The end is near

Yes!  Finally!  I am almost done with the credential program.  Here is the remainder of the work that needs to be done by 4:00 Post Meridiem Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 Anno Domini:

90+ essays to grade

3 days of class to "teach" (they are taking a quiz and watching a movie)

173 tests to grade

1 movie to be watched 5 times

2 students to be interviewed

1 celebration dinner to attend

1 teacher to be interviewed

1 TPA to be conquered

Here goes!

ApTartment 29

Yes, we are aptartment 29.  

Danielle, Kat, me, Sherrie

We are Danielle, Sherrie, Jennica, and Kat, in order of age and in reverse order of height.

Danielle is the engaged and artsy woman.  She is the reason we have wedding magazines and glue sticks spread around the aptartment.  She is also a big reason why there are candles everywhere and why the quote book has grown exponentially over the last 12 months.

Sherrie is Miss Very-Dedicated-Teacher-and-Applicant.  It is always funny to see her take 2 hour naps in the evenings, but hey, if it works for her...  She is the reason we have so many different kinds of fruit spread around the kitchen and why there are random notebooks on the table with Arabic writing in them.

I am just plain crazy.  I get most of my entertainment by teasing my roommates, telling stories about my students, cooking things, and playing cool songs on youTube or Pandora.  I also document all of the strange, silly, or sentimental events in the aptartment with my trusty camera.  I am the reason there are so many exclamations of "you know you love me!" in the apartment.

Kat is the mostly sophisticated, always dramatic one.  She spends a lot of time enjoying other types of drama on TV or regaling us with her own dramatic stories.  She is also busy sewing a wedding dress for her friend Becky.  She is a big reason we can sometimes be considered "questionable" and also the reason for the phrase "oh Kat."

Adjunct member Lester is the reason all of our cell phone banners have been changed.

We are aptartment 29.

Aptartment 29.

Where we get excited when the dishwasher is empty and sad when the washing machines are full.

Where we all feel comfortable, at least as long as the blinds are down in the kitchen.

Where we frequently dodge projectiles launched from the frosty region known as the freezer.

Where we fling all sorts of things, including brownie mix.

Where we laugh uncontrollably about a phrase or sentence taken out of context.

Where we have hosted many different friends and family members, including, but not limited to, Lester, Mary, Elizabeth, Grace, Jess, Michelle, ...

Where we have roasted chocolate chips and mini marshmallows over candles using toothpicks.

Where we have clogged multiple drains.

Where we have had many parties: dance, bridal, marshmallow, Christmas, birthday, movie, baking, pizza, etc.

Where we laugh at phrases such as "Not today!" "You're flinging!"  "Write that one down!"  "And then there was the time..."

Where we have learned to get along with each other when we really just wanted to lock ourselves in our rooms.

Where we have all cried, thankfully more from laughter than from tragedy.

Where we have grown closer to God and each other.

And to end on a cheesy note,

I think I can safely say that the 4 of us will definitely look back on this last year as one of the most significant and enjoyable years in our short lives.

Here's to ApTartment 29!  You have served us well.  We will miss all the wonderful times we have spent within your walls.  May your next inhabitants have as good of a time as we have had.

Collage 1

I am very excited! I figured out how to take the images/collages I create in Word and to turn them into pictures in Paint! This first one is based on Deuteronomy 8. In this chapter God tells His people that He led them into the Wilderness so that they would learn to trust Him and would not forget Him when they reached the Promised Land. Unfortunately they DID forget God. But one reason for the Bible is to provide us with examples, both good and bad. We can learn from the mistakes of those who went before.

These thoughts were brought to mind today as I was reading Jerry Bridges' book, Is God Really in Control? in a public school, no less.

The writing says, "Lord, lead me through the Wilderness so that when I reach the Promised Land, I will not forget Your providence." I thought it enlarged when you clicked on it, but it is not cooperating right now!

Dear whomever

Hello, readers.  I hope you are doing well!

I have been busy.  Last week I taught only two days because my school had STAR testing and Civil War day!  I think the Civil War day was cool, with reenactments and such, but I missed it because I was in NorCal!
Yes, I was in NorCal.  My sisters-in-law Ashley and Audra put on a surprise 30th anniversary party for my parents on Saturday!  It was a nice time of hanging with family and celebrating God's gift of a wonderful marriage to my parents.  I went up on Thursday to put in an application at a high school.  We will see how that goes.

Now I am back down in SoCal.  I have two more weeks at my junior high, one CPR class to take on-line, and five days to grade everything and to complete my fourth and final TPA!  Then I will be completely done.  If you see someone yelling and dancing around on May 20th at TMC, it is probably me, if not one of my fellow credential students. :)

That is all for now!  Check back later (I don't know when) for a post on the unique inhabitants of Aptartment 29!  Happy May!

-Jennica-Ayelet

Dr. Behle hates Easter Sunday

It's true.  Dr. Behle, one of the Bible professors at TMC, one of my bosses for two years as IBEX Secretary, and one of my favorite professors ever, hates Easter Sunday.

Now, before you are horrified, he had a valid reason.

Dr. Behle in 2007 at Qumran, Israel, where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls

Dr. Behle doesn't like Easter Sunday because of all the extra show that is put on for visitors.  He also believes that the Resurrection should be celebrated every Sunday, not just on Easter.  Good point, Dr. Behle!

Dr. Behle then went on to explain that so often the story ends with the Resurrection.  But what about the Ascension?

Jesus rose from the dead, stayed on earth for 4o days giving many convincing proofs, and then ascended to Heaven.  He is sitting there at the right hand of the Father at this exact point in time, interceding for us.  How should our lives be different because of that fact?

After Jesus ascended from Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, two angels appeared beside the apostles.  Basically they said, "Whatcha all lookin' at?  Don't ya'all know that Jesus is coming back some day?"  It was time for the disciples to take what they had learned, to wait (haha) in Jerusalem for God's power, and to tell the world of what Jesus had done for them.

Remember that these men were men.  There were fishermen, a tax collector, a political revolutionary, and a lot of other ordinary things.  The disciples weren't high and mighty, highly educated, super-prepared men.

Rocks on a tomb on the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem in the background

So again, if Jesus is in fact at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us, preparing a place for us, waiting for His time to return, how should that impact our lives today?

Pair these thoughts with the thoughts of this guy, and what excuse do you and I have to live our own lives, to complain, to worry, to get angry, to forget?

None.  We have none.

But so often I do.
Thanks Dr. Behle.  I'm glad they let you preach at church again. ;)

My foot!

My friend Lydia said something one time about the fact that I like to take pictures of my feet.

Well, it is true.  For some reason I like to take pictures of my feet or shoes.  I couldn't think of anything else to put up, so I decided to put up some of these pictures...haha, I know, I'm weird.  Oh well, you don't have to look at them if you don't want to. ;)

My athletic shoes, Tahoe

Santa Monica

My blue and brown Converse, Santa Clarita

Henna!

My Chacos, Topanga Canyon

Truman

One of my favorite movies is "The Truman Show," a movie about Truman Burbank who lives in a perfect world created by a TV show producer.  He doesn't know he is in a TV show, or rather, he didn't really know that he was in a TV show.

One of the questions that is asked in the movie is "How's it going to end?"

That is what I want to know.

"How's it going to end?"

Not the world; I already know that. (See Revelation) ;)

But oftentimes I want to know how specific things in my life will turn out.  I don't want to wait.

Tell me now!

But looking at a previous post, I am again reminded of the importance of letting God figure it out.

Honey or vinegar?

Which catches more flies?

Vinegar

How do you help "at-risk" students?  By beating them down?  By humiliating them?  By singling them out?  By exposing their lack of knowledge to the whole class?

How do you help them?

If you beat them down, won't they just add you to the list of people who don't care about them or their problems?

Honey

My job as a teacher is not to be a counselor, but I do want to have a positive impact on my students.  I want them to look back and be able to say, "Miss Byers really cared about my education and about me as a person."

At-risk kids are set in their ways.  They know how to avoid work, they know how to make you mad, they know how to put up defenses so that you will think they are tough.

I plan to set high expectations for my students.  They will be expected to perform well and will be graded accordingly.

But what about grace?  What about mercy?

I know I'm not going to change all of my students.  I know that many of my at-risk students are going to go their own way, crash, and burn.

But that will be their fault, because I intend to give them encouragement, direction, and discipline that will help them to open up and change, not criticism, fatalistic predictions, and punishment.  Students may not pay much attention to what some teachers say in class regarding content matter, but they will most likely pay attention to what teachers say to them about themselves.

I am going to do my best to create such an environment that students feel safe with me.  I'm not going to belittle them or allow anyone else in my class to belittle them.

I may not impact the world, but if I can impact one kid,

isn't it worth it?

What to say...

ummm, hello.

I wanted to post something, but I'm not sure what to say right now, so here goes. ;)

I like the junior high students, but I love the high school students.

I like mangoes a lot.

One of my junior high students apologized to me today for a bad attitude that he had had yesterday!

Lester and I had fun at home for Easter.  Dad and I introduced her to the Beatles' movie "Help!"

I have 23 days left in junior high, and only 20 of those days will be spent teaching (there is a little thing known as STAR testing in CA). :)

The little kids are hopefully going to be adopted in the beginning of June!!

I have been reading a lot about trusting God when it seems like He isn't leading anywhere.  May I recommend Os Guinness' book, God in the Dark: Assurance of Faith Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt?  Some thoughts, paraphrased by me:

Oftentimes we do not know what God is doing or what He wants us to do.  In these cases it is important to "suspend judgment" and to wait.  We don't know why this is happening, but we know why we trust God.  We trust God because He has brought us through before, but ultimately because God sent Jesus and subjected Him to the same thing we are going through, but to a greater degree.  He abandoned His Son at His death, but God was also faithful to bring Him back to life, just as He said He would.  Jesus experienced the great gulf of not "feeling" God's presence and leading: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt. 27:46, Mk. 15:34).  Since God came through for His Son, He will be there for us, even when we don't understand.  Thus the important point is to trust God, not the dimly-lit path.

Also, Job didn't understand what was happening to him.  It was hard for Job because everything, his suffering, family, and friends, pointed to him and said he had sinned.  He started to drift away when he demanded that God explain to him what was happening.

Os Guinness calls it "suspending judgment."  That means that you don't demand that God tell you what is going on (judging God that He doesn't have the timing right or that He must tell you what is going) and that you resist the temptation to make critical decisions when you know that the timing is wrong.  This does not mean that you don't seek God and His will, but that you also don't assume that He is doing wrong by not letting you know everything about His plan at this specific point in time.  You don't judge God, His love, and His faithfulness based on the fact that you don't know what He is doing.

After all, who are you?  Who is God?  Who is the Potter?  Who is the clay?

Job 40:8 -

"Would you indeed annul My judgment?
Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?"

Isaiah 50:10-11 - 
“Who among you fears the LORD?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the LORD
And rely upon his God. [trusting believer's response]

Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment.” [unbeliever's/doubting believer's response]

So don't try to light your own fire to find your way when it is obvious that God has brought you to this dark place when you don't know what is happening.  And He is still there, even when you can't see it.
Trust Him.
It will be worth it.
I am sharing this with my readers because this is what I am going through, not what I have learned yet.  Hopefully you are edified and encouraged.  That was the most comforting thing from this reading, that I was not the only one who had ever experienced this lack of guidance.  Other human beings in other times had been through this, and I am not alone in my experience.

(My thoughts would be a little more refined than this, but I wanted to get this out there...)

Favorite Frases...Phavorite Phrases

I find that I use the same phrases over and over again, so I compiled a list here so that you can experience them as well!

-Not today!

-Apparently not...

-You KNOOoooOOOOooow you love me!

-Weirdo.

-What are you doing?

-You are crazy.

-I don't know.

-Lame!

-This is stupid.

-I'm not following the recipe.

-I went on an adventure today!

-What are you talking about?

-I'm confused.

-Little man.

-I can't hear you.

-Suuuure.

-It was cool.

-Isn't this cute?  I think it's cute.

-I LIKE it.

-We should do that!

-Okay.  Yes.

-That's hilarious!!

Smoooooooothie

Ode to Smoothie

I made a smoothie today.

Summer is on its way!

A mango is the perfect fruit

For an excellent beverage, woot woot!

Yogurt helps with the texture,

And strawberries are an essential feature.

This smoothie poem is lame.

I'm sure you agree and say the same.

A while

So my blog dates tell me I haven't posted in quite a while, as in, 10 days.  That was partially on purpose, because I don't like to post innumerable times a month, though I probably could. ;)  Any way, I'm here! 

So, what has been happening?

Wellllllllll...

Danielle and Luke are engaged!!!  They are getting married July 25th. :D

Kat is moving to New Zealand in June!!!

Sherrie doesn't know what she is doing next year!!!

Jennica doesn't know what she is doing next year, though she has a pretty good idea at this point!!!

Aptartment 29 is breaking up. :(

Aptartment 29, with former member Lester, at Barnes and Noble

In other news, this is Sherrie's and my spring break from our second teaching assignments.  We have 1 week for spring break then a 5-week dash to the end!

I am excited for the end of this year-long credential adventure.  It has been great and I have learned a lot, but I am ready to be done with classes and master teachers.  I have learned a lot from them, but I want my own classroom with my own kids and my own agenda.  That might be a long time in coming.  Because of the economy, many teachers are being laid off, including teachers in my district.  I think I will substitute until the district starts hiring again and then hopefully be hired on fulltime.  Or maybe I will get a job at one of the local Christian schools.  Or maybe do something completely different with kids.  Only God knows.

The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

And those who know Your name put their trust in You,

for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

-Psalm 9:9-10 ESV