Brain Broken.

It’s been more than a month since I wrote anything. So much for my plans to write faithfully once a week during the credential program and keep track of how it’s going. Ha! I thought the other program I was in was time consuming but it can’t touch this one. The nice thing, though, is that the professors and students are Christians and that we students keep each other accountable to focus on Jesus and not lose our perspectives on why we’re going through the program.

If you’ve known me for not too long, you’ll know that I’ve got some pretty strong opinions on education, credentials, and popular methods. In specifics, the criteria for the first program I was in and the one I’m in now aren’t that different. We’re all meeting the same state standards (TPEs) for teachers. The main difference is the people.

The people in the first program were driving me bananas(table-mates excluded). Now I get to sit in class everyday with 10 awesome people. It’s a really terrific group and I’ve been able to make some friends with “life-long” potential, Lord willing. I love talking with these girls, bouncing ideas around, encouraging each other in the Lord, and being plain old goofy. That’s been the major advantage of switching programs. We can’t wait until this semester is over, though. After a major assessment (TPA- Teacher Performance Assessment) coming up, due on Dec 7th at 4:pm, there is a week of finals, and our celebration outing. Burning the TPA template in our bonfire was definitely mentioned.

My favorite method of procrastination recently, has been debating the nature of Islam on a private forum. Besides that, I’ve been requesting books from the library, looking at their covers, deciding I’m never going to have time to read them, and sending them back. I’ve also concluded that despite loving cleanliness and order, I’m not naturally tidy. All this time I thought I was, but I’ve been assured that I am certainly not. And I have to admit, I should be cleaning up the week’s aftermath right now, but there’s just a few things I have to check online first. lol!

So that’s about it for this post. Nothing that interesting, no major news, and nothing to make you laugh. But whoever is still reading this blog, enjoy the update. I was surprised to see that there are still any “hits” after several months of no content to speak of. Thanks, whoever you are.

Who was that?

It was me. I’m the  girl wearing an old and completely graceless San Francisco t-shirt with dress pants. It’s a long story…

Once upon a time, far away in the castle in the woods, slept a prince who had pricked his big toe on a thorn and bled one bright drop. He slept for several days before a beautiful frog came and kissed him. The frog turned into the prince’s ugly wife and they decided to move to Spain and have many handsome tadpoles.

Nope.

This is what really happened. I woke this morning to a pale grey dawn and packed my exercise bag. I was wearing the exercise clothes and packed nice clothes to change into. Not the comfy jeans I would have liked because they were in the washer, but it was okay. After packing, I realized that I would need to wait for an hour and a half after getting to school to use the gym since it would be closed for chapel. It was okay. I could read in the car. Thirty miles down the freeway, I had another lightbulb moment. I had no towel to use after showering. Not surprising I had forgotten it, since it too was in the washer. It was okay. I would…um…? Well, I would just dry off with my sweatshirt.

Heidi and I made it to school and I waited in the car until the gym would open after chapel. The moment had come so I unsuspectingly bounced up to the door expecting a joyous hour of sweat and ipod music. Alas, it was not to be for the doors were locked and a sign prolaimed that they would not reopen until 12:00pm, far too late for me. It was okay. I didn’t have a towel anyway. I walked over to the bathrooms to change into my dress pants and nice black sweater. Well, I forgot to pack a Shade shirt to wear under my sweater! By this time, I was hardly surprised. I was just grateful that I didn’t drop any clothing into the toilet while I laughed. And that’s the story of why I am wearing dress pants with an anachronistic t-shirt.

Harvey Milk Day

I received this as an email forward and think that everybody should be made aware of this proposed legislation. It took me less than 30 seconds to complete the call.

___________________________________________

Please call Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841. There is a recorded message designed to poll Californians’ opinion about SB 572, which the governor is being pressured- more from all sides -to sign. It’s all going to come down to how much pressure California’s governor feels.

If signed, SB 572 would pressure every California public school to have an official Harvey Milk Day promoting the homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual agenda to children as young as kindergarten. The sky is the limit on what a school considers suitable commemorative exercises. SB 572 is written so broadly, and could allow gay-pride parades on campus, cross-dressing, and homosexual marriage dramas, etc.

The call will only take about 30 seconds to complete and can be completed any time – day or night…
Press the buttons in the following order:

1 (English) 2 (legislation) 1 (SB572) 2(against)

Remember, last year the Democrat-controlled Legislature passed Harvey Milk Gay Day, but Schwarzenegger vetoed it. This year, Schwarzenegger is being lobbied more heavily by homosexual activists. Sean Penn, who played Harvey Milk on the big screen, and Milk’s homosexual activist nephew, have both personally lobbied Schwarzenegger to ask him to sign SB 572. The other difference from last year is that there are four more Democrats in the Assembly voting for Harvey Milk Gay Day. And for the first time, a Republican, Senator Abel Maldonado, is supporting this anti-traditional family value bill.

Please take a moment and do this for the kids…

Now I Saw in My Dream

On Wednesday I started a fieldwork assignment in N—— School. This assignment is for my Practicum class from the teaching credential program at M——.

Since I dropped out of a credential program last fall, I’ve had plenty to keep me busy. We spruced up and packed our too numerous belongings and moved “into town”. After moving in, we settled as quickly as possible and started throwing things out.

Then my elderly grandparents moved in with us to receive more care. No one realized it, but Grandma was already suffering with her last illness. She spent a few weeks with us, visited the hospital, came back, and then after another 10 days at the hospital, went to meet Jesus face to face. We were able to spend her last hours surrounding her bedside, holding hands, praying, singing, and telling her how much we loved her. After the memorial service, Grandpa moved back to the city that he’d spent his entire life in so that he could be close to Grandma’s grave.

It still seems unreal at times. You see a living, breathing person in front of you. Any second they could stop breathing and die but they don’t let go until all their children arrive and say goodbye. The breaths become shallower and choked while the monitors beep warningly. Finally, it seems like that is the last breath. But there is one more and then then the red thread on the screen flatlines, reads zero, and cries a steady tone. You look back, and the body that was a person one second earlier, has turned into a shell–obviously empty. The face is empty, the glazed eyes are covered over, the mouth hangs open and can’t be closed. The body is already decaying and in a week more is hidden in the earth. The person left behind trinkets, books, and clothes, but it seems strange that the things are still here since the former owner isn’t. The owner has simply vanished in an instant, and cannot be found anywhere on earth. But to be absent from the body and hidden from our sight means that she is present with the Lord and sees Him revealed in all His glory.

Through the summer, we’ve continued to get rid of things and to try to live with not much more than what we use on a daily or weekly basis. Except for the books, of course, there is still a bookcase in most rooms. We read. I worked at the pool again this summer– something I said I wouldn’t do. From the outside, my life looks like it’s in exactly the same spot as it was a year ago. Just finishing up a summer of lifeguarding and hoping I won’t be back, starting a credential program, thinking I’ll graduate in a year and be able to get a teaching job. Sometimes I still wonder if I shouldn’t have just stuck it out for two more quarters and have finished already, with all the classmates I’ve known for years. But those are just momentary twinges.

I’m really excited to start classes on Monday and see what happens through the next year. It’s weird to sit in a classroom and not know anybody but that will change in a few weeks. One of the students happens to be a girl I knew when we were both children. The professors prayed before we started the orientation meeting and also encouraged us to dress professionally and modestly so as to preserved a good testimony of the gospel to teachers in schools who may never have known a real Christian. Fancy that! It was like a dream!

After a long week of working at the pool,  traveling down to the school, and getting up early and going to bed late, I am exhausted. I’m already getting used to waking up at 5am, though, and I like the early morning more than I used to. I went to the chiropractor Friday afternoon and fell asleep during a mechanical exercise that has you lay on a table and use the device for 10 minutes. I was actually dreaming and startled awake when the timer went off.

Now I see many things in a dream…some past events feel like a dream, I dream when I’m too tired, and I dream of things to come.

Lovell Sisters Concert

I read a blurb about the Lovell Sisters in World Magazine on occasion of the release of their new CD, “Time to Grow”. The review compared their voices to that of Alison Krauss. I’m a big Alison Krauss fan so I checked out the Lovell Sisters on itunes. They are amazing! They remind me of Cherryholmes but with a little more variety in sound.  Their blend of contemporary country and bluegrass is one of my favorite kinds of music. The next day, I found out that the Lovell Sisters were giving a free concert in the Memorial Park in P——-, only one-and-a-half hours away! Daniel, Josh, Heidi, Becca, and I were all free that evening and decided to go.

Josh made a stop-motion movie while we waited:

Arab Festival 2009- Dearborn, Michigan

I learned about this youtube video through ACT! for America and their email notifications. A few Christians at a Muslim festival had picked up a pamphlet from a booth titled “Got Questions? Get Answers.” The Christians tried to ask a question about the pamphlet while video-recording the response but were driven from the festival by a mob of security guards who refused to have any video-recording going on.

Jenny, Liz, and His Legs

I went to the boys’ room to give Josh his pay stub and didn’t leave for two hours. Daniel was there, too, and we ended up talking. We probably spent at least 45 mins laughing…

You should also know that Josh likes to hold scissors or other sharp objects while he talks. He waves them around, opens and shuts them, trims body hair, and tests them out on his feet. He says that the scissors are dull and that, anyway, they couldn’t hurt a heel that bends hospital needles. Oh, by-the-way, I have his permission to share this.

Josh: So I ran to work the other day…Jenny didn’t want to take me. She said I wasn’t showing her enough attention so I had to take my legs instead.

Daniel: Wait. Which one is Jenny?

Melissa: His car.

Daniel: And what’s your motorcycle called?

Josh: Liz

Daniel: And what are your legs called?

Josh: *sculpting errant leg hair with the scissors* Hairy!

*loud guffaws*

Daniel: Oooo! I walked right into that one!

Four Twins Laughing

Too Gone, for Too Long

…but it’s not too late to start blogging again. I didn’t realize that it’s been almost a month since I wrote last. So much has happened in the last few months that it’s hard to know what to specifically mention or what to say about it.

My summer job at the pool has started again. I taught the first Parent-Tot session this morning and was delighted to meet an Australian woman with two little kids. They had perfect Five-Mile Creek accents, of course. Believe me, a five year old speaking in an Australian accent is charming! There was also a Japanese woman with her four year old son. He told me his name… “Sun——————”. He had a long name and looked a bit startled when I tried repeating what I thought he said. My tongue could have wrenched together something unholy in Japanese or “Sun” might have been confused. As in, “Why is that lady talking baby talk?”

Last summer, I was beginning to study the Japanese language. I learned a smidgin of hiragana and katakana and then dropped it because I decided that I would not go to to Japan. This summer, I am returning to a study of Japanese because I learned that it is not necessary to make a decision about Japan at this point in my life. “A man’s heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9) Whatever happens, studying Japanese is good for my brain and learning about Japan is intriguing. Tomorrow I can say “konichiwa!” to the Japanese lady, and maybe she won’t mind if I practice a few phrases with her.

To Find Packing Tape, Have a Contact.

Magnet from Pemberly Shoppe

I have an absolutely beautiful magnetic board that used to hang above my desk at the old house. I’ve been protecting it since we moved and THE TIME HAS COME!!! to put it on the wall again. Permission has been asked and granted. I can’t wait to put reminder post-its, notes from friends, and prayer picture-postcards from missionary friends on it. Oh, yeah. And my favorite magnet goes there, too. It says, “What would Jane blog?”

That was my personal project for today. To hang up the board. I found a hammer but the picture hangers are in a box in the garage. I wasn’t up to digging through all the boxes in the garage (it’s like 8×5, at least). I looked in other possible picture hanger spots. Like Dad’s desk drawer. Actually, that’s the only place I looked. That was the end of the project. Later Josh came and took the hammer so I guess he did something good with it.

Instead of hanging up the magnetic board, I learned again how important having a network of useful contacts is. It’s all about contacts and speaking to the right one at the right time. I’ve been trying to find the packing tape for a week and it never turned up. When Josh came looking for the hammer, I decided to ask him if he knew where the tape was. And he absolutely did!! And he only knew it because of something he did this morning where he happened to notice where the tape was. So there you have it. Even if you think you asked everyone, ask again. Ask the right person at the right time.

So I didn’t hang up the magnetic board but I did tape up two boxes of teacher stuff to take to the downstairs to the garage. I don’t want the stuff but should probably keep for three years– and yes, there actually is a reason for the random three years.