Organizing, tossing, meeting

I don't know what started it, but I've been on an organizing kick recently.  I don't think we have a lot of stuff, but when I start opening closets and looking in bags and boxes, I wonder, "what is all of this?!"  In the last few days I've thrown away old school notes, random pieces of fabric, unwanted gift bags, old shoe boxes saved for shipping, etc.  And it's still not done!  Next we have to go through Amos' school notes and old bills; hopefully we'll get rid of a lot of those. ;)

In our living room, I have one and half tubs full of things to be sold.  I'm not really confident that we can sell all of it (video monitors, Madame Alexander dolls, Zeusy's old tank, etc.), but I might as well try!  Two boxes of books and sci-fi magazines are waiting to be taken to the used bookstore.  Two boxes and a bag have been dropped off at Goodwill, and I'm sure we'll fill at least one more before we are done.

Besides the organizing, Amos and I have been going to a lot of meetings, with more to come!

Wednesday: Staff meeting, 30 Days of Prayer meeting
Thursday: Girls' dinner at our small group leader's house, phone meeting for Amos
Friday: Lunch meeting with old college friend Alicia, phone meeting for Amos (canceled)
Saturday: Website meeting for Amos
Sunday: Church, The Gospel in the Muslim World meeting
Monday: Interview for Jennica, tech team meeting for Amos
Tuesday: -nothing...yet-
Wednesday: Staff meeting, interview for Jennica

It's a little crazy over here, as you can tell by the disjointed sound of this post!

Fonts and food

Not too much going on over here. I've spent the last 2.75 hours converting fonts on my missions documents for church.  Very exciting!  Our "creative media" director, Mark, came up with a style sheet for our church to follow, so I've been faithfully replacing fonts and reformatting documents.  At first I wasn't too sure about this style guide ("is it really necessary?"), but I can see that it is a good idea!  My documents look a lot better, and all I did was change the font!  Now I just have to print all these sheets out, hang them on walls, e-mail them to the missions director and the ministry assistant, clip them in clipboards, cut some of them down to size, etc...oh yeah, and finish converting my other documents. Oh dear!

In other news, I think Amos and I are going to have pancakes for dinner tonight.  Here are some of the potential toppings (not all together, of course):
+Whipped cream
+Blueberry curd
+Syrup
+Nectarines
+Pumpkin butter
+Pecans

Happy Monday!

Nebraska in July

Well, this was my sixth trip to Nebraska and the longest yet!  Amos and I went for a week and had a great time hanging out with family and eating tapioca. :)

Some of the things we did...
+ Went to Cabela's
+ Tried Jimmy John's sandwiches
+ Went to Wednesday night prayer meeting and Sunday morning church
+ Hung out with Doug and Glee and slept in their basement (the pastor and his wife)
+ Visited with Cindy, an old friend of the family and a really nice lady
+ Watched at least five firework displays, large and small (they are crazy out there!)
+ Ate a lot of tapioca; I need to find some pearls at the store and make some!
+ Walked around Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (I saw a monkey with yellow fur!)
+ Had a siblings photo shoot
+ Went to a barbecue at Jesse and Carly's new house
+ Visited a barn sale (i.e., antique heaven; we didn't get anything)
+ Checked out Seward, NE, the Fourth of July capital of the state
+ Took pictures of everyone for a frame on Barb and Lester's wall
+ Went to the Crete Public Library and introduced Barb to The Mysterious Benedict Society
+ Looked around Lester's Shop, the gun shop that Amos' dad started
+ Listened to toooo many knock-knock jokes
+ Received a beautiful, hand-quilted, turquoise and brown quilt; a few of Amos' sisters pieced it (Julia and Sara, I think) and Amos' mom hand-quilted it, complete with little pictures!
+ Did some laundry
+ Made some homemade French onion dip
+ Met our nephew Oliver for the first time
+ Ate some venison
+ Did a lot of other things that I can't remember right now!

All in all, it was a very, very nice week.  I don't usually spend a lot of time with people, so it was overwhelming for a few days, but now I miss everyone. :P  Oh dear.

Here are some pictures!

Seward Courthouse

Cornerstone Bible Church

Lawn ornament at the barn sale

In the corn! 

An Amos in his original habitat...

A yellow-furred, blurry monkey!

Visiting with Cindy in her new house!

Our quilt, complete with photbombing Hobbes (birthday present for Amos
last year)

Around the web 5

I will get around to a post about our trip to Nebraska and our second anniversary, but for now, enjoy some links! :)

Why I Stopped Looking for the Perfect Church by Cole Jeffrey
I'm not sure that I ever actually talked to Cole, but we were a Master's for the same four years.  Some great thoughts on looking (or not looking) for the perfect church.

Teaching Children the Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
I LOVE this article.  It really hit home with me.

The Day My Husband and I Got Inked and
Every Day Radical: To the Last Virgins Standing by Emily Wierenga
A very emotional writing style, but I really liked what she had to say.

Homemade Whole-Grain Pancakes by King Arthur Flour
I'm going to make this recipe with the whey that I've drained from my plain yogurt...I sound crazy. :P

Some children's books that I read at the Crete Public Library in Nebraska:
Boot and Shoe, Miss Moore Thought Otherwise, The Houdini Box, Sheep in a Jeep, and Here Come the Girl Scouts! (Boot and Shoe was a fun story with really cute illustrations, though it did have two parts about the little dogs "relieving themselves" on a small tree...just a warning)

EDIT
And another one: DOMA and the Rock by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

The best pictures from the book. Click to enlarge.

Busy every day

Monday
+ Hanging out with some Bible study friends at the Tea Gardens
+ Waiting around at TMC to give a friend her pillow and clothes (she went on a mission trip, so we kept some stuff for her till she got back); didn't see the friend, but we did see an older friend, Kelli Bolen!

Tuesday
+ Early-morning wake-up to see Heather, Austin, and David and to learn about their upcoming ministry

Old ollege friends + children
Heather, Austin, and David are right behind my head

Wednesday
+ Church staff meeting
+ TMC Alumni Dodger game versus the GIANTS!

Here's the pitch!

Amos and I at the game (Amos is wearing his birthday present shirt)

Thursday
+ Amos had a meeting with a friend from church

Friday
+ Picking up bulletins
+ Making scones and blueberry lemon curd for a ladies' event tomorrow
+ Getting groceries and going to the post office
+ Watching Jeeves and Wooster?

Saturday
+ Ladies' event
+ Laundry
+ Swimming!  It is supposed to be up to 102-105 tomorrow!

Sunday
+ Church
+ Missions Leadership Meeting
+ Open House for our newest global partners

Monday
+ Pack for Nebraska
+ Clean
+ Eat the odds and ends in the fridge
+ Go to sleep early!

Camp memories

Some of my favorite childhood memories happened at camp.  I first went to Awana camp when I was ten years old.  Despite feeling left out for the first half hour or so of camp (I was very shy, and my friends were in a different group) and getting really sick later in the week (I threw up in the nurse's office), I had a great time!  I attended Awana camp for seven years, only missing my last year because I went on a mission trip to Zambia.

My first year at CYIA camp was when I was twelve.  This camp trains you to teach Bible clubs during the summer.  My favorite memories include the annual skit and talent night and the daily practice groups, where we took turns telling our Bible stories to our peers.  I attended CYIA for five years.  I missed the last year of this camp, too, because I was in Africa.

Amos also went to a summer camp for a few years, but he didn't have as good of a time as I did.  Some of the boys in his cabin were little punks, and they threw his pillow in some poison ivy!

Now my little sister, Brenda, is off to Awana camp!  Amos and I packed up a present for her, and I shipped it off on Friday.  I'm pretty sure she's going to like both camp and the present. :)

Everything was stuffed in except for the sticky notes, some glo sticks,
and some pixie sticks

Ready to go!

Around the web 4

Here are some links I've enjoyed recently:

Believing That Which Is Hard To Believe by Mike Gaston, small group and outreach pastor at Grace Baptist
"Wouldn't it be arrogant of me to assume that God would only do that which I am capable of understanding?"

My Dad's Impromptu Challenge by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Ever thought of making 50-year goals?

Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity by Larry Alex Taunton for The Atlantic
This just in (okay, it's old news), but Christian youth turn from the church when they sense that the teaching is neither genuine nor able to answer their tough questions.  Interesting study.

How to Read a Book by The Art of Manliness
I haven't read this article yet, but I plan to soon!

Crockpot Peach Chipotle Chicken at thefrugalgirls.com
This recipe was just for inspiration.  I made peach preserves and mixed it with a little bit of honey barbecue sauce, onions, and bell peppers.  We ate it over grilled chicken breasts with brown and white rice, green beans, and avocado.  It was really good.

Song of the week by Michael Buble': It's a Beautiful Day

And a funny video that Danielle showed me on Monday, when I invited myself over to her house:
Cat Jump Fail with Music

By the numbers

1 day till Julia and Katie's birthday
4 days till my next staff meeting
1 week till we have to do laundry again
1 week and 1 day till my friend Sarah comes back from China
1 week and 2 days till we see our friends Heather, Austin, and David
1 weeks and 3 days till we go to the TMC Alumni Dodger Game (Go Giants!)
2 weeks till my next MLT meeting
2 weeks and 2 days till we go to Nebraska!
3 weeks and 2 days till our second anniversary!

And a few pictures from today, our adventure to Ventura

Amos, aka, Jennica's Best Friend

The bees love these huge flowers

More huge flowers

What I'm reading

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
Amos and I have listened to the other Benedict books, and we love them.  The books are about two orphans and two runaways who are brought together by Nicholas Benedict to form the Mysterious Benedict Society, with the goal of defeating the evil Ledroptha Curtain.  This book is about Nicholas Benedict's extraordinary childhood. We like this one so far, too.
(The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma)

A View of the Nile by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
I love Fernea's books.  This one tells about her years living in Egypt with her anthropologist husband and three children.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Hosseini's third book, this one also revolves around an Afghan family.  It explores the consequences of choices.  I like it, though the content of the book is rarely pretty.


My goodreads account says I'm also reading The Meaning of Marriage: Finding Happiness in Your Most Profound Relationship by Timothy and Kathy Keller, Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo, and Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  What is more accurate is that I've read a good part of each of those books, and they have been laid aside, at least for the time being.


I just finished Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  It is a young adult book set in World War II, telling the story of two best friends.  One girl is a pilot and one girl is a spy.  About half the book is told from the Scottish spy's angle, and the rest of the book by the English pilot's.  There are lots of details, several plot twists, and a few crazy connections between all of the characters.
I loved it.  Code Name Verity was very sad at some points, but also very interesting and extremely well-written.  I listened to it as an audiobook, and it was excellent.  It is read by two different ladies and is put out by Bolinda audio.  I highly recommend it, though it is not appropriate for young audiences (even though it is technically young adult).  I got my copy from the local library.

Open Letter to the Lord of the Universe

Amos is a college graduate, and I am a college graduate and teaching credential holder. We reside in Southern California and both hold two jobs each.  We live in cheap housing, spend a very small amount on groceries, and eat out probably five times a month, at most.  We pay our bills on time, including our car payment and student loans.  By all accounts we should be living the good life (if you believe the messages painted on our city buses).

Yet we make it by with a rather small surplus every month.  So small, in fact, that we can't afford to pay for benefits, even for one of us.

And then there is Obamacare, which says that we must have benefits or we will be fined hundreds of dollars per month, and we still won't have benefits.

And I'm afraid.  How can we pay for everything and not become homeless, when this bill goes into effect next year?  What if one of us gets sick?  How will we pay for dental care, which is sorely needed?

And then I think, "I'll write President Obama a letter and explain everything.  I'll send it to the White House, and he will read my touching, reasonable, persuasive letter and drop his bill."

And then I think, "What if it never reaches him?  I know he doesn't read all his mail; I know that there are employees who have probably read thousands of just such letters, and that the letters have probably been filed or tossed.  Oh dear!"

And then I think, "Who needs the President?  I have the Lord of the universe on my side, and He hears me night or day, rain or shine, hell or high water, for better or for worse, in sickness or in health, private care or Obamacare, till death we are united."

And so I put fingers to keyboard to write a prayer letter to the Lord of my life, who will sustain Amos and I through it all.  This is not easy to write, and even harder to live, but I do believe this prayer and trust that the Recipient will read it and act.

Lord,

You put President Obama in power, and You turn and have turned his heart where You will.  For some reason that we cannot see, You allowed this bill to be passed, and now millions of people will have to pay, literally.  It is scary, and we do not like it at all.  It doesn't seem to be the right thing for You to do.

But God, we place our sure hope in You, Your character, and Your Word.  We do not hope in men who fail or bills that pass or bank accounts that just won't fill up. You are the sustainer of our lives, and we rest in You to care for us.

Help us neither to be lazy and listless nor to work ourselves to death.

I echo Psalm 112,
"[The righteous man] is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is steady, he will not be afraid."

I claim Psalm 118,
"I shall not die, but I shall live,
 and recount the deeds of the LORD."

Lord, You wrote these truths, You will bring these to pass because You cannot lie.

We do not know what the next year will bring, but we trust You to be true to Your Word and to care for us, through thick or thin, rich or poor, in sickness and in health, from this time forth and forevermore.

Trusting and trying to trust,

Jennica-Ayelet

Tea Rex

I admit it: I am nearly twenty-seven years old, and I love picture books.  I'm pretty sure that the librarians think I'm weird for always checking out picture and chapter books, but I try not to pay attention. :)

Tea Rex by Molly Idle

Tea Rex by Molly Idle is my most recent favorite picture book, though I've also enjoyed I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean and Eric Litwin, and One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo and David Small (more on this one later, perhaps).

Anyway, Tea Rex is a book about a sister and brother who invite a t-rex to their tea party.  The medium is beautiful colored pencil, and the illustrations interact with the text in a hilarious way; totally worth any weird looks. ;)

Serving himself some tea with the help of a hapless teddy bear!

I think this is hilarious...a "tea rex" tea infuser!

Ouch

It is Saturday!  I taught every day this past week, and it was a little crazy.  I worked with mainstream kids, special ed kids, and autistic kids (one of whom could be possessed, which is scary).

Now it's the weekend.  Amos is taking a nap, and I'm stuck on the couch with a terrible crick in my back, neck, and shoulder.  I hope it gets better soon! :P  Here are some things I would be doing if I felt better:
-Mixing gyros for dinner
-Experimenting with my chocolate muffin recipe (I want to add a peanut butter ribbon next time)
-Sweeping the floor
-Cleaning the bathroom
-Printing out prayer support forms for our missionary friends, whom we'll see tomorrow!
-Thinking clearly so that I could write an e-mail back to my friend, who took a lot of time to answer a question (it will come eventually, Heather!)
-Sitting out in the backyard reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, A View of the Nile by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, or Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Instead I believe I will lie here and find out "whodunnit" in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.  I love audiobooks!