Love is in the air!

So many sweets from Valentine's Day, the sweetest though, was probably getting off work early! 

State of the City!

Tonight City Year was invited to attend Mayor Kevin Johnson's (former NBA Kings player) State of the City Address. It was cool to be able to see his vision and plans for Sacramento, as well as some of the goals that were achieved in 2013. 

There are big plans to build a new Kings arena as a focal point near Downtown! 

Dance of the Royals!

Lao and I posing during the middle school dance! 

Science Fair!

Today we put on a science fair for our RP after school kids! Everyone had fun learning, yes, even my middle schoolers were engaged! 

Happy Birthday Rosa!

You probably don't know, but today would have been Rosa Parks' 101st Birthday!

Today we celebrated a woman who with one act, changed a nation. It is because of Rosa Parks, along with many others, that the students I serve come from all different ethnicitys. It's because of great sacrifices for equality that I'm able to serve on a team where together we represent many different cultures. Today is a day to recognize the importance of the people who have gone before us and a day to strive to build a stronger community, nation, and world for all of us! It was also a day for....

cookies, lots of cookies.

Over 900 cookies were donated to help our school celebrate Rosa Parks' birthday from Safeway. (grocery store chain in California) We visited elementary classrooms during the day to talk about why Rosa Parks was so important and then during the middle school lunch we asked them to respond to different questions regarding Rosa Parks. Of course we did get some off the wall answers ( like Rosa Parks built our school or She was a nice black lady. Or she was born in Sacramento) but more than those answers we found that many of our students were aware of the sacrifices she and others like her have made and most of them were able to recognize how her act, that may seem small, can stretch pretty far- so far that we're still striving for equality for all people today. 

It was fun talking to first graders this morning and asking them to look around. 

I said, "Look around at your classmates. Does everyone look the same? Do we all have the same skin color?

"NO"

"What about your friends? Raise your hand if you have friends that don't look like you, that have a different skin color than you!"

-hands shot up across the room-

It really is insane to think that 50-60 years ago the had I asked the same questions, I would have gotten totally different answers. We have come a long way, but we still have a ways to go! Like I told the kids today, it's up to YOU to be the next Rosa Parks, the next MLK, the next generation to take a stand for what you believe in!

Cheers to you, Rosa Parks! And thank you for the legacy you've left us! 

Don't just do something! Stand there!

Nope. Not a typo. You may be all too familiar with the phrase "Don't just stand there, Do something!" There is nothing wrong with this saying and in many instances it's a good message to step in and change the world, help people out, do service..... However in a world where we are always on the move, always doing something and in many cases doing what my students call "doin' too much", it's important to take a step back from it all and be still. This weekend during our North Cal Capernaum Training Day we were reminded that sometimes we don't need to do anything. Sometimes we need to just 

Stand there. Kneel there. Pray there. Listen there. Be still there.

This was a wonderful weekend, where I got to be with my Capernuam family and I also got to visit with the lovely Stephani Joseph! What's really cool about helping with Sacramento Capernaum  is that Nick Palermo, who founded Capernaum, is just down the road in San Jose! He led some activities this weekend and gave everyone a copy of his book, which was really cool! I also got to meet some of the first Capernaum friends, you can see them too in the bottom side pictures. To the left is Steve, the first Capernaum friend, and then Adam, one of the first and also the funniest! I got both of them to sign my book too! 

Sunday pretty much was centered around food! Steph came out with my Capernaum peeps and I for dinner Saturday night and then we went to the movies. Sunday morning we went to a really cute farmer's marker, then breakfast, coffee, and cupcakes! Also Whole Foods, haha, it was wonderful!

Steph and I could not resist the temptations of deliciousness this weekend

Woodleaf Weekend

Great weekend with Colleen and Carly!