Zig-Zag

While I was helping Nathan with his homework yesterday, he told me that I made him feel "zig-zag." The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I made myself feel zig-zag too. Things have been upside down and crazy over here....but in a good way. Steve took his Officer Test for the Navy and passed with flying colors. He is well on his way to become a Navel Officer this April/May. I had my 45 minute observation from my Principal and had a great review. I was also observed by a woman who sees thousands of new teachers a year and she said that I was well beyond my years and displayed techniques that she had never seen and was highly impressed by them. Our band is playing at Deep Elm in Dallas, Texas, thus fulfilling a lifelong goal of mine. After struggling with our 'new' church for the past 9 months, we changed back to a Southern Baptist church and fit in better than we could ever imagined. Nathan has started bringing his Bible to church 'because it is the right thing to do, mom!' instead of bringing it for the prizes that were offered at our previous church in Grand Prairie. Kalea is said to be the brightest in her class after she was put into a class full of children who turned 4 in June (Kalea will be 4 in January). Although I live with the strong desire to be back in the church, I am finding a much greater mission field at my school. My first graders are struggling with far worse things than any child should ever face and we talk about God on a daily basis. He who never abandons is a comforting concept to those who have been taken away from their moms, abandoned, and not valued. I am able to give these kiddos a far greater gift than just a good education. We are busy saving to visit my parents in Virginia over Christmas and are getting pretty creative with our spending. As you can see, I am pretty zig-zagged and all over the place....

Marching on Like Turtles

Being a mom of a wiggly-don't-like-to-do-work boy, I've come to dread parent teacher conferences. I've decided that it is much the same as going to the dentist. You brush, floss, rinse and, if you're like me, you spend more time on your teeth than any other part of your body. You do everything you're supposed to do and go in hoping that all of your hard work paid off...you hope for good news....but dispite of all of your hard work, the dentist's report is never good. Nathan has decided that the teachers have conspired to give him 2nd grade work in 1st grade, and 3rd grade work in 2nd grade. I have no clue why he believes this, but he tearfully tells his teacher everyday that she is giving him the wrong work. The odd thing is, however, that although he refuses to do his work, he is reading at a close to 3rd grade level and is getting tested for GT next week because he knows all of the answers already.
We had both Nathan and Kalea's conferences almost back to back. After Nathan's showdown with his teacher, I was filled with a sense of dread as I walked up the paved path to Kalea's school. How much bad news can a momma take? We signed into Kalea's school and were led to a tiny closet equipt with faded artwork and a tiny table and chairs. We waited for what seemed like eternity as Kalea's 9 month pregnant teacher waddled into the room with her soon to be promoted co-teacher, Kalea's idol and shinning star. They showed us Kalea's mad phat cutting skills, her knowledge of numbers and letters, her ability to sign her name, and her 'first' picture of amobea like people (now she draws bodies, clothes and hair with massive detail.), and told us about Kalea's blosomming social skills. Because Kalea's shinning star of a co-teacher is getting promoted into the next room, I was really worried about how Kalea would take the news. We were saved great heartache, however, when they told us that Kalea's teacher didn't want to promote without Kalea, and starting Monday, Kalea will also be promoted into the big four year old room which is essentally Pre-K. They have been testing her out all week in the big kid room and she absolutely shines in there.
As far as Steve and I go, we are both having a great year teaching. I realized that teaching at a Title One school is more of a mission field than any other place I could possibly be right now. Most of my kids are broken and hurting and I have discovered that 90% of my job is feeding them emotionally and physically. I started bringing food for them during the mornings and I have never seen a child more greatful for a dry piece of bread. I give and receive more hugs in a day than I have gotten or given in a life time. I dry tears, counsel moms, and fight for the students rights on a daily basis.....and we even talk about God every day. Enough about me, are you ready for the big news or what?! In the mist of my falling in love with teaching, Steve has actually been called away from teaching. He got the calling in mid-August and we have been praying about it ever sense. After 11 years of wondering through the desert, Steve has actually found his true calling in life. I have prayed intently for the past year and a half for Steve to find his place and he finally did. He is going to be an Intel Officer in the Navy. Yeah, crazy. He started working out for the first time in his life. He has been losing a lot of weight and really watching his diet. He spends every second of his spare time doing Navy stuff and is set to leave as soon as school gets out for the summer. The bad part is that he will be gone for 9 months. I am not excited about that part, but I know that because this is God's calling for him, that we will be taken care of as well.

Defining Our Family

Steve is on this great big workout kick. He has lost 10 lbs already and is trucking along nicely. He works out almost every night at all hours and is, for the first time in our 11 years together, working out with me. The other day we were working on our abs and Steve started to giggle about just how puny my abs were. As I was slowly crunching along, I began to really think about this tummy of mine. My tummy has housed a thousand virus', had a trillion meals flow through it, gets poked, stepped on and tackled on a daily basis and has carried my two babies. Without my tummy, our family wouldn't be what it is. (For starters we would have two black babies, because if I were to ever adopt, we would get African orphanage babies.) My mind wandered to all of the things that define us as a family.
We are the type of family that is extended in a million different ways. On Friday, I had two sons because our school hosted a Donuts with Dad Day, and most of my students are fatherless, so we decided to adopt another son for a day. When I told the small boy that he would be a Saenz, he smiled all week long and was floating on cloud nine the morning of the event. All morning he looked admirably up at Steve every few seconds like he just couldn't believe that he was eating donuts with his 'adoptive' dad. When we travel, we eat at hole in the wall diners where we inevitably end up with another little hungry tummy at our table. When we watch movies in the park, I always notice two little extra feet tucked under our warm blankets, and we always bring an extra baggie of popcorn or two for our new little guests.
We are the type of family who shops at Half Price Day at Goodwill so that we can provide school supplies to our students in our classes. We provide tennis shoes to the kids who get into trouble every day at PE because they cannot afford good shoes to wear to school. We provide "Morning Bread" to the kids whose meager breakfasts just don't carry them through lunch.
We are the type of family who tries to do a Community Service project every Christmas Eve to make our kids thankful for the gifts that they receive.
What defines your family?

I can't write our updates until next weekend because we can't share our "BIG NEWS" until Steve tells his parents face to face......no, I am not pregnant. :o)

Saenz-speak

Questions I've been asked this week....
How do T-Rexs wipe the blood off of their mouths after they eat an animal?
How much does a duck weigh?
What would happen if we didn't have any spit? Would we die?
Why do babies in their mommy's tummy have to eat through their belly buttons? Why not their ears or their mouths?
What if we didn't have any DNA?

New vocabulary introduced this week:
SPLAT- Usage: Mommy, there's a spat on the floor!!! Definition: A spoonful of ice cream.
MCDONALDS, TEXAS- Usage: I came from McDonalds, Texas. Definition- Upon visiting family in Virginia, Kalea proudly told my sister that we live in Texas, McDonalds, Texas. Later on my dad asked Kalea where she came from and she explained that she came from McDonalds, Texas. Later on a story developed that Kalea was actually found in a Happy Meal a month and four days before Nathan's half birthday.
BURGINIA- Usage: My Grandma and Grandpa live in Burginia because it snows there every day and I have no clue how they get food or go to work. Definition- Nathan thought that Virginia was like the Arctic and that it was actually called Burginia because it was so cold there all of the time.

Summer Fun

10 fun, free things we did this week!!!

10. We fed and petted singrays.
















9. We dug for dinos!

8. We had the entire zoo to ourselves.

7. We walked, crawled, and jumped through a giant mouth.

6. We met the clowns from Barnum and Bailey Circus

5. Nathan transformed into a firefighter and he and his friend saved the museum.

4. We got to crawl through tunnels like ants.
3. We went to Cirque de Cabrilla














2. We made bubbles of all shapes and sizes. Some as big as Kalea and some as small as a mouse.
1. We watched hotair balloons light up the sky.

There's No Charge for Awesomeness....

View from our Retreat Center

I am not really in a bloggy sort of mood, but I feel like I should probably write something.....

Steve and I just came back from a Capturing Kids Hearts Conference. It's all about how kids don't care about what you know until they know that you care. It was pretty good, but what was even better was the fact that Steve and I got to spend three days straight together without our beautiful babies. It's been 4 years since the last Steve and Sarah Retreat, and just being together without the constant diversion of our kiddos was amazing. The thing that really bothered me though was the amount of people who told me in the stillness of secrecy that we were an inspiration to them, that their marriage was on the brink and that they were just about to give up. I got whispered complements, scribbled down notes in my bag telling me that out of everything taught at the conference, Steve and I were what inspired them most, and people cornering me in the bathroom to ask me marriage advice. It really made me think about our 8 years of marriage and the rapid growth and change that we've gone through within the last 5 and a half months. The change didn't happen over night, it took me changing everything about how I thought about love and marriage and most of all my commitment to Steve. It took me forgiving Steve and tossing away my mara/bitterness and recommiting to that promise I made to God a million years ago. I didn't try to change Steve, Steve changed in reaction to God working through me and the changes that he saw in my life. While we are not perfect, we are working on setting a good example for our children. Something that made the biggest difference was the journal that we now keep. Every night before I go to bed, I write Steve a love letter affirming who he is and why I love him. Every morning he wakes up, reads it, and writes to me with words of love and affirmation. The words he has said and the gift he has given me through them has carried me through the toughest times. I may be a girl without friends up here, but I am a girl who is loved by a man and that means so much to me.

Hippoblababob

My band at field day 2008 Austin, Texas

A super, super, super zippy quick update. As I am typing I am getting two kids ready for bed and reading them books.

Nathan: Just finished up his last day of school on June 4th. His teacher had an awards ceremony in his classroom and gave him his award last. She said "where's my boy?" and Nathan jumped up without a moments hesitation with a huge grin on his face. She proceeded to tell everyone about how funny Nathan is and even demonstrated how they did the pledge every morning (Nathan stands really close to her and she knocks him out with her hip, so he zips around to her other side where she knocks him out with her other hip. This continues throughout the pledge.) I think she spent the most time talking about Nathan. He went from a DRA score of 4 in December to a score of 20. His success and growth in 1st grade had been amazing and I think it's mostly because his teacher is amazing.

Kalea: Kalea started "Princess School" back in April and was placed in a 4 year old class (she was barely 3). I don't know if she already had it in her or if it was being held under 4 year old expectations, but her maturity and verbal development has expanded greatly. She wants to learn how to read. It's been the source of all fits lately because she only wants to learn at bedtime when she is way past tired. I started doing phonics boot camp with her so she should know all of the letters and their sounds by the end of this summer. She's been working really hard and has this insane drive to learn them.

Steve and I: We're doing good. We played a show last night and the booking agent liked us so much that we've been invited back to play with a lineup of bands that are all signed and on tour. The turn out for these bands has been up to 500-600 people per show. Apparently there have been about 60 bands who have requested to be in this lineup, and ours was chosen. Yea!

Thanks so much for reading my blog. I am sorry that I have not kept it up-to-date. I started teaching the 1st grade a while back and keeping up with my new class and trying to keep things together on the home front were exhausting. I'll be so happy when I get back into the ministry (no, I won't be there anytime soon, but I know that I was called to be there a long time ago, it's a long story, but I know that I will be back there after a stint in the educational world.).