Piano Recital 2014

Last night Ella had her annual piano recital.  She's been practicing hard and was very excited...and for the first time VERY nervous.  She played two songs, a solo called "Boom, Boom, Ain't It Great to be Crazy?" and a duet with her teacher Miss Sara called "Trumpet Voluntary."  She played her duet perfectly and was especially proud of it.  Here's a video of the short performance...

This year Ella also joined the "300 Measures Club" by memorizing and playing 300 measures of music for her teacher.  She was awarded with a special ribbon that Ella is also very proud of.  Miss Sara is a great teacher!  We loved listening to her roster of students perform.  Some are new and playing songs Ella excitedly told me she remembered playing.  And some are more advanced, playing things Ella said she's looking forward to learning.  Sara is having a baby next month and will be taking some time off.  As a gift, she gave Ella a book of Christmas songs to work through on her own.  Ella is thrilled and immediately dove into some sight reading upon coming home from the recital last night .

What was extra special about this piano recital was that Uncle Kyle could hear it too!  Did you know we've had a family visitor for over a week now?  Kyle had some clients in the city on Monday, so it worked perfectly for him to come stay with and do life with us this week.  I haven't posted anything because we haven't done too much besides the norm, but it has been wonderful to share it all with this super uncle!

The Pink Sparkly Cast

This post shows a little bit of the process and product from our appointment at the orthopedics about 2 weeks ago.  Delia was REALLY looking forward to getting her hard cast and knew exactly what she wanted...hot pink with sparkles.  

We started the appointment with more x-rays to confirm that the bones have not shifted.  They had slightly, but not enough that the surgeon was concerned.  Then they cut off all the plaster and bandage layers of her old soft cast.  This was actually a 2 person job, because one tech needed to keep both hands on Delia's arm at the break point and keep it held together.  There was a whole bunch of color choices, and even options like stripes, but Delia had her mind made up.  I told the orthopedics they were making this way too much fun and they winked at me and replied, "Job security!"

  

Above shows Delia with her first few signatures-- Mom, Dad and Ella.  She also had it in her mind that her school principal, who has been extra attentive to Delia through this whole ordeal, would be the first school friend to sign, so we stopped in his office first.  She came home later that day with her cast full of signatures and messages and a huge beaming smile.  Cards, gifts, a hot pink accessory that friends can sign, and lots of extra attention-- I get the feeling Delia will some day say, "Remember when I broke my arm?  That was AWESOME."

A few days after the new cast went on, Delia had Cowboy and Cowgirl Day at school.  The above picture shows off her signed cast a little and the outfit and pose she came up with for this special day at school.  Another very amused teacher swung by the preschool and told me to look out my window at the 2nd graders doing Cowboy Day.  I saw all the little girls had tied their bandannas into slings around their left arms.  Yikes!  Not exactly the trend we wanted to set! :)  

She'll wear this cast that goes above her elbow for 2 more weeks, then they'll switch her to a shorter hard cast for 3 more weeks.  With her three different casts, this whole broken arm adventure will stretch out all the way into October.  We thankful every day that there have been no complications and that Delia has easily and completely adjusted to having one arm immobilized for 2 months!

Memories

When Dave came to school at 1:00 yesterday to tell me in person that our friend Ericlee had passed away, there were no words.  There were no thoughts.  Only tears.  I could not have written this post 24 hours ago, because last night I was shaking my fist at God and questioning the justice of taking the life of a man with a 37 year old wife and 3 young daughters.  I was demanding to know the justice of stripping a man who dedicated his life to fitness and health of the ability to move.

Today I spent the day with my friend Dorina and she ministered to me, as she has been doing for the past 2 decades.  She testified peace and comfort and even joy during this time.  She spoke honestly about the burden of watching her husband in pain for the past 3 weeks and the relief that he no longer is.  She proclaimed the certainty of Ericlee's welcome into the loving arms of his savior and the hope she has that her family will continue to be held and embraced by the huge community that loves them.  We laughed, we cried, we put together a funeral slide show, we reunited with our other college roommate, Cindy.   And I helped as best I could, changing her baby girl's diaper and clothes, snuggling the one who cried when her toes were stubbed, reading stories, singing songs, watching gymnastics demonstrations.  During this most difficult time, I saw Dorina's precious daughters actually exuding joy and hospitality!  I left Dorina's house today with my heart lighter and ready to share some of my own thoughts of the friend I only knew for 11 years.

Ericlee was the kind of person you might find really intimidating, especially if you are one who compares yourself to others.  He was the most fit person we knew, working as a trainer at Cross Fit and running marathons or triathlons, what seemed like, every weekend.  He had a passion for keeping his body healthy and never put anything artificial or un-organic into it.  When he learned of his cancer diagnosis, he even felt convicted to treat it using the Gerson Therapy-- juicing and consuming organic fruits and veggies every hour.    Ericlee was a great dad and I had countless opportunities to watch him parent his daughters with patience, energy, humor and grace.  He had an amazing work ethic, seen in his extreme devotion to pretty much anything he did in life.  His faith meant everything to him and he did not ever waste a moment getting to know our big God better.  He'd often share with his friends what he was learning from the latest devotional or theology book.  His faith and total trust in God is what led him to full time ministry in Haiti, where he and Dorina helped bridge resources in the US with the remote mountain town they visited every few months.  They also launched The Haitian Bead Project, which has been changing Haitian women's lives for years now by offering "a hand up rather than a hand out".  He and Dorina had this epic love that was unlike any marriage I have ever seen.  They complimented each other perfectly and lived sacrificially for one another.  They embodied the idea of "team"-- working together to passionately do everything from coaching track teams to improving the eating habits of the people around them...and in ALL things always trying to point the world to Christ.  This super fit, super Christian sounds pretty perfect, huh?  And that is why he might be intimidating.   But, Ericlee never made you feel like he was better than you (even though he probably was).  He was one of the warmest, friendliest guys you'd ever meet-- always ready to greet you with that huge smile, a hug, and inquiry about your own life.

I've been dragging some old pictures off my CD library for Dorina, so here are a few random shots taken over the years.  Each carries a special memory with it.  Ericlee and Dorina getting us to do things we'd never do on our own, like eat Ethiopian food and run half marathons (not together, that would probably not be good.).  A reunion with all my college roommates and our hubbies, before there were 8 kids in the picture. And a weekend at a house on the coast with one very creepy stuffed bobcat.

My mind has thought of little else besides Ericlee and his life and death.  And, of course, these thoughts bring up memories of my own parents.  Like Ericlee, my dad was 40 when he died.  Like my mom, he died of a short, but intense battle with cancer.  Like Meilani, their oldest daughter, I was 8 when my dad died.  As we talked Ella through all of this yesterday, she made the natural connection to my parents too.  She asked me to tell her about them.  I told her how my dad was gentle and tender-hearted.  He was the one to tickle me and hold my hand.  He was blind, so his sense of hearing was especially strong and he loved all things music.  He would take my sister and I on a walk to the ice cream shop on the corner every Tuesday night.  My mom had to raise two little kids completely on her own when my dad died suddenly.  She was strong and independent and tough enough to fight for everything her family needed, and even wanted.

Ella cut right through me when she asked, "Do you think they would have liked me?"  "Oh Hunny, they would have LOVED you!  My dad would have been your #1 fan as you played piano for him and my mom would have thought you were independent and strong too. Your amazing self would have melted her tough heart." I assured her.

A part of me is still shaking that fist at God... for the childhoods my dad missed-- mine and his granddaughters' and now for the childhoods of Meilani, Giada and Zayla that Ericlee will miss. And I have a million questions: Given what he and his life were all about, wasn't his death was the most cruel way to go?  He was such an amazing leader and servant, couldn't he have done so much more if allowed to stay on this earth?   These questions will continue to haunt me, and it is Dorina's own words that I'll continue to go back to in seeking comfort, understanding, and trust: "We have heard many people question: How could something like this happen to Ericlee? He’s so healthy, so fit, such a good guy, works so hard, sacrifices so much for Haiti, etc. etc. We want to underscore that we do not believe in that theology. We do not believe that just because you are “good,” “hard-working,” “healthy,” or even “doing good in the world” then you will be exempt from trials. In fact, the Bible gives example after example that we will ALL face trials. Every trial is an opportunity to reflect the God we trust, who holds the future and loves us deeply. James 1:2-3 says, 'Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you can be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.'"

The ExplOratorium

This post starts with praise yet again for our awesome library system.  They have a program that allows you to "check out" tickets to area museums for free.  We have tried and loved using this library program the past.  The museum we explored this weekend is a pretty popular one, so we had to reserve these tickets about a month ago.  We've been looking forward to this outing for a long time!  We explored San Francisco's hailed science museum, the Exploratorium.  

We've been here before, but the girls were small and the museum was still in its old location.  Last year it moved to a beautiful, bright, new setting on Pier 17.  I had read that the Exploratorim has 1000 some hands-on exhibits, with about 600 of them being on the floor at any given time.  And I think we saw most of them!  We stayed the whole time they were open-- touching, experiencing, and learning cool new things about all areas of science.

 This air blower both balanced a beach ball in the air and gave us new hairstyles, which was perhaps not the most scientific!

 This crazy drinking fountain messed with our minds and tricked our senses.

 In the xylophone room we learned how sound changes when the shape and thickness of the block you are whaling on does.

 This huge curved mirror turned our inverted images into 3-D ones!  We were all fascinated giving our reflections high fives and hand shakes.

This room was one of our favorites!  A trick in perspective shrank and grew us!

 Delia loved learning about 3/4 and 4/4 rhythms while practicing her Rick Allen one-armed drumming skills!

 We left our jumping shadows on the wall of this fun room.

 Another trick in perspective.

 Here the girls got their 80's music video vibe on.  Also, they learned about how tornadoes form as a fog vortex twisted around them.

 This exhibit was hands-down our favorite.  With magnifying glasses that saturated the color, we watched the water we sprayed become frozen crystals growing and spreading across an ice table. "I know what 'frozen fractals' are now!!" exclaimed Ella.

 Reverse ears made our brains have to think in a new way yet again when we closed our eyes and tried to discern where sound was coming from.

And some very cool outdoor exhibits got played with too.  Here Ella has found her way to the top of a strange kind of maze structure.  (Delia is not in the picture because she far away pouting that we wouldn't allow her to climb it too.)

We're thrilled that we got to experience this world-class museum for free!  Visiting the Exploratorium was super fun, but also exhausting.  Seven hours of walking, playing, thinking, and learning will really wear out your mind and body!  Delia fell asleep before we even turned her lights off at night.

No Surgery!

For Delia, the past 10 days have been all about getting used to a very different lifestyle.  She has learned how to do most everything one handed.  She has learned how to entertain herself at recess without moving from a bench.  She has learned that Mom will freak out if she jumps on the couch instead of just laying still on it.  She has learned how to tell her story 100 times and deal with people she doesn't even know giving her hugs and expressing concern.  She has learned that checking the mail each day is an exciting adventure! :)

And today we learned a lot more about what the next 56 days will look like when we had our follow up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.  He is very pleased with the bone alignment job those rockstars in the ER did.  He sees no reason to do surgery, but warned that the arm is still very fragile.  It is possible for the bones to bump out of place, which would cause great pain and also send us straight to the operating room.  Because of the fragility of the the bones even 10 days in, he didn't want to touch Delia's arm too much, or take off the soft cast.  In one week, he will X-ray again and hopefully move Delia to a hard cast that will still go up over her elbow.  Delia's one question to the doctor was, "What color casts do you guys have?"  He said the magic words, "Oh, almost every color...and GLITTER!"

While we're thrilled to hear the exact news we've been praying for, we still have concern.  This IS Delia we are talking about and if the issue is protecting her arm from any sort of bump that would misalign those bones, we need to keep praying!  Right before the doctor entered the room, we shooed Delia off the wheeled, spinny stool she was attempting to climb and stand on!

     

But, oh how we are blessed!  The above picture shows Delia posing with some of the cards and notes she's received.  Entire classes at school have written her letters, people from our school we don't even know have mailed stuff.  Presents are found waiting for her in my classroom in the morning.  She has felt the love and we're once again so thankful to be a part of such an awesome community!