Not to Inundate You With Jane, But: Thoughts of the Sleep Deprived

It was cute at first, the cuddling. Flattering and maddening that I am the only one that can soothe Jane. Jane is teething. This is Jane. See Jane teethe. Hear Jane fuss. Hear Jane fuss in the night unless Mother rocks her. See Jane soothe. See Mother's dark circles.

I sit in the rocker, Will snoring and sweating in his own enormous bed like a small king. The night is still, so quiet, always as if we are the only people on earth, we three. I rock her. I think until I die I will remember the specific creaking of our rocker. I am not fully awake. My mind volleys between ideas for short stories and wondering why my left eye won't stay open. I snooze. See Mother snooze. See her mouth gape open as she starts to fall asleep and think she is in her own bed.

I open my right eye (the left one still not cooperating) and look down, sure that Jane's stone stillness indicates sleep, finally. But I see the deep pools of eyes, startlingly large in the dark, staring at me, as if her entire essence has drained into her pupils. I start to rise to the crib and her fingers grasp at my collar. Stay, Jane says. See Jane panic. Hear Jane plea. I try to keep in mind: I will one day wish back the sleepless nights, rocking my baby. See Mother stay.

Hellooooooo!

Well, it has been too long since I've blogged so here I am. I thought it was about time to update everyone on the life of the Scarbroughs in the Provo bubble. Drew is LOVING BYU and is so glad he isn't at PSU anymore. We definitely feel like this is where we iare supposed to be right now and he's trying to figure out what he would really like to study while here at BYU. He's still thinking about advertising and marketing but has taken quite a bit of interest in the Business program specifically in Finance. For now, he will get the rest of his GE's out of the way.
As for me, I am actually not going to school anymore. It was a surprise to both Drew and I but we felt prompted that I am supposed to be persuing my pastry chef/cake decorating passions as well as getting experience in the degree I already have. I have been hesitant to share this news with all you but I also know that I am doing whats right for me and we can't question that. I am continually learning more and more about following the spirit and I am trying to gain more confidence in myself and the things I can do. Drew has been a big help with that as always. I think I have to get a "pump me up" talk from him like..oh daily, having him tell me that I can do anything I want to do and be good at it. More than anything I know that I just need to have faith in Heavenly Father and know that he has given me certain talents for a reason and I need to use them.
So now I'm looking for a job and brainstorming ways to get myself out in the cake decorating world. Not too long from now I should be famous. haha Anywho, thats all I have for now. We love you all and miss you. We are excited to hear about Zach and Ksenias trip to Ukraine!

Huh?! We're supposed to post stuff?

Dad & His Truck!

This post is long overdue since dad has had his truck for weeks, but I've been meaning to take his picture by it ever since he got it so you could all see him standing by his truck like Drew and Hailey were. He LOVES his truck and it certainly suits him well.

(OK, I've done over my share of posting lately -- where's the rest of you!!!) (Zach and Margaret are not included in this gentle scolding.)

Hello From Drohobych

So we managed to find our way to this trashy basement internet cafe down a smokefilled alleyway here the town where ksenia grew up. It was right down the street from her grandma's place the whole time and we didn't know it. Sorry for the lack of blog posts while we've been out. needless to say we have been very busy and even if i had known about it earlier I'm not sure I woul'dve had time to post much.

We are just about to catch a train from drohobych back to Kiev where we will be spending our last day in Ukraine. We fly out Tuesday at around 1:30 Kiev time and arrive at home around midnight Portland time.

Sorry once again fro the lack of info. I can give you some highligts real quick.

-Tours of Kievian Cathedrals
-Independence Square
-Train rides from Kiev to Lviv
-Way more food than I should be eating at every Babushka's house (Baba Sonya, Baba Stacia, Baba Invanka)
-A personal guided tour by the one and only Ksenia, through Drohobych.
-Walking to Zaheria
-Tours of Lviv with Orko and his Grandmother
-Markets filled with art, clothes, souviniers, and absolute junk.

I Got the Job!!!!

Well, it's finally official! I GOT THE JOB THAT I'VE BEEN WANTING!!!! Most of you have heard me vent about my desires to get this job, so I thought you'd want to know it's finally official. Today was my first official day.

It's funny that I find myself wanting this job so bad, because for the past 30 years a job outside of the home has been the furthest thing from my mind....and I hadn't really planned to take a regular job until next year. But I had been telling myself since I started subbing that I would take a job if the perfect job came up that I just couldn't turn down. Well, this is that perfect job. It's a combination Secretary job (which I've always known I love and wanted to eventually go back to) where I'm also in charge of the Health Room (a job I wasn't aware I would even like until I had to get health room training to get a secretarial sub job and after subbing in the health room found out I absolutely LOVE it) and then a little classroom aide time sprinkled in. Last year when I took that long-term sub job at the end of the year, I was teaching Kindergarteners the ERI (special reading program) program. I taught 4 groups one right after the other. They have asked me to teach just one 1/2 hr. long group of 6 kids. I really enjoyed working with those little Kindergarteners so it's really fun to be able to add a little of that into the mix of my job. My job keeps me very busy doing a good variety of different responsibilities. I have my own office and as a bonus, my office has a refrigerator and a private bathroom connected. What more could I ask for?

I have cute or interesting stories to tell everyday about what happens in the Health Room! Another day....another blog post. (Maybe just one for now --- it's about the little girl who came into my office just to talk because at lunch time she had been told the "Bloody Mary" story and she was so scared she needed to talk to someone who could help her get her mind off of it.)



There were 22 applicants for my job, but none of them were working for the District, so they didn't have to seriously consider any of them, so they basically told me I had the job last Friday when they saw there were no in-district applicants, but I still had to through the interview process and they had to interview 2 other people. I have to say, it was the easiest job interview I'll probably ever have, because you can't get much easier going into an interview with absolutely no pressure because you know you all ready have the job.


I'm so thankful for this opportunity. I feel so incredibly blessed to have this placed before me basically on a silver platter. There's nothing better than having a job you look forward to going to every day.
I love the people I work with. This is Alex (left) and Rachel (middle), the two other secretaries in the office. They are so fun to work with! (I didn't realize how short Rachel is until I looked at this picture.) So now I'm a Witch Hazel Wolf!!

Check out these disco kids

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Happy 18th Birthday, Mal!!!

Well, the baby of the family is 18! It's hard to believe but here she is, all grown up! Does this sound like a mom writing this, or what? We had her traditional favorite meal (Homemade Pizza), sang "Happy Birthday" and blew out the candles on the birthday cake, and opened gifts at home with Mal, Beau, Dad and I. (Zach and Ksenia are still in Ukraine so we missed them being here like they usually would be.) Then dad and I were talking about the amazing cheesecake we had at the Cheesecake Factory last week and spur of the moment, we all decided to go there for dessert and save the cake for dessert some other time.

As you know, we all contributed to Mal getting the new "Nano" Ipod, but Beau had to order it and it didn't get here yet (hopefully, tomorrow!) While we were waiting for our table at the Cheesecake Factory we wandered down to the Apple Store in the Mall so Mal could actually hold and see what she will be getting for her birthday, once it gets here.

We finally got seated at the Cheesecake Factory and Beau had informed the waiters that it was Mal's birthday, so when they served the desserts (which were amazingly delicious, but none of us could finish them) they sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

So hopefully, you all feel like you are sharing a little bit in her birthday, even if you couldn't be here for it. She is so excited about the Nano, so thanks for all of you helping make it happen for her. (She also got a gift certificate to get her ears pierced, I-tunes money, the Empire Records DVD, a little gas money for her car, and a tuner for her guitar.) Her friends made a big banner in the commons announcing her birthday and brought her 18 cupcakes and gifts at school, so she's had a fun day. She also loved hearing from those of you who were in the country and could call.

We just heard from Hollie tonight that Kaedi and Marc had there baby girl today on Mal's birthday! What great news!

Happy Birthday, Mal!

Homework Help...

So i need help with a reasearch project i am doing. I need all, who want to participate, to define the word "beat," "groove," and "rhythm." Just define them in your own words. You can use examples if you want. It's really funny because i am so out of place in this class. I registered late, so i had to take some interesting classes. This one is World Music Cultures. It's like 30 band and choir concerts members and then me. I tihnk my teacher has already thought a couple of times, "What is up with this Scarbrough character? He doesn't know a thing about music!" I can tell when i answer a question in the class and he says things like, "Yeah....well.... that kind of ties in." Oh well, i try. Anyway, if anyone could just help me out, that would be great!

Inside Intel...

I pictured this big formal event. I walk into a conference room where there is a long dark wood table with chairs surrounding it. At one end is my boss, a dozen official looking HR representatives in pinstripe suits wearing sunglasses sit at the chairs on either side of the table. I take a seat in the vacant chair on the opposite side of the table from my boss. My knees begin to knock together, the sound is only drowned out by the chatter of my nervous teeth. Before I can speak, the boss begins barraging me with "opportunities" and "constructive criticisms" that totally debase and deflate me till I am merely a luke warm puddle in my chair... if left unchecked my imagination can take me to some pretty scary places.

Luckily, what really happened was far from the concoctions of my self-destructive daydreams. Instead of a barrage of insults, it was a buffer of praise. Rather than leaving feeling like a puddle of cowards urine, I left feeling worthy of the job offer they placed before me. It's nice to feel wanted.

We feel very blessed and grateful for this offer. I haven't accepted it yet, but all signs are pointing towards 3-5 years with Intel as I try to carve a out career for myself in the business world.

In the mean time I will be working with the same group I interned with this summer, part time and remotely, while I finish school. Another great blessing.

It's a Video... you know... of kids

So I took some random footage of Kayla and McKay last weekend when they were in town and used it to practice editing video on Beau's computer. This was the result. Bear in mind that this footage was not taken for any particular reason, nor edited with any goal in mind. These kids sure are cute though. We have enough pictures and video of them around our apartment pretty soon people are going to start wondering if they are our kids.



For your information, in response to the "What do you want to do for a job?" question, Kayla responded... Pretend I'm a mommy. 4 year olds some times need subtitles too, but I haven't learned to do that yet :)

Enjoy.

Lviv and Portland...Sister Cities 2008...

I had the opportunity to play this song at the Ukrainian Independence Day festival yesterday and thought it would be fun to post here. The performance was not flawless but it started and ended well, so I don't think many people remember the screw up part. I'm a little disappointed in the video quality... but that is file compression for you.



After I was done, some guy from the Ukrainian Bank of Portland came up to me and started spelling out all his plans to start a Lviv and Portland Sister city event next summer and he wants me to perform at it. He was sort of drunk so I don't know what was true or not. But I gave him my email anyway.

Also for your listening enjoyment, the actual version of the song I played, called Odna Kalyna.



More on Ukrainian Independence Day later.