Christmas pictures

Luke and Danielle wanted to take our picture for Christmas cards, so we all headed out to Mentryville.  We didn't use these on the card, but I think they're funny. :)

I gave Amos a weed and said, "Take a picture of Amos giving me a weed!"

Oh dear ;)

Hehe

He's so strong and handsome, haha!

Bestest friends in the world

Thankful Christmas

Well, this isn't how I imagined Christmas week going, getting back from Christmas with my family and bringing a hitchhiking virus!  Alexis was struck first, earlier on Sunday, and I was hit later on the way home.  Various family members fell over the next two days.

I have little memory of Monday, except for feeling miserable, answering the door when Danielle kindly brought over a bottle of ginger ale, and spending as much time as possible on my back.  I'm doing much better now, but poor Amos is sick! :_(  Amos rarely gets sick, and I feel sad for him because I know how it feels.  I also feel sad for me because I can't do much for him, and I miss him, and I don't know what to do with myself (we aren't having a big dinner, obviously), and Christmas is supposed to be HAPPY, and all that pity party stuff.

However, in an attempt to pull myself up by my bootstraps, I am very thankful for Amos - his love, care, personality, friendship, Amosness - and for Christmas and for hope and for the reason for the season: Christ come to earth to save us from ourselves.

He Has Come for Us by Meredith Andrews

An ink and white-out hiatus

I'm done with the semester!  No more ink-stained hands, no more finding flecks of white-out on my face, and no more annoying science classes to sit through.  Christmas break is only three hours old, and I am very happy. :)  Now I can finish my Christmas stuff!

Here are a few links for your enjoyment :)

Zucchini Cheddar Bread from Joy of Cooking via another website :)
I made this bread, and it is really, really good!  It tastes like a fancy biscuit. :)  I subbed 1/2 cup of the flour for whole wheat flour, added about 3/4 cup chopped onion, upped the cheese a bit, sprinkled in a little garlic powder and fresh-ground pepper, and didn't add quite as much dill.  It tastes really good toasted.

Snow Blankets Cairo...
I loved these pictures!  It makes me want to go back to Israel really badly. :P

Alcott Autumn: Wrapping Presents
A lot of fun ways to wrap Christmas presents (or any presents, I suppose)

Eleven

Eleven days till Christmas (oh dear!)
Ten days till Christmas Eve
Eight days till I see Irene
Six days till we go to NorCal
Five days till I'm done with the first semester of junior high!
Two days till the church staff Christmas party

The Christmas dinosaurs!

Almost Christmas

Today is December 7th, seventeen days from Christmas!  I'm home about to clean the house and listen to an audiobook.  After that, when Amos gets back from doing laundry, getting a haircut, and buying batteries, we'll have lunch and put up our little Christmas tree!

Speaking of Amos doing laundry, have I said recently how great he is?  He is pretty great.  Whenever I mention to a certain friend that Amos is doing laundry, she asks, "Is that his chore?"  No, it's not his chore.  He just does it because he loves and he knows that I really do NOT like doing laundry at the local laundry mat where mothers let their little kids do whatever they feel like doing (think screaming, running, getting in other people's ways, climbing on tables, sitting in wheeled laundry baskets, etc.).  Amos is pretty great, and I am so thankful that he is willing to do this for us.  Merry Christmas to me!

Links to make you think

Stopping an Affair before It Begins by Tim Challies
Good article on Tim Challies today, especially the quote by John Owen at the bottom and a commentator's quote: "A pastor I love once said 'Every sin caries with it the seed of total apostasy.'" [sic]

The Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan by Preston Richardson at VSCO
This guy's family goes to my church, and I think he did, too, till he moved away.  (I'm really not sure, since I don't know the Richardsons that well.)

The Robertsons from I Am Second
Stories from the Duck Dynasty folks; I really liked Reed's comments at the end.

How This Breast Cancer Survivor Stopped Hating Pink from Christianity Today
Apparently this girl is a Master's alumna.

Bogged Down by Alicia
An post by my friend Alicia, written a while ago.

Absolutely Fabulous Greek/House Dressing from allrecipes
Really good dressing I found.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce with Fuji Apple from The Bitten Word
Lester and I made a big batch of this for Amos' work party; Lester had a goooood time eating the leftovers.

More thankfulness

All ten of my nieces and nephews: Ellie, Chloe, Kaylee; Ethan, Andrew, Abigail; Jasmine, Kiera; Oliver, Oakley
All of my brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law: Ross, Audra, Scott, Garret, Kaydee, Brenda, Luke, Alexis, Gio, Reuben, Alisha, Herschel, Julia, Katie, Seth, Sara, Grace, Theodore, Nathaniel
Books, again :)
Pumpkin pie
White out
Mr. Potato Head (he showed up in a few math lessons this week)
Old movies
Best friends
Music by Owl City and by John Williams
Bright leaves
Calla lilies that are finally growing again (I was afraid I'd killed them :P )
Indian food
Spiritual white out, i.e., forgiveness; blotting out of sins by the blood of my Savior

Busyness

It's the most buu--uu-sy time, of the year!

In the next month or so, here are some of the things we have going on:

Three more To the Ends of the Earth missions class meetings
Small group Thanksgiving dinner
Christmas for Missionaries gift collection
Missions pie sale
Missions Leadership Team meeting
Lester!  She is coming out for a week! :)
Thanksgiving with Sara and her family
Church Christmas party
Church staff party
Small group Christmas dinner and white elephant event (we have our presents picked out already!)
Cookie baking night with small group girls
Thanksgiving lunch and Christmas Eve lunch at Amos' work
Present purchasing
Packing up and shipping all the presents to our mission partners
Trip to NorCal

Our schedule sounded a lot more hectic/crazy/packed when Amos and I were talking about all of these things just now...hmmm...have I left something out?!

Thankfulness

Well, it's November, so I guess it's time to say what I'm thankful for!

1. Amos
2. Books!  Picture books! Audiobooks!
3. Days off of school
4. My job working with Pinkie
5. $1.00 candles (I lit the lavender vanilla one today)
6. Photoshop and sites explaining Photoshop
7. My job as missions coordinator
8. Cranberries made into cranberry sauce
9. Black tea
10. God's Word

To be continued...

Sick sheep

"...men, when they are in love, invariably manage to look like a somewhat sick sheep.  If a girl is attracted to such a man she feels flattered by this appearance, and does not hold it against him; if she has no interest she dismisses him from her mind."

"I was puzzled...wondering what was the matter with him...I should have known by now that when a man looks like a sick sheep, completely bemused, stupid and unable to listen to what you say to him, he has, vulgarly, got it badly."

::Agatha Christie, An Autobiography

I just finished Agatha Christie's autobiography, and I thought it was great!  She was a very interesting person and a good storyteller, even in her autobiography.  There is a lot of controversy surrounding her, I'm discovering, but this is an engaging account of her life from her own perspective.

A good apple crisp recipe, finally

I've tried lots of apple crisps, but I've rarely tasted a good one.  Enter the Smitten Kitchen cookbook!  This apple crisp is the best, mainly because of the topping.  The topping is made by melting butter on the stove and stirring in the other ingredients (sugar, flour, oats, etc.) one at a time; you end up with a cooked, rather buttery topping.  So good!  I changed the recipe by making the filling with apples instead of apricots and adding some cinnamon.

The author suggests that you make this and eat it cold with yogurt, which Amos and I did this week.  I thought it was great, but Amos wasn't a fan of them together; he said he would eat them separately, though. :)

Now a second crisp is in the oven, in anticipation of seeing some NE friends tomorrow.  I hope they like it!

Louis

Meet Louis. Louis is a very small tiny cricket!  We've seen him in our bathtub three times now (okay, maybe it was three different tiny crickets, but let's pretend).  He is very cute!  We didn't want to wash him down the drain, so we captured him and tossed him out the back door. I saw an even tinier cousin of his, but that one did get washed down the drain. :(

Anyway, I thought you'd like to see Louis.  Who knew crickets started out that small! :)

My finger and LOUIS!  Click to enlarge the picture

Some links...

I'm on Fall Break (two days off!), and one of the things I've been doing is reading articles.  (I've also straightened the house, worked on missions stuff, made dinner, and read a book.)

Evangelism in the Workplace from 9Marks
How to be a witness in your workplace.  I like the fact that the author said to work with excellence and to be friends with your coworkers (don't treat them like projects).

Not All Praise (or Criticism) Is Created Equal by J.D. Greear
I don't like criticism, constructive or otherwise, but this article was really good: how to get your positive or negative point across in an effective, meaningful way

Gift Envy & Gift Projection by Tim Challies
Two bad things can come from spiritual gifts: envying someone else's gift, and assuming that everyone else should have your gift

Christianity and Homosexuality: A Review of Books by Tim Keller
Two Christians who deal with same-sex attraction have written books, and this is what Tim Keller has to say about them

Humans of New York by Brandon
This guy goes around New York, taking people's pictures and asking a little bit of their stories.  He recently went to Iran and did the same thing!  This link takes you to his Iran section.

A Marriage Built for This from Start Marriage Right
A very sad but insightful article about a couple that went through several miscarraiges

Lessons from a Wildfire, Part 2 by Mike Gaston
Mike is the outreach pastor at the local church where we are taking our missions class.  He writes about going on a hike and not finding what he had expected.

To the Ends of the Earth, weeks 1 and 2

As I said before, Amos and I are taking a missions class at a local church this semester.  It's being taught by Cecil, a former seminary professor.  Cecil and his wife Kathy were overseas in the Netherlands for a long time, but they are retired now and back in the States, though Cecil continues to teach at Master's and elsewhere.

In order to keep up this blog, to provide good information, and to remind myself what I've learned each week, I'm going to attempt to write a short summary of what we learn in our missions class, To the Ends of the Earth.  We'll see how it goes!


Week 1: Mission, Missions, Missio Dei
These terms are not synonymous, and different people define them in different ways.  It is important to define these terms accurately so that those who are involved in missionary service have a clear understanding of the priority of various aspects of ministry.  We don't want to overlook the Gospel even if we are doing good things like feeding the homeless or starting a non-profit.

Cecil's definitions:
Missio Dei: all that God does to build the kingdom of God
Mission/missions: evangelism, discipleship, church planting, social work, teaching, building churches, etc.

We must remember that the Gospel is the primary thing.  It is good for social work to lead to open doors for the Gospel and to work hand-in-hand with the Gospel, but the Gospel must be first and foremost in our minds and actions.


Week 2: The Mission of Israel
What was the purpose of Israel?

1. Israel is not told to go tell people about God but rather was to draw people to God by their distinct lifestyle and righteous behavior (light to the Gentiles; Zechariah 8:22-23).

2. Israel was blessed by God not just to be blessed (end) but also to be a blessing (means) to all nations (Genesis 12:1-3).  The ultimate Blessing was realized in the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, Who is a blessing to the nations in that He provides the means for wicked people to be reconciled to a holy God.

3. We can attract people to God by being a blessing to others!  We can't be Jesus, but we can bless others in many different ways that may in turn lead people to being open to the Ultimate Blessing, Jesus Christ.  Some ways to bless others include attending neighbor kids' sports events; talking to neighbors; not joining in gossip; helping new immigrants (Heather and Austin are good examples of this); encouraging parents who have young children; praying for others; giving flowers; inviting to special events; practicing hospitality; etc.

Recently

What I've read recently:
The Real Thief by William Steig
This article by Garrett Kell at Gospel Coalition

What I've listened to recently:
More About Paddington by Michael Bond
One Day More, Les Mis soundtrack
I'm Coming After You, Owl City

What I've eaten recently:
Homemade tapioca pudding
Animal-style fries

Whom I've talked to recently:
Danielle
A lady at CTEN, our friends' missions agency

Where I've been recently:
School
Ikea
Brand Bookshop

Where I've walked recently:
Back and forth across campus
Back and forth across the church parking lot

What I've bought recently:
Groceries
Pens and white-out

What I wish I'd bought recently:
New sandals/flip flops (not the season I guess)

Whom I've sent letters to recently:
Magenta
Cindy in Nebraska

Whom I've prayed for recently:
Family
Friends
Amos and I

What I've dreaded recently:
Talking to the very nice and friendly but very unpredictable math teacher; I never know what crazy thing she is going to do next!

Regular fall semester

Things are ramping up around here!  We left SoCal around 5:15 on Thursday, headed for Paul and Katharyn's little home near San Jose.  After inspecting their goats and eating farm fresh eggs, we got dressed up and headed out to my Uncle Dale's memorial service in the Bay Area; he and his twinkly blue eyes will be missed very much.  We then spent the weekend hanging out with lots of family at my grandparents' house.

We returned to SoCal on Sunday night, I took a nap on Monday after work, and yesterday we went to our first missions class being held a local church.  Today Amos and I went shopping and got dinner at Panera, and tomorrow we start our small group meetings!  Friday I'll go grocery shopping and Amos will stuff church bulletins, Saturday we'll do laundry, work on websites and send e-mails, and hopefully get CPR certified.  Somewhere in there we'll pick out insurance benefits, go to church, water our plants, do dishes, and hopefully sweep the house, clean the bathroom, and take books to the used bookstore.

Wow.  Welcome to week one of our regular fall semester schedule.  I'm off to make turkey sandwiches for our lunches tomorrow.

A random picture from the college campus in Bangalore last summer

In Class

Student: Try not to smell. I'm sorry mumblemumblemumble.
Me: What?
Student: Try not to smell.  Someone puked, and a little bit got on my backpack.  I'm really sorry.  Try not to smell.

Science teacher: You guys get to go home at 1:00.  I have to stay for two more hours.  It's not fun.  I have to go to meetings.
Student: That doesn't sound that bad.
Science teacher: The meetings are boring.  How would you feel if you had to sit somewhere for two hours and you didn't want to?
Other student: I do it all the time.  It's called SCHOOL.

After math class...
Teacher: Lexi, will you switch seats so John can see?
Lexi: Maybe.  Where does David sit?
-I show her David's seat, right next to her future seat-
Lexi: I don't know.  David always stares at me in class and keeps saying, "'sup?!"

Pinkie

I'm an instructional assistant for a little girl.  I call her Pinkie (in my head).  I sit in her classes, take notes, and smile at her when she turns around to make sure that I'm there.  She's a very nice girl, and she works hard and pays attention in class.

Pinkie is hard-of-hearing. She has a cochlear implant which enables her to hear most things, plus her teachers wear an FM microphone which transmits to a receiver that she wears around her neck.  I take notes on what the teachers are saying so that she will have a record later, in case she missed anything.  Today I took Pinkie into the library through teachers' lounge, so she could bypass the metal detectors (she's never been through one).

When I took the job, I was afraid that I would be bored.  Not yet!  So far I've learned about the tools of geography, glanced through a science book, reviewed PEMDAS and absolute value, heard about proper kitchen safety, helped kids log on to multiple internet accounts, and observed the three-clap in P.E.  It's my first time going to junior high (besides being a teacher), and it's okay so far.

On to the rest of the year!

Here I sit with...

bags of frames at my feet, frames holding pictures of our church's global partners and maps of their areas of ministry

a small, white, empty plate (save a few strawberry Pop-Tart crumbs)

my hair in a ponytail

my eyes on the screen

a crick in my shoulder

the drip of the faucet in my ears

Les Mis' "One Day More" playing through my speakers

the thought that I need to do the dishes

delight from getting Roald Dahl's Esio Trot from a used bookstore using our store credit

questions: Should I take our unwanted books back to Glendale tomorrow?  Where will I get new frames for church?  Will my hair and face cooperate for church staff pictures on Wednesday?

gratitude for a new assistant job at this school

Les Mis again (how about "Stars" this time)

the thought that I really do need to do the dishes...

Found on page 124

This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and which my father told me, and which his father told him.  When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you.  So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation?  If you confront insult or antagonism, your first impulse will be to respond in kind.  But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me, first of all the occasion to demonstrate my faithfulness, the chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me, you are free to act otherwise than as circumstances would seem to dictate.  You are free to act by your own lights.  You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate or resent that person.  He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it.

:: Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

$1.00

As the previous post states, I've been busy organizing, rearranging, and sometimes tossing our papers, possessions, and paraphernalia.  I looked around and saw paper bags, plastic bins, stacks of books, piled blankets, and weary pillows, and while it doesn't usually bother me, for some reason it rankled for a few days.  So I decided to do something about it.

In our bedroom, we have a  tall, plain, white Ikea cabinet that we use for a dresser.  It has four big shelves, which work great!  I never really liked regular dressers anyway; I usually tried to stuff too many t-shirts or socks or whatever into the drawers.  Not the greatest for easy access, plus I could never see everything all at once.  Anyway, the cabinet is great.  The white filing box, clear plastic bin, green sleeping bag, and roll of Christmas tree lights were not great.  So, I jumped on a local facebook page that permits members to buy and sell items at discount prices.  I put up a picture of an Ikea basket that I found on-line and asked if anyone had any to sell; I was willing to pay $4.00 each.

Ikea basket, normally $12.99

A week later, and I have five baskets, for a total cost of $14.00, five for the price of one!  I bought two from one lady for $4.00 each, and three from another for $2.00 each (there was some wear on these).  Now I have three of these on top of our cabinet.  One holds gift bags and boxes, one holds frames and pictures, and one is empty (for now).  The fourth basket is also empty, and it fits perfectly in this little shelf-thing that is also nearly empty.  The fifth is in the kitchen holding plastic bags.  Not too bad!

Another nice thing about this is that I sold a dish set for $15.00 and bought these baskets for $14.00, so I still made $1.00 by getting rid of something I didn't like and acquiring something I did!  Haha!  Now to see what else to sell... ;)

Organizing, tossing, meeting

I don't know what started it, but I've been on an organizing kick recently.  I don't think we have a lot of stuff, but when I start opening closets and looking in bags and boxes, I wonder, "what is all of this?!"  In the last few days I've thrown away old school notes, random pieces of fabric, unwanted gift bags, old shoe boxes saved for shipping, etc.  And it's still not done!  Next we have to go through Amos' school notes and old bills; hopefully we'll get rid of a lot of those. ;)

In our living room, I have one and half tubs full of things to be sold.  I'm not really confident that we can sell all of it (video monitors, Madame Alexander dolls, Zeusy's old tank, etc.), but I might as well try!  Two boxes of books and sci-fi magazines are waiting to be taken to the used bookstore.  Two boxes and a bag have been dropped off at Goodwill, and I'm sure we'll fill at least one more before we are done.

Besides the organizing, Amos and I have been going to a lot of meetings, with more to come!

Wednesday: Staff meeting, 30 Days of Prayer meeting
Thursday: Girls' dinner at our small group leader's house, phone meeting for Amos
Friday: Lunch meeting with old college friend Alicia, phone meeting for Amos (canceled)
Saturday: Website meeting for Amos
Sunday: Church, The Gospel in the Muslim World meeting
Monday: Interview for Jennica, tech team meeting for Amos
Tuesday: -nothing...yet-
Wednesday: Staff meeting, interview for Jennica

It's a little crazy over here, as you can tell by the disjointed sound of this post!

Fonts and food

Not too much going on over here. I've spent the last 2.75 hours converting fonts on my missions documents for church.  Very exciting!  Our "creative media" director, Mark, came up with a style sheet for our church to follow, so I've been faithfully replacing fonts and reformatting documents.  At first I wasn't too sure about this style guide ("is it really necessary?"), but I can see that it is a good idea!  My documents look a lot better, and all I did was change the font!  Now I just have to print all these sheets out, hang them on walls, e-mail them to the missions director and the ministry assistant, clip them in clipboards, cut some of them down to size, etc...oh yeah, and finish converting my other documents. Oh dear!

In other news, I think Amos and I are going to have pancakes for dinner tonight.  Here are some of the potential toppings (not all together, of course):
+Whipped cream
+Blueberry curd
+Syrup
+Nectarines
+Pumpkin butter
+Pecans

Happy Monday!

Nebraska in July

Well, this was my sixth trip to Nebraska and the longest yet!  Amos and I went for a week and had a great time hanging out with family and eating tapioca. :)

Some of the things we did...
+ Went to Cabela's
+ Tried Jimmy John's sandwiches
+ Went to Wednesday night prayer meeting and Sunday morning church
+ Hung out with Doug and Glee and slept in their basement (the pastor and his wife)
+ Visited with Cindy, an old friend of the family and a really nice lady
+ Watched at least five firework displays, large and small (they are crazy out there!)
+ Ate a lot of tapioca; I need to find some pearls at the store and make some!
+ Walked around Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (I saw a monkey with yellow fur!)
+ Had a siblings photo shoot
+ Went to a barbecue at Jesse and Carly's new house
+ Visited a barn sale (i.e., antique heaven; we didn't get anything)
+ Checked out Seward, NE, the Fourth of July capital of the state
+ Took pictures of everyone for a frame on Barb and Lester's wall
+ Went to the Crete Public Library and introduced Barb to The Mysterious Benedict Society
+ Looked around Lester's Shop, the gun shop that Amos' dad started
+ Listened to toooo many knock-knock jokes
+ Received a beautiful, hand-quilted, turquoise and brown quilt; a few of Amos' sisters pieced it (Julia and Sara, I think) and Amos' mom hand-quilted it, complete with little pictures!
+ Did some laundry
+ Made some homemade French onion dip
+ Met our nephew Oliver for the first time
+ Ate some venison
+ Did a lot of other things that I can't remember right now!

All in all, it was a very, very nice week.  I don't usually spend a lot of time with people, so it was overwhelming for a few days, but now I miss everyone. :P  Oh dear.

Here are some pictures!

Seward Courthouse

Cornerstone Bible Church

Lawn ornament at the barn sale

In the corn! 

An Amos in his original habitat...

A yellow-furred, blurry monkey!

Visiting with Cindy in her new house!

Our quilt, complete with photbombing Hobbes (birthday present for Amos
last year)

Around the web 5

I will get around to a post about our trip to Nebraska and our second anniversary, but for now, enjoy some links! :)

Why I Stopped Looking for the Perfect Church by Cole Jeffrey
I'm not sure that I ever actually talked to Cole, but we were a Master's for the same four years.  Some great thoughts on looking (or not looking) for the perfect church.

Teaching Children the Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
I LOVE this article.  It really hit home with me.

The Day My Husband and I Got Inked and
Every Day Radical: To the Last Virgins Standing by Emily Wierenga
A very emotional writing style, but I really liked what she had to say.

Homemade Whole-Grain Pancakes by King Arthur Flour
I'm going to make this recipe with the whey that I've drained from my plain yogurt...I sound crazy. :P

Some children's books that I read at the Crete Public Library in Nebraska:
Boot and Shoe, Miss Moore Thought Otherwise, The Houdini Box, Sheep in a Jeep, and Here Come the Girl Scouts! (Boot and Shoe was a fun story with really cute illustrations, though it did have two parts about the little dogs "relieving themselves" on a small tree...just a warning)

EDIT
And another one: DOMA and the Rock by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

The best pictures from the book. Click to enlarge.

Busy every day

Monday
+ Hanging out with some Bible study friends at the Tea Gardens
+ Waiting around at TMC to give a friend her pillow and clothes (she went on a mission trip, so we kept some stuff for her till she got back); didn't see the friend, but we did see an older friend, Kelli Bolen!

Tuesday
+ Early-morning wake-up to see Heather, Austin, and David and to learn about their upcoming ministry

Old ollege friends + children
Heather, Austin, and David are right behind my head

Wednesday
+ Church staff meeting
+ TMC Alumni Dodger game versus the GIANTS!

Here's the pitch!

Amos and I at the game (Amos is wearing his birthday present shirt)

Thursday
+ Amos had a meeting with a friend from church

Friday
+ Picking up bulletins
+ Making scones and blueberry lemon curd for a ladies' event tomorrow
+ Getting groceries and going to the post office
+ Watching Jeeves and Wooster?

Saturday
+ Ladies' event
+ Laundry
+ Swimming!  It is supposed to be up to 102-105 tomorrow!

Sunday
+ Church
+ Missions Leadership Meeting
+ Open House for our newest global partners

Monday
+ Pack for Nebraska
+ Clean
+ Eat the odds and ends in the fridge
+ Go to sleep early!

Camp memories

Some of my favorite childhood memories happened at camp.  I first went to Awana camp when I was ten years old.  Despite feeling left out for the first half hour or so of camp (I was very shy, and my friends were in a different group) and getting really sick later in the week (I threw up in the nurse's office), I had a great time!  I attended Awana camp for seven years, only missing my last year because I went on a mission trip to Zambia.

My first year at CYIA camp was when I was twelve.  This camp trains you to teach Bible clubs during the summer.  My favorite memories include the annual skit and talent night and the daily practice groups, where we took turns telling our Bible stories to our peers.  I attended CYIA for five years.  I missed the last year of this camp, too, because I was in Africa.

Amos also went to a summer camp for a few years, but he didn't have as good of a time as I did.  Some of the boys in his cabin were little punks, and they threw his pillow in some poison ivy!

Now my little sister, Brenda, is off to Awana camp!  Amos and I packed up a present for her, and I shipped it off on Friday.  I'm pretty sure she's going to like both camp and the present. :)

Everything was stuffed in except for the sticky notes, some glo sticks,
and some pixie sticks

Ready to go!

Around the web 4

Here are some links I've enjoyed recently:

Believing That Which Is Hard To Believe by Mike Gaston, small group and outreach pastor at Grace Baptist
"Wouldn't it be arrogant of me to assume that God would only do that which I am capable of understanding?"

My Dad's Impromptu Challenge by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Ever thought of making 50-year goals?

Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity by Larry Alex Taunton for The Atlantic
This just in (okay, it's old news), but Christian youth turn from the church when they sense that the teaching is neither genuine nor able to answer their tough questions.  Interesting study.

How to Read a Book by The Art of Manliness
I haven't read this article yet, but I plan to soon!

Crockpot Peach Chipotle Chicken at thefrugalgirls.com
This recipe was just for inspiration.  I made peach preserves and mixed it with a little bit of honey barbecue sauce, onions, and bell peppers.  We ate it over grilled chicken breasts with brown and white rice, green beans, and avocado.  It was really good.

Song of the week by Michael Buble': It's a Beautiful Day

And a funny video that Danielle showed me on Monday, when I invited myself over to her house:
Cat Jump Fail with Music

By the numbers

1 day till Julia and Katie's birthday
4 days till my next staff meeting
1 week till we have to do laundry again
1 week and 1 day till my friend Sarah comes back from China
1 week and 2 days till we see our friends Heather, Austin, and David
1 weeks and 3 days till we go to the TMC Alumni Dodger Game (Go Giants!)
2 weeks till my next MLT meeting
2 weeks and 2 days till we go to Nebraska!
3 weeks and 2 days till our second anniversary!

And a few pictures from today, our adventure to Ventura

Amos, aka, Jennica's Best Friend

The bees love these huge flowers

More huge flowers

What I'm reading

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
Amos and I have listened to the other Benedict books, and we love them.  The books are about two orphans and two runaways who are brought together by Nicholas Benedict to form the Mysterious Benedict Society, with the goal of defeating the evil Ledroptha Curtain.  This book is about Nicholas Benedict's extraordinary childhood. We like this one so far, too.
(The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma)

A View of the Nile by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
I love Fernea's books.  This one tells about her years living in Egypt with her anthropologist husband and three children.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Hosseini's third book, this one also revolves around an Afghan family.  It explores the consequences of choices.  I like it, though the content of the book is rarely pretty.


My goodreads account says I'm also reading The Meaning of Marriage: Finding Happiness in Your Most Profound Relationship by Timothy and Kathy Keller, Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo, and Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  What is more accurate is that I've read a good part of each of those books, and they have been laid aside, at least for the time being.


I just finished Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  It is a young adult book set in World War II, telling the story of two best friends.  One girl is a pilot and one girl is a spy.  About half the book is told from the Scottish spy's angle, and the rest of the book by the English pilot's.  There are lots of details, several plot twists, and a few crazy connections between all of the characters.
I loved it.  Code Name Verity was very sad at some points, but also very interesting and extremely well-written.  I listened to it as an audiobook, and it was excellent.  It is read by two different ladies and is put out by Bolinda audio.  I highly recommend it, though it is not appropriate for young audiences (even though it is technically young adult).  I got my copy from the local library.

Open Letter to the Lord of the Universe

Amos is a college graduate, and I am a college graduate and teaching credential holder. We reside in Southern California and both hold two jobs each.  We live in cheap housing, spend a very small amount on groceries, and eat out probably five times a month, at most.  We pay our bills on time, including our car payment and student loans.  By all accounts we should be living the good life (if you believe the messages painted on our city buses).

Yet we make it by with a rather small surplus every month.  So small, in fact, that we can't afford to pay for benefits, even for one of us.

And then there is Obamacare, which says that we must have benefits or we will be fined hundreds of dollars per month, and we still won't have benefits.

And I'm afraid.  How can we pay for everything and not become homeless, when this bill goes into effect next year?  What if one of us gets sick?  How will we pay for dental care, which is sorely needed?

And then I think, "I'll write President Obama a letter and explain everything.  I'll send it to the White House, and he will read my touching, reasonable, persuasive letter and drop his bill."

And then I think, "What if it never reaches him?  I know he doesn't read all his mail; I know that there are employees who have probably read thousands of just such letters, and that the letters have probably been filed or tossed.  Oh dear!"

And then I think, "Who needs the President?  I have the Lord of the universe on my side, and He hears me night or day, rain or shine, hell or high water, for better or for worse, in sickness or in health, private care or Obamacare, till death we are united."

And so I put fingers to keyboard to write a prayer letter to the Lord of my life, who will sustain Amos and I through it all.  This is not easy to write, and even harder to live, but I do believe this prayer and trust that the Recipient will read it and act.

Lord,

You put President Obama in power, and You turn and have turned his heart where You will.  For some reason that we cannot see, You allowed this bill to be passed, and now millions of people will have to pay, literally.  It is scary, and we do not like it at all.  It doesn't seem to be the right thing for You to do.

But God, we place our sure hope in You, Your character, and Your Word.  We do not hope in men who fail or bills that pass or bank accounts that just won't fill up. You are the sustainer of our lives, and we rest in You to care for us.

Help us neither to be lazy and listless nor to work ourselves to death.

I echo Psalm 112,
"[The righteous man] is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is steady, he will not be afraid."

I claim Psalm 118,
"I shall not die, but I shall live,
 and recount the deeds of the LORD."

Lord, You wrote these truths, You will bring these to pass because You cannot lie.

We do not know what the next year will bring, but we trust You to be true to Your Word and to care for us, through thick or thin, rich or poor, in sickness and in health, from this time forth and forevermore.

Trusting and trying to trust,

Jennica-Ayelet

Tea Rex

I admit it: I am nearly twenty-seven years old, and I love picture books.  I'm pretty sure that the librarians think I'm weird for always checking out picture and chapter books, but I try not to pay attention. :)

Tea Rex by Molly Idle

Tea Rex by Molly Idle is my most recent favorite picture book, though I've also enjoyed I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin, and One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo and David Small (more on this one later, perhaps).

Anyway, Tea Rex is a book about a sister and brother who invite a t-rex to their tea party.  The medium is beautiful colored pencil, and the illustrations interact with the text in a hilarious way; totally worth any weird looks. ;)

Serving himself some tea with the help of a hapless teddy bear!

I think this is hilarious...a "tea rex" tea infuser!

Ouch

It is Saturday!  I taught every day this past week, and it was a little crazy.  I worked with mainstream kids, special ed kids, and autistic kids (one of whom could be possessed, which is scary).

Now it's the weekend.  Amos is taking a nap, and I'm stuck on the couch with a terrible crick in my back, neck, and shoulder.  I hope it gets better soon! :P  Here are some things I would be doing if I felt better:
-Mixing gyros for dinner
-Experimenting with my chocolate muffin recipe (I want to add a peanut butter ribbon next time)
-Sweeping the floor
-Cleaning the bathroom
-Printing out prayer support forms for our missionary friends, whom we'll see tomorrow!
-Thinking clearly so that I could write an e-mail back to my friend, who took a lot of time to answer a question (it will come eventually, Heather!)
-Sitting out in the backyard reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, A View of the Nile by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, or Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Instead I believe I will lie here and find out "whodunnit" in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.  I love audiobooks!

Rose in bloom

Just some roses from right down the street.  I always take the time to smell them when I walk to the library, which is at least once a week.  I'm thankful for the people who planted them! :)

Maqloobeh/Chicken Biryani Recipe

My friend Heather recently posted a recipe for maqloobeh, an Arabic dish.  I wanted to try it, but I wasn't sure how long it would take or what it would taste like.  Plus, when I looked up other versions of maqloobeh, each recipe seemed to list different ways of cooking the ingredients (apparently it is a very versatile food).  After debating which recipe to use and how to create this dish which would hopefully taste good, I decided to combine the recipe for maqloobeh with my memories of chicken biryani, which Amos and I had in Bangalore last summer.  I know I like Indian spices; I'm not so sure about Middle Eastern (though I'm sure I would like it if Heather made it...I just didn't want to take that chance myself, haha!).  This is my inexact-but-still-usable recipe combining the two.  Enjoy!

Maqloobeh/Chicken Biryani

1 1/2 - 2 cups rice (I used 1/2 cup white rice, 1 cup brown Jasmine rice)

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 - 1 1/2 lb. chicken breast, diced

1-2 tomatoes, sliced

1/2 baked potato, sliced

1 cup chicken broth/beef broth

Pulao masala (NOT curry powder; get this at an international grocery store)

Salt

Cinnamon

Black pepper

Cayenne pepper

Garlic powder

Ginger powder

Cardamom

Cilantro

Add water to the rice.  Rinse carefully till water is almost clear.  Drain most of the water and leave the rice for now.

Set the bell peppers in a small bowl.

Cook the onions over medium heat till barely soft and light golden in butter and oil in a pot with a fitted lid; set aside in a bowl.

Pour 1 tablespoon oil in pot.  Add 1/2 tablespoon pulao masala, 1 teaspoon salt, a few dashes black pepper, one tiny dash cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and cardamom.  Mix with the oil till fragrant, 1-3 minutes, over medium heat.  Add a few tablespoons water if necessary to prevent burning; keep stirring.

Add chicken pieces to pot.  Stir to coat; chicken should be well-coated. Keep stirring, cook till chicken is mostly white, about 4 minutes.  Turn off heat.

Mix 1 teaspoon pulao masala, 1/2 teaspoon salt, a little garlic powder, and a little cinnamon to wet rice.  Stir to coat.  Set aside

Add onions on top of chicken.  Add bell peppers.  Add tomato slices.  Add rice.  Shake carefully to settle (do NOT stir!).  Add broth, then water till 1 cm above rice.  Add potato slices.

Over high heat, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium/medium low; liquid should be simmering rapidly but not boiling.  Cover and cook till water is absorbed.

Flip carefully onto a plate/platter/serving dish.  Leave for a few minutes before removing pan.

Sprinkle generously with cilantro.  Serve with plain yogurt.  Add more salt and cilantro if needed.

Takes about 40ish minutes

Serves 4

Cats, ants, and coffee grounds

I did it.  I finally picked up a free bag of coffee grounds.  Starbucks provides these huge packages of used coffee grounds for enterprising people like me who are trying to get rid of pests.  (Okay, maybe the grounds are really for gardens...maybe.)

Amos and I have a narrow sideyard/patch of dirt that runs the length of our house and leads to our backyard.  Unfortunately, the neighborhood cats think that our sideyard is their litterbox.  Our manager comes along and rakes it out every once in a while, but still...who wants to smell cat waste every time they walk to or from their car?!  Not I!

I went to the grocery store after church today to get some cereal, and when I walked in the door, I looked to the left and saw the little Starbucks kiosk.  Aha!  I wouldn't have to visit an actual Starbucks store and awkwardly grab a bag and run; I could just get the grounds here!  I lugged the moist bag, which threatened to empty its contents at any moment, around the store and back to my car.

After arriving home, I brought the package inside and let it be while I mixed up some bagels.  Leaving the bagels to rise, I stepped back outside to survey my weapons: leaf rake, garden trowel, coffee grounds.  I chopped up the dirt with the trowel, raked the dirt back and forth a bit, and got my hands very dirty spreading out the grounds.  Here's hoping the local cats don't like coffee!  I'm also hoping it will take care of the really annoying, tiny, red grease ants that keep popping up in our kitchen.  Come on, coffee!  "Fulfill your ministry!"

Favorite places: Amos

Going to try a little series about my favorite places.  These posts will pop up every once in a while, i.e., they will not come one right after another.

First up: AMOS!  Amos is my absolute favorite place to be.  Please enjoy some pictures from "the early years."

I love him so much.

First few weeks of dating, 2008

Crazy spaghetti dinner party, with root beer floats and boyfriend head, 2008

At Hart Park, 2008

Santa Monica, 2008

GO Sunday recap

Thank you to those of you who prayed for me and for GO Sunday!  I think it was a really good event!  Now we just need to maintain the momentum we gained yesterday; we don't want missions to be pushed to the back of our church's mind.

It was a good Sunday!  It was a little stressful when one missionary family overslept their alarm and showed up late to set-up; when our pastor rushed by us saying "Compress! Compress!  Compress!" right before we were going to speak a second time; and when the congregation failed to understand Rachel when she said, "greet one another" (they sat and stared at us...awkward!).  Oh dear!  We'll just look back and laugh, I guess!

Some people signed up to pray for individual missionaries, and a few of the children's Sunday School classes were taken outside to learn about our missionaries.  One of the Sunday School teachers remarked that even she didn't know about all our missionaries.  Our newest elder, Nigel, bought Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot for his sixth grade daughter, a book that she asked for; that alone made my day!

Thank you for praying for the weather, too!  The wind only started up right before the end of the third service!  We are very thankful that God granted us favor with the weather. :)

Now it's Monday, and I'm taking the day off.  Time to drink chai, listen to The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie, and later, return some library books and read Through Gates of Splendor myself.

Recipe: Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl

I made this on Tuesday and really liked it.  I initially made it with noodles, but I think it would have been better over rice.  This recipe includes the adjustments I did make (cabbage, orange juice, pepper flakes, etc.) and should have made (rice, cashews, etc.).  I hope you like it!

My Ginger Chicken Noodle Bowl dinner...pretty good...made it in 25 mintues!

Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl

General idea taken from Lovely Little Snippets
Serves two

Brown and white rice, cooked

Sauce *Disclaimer: These measurements are approximate*
1/4 cup Soyaki sauce from Trader Joe's
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp sesame seed oil
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice (NOT concentrate)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 chicken breast, chopped in bite-size pieces

1 tbsp corn starch
1-2 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp soy sauce

2 green onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped (any color; I used yellow)
3/4 cup cabbage, chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions
Start the rice.
Mix the sauce ingredients in a skillet, heat to boiling.
Add the chicken, stir, reduce heat to medium, stir, cover.
Meanwhile, thoroughly mix the corn starch with the cold water and soy sauce.
When the chicken is cooked, stir in the corn starch mixture and cook sauce and chicken over low heat until thickened.
Add the vegetables.  Stir.  Replace the cover to steam the vegetables.  Stir, taste, adjust seasonings, and serve over brown and white rice.

More Variations
- Steam some fresh zucchini and serve on top of the chicken and noodles (don't stir the zucchini into the chicken or it will take on the flavor of the sauce and turn mushy).
- Stir some cashews  into the chicken mixture, right before serving.
- Serve with noodles instead.  Mix the noodles with a little Soyaki before topping with the chicken mixture.

GO Sunday

Most of you know that I'm a substitute teacher, but how many of you know or remember that I'm also the missions coordinator at my church?!  I started my job back in February, and it's been a little crazy so far.  This Sunday is our first annual Missions, or GO, Sunday.

Some of the things I've done so far...

-ordered balloons

-bought picture frames

-returned picture frames

-bought more picture frames

-bought picture frame stands

-bought bright cardstock

-ordered prayer cards

-ordered prayer cards

-ordered prayer cards

-ordered more prayer cards

-arranged meetings

-attended meetings

-e-mailed many, many, many people

-printed pictures for the frames

-designed maps for the frames

-ordered books

-ordered kids' books

-ordered a suggestion box

-ordered squishy world globe balls

-ordered bookmarks

-printed support sheets

-printed instructions

-printed diagrams

-typed up innumerable documents

-used highliters

-talked to lots of people

-given written directions

-given verbal explanations of the written directions

-designated tasks

-etc.

I still need to...

-print prayer brochures

-figure out how to keep the frames on the frame stands

-receive, review, and suggest edits to a missions video

-create slides for Sunday

-write scripts for those of us speaking in church

-attend a few more meetings

-talk to our church ministry assistant about logistics

-receive all the prayer cards!

-buy a few tablecloths

-clear up confusion about Sunday morning responsibilities

-label the rest of the books

-make sure that certain announcements are included in the slides and the bulletin

-etc.

We only have six days to go, and hopefully the rest of my to do list will be finished by then!  Please pray that our church will get involved in supporting our missionaries through prayer and communication, that it won't rain on Sunday, and that it won't be windy!

Thanks to Rachel for designing all of our media!