Sunday, May 27: (Pentecost!) After years of trying to remember to wear red on Pentecost, and remembering the week before, and sometimes the day before, and ultimately choosing yellow or blue in the last minute crunch to get ready, I *FINALLY* remembered to wear red! Totally by accident! And then I didn't go to my regular church. I was asked to attend the service at 1st Presbyterian Church of Pomona, because they wanted to pray for Jeff (the other new employee) and myself as we fundraise our own salaries to work at Pomona Hope. The church actually owns the property that Pomona Hope works out of, so we have a close relationship with them. It was a very nice service and a very nice congregation, and I'll probably go back to visit a lot (nice to have a backup church for when I just can't get there even close to on time). I'm usually super nervous when speaking publicly, but it didn't seem that bad this time. Probably because it's also a really small congregation. If you're looking for an active church family that will adopt you very quickly, and is very involved in the welfare of their community, I would recommend this place.
Anyway, the prayers went well. The sermon was good. It was a much less formal, more personal service than I'm used to, simply because of the size of the congregation. And then after the service ended, I spoke with several people and found that even if I didn't know them, I knew people that they knew... it always amuses me to find out how small the world really is.
After church, I was also asked to be a mentor to one of the interns for the summer program this year. To which I said, of course!
Wednesday, May 30: I got a call from Peter* (actually, about 6 missed calls and then I finally picked up) asking me if I could go to his 6th grade graduation on Friday. It was both a touching and hilarious conversation (he doesn't call people much I guess, so awkwardness ensued). I told him of course I would go!
Thursday, May 31: First meeting with my mentee! (The internet says it's a word!) We went to lunch at Taco Jalisco (a first for both of us... very delicious and inexpensive) and had a grand, old time. I think she's going to be just fine.
I also spent the entire day splitting my time between updating the handbook for the summer program, editing and printing my fundraising letter and the pledge cards, posting summer program volunteer opportunities on the job board at church under the heading "resume builders" (which I totally made up) and several other little things I can't remember right now.
Friday, June 1: Peter's graduation was at Lincoln Elementary School at 11:30am. It was very cute and a lot quicker than I expected. But I got pictures! YAY!
After the ceremony, I found his parents (well, his mom found me...) and followed them to his classroom. I love his family, they're so sweet! I only wish I could speak Spanish, so I could have real conversations with them. They speak a little English, and I understand a little Spanish, but we do seem to get to where we need to be.
I picked up his older sister, Jewel*, from school about an hour later and took her to Ganesha Park, where several of the families of graduating 6th graders were having a celebratory picnic. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Jewel, and even took her to see "Snow White and the Huntsman" (don't worry, she's going into her senior year of high school and I had parental permission). FYI: That movie is terrible. Or hilarious. Depends on how you want to look at it.
Saturday, June 2: Morning ministry group meeting to plan the fundraiser dinner in November (we're looking at November 3, so keep your calendar clear!), our ministry group month at the church, and Mission Sunday (next week).
From 2 to 5pm I took the kids from the after school program who improved the most over the school year (Yvonne, Donnie, Maddy, Jimmy, and Ally)* to Boomers! With the AMAZING help of awesome volunteer, and close, personal friend, Barbara. She had just gotten off of a plane and pretty much came straight to us. We wouldn't have been able to go without her.
The kids had a great time! After the kids used up all their game tokens, the two older kids, Yvonne and Ally, went with Barbara to go rock climbing or bumper-boating, or what-have-you, while I took the younger kids to play a game of miniature golf. After mini-golf, Jimmy, Maddy, and I rode the bumper boats. Jimmy got completely soaked and loved it, and as we were pulling into the dock, Maddy told me, "This is the best day ever!"
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| The kids and Barb! |
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| Jimmy won A LOT of candy in one of the games. |
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| Yvonne's prize! |
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| Maddy's prize |
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| I was there too! |
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| After bumper boats |
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| Donnie finished out the day on the plane ride. |
I'm glad she thought so. Since her older sister, Ally, was told "no" once and that apparently shot the whole day for her. Can't win them all. Adventures in growing up.
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