Okay.. so I was planning on uploading some pics while I was in GH but apparently I grabbed the wrong cord when I left and I can't get it hooked up to my laptop. oh well..

So things are going really well so far. Thursday night was the bachelorette party plus good times with Kyle and Jenni afterwards. Friday was a long but good day. It started snowing pretty heavily so I didn't make it to Andy's house for his birthday. My car kept sliding all around. New tires or not.. sweet pea doesn't like the winter. I ended up hanging with abbey, grabbing coffee with bryant than relaxing and recuperating from the holidays with some greys anatomy. Lovely. Saturday was the wedding.. I got coffee with Lacey and Derek beforehand then Steve picked me up and the ceremony was pretty short, but still amazingly perfect. Cheers to Father Bill and his high fives. There was a pretty big gap in time between the ceremony and the reception so bryant steve and I went to Coffee grounds for some Uno etc. We chuckled when the wedding party came in too.. they had gotten kicked out of the church in the middle of pictures and also had some time to kill. The reception was fun. Saw some people that I haven't seen in a long time. Amey McWilliams, Mark Holzinger, Aaron Helmus, Jessica Lukasik, etc.. list goes on and on. The food was good, and the toasts were funny... We were all pretty tired and the dancing wasn't that popular so Steve and I left around 8 or 9. Abbey came over and we watched some more greys anatomy.

I went to first pres for church this morning and saw some more faces that I have missed. It was good to see Matt Bussel, and Karin was super excited that I was there. Sat with Aris, Lacey and Derek.. watched Abbey speak about college stuff.. great girl.. too bad she made a comment she will never live down.. Justin, Dave and Jay are relentless sometimes.. Saw Russ and Tracey too. Tyler was there.. good kid. Need to grab coffee with him this week.

Went out to Applebees for lunch with Justin, Abbey, Dave, Heidi, Jay and Katie.. then two more people whose names I forgot already. May hook up with them later.. who knows.

I was supposed to hang with my brother today.. but something came up and he cancelled. I also found out that lydia has been in town and I didn't know it! ugh! I am an idiot!

I am super excited for Josh to get here on Thursday. I have been gradually telling people about him, and they have all been pretty intrigued by the whole situation. Some more nervous than others.. hahah.. should be a fun weekend.

Ok.. thats all I have for now.
I need to go get some reading/napping/grey's done. It is so nice not to HAVE to be anywhere today. I am enjoying the peace while I can!

Xmas!

Merry xmas everyone! I am at the Chill household.. as in Mike, Kris and Bryan's house. We had a good christmas eve yesterday. Played a few rousing rounds of Apples to Apples. I'll post some pictures a little bit later.. although I am realizing that I tend to make many false promises regarding the picture offers. Hopefully this time I will follow through.

Well tomorrow dad is going to attempt to drag me to a football game.. with some of his friends. I need to get some things done though.. so maybe I will be able to pull off a "pass".

Thursday is Becky's bachelorette party.. which I still need to buy her a present for.. but it will be fun to go out with the girls a little bit. I still don't technically have a place to crash.. because I am thinking/hoping that kathryn's phone is no longer working. If it is working.. grr a little bit. I need to find out if I can stay with her.. or if I need to search for other abodes.

The other exciting news is yet to be determined.. so I will wait to post.. but it would be verry exciting..

Ann Arbor

Get ready. There will soon be a video posted depicting the infamous Grandma Fly's Cookies bakind experience. *wink*

Just relaxing today... I spent the morning immersed in Gilmore Girls. Takes me back to the good ol days of the Majestic... Brooke I am sad to miss the birthday party, and gingerbread houses :( but know that I love you ladies and miss you tons. Have a GREAT one! and set a party hat on the table in my place.. hahaha.. not to be confused with jackson's place at the table.. what a dog!


I am off to guitar a wee bit.

happy.

Hmmm. Lazy Again.

Well classes are over. Well technically I should be writing a paragraph reflection for my SJ class. :) and THEN everything will be over. This week has been a crazy week of papers, presentations, hours on the computer for one reason or another. At one point I had red rings around my irises from being at the computer with my contacts in too long.. weird..

Well.. Friday was a great night. Went to the Christmas Party for Austine school with Josh. It was a lot of fun! I met a lot of the people Josh has been talking about, and most of them said "Nice to meet you .. finally". Apparently I had a reputation already ;) It was great to just sit and chat.. which means a lot of writing, signing, messing up and clarifying.. but I love every minute of it. We sat with a sweet couple, and although we were sort of engrossed in our own conversations for most of the evening, they seem like fun people. I saw a few people there I had met at church the sunday before last. I am excited to go back to church after break. I liked it a lot. We left the party a little bit early to go try and steal Cici away to an SIT end of semester bash at Garret's. She ended up being at work til ten (it was around 9:30) so we went to Garrets after I forced Josh into slave labor and he dug out my car for Cici to steal later :) We had to guilt her into coming.. the girl needed a break! The party was fun and I think Josh had a good time too. I struggle with playing hostess. I mean as far as trying to keep Josh involved in conversation. It is hard to know how to do that.. just as it is hard for him to do that for me when we are in a large grouop of deaf people signing. We can't interpret everything going on in the conversations.. I felt bad that he was left out, but I was greatful to the other ASL students and those excited to get to know him for involving us a little. I am pleasantly surprised by how SIT students have been in bringing him into the family little by little. I don't know how I feel about considering SIT a family.. ahahah.. oh well :p

Saturday I went to Panera for about 8 hours and worked on my presentation for SJ: Multicultural Education and Textbook Reform. Good times.. It was good to escape and eat good food, people watch and feel productive. Sunday I was snowed into SIT, which was good for my presentation but I was sad to miss church :(

Monday was the presentation day. It went pretty well although I felt a little discombobulated. I had a few huge issues that I wanted to bring into the room before discussing it all, but by the time I got through explaining it.. my time was up. OH well.. thats why I am taking the education for social justice class next semeseter. we'll talk about it more there.

Yesterday was my first classless day. I was completely unproductive (well.. i did laundry.. does that count?) but it was wonderful! I brought Jennifer to the bus stop, namiko and i went snowpants/watch battery hunting at walmart. Cici and I snagged dinner, then Josh came by and the three of us spent the evening searching out snowboardable snow.. to no avail... either way the hunt was a BLAST. we were laughing the whole time. There was a lot of falling and pushing and screaming and trying to sign and communicate.. good times. I love Cici by the way. I do.. I adore that girl. After snow fun.. we watched Kingdom of Heaven, which.. umm.. was.. alright. I wasn't thoroughly impressed by the movie.. but it was relatively interesting. Cici was dead asleep by the end of the night.. and Josh and I postponed our conversation til later because he had to work this morning..

So tonight Josh is picking me up at six. Everything is a surprise.. and I am quazi nervous.. I am excited to give him his christmas present which is a box full of..... jk. He'll read this I am sure.. bwa ha ha! victory once again!


For those of you expecting me for xmas break in michigan. I am leaving the state of VT at the arse crack of dawn on saturday.. I won't be to GH until probably closer to the 27th.. If I ever hear from Kathryn I am hoping to stay for a week or so.. and I need to be back here by the 15th latest. There might be a pitstop in east michigan on the way back.. and possibly another in Philadelphia :) Who knows ...

An Image..

Ok so.. I have been praying for a friend of mine.. I'd like to say "you know who you are"but I realized that there are about 10 of my friends that would fit this description..... My friend is in a place where he is trying to make some decisions and listen for the call of God in his life to lead him in the right direction or give him insight into what God wants to do with him. He didn't give me too many details but asked me to pray for him as an intercessor (praying on behalf of someone, or in his stead.. this is a spiritual gift that I crave using, so if anyone needs prayer let me know if I can be a part of that)..

Now to clarify.. the past few months of my life have been pretty rocky in the spiritual arena, I have made some less than desirable choices, and sort of went through a phase of turning my face from God in shame, and in fear. I have posted on it before, but some of it was a need to have a season of anger.. I had some things built up that I needed to express to God. I can explain that more on a one-to-one basis if you are interested in hearing. You guys know me.. I love to wrestle through my experiences by sharing them with others. Wanna wrestle? haha.

So the point of this post:
All week I have had moments where I really wanted to just stop and pray. Names popping in my head, different situations. I would take a few minutes to satiate the craving, but never sat down to actually pray in depth about the situation. Finally Tuesday night after some good conversations with different people I set aside the time before bed to get down to business. Now those of you that know me and my spiritual gifts, when I pray for or over someone I usually pray in images. An image pops in my mind, and through describing it and walking through its different aspects and the key words that come out of that image, I end up with some sort of a "word", understanding or insight into the situation. I believe that this is God putting something on my heart, or the recollection of images from His word. Either way, though fallible because I am human, I believe it could be inspired by God.

Like I said before.. I started praying and ALLL of these names started popping into my head. I won't disclose all of those names here, but if you feel like you are one of them and want to leave a comment please do.

So the following scenario came into mind when I was praying and I will try to walk you through it as I experienced it as well because I think a lot of things came to light in the process rather than the ending image. I journaled this image, vision, visual whatever right after experiencing it so I will type what I wrote down as important to remember at the time.

So I was praying for my friends who seemed to be in a place where they no longer had direction.. and the image of being lost in the wilderness came to mind. Actually it was a scene from Man vs. Wild when Bear Grylls was in I think Africa (shout out to phil and brandon! Oh Bear!).. the middle of the desert. The question that came into my mind at that moment was "what now?" and I think that echoes a lot of the frustration that many of the young men in my life are experiencing (not that women aren't experiencing it as well, but I had this strong feeling that this was for the guys who I have been talking with the past two weeks or so..) They seem to be stuck in a place where they felt led to in the first place, but now they are in this tangle of wilderness where they can't see forward or back, they don't know what is "out there" and they are lost as to which direction to head. So the question developed into "When you are lost in the wilderness, what do you do?" The keyword that then came to mind was "Find your bearings" . Well that is all and good. Seems simple.. figure out where you are at now, and you will know where to go from there.. done and done. Yeah right! haha. So I kept exploring the idea.. How do you find your bearings when you are lost in the wilderness? Well.. ehem.. on Man vs. Wild he would do a few different things depending on the situation.
1. Find a High Place- mountain, cliff, overlook etc to survey the situation
2. Find a River- follow it downstream because usually water leads to life (isn't that the truth!)

Why? In order to get anywhere we need to direction, to get direction we need bearings, from bearings we get"GUIDEPOSTS" to direct us..... Those were the flow of words. Ending in Guidepost. i thought it was a strange word to pop in my head because I don't use it that often and I honestly wasn't sure if it was the right word for the case.. but I know my intuition so I trusted the word. And rightly looked it up:

1.	a post, usually mounted on the roadside or at the intersection of two or more roads, bearing a sign for the guidance of travelers.

2.	anything serving as a guide; guideline.

Despite this definition.. There wasn't much information in the dictionary.. which was intriguing so ofcourse the next logical step: I googled it :)

I found that "guidepost" is primarily a word used in devotional, religious language. There is a magazine, and some other things using this word. When I did a keyword search through a bunch of different translations.. the only verse that used that exact word was:

Jeremiah 31:21
"Set up road signs;
put up guideposts.
Take note of the highway,
the road that you take.
Return, O Virgin Israel,
return to your towns.

So what is the process then.. here at school the "process" is the most important point of everything we learn. Despite the process being important it is the goal and vision that guide this process.. So.. continuing prayerfully in this exploration. I came up with this:

1. Find a high place to reclaim the vision
This part was interesting to me. I remember thinking about how when you go to the top of a mountain or hill you can see for miles and miles and miles. You tend to log that picture away and when you get to the bottom, you still keep that vision of the land in mind. You feel like you know where you are within the scheme of that overall vision. But without that vision, you feel so small, and confused about where you fit in, and where you should go. When I was praying through it.. if felt like this was the first step to take, but I also felt like this wasn't the key point to the whole process. In fact I kept thinking well, many of my friends know to get away, to find a "high place" and re-engage the vision that God has for them.. rather the issue is where to go next, or what to do when you follow that vision and then still get lost in the wilderness at the foot of the mountain.
2. Find your bearings within this vision-
This one kind of threw me for a loop. I mean what does it mean to find your bearings.. figure out where you are? Figure out how you fit in? I mean it isn't quite to the point of deciding a direction.. but it is finding out where each direction could lead.. The other aspect of this that came out was the fact that even when you are at the top of the mountain, reclaiming your vision and finding your bearings.. you still only see part of the vision. I mean you don't see over the next mountain, or the next mountain.. just what lays directly around the mountain you are standing on. So this led to the idea that the need to find your bearings within the overall vision is a continuous process and that how well detailed those bearings are is up to God. If he decides to make it a cloudy day or clear skies, that could change how much of the vision you see, and how many mountains you see in the way.. which can change how you "find your bearings" and get to a point of deciding direction.


3. Set and follow guideposts in direction towards the goal of this vision
At this point comes the hard part. Deciding what direction. I think for me I struggled with this part the most because when we are trying to follow God's direction.. sometimes it is difficult to decide which direction is "God's direction". Do I follow the river towards a city? Do I head down the mountains in hopes of finding food and shelter? Do I head for the next peak? Well in my prayerful explorations.. I honestly didn't get anything to address this aspect. Anybody else have input? Is it just the feeling of calm? When you look out in the vision does one thing come into "clarity" while the rest blurs? I think it is different for everyone, and takes practice as well.

I think the trick is that once you have set your eyes on the goal, the other difficult part is setting guideposts. What will be the thing to consistently lead you in the right direction? The sun/stars? Different aspects of nature like the slope of the mountain or the current of the river? Whatever it is, it needs to be consistent with the goal.

This is the point in the prayer that I began to really feel out what some of the issues were.. so I am going to type out what I wrote at 1 in the morning ;) Some of it is echoed above.. but it is interesting to read the actual journal of how it came out on paper in the midst of it.

Notes-
While at a high place you may see miles and miles ahead, where a riverbed lies, in a valley over a peak, etc. Once you come down from the mountain, however, you need the guidepost to guide you through the wilderness. You may no longer see the mountain, but the sun is a constant, the stars are a constant. At times you will be in a clearing and see a few miles ahead, others yo will be in the thick of the forest barely able to see past the tree in front of you.

However. God can provide guideposts toward a goal.
God wants to give you the vision, but may not want you to see past a mountain or two.
Trusting God is not guessing that there is a city over the next mountain or being disappointed when there happens to be another mountain the "the way" or the city doesn't have running water.
Trusting God is not pride in "catching on" and foreseeing the city filled valley or lack of city within it.

Trust God's direction.
Trust God's nature to guide you.
Trust the guideposts.
Don't count on the high places to give you the details of the rocks and thorns you may trip over in the forest.
Expect challenges and experience the growth and building of new muscles.
Be prepared for predators and be grateful for the sustenance along the way (even if it is not as tasty as McDonalds)


So that was all very choppy and not very fluid.. but it was the gist of what I got the other night. I think there are some elements to be further explored, and some that hit me right where I am at. I am curious how others feel about it.. if they have any suggestions, or corrections, amendments or deletions. Would you tweak the wording? phrasing? What experiences come to mind when you read it? How do you feel about the idea of God bringing us visions and images of his nature, his words, and his guidance for us? What does the term Guidepost mean to you, and have you ever considered the idea of God as a guidepost? or God placing them in your life?

Tired.

So I just reread my post and realized how discombobulated it was. I hope I didn't put off a weird idea of what I believe. I am still struggling... "work out your faith in fear and trembling" Phillipians 2.... anyway.. I am going to go attempt to finish this paper..

PS. We just watched the new harry potter.. it came out today. Man they did a great job with the movie. I was so impressed. Those books are incredible. Katy and I were talking about how related it is to social justice issues. I mean those books combat everything from racism (different types of "beasts", halfbreeds, "purebloods" etc ), sexism (Hermione and Ginny are great icons for woman power!), ageism (The premise is that these young kids CAN fight, and have that empowerment), classism (Weasley's vs. Malfoys.. both pureblood, but class divides them among other things), slavery (house elves), totalitarian regimes ("the ministry", Voldemort, even Dumbledore and Grindelwald's plan for a "new order").. I was thinking that there was also something to ableism...I couldn't explain out my examples.. but I was thinking Ron's "different intelligences other than book smarts/magic, Hagrid for the same reasons, also Neville and his issues with learning and how he really caught on to herbology but had issues with spells until the D.A. ..... anyway.. I am sure there is much much more, but that is what we came up with on the spot. It is interesting to begin to notice those things and I truly respect Rowling for her ability to bring so many issues through a book that will be read by future generations of world changers.. WOOT!

Ok.. so I need to sort some things out before I write my paper. And I thought I would bring this out for discussion.. I guess I just feel like it is something I have been struggling to decide for myself.

Like I said in a previous post I am writing a paper for my social identity class. I decided to use my gender identity: woman.. in case you were wondering.

So as I am looking at a few different identity development models I am intrigued. Here is one of them:

Feminist Identity Development Model (FID)- Downing and Roush
Stages:
Passive Acceptance: Woman accepts dominant societal meaning of traditional gender roles and believes they are advantageous

Revelation: A series of events or experiences propel the woman into a state of dualist thinking in which women are perceived positively and men are perceived negatively

Embeddedness-Emanation: Woman strongly connected to other women, surrounds herself with self affirming women's community in order to strengthen new identity.

Synthesis- Woman achieves an authentic and positive feminist identity in which gender role transcendence is coupled with the evaluation of men on an individual basis.

Active Commitment- Woman commits herself to meaningful action towards feminist goals.


Ok. So that's the model. Right now I have to figure out where, within these stages, I fit. Honestly I don't really know. I think this conversation with myself had taught me a lot about what I see is the role of a "man" more than what I see as the role of a "woman".

I guess the tension I feel is between my own independence and self empowerment and the roles that I feel God has laid out for men and women in marriage. I think that as my own entity, my own person, I am a very confident and strong woman. I don't "need" a man to make me whole, and I definitely believe that typical gender roles aren't set in stone and that different things ascribed to each can transcend from gender to gender. For instance being emotional is not only a womanly thing but also a manly thing. I don't think that a man who knows who he is and how he feels is any less manly than one who is rough and cold (actually to some extent I feel that the emotionally aware male is more man than a closed male.. does that make any sense?)

Despite my sense of self as an empowered, liberated and independent woman.. the tension I feel comes when discussing marriage, relationships etc. Many people get hung up on the verses that say "women submit to your husbands" and assume that means that they should be passive, unchallenging, and quietly accept abuse and the husband's "complete authority". I think that this is a definite misunderstanding of the biblical idea of marriage and submission. For me I read "Offer, give, present, yourselves as a partner to your husband". I don't read submit yourselves to the unquiestionable authority of man because he is man and man is man because he is man. My Bible reads "Womens submit to your wives as is fitting to the Lord." My Remix version reads "Wives, understand and support your husbands by submitting to them in ways that honor the Master" (Both Colossians 3:18) Ephesians 5:22 reads Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord (TNIV) and "Wives understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ." (Remix).. I mean those sound a lot different than the idea that most people have of a domineering man leading the family into destruction. I mean I think the later verses speak to that issue. I mean God has a big commandment for husbands in marriage too. And I often think that for men, this can be quite a daunting task.

Ephesians 5:25-30
Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands out to love their wives as their own bodies, He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, people have never hated their own bodies, but they feed and care for them, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of His body..."

I mean that is huge! Where we are merely commanded to respect, honor and understand, they are commanded to love us like Christ loves the church!!! wow! I think that is an incredible thing.

Another aspect that often gets twisted around is the verse that talks about "Husbands as the head of the family as Christ is head of the church" They use the term "head" referring to the fact that the church is the body of Christ, and Christ is the head etc. I think many look at this verse and see that there are distinct gender roles playing out. For instance the "head" representing intelligence vs. "body" representing work, bearing children, and inability to make any choices. I don't think that this is what Paul was getting at when he wrote this letter. I think it had something to do with roles, but more in the sense of partnership and referring back to the different needs in a family

I have often heard this talked about in the sense that if a partnership has two people who want the completely different things, with the same amount of authority and no outside guidance, nothing will ever get done. This makes me think of a lot of the marriages I know. For me the idea of a partnership and a need for one person to have a different authority makes sense. I guess I think back to OB1 (because all discussions go back to my first class here at SIT on Organizational Behavior.. focusing on interpersonal dynamics in team settings) and the difference between facilitation and leadership. To me the difference is the need or presence for authority and direction. Leaders have the authority to make decisions, although they look to the team to provide decisions, support and debate. Facilitators tend to direct the conversations, check on process, and allow space for decisions to be made as a team, but if there are big decisions to be made and no consensus can be found, typically it is the facilitators job to make the best choice for the team based on the overall vision. I guess for me when I look at the idea of a husband being the "head" of a family.. I look more towards the facilitator role, with a little bit of leader mixed in. I guess the hook (and hope) is that within a faithful Christian family both partners should be looking to Christ as the vision, so even when "consensus" cannot be made, the husbands decision should still line up with the vision of Christ and his desires for that family. This changes a lot. When we think about the fact that both husband and wife are in submission to God first, then why would it be such a horrible thing to "submit" to the husband who should be following God's call (and therefore your own) in the first place. Although the idea of submission has been distorted, and although man's role as husband within Christianity has been distorted (especially after many years of masculine, male dominated institutions and societies), the Truth remains that God himself has set forth the image and example for what a husband looks like. And as a woman, if I were to marry a man who was striving to be that example.. I would not fear this scary thing called submission. Because to me, "supporting and understanding" a man who "cherishes me as Christ cherishes the church" is like allowing God to take control of my life.... he loves me, he wants the best for me, and he has the wisdom to make the right choices in my stead. A man looking to exemplify Paul's idea of "head of the family" will be seeking God's call first for me and my family.. I can't foresee that being a disempowerment, but rather an empowerment to know that I have support, that I can challenge it if I feel it is NOT what God is calling (because ultimately that is the family's vision), and to know that no matter what God is in control of everything anyway. Another tidbit is that God never calls women to submit to abuse, or dominance.. rather he states "submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord" and later tells husbands to cherish and not domineer the wives.. anyway.. love is not equal to abuse. Submission does not mean passive acceptance.


Now i need to go relax and watch harry potter before actually writing this paper. ugh. tired

I WENT TO CHURCH TODAY!

Man today is going to be a good one. That song "this is the day that the lord has made" is going through my head. I forget sometimes how much energy I gain from being in the midst of community, even a community I am not very familiar with yet. Varghese came with me today to check out Agape Christian Fellowship. It has been on my lists of churches in Brattleboro, and I gotta say... I really loved it. It seemed like a vibrant group of people, with lots of energy and love to share. We met up with Josh and sat with he and Anne. It was good to see her. I think the last time I saw her I was still crazy stuck in my petrified stage, not really knowing how to communicate. It was good to feel like a real person again, even if I couldn't really think of anything to say other than.. I'm good how are you? hahah.. oh well. Next time I guess.

So this afternoon I am beginning to work on my Social Identity Paper. It is sort of strange. I mean the two identities that I have been working and struggling through this semester are being "hearing" identified and oddly enough being "female". As far as recognizing my identity as hearing goes, I am still struggling through that one. I think being friends with and getting to know Josh (shoutout!) has helped in speeding up the process of working through that identity, but I am definitely still working through it. As far as gender identity goes, I chose this as second choice to struggling through my identity as a Christian. I was going to use that one, but I couldn't decide if I could consider it an "oppressed" identity. It feels like it is, I mean it is at the very least the least represented at the school, and I feel like the identity is stigmatized as the cause of all the evils in the world we as students are trying to change and improve.. I chose gender identity instead because I don't think I have ever really looked at my gender identity development. Gender roles play such a huge part in who I am as a Christian, American, etc. I feel like moving to Texas brought some tension to how I envision myself as a woman within the church. I struggled with my lack of ability to pray in front of the congregation, to take leadership roles within the communities, and other things that came up while in the midst of Church of Christ country. I was raised as an empowered leader, strong woman and warrior of God, and someone who knows that if something needs to happen, I need to be the one to "step up" and be proactive to make changes. Coming to SIT it has been strange because although I am empowered as a woman, I am assumed to be disempowered due to being a Christian. I don't know how I am going to articulate this tension in my paper.. but I need to find away to do it.


I just watched a little bit of the Gladiator and a snippet of the Matrix while eating dinner with Cici downstairs.. great films.

This is how I feel:

Exerpts from books I am currently reading:

Spiritual:
"since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God"
2 Corinthians 4: 1-2 (Message: Remix)

Language practice:
<<>> pensó el muchacho mientras intentaba una vez más leer la escena del entierro con que se iniciaba el libro. <>. Incluso sin un rey que lo interrumpiese, no lograba concentrarse. Todavía estaba en duda con respecto a su decisión. Pero se estaba percantandode una cosa importanteÑ las decisiones eran sólo el comienzo de algo. Cuando alquien tomaba una decisión, en realidad estaba sumergiéndose en una corriente poderosa, que lleva a la persona a un lugar que nunca había soñado a la hora de decidir.
El Alquimista by Paulo Coehlo

Inspiration for work:
As younger generations of Christian leaders honestly face our shared history, they can begin to imagine a different role for our churches in the future, in hopes of creating a different path for their nations, a different world for their children. This shared dissatisfaction, together with this shared imagination and hope, combine to form an emerging consensus that is spreading across the global South.
Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope by Brian McLaren

Fun/Fiction:
"Soon the pretties were all loaded into the helicopter, and the two villagers stepped back, waving and smiling. Tally didn't wait for it to take off. She headed southward down the coast, back in the direction it had come from, staying below the cliffs to keep out of sight. The trick would be waiting until the machine was far enough from the villagers before climbing into the open sky. After weeks of hiding, she didn't want to be spotted this close to her goal. Tally had never pussed a Special Circumstances board as fast as it could go. Unlike hoverboards designed for randoms, the Cutter's didn't have safety features to keep you from doing anything stupid."
Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Stretch, Challenge:
"Defining patriotism as obedience to government- as an uncritical acceptance of any war the leaders of government decide must be fought-- has been disastrous for the American people. Failure to distinguish between the country and the government has led so many young people, recruited into the military, to declare that they would be willing to die for their country. Would not those young people hesitate before enlisting if they considered that they were not risking their lives for their own country, but for the government, and even for the owners of great wealth, the giant corporations connected to the government?"
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress by Howard Zinn

This is what happens when boys are thoughtful.

Thanks Josh.

Support the Writers Strike. Cuz life would suck crack without them.

http://www.petitiononline.com/WGA/petition.html

Things I love

I am hooked on a few things right now:

www.illustrationfriday.com

a good site for doodle junkies. the website is good but the blog is fun too.. they post new artists every once and awhile and it is quite inspiring

www.postsecret.com
people send in their secrets on homemade postcards. intriguing, scary, funny.. all of the above.

www.freerice.com
a good alternative to sudoku, free cell and other time wasters.. donates a grain of rice per word or something to that effect.

www.rockthevote.com
Interesting facts about voter rights for students and the fight to uphold them.

www.foundmagazine.com
another cool art project. they post photos of found stuff.. it is really interesting.

Today was a curious day. I woke up to my alarm going off at like 11:30am. Woah way to sleep in. I guess that is ok because I stayed up talking to Cici about God knows what til 1:42 exactly. Before that I saw the latest Heroes epi which was INCREDIBLE. I made sure to send texts to Brandon in hopes that he would go watch it immediately and we could discuss it. He did, and we did. It was good to talk to him and catch up again. It is always so few and far between :( At some point last night, I had a few hours that were mixed with TDEL, convos with Josh, messages from Brownie, and Cici yelling at me to come check out her Eharmony personality thing. Yes brooke, I convinced her to take it because it is always crazy accurate, almost as accurate as the Marie Claire horoscopes.. which was hysterical. I just reread Novembers and about died laughing. I refuse to post it.. REFUSE because I don't want anyone to make assumptions.. but holy crap.. Brooke you need to call me. We need to catch up. :)

Tomorrow is my TDEL presentation. I am super excited to get it over with and to present it because the training is good info and tools. I also think it is a training that I could facilitate with the youth if they wanted to learn how to travel on a budget... it is actually interesting I promise.

So.. I am yet to hear from BN in Michigan.. thats nothing new. I also haven't heard from Kathryn about whether I can stay with her.. which is also nothing new.. and my car is snowed in at the moment. So lots to do before xmas break and all.

Momma you need to call me this week.. the phone cut off when grandma picked it up ;) miss you! And I have lots and lots of news for you! btw did you ever talk to drew?

I got my wish!!

So.. it snowed.
Class was canceled.
I went sledding.
More pics to come.

SNOW PLEASE

So.. It is 11:36pm and I am praying it snows like crazy tonight. Not because I want to make a snowman tomorrow.. although I do.. and not because I crave sledding.. though I do.. and not because I want to have a jw vs gamble snowball fight.. something which is very important to me.. but rather.. because I really don't want to present this article in class tomorrow.. it is an article by Samir Amin about Capitalism and the Pauperization of the global agriculturals something or other. boo.

On a lighter note today was the Eki-den race and it was a lot of fun to watch. I was very tired this morning after a night of nightmares and interrupted sleep. But it was good to see everyone, I was glad that Josh came out to run, and we surprised him with a birthday cake! What a cool old senile dude. hahah :P

I started looking at my class schedule for next semester.. looks pretty good. I might take a budgeting and financial management class if I can fit it in. I need the practical skills in money stuff, and it would make my dad happy. Merry xmas!! haha. Ill be taking a few training courses, and education for social justice class , and maybe a social justice issues course too. Plus I am signed up for ASL at Austine.. so that will be a good time.

So as far as my workload this week goes:

Monday: Snowday.. or presentation of article (which is only like 5 min of talking and more discussion stuff.. I don't think my article will spark too much.. luckily)

Tuesday: possible meeting with PI group, definite meeting with my TDEL group to get our training ready for wed.

Wednesday: TDEL training
Thursday: PI and research stuff
Friday: SI, presentation of Stretching Exercise, Research
Saturday: Research, PI mtg probably
Sunday: JW brunch, Research/writing
Monday: kill me now presentation for SJ

ugh. boo. oh well

Underfunded Schools Forced To Cut Past Tense From Language Programs

Underfunded Schools Forced To Cut Past Tense From Language Programs