Since...

This is turning into a wedding-Amos-and-Jennica-too-busy-to-write-much blog,

here:

Have some pictures.

:)

My best friend

I love him a lot.

He's so handsome.

Lukas Van Dyke, our wedding photographer :D

Untitled

Untitled
I did not want to hear.
But since I had
to hear
I'm glad it was
me
to Listen.

-jlb

TGIF

It's Friday!  So excited!
And that's about all for now! :)

Happy Friday!

WW

Well, it's Wedding Weekend!  My mom is here from NorCal, and we're about to head out to find a bunch of wedding stuff.

In other news, I like my job, even if I have some difficult students.  One of my principals visited my class on Friday to talk to the seventh graders about their horrible behavior in another class the day before.  He was impressed with how the class was going, especially since I didn't have either of my TAs with me that period.  This is good. :)

In other other news, I love Amos.

Even less

No, I didn't fall off the earth, and no, Amos and I didn't elope. ;)

We've been pretty busy trying to figure things out for the wedding, from the wedding party to the date to the desserts to the location(s) to the registry to the photographer to the...you get the picture.  We think it'll be a pretty good wedding. :)

Today was my seventh day at school.  This job is a challenge, though not so much in the areas of planning or even grading.  The challenge is in the fact that my students are difficult and need a lot of help because of their individual learning disabilities.  Also, in one class, at least four out of the fourteen students are discipline problems.  Seventh grade is not exactly my favorite age at the moment.  However, I am very grateful to have this job and to have multiple TAs to help me.  Working at my school is interesting, but I do enjoy it.

Happy March!  Spring is coming!!!! :)  After spring is summer!!!! :D

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.