monkinabus: blog of derek dominguez

I Almost......Can't Forgive Her...

..for taking the stinking last platter of home made cinnamon rolls to share with the POPS group at church this morning. I'm still recovering from the shock but I think we will recover. We are talking and working through it. Pray for us.

Letting Go Of Our Wee Ones

Tate is not our little baby anymore. We know that of course, as she is six and in kindergarten. But, she is still our firstborn and sometimes it is just hard to let go of that fact that she is no longer our little "Tae Tae" who sits still and wants to be held.

Last week for the first time, on the way to school she said, "Dad, today I want to just be dropped off." Up until recently we would park the car and walk her to the door of her classroom. As she slammed the car door shut last week and then today, strolling off along the sidewalk towards her classroom and never looking back, my eyes welled with tears. Tate is growing up. She is gaining confidence in herself and slowly her independence is growing. Little by little we are having to let her grow up into the person we trust God desires who to become each day.

It's fun to see the transformation. I think it puts a smile on God's face too when He sees his children grow up as well into mature disciples. Often times we want to stay where it is safe, where we don't have to step out and strike off on our own. He doesn't want us headed off without Him, for He always is, but trusting him in a greater capacity to become who He has called us to become. We often want to park the car and have it the easy way with having Him "walk us to the front door." Growing up is hard. Transformation is hard. As difficult as it is, as we grow in faith, I think it puts a big smile on His face to see his children grow up.

Amidst the the small tears today there was also a smile. I'm a proud daddy seeing my big girl grow up. Now if only we could wean Maya off her stinking "paci" and to poo in the toilet we will be all good. Hmm...wonder what little metaphor about that I can dream up:)

Face Paint Fun

I bought Tate and Maya some face paints today and look who was the canvas!  

Yesterday was Tate's 6th Birthday. We had a fabulous time celebrating with family here in Arizona. Tate's cousins Tyler and Ashley are here visiting Nana and Papa too for it. We hung out at Chuck E Cheese, ate pizza and played games.Tate was blessed to have her second and even a third cousins present at her party. Thanks Grant, Cleo, Rick, Penny, Nana Papa, Matt, Michelle, Tyler, Ashley, Morgan and Melody. Below is a brief video I edited of clips from Chuck E Cheese.

Tate's 6th Birthday Party in AZ from Derek Dominguez on Vimeo.

Are the sidewalks harder here in AZ than CA?

Seriously....is it possible for the asphalt and pavement here in AZ to be harder than the sidewalks in Santa Cruz, CA. My knees are killing me from running five miles this morning and five yesterday. No matter how good of shape I'm in, this place seems to work me over and I always feel like crap running here. I know one thing the pavement may not be harder, but it's definitely hotter. It's December.....you know Winter. In most places like the East Coast there are snow storms as I type this that are closing airports down. Here, I fried my breakfast this morning on the sidewalk.

Besides that we're having a grand ol time with Meagin's family. Got to see Avatar in 3D yesterday. It's been a long time since I wanted to see a movie again in the theatre for a second time. The girls are having a blast and we're celebrating Tate's 6th birthday tomorrow with the Perry side of the family and Cuck E Cheese. Should be interesting....I mean a ton of fun.

Chess W/ Tate & Praying For Ronee

Sunday afternoon and as Tate and I began to play chess on the set Ronee gave to her we were reminded to pray for her, Scot, and their family as they were down at the "Ave" serving the homeless. Tate is getting good Ronee. Watch out!

Santa Cruz Holiday Lights Train Ride

Last night we had great fun riding on the Holiday Lights Train Ride. It's difficult to believe after growing up and living in Santa Cruz all these years we had never done it before. Maya keeps talking this morning about going on Santa's train ride again. Thanks to our family for donating the tickets so we could all go this year!

Proud Daddy

    Yesterday we went to Tate's first Kindergarten parent-teacher conference. I have to say it was encouraging and inspiring. The feedback makes me want to be a better dad and father to my two girls. She is doing great in school. She is excelling academically, but the thing that pleases Meagin and I is the way her teacher described her behavior, the way she treats other students with kindness and respect, the way she is exhibiting leadership gifts, and respects authority.......in our eyes it's the way she is learning to exhibit the character of Christ in a public setting.

    It's rewarding as a parent to see and makes us feel good about some of the sacrifices we've made as parents to be very involved in the lives and development of our kiddos

Bedtime Smiles

If it were always this easy and smiley everynight at bedtime!

Sent from my iPhone

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Taking Care of My Soul: Into Solitude

One thing I've realized in the time I've been in leadership is the greatest thing we can do is to take care of our own soul. It's been too long since we've just gotten away as a family to pray, ponder, and discern the trajectory of this next season of life, so that is what we're going to do.

I'm looking forward to unplugging, spending time with the family and logging some miles on my road bike in the Sierras the rest of the week. Into the mountains and into solitude we go. I'll leave you with a quote I recently posted here by Parker Palmer.

"A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him- or herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good." ~ Parker Palmer