Ellsworth Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I didn't go home. Instead I spent the long weekend with the nutty people pictured below. Here are some the of the quotes that came out of this interesting time...
Bethany Ellsworth, Bran Ellsworth, Dany Brodzinski, Lindy Smith, me, Shane Topolinski, Paul Ellsworth, Kai Akagi

Paul: I think I missed something inappropriate...
Bran: I think that's written in Woodstock.
Paul: It's kind of funny having a laugh-track in the back seat!

Paul: That's my Swedish leg...
Bran: A cow potato?!
Paul: You have an armpit, too! (to Bran, after Bran suggested that Lindy use Paul's armpit to keep her feet warm...)
Bethany: I don't get it, but I'm still laughing!
Bran: These were without the bzzzt-bzzzt, more of a hmmmm-hmmmm... (talking about goads as compared to cattle prods)
Bran: Ladies and gentlemen, I will soon turn off the seatbelt sign. Feel free to move about the cabin. No lavatory lines near the front...
Shane: Anyone want some cheese?
Dany: What format is the cheese in?

What's your name?!

So I realize that I may be opening myself up to some teasing, but here are some of my nicknames, old and new:

*Leigh-Leigh
Leigh is my middle name. Leigh-Leigh quickly switched to...
*Loui
My dad has a ton of Lou's, Loui's, Louises in his family (from Maine).
*Jenkie, Jenks, Jenkie-Lou, Jenkie-Binks
My mom, and sometimes my brothers Ross and Garret, call me these. Hmmmm...
*Jenny
My former next-door neighbors, Sam and Ali, used to call me this.
*Jenniker
This came from my grampa.
*Jen
This came from my friends. For some reason they always apologized after using it...
*Jen-Jen
This came from my Awana friends. We each had a nickname for the back of our t-shirts.
*Jenn-Jenn
This came from my ibex friends, after they knew that I was Jen-Jen.
*Jeh-neee-ker
This came from my roommate, Katharyn.
*Ayelet
This came from Bill, my ibex prof. Ayelet is Hebrew for gazelle, because I would run down, jump over, and climb up everything in Israel.
*The Voice of Reason
I got this in ibex, too (thank you, Nate). Needless to say, I did not appreciate this one, but what can you do? : )
*Yennica
This came from my newer friend Shane.
*Japanese Currency
This too came from Shane (see above).
*Jennifer, Jenna
This comes from all those people on the phone who do not catch that my name ends with an ica, not an ifer.
*Jessica
This comes from professors in their e-mails, when they visual ss instead of nn.

Hmmmm...

This is from the blog of Miriam Blankenship. I don't really know Miriam, but I know that she goes to Master's and that she is the girlfriend of a friend of mine. I read this on her blog and thought that it was very profound. If you want to read more of her profound thoughts, I hope she doesn't mind that I'm giving her link here:
http://www.godadmirer.blogspot.com/

So...I'm not going to stop doing the small, insufficient things that I can just because they're not the big, huge, ideal things that I wish they were.

Ahava

Ahava is Hebrew for love, and that is what I feel for Israel. Why am I here in the States?
The strangest things remind me of my time in that land. There is the hummus in the caf. There are the Tevas that my friends still wear. There is the Star of David around my friend's neck. There is the phone call from my old roommate. There are the pictures posted outside my door. There is "From the ends of the earth" in chapel. There is a note from Bill, calling me Ayelet. There is the Hebrew ring on my finger...
Even last night, I was walking between dorms. I had my jeans on with my slippers, and it was just cold enough that I could walk to the next dorm without getting chilled, but if I stayed out much longer I would get cold. It was dark and the wind was blowing. I was taken back to my time in Israel, walking in my slippers up the white stone steps, past the dining hall, the assembly hall, the reception, down the steep wooden steps to our little library.
Another day I looked across our athletic field and saw a little blonde boy being carried by his dad, and I thought of Eitan.
Are these just selfish longings, or will I be able to return to the land? I hope it is the latter...

Hey Look, It's...

The beach!
Caleb, Dad Costanzo, and Daisy!
The beach!
Dad Costanzo, James, and 3P (or Triple P Maximus)!
Katrin and I!
Dany, my German-International-Student-Friend!

Me!