Last Thursday I learned to play Ghetto Apples to Apples, in which each person makes up ten or so pieces of paper (we used 1/4 pieces of notecards--sturdier, if you want to save them). Each paper has a quote or lyric or noun or something on it--whatever the person wants to put. Then all the little pieces of paper get thrown in a pile and mixed up, then randomly drawn so that you now have the papers of several different people rather than just yourself. Next, the players take turns making up different scenarios, like, "You were shoplifting in Mr. Boothman's bookstore, and Mr. Boothman caught you. What do you say to him?" The ensuing hilarity is both remarkable and priceless, and you will definitely want to teach this game to all your friends!
This also reminds me that I learned a new game on Wednesday (the day right before G. A. to A.), as well! It was named "Sock-o" by the guy who made it up, but I prefer to call it "Ultimate Sock." Basically, it's Ultimate Frisbee, except that you have a sockful of flour instead of a frisbee and your goals are hula hoops with one player from the opposing team standing inside. You play like U.F., but when you get to the goal, you must hit the person inside the hula hoop with the sock:D! As the sock is passed, thrown, and used to whack people, the flour gradually diminishes, and people end up with flour dust all over. SO MUCH FUN! It's less intimidating than U.F., and works best if you make sure all the players get to play, not just a few athletic individuals. Another game you should teach all your friends:D!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
June's almost over, and July's just one month!
I am currently listening to "Beautiful Things" by Gungor. :D
Well, the title, said in a hurried and exclamatory manner, describes how I'm feeling right now! May had no blog because May was ridiculously busy; June is almost over; July is just one month; in August I'm going on a trip, & then school starts--YIKES!
But I am LOVING summer. It is beautiful:). I love eating outside, throwing open windows, listening to night-sounds, waking up at 5 AM to light! (Of course, I go right back to sleep.)
Allow me to backtrack, though. If you are reading this blog, you most likely already know, but I'm not 100% positive whom I remembered to email. Drumroll please.......I have a job! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) I'm stoked! Next year I will be teaching pre-school to 3 & 4 year olds, and though I'm a bit nervous about it, I am confident in God's direction. Honestly, that's what's keeping me excited, because otherwise I would be too overwhelmed by how many new things I am learning and discovering and trying to remember, so thank You, God:).
I got to know my job a little bit by observing, subbing, and then doing year-end inventory (which involved a great deal of getting to know my classroom and supplies:)! Throughout the summer I hope to get at least a month of school tentatively planned (I'm sure there will be plenty to learn and change as I jump on in). Additionally, I am helping my church with VBS, babysitting two of my favorite little monkeys four Fridays in a row, babysitting 3 others of my favorite little monkeys 24/7 for either 7 or 8 or 9 days--something like that, still loving on kids at youth group and in a girls small group, and hoping to make enough money to pay the bills all summer long! One of the big deals of the summer (I don't think it quite tops a full week of babysitting 3 little monkeys, but it's a close second for biggest deal:D) is that I will be going on a missions trip for 16 days in August! Not saying where, but ask for details and I'll mail them to you:). It prob'ly doesn't matter, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say.
Anyway, the summer's filling up, and I am trying to maintain a balance. Hopefully it will be achieved! Trying also to surrender my life more to God, but I am finding out that I am even more stubborn than I had realized. Thanks be to God for His indescribable grace, truly.
Don't know when the next update will come; I'm feeling like this was rather dry, but informative. Something of interest? ... I finally finished reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love; it rocks; you should read it!:D Also read Impossible by Nancy Werlin. I loved it, overall, but I was warned that it was weird. It has 2 or 3 things I really disliked, but there were a lot more that I really liked, so it's a toss-up on whether I can recommend. But I can't really explain the dislikes without completely giving away a lot of the story. If you like well-written fairy tales, it is one, and a modern one, besides. Well-written modern fairy tales are rare, in my book. So take a chance. But if you don't like fairy tales or fantasy, just skip it.
Read/reading tons more; maybe I'll review some things next time:D. Adios, y vaya con Dios.
Well, the title, said in a hurried and exclamatory manner, describes how I'm feeling right now! May had no blog because May was ridiculously busy; June is almost over; July is just one month; in August I'm going on a trip, & then school starts--YIKES!
But I am LOVING summer. It is beautiful:). I love eating outside, throwing open windows, listening to night-sounds, waking up at 5 AM to light! (Of course, I go right back to sleep.)
Allow me to backtrack, though. If you are reading this blog, you most likely already know, but I'm not 100% positive whom I remembered to email. Drumroll please.......I have a job! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) I'm stoked! Next year I will be teaching pre-school to 3 & 4 year olds, and though I'm a bit nervous about it, I am confident in God's direction. Honestly, that's what's keeping me excited, because otherwise I would be too overwhelmed by how many new things I am learning and discovering and trying to remember, so thank You, God:).
I got to know my job a little bit by observing, subbing, and then doing year-end inventory (which involved a great deal of getting to know my classroom and supplies:)! Throughout the summer I hope to get at least a month of school tentatively planned (I'm sure there will be plenty to learn and change as I jump on in). Additionally, I am helping my church with VBS, babysitting two of my favorite little monkeys four Fridays in a row, babysitting 3 others of my favorite little monkeys 24/7 for either 7 or 8 or 9 days--something like that, still loving on kids at youth group and in a girls small group, and hoping to make enough money to pay the bills all summer long! One of the big deals of the summer (I don't think it quite tops a full week of babysitting 3 little monkeys, but it's a close second for biggest deal:D) is that I will be going on a missions trip for 16 days in August! Not saying where, but ask for details and I'll mail them to you:). It prob'ly doesn't matter, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say.
Anyway, the summer's filling up, and I am trying to maintain a balance. Hopefully it will be achieved! Trying also to surrender my life more to God, but I am finding out that I am even more stubborn than I had realized. Thanks be to God for His indescribable grace, truly.
Don't know when the next update will come; I'm feeling like this was rather dry, but informative. Something of interest? ... I finally finished reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love; it rocks; you should read it!:D Also read Impossible by Nancy Werlin. I loved it, overall, but I was warned that it was weird. It has 2 or 3 things I really disliked, but there were a lot more that I really liked, so it's a toss-up on whether I can recommend. But I can't really explain the dislikes without completely giving away a lot of the story. If you like well-written fairy tales, it is one, and a modern one, besides. Well-written modern fairy tales are rare, in my book. So take a chance. But if you don't like fairy tales or fantasy, just skip it.
Read/reading tons more; maybe I'll review some things next time:D. Adios, y vaya con Dios.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Another Prompt: Favorite Teachers
Mrs. Linda Smith, formerly of Selah, Washington, did her utmost to make learning fun—and she succeeded! She was the teacher everyone wanted. Through songs, anecdotes, and empathy for her students, she gave me my two most memorable elementary years, the third and sixth grades. I most recently connected with her one year ago, in the midst of my own student teaching experience. As of then she was still pouring her love and energy into young children’s lives.
Mrs. Smith was the first teacher who made me want to be a teacher, as she made my classroom experience creative, exciting, memorable, and just plain FUN. I hope that somewhere in every student’s K-12 experience there is a Mrs. Smith, transforming the lives of children and, by extension, their families and communities. Thank you, Mrs. Smith, and the many dedicated teachers like you!
Mrs. Smith was the first teacher who made me want to be a teacher, as she made my classroom experience creative, exciting, memorable, and just plain FUN. I hope that somewhere in every student’s K-12 experience there is a Mrs. Smith, transforming the lives of children and, by extension, their families and communities. Thank you, Mrs. Smith, and the many dedicated teachers like you!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Occasion of the Thirtieth Anniversary
This will have to be edited at a later date, but I need, at last, to get the email containing these song lyrics OUT of my inbox! I emailed them to myself over a month ago upon learning that these songs were sung at my parents wedding, thinking I would soon thereafter include them in a blog. Well, here they are:D.
There's something about listening to people singing at your own parents' wedding when those parents were just about your age. It is both incredible and enlightening, awe-inspiring and tear-evoking, beautiful and almost eerie. My parents, aged 20 and 22; the persons of these beautiful, "old" photos I've loved looking at all my life, being wished a marriage full of God and full of love. And I listen and consider how I, too, want that.
Were my parents once idealistic youths? Am I an idealistic youth? Did the wishes professed in these hand-picked songs come true? Will my own wishes for life and love come true? It's hard to tell; there are many invisible and incomprehensible variables. Regardless of what was, is, and will be, I admire those youthful parents for the lives they set out to live; I admire my raising-kids parents for the standards to which they held us; and I admire my now-parents, for whom they are now.
It's a little melancholy to only now find out, after thirty years, that my parents have a tape of their wedding; however, it is all the more treasured and meaningful because I am the age they were then and I am facing the same sorts of grown-up issues they were then. It's possible that I can appreciate this tape more than if I'd grown up having heard it now and then. Maybe, maybe not, but these are the songs that I've discovered as a result:
"You're a Gift" sung by their pastor's wife
[I have to copy these from a piano book my aunt has...the lyrics can't be found online. Stay tuned; it's really good, thought-provoking, and God-centric!]
"The Troubador" sung by my uncle
He is now to be among you
at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour
is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here,
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.
Well, a man shall leave his mother
and a woman leave her home
and they shall travel on to where
the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning
is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man
and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.
Well then what's to be the reason
for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here
or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer,
then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something
that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.
(Short solo)
Oh the marriage of your spirits here
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.
"Lady" by Kenny Rogers, sung by my dad to my mom:D
Lady, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you
You have made me what I am and I am yours
My love, there's so many ways I want to say I love you
Let me hold you in my arms forever more
You have gone and made me such a fool
I'm so lost in your love
And oh, we belong together
Won't you believe in my song
Lady, for so many years I thought I'd never find you
You have come into my life and made me whole
Forever let me wake to see you each and every morning
Let me hear you whisper softly in my ear
In my eyes I see no one else but you
There's no other love like our love
And yes, oh yes, I'll always want you near me
I've waited for you for so long
Lady, your love's the only love I need
And beside me is where I want you to be
'Cause, my love, there's somethin' I want you to know
You're the love of my life, you're my lady
There's something about listening to people singing at your own parents' wedding when those parents were just about your age. It is both incredible and enlightening, awe-inspiring and tear-evoking, beautiful and almost eerie. My parents, aged 20 and 22; the persons of these beautiful, "old" photos I've loved looking at all my life, being wished a marriage full of God and full of love. And I listen and consider how I, too, want that.
Were my parents once idealistic youths? Am I an idealistic youth? Did the wishes professed in these hand-picked songs come true? Will my own wishes for life and love come true? It's hard to tell; there are many invisible and incomprehensible variables. Regardless of what was, is, and will be, I admire those youthful parents for the lives they set out to live; I admire my raising-kids parents for the standards to which they held us; and I admire my now-parents, for whom they are now.
It's a little melancholy to only now find out, after thirty years, that my parents have a tape of their wedding; however, it is all the more treasured and meaningful because I am the age they were then and I am facing the same sorts of grown-up issues they were then. It's possible that I can appreciate this tape more than if I'd grown up having heard it now and then. Maybe, maybe not, but these are the songs that I've discovered as a result:
"You're a Gift" sung by their pastor's wife
[I have to copy these from a piano book my aunt has...the lyrics can't be found online. Stay tuned; it's really good, thought-provoking, and God-centric!]
"The Troubador" sung by my uncle
He is now to be among you
at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour
is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here,
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.
Well, a man shall leave his mother
and a woman leave her home
and they shall travel on to where
the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning
is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man
and gives it back again.
And there is Love, there is Love.
Well then what's to be the reason
for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here
or love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer,
then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something
that you've never seen before?
Oh there is Love, there is Love.
(Short solo)
Oh the marriage of your spirits here
has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you
are gathered in His name
there is Love, there is Love.
"Lady" by Kenny Rogers, sung by my dad to my mom:D
Lady, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you
You have made me what I am and I am yours
My love, there's so many ways I want to say I love you
Let me hold you in my arms forever more
You have gone and made me such a fool
I'm so lost in your love
And oh, we belong together
Won't you believe in my song
Lady, for so many years I thought I'd never find you
You have come into my life and made me whole
Forever let me wake to see you each and every morning
Let me hear you whisper softly in my ear
In my eyes I see no one else but you
There's no other love like our love
And yes, oh yes, I'll always want you near me
I've waited for you for so long
Lady, your love's the only love I need
And beside me is where I want you to be
'Cause, my love, there's somethin' I want you to know
You're the love of my life, you're my lady
Monday, February 28, 2011
Have You Seen This Chicken?
Given the time, I could probably come up with a dozen or more puns on this subject.
There's the childhood songs route:
"Oh where, oh where has my little chicken gone; oh where, oh where could it beeeee?"
"______ stole the chicken from the refrigerator! Who me? Yes, you! Couldn't be! Then who stole the chicken from the refrigerator?"
Orrrrr, the Shakespearean route:
"Chicken! Chicken! My kingdom for some chicken!"
"Chicken, chicken, wherefore art thou chicken!" (A misuse of the word "wherefore," but one commonly used, and rather "punny," nonetheless.)
I'm quite sure I could come up with 3 times as much, but I'll stop there, because quite frankly, at the moment, I have better things to be getting on with. Suffice it to say there were two pieces of chicken last night when my parents and their company finished dinner, but where the chicken has gone between now and then is a mystery. Possibly the fridge (though we've thoroughly searched it); possibly the freezer (but we searched it, too!); possibly the garbage (unfortunately already and much-too-efficiently removed and thrown into the dumpster) or a random cupboard (for which I am not brave enough to face for an exhaustive search, yet). All family members have been questioned, and allegedly none of them ate the chicken. We didn't even know it was gone until we tried to start warming up the leftovers at 7 PM, in a state of moderate hunger since we'd waited for my mother to get home from work.
If it turns up, the mystery will be solved, but I'm not holding my breath.
There's the childhood songs route:
"Oh where, oh where has my little chicken gone; oh where, oh where could it beeeee?"
"______ stole the chicken from the refrigerator! Who me? Yes, you! Couldn't be! Then who stole the chicken from the refrigerator?"
Orrrrr, the Shakespearean route:
"Chicken! Chicken! My kingdom for some chicken!"
"Chicken, chicken, wherefore art thou chicken!" (A misuse of the word "wherefore," but one commonly used, and rather "punny," nonetheless.)
I'm quite sure I could come up with 3 times as much, but I'll stop there, because quite frankly, at the moment, I have better things to be getting on with. Suffice it to say there were two pieces of chicken last night when my parents and their company finished dinner, but where the chicken has gone between now and then is a mystery. Possibly the fridge (though we've thoroughly searched it); possibly the freezer (but we searched it, too!); possibly the garbage (unfortunately already and much-too-efficiently removed and thrown into the dumpster) or a random cupboard (for which I am not brave enough to face for an exhaustive search, yet). All family members have been questioned, and allegedly none of them ate the chicken. We didn't even know it was gone until we tried to start warming up the leftovers at 7 PM, in a state of moderate hunger since we'd waited for my mother to get home from work.
If it turns up, the mystery will be solved, but I'm not holding my breath.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Waltzing
I haven't been able to get this song out of my head since Friday, December 3, when I heard it while at a swing dance. It is a waltz, and I've never actually waltzed to it with a guy, but I have waltzed to it, alone, around my house. I also think I waltzed to it with my dear friend Erica H. at the Christmas Dance, but I can't remember whether that was this song or a different one. Regardless, the song has been waltzing around my head, off-and-on, for the past month and 3 weeks, and in order for you to understand why I'm letting it stay there, you need to hear the song. (P.S. I did already know and even love the song, but I somehow have become significantly more attached to it since the third of December. I think that is a combination of a love of both dancing and recognizing beloved songs in a setting where I usually don't know the songs or have only heard them there.)
:)
"How Many Kings" by Downhere
:)
"How Many Kings" by Downhere
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Sung Neng Yee/Nora Sung
I just finished the book China Cry, the story of a little Chinese girl named Sung Neng Yee born in pre-Communist China. She grew up to be called Nora (Lam) Sung in the the United States. From her birth in Peking (Beijing) to a mother who could not keep her to her loving and wealthy adoptive parents; to being forced to flee from the invading Japanese; to being given hope and relief when the Japanese were defeated; to a devotee of Communism, thinking it a great new order; to re-seeking God, whom she knew as a child, as a result of Communism's suspicious persecution. Then, through many, many hardships and faith-building steps and leaps, from China to Hong Kong to the U.S. and then back to Hong Kong and, at last, China. The story is incredible, and I HIGHLY SUGGEST you read it for yourself. I was SO encouraged by all the amazing miracles God did. There were so many times Neng Yee protested or questioned God because she couldn't see the big picture, but then she many, MANY times found out later how huge an impact these difficult events and her obedience had had on bringing others to Christ. What an indescribably AWESOME God we serve! I wish that Neng Yee were still alive (she died in 2004) so that I could personally write and tell her how powerfully I have identified with her. Through her story, I have seen confirmation of the importance, beauty, and worthwhileness of submitting oneself to God and boldly believing that He will cause everything to fall into place as a result. Maybe not in the ways my little mind forsees as "best," for how often my plans and expectations of what is "good" or "best" are wrong, but only seen as such in hindsight! But He will cause them to fall where they truly will be "best," for He is omniscient AND has my best interests at heart. How awesome! And He has chosen to use ME and YOU in that process of implementing his good and perfect will!!! Can I get a "Hallelujah!" from anyone out there?
Thank you, God, for your indescribable goodness, faithfulness, love, and majesty! As it says in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do," and in Isaiah 64:6, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." You are the Potter; we are the Clay. Mold us, please, into beautiful things, and help us yield to your will, and help us to humbly realize that it is by Your power alone, and in no way our own that great things are done. Soli Deo gloria.
Thank you, God, for your indescribable goodness, faithfulness, love, and majesty! As it says in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do," and in Isaiah 64:6, "...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." You are the Potter; we are the Clay. Mold us, please, into beautiful things, and help us yield to your will, and help us to humbly realize that it is by Your power alone, and in no way our own that great things are done. Soli Deo gloria.
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