My Week...is almost over

What have I done???? (This week, that is)...This week seemed sooo short!

Monday we had a birthday party for Elizabeth! Oh happy day!! Paul and I proceeded to make a huge mess in the kitchen. Katharyn went to class. Shane and Emily were entertained by strange TV commercials. Lester and Elizabeth wandered in and out, grating cheese, eating cheese, eating chicken...Katharyn came back. We ate. Heather and Naomi came later.We had a ton of food, and there was enough left over so that Katharyn wouldn't starve during the next week! We continued the fun times with much laughing, cocoa, tea, cider, and birthday cake!

The cake was interesting, as you can tell...Poor Katharyn ran out of room, so Elizabeth became Elizabe-th...hehe...Emily gave Elizabeth an interesting fish, which Elizabeth is holding on her lap...The strangest noises come from that thing... ; ) We later watched "Kidnapped"...It was pretty good! I love old movies...Elizabeth fell asleep on the floor, and Katharyn was quite entertaining with all her reactions to the movie...
Tuesday I had dinner with most of these people, I think (?)...Hmmmmm, sometimes it all runs together. I finished my final for Language and Language Acquistion. That class is done!!!!!! Yes!
Wednesday I went to chapel and wing dinner...Nothing too exciting...
Thursday Shane hung out in my office and helped me stuff envelopes and kept me entertained. It was the last day for Philosophies of Education! Yea!!!!!!! And the final doesn't look too hard, either. We waited a while for Paul to be done so we could go to dinner...Watched Paul be entertaining for the last few minutes of class. Went to dinner, had fun...Went to a Christmas party for Bible study. I got a Master's College portfolio as my white elephant gift. What am I going to do with that? Maybe I can give it to my brother Ross...Stayed up too late studying for a math test and other stuff...
Friday was crazy! Class, chapel, test, lunch, work, ibex meeting, work, babysitting, talking on the phone, going to bed!
Today I did NOT want to get up and play Frisbee, and I think my friends could tell...Sorry! I was very tired. But I went and played, and I did very well today, if I do say so myself...The rest of the day was distraction, more phone calls, studying, eating, and caroling! Oh yeah, and Paul let me drive his Suburban! That was fun! I don't see how he can drive that thing...There are too many switches and nobs and stuff...Good thing Lester was there to tell me where everything was! Caroling was fun. I had never done it before. About 20 of us got together and caroled through a neighborhood! It was a lot of fun...Now it is raining, and I am excited to drive my friends through the splashers to church tomorrow! yea!!!!

New (and improved????)

So I got a new blog layout...I'm not sure if I like it yet...Supposedly it is new and improved, no longer blogger but beta blogger! Whatever that means : )
I will have to get my little text box back somehow...I don't think I like this as much...hmmmmm...
I just remembered that it is the first day of December...
Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!!!!!
ibex students return soon...
Todd has a good post about being a strong woman...
I keep forgetting that I have a Directed Studies to finish...whoops
I got to see Mish tonight!

Ellsworth Thanksgiving

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

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

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

What's your name?!

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

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

Hmmmm...

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

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

Ahava

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

Hey Look, It's...

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

Me!

Church

This semester I changed churches, and I now go to Grace Community! The funny thing is I did not want to go to this huge church because it was so...huge! My mom told me I might as well try it out, and here I am! I am totally blessed to go there, and here are some reasons why:

1. Fellowship. Every Sunday I go to church with a group of friends. We sit together in church and in Crossroads, the college-age church service. I love being with them! They are a big encouragement to me and help to make a huge church a little smaller.
2. Teaching. Dr. MacArthur is a great teacher, and so is Rick Holland. They both preach the Word and challenge me to examine my actions and my heart attitude.
3. Discovery Club. I get to serve in the church on Sunday nights by co-leading a group of 4th-6th grade girls. We play the games, listen to and discuss the lesson, and worship.
4. Theological discussions. Every Sunday on the way back from Discovery my friends and I discuss some theological issue. I am a little surprised at how often we agree on things!
5. Worship. I love singing the hymns in the main service and the worship songs in Crossroads. It is great!
6. Thinking. I like going to a church that challenges me to think about the most important things in life, namely glorifying God.
7. Fireside. I also go to a Bible study through Crossroads. I have never been in a Bible study like this, where everyone is so friendly and willing to help and to listen. It is one of the highlights of my week!
I'm sure there are more things, and I am excited to see how God is going to bless me in the future through this church!

"Quotes"

I'm gonna Job your family!
-James, Bible study leader, talking about what he would do to sinners if he were God

But college is little more than a push for momentum so that you can spring into life’s activities.
-Richard Halliburton

Better to love an enemy than to snub a friend.
-Laney

Little things affect little minds.
-Benjamin Disraeli

Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living.
-Jim Elliot

Ahh, summer

My summer started as soon as I stepped off the plane at LAX...Here is my oldest brother Ross graduating from Master's!! Good job, bro!
IBEX friends, Josh Zeichik and Michelle Dueck...Yea, love you guys...
Roommate! Katharyn Shriner!
Later that summer Megan came to NorCal to go to Justin Brown's wedding and to visit friends, including me! Michelle got to come up, too, before running off to various weddings!
I took them to the Green Bridge, the tallest bridge in California...Also the site of the filming of some of the movie XXX, which I've never seen...(wow, I can't believe I originally wrote "sight" instead of "site")
I got a nice haircut...Notice the shirt and the necklace... =)
Then my older brother Scott graduated from the police academy! He is now a police officer in Placer County! Way to go!

Ahh, summer, continued

Near the beginning of summer, I got to visit my best friend Irene in her hometown of Tahoe City, California. I managed to get a really bad sunburn on the back of my legs...Ouch...
We went to Obexer's Market...Kinda like IBEX...but not...I had the best tamale of my life there...actually I had two...
I got to see my little sister Brenda a lot...She loves frogs and bugs...One day she caught 8 frogs in her little bug catcher, just from peeking in our plants...
Some of the frogs in their little prison...She let them go later...
For my birthday, Irene took me to Denny's...I then went home and had a birthday lunch with my family and some of their friends...
Later that summer Irene and I picked enough blackberries for about 4 pies! They were very good...

I really like my puppy, so I took some pictures with him before I left...
Sutter puppy!!
Coming back to school, it was Shane's 21st birthday! Happy birthday, buddy! He was very excited about the Israeli flag toothpicks, brought all the way from Ben Yehudah Street, Jerusalem

Ha Tikvah

Ha Tikvah is Hebrew for The Hope. Ha Tikvah is the national anthem of Israel. For me, the phrase ha tikvah means the hope that one day I will be able to return to Eretz Israel, which I love so much.

Ashkelon Beach

The Sea of Galilee

Caesarea Maritime

Yerushalayim

Torah

Wheat in Benjamin

The Dead Sea

The Hill Country of Judah