what i did today

listened to my wonderful brothers and sisters, Brenda, Jayden, Lexie, and Gio
talked to Garret's girlfriend, Kaydee
laughed hysterically about morbid animal stories
swung barefooted under a tree with blue sky and clouds
held Amos' hand, doing nothing
ate good food
took a nap
talked to my brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Ashley
gave Jayden a piggy-back ride up the hill
talked to my parents
just loved life

I Chronicles 16:34
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever

Psalm 75:1
We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks!
For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.

Revelation 11: 17
...We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

Shakespeare

I have spent a lot of time in high schools recently, so it was a bit of a shock to observe at a junior high today. The kids were funny, but very obviously immature. I think high school might be for me. We'll see, though; I still have 6+ months to decide, I guess.
Today in class the students were telling the teacher who they were going to research for a research paper.

Overheard---
Girl 1: Who are you going to do it on?
"Heather": Queen Latifah.
Girl 1: Again?
Heather: Yeah, but I think I'll change it. I think I'll do Shakespeare.
[Interruption: an outline of a Shakespeare's life had been included as an example in the students' research instructions ;) ]
Girl 1 gives Heather a look.
Heather: He was really interesting. We did Romeo and Juliet last year [in elementary school]. I was Juliet. [smiles]
Girl 1: Did you kiss?
Heather: No one kisses in elementary school. We hugged instead of kissed.

HAHAHAHA, gotta love junior high...or get out of it as painlessly as possible, it seems. ;)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

So a while ago Amos and I saw a few trailers for "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," brought to Amos' attention by Paul Parker (friend and fellow security guard). Since the movie was about a little German boy befriending a Jewish boy in a work camp during World War II, we figured we had to go see it, since it was connected to Israel and all that. ;) So I finished my lesson plan for tomorrow (!) and we headed over the smoky freeways to West Hills, one of the many suburbs of Los Angeles.
I was expecting an interesting story about two little boys who become friends and teach some lesson about friendship and understanding in the midst of horrible world events. I guess that was part of the whole experience, but it really had a greater, more lasting (I hope) impact on me.
The whole film was about disillusionment. About what happens when people stand by and do nothing in the face of evil, or worse, when they support and help the evil along its course. At various points in the movie, the father sits by and does not stop evil. Later, the little German boy betrays his friend. At another point, the mother decides to do something but is stopped by the father. Another character instigates evil out of frustration. (I know this is very vague, but I want all my readers to watch it; thus, no spoilers.)

It was not really a pleasant movie, but it was an excellent movie. It was definitely worth it. I came away with the thought, "I never want to be the one to betray."

http://dearcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/boy-in-stripped-pyjama.jpg

Another review of the movie

In a heartbeat...

I'd be in Jeru.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

A sign for some old newspaper?

Muslim Quarter spices

Satellite dishes and clothing, right in front of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock

An Old City street, Jewish Quarter

YMCA building, New City of Jerusalem

Church of the Dormition and the graveyard

From Todd and from my mom

From Todd Bolen, on his blog:

One of the most damaging things that Obama could do as president is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. He has promised that the first thing he’ll do in office is to sign it. This bill would wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide. This would eradicate state and federal laws that the majority of Americans support, such as:
Bans on Partial Birth Abortion
Requirements that women be given information about the risks of getting an abortion
Only licensed physicians can perform abortions
Parents must be informed and give consent to their minor daughter’s abortion
What can you do? You can sign this petition. Perhaps if enough people do, Obama will listen.


From my mom, in an e-mail after I sent her the link to the FOCA petition; I didn't ask her, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind me sharing it with you all:

Hi Jennica,
FOCA stands for the freedom of choice act. It makes abortion legal without any restrictions. I am very much afraid that it will pass and there is nothing we can do about it. The dem's have the votes they need now. This is not to say that we shouldn't make our voices heard and do all within our power to protect the unborn and their mothers also.
This new government we have elected is going to bring about such changes as we haven't seen in decades, and few, if any, will be righteous changes. Maybe it will spur the Christians on to tell others about the Lord. The Lord is the only deliverance this nation has now. Actually, He has always been our only hope.
His love, however, endures forever.
Mom

Apparently...

one of my old friends, Ryan Heathers, is pretty sick and they don't know what is wrong (at least that is what I gathered from snooping on facebook ;) ). So if you think of him, pray for him! I know him from Master's, Ultimate Frisbee, and IBEX. Haha, this is he from a few years ago.

Pictures of today

Amos and I went to Santa Monica today and had a great time! I was tired, so we didn't talk constantly, but it was fun to walk around on the beach, use tunnels instead of crosswalks to get across streets (very fun), climb up multiple flights of stairs, take pictures, etc.
I am very blessed to have Amos as my boyfriend. He cares for me so much, and after eight weeks it just keeps getting better. :)

I really like this picture...the sun and a sailboat.

Amos was waiting for me to get out of the Bird of Paradise bush...I was trying to get the camera just right... :)

Unfortunately I look really tired in all the pictures we took today...oh well, better luck next time... :)

"Let me confer with the banana..."

So Danielle and I decided a few weeks ago that we should come up with a Friday night event and keep it a secret from our respective boyfriends. We thought a bit and chose the Griffith Observatory in L.A. We picked a Friday when the moon would be waning so that we could see the stars, invited our guys, and waited...and did NOT spill the beans. :) I wrote the directions on a banana and entrusted it to Danielle, who read them to me as I needed them (hence the title ;) ).
Little did we know, you can't see the stars at the observatory, moon or no moon, because of the abundance of light coming from one of the world's most populated cities. So we wandered around the observatory, looked at displays, and took pictures!

The infamous, informative banana...

Observatory and downtown L.A./Hollywood

We found Einstein!!! It was quite a shock...

Here we are...

Luke: "Act French!"
Wah-laah, we are French! ;)

Exercise the amazing right that we have as American citizens, and

VOTE.

Interview

In order to please my constituency, I have decided to post again. :) This time I conducted an interview with myself concerning my current job, tutoring, using the 6 questions for writing an article: who, what, when, where, why, and how...I'm sorry it is so long!


Who do you tutor?
3 kids; I mostly tutor the 10th grader, "Kevin," though I also tutor his 6th grade cousin, "Hannah," and rarely "Seth," his 9th grade cousin. Kevin's cousins are from Korea and have only been in the country for about 10 months.

Who told you about the job?
Fellow credential student and friend, Small Michelle :)

What do you tutor?
To varying degrees, AP European History, English, Social Studies, Earth Science

What subject is your favorite to tutor?
Hmmmmmm, when he behaves, I like to tutor Kevin in AP Euro, though it is a close tie with Hannah in any subject.

What is your favorite way to explain hard concepts?
I really like to explain ideas verbally, but if that doesn't connect with the students, I draw pictures and diagrams and also use whatever happens to be in the general vicinity (more on this later).

What is the most difficult thing about your job?
Kevin is very resistent to working, so it is an almost constant struggle to get him to concentrate and perform his tasks. It is also very hard because he will not be reasoned with; I have to find some new ways to get him to behave.

What is the easiest thing about your job?
It pays well, his parents are pretty understanding of the situation, it is only a few days a week, and it gives me experience!

What are your goals in tutoring?
For Hannah, it is mainly to get her homework done and to help her understand English. I also am helping her build her English writing skills by constantly revisiting certain areas that need improvement.
For Kevin, my short-term goal is to get his homework done. Since this is time-consuming (he is very resistent to working most of the time), I have a hard time working on my long-term goal, which to make him an independent learner and self teacher.

When do you tutor?
2-3 days a week, for 1-2 hours at a time

Where do you tutor?
In the kids' home, in an affluent part of town with a high Korean population

Why do you tutor?
I need the money. :)

Why else do you tutor?
I like to work with kids. This gives me insight into the age groups that I will be working with as a teacher. It also gives me experience with teaching an English Language Learner, which can be very difficult. I like the challenge of finding many different ways to communicate concepts to Hannah.

How do you help Hannah understand the material?
I use anything we have at the table to get the point across to her. I have used a coaster and a cup to illustrate absorption during earthquakes, pencils to represent people and lasers, empty rice crispy packages to show different types of earthquakes, pistacio shells to illustrate the concepts of majority and national defense, etc. It is really fun! She laughs at her crazy tutor, so it is great. The dual use of verbal+visual is helpful as well. Of course, I also use the illustrations in the book and personal drawings to help her understand.

Team Sweetwater

Hey, this is an advertisement for Team Sweetwater! This is for a friend of mine, Garret's, and Kaydee's, Nick Coibion, a junior at California Baptist in Riverside, California. (I'm pretty sure I know Tim Wilkins, too, from my involvement with CEF.) Nick and two other guys from Cal Baptist are going to be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Oregon in an effort to raise $100,000.00 for clean wells in India! Here is the description of the project from the facebook group called "TEAM SWEETWATER":

Team Sweetwater is about serving our persecuted brothers and sisters while simultaneously reaching the unreached.
Nick Coibion, Tim Wilkins, and Caleb Childers, three students from California Baptist University have committed four months of their lives to walk 1,724 miles from Mexico to Oregon in one grand effort to raise $100,000 for fresh water in India.

Here is their blog:

http://teamsweetwater.wordpress.com/

Aaaaand!! You can help spread the word about their efforts by buying a Team Sweetwater t-shirt for only $10.00!! Add them as a group on facebook or you could tell me if you want a t-shirt, get me the money, and I'll pass it on to them!
I hope this helps them out! Support these guys' efforts to impact the world in a practical way!

And He said to me,
“Son of man, can these bones live?”

So I answered,
“O Lord GOD,
You know.”

-Ezekiel 37:3, NKJV (biblegateway.com)