time around!

first day of school

I think many of you are expecting a glowing report of our first week of school.  Truth be told, it was tough.  We needed to get a jump on our school year because we will be gone for a month this fall and we'll be making a big move this winter.  We also finished our last school year 3 weeks ahead of the local schools so I figured it would be ok to start 3 weeks ahead again.  Our schooling only takes about 3 hours a day, from 9am to noon.  In that time we cover Bible, Math, Grammar, Reading, Science and History.  We do science experiments and also art projects, weekly.  The kids have lunch and then have a huge recess / P.E. time until dinner.  I think that the some of the best learning they can do is through imaginative play with their friends.

So why wasn't our week awesome?  I think that it is quite simply because no one likes to be told what to do.  I remember standing in front of 20 teenagers, trying to figure out why so many of them weren't interested in school.  I think the feeling is universal no matter what age or how you were brought up.  We all have this idea that our time is our own and we should not have to be somewhere we don't want to be.  We have this idea that we know what's best for ourselves and we could probably figure out how the world works if just left to our own devices.  Obviously we all struggle with selfishness, or more bluntly, sin.  And so, it must be acknowledged that my kids are selfish sinners, no different from any other kid.

But wait, there's hope!  I think one of the vital things that I often fail to put into my school year preparations is a lot of prayer.  I love to get the curriculum ready, to get binders and markers and pencils out, but I often forget to ask the Lord for help.  I think it's because I love school so much that I forget that my kids aren't exactly like me.  I forget that learning or rather, the love of learning is a quality gained over time.  And that is exactly why I home school.  I do it because I have the time and the love of learning, and most importantly I do it because I believe I am equipped to minister to their tender hearts.

I didn't mean for this blog post to turn into a confessional.  I guess it just needed to happen so that I could be held accountable for more than just the kids' proficiency in math.  I'm much better at waiting to start housework until after school and I've stopped running for a while until we get a good morning routine established (but I am craving a run right now!).   So here's to a better week, one with less tears and frustrations, and a week bathed in prayer.

books!

My home is currently run by a shipping container overlord. Let's just call him "Darren" for now. He roams the house looking for things to put in the next yard sale or sneak in the trash. Usually I am right by his side, suggesting things for him to sink his claws into. But one day I looked at my bookshelf. My stuffed to the gills, no room at the inn bookshelf... and also the underside of my bed, and perhaps a few corners of my closet. I saw my babies, er, I mean my books, and I had to start making some tough decisions.

It's easy to toss current trade paperbacks into the yard sale pile, they're quick money. But then you look at the stack of books from the Christian bookstore and you can trace the fads and feelings of the past 10 years in one glance. You sort the good from the bad and wonder if it's ethical to stick crummy books in a yard sale... buyer beware!

The hard part is deciding what to do with the classics. You sort the common from the obscure and wonder if anyone will pick up your copy of Confessions of an English Opium Eater (they make you read obscure stuff in college). Shakespeare, Austen, the Brontes, they're cheap, you can find plenty of copies of them in used bookstores everywhere. But what do you do with the books attached to memories? The good memories (our tattered copy of Seinlanguage, read and re-read until pages fell out) or the bad (I read Grapes of Wrath while nursing baby Jason. If I had read the last page first, I never would have picked up the book!).

I've bounced around the idea of going digital. Please let me know if you have a preference (Kindle, Nook, iPad). I'm not sure if I can give up the romance of the traditional book. I love to fold over corners to mark my spot, I write notes in the margins and I remember a summer read by the way water splashed from the kids in the pool crinkles the pages. A traditional book I can loan out to friends without worrying about getting it back (which I discovered has significantly reduced the number of books that I THOUGHT I had!).

While sorting through my stacks I picked up Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Genius. The first line: "Then there was the bad weather." The whole book is a travelogue, biography of ex-pats, an ode to French food, and an instruction manual for aspiring writers. The Sun Also Rises springs from conversations with Gertrude Stein as described in A Moveable Feast. The Lost Generation, everything you ever wanted to know about bull-fighting and Spain, beautifully captured in over 200 pages of dialogue. I love this guy but most people only think of The Old Man and the Sea, a high school student's worst nightmare. I think it may be because we are so impatient for him to hurry up and catch the fish, that we don't appreciate the struggle. I really wanted to name one of our kids Hadley, the name of his first wife, but Hayden was a nice compromise.

Another love of mine is Steinbeck. He's gritty and real and a local guy. I think East of Eden is my favorite. Again, in school you have to read The Red Pony or Of Mice and Men, but going beyond the required reading can be so rewarding, it's worth the effort.

It's hard to think of these gems left out on a yard sale table for people to pick through, so maybe a few favorites will find their way into the nooks and crannies of boxes and suitcases. Just don't tell Darren ;)

the classics

I am a decluttering queen. I used to be a devoted follower of The Flylady but I have since graduated to my own system of household management. I like to think that my system could be called "the-distract-your-kids-with-friends-or-video-games-or-both-at-the-same-time-and-clear-out-their-rooms system". It really works!

I must admit, however that there are some toys that you just cannot get rid of, no matter what! Yes, throw out the happy meal toys, the broken toys and the never used toys, but by all means, do not toss the classics!

For example, Thomas the Tank Engine. Just when I thought our days of track building were over, Hayden discovered Jason's stash and this happened:

It was just too cute. Big brother built an awesome track and little sister played happily. (Middle sister was a pest, but that is becoming her specialty so we went with it).

Another classic that will not get tossed soon is Jason giant tub of Legos. It won't get tossed on purpose, but I often find myself reminding the boy that if a stray piece gets sucked up in the vacuum, I can't be held responsible.

One thing that has surprised me is the beginning of the end for Perry, Cameron's beloved bear. He was left yesterday at a friend's house and she went to bed without him, without a second thought. Poor guy. He was once a treasured member of the family, now he seems to be on the outs. Maybe it's because his tail is falling off, or he's getting too ratty for her sophisticated tastes.

Hang in there Perry, I won't give up on you just yet :)

moving

Ugh. The word "moving" strikes me with dread. I think it's because we've done a lot of moving over the past 15 years. Last night we were discussing one of our latest topics: "is our stuff worth the cost of a shipping container?" So as we debated I found myself cleaning out my kitchen drawers with ruthless determination (as if that would solve the problem!). We don't have an answer to that question yet, all I know is the 19 scrapbooks that I have made are coming with us-- no doubt about it!

I thought it would be fun to look back on our many residences and maybe you could pitch in a memory too.

1. Newhall Avenue: Our first apartment! Darren picked this place without me, as he had to do it in advance while he was at school and I was 3 hours away at home. He did a great job. The first time I saw the place was when we arrived there after our honeymoon. We got in around midnight and spent the next 2 hours ripping open wedding presents, trying to find a set of sheets! The apartment had teal green appliances from the sixties and an electric wall heater in the bathroom that was our only source of heat (because we were too cheap to turn on the gas-- we figured So. Cal wouldn't get THAT cold in winter, right?).

2. Palomar Avenue: Ugh. This was a converted garage apartment in Atascadero. We lasted through our 6 month lease then got the heck outta there due to the crazy amount of black widows in that place. You would move too if a black widow dropped down from the ceiling and landed in your bed!

3. Santa Lucia: This was a nice spot to live. Darren could walk from here to his teaching job at NCCS. I think the funniest memory I have is the move to this place: we used Food 4 Less grocery bags instead of boxes, I guess that's all we had on hand to get us out of the black widow house fast! We stayed here about 3 years.

4. The School House aka "the fishbowl": This place was a toss up between pros and cons. On

the pro side, it was cheap and the walk to school was quick (we literally lived in a house that was surrounded by the school). On the con side, the place was cheap because Darren had to do security for ABC at night to offset the rent, and we were constantly asked by people to open gates for them on the weekends. This was Jason's first home, and as a result, that boy can sleep through anything because he was trained to sleep through all the noise of recess right outside his bedroom window!

5. Multnomah married student apartments: Again, pros and cons. The pro side included great friendships and an incredible time of growth in our marriage. This definitely outweighs the cons of thin walls and scraping up quarters to do laundry.

6. Creston Road: What a nice house! This was Cameron's first home. I remember meeting our neighbor for the first time and she asked us if we had a cat. This was a duplex, so I realized that the poor woman had heard all of Cameron's late night wailing and thought we had an unruly cat! Darren and I spent many nights walking up and down the hall trying to pacify Cam, "the baby who wouldn't be satisfied". We also lived next to a field with sheep and as a result we became the winter home of a few field mice. Eeeek!

7. Vista del Rio (or, "the apartment behind Albertson's"): Now this place was a strange contradiction. On the outside it was a beautiful, new complex with lovely amenities, but on the inside it was filled with lots of lonely people. We discovered that many people landed here after a divorce or they were here looking for a mate. There were two playgrounds and a pool in the complex, but our kids never made friends because the other kids only showed up on the weekends to spend time with their parents. We had a good relationship with the manager and quickly discovered that we were a small minority that lived peaceably within the many rules that she had to enforce. It's a good thing that we had a good witness with her because when someone reported smelling marijuana coming from our building she came to us to ask for help figuring out the problem. When Hayden was on her way we had to find a bigger place to live so it was time to move on.

8. San Buena Ventura Way: When I was a kid we would play MASH and the shack was usually in a place like San Miguel. I never thought I'd live out here! But to be honest, this has been a GREAT spot for us. The kids have made so many friends in this neighborhood and we all love coming home to this place. Plus, we have the best landlords ever :)

9. Scotland! So far, I've only seen one episode of House Hunters International in Glasgow (admit it, you watch this too). Pretty soon we'll be living it and I can't wait!