Engagement, v. 2.0

Friday was an interesting day.  I had just been hired for a long-term substitute position on Wednesday, so on Friday I headed down to the main office to pick up paperwork.  I then drove all over L.A. to get a physical, TB test, and live scan done.  I wasn’t feeling well, and I was very tense because I had to drive my friend’s car with a very stiff clutch and low visibility.  (My car was in the shop.)

One of my favorites 'cuz I look so happy. :)

After managing to get most things done, I came back to Master’s to get Amos.  Amos was working on a paper in the library, but he was done and we needed to pick up my car.  I figured that I would get to spend the rest of the day with him because we were both done with our other stuff.

J: “Now what?”
A: “Ummmm, I have to go home after we get your car.”

J: “Oh.  What do you have to do at home?”

A: “Stuuuuuff.”

J: -very quiet-

As I said before, I was not feeling well, plus I was tired.  I was also stressed out from driving my friend’s car and not knowing what to do about my car, which had not passed smog and needed a new catalytic converter (lame + lots of money).  I also really wanted to hang out with Amos because I don’t get to see him as much now.  So of course, I started crying (not that much, though; I was tired.)

We decided that Amos would go do his stuff (he needed “to go to Chatsworth to get something”) and I would take a nap.  Amos would pick up the bulletins we needed to stuff for church and then call me when he was back at my apartment.

So I went to bed and slept for an hour and a half, which is rare for me.  Amos called, and I went to let him in.  It turned out that my roommate had already let him, and he was sitting on the couch!  We sat on the couch and talked for a little while then Amos asked me if I wanted to go on a walk.

Awwwwwww...

Now, Amos doesn’t mind walks, but he doesn’t usually want to go when I want to go.  This was weird.

I agreed, thinking this was odd since I still wasn’t feeling quite right, but I thought I should take him up on it since he asked (and I figured he had a plan).

Our usual back and forth:

J: “What do you want to do?”

A: “Ummm, I don’t know.  What do you want to do?”

J: “Well, we could walk to the little park?”

A: “Yeah, we could do that.”
J: “How far do you want to walk?”

A: “Oh, I don’t know.”

After this usual exchange, Amos suggested we go to Bridgeport, a little residential area with a manmade lake/pond.  We’ve walked around this little lake a billion times, and I suppose we’ll walk around it a billion times more.  We sat under a little tree in September 2008 and had a two-plus hour DTR.  We didn’t want to jump into a dating relationship just to have fun.  We talked about our long-term goals and some of our responsibilities.  When Amos dropped me off at Aptartment 29, I asked him, “So, are we dating?”

We were. :)

Thus began some of the craziest years of my yet-young life.

Haha!  Protecting me from the sun...

We’ve had a lot of ups and downs.  But every once in a while we went back to Bridgeport to walk around and enjoy each other’s company.

That’s where we went on Friday.

Amos and I walked around the lake and laughed at the ducks.  We walked out on one of the piers.  By this point I was pretty sure he was going to propose. (Why didn’t he tell me what he was getting in Chatsworth?  Why were we going on a walk?  What about that e-mail I saw a few weeks ago?)  I wondered what would happen if the ring dropped into the water!  Amos did not propose there, though.

The two of us kept walking around the lake, having a good time and saying a lot of “I love you!”s.  I rather unromantically declared I needed to go to the restroom, which meant we had to go back home because there are no restrooms around, since it’s a residential area, not a park.

Awwwww, he's so cute!

We got back to the car, but Amos led me over onto the grass at the place we had had our first conversation  It was time to define a new relationship! :P

I hugged him, and he hugged me back.

I can’t remember what all was said, but I’m sure it was something like “I love you” and other sweet stuff. :)

A: “You’re my sweetheart.”

J: “Mmmmmhmmmmm.”

A: “For always?”

J: -pause- “I think so…yeah”

A: “I have something for you.”
J: “What is it?” (hehe. ;) )

A: -pause- “A present.” ;)

J: “Oh, okay.”

Amos pulled out a small box and opened it (with one hand, by the way; I was holding his other arm).  Of course there was the sparkle. :)

J: “This is crazy.”

A: “Will you marry me?”

J: “This is crazy.”
“Are you sure?”

My beautiful ring

I said yes in there somewhere and hugged Amos some more.

J: “It looks pretty.”
A: “I think it’s pretty.”
J: “Are you going to put it on?”

I took off my purity ring and stashed it in my pocket.  Amos will get to keep that one day. :)

Amos took the ring out of the box and put it on my finger, and we were engaged! :)

Engagement, v. 1.0

He asked.

I said yes.

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

Glendale

Amos' schedule is not conducive to hanging out with me, his girlfriend.  From Monday to Thursday I saw Amos a total of two hours. Two. Dos.  Not very many.  Too few.

Awwwww, he's so cute!

I saw Amos for an hour on Monday afternoon and an hour on Thursday morning.  On both days I thought I'd be able to see him later on in the evening, but he's been very tired with work and school, so it was not to be.  We could have hung out all day on Friday, but I went to work and Amos went to CSUN to check out some articles for a paper he is writing.  I'm proud of him. :)

On Saturday, I got to hang out with Amos for quite a while!  I was one happy camper. :)  We went down to Glendale and visited the famous Porto's Bakery.  They always have really looooong lines, but we made it through pretty quickly.  We got a chocolate cupcake to share then went to Brand Park.

Brand Park is a really pretty park.  It isn't huge, but it has a library that used to be the Brands' house, a Japanese tea garden, and a transplanted Victorian house from the 1800s.  The architecture of the house-turned-library and the sort of gate at the beginning of driveway was reminiscent of the Taj Mahal.  I told Amos I should take a picture and say, "Haha, I tricked you all!  I really DID see the Taj when I went to India!" (I actually didn't see the Taj in India; I was really sick.  I'll just have to go back. :) )  We walked around a bit then found a place in the sun.  I discovered that the poor cupcake had flipped upside down, and his frosting was spread all around the inside of the plastic box!  Those who know me are not surprised.  We ate him anyway and decided he was pretty good for only costing $1.50.  The cupcake was chocolate with a kind of chocolate whipped cream frosting.

Maybe Amos should have taken a nap instead of me...

Anyway, Amos had to read some articles for school, so he read articles, and I took a nap!  It was really nice.  I eventually woke up and read about two pages of my own book.  We hung out for a while longer before heading home.  For dinner we decided to try out the meatballs at IKEA.  We drove back to Burbank and ordered one meatball meal and one Caesar chicken salad.  We split both of them, so it turned out pretty well. :)  I asked Amos to try some of the special lingonberry drink they had because I was just getting water; we both decided it tasted like Kool-Aid.  The salad was pretty good, but the meatball dinner was just ehhhhhhh.  So, the dinner was about four stars, but the company was ten-plus!

I'm not looking forward to being without an Amos for most of the semester, but two weeks are already gone, and I know I'll survive.  If you think of us, pray that we will be diligent in the different things we have been called to do and that we will not be frustrated but trust that God knows best.


[This post written with Patty (my mom) and Barb (Amos' mom) in mind.  I know you two like hearing about our adventures. :) ]

New book!

I got a new book!  I bought Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller on amazon and picked it up at the post office today.  I've read a few pages, and it's really good!

The basic premise is that man makes idols out of everything, including good things.  Jesus is the only Thing that satisfies.

"We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case.  The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes.  Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life."

And those sentences are just in the introduction.

Survival

I survived school today.

B period was chaotic, to say the least.  In one forty-eight minute class, I sent two kids to the "Opportunity Room" (how lame is that name?!) and told six other kids to stay in the learning center after taking their quizzes, just so the rest of the class would settle down.  One of the OR kids was actually walking around the class, bothering people with a feather duster while I was on the phone calling for a campus supervisor.  Another kid, who had been a problem earlier in the day, decided he wanted to skip his scheduled class and come back to mine instead.  I managed to shoo him away, though he couldn't have made this particular class that much worse.  I normally fill one side of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with notes from the day, but today I filled both sides.  That's how bad they were.  I'm glad I'm not their teacher.

Yet, in the midst of it all, I realized they were not bad kids.

They were just very loud and very disrespectful.

But it's the weekend, and I am ready for it.

*busy signal*

Busy.

That is what this semester is going to be.

I'm not looking forward to it, mostly because Amos is going to be busy with work, sleep, school, and church, and I'll miss my best friend.

I suppose I'll survive, though.  Haven't keeled over yet!

A rather sad/depressing post, but that's all for now, folks!

Oh, and I have an interview on Thursday.  Let's hope this one works out!

The Sad Story of the Lame-on Meringue Pie

The Sad Story of the Lame-on Meringue Pie

by Jennica Byers

adapted from the original

Once upon a time there was a girl who liked to cook. She decided to make a lemon meringue pie and share it with her boyfriend.

She collected the ingredients, pulled out the cookbook, and saw -gasp- that she needed lemon extract.  The girl decided to walk to the local market to obtain said extract.  Looking at the shelves, she located the item and nearly fainted dead away when she saw the price.

$5.00!  For only one ounce?!

She called her mother only to find out that $5.00 was in fact expensive for extract, but that lemon meringue pie *could* be made without it, though it might not taste as good.

The girl bought some fish and diced tomatoes and walked home.

She decided not to go to another store but to attempt the pie without the extract.  She looked up instructions on how to make lemon extract, and, ignoring the instructions which called for vodka and weeks of refrigeration, tried to add lemon peel to vanilla extract. Unfortunately quite a bit of vanilla splashed out and this was the lame-on meringue pie's undoing.

The course was set and the curse was cast.

She made the crust and the filling but -oh dear- the crust shrunk down in the pan and the filling did not taste like lemon.

Stretch the sides of the crust back up!  Dump in the extra lemon peel!  Add more lemon juice!  This *has* to work!!!

Unfortunately the filling would *not* taste like lemon!

The girl turned to the meringue and tackled that.  The meringue didn't come out quite right, either, but she put it on the pie and baked the unfortunate pastry anyway!

The meringue toasted quite nicely, and the girl hoped that the extra lemon had lent more flavoring to the filling by now.  She put the pie in the icebox and let it chill.

However, as usual, the girl was impatient. She put the pie in the freezer but soon removed it to cut a piece to give to her boyfriend.  She tasted the filling and -bleah!- it did not taste like lemon.  It tasted like some strange lemon candy thing.  She tried to see if it still tasted good, even if it didn't taste like lemon.

It did not taste good.

This was embarrassing!  She couldn't give the man a weird-faint-lemon-candy-thing lame-on meringue pie with his friends around!  Maybe if he were there with her it wouldn't be so bad to have him taste it. But she couldn't justify bringing him something weird at work, not to mention she would lose her parking spot and have to walk a quarter of a mile back to her house upon her return.

*sigh*

The girl resigned herself to keeping the weird pie to herself and consoled herself with the fact that if worse came to worst, she could always eat the meringue and chuck the rest.


Moral of the story: Buy the extract.  Avoid the curse.

Beloved

I love this song.  I found it on my Pandora internet radio station, and I've played it over ten times today.

When I think of this song, I think of the book of Hosea, one of the many books in which God calls unfaithful Israel to return from her infidelity.  I also think of the Church, which isn't perfect but is the bride of Christ.  Finally I think of myself, who struggles to keep God at the forefront of my mind, who struggles to remember I can't and don't have to be perfect, who struggles to believe and remember that God loves and delights in me.  Sometimes I don't like being a perfectionist.

I am thankful for this song.  The lyrics are below, and if you click on the title, you can listen to this song on YouTube.

Beloved
by Tenth Avenue North

Love of My life
Look deep in My eyes
There you will find what you need
And give Me your life
The lust and the lies
The past you're afraid I might see
You've been running away from Me

You're My beloved
Lover, I'm yours
Death shall not part us
It's you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we'll be
My love, it unites us
And it binds you to Me
It's a mystery

Love of My life
Look deep in My eyes
There you will find what you need
I'm the Giver of life
I'll clothe you in white
My immaculate bride you will be
Oh, come running home to Me

You're My beloved

Lover, I'm yours

Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

My love, it unites us

And it binds you to Me

You've been a mistress, My wife

You're chasing lovers that won't satisfy

Won't you let Me make you My bride

You will drink of My lips

And you'll taste new life

You're My beloved

Lover, I'm yours

Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

My love, it unites us

And it binds you to Me

It's a mystery

Used

On Saturday Amos and I were going to go down to Sun Valley to turn in his car to a "Cash for Clunkers" type place.  I wanted to go on an adventure and thought of trying to find a used bookstore in Sun Valley, but then told myself that I didn't need to spend money on books right now.

On my way to Amos' house, I stopped by the library to drop off my books because the library system told me I could not renew my books a fourth time. ;)  I walked in the automatic doors, looked to my left, and - what is this!  A library sale!  I took only enough time to drop off my books before I skipped right back into a medium-sized room filled with conference tables covered with boxes of books!

Fiction!  Non-fiction!  Encyclopedia sets!  Paperbacks!  Hardbacks!  Children's books!  Cookbooks!

Ahhhhh, book heaven.

I called Amos and found out that the car place he wanted to go to was already closed for the day.  I left my selected books (as yet unpaid for), picked up Amos, and came back to the library.  I ended up spending $5.50 for five books.  Not bad!  Amos bought some books, too, including an Isaac Asimov trilogy that he's been looking for.

It was a good day.

Grant proposal

The red marks are mine

My tutoring boss called me yesterday about editing this grant proposal for some of his colleagues (I don't think my boss wrote any of this).  I worked from 10:30 pm -12:30 am, 1:00-2:10 am, and 7:45-11:20 am.  God's ways of taking care of me financially are crazy at times, but I'll take their typos if they pay me!

Six hours and forty-five minutes of editing.  Four-ish hours of sleep.

I just might be going back to bed soon...

Twenty-Six

Well, here is my list of the twenty-six books I read this year.  Like most of my readers, I also read parts of other books that I didn't finish; I didn't include those in this post.  For each of these books I made sure to read any and all prefaces/forwards/conclusions/acknowledgments/etc.  What can I say, I'm a perfectionist. ;)

I split the books up into a few categories.  Some books could go in more than one category, but I figured it would be too time-consuming to make some complex schema to show the various potential groupings of all of these books; hence, the few categories.

Most of the books I read for fun or enrichment, though some books were read just because I thought, as an English teacher, they should be read.  In 2011 I intend to read more Christian books and more Middle Eastern books.  As a sidenote, I'm not saying everyone should read these books, though I highly recommend all of the Christian books.  Some of these books have objectionable content and/or language, so read with a discerning eye; I answer for my decisions, and you answer for yours. :)

Key:
* fun
# favorite
+ career reading

Have fun reading!  Here's to more books in 2011!

Jennica-Ayelet's 2010 Reading List

Agatha Christie

#And Then There Were None - Favorite Agatha Christie murder mystery; probably her most famous.  Recommended by my roommate michelle

Funerals Are Fatal

Sleeping Murder

Murder at the Vicarage

Double Sin and other stories

*#Come, Tell Me How You Live - Really funny book about her time in the Middle East with her archaeologist husband

Middle East

#From Beirut to Jerusalem, Thomas L. Friedman - Long but very interesting book explaining the history of the Middle East as well as the Arab and Israeli mindsets.  One of Friedman's views that I've adopted is that there will be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians only when they decide that they want peace more than other, outside nations want peace; they won't be pressured into it.  Amos bought this for me at Salvation Army.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi - Interesting book about a university teacher in Iran teaching American literature and applying the worldviews of the literature to her culture.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini - A fictional story of two Afghan women and how their worlds collided then coalesced in the 70s to the present in Afghanistan

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, Suzanne Fisher Staples - Young adult fiction about a family of nomads in Pakistan. Sent to Sherrie

#Crossing Mandelbaum Gate, Kai Bird - An interesting memoir of living in the Middle East first as a diplomat's son and later as a reporter

Sandstorms: Days and Nights in Arabia, Peter Theroux - Insight from a reporter/author living in the Middle East, mainly concerning Saudi Arabia

Christian

Let Me Be a Woman, Elisabeth Elliot - Insight for her daughter Valerie

Quest for Love, Elisabeth Elliot - Thoughts on love and relationships

#Secret Believers, Brother Andrew and Al Janssen - A convicting read on the sacrifices required of believers in the Middle East; prepare to be changed.  Recommended by Amos

Light Force, Brother Andrew and Al Janssen - Insight into the situation of the oft-overlooked Arab believers in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank

#The Prodigal God, Tim Keller - An explanation of the parable in Luke commonly known as the prodigal son.  Keller explains the motivations and reactions of each of the characters in the parable.  I've never heard the parable explained this way, and it was and is very convicting.  I'm sure I'll read it many times in 2011.

Children of the Storm, Natasha Vins - A story of a Christian Russian family who underwent persecution in the USSR

Et Cetera 

+Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson - Didn't really like this one

+Animal Farm, George Orwell - I thought this one was creepy; apparently my dad thought it was funny!

+The Stranger, Albert Camus - Weird; not worth it

Messenger, Lois Lowry - Interesting final book in a trilogy that includes The Giver and Gathering Blue

100 Pounds of Popcorn, Hazel Krantz - Fun, short book one of my siblings got from the library

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson - Funny Christmas story with a good ending. Borrowed from Danielle

#+The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne - Intriguing tale with a surprising twist and a sad ending (I thought Dimmesdale was wimp at the end, but I think it was part of the style of literature)

The Nazi Officer’s Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust, Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin - Interesting true story of a Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust; it is crazy what she experienced. Borrowed from my roommate Michelle

Working away...

I've signed in to blogger several times to write a post, but I'm just now getting around to actually writing one.

I'll make it short: I'm not done with my quilt.

When I'm done (hopefully on Thursday or Friday), I will post pictures.

Until then, you'll find me hunched over the dining room table, either sewing stitches on my new sewing maching or making sure the sashing between the blocks comes out right.  Tomorrow I'm going over to Ross and Audra's house to tie my quilt; we're going to tape the quilt to the linoleum because it will keep it all stable and because you don't see needle marks in linoleum.

At least I hope to tie my quilt.

But I must finish it first.

Happy almost New Year!