Others' thoughts...

I've read some good posts on other blogs in the last few days and months, and I thought I'd share them here. :)

We Need Boring Christians via Relevant Magazine
I'm slowly becoming "unromanticized" about living overseas, and I think it is good.  And yes, I still want to go.

On Thriving While Living/Traveling Elsewhere via Voye'm
Knowing why you're there and learning to react appropriately

Challies.com via Tim Challies
Amos says Tim Challies is one of the most widely-read Christian bloggers, and he reads his site almost every day.  I've started reading his blog, too, and I really like it (maybe because I agree with most of what he says, haha!).  Anyway, Challies is a youngish Christian writer who writes from a conservative perspective; he also links to several other useful and interesting posts.

List of unusual deaths via wikipedia
Because I'm morbid and a friend posted this on facebook in the middle of my writing this post.
Example of an entry:  2002:  Richard Sumner, a British artist suffering from schizophrenia, went into a remote section of Clocaenog Forest in Denbighshire, Wales, handcuffed himself to a tree and threw the keys out of his reach.  His skeleton was discovered three years later.  There were signs that he may have later changed his mind.

For Christian Men: The Lessons of Herman Cain via Al Mohler
Integrity is essential, in both men and women.

Church-Planting among the Unreached: Gritty Wisdom from Brad Buser via Gunner Gunderson (four parts)
Thoughts and tips on living and ministering cross-culturally with other workers.  I need to read this again because when I found these posts, I actually started at part four and didn't get a clear picture at first of what Brad Buser was trying to communicate.

True forgiveness

These are rather rough, semi-formed thoughts, but I wanted to share them anyway.

I was reading parts of Isaiah 53 last night, and the last verse struck me:

...yet He bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
-Isaiah 53:12c

We all know that Jesus took our sins upon Himself.  We all know that the Father will forgive us if we accept the work of Jesus in our place.

But do we ever think about the fact that Jesus is talking to the Father for the ones whose sin drove Him to the cross and ultimately the grave?  The ones who were behind such anguish that He pleaded with the Father for another way to pay the price?

Sometimes when we forgive, we hope never to see the person again because of the pain or betrayal.

Yet Jesus not only paid for our forgiveness, He continually brings our needs and requests before the Father.  He talks to God about each of, asking that we would be made more like Himself, that God would orchestrate the events of our lives for His glory and "for our good always."  Jesus talks about each of us, having forgiven us, having overlooked the initial willful rejection of Him, having drawn us to Himself with His love, and now having us in the palm of His nail-scarred hand.

Merry Christmas, from our ever-loving, ever-living, ever-forgiving, ever-interceding Savior.

Joy to the world!!!  You need not be condemned to hell for your sins.

Our neighbor, Soren

Soren is our neighbor.  If you just thought, "Soren Kierkegaard!" yea!  I'm not alone.  I've never met anyone named Soren before.  I've actually only talked to him once, even though I've been married and lived here for almost six months.  We don't see a lot of him, and I frequently think that he must be irritated by hearing my oft-repeated Owl City songs through the thin walls.  Hopefully he has headphones.

Anyway, our little house is rather small and shares a wall with Soren's.  His house is the mirror image of ours, so our two bathrooms have a common wall.

Tonight I was washing my face in our bathroom, I could hear Soren doing something in his bathroom (try not to think about it), and Amos was in the kitchen.  In the process of getting the Crock-Pot down from its perch on top of the fridge, Amos knocked over the cereal container, making a lot of noise that he thought I could hear.  I didn't hear anything, though, until he yelled, "Don't worry, I'm oh-kay!!"

Without thinking of our neighbor, I raised my head, facing the shared wall, and yelled back, "What are you doing in there?!"

I'm guessing that Soren either thought,
"Should I respond?  What is she talking about??"
or
"Weirdo.  I gotta move."

Don't...

I don't have much to say.

Ummmmmm, I finished some little crafty projects.  I think they look nice.

Zeus is still alive.  Sometimes he sleeps under his heater. :)

I had an interview today for a high school right down the street.  I'll find out by Friday if I got it.

I'm reading The Arabs by David Lamb.  I was disappointed to learn that he didn't write any more books about the Middle East, though he did write an updated version of The Arabs.

Amos and I went to our church's Christmas party on Sunday.  One of the best parts was watching a guy in a motorized wheelchair pull kids around the ice rink behind his chair.  It was awesome. :)

Only eleven more days till Christmas!

The little house

And finally, pictures of our little house. :)

The front, complete with clover and a rose bush :)

The front room with bookshelves and a coffee table/bookshelf

The other side of the front room, with more books :)

The small kitchen with announcements and missionary prayer cards

The other half of the kitchen with shelf, bridal bouquet, and Christmas tree

Master bedroom with the quilt I made and curtain I need to finish

The other side of the room

Our backyard.  The hammock takes up a lot of the space in the summer

Finally, our little Christmas tree with Amos' present! :)

Windy

Amos and I have wanted to go to the Huntington Library and Gardens for a few years now, but it is really hard to get tickets for their free day. Our friend Rachel had several free tickets that she was giving away, so we decided to take a trip this morning!

We left a little before 10:00 and headed down multiple freeways to Pasadena.  As we got closer to our destination, we started seeing splintered trees and severed limbs along the edges of the freeway.  Getting off on the surface roads, we saw more downed trees and blacked out traffic lights.  We drove up to the gates of the Huntington only to be told by two cheerful guys that the gardens were closed because of the power outages.  We decided to drive back through some other roads to see more of the cracked and dismantled trees.  Amos commented that I was just like my dad, who loves to check out all disasters.  One day Dad took off work to go check out the broken and flooding Folsom Dam; "you have to see these things while they are happening!"  The terms "ambulance chaser" and "rubbernecker" come to mind.

Anyway, we took some pictures of the carnage.  You can click on them to see a larger version.

This tree is being held up by the powerlines

I don't think this tree hit the house, but it was close

Road block!

More powerlines and road blocks...

If you look on the left, you can see the asphalt that was cracked by the tree roots

Just stuff...

1. We sang this song from Sovereign Grace in church today.  I am a big fan of Sovereign Grace music as it takes lyrics from both Puritan prayers and the Bible.

2. My brother Scott and sister-in-law Ashley are waiting to adopt a little baby from Uganda.  My old IBEX friend Nate and his wife Miriam have been waiting over two years to adopt two babies from Rwanda.  Gunner and his wife Cindi adopted one little boy from Uganda several years ago and two boys and one girl from Rwanda this summer.  Please pray that Scott and Ashley's baby and Nate and Miriam's babies come home soon.

3. I don't know what to do with my free time sometimes, but I feel like I should DO something with it... *sigh*

4. In other news, Christmas is only a month away!  As our pastor said today, "we set apart the days to celebrate the birth of our Savior."  Our Savior; the Muslims' Savior; the Hindus' Savior; the atheists' Savior; your Savior; my Savior.

Zeus

Well, there's a blog post title I never thought I'd use!  We decided to name our new fishy friend Zeus.  Amos ordered him a personal heater and thermometer today so that 1) he can be warm, poor guy, and 2) so we don't accidentally fry him. :/  When it's cool in the house I tell Amos, "I'm going to put the sweater on Zeus."  No, I don't mean a literal sweater, with holes for his tiny fins, but that would be funny!  His "sweater" is a fleece blanket folded a few times and secured with a binder clip around his bowl to keep him warm.  We also turn on a light above his bowl for a little extra heat.  Yes, the poor fish needs a heater if he is going to survive in our little home.

So far Zeus is a good fish.  He swims around or hangs out in the bottom of the bowl with the little flattened marbles.  Zeus does have a problem, though; he won't eat his food.  There are so many water-logged pieces of fish food at the bottom of his bowl right now!  Apparently bettas can go about two and a half weeks on a hunger fast before they will actually eat their food.  I think they are fed different food at the store because Zeus really doesn't like this kind, even though it is specified as betta food.  He will suck it in and spit it back out a few times before it slowly sinks to the bottom.  We have another type of food that he likes, but some websites say it's like candy and he needs to eat his "real food."  Hopefully Zeus will give in soon!

Here are some photos of him.  Hopefully you can still see what he looks like.

Zeus, chillin' in his sweater :D

He's a very nice color...

Our fishy friend, Zeus the betta fish

Ferdinand? Bertram? Jonah?

Call us sick, call us morbid, call us weird.

One of our friends just got a betta fish, and she accidentally killed it by not putting enough water conditioner in the water when she introduced her pet to his new home.

Poor Charles.

Charles' death inspired Amos to get his own fishy friend.  Our little fish has a big, round bowl and some blue and green flattened marbles for landscaping (waterscaping? aquascaping?).  He likes to stay right below the surface of the water like a miniature submarine.  Amos is afraid the poor dude is going to freeze and give up the ghost, so he's looking into a heater for him, which is probably a good idea considering how cold it gets in our little house.  Apparently one brand of heaters has a tendency to boil fish, so we won't be getting any of those.  I didn't know this, but companies also make tiny, leaf-like hammocks for bettas that come attached to a suction cup so you can stick it to the side of the bowl.  Whoa.  One reviewer says his fish loves it and looks "as deliriously happy as it's possible for a fish to look."

Alrighty then.

I came up with a few names for the fish, but Amos hasn't officially approved any of them.  First I thought that Bertram would be a nice name.  Then I thought of Jonah (my personal favorite), and finally Ferdinand.  We shall see!

I just hope he doesn't end up christened Bluey or something weird like that. ;)

11/13/11

1. Amos and I attended an India meeting at church today.  We are going to Bangalore, India in July!  I'm so excited!  Amos is going to make a promotional video for our ministry partners (they have a Bible college and a children's home).  I'm going to teach a writing class and help the kids with homework.  I saw pictures of all of the kids last week, and I can't wait to go over and meet all twenty of them! :)

2. I am making this for dinner! :)  It should be reaaaaaaaaally good.

3. Friday was my brother Scott's birthday.  He's twenty-seven!

4. On Thursday I had an interview.  I should find out tomorrow or Tuesday if I got the long-term sub position.  I really hope I get it!  I think the decision has been made already, but please pray anyway.

5. I finished A Chance To Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot...which reminds me that I need to renew the other three books I checked out!

6. Amos and I have been married for four months now!

7. There are a lot of exclamation points in this post! ! !

"It has a little stink in it..."

Amos has several side jobs.  One of his jobs is a temporary job editing photos for our old IBEX professor, Todd.  Another is creating a website for our old IBEX friend, Lexi.  Still another job is hauling around porta potties mobile restrooms for his coworker Ryan.

I know what you are thinking.

"Uggggghhhh, porta potties!  Nasty green closets set up at flea markets and construction sites, dirty as can be, and twice as smelly."

Yeah, that's what I thought when Amos told me about it.

However, these are different.  These restrooms are very nice.

I was describing them to my mom one day.

What I said: "They're really nice, they're big, and they even have a little sink in it."
What she heard: "...they even have a little stink in it!"

Haha!

Anyway, this last weekend Amos was hauling one of the units up to Fresno for a wedding.  It was quite the adventure.  We got up at 4:20 am, took showers, packed our stuff into the car, and headed for Master's, where Amos had parked the truck and unit.

We got everything transferred to the nice, brand-new, diesel Dodge Ram and were up in Fresno by 8:30.  After talking to the wedding coordinator, we started setting up.  The unit has a freshwater tank for washing hands and flushing, so we ran a garden hose across the street to "fill 'er up."  Unfortunately the first car that drove by cracked the hose in three different places!  Water was shooting all over the road and running into the little field where we set up the restrooms.  Soon we were avoiding mud puddles and tracking dirt into the bathrooms.  One of the set-up guys for the wedding found another, heavier hose for us to use, so we set everything up inside, topped off the tank, and were off to a fun weekend!

The rest of the weekend included a free upgrade to a bigger hotel room, taking naps, watching TV (British TV shows and college football, mostly), going out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, sleeping in, and eating waffles and powdered eggs (gag!) for breakfast.  It was fun. :)

All in all, we had a great time in spite of early mornings, my cold, and mud puddles.

Amos' parents, Barb and Lester, wanted to see some pictures of the units, so here they are!  Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Early morning Fresno, behind the trailer

The handsome husband, looking a little cold

The bathrooms, complete with mats and palm trees! ;)
Notice the little lights to let you know if the stall is occupied.

Inside the ladies' stall

Suffer

I finished The Reason for God by Timothy Keller yesterday.  I think everyone should read this book, penned for "skeptics and the believers who love them...The first, shorter part of the book looks at popular arguments against God's existence, while the second builds on general arguments for God to culminate in a sharp focus on the redemptive work of God in Christ." (from Publishers Weekly via amazon.com)

Some of the topics that hit me the hardest:

• the importance of forgiveness and the pain that is involved in that forgiveness
• the danger of building one's life on anything other than God
• Christ's identification with us in our suffering

Amos and I heard hard news about a friend today, and I have been thinking back to what Tim Keller kept hitting on, namely that Christ suffers with us.

He loves us.

True love involves caring for the sufferer and entering into their suffering yourself as you draw close to them.  Christ did this for us on the cross.  He identified with us in our humanity and suffering.  He left His Spirit to comfort us as we live, laugh, love, and suffer here on earth.  "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows..."

He knows.

And that is immensely comforting to me, especially as I want just to fix the situation and make everything right.

He cares for our friend more than anyone else ever could.



God knows.

I'll get around to it one of these days

I thought of putting up pictures of our little house today, but I didn't get around to it.  First Amos and I didn't get up very early today; Amos blames it on the sugar we had the last few days.  I have no idea why we've been so tired.

After lunch of leftover homemade lasagna, I took Amos to work then toodled around on the internet for a while.

Later I walked to the grocery store and talked to Irene on the phone.  When I got to Vallarta, I bought a $0.20 cucumber before jay walking running across the street to Ralph's.  I bought a can of pineapple for $1.00 and a box of crumb donuts (the best kind) for $0.49.  Arriving back at the little house, I put the cucumber away, got some cash out of my wallet, and walked to another grocery store, Tresierras.  I bought two onions, a pound of carrots, and twenty eggs.  Next I walked down the farmers' market to find out how much the tamales were.  When I found out they were $3.00 each, I decided to just go home and have something else for dinner.  Another customer told me they were really big, though, and when I looked, I decided to have one after all. :)

I walked back home and cleaned up some of the house before I had dinner.  Then I talked to Amos and another friend on Facebook and finally got back around to mopping the kitchen and bedroom floors.

Now there are candles burning in the bedroom and kitchen, working away at the chemical cleaning smells.  I'm waiting for Amos to get off work.  I head off to work tomorrow!  I'm going to one of my favorite high schools.  Should be good!

Henry

Henry is the newest addition to the Ralston household.

Henry.  He even got the blue and green memo!

As you can see, he is a very nice plant of the sage variety.  I've wanted a sage plant for a long time.  I grew a tiny specimen from a sage seed when I lived at Aptartment 29 (three years ago!), and it did pretty well until I put it outside in the hot blazing sun.  The poor little plant was not prepared for SoCal's heat and quickly shriveled up.

I wanted a sage plant because you can use the leaves to make really good tea.  When I was in Jordan five and half years ago, we had tea every morning at our hostel.  The tea was very good except for the day that I found a pincher bug taking a float in the tea pot.  My friends and I asked the hostel owner what the brand of tea was and then wandered Wadi Mousa till we found some.  I bought the biggest box that the little convenience store had (195 teabags), but I didn't use them fast enough.  I threw about half of them away yesterday because they were so bitter it really took away from the taste.  I kept the cardboard box and several of the tags from the teabags, though.

Last Sunday I went to the grocery store and found a new box of Ceylon tea, though sadly and understandably, it was not the same brand.  Amos and I had some tea on Tuesday or Wednesday before we went to Home Depot and bought Henry.  I've resisted the temptation to water him; apparently he only needs a little water to survive.

Henry makes very good tea.

Jordanian Tea
Ceylon tea
A lot sugar
A few fresh sage leaves (summer) OR
A few fresh mint leaves (winter)

Now or never

If I don't write this post at 10 o'clock tonight, I probably never will.  My number of blog posts dropped after I got engaged and then started teaching full-time, so here's hoping I can raise that number now that I'm married and only subbing.  We shall see...

Sunday
Manned the donut table at church
Went to a Team India meeting
Took a really long nap
Hung out with Amos

Monday
Waited for Amos to wake up after he worked overnight
Went to the mall
Went to the Christian bookstore and got my last name embossed on my Bible

Tuesday
Hung out with Amos
I can't remember what else
One of these days we watched old Disney cartoons on YouTube

Wednesday
Hung out with Amos
We might have run errands, but I can't remember

Thursday
Hung out with Amos
Cleaned the house
Made little coasters using a fabric place mat, a rubber place mat, and embroidery floss
Went to bed late and only got a few hours of sleep

Friday
Got up at 6:00 to pick up a truck down in Sun Valley
Made poppyseed muffins
Made a fourth coaster
Went with Amos to set up a porta potty unit down in West Hills
Took a nap
Picked up bulletins
Went to three different grocery stores
Washed the dishes
Drove with Danielle to the grocery store*
Had Danielle, Jamie, and Sarah over for dinner and games
Helped Amos jumpstart Danielle's car

Saturday
Made breakfast
Moped around waiting for Amos to come back from helping friends move a piano
Went on a walking adventure
Read a book
Made dinner
Stuffed bulletins
Watched part of a movie
Went to bed too late

Sunday
Went to church
Waited in vain to meet another guy who wants to go to India with us
Went to the library
Went to Target and Sprouts
Took a nap
Went back to West Hills to get the porta potty and take care of it
Went to In N Out for dinner
Went to Fusion

*Danielle's car died at work, so our mutual friend Albert helped her jumpstart the car.  She didn't want to turn off the car, so I ran out and went to the grocery store with her, hoping Sarah, a new friend from church, wouldn't show up while we were gone.  She did.  Oh well!  We all had a good time anyway. :)

Green and Blue

Amos favorite color is darkish-bright blue, and my favorite colors are cobalt blue and olive-ish green.  Hence our wedding colors, which I think looked very nice together. :)

Happy Wedding Day! July 9, 2011

Anyway, a few weeks ago Amos and I went to Goodwill.  Amos wanted to see if they had a bulletin board.  I wanted one for a project, but he hadn't been able to find one at the Goodwill across town.  We didn't find a bulletin board this time either, but I did get four books. :)

I finished The Good Daughter by Jasmin Darznik, one of the books I bought at a Borders going-out-of-business sale (I saved $60.00 in books, only spending $18.00).  It was an interesting memoir about life in Iran.  Interesting, but I did not like Darznik's writing style.  Anyway.

I finished The Good Daughter and picked up Down the Nile: alone in a fisherman's skiff by Rosemary Mahoney, purchased for $1.99.  As the title says, she wanted to row down the Nile in Egypt in a skiff.  Last night I was reading  her descriptions of Elephantine Island and Kitchener Island in Upper Egypt, near the city of Aswan, all of which I've explored.  One of the reasons why I love books about the Middle East is because oftentimes I can say, "I've been there!  I've seen that!  I had that same observation about the culture!" and sometimes more arrogantly, "that's not what it's like there" or "what were they thinking?"  Oh dear.  In any case, I love reading about the Middle East, and this book is awesome so far.

Mahoney describes Kitchener Island as an island stuffed with exotic plants and trees.  I visited this island with a few friends in 2006 while I was on spring break from IBEX.  I tried to write down everything about my semester in Israel and my spring break trip, but there was too much to do; I didn't want to spend my time writing when I could spend time doing. My very brief notes on Kitchener and Elephantine Islands read:

Botanical Gardens on [Kitchener] island
  very pretty
  guy with gun 

Elephantine Island
  Nilometer
  creepy guy

Haha!

Anway, back to Down the Nile.  I was reading along, identifying with all of Mahoney's descriptions, when a few sentences just about leapt off the page:

...[Mahoney] moved on past Kitchener Island, a small island wholly taken up with the most exotic botanical garden I had ever seen.  It was filled with tropical trees and flowers, everything marked in Latin and Arabic.  On another trip I had seen a horseradish tree there, a cape honeysuckle, a mountain ebony, baobab, an ironwood, a rubber vine, a spotted gum, a sliver trumpet tree, and an enormous mahogany.  I had seen a Strychnos nux-vomica, a strychnine tree, and had put one of its spherical seedpods in my pocket, then later threw it away for fear it would poison me.  Kitchener was cool and quiet and shady, and it was home to a curious cat that had one green eye and one blue.

Wait, what?!?!

...it was home to a curious cat that had one green eye and one blue.

Whoa.

Whoa.

I had a picture of the same exact cat.  I was so thrilled and excited that I read the last sentence to Amos before interrupting his time on the computer to find the picture I had taken five and half years earlier.

The famous kitty

Even this morning I was so excited that I had found that sentence and that I had actually seen, with my own eyes, the same green-and-blue eyed cat that this author had seen, on a very small island in a foreign country on the other side of the world.

Have I mentioned I love books?

*sigh*

Rowdy

I had several things to do today:
1. Go to school and teach rowdy seniors and distracted juniors: check
2. Get frustrated with kids who won't just behave: check
3. See several old students from student teaching days: check!

4. Come home and have lunch with Amos: check! :D

5. Finish with the last period of rowdy seniors: check

6. Cancel my bank account: check
7. Meet a teller who knows several of my friends and goes to a local church: check

Next up:
8. Go to Lens Crafters to get some contacts that I can actually SEE out of

9. Go to the grocery store for something (hopefully I'll remember it before I get there...)

10. Call in to Ross or Audra to listen when they find out what they will be having next February (I'm guessing a boy)

11. Wait for Amos to come home from work

Stream of consciousness

[Disclaimer: I've never studied the art of writing in the stream of consciousness style, so you can just think of this as rambling if you know what stream of consciousness is really supposed to be like. ;) ]


I have four more days of CELDT testing...so glad!  I talked to one of the other testers today at lunch, and it turns out he's been a lot of the same places I've been.  He started out in Malawi, traveled up through Africa into Egypt, Jordan, and Israel before hitting up Italy and Germany.  Crazy.  $10,000.00, eleven months, and some teaching in order to get a ticket back home.  hmmmmm...How can Amos and I get $25,000.00, just to be safe?  Haha, that's more money than I've EVER made in a year.  Below the poverty line?  Yes.  Do I need to be above the poverty line?  It would be nice, especially for paying off our loans, but no, it's not absolutely necessary.
I told the tester, Sergio, that I wanted to live overseas.  He asked if my husband did, too.  I said yes, I wouldn't have married him otherwise.  You should have the same goals if you are going to get married, at least that's what I think.  He had no comment.  Weird.  Makes sense to me.  You need more than just "chemistry."
I have some ideas for teaching, but I have no students. :P  I think I might start asking kids when I sub what they like in a substitute.  I'm not talking about watching movies in class or letting kids do whatever they want.  I know that I don't have classroom management down.  Maybe the kids themselves can give me some pointers. ;)
Katie, Amos' sister and my sister-in-law, had a baby!  His name is Oliver Ryder and he is so cute.  I'm glad he finally arrived. :)  I don't know when we'll be able to visit, but maybe Katie and Seth will put up more pictures. ;)
I guess that's all for now.  I might take out my new contacts and read a book.  Amos will be home in an hour! :D

Brunch

Amos and I went to brunch on Tuesday because Amos said we'd been married two months already and he is really happy. :D  Awwwwww!!!

We went to Egg Plantation, a place just around the corner.  The menu lists at least 100 different kinds of omelets in addition to other breakfast and lunch choices (though I think I've always picked an omelet).  Amos agreed to sit outside  where we watched a server nearly fall off the steps into a potted palm tree (it was a small tree but a big pot!).  I later tripped on the same pot, but that is beside the point. ;)  Amos had orange juice and I had a mocha, which was awesome.  I don't think I'll get one at Starbucks again after that one.  Amos and I both ordered hash browns and a biscuit as sides for our omelets, without talking to each other. ;)

I just love Amos.  He listens to me when I'm tired, is calm when I get upset, laughs at the silly things I do on purpose and on accident, and gives me lots of hugs.  I like talking to him.  We talk about silly things and serious things, like church, financial decisions, dreams, plans, decisions, opinions, how to impact others, etc.

In other news, Amos and I started dating three years ago yesterday.

Lacking in the photo department...

Heather mentioned that she wanted to see our house...well, this is our house before we got it all put together.  I'm hoping to take new pictures of the little place when our prints show up and we can put them on the wall.

This is what we saw when we came back from our wedding reception and then our honeymoon.

Presents everywhere!  From the doorway, looking straight ahead...

More presents!  Taken from the doorway, looking to the right...

From the hallway, looking at the front door...

Having salad, tri-tip, and cheese bread on our first night at home!

Being silly while opening presents...

Aaaaaaaaaahhh!  Don't look! ;)  :)

Intentions

So, I really thought I would have more posts in August...and now August is gone...oooops...
Ummmm, what have I been up to...

1. I worked five days last week. :)  I'm a CELDT proctor again.  This means I administer tests to junior high and high school kids in the local district.  It's not very exciting even at first, and after a week or two it's downright boring.  HOWEVER, I am getting paid and I am very thankful for that. :)
Last week I was at one of my favorite schools.  I had to test nine kids over the course of two days.  I basically read for three hours each day, tested kids for the other three hours, and got paid for all of it.  Not too bad. :)

2. I finally finished The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday by Neil MacFarquhar.  The narrative picked up after I went back to it, so it didn't take too long to read.  Now I'm reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.  It is supposed to be really funny...we shall see.

3. Amos and I have friends in China, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, and New Zealand, and soon to be Turkey, Czech Republic, and England.  This is getting crazy.  I want to go.

4. We finally got around to picking out wedding pictures to put on our walls.  I will take pictures of our little house one of these days and will put them up on-line.  I think it looks very nice. :)

5. Yesterday I made Korean barbecue.  It was really good. :)  I also made little personal pizzas using some very flat and dry pita bread ($0.65 for six pieces!) from a local grocery store.  They came out very well and don't take too long to make.  Another creation was a white cake with coconut frosting.  A few weeks ago I made coconut rice, butter chicken, and saag aloo (potatoes in a spinach sauce).  It's been fun. :)

Sometime I will have to write about the spiders and the tiny red ants...but not today!  Happy Labor Day! :)

BLA

I think Amos and I need to join a BLA, or Book Lovers Anonymous because...
we love books.
Oh dear.
I decided we should write down all the books we have, just so that we know and so we can avoid buying duplicates.  So far I have about 180 books on the list, and I've only listed the books on six shelves and the coffee table, plus a few more I have in my parents' storage unit.  That means I still need to record the books on . . . twelve more shelves.
Oh dear.

I've read a few books recently.  The first was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I'm not sure if it benefited me in any way, but it was definitely interesting.  It is set in the future in a super-controlled country, and, as you can imagine, crazy things are the norm.  I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone, but it was very intriguing.

I'm still reading The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday by Neil MacFarquhar.  It is interesting, but I get a little lost on who is who in the story and/or Middle East, and since I've taken so long to read it (it's stretched over at least five months), I'm a little confused when he references people he mentioned earlier in the book.  I will plow through it, though.  It is interesting to read because, 1) it's about the Middle East, 2) it's his personal experiences + research, and 3) he went to many different countries that are currently in upheaval.  I actually took this book on our honeymoon because I knew Amos sleeps a lot more than I do, and I didn't want to be bored in case he took a really long nap.  One day I read it for a little bit then fell asleep myself.  I awoke a while later from a crazy dream involving terrorists and a plane exploding right above the San Diego airport, which we passed just about every day we were down there.  Wow.  That was a bit scary.  I'll bet MacFarquhar never anticipated his book giving people nightmares!

Now I'm reading Walking the Bible by Bruce Feiler.  It sounds good, but it is more interesting than inspiring. The author took time to travel all around the Middle East, following the narrative of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy.  Along the way he meets all sorts of interesting people and tells fascinating and sometimes funny stories (like the story about the grand opening of the Suez Canal; something about a ship getting stuck right before the ceremony and the procession of boats couldn't continue until the lodged ship was blown up!). Another favorite section of this book describes Feiler's walk from the Haas Promenade down into the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys and then up into Jerusalem.  I can still picture the whole area so clearly.  Also, Feiler meets the Israeli archaeologist Gabi Barkay, the same famous archaeologist who gave a lecture in my Jerusalem Archaeology class. :D  However, as far as the content goes, the author is exploring his Jewish faith for the first time and therefore his observations and conclusions are not always rarely accurate.  It definitely makes you think about what you, as a Christian, know to be true and why you know it is true.

*I noticed I use the word "interesting" quite a bit.  I shall have to remedy this . . . in future posts. ;)

Apparently...

is a word I use quite often.
people still look at my blog (at least that's what I've heard).
there is a job opening in my local school district, and yes, I applied today. :)
school starts tomorrow.  Poor lil high schoolers and junior highers.
I was bitten by two bugs.  Not a fan.
the termites like to hang out in the kitchen.  I suppose it could be worse; they could like food instead of wood.
Amos is the best dude around. :D
people had a good time picking out towels for us.  I think we got towels in four or five different presents.
I need to go to bed.

Since...

being married...

1. Started and finished Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson
2. Gone without hot water for a few days while the water heater pilot light was fixed
3. Wandered down to the library to "look at the books" when our toilet had problems
4. Went to the store with Amos to get a plunger to fix above-mentioned toilet, only to find him wielding the item like a sword in Target (oh dear. ;) )
5. Unpacked presents and possessions
6. Gone to Goodwill at least four times to drop stuff off and/or find stuff
7. Made really bad peanut chicken
8. Cleaned up the backyard
9. Set up the hammock
10. Gone to the laundromat twice
11. Listened to lots of Amos stories :)
12. Told lots of stories
13. Sent out résumés
14. Made good stuff, like sloppy Joes, strawberry sauce, tri-tip burritos, strawberry milkshakes, pita chips, etc.
15. Slept in almost every day
16. Talked to friends in Korea and India
17. Heard about friends going all over the world
18. Kissed Amos many, many times :D

Browsing

Two painted green kitchen chairs - $12.99 each
One short white bookshelf - $7.50
Five "Calvin and Hobbes" comic books - $3.99 each
$1.50-5.99 each
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Gentleman's Agreement
Knowing God
Cheaper by the Dozen (first printing)
Humility
Guns, Germs, and Steel
American Girl set: Felicity (still shrink-wrapped)

Hooray for Goodwill!  Like we really need more stuff for our already-packed out little house, but who can pass up such good and useful deals!

I sound like an advertisement.

Happy Saturday! :)

Arrivals

Tuesday: Mom and Lester
Wednesday: Grace and Herschel (after 64ish hours on a train)
Thursday: Seth and Katie; Dad, Brenda, Luke, Alexis, Gio; Lester, Barb, Julia, Sara, Theodore, Nathaniel, Reuben, Alisha, Ellie, Chloe; Aunt Brenda and Grandmother; Irene
Friday: Ross and Audra; Scott and Ashley
Saturday: Garret and Kaydee

It's coming together, and AMOS AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED!!! :D

TWO DAYS! :D

TEN

Yes, I am TEN days away from getting married.  Crazy...and so exciting! :D

Countdown

17 days, 14 hours, 47 minutes, 30 seconds


I'm so excited to marry my best friend and sweetheart, Amos! :D


You can ask him, I keep shaking him because I'm so excited.  Poor guy's going to end up with whiplash or shaken adult syndrome or something...

Two-point-five days left!!!!!!!!

I can't wait for the end of school!!!!!!!

Spiders

Quite a few years ago (i.e., the other day ;) ), I was up late at night.  I saw a spider high up on the wall in our hallway but didn't want to kill it.  However, I thought I probably should because my little sister was sleeping in the room nearby, and I didn't want her to get bitten.  My brothers were asleep and I thought, "I kill my own spiders.  I don't need them to do it for me."

Thus, I came up with a bumper sticker idea.

I kill my own spiders.

That bumper stick has been affixed to all the cars I have driven/owned.  When I run out of stickers, I simply go on-line and make a new one.  I've gotten all sorts of responses.

One man in a business suit talked to me a gas station.  He was very confused.  He thought I raised spiders just to kill them. (Ummm, no, that's creepy; I don't do that.)

Another time two high school boys drove by in a truck.  One leaned out the window with both thumbs in the air and yelled, "Yeah!!  I kill my own spiders, too!"

On another occasion I walked out of the bank and towards my car.  A lady in another car was very excitedly taking a picture with her cell phone.  She said she thought it was great, and she was going to send the picture to her friend.

When I went to India last summer, we went on a church retreat in the jungle for a few days.  I decided that I didn't want to sleep with my bed right up against the wall in our room, just in case some bug came along.  There were some pretty gross spiders that stayed in the jungle, too. They weren't colorful or evil-looking, but they had fat, squishy bodies and could get pretty big.  I pulled the curtains over the window and found a spider running along the fabric.  I knocked him to the ground and killed him.  I moved another curtain, but this time a spider ran down my arm, which I flailed violently.  That spider died, too.  I also found another spider living in a crack near the sink.  I think managed to get him to come out, and he too gave up the ghost.  I'm really glad none of the other girls found the spiders; they didn't have as much "spirit of adventure," as I like to call it.

Over the last few months, my students found out which car was mine and now periodically make comments to me in class.

"Oh, Ms. Byers, I kill my own spiders, too."
"That's great, David, thank you, be quiet now."

Today someone decided to tease another student.

"Oh, you have a huge spider on you!!"
"Just get Ms. Byers to get it off!!" :)

Ahh, spiders.

*Edit: Dave Tuck, my speech professor in college and one of Amos' friends, reminded me that I used my bumper sticker in a speech in class, too.  I almost forgot about that.  (I think that's the thing that sticks out to him most about me... ;) )

Things I see and hear

Things I see on the way to school:
-Lots of cars
-Lots of trucks
-Lots of motorcycles ridden by bikers weaving in and out of traffic
-Construction (mostly just in two areas)
-Huge metal culverts as tall as semis (part of the construction)
-A dark blue Hummer with the license plate "O BAE B" (it makes me laugh every time :) )
-Semis carrying all sorts of things: milk, oil, caskets, livestock, rental equipment, mail, etc.  My favorite was the one I saw today: huge rolls of brown paper about 8-10 feet wide and 8-10 feet tall!  They were anchored to the flat bed with chains that passed through the middle of the rolls
-Billboard advertising the end of the world (it was replaced with a Ralph's ad around May 15th or so)
-A lot of young men and women all wearing blue scrubs, walking to a nearby dental school
-Cracks in the pavement
-Tail lights
-Graffiti, partially hidden by honeysuckle clinging to a chainlink fence
-Overpasses
-Rushing water in the California aqueduct
-Traffic update signs: minutes to downtown via 170 (it can range from 25-45 minutes)
-Clouds
-Dirt

Things I see at school:
-Papers (clean, distributed, distributed again, crumpled, collected)
-Pencils (broken, bent, crazy-colored, plain, eraserless, borrowed, missing)
-People (kids, TAs, administrators, therapists, coaches, librarians, maintenance)
-Desks (small, big, dirty, broken, marked, scarred, clean)
-Books (long, short, torn, ripped, loved, dirty, crisp)
-Reports (behavior, participation, homework)
-E-mails (parents, daily news, reports, free dress Fridays lists, confidential)

Things I hear at school:
-"I'm a potato." (Quite frequently, actually)
-"You little hypotenuse."
-"He didn't take his meds today."
--Insert random yelling-
-"Ms. Byers?"
-"Ms. Byers!"
-"Ms. Byers?"
--Insert nervous giggling-
-"Where is your missing work?"
-"Can you call him Mr. Mongoose?"
-"I forgot my question."

Happy birthday to Amos!!! :D Only 35 more days till he's my husband!!!!!!!

11.5

11.5 days until the END of SCHOOL!!!!

I think I'm more excited than the kids are. :D

Mish-Mash

This post's title is essentially a nod to Heather's Hodge-podge:

1. I have been busy.
2. We had STAR testing this week, so I didn't have to teach as much and I didn't have all of my kids every day; that was nice.  Back to the regular schedule tomorrow!
3. My neck got sunburned at school today.  The whole junior high and high school student body and staff walked to a park for a student-staff softball game.  It was fun being in the sunshine and talking to some of my kids. :)
4. Only 51 more days! :D
5. Amos is sick with some bug that went around in NE last week.  Theodore, Reuben, Barb, and Caitlin got it, and now Amos succumbed.  I'm hoping I can avoid it. :/
6. I believe spring/summer has come to stay, finally.  Enough of the rain already!
7. Katie is now a Vlieger!  She looked beautiful in her wedding dress with her beaded (decorated? fancy?) headband.  Seth was really funny; he came up to the first floor of the Ralston home "dressed" for the wedding in his pajama shorts and shirt and his wedding tie and vest.  He got his picture taken. ;)
8. I have 19.5 days left of school.  It is going to go too fast and too slow, all at the same time.
9. That's all for now!

Vests

Vests.
That was at the top of the list for today, followed by flowers, backdrop fabric, ribbon, and shoes.
Wedding.
That is at the top of our minds these days, especially for the next sixty-three days!
Yardage.
150 yards of ribbon, eleven yards of blue backdrop fabric, three yards of blue table fabric, and three yards of green table fabric.
Acres.
Acres of flowers to be looked at in anticipation of bouquets and boutonnieres.
Ounces.
Many ounces of Starbucks purchased as part of their 1/2 off frappuccino sale, May 6-15!

Amos and I spent a good part of the day in downtown LA.  We looked at flowers in the flower district so I could know in advance what I wanted for the flowers.  As we were driving by the flower shops looking for a parking space, Amos commented that he could smell all flowers...and we had the windows rolled up!

Next we set off for the men's clothing district.  Armed with a white index card detailing the measurements for Amos' groomsmen, we wanted to find some one blue and three green vests.  Well, even with a ton of suit shops, it was more difficult than we anticipated!  Several of the dapper owners of the shops expressed surprise when we said we were looking for blue and green vests.  I don't know why they didn't have nice blue and green vests, considering all the mustard yellow, burgundy, orchid, and lime green suits we saw!  We went to one shop and talked to the older folks who ran the store.  We told the lady we wanted a dark blue vest, and after rooting around for a minute, she came up with the perfect vest.  Amos tried it on, and his face lit up.  He LIKED this one. ;)  His vest was taken care of, on to the groomsmen!  We didn't manage to find vests that would fit all three guys, so we will keep looking.

Then it was time for lunch.  We stopped and had Subway, which isn't my favorite but looked better than El Pollo Loco or any of the other places around.  I wasn't feeling well, so I sat down at a small table in the packed restaurant while Amos ordered our sandwiches.  As Amos was talking to the guy behind the counter, another customer approached my table and asked if he could join me, or was I with someone?  I pointed at Amos' back and said, "Yeah, I'm with someone" and he thankfully wandered off to find another place to sit.  I don't think he was creepy, but it was a little odd.

The next adventure involved bulk fabric.  We went to one store that sold fabric by the pound rather than the yard.  We got some fabric to decorate the tables at the reception and moved on, looking for ribbon and some fabric for a backdrop.  We wandered down the street, touching nice fabric, laughing at funny fabric, and shuddering at hideous fabric.  We found some blue fabric that worked, and one of the men working at the store quoted us $6.00/yard.  He took the price down to $5.00/yard, but it was still too much.  The owner saw us looking at the fabric, so he said he would give us a better price.  He asked us how much we wanted to pay and I promptly said, "Three."
"Okay."
Well, that was that!

We had more adventures finding spools of ribbon, and we eventually left downtown LA about four hours after we arrived.  I was really surprised because it seemed like we were there for forever.  We drove out of downtown and decided to stop at the mall in Burbank, just to see if they had shoes for me.  I told Amos I didn't think he'd want to walk around the whole mall, but he thought it would be better to go rather than wonder if we could have found something.  We searched the mall directory for shoe stores and found a store that I had seen on-line.  I found the shoes I saw on-line, and they looked even better in person!  The salesgirl gave me a huge bag for my small sandals, so I eventually ditched the bag in a garbage can.  We went to another tux shop, but of course, they didn't have the right vests, either!  Not too sure what to do about that now.

After that we got our 1/2 price frappuccinos.  I tasted Amos' first to, you know, make sure it wasn't poisoned or anything. ;)  We went home and figured out fonts for our invitation envelopes (coming soon!), tried to find stamps that weren't cheesy or ugly, and said goodbye.  Amos had to take a nap before work, and I just needed to take a nap.

All in all, it was a good day of spending time together, holding hands, and, as our wedding pastor says, enjoying the journey. :)

1,400 miles

I made it.  There and back again.

Just under 1,400 miles in six days.

Crazy.

and lovely.

I was telling Amos that I think I really needed the break.  I really, really enjoyed driving through beautiful parts of California and not having to bother about talking to anyone.  Sometimes I just need to be alone.

Me and Katharyn at her little house :)

First stop: Morgan Hill!
I stayed the night with my old college roommate and her husband.  I talked Katharyn's ear off, and Paul helped me hose off the inside of my car hood. (I was lame and left the oil cap off my engine; thankfully the car didn't die!)  I went to Paul and Katharyn's church in the morning and said hi to the rest of Paul's family before getting back in the car and heading even further north.

Irene and I in the redwood forests of Arcata (aka, Hippieville, extreme edition)

Second stop: Arcata!
I next stopped in Arcata and hung out with my friend Irene for a few days.  She was so excited that I came.  I'd never been to Arcata before, so it was quite the experience.  One man I saw was wearing a brown turban...that turned out to be his dreadlocks. ;)
We went to several places in the few days I was there and had a grand old time. :)

A banana slug! Just hangin' out... ;)

Almost home!  A shortcut between Yuba City and Grass Valley

Third stop: Grass Valley!

I next went home for a few days with my family.  I hung out with some old friends and then had Audra and my little nephew Ethan come over.  Audra patiently strung thousands of beads for my veil, which is currently giving me a hard time.  (Now I know why they are $30.00+)  Mom and Audra helped me figure stuff out for my wedding reception and watched as I cleaned out my closets.

This was taken before, but I was so happy to get back and see my Amos. :D

Fourth stop: Newhall!
I finally made it back to Newhall to see Amos, my fiance.  :D  I got a lot of hugs, then we went out to Denny's.  Amos listened to my stories about my trip and was very encouraging as I talked about some hard situations I had to deal with concerning a friend.

Only seventy-five more days!!!!

650 miles and then some...

Well, I'm about 650 miles from where I started.  It has been fun so far, though I can't say I'm really looking forward to hopping back in the car on Tuesday.

"and then some" refers to the distance that Scott and Ashley will have to go to get their baby!  Scott and Ashley, my brother and sister-in-law are going to be adopting a baby from Uganda!  Here is the link to their blog. :D
I'm so excited that my family is turning into an adopting family.  And Scott and Ashley are going to be awesome. :)

Miles and miles...

Well, it's been a while.  I've traveled miles and miles since I wrote last, and I'll travel miles and miles more before I write again.
Let's see what I've been up to...

250 miles: This is the number of miles I drive every week, just to go to and come back from work.  I work down in North Hollywood at a school designed exclusively for kids with learning disabilities.  If you are thinking this sounds challenging, trust me, you have no idea.  However, I am very blessed to like my job and my students, at least most of the time.  I teach seventh, eighth, and ninth grade English and a ninth grade World Geography class.  I have a maximum of fourteen students in one class, and each class has at least one TA, most of whom are older than I.  My principal just told me today that I was their supervisor and I could ask them to do whatever I wanted.  That's a weird thought.
Please pray that I will have wisdom as I interact with my kids and that parent-teacher conferences will go well tomorrow and Wednesday.
Spring Break can't come soon enough.

3,000 miles: This is the number of miles from my town to Amos' town in Nebraska.  Amos and I flew to NE last week for a cousin's wedding, and we're headed back in a few weeks for his sister Katie's wedding!  I'm hoping that one of these times I will be well-rested when I'm in NE, but it doesn't look promising. :P

1,330 miles:  This is the number of miles from my house to Paul and Katharyn's house to Irene's house to Mom and Dad's house and finally back to my house.  This is my spring break.  Yes, I am insane.  No, I will not be well-rested. Yes, I will miss Amos a lot.  Yes, I will still have fun.

Happy April!

Since...

This is turning into a wedding-Amos-and-Jennica-too-busy-to-write-much blog,

here:

Have some pictures.

:)

My best friend

I love him a lot.

He's so handsome.

Lukas Van Dyke, our wedding photographer :D

Untitled

Untitled
I did not want to hear.
But since I had
to hear
I'm glad it was
me
to Listen.

-jlb

TGIF

It's Friday!  So excited!
And that's about all for now! :)

Happy Friday!

WW

Well, it's Wedding Weekend!  My mom is here from NorCal, and we're about to head out to find a bunch of wedding stuff.

In other news, I like my job, even if I have some difficult students.  One of my principals visited my class on Friday to talk to the seventh graders about their horrible behavior in another class the day before.  He was impressed with how the class was going, especially since I didn't have either of my TAs with me that period.  This is good. :)

In other other news, I love Amos.

Even less

No, I didn't fall off the earth, and no, Amos and I didn't elope. ;)

We've been pretty busy trying to figure things out for the wedding, from the wedding party to the date to the desserts to the location(s) to the registry to the photographer to the...you get the picture.  We think it'll be a pretty good wedding. :)

Today was my seventh day at school.  This job is a challenge, though not so much in the areas of planning or even grading.  The challenge is in the fact that my students are difficult and need a lot of help because of their individual learning disabilities.  Also, in one class, at least four out of the fourteen students are discipline problems.  Seventh grade is not exactly my favorite age at the moment.  However, I am very grateful to have this job and to have multiple TAs to help me.  Working at my school is interesting, but I do enjoy it.

Happy March!  Spring is coming!!!! :)  After spring is summer!!!! :D