Friday Focus

Flower and Garden Show

All the students had a great time at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the Cow Palace this week. All of them have different stories to tell about what they saw and experienced...and got to bring home! Check out the pictures on our school web site of the gardens that our school submitted to the "Children's Gardens."

Flower Show Photos...

Spelling Bee

Yesterday six of our students competed in the Central California Conference's annual Spelling Bee. Deangela Samonte tied for third place in Round 1 of Team grades 3-5. Congratulations to all who represented our school:

• 3rd Grade: Kelisha Shaw
• 4th Grade: Deangela Samonte
• 5th Grade: Jelly Shaw
• 6th Grade: Jillian Enriquez
• 7th Grade: Jing Enriquez
• 8th Grade: Alex Hanon

See this year's spellers!...

Meeting on Monday, March 20

On Monday evening, March 20, there will be a meeting focusing on San Francisco Adventist School and planning for the future. Administrative officers from Clovis will attend this meeting.

In addition, superintendents from the Office of Education will be here. The meeting will be held here at school. Dinner will begin at 6:00 pm and our meeting will begin at 7:00 pm. Child care will be provided for those needing it. Please plan now to attend.

Please make sure that key leaders from your church (pastor, head elder, treasurers, board members, etc.) are at this meeting. Thank you for placing this event on your personal calendar and reserving the evening of March 20 for this important session.

Directions to SFAS...

Spring Vacation

Spring Vacation begins on Monday, March 20, and continues through Friday, March 31. Extended care is available during those two weeks.

The cost of extended care is included in the flat monthly fee for after-school care; for all others the cost is $15 per day. Lunch is provided each day.

Cesar Chavez Day

Our school will be closed on Monday, April 3, in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. Extended care is not available that day.

More About Cesar Chavez Day...

Calendar

Calendars and hot lunch menus will be mailed out to you during Spring Break.

View current month calendar...

We Need Your Help

We do have a problem that I need your help with. Over the past several weeks families have been arriving after 6:00 PM to pick up children from after-school care on a regular basis. This has been making more difficult for Mrs. Martell to pick up her children at Cal Train.

Your help in making sure children are picked up before 6:00 PM is greatly appreciated!

Quote of the Week

"Everyone here is so happy and kind!"

--a new family visiting our school

Tony Dungy on the Value of Pain

Tony Dungy is the head coach of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. Many were expecting his team to be competing in Super Bowl XL, but it wasn't to be. He did, however, speak at the Athletes in Action breakfast on Saturday before the game.

After receiving a lengthy standing ovation and paying tribute to Curtis Martin for winning the Athletes in Action Bart Starr Award, Dungy told the hundreds of attendees that he wanted to talk about lessons he had learned from his three sons. Reporters say the room fell silent except for the coach's voice.

He spoke first of his middle son, Eric, and his competitive nature that is so focused on athletics that "it's almost a problem." Then he turned to his youngest son, Jordan, whose rare congenital condition makes him insensitive to pain.

"That sounds like it's good at the beginning, but I promise you it's not," said Coach Dungy. "We've learned some hurts are really necessary for kids. Pain is necessary for kids to find out the difference between what's good and what's harmful." He explained in terms of Jordan's love for his mother's cookies.

"Cookies are good," the coach continued, "but – in Jordan's mind – if they're good out on the plate, they're even better in the oven. He will go right in the oven when my wife's not looking, reach in, take the rack out, take the pan out, burn his hands – then eat the cookies and burn his tongue and never feel it."

With no fear borne of pain, Jordan must be watched constantly. And the lesson from that, Dungy said, is pretty simple. "You get the question all the time, ‘Why does the Lord allow pain in your life? Why do bad things happen to good people? If there is a God of love, why does he allow these hurtful things to happen?' We've learned that a lot of times because of that pain, that little temporary pain, you learn what's harmful. You learn to fear the right things.

"Pain sometimes lets us know we have a condition that needs to be healed. Pain inside sometimes lets us know that spiritually we're not quite right, and we need to be healed. And that God will send that healing agent right to the spot. Sometimes pain is the only way that will turn us as kids back to the Father."

Only then did Coach Dungy speak of his oldest son, James, who took his life three days before Christmas. Of his family's pain. Of lessons they learned.

Coach Dungy reminds us all that the only way to overcome heartache and death, discouragement and anguish is to let them turn us back to God. When that happens, we have discovered the ultimate value our pain can have.

--Rubel Shelly