Home.

Home
is a mysterious place.
Is it
family?
Is it
friends?
Is it
church?
Is it
mountains?
Is it
desert?
Is it
ocean?
Is it
plains?
Is it
canyons?
Is it
rain?
Is it
pines?


A series of homes for a friend.

California

Arizona

Eretz Israel

Washington

Illinois

A little mixed up

Amos and I live off a street crowded with car dealerships and service centers. This is what went on this morning on the way to dropping Amos off at work:

Jennica, looking at an oil change sign: "Get ready for winter weather"!?  It's not winter!

Amos: It's November.

Jennica: Oh, yeah.  I keep getting mixed up.  I keep thinking that summer is coming, not winter.  It is going to be very disappointing.  Maybe I'm thinking of Kat's weather...in Papua New Guinea...she doesn't live in Papua New Guinea!  Oh dear.

Amos: Maybe it's time to go back to bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving...but to Canadians it is just Thanksgiving.

Some of our downstairs neighbors are a little...volatile...today.  I was stalking watching them through the blinds this morning as they argued out on the lawn and then in one of their cars.  A while later our upstairs neighbor comes out on our shared walkway and calls down, "Can you guys stop slamming your front door?!"
"It's none of your business!"
"Shut ******** up!!"
Upstairs neighbor goes back inside without another word.
More stalking watching through the blinds and through the front door peephole...

Josh, Grace, and Jaden are coming to Oklahoma on Thursday and Friday!  I knew that but was reminded of it just now.
"Hmmmm, what will we do this week...we need to find a dentist...I should ask Amos about our insurance and going to the den - JOSH AND GRACE ARE COMING!  Whoa!  Only three days away!  Whoops!"
They will be our first friends to visit us, making a special stop on their way to Minnesota or Michigan or one of the other M states.

I'm listening to my Little Women audiobook, which I got for free from AudiobookSync this summer!  Little Women is one of my favorite books, but I am more aware of how preachy it sounds, after my Children's Literature professor made that observation earlier this year.
Oh well.
I still love the part where Meg loses her bangs.

Quite a bit of the house is set up now, but I feel like I need new eyes in order to see all the things that are still out of place.  Better be off to do that!

"That's nice."

Conversations over the last month or so:

Amos: Zach is leaving the Tulsa branch, and they need someone to work the office.
Jennica: That's nice.

Amos: Steve, the general manager, stopped by the other day and mentioned that the Tulsa branch needs an office manager and he thinks I would like it there.
Jennica: That's nice.  I don't want to move, and you can't go without me!

Amos: Randy and Jerome spent a lot of time talking to me today about the Tulsa branch.
Jennica: That's nice.

Jennica:  I don't want to go, though God can always change my mind.

Amos: Randy and Jerome want us to think about moving to Tulsa, and they want to know soon.
Jennica: I want to see what it looks like before we say yes.

[Jennica and Amos take a little trip to Tulsa and determine it is neither a dump nor a derelict trailer park.]

Jennica: Is there any reason for us not to go?  It doesn't seem like it would be the wrong decision to move.  God hasn't brought anything glaring to our minds, no warning signs or turn-back-nows.

Amos and Jennica: I guess we are moving to Tulsa!


Why we are moving:
Several people at Amos' company asked him to consider it
Reduction of Amos' stress level, I hope
Opportunity for Amos to try his hand at bringing the branch back to life
Different coworkers
God didn't say no!


What I think about the move:
I want Amos to be happy in his work.  Amos is excited about this opportunity to really make an impact at the Tulsa branch, and he will be able to work with coworkers who are easier to get along with. :)
Amos' company really has done a lot for us.  They paid for our move to Oklahoma, and they are helping us move to Tulsa, and I don't want to be ungrateful for all the help they have been to us.
Only fourteen more days at OSU-OKC...
Tulsa is smaller and nicer-looking than urban Oklahoma City (thought I DID see two people smoking at the gas station yesterday; one of them had an open flame!  WHAT?!).
Our new apartment is right across the street from a big library!
I am excited about this now, but I have a feeling that it is going to be hard when we leave our church.  We have some good friends there, and several families and couples have been a big help to us in terms of making us feel welcome, inviting us to lunch, asking about our jobs, moving us not once but twice, helping us with our nightmare landlord, lending us cars, etc.  It is going to be hard. :(


I have fourteen more days at OSU-OKC...I hope all goes well after I leave!  Amos will be driving back and forth from Tulsa every day for the next three weeks, at least, so please pray that he will be safe out there on the freeway.


This will be our fourth move in seventeen months!
Oh, wow.
Time to get packin'...We are Tulsa bound!

A year later

Last year we were...

packing up our house.
saying goodbye to Santa Clarita friends.
holding back tears as we said goodbye to church friends.
staying up way too late, packing up glasses and plates and lamps and plants and other last-minute odds and ends, aided by our faithful friends, Luke and Danielle.
stopping at TMC one last time to hook up our little car and say goodbye to Todd, our IBEX professor.

waiting at the checkout at Walmart for just one more thing, watching someone else's Thousand Island leap from the conveyor belt and shatter on the floor.
driving through the hills north of L.A., tasting a few of the snacks from Luke and Danielle.
experiencing the grandeur of the Grand Canyon for the first time.

getting caught in a snow storm driving out of Albuquerque.
looking at the colorful houses sprinkled near the roads in a few Indian reservations.
listening to audiobooks.
eating out way too many times.
arriving in Oklahoma City on April 4th, 2014.

Lester recently asked me if I liked OKC better now that we've been here for a while.

That is a difficult question.

Oklahoma beats California in terms of thunderstorms and beautiful clouds.

I still miss Crossroads very much, I miss living next to Luke and Danielle (and baby Amelia), I miss going to normal-to-me grocery stores, I miss California turning green in January, I miss lots and lots of little things.

We found a great church here with genuine people, a good pastor, and opportunities to be involved.  Without them, I know that I would feel adrift and alone.

We both have jobs.  We are paying down Amos' school loans, our car loan, and other bills.

But part of me still doesn't know.  The excitement of moving soon turned into tears, just wanting to go back home.  Poor Amos.  He was very kind and caring, as I spent a lot of time the first five months mourning the loss of friends and lifestyle.

Amos: It's an adventure.  You like adventures!
Me: I'm done with adventures.

Danielle: God has you right where He wants you.
Me, thinking: I don't want Him to want us here.

I know it is easy to look back at California and only see the good parts.  I know it is easy to look at Oklahoma and only see the bad parts.  I don't even necessarily wish we could move back to California, because I know that things would not be exactly the same as they were before.  There are a lot of good things about Oklahoma.  It has just been a long adjustment, one that is still ongoing.


"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:...seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare...for I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

::Jeremiah 29:4, 7, 11

I know Amos and I are not in exile.  But think about this: Judah wanted to be back in Jerusalem, not in Babylon.  However, God had brought them to Babylon, and God didn't want them to waste their time there.  He told them to live their normal lives and to seek the good of the city  His plans were not Judah's plans, but He was still working things out for their good and His glory.

"You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
'He did not make me';
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
'He has no understanding'?"

:: Isaiah 29:16

Shouldn't I also trust Him?

Am I happy in Oklahoma?  Yes and no.
Was I happy in California? Yes and no.

I guess this is just life.  As much as I want it to be, life and experiences and emotions and attachments are rarely cut-and-dried, black-and-white, yes-or-no.  Fortunately, "For I the LORD do not change..."

:: Malachi 3:6a

A few...

I have a snow day today (YEAAAAAAA!), so I'm sharing a few pictures from the last month or so.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

My brother Garret, waiting to receive his sheriff's academy certificate!  Garret worked very hard through two rounds of academy.  He was the top shot, and he was second academically.  Very proud of him and hoping he gets picked up by a sheriff's office soon! :)

Certificate presented by Kaydee and Scott and Ross

So cute! :D

Baby Amelia has been out and about for a month now!  I got to see and hold her when she was only a few days old. :)  I managed not to get sick from both Amos and my family, but I didn't want to breathe on Amelia too much, so I only stayed a little while.

Awwww!

Danielle is looking very good for just going through an emergency C-section and fighting off a mysterious infection!  So thankful for God's protection of her and Amelia.

The sign I made for the Neumans to put above Amelia's crib

2015 reading list, updated this morning

What I've read so far this year...

In the last week...

I have...

...suffered through freezing temperatures and no furnace for two days.

...remembered our friends who just moved to the Middle East and are living in a cold, concrete apartment.

Remembering our suffering has reminded me to pray for them.


...rejoiced over the birth of our CA friends' little boy, Owen!

...learned of the diagnosis of SMA for the little boy of some of our OK friends.

Life and death are so close sometimes.


...been terrified of the "what ifs" that come could come with trying to leave our current apartment.

...opened my Bible to rediscover Psalm 37, a partially-memorized psalm from this summer.

"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
Over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil."

Almost 2015

Five more days till Christmas! What?!?!  Where has the time gone?

Work
I've been working at the OSU-OKC Testing and Assessment Center for two months now, and it is going okay.  The work isn't that hard, but it is customer service, so you hope every person who comes in is going to be nice.  You hope they won't throw a fit when you tell them they can't take an expired test, they should leave their mechanical pencils in their lockers, and, worst of all, they can't wear hats into the testing room.
I like my coworkers.  One of them, the only guy in the office, is a retired Navy guy.  He tells me stories about narrow misses with aircraft carriers and almost starting World War III during the Cold War off the coast of Libya.  He and his wife are Christians, and his wife used to be a missionary in Morocco, before they married about twelve years ago.  They are in their 60s, but they have two young girls that they adopted from Guatemala.  He is a really nice guy.

Church
We've attended one small group party and one Christmas celebration.  We like our small group people, even though attendance fluctuates and we are never sure who we are going to see on Sunday morning (small group time).
Amos went to a men's Bible study, and I've been to one missions meeting. I will hopefully be able to go to more in 2015, though I can already tell that the Covenant missions committee and the Crossroads missions team are very different.

Housing
We moved to a new place about six weeks ago!  We really like the townhome's split-level set up. Our landlord, however, is not so great.  Between entering our apartment without notice, poking in our tool box, messing with our thermostat, not fixing our gas when the gas company turned it off, and neglecting to our answer or return our calls, we are not impressed, to put it lightly.  We will see what the new year brings...hopefully he will behave himself.

Books
I've read a lot of books this year, but I think I've only finished three in the last two months. :P  Oh dear. I'd better get on that; I only have eleven more days until 2015!
Recent reads
Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself, Rachel Lloyd
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling, audiobook (almost done)

Quite a bit

I have quite a bit of time, yet WHY haven't I written a blog post in two weeks?!  Oh well, at least I'm writing one today!

Last week I worked every day at the Christian school connected to our Oklahoma church.  The classes are tiny and, substitute experience speaking, the students are very, very well behaved.  I'm not getting paid much, but that's okay.

Our apartment lease is about to go month-to-month, which is great.  We haven't found a place to live yet, but we will hopefully find one soon.

Danielle gave me the code for a free Shutterfly book, so I'm making an Aptartment 29 photo book!  I worked on it a lot yesterday, and I hope to finish it today.

I'm not a big animal person.  Animals are fun, but they take a lot of work and it is really sad when they die.  However, Amos and I have talked about getting a little mouse (I will name him Speedy).  We went to PetSmart on Sunday to look at them, but we only saw gerbils, rats, and hamsters.  I went to ask a checker about this.

Me: Do you have any mice?
Checker: Frozen.

I guess we'll have to look at Petco!

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

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

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!

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.

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!

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

He Who Must Not Be Named

Our little, white Toyota died two weeks ago.  I dropped off Amos at work, took two right turns and a left, and heard a sickening, grinding crunch.  Our car was dead.  Goodbye, little transmission!
Our friend Megan immediately hopped in her car and took me to work, where I told my woes to my instructional assistant, Linda.  Linda gave me a ride down the hill and around the corner to Enterprise, where I rented a car for a really good price.  Later that day John and Cami lent us their Taurus, allowing us to return the rental car (good riddance; did not like that rental car).  Thus began the two-week trial of test driving cars, listening to salesmen's spiels, getting financing, and finding a car within our price range.  We finally found one at a little used car lot staffed by a very friendly and helpful manager, Brian.  Amos let me drive the new car home last night, which was great and really fun, in spite of a long, freeway detour on surface streets.  Even that wouldn't have been that bad if I hadn't imbibed so much water, tea, and Gatorade yesterday, haha!
Now we have our little car, and here are some pictures!  The journey isn't over quite yet, though.  Amos just called to say that our loan didn't work out the way we expected, so we have to do more paperwork to correct that (it's okay, it will just take a little longer to get everything squared away; always read the fine print!).
A few of our friends have named their cars (weird).  Cami's Taurus is named Dory after the forgetful fish on "Finding Nemo."  Courtney named her hybrid Prius Priscilla.  Luke's green Honda is called Elliot after "Pete's Dragon," and Danielle's Corolla is named Ebenezer, because God worked in a miraculous way to provide that car at just the right time.  Mom is the only one in my family who ever called a car by a name and then only sporadically.  She would encourage one of our cars or vans to chug up hills by saying, "Come on, Bessie!!!"
Amos and I do not name our cars.  However, I told Amos that we should call our car He Who Must Not Be Named*, just to be funny and snarky.  Haha!  We'll see if it actually sticks.

Our little 2007 Hyundai Elantra, manual transmission, 82,000 miles: 

He Who Must Not Be Named

Just waiting on the "I kill my own SPIDERS" bumper sticker

Wow, it looks so nice!

*He Who Must Not Be Named is another title for Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter books

This Is Not My Hat

The main character

I've been reading Redeemed Reader, a website dedicated to reviewing children's books from a Christian perspective.  I found a review of the book This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen on the site about a month ago, so I automatically reserved it at my library.  It finally came, and I skimmed it right there in the library, before I even brought it home.

The informant

Over the three weeks that we had This Is Not My Hat, I read it to myself several times, I got Amos to read it to me at least twice, I read it to Amos once or twice, and even Danielle sat through a reading.  I love it. :)  It's a story about a little fish who steals a hat and might get away with it. ;)  I was thrilled when I found out that This Is Not My Hat won the 2013 Caldecott Medal, the most prestigious annual award for children's picture books.

When Valentine's came around, I decided to make Amos a little valentine based off of the book.  He really liked it.  You can click on the picture below to see it a little better.

This Is Not My Heart