Friday Focus

This week students in grades 4-6 had a great time at the Lawrence Hall of Health. Our junior high students enjoyed the Academy of Science.

Students to Sing at Central Church

Tomorrow students in grades K-8 will be providing the church service at the SF Central Church. Children need to be there by 10:15 AM. Limited parking is available in the church parking lot on Pine Street, between Broderick and Baker. Directions to the church are available online. Please allow time to find parking.

Directions to Central Church...

deYoung Museum

Next Wednesday, April 12, students in 7th/8th grade will be going to the de Young Museum.

About the de Young...

Spring Pictures

Next Thursday morning Spring Pictures will be taken at school. Everyone will get their picture taken. There is nothing to order...you simply pay for the portraits you want to purchase after you receive them. These pictures should be back in time for mother’s Day. A FAQ sheet is attached to the hard copy "Friday Focus" that is sent home with your child(ren).

All students have free dress for Spring Pictures. Please bring a change of clothes for ice skating later in the day!

Ice Skating

Next Thursday, April 13, all students from grades 1-8 will be going ice skating at Yerba Buena. Permission slips were attached to hard copy of today’s "Friday Focus." Everyone has free dress for this field trip.

Yerba Buena Ice Skating Center...

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, April 19. That day is a minimum day--after-school care is available until 6:00 PM.

Conferences are also scheduled for Thursday, April 20. There is no school on Thursday. Extended care is available from 7:30 AM–6:00 PM.

Chaplain Barry Black

Saturday evening, April 22, 5:00 PM, Barry Black (Chaplain for the U.S. Senate) will be speaking at the Philadelphian Church. Check out the flyer (link below) for more information about this event.

"From the Hood to the Hill" [PDF]...

Spring Fling

Start planning now for our Spring Fling--Sunday, May 5, from 12:00-4:00 PM. We’ll have lots of fun that day! Watch for more information to follow.

Alumni Weekend Planned

Attention Alumni... and all families and friends of SFJA/SFAS. Alumni weekend is being planned for September 2-3, 2006.

Saturday, September 2, will feature a fun time, get together and open house at our school. On Sunday, September 3, a picnic is being planned in Golden Gate Park. Save the dates now!

More information will follow soon. Start telling all your family and friends that used to attend SFJA/SFAS about this event. This is an event you won’t want to miss!

What the Kids Pick Up

Ever wonder what kids pick up from the world of adults? If they are really paying attention? Do you ever naively hope they aren’t? Here is a true story of an event handled well that a young friend shared with me this week.

The local news was on TV as five-year-old Kirk was playing nearby. Dad didn’t think he could hear--or cared to hear--what was being broadcast into their living room. His boy suddenly looked up with a troubled expression on his face.

Rather than reply to an assumption, his father was smart enough to begin with a question. “What did you hear, son?”

“The man on television, Daddy!” he began. “He said that woman was killed in a car wreck. Was she a Mommy?”

“Yes, Kirk. That is what the man said. And that makes both of us very sad, doesn’t it? And she had two children--a little girl about your age and a baby boy.”

Dad was feeling Kirk’s pain now. He saw the wheels turning in his trusting little boy’s mind. He was rather certain he knew the questions that were forming: Could that happen to my Mommy? Or to my Daddy? And what would I do then? Who would take care of me?

Sure enough, with eyes that were sad now and with his little lip trembling, the boy asked his final question. “Daddy, who will take care of her babies?”

The answer Kirk’s father gave him was from God. It was brilliant and should be the model more parents use with their kids. He held out his arms to him, picked him up, and hugged him for a minute. Only then did he say anything.

“Son, your Mommy and I have taught you about Jesus and how he loves you. And your Mommy and I love you and your brother with all our hearts. We are here to love you and take care of you and be with you. But there are bad things that happen in this world too. And they remind us how much we need each other.

“So let’s pray for that lady. And for her babies. And for the Daddy who will take care of them now that she is gone. Okay?”

They did. And Kirk’s little feet hit the floor running. His Dad had given him just what he needed. Oh, he hadn’t given him an answer--for who can give a satisfying account of human pain and fear, evil and loss, death and loneliness? He gave him a hug. Told him he was loved. Made him feel safe in his tiny world.

Then Kirk’s father did something else. He made his personal response to his son’s fears and his inability to keep him from ever being touched by them. He did what God himself must do for us. As Kirk left to play, his Dad had a good cry.

--Rubel Shelly