Frank

This year's ornament is a little camel named Frank, as in frankincense. :)

Poor Frank's eyes are kind of buggly...and cute. :)

Sick+Pics+Books

I've been sick the last few days, but today the sore and scratchy throat is gone, leaving behind the "coughy" throat.  Monday I did not feel very good, but I did submit two library job applications.  Tuesday I slept till 12:30, after getting up around 8:00 to have breakfast. Wednesday I moved around some more and actually went outside!  Today I looked up more jobs and turned in one application.  Tomorrow is grocery shopping and Hobby Lobby day; I have to make this year's Christmas ornament!

I actually took a few pictures last week!  You can click on them to see them better.

Under the freeway...

A nice, back-lit spider web on a bridge

I guess this is sumac!  Very pretty out in the woods...

A little spidey friend...

In other news, I finished my fifty-fifth book for the year, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.  Amos is catching up: he has forty-five books on his list, and he reads faster than I do!
*grabs the nearest book*
*signs off of the blog*

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.

Fifty-first

I've started my fifty-first book for the year, Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace!

I love the illustrations by Vera Neville! :)

I've been on a Betsy-Tacy kick for a while now.  I read a few of these books when we lived in Santa Clarita, but the library didn't have the complete series, so I only read two or three.  I'm happy that I now have access to all of them via the Tulsa library system and Mobius. :)  The stories are set at the turn of the twentieth century in Minnesota, and Maud Hart Lovelace, who based these books on her childhood and young adulthood, mentions many now-unfamiliar things (floating island dessert, princesse style dresses, peas in timbale cases, jabots, Magic Wavers, chopping bowl hats, etc.).  I've googled most of these, and my favorite discovery was a set of old postcards or prints referencing Merry Widow hats.

http://prettycleverfilms.com/files/2014/04/The-Merry-Widow-Hat-Card-1.jpg

Haha!  The size is exaggerated, of course, but I love the old picture and the little poem. :)

Tulsa living

We have been up in Tulsa for over a month now!  Here are some things that I am enjoying about living here...

Tulsa City-County Library
One of the best things about Tulsa is the library system!  Tulsa has a lot of books, and a good portion are housed in the library right across the street from us.  The library system is also a member of Mobius, a free inter-library loan service.  I've already used Mobius twice!

Hardesty Regional Library
This is the large, fairly-new, bright, two-story library right across the street from us.  Because it is a regional library, it is open on Sundays!

Reasor's grocery store
Grocery stores can look very different depending on the area of the country you are in.  I think Reasor's comes closest to the West Coast look.  The best thing about Reasor's is the bulk section, containing dried, cinnamon-sugar apple wedges.  These apple wedges are NOT the typical fluffy/foamy/puffy/stretchy dried apple pieces.  These are dried to moist, candied magnificence.

Recycling
Tulsa has made a point to provide many recycling bins around the city.  One is across the street in the library parking lot.  I used to recycle a lot of stuff when we were in Santa Clarita, so being able to recycle again is very nice.

Raising Cane's Chicken
This restaurant is down in Oklahoma City, too, but we've eaten more of it here in Tulsa.  It is pretty good!  We haven't been to Chick-fil-A in a while.

Hills!  Hills!  Hills!
THERE ARE HILLS IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA!!!  When we lived in OKC, whenever we would drive down one particular street, I would tell Amos, "Look!  We're going down a hill!"  It wasn't quite that bad, but almost; OKC is built on a few low, sloping hills, so you don't really notice them.  (We were back in OKC a few weekends ago, and as we drove down that same street, Amos pointed out that I hadn't said anything about it.  "Ehhhh, there are lots of hills in Tulsa.")  Tulsa has a lot of high, steep hills, one of which I can see from the library parking lot. ;)  Tulsa isn't in the mountains, but it is much, much better than flat Oklahoma City.

Trash, or lack of it
Tulsans use garbage cans to dispose of their trash, rather than the common pile of trash bags stacked on lawns, waiting for the dump truck.  There are also very few mattresses lying around...

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!

Done and to do

Today's accomplishments:
-Paying rent (less than $500.00 this month!)
-Fixing Amos' library card and account
-Putting together a small cabinet for our office supplies
-Eating lunch (leftover tilapia piccata!)
-Unpacking several boxes of books
-Delivering recyclables to the library across the street
-Eating white cheddar popcorn chips
-Writing this blog post

What I need to do:
-Rearrange the closet...again
-Find the small envelopes
-Make chicken salad for lunch tomorrow
-Call Amos and ask him to bring home a few more boxes of books
-Rearrange the living room...again

Here's that cute sailor turtle again, back to brighten your day!

"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!

Brought to you by the letter "P"

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "P" for pilaf and peanut butter!

Yesterday I made a kind of pilaf dish to go along with dinner, and it was really good!  Here are the ingredients...

Mushroom Pilaf
Diced mushrooms
Chopped onion
Salt
Pepper
Dried minced garlic

...saute in...

Butter and coconut oil

...add...

Cooked rice

...mix and stir then add...

Green onion
Chopped cilantro
Sunflower seeds

*If you don't like mushrooms or cilantro (I'm looking at you, Danielle!), it will still be fine without it, I think...but this way is better, haha! :)


Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional

350 degrees
Cook 10 minutes till puffed but still soft
Let cool 5 minutes

Conglomerate update

My Boys in the Boat book went back to the library on Saturday, and while it is once more waiting for me on the hold shelf, I'm trying to finish a new book, Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear.  This book is set in 1929, dealing with the title character's rise through the British social ranks and the solving of a mystery intertwined with the aftermath of World War I, a war I have become interested in over the last year or so.  It is very good so far!

You know that article I shared last time, the one from Tim Challies?  This blog post is a response from a missionary in Africa, and I think it is even better.

Our car has now been in the shop for ---counting--- TWELVE days.  We are not pleased. First it was the engine; that was fixed. Then it was the clutch, which we told them about but they apparently didn't look into.  Then the wrong clutch part was ordered and installed.  The new part will hopefully arrive tomorrow, so we may have our car back on day thirteen or fourteen...who knows!

The testing center has now hired three people to fill the three open positions, but as one of those people may not be there much longer, I'm not sure I am any closer to dropping down to thirty hours a week!

In other news, I am growing a little sweet potato vine.  I'm not sure he got the memo about being a vine, though; he looks like a small shrub!

Conglomeration

Where has the month gone?!  It seems like all of my posts start like that now.

What we've been up to...

Amos just finished his nineteenth book for the year.  I think we are tied now, but I might have just seventeen on my list.  I've been reading The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown.  It is very interesting, covering a wide range of inter-related topics.  Unfortunately, I have to return it to the library on Saturday, so I'll need to check it out again.

I read these four great articles recently:

What Missionaries Aren't Telling You (Part 1) by Amy Medina*

What Missionaries Aren't Telling You (and What They Need From You) by Amy Medina*

*Part 3 coming on Amy's blog tomorrow

To The Other Woman's Embrace by Tim Challies

Teaching in Jail by Jill Kandel on Randy Alcorn's blog

Our car started making weird noises on the way back from Nebraska on Sunday, so we took it in to the shop yesterday.  The culprit turned out to be an old, over-stretched timing belt, so we are very thankful that we took it in before the whole engine went kaput!

Speaking of trips, we took a trip to Texas back in April; we were up in Nebraska for a cousin's wedding last weekend; my college friend Elizabeth and I are planning a meet-up sometime in July (she lives in neighboring Arkansas); and we are flying back to California in September for my brother's wedding!  Maybe we can go camping this year, too, if it ever stops raining! 

Two of my coworkers have left in the last month, one to move to Tulsa and the other to take care of his daughters since his wife started a better-paying job.  Yes, my Navy buddy is gone! :( We hired two people this week, and when we hire the third and last person, I will be able to drop from forty hours to thirty hours!  I am looking forward to doing more living and less surviving. ;)

Finally, here's a recipe for you: 

No-Bake Energy Bites 

These are very versatile.  The second time I made them, I added Rice Krispies and ground almonds, and they are great.  It tastes like a granola bar in ball form, without all the added ingredients of store-bought bars.  They are also gluten-free!

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