Could we ...

... handle living here ??? I'm pretty sure we could!

Now, we just have to see if they'll take us -

A little praise

Funny how a little unexpected praise can completely make your day ... my boss (who some would say borders on being tyrant) actually gave me a compliment today. He told me that he would miss me, that I had been "very good" and that he'd be happy to be a reference for me. For him to say any of those things is HUGE ... and huge for me too. I've spent the last 9+ months working as diligently as possible to make him happy, but have rarely felt like I succeeded in this and I must admit that it is really nice to end on this note.

Graduation Day!

The DAY finally came!!!

On Wednesday, although it was the students graduation, for us it was a celebration that Jason made it through this entire year at Bronx Prep. He was greatly challenged everyday he went in to work. The hardest to overcome was the daily blatant disrespect his students showed him, each other and themselves in their words, actions and attitudes. Although it was such a difficult year, we know that Jason was able to be an encouraging light to some of the students and we know that what he has gained through this challenge is incomparable. I am so proud of my husband for this great accomplishment!

Some of Jason's students ...
The park that Jason has walked through everyday on his way to work ...

Our celebration meal at home after the graduation! YUMMY!!!

Maybe my least favorite NYC moment?

While riding the subway home last night after having dinner with a friend, I opened my resting eyes for a second while the train stopped to make sure I wasn't missing my stop. About 3 seconds later, a grande Starbucks cup and juice box hit me on my neck and face and I had coffee dripping down the side of my face into my shirt.

As my tired brain tried to understand what had happened and why, the three jr high girls who I had been sharing the subway car with, laughed and ran out the open doors. Apparently, they thought it would be funny to throw trash at me from across the car as they got off. I must admit they had surprisingly good aim.

I'd had an emotionally draining day and to my horror felt tears welling up and my throat closing off as my humiliation sunk in. Three 12 or 13 year olds had just thrown trash at me simply because I was the only other person on the car. Not a great ending to the day.

Several hours later as I was consolling myself with the hateful thoughts that those girls would probably never even get out of the neighborhood they live in and would never become anything in life, I was reminded of the verse about how God cares for the sparrows and if He cares for these, how much more does He care for me ... and those three girls. My anger turned to sadness as I remembered Jesus' words shortly after this verse, commanding against judgement and providing the incredible word picture of a man with an enormous log in his eye trying to point out the tiny splinter or speck in someone else's eye. I was reminded to focus on my own vast areas of sin instead of the small short comings of others.

24 Hours in Boston

Jason and I took a quick trip up to Boston this weekend. I found some awesome fares via megabus.com and we had a great time - literally only 24 hours in the city!

Our first photo, at the site where our ancestors dumped enormous quanitities of tea into the harbor in rebellion against the British.

The beautiful park below is "Boston Commons"

Being tourists, we of course stopped at the bar that the TV show "Cheers" was based on.

Even the State Building was showing their Celtic pride!

Faneuil Hall ...

Boston's North End was clearly the Italian section of town - we loved it!

My FAVORITE part of the "freedom trail" ... a stop at Lulu's Bakery for a boston cream cupcake and some lemon cheesecake - YUM!

Paul Revere Mall ... in bronze on his horse ... depicted here going away from the church where he hung his laterns ... Hmmmm.

Church where Paul Revere hung his lanterns to save the day!

View of the Charles River

Bunker Hill ... and something almost as historically significant ... The Celtics "Garden."

What Jason would look like going to Harvard (pretty cute, I think!).

And, MIT ...

Ahhh...Fenway Park! There wasn't a home game this weekend, but we still had to check out this place!

Jason...touching the infamous "green monster" !!

I'll leave you with this great view of Fenway Park!

Bronx Prep Field Day

Jason left the house this morning for his school's 2nd annual field day event. One of the talented students did the artwork on the t-shirts that staff and all students received to wear at the event (all color coded so as not to confuse students with staff!). Jason has been being warned ALL week by his students to "look out" as they had plans to "get him" at this event ... doesn't sound the greatest, but since they said they were bringing water balloons, we weren't too concerned. Jason went prepared, in his swim trunks!

PR Parade & The Met

I found out last week that with my BofA check or credit card, entrance into The Met Art Museum is FREE on the first weekend of the month! I was so excited about this, because entrance is usually $20 per person and we had yet to visit this icon of NYC. What we had forgotten about was the Puerto Rican parade running down 5th Ave - it took us over a 1/2 hour to worm our way through the throngs of attendees and find a street where it was actually possible to cross the street. We couldn't help be admire the national pride of the Puerto Ricans as we made our way through...

The Met is huge and a little overwhelming (although nothing compared to the Louvre!)...since we'd gotten in for free, we were happy to just ramble around and didn't' feel any pressure to SEE everything! We started in the Greek & Roman art section...
We enjoyed finding a room of Oceanic artwork and even found a tiny display on Tongan tapa mats that had us reminiscing!

In the modern art section - the art was literally on the walls here - actually pretty cool looking!

Jason got into his "artistic" side and tried to become one with the art while I was very happy to find a room full of Degas paintings and sculptures (some of my favorites!).

We finished the day by walking through Central Park, along the 'large reservoir' which as always was beautiful!