New York City!

I think it has been quite a while since I have updated the ol' blog and the thought made me realize just how crazy life has been. I say crazy, but I mean a completely different kind of crazy than when I was in school. It's been very nice not having the craziness of homework or lesson planning this year, still, as strange as it may sound, I actually miss homework and tests and learning. But that's getting off topic. Life has just been busy as of late. But good busy.

The most recent event that happened was Kristin's wedding in Massachusett's. Em and I were both bridesmaids and so we flew out there on the 19th. We have always wanted to go and visit New York City and we thought that after Kristin's wedding would be the perfect time to do so. But then we thought Megan should come with us, and then of course Kristin had to come also as sort of a "last hurrah." So Em and I actually flew into New York on Tuesday and spent the whole day there then we met up with the Cooley's on Wednesday and then made our way to their house in Mass. that night.

New York was a blast, although in the first few hours I wasn't so sure it would be. I think we enjoyed taking the shuttle from JFK to our hotel near Central Park. It was so exciting to see the tall buildings and the adorable brownstones that we were so used to seeing in movies. The driver was very nice and took us right to the front of our hotel and helped us with our bags.



***As a side note.*** I had always heard that people in New York in general could be fairly rude and mean, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the exact opposite. Most of the people we met were very kind and helpful. We figured that about five different times when we were a bit lost and confused and verbally discussing it, a person would overhear and offer their help and would even walk a bit of the way with us. I loved hearing the New York accents too! Anyway, more on that later.

After we dropped off our bags we decided to hit up one of the many nearby Starbucks, formulate some sort of plan for the day, and then head over to Central Park, by foot. This little plan worked fine to begin with. We got to Central Park okay and we were overwhelmed by how beatiful it is. There's just a unique feeling of being surrounded by lush, green trees, and then seeing a bunch of skyscrapers rise up behind them.





We took a look at our map and decided to cut through the park and meet up with 70th street so that we could go see Cornell Medical Center, where my mom worked when she lived in New York. It didn't take long for us to realize that Central Park is much larger than we thought and the roads on the map were evidently only the LARGE roads in Central Park. We were lost, and it started to rain. After some wandering we came upon "the Pond". It was amazing! This huge pond with a fountain and little boats...and wow, that's not even the largest body of water in Central Park. I took out my camera to take a picture and to my utter dissapointment, found out that the battery had died. Unfortunately, I had left the rest of the batteries in my bag which was in the hotel. By this time we were getting pretty wet, we realized we had only about an hour to get over to 46th street to buy tickets for Phantom, and there was going to be no way that we could get to the hospital. We called our mom and regretfully told her that we wouldn't be able to see it. She graciously said that it would be okay and we started to make our way down 5th Avenue to the ticket line.

Now our plan was to hail a taxi and ride most of the way there, but let me tell ya, its not as easy as it looks, or as my mom said it would be. Most of the taxi's had people in them already and the ones that were empty seemed to not want to stop for us! So we walked along. On the way, a overly friendly local started walking with us and wouldn't leave us alone. Em is very good at giving the cold shoulder at times like these and so eventually he went away, but it did not in any help the mood we were beginning to fall into. We walked all the way from 70th Street to 46th Street and my pants were soaked up to my knees and my non walking shoes and stocking-type socks were filled with water. I just kept telling myself that it would eventually be over. We finally got there and I preceded to roll my pants up to my knees, wring out my socks, pour the water out of my shoes and put them back on without the socks. With my big coat I most likely looked very moronic. But I didn't care, it was much more comfortable. The enourmous line moved surprisingly quick....I would almost dare to say "lightning speed" and we made it up to the large mass of pushing, scrambling New Yorkers in front of the ticket booth. I could tell everyone was pushing so I thought I would just deal with it. But I heard a very funny conversation (in my mind) to my left between two angry women. Woman 1: "Stop PUSHING!" Woman 2: "I'm NOT pushing!" 1: "Yes! You are!" 2: "No! I'm NOT! I'm being PUSHED!" 1: Then push back THATAWAY!" Oh boy was it entertaining! We got our tickets and we headed back to our hotel for check-in time. Wonderful, beautiful check-in time! We got up to our room and pretty much collapsed on our bed...after we changed out of our soaked clothes of course.

The room was incredibly tiny, but cute and cozy. After we put our suitcases on the floor, their was pretty much no floor space left. I'm not exaggerating. We had to climb over the bed to get to the other side of the room. But I thought that was fun. After we watched a little bit of T.V., we got dressed up to go out.





It might sound crazy in the cold rain, but we wore dresses and I wore flip flops. My feet got wet but at least they dried quickly, and it really wasn't terribly cold.



We stopped at a pizza place on the way, since we had to try real New York pizza. :0) And we were already feeling much better with some rest and some food in our tummies.





We had pretty good seats for "The Phantom of the Opera" and we very much enjoyed it. We had planned to go to Times Square after the play even though it would be a little late. We were going to change our minds after our interesting afternoon, but when we got out, the sky was clear and the rain had dried up. We were in such good moods that we knew we could handle seeing Times Square. We were really glad we went! Again, we were overwhelmed. The tall buildings, the lights, the people! It was crazy, but fun. We went into this giant M&M store. Two stories full of M&M merchandise you would never even dream of. Crazy.



We bought I Heart New York shirts. We wore them to bed and the next morning Em pointed out that there was a giant hole in the armpit of my shirt! I thought, oh well, mom can sew that up, but when I took it off, my thumbs went right through the material! Oh well, I guess that's what you would expect for $2.50. :0)

The next morning was wonderful! The sky was blue and clear! The lady at the desk had told us that it would be easy to hail a taxi in the morning to Penn Station. We definitely wanted one this time because we had our luggage. I was a bit skeptical and sure enough, we began to run into the same problem. We had to meet up with the Cooley's by a certain time, so we started walking. Ever so often I would step a ways into the street and try to get one, but they were all ignoring me! However, after five blocks with our luggage, I was done and I tried again. I stepped into the street, stuck my hand in the air, and what do you know…a taxi put on its turn signal and started coming towards me! I told him Penn station and he agreed to take us! I know it sounds silly, but this was one of my highlights of New York. It just felt so New Yorkish, so movie-like…I don't care if you agree or not Hayley, it was without a doubt, pakish.



This is turning into a novel, so I'll sum up the rest. We met up with the Cooley's, then we took the subway to Ground Zero. We couldn't really see much because they are already working on the new building, the Freedom Tower. It looks like it will be pretty cool. Then we headed over to Battery Park area to see the Statue of Liberty from afar. Much smaller than I anticipated. Then we walked over to Wall Street. We snapped a picture of the two business girls in front of the New York Stock Exchange. :0) We also saw the Trump Building and Tiffany's down there. Wow, those diamonds sparkle like crazy! Then we took the Subway back up to Rockefeller Center. Em and I paid the 20 bucks to go see the view from the "Top of the Rock." I really think it was worth it. The view was amazing. I liked being able to see the whole of Central Park, realizing that we only made it about maybe, maybe half of the way up. We were able to see the Empire State building. It was just cool to really be able to see that Manhattan is an island. You really can see the whole thing up there.





After Rockefeller we walked over to Times Square again. Still very cool in the daytime. Then we walked down Fifth Avenue, headed over to Bloomingdale's, really a mall in my estimation. Then we eventually made it to our final destination, Serendipity. The place is very cute and the food was very good, just way overpriced. But it was fun seeing the place where the movie was filmed.





Four tired girls then made their way back to Penn station and waited for the train to Hartford, Connecticut. Oh, that was an interesting thing as well. They don't tell you what, I guess you would call it station or terminal, your train is arriving at until 10 minutes before it is supposed to leave. After watching the New Yorkers run like mad to the right station, we were a bit worried about making it in time. Thankfully, we wound up being relatively close to ours and we made it. God was just very good to us in general on the trip. No surprise of course. God is always good. He was so good in letting us spend a wonderful time with our dear friends in a fun city! :0)

Next blog feature: The Fish Wedding!

Tagged

I've never been tagged before, but here goes:

Five things on my To-Do list:
1. Clean my room. I mean a thorough cleaning, like dusting, washing sheets, organizing, etc.
2. Sign up for Resolved.
3. Write thank you notes and a letter.
4. Finish making a comic book of Melissa as a superhero.
5. Reserve a hotel for the roomie road trip to Monterey!

Five favorite snacks:
1. Anything Starbucks
2. Chips and Salsa with cream cheese...mmmmm
3. Oreos in milk or peanut butter
4. Little Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies
5. Potato chips and dip


Five things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1. Support missionaries
2. Pay off school loans
3. Help out my parents
4. Travel
5. Buy a house somewhere on the east coast

Five places I've lived:
1. First house in Saugus (until I was four)
2. Second house in Saugus
3. Waldock dorm at Master's
4. Little green house in Newhall with the roomies
5. N/A

Five jobs I've had:
1. Hostess at Mimi's Cafe
2. Financial Aid "Intern" at Master's
3. Substitute Teaching in Santa Clarita Districts
4. Tutor at The Learning Advantage
5. Teacher Aid at Trinity

Five people I'm tagging:
1. Christen Paige
2. Amber Black
3. Melissa Arnds
4. Sara Mallon
5. Melissa James

Jesus, King of Kings!

I was thinking this morning about how Jesus is called the King of kings, and so I looked up all the verses in the back of my Bible that talk about God being the King. I LOVE thinking about this! Since in America we obviously don't have a king, most of my knowledge or thoughts about kings come from movies or books. There are definitely evil kings, but if you look at good kings, usually the people in their kingdom truly loved them and loved to be called the king's servant. I'm thinking in particular of stories about King Arthur and how the knights cared so much about the king's honor. Everything they did, they did for their king, or in the name of the king.
Jesus is OUR King. But He is not just any king. Isaiah 9:9 says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant who saved us! Those of us who sinned against Him!
I couldn't help but think of the movie, First Knight. Guinevere and Lancelot definitely sinned against King Arthur. Near the end of the movie he is going to have them killed for what they did. That doesn't wind up happening, but still, that's what he had planned on doing. We sinned against Jesus, our King, in numerous ways and a number of times that is impossible to know or count, and then He died FOR us instead of killing us! A punishment we fully deserved. Wow! Why wouldn't I want to be called His servant and live for His honor and glory?!!!

The 80's

Emily said that I have to blog. So I am. I went with Janel to Cubbies tonight and we started talking about shows and toys that we played with when we were younger. So, yeah, I'm going to blog about that stuff. I actually resumed an 80's t.v. show conversation with Emily and Caitie the other night at Bible study, that we started a year or so ago. Some of these things may have been more 90's. But since I was born in the 80's, it still counts as an 80's childhood.
I think one of the coolest toys I had was a Popple. Does anyone remember Popples? They were these....bears?...I think. You could either get small ones or big ones. They came in many different bright colors and had Troll-like hair, floppy ears, and the best part about them....was the pocket on their back. If you flipped this pocket around...the Popple turned into a ball!

I was super excited to find this picture because this is the exact one I had! Emily had the small purple one. Haha! I thought these were the coolest toys ever. Sadly, my Popple's hair got matted...after...I had to wash it, because...never mind.
Does anyone remember Skip-It? Maybe they still have them. It was this thing that hooked around your ankle, and this round, heavy thing at the end had a counter, and you would swing it around and jump over part of it, and see how many you could do before you basically tripped over the thing. Haha.

Around the same time as the Skip-It, I got a pogo stick for my birhday. But I won't go there...let's just say my parents have good black mail pictures of me…
Who could forget Cabbage Patch dolls? I never had a real one, but my Grandma made me one. Yeah. She bought the head and body I think…or maybe she just bought the head and sewed the body and clothes. But she had blonde hair and that's how I learned how to braid. For some reason she had a large bald spot, but I liked her.

Then of course there was Gak and pogs and dozens of other cool toys that just can't be compared with today, in my opinion at least.
Let's see, as far as T.V. shows...one Em and I LOVED was The Wuzzles. It took us forever to remember what it was called. I remember that I had a little Wuzzle tape recorder. The only episode that we remember was one about a money tree. Strange, but true.

There was another great show that I believe was called, "Small Wonder." The main character was a girl robot that looked like a human. She was overly and unusually kind and naïve. At least this is my remembrance of the show. She seemed to always wear the same outfit, a red dress with a white pinafore type thing. I thought it was cool because I had a very similar outfit. Why I wanted to look like a girl robot, I don't know, but it's a fact nonetheless.
Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go2mq3gs_3Y You won't be sorry. It's the opening credits. How can you go wrong with lyrics like, "She's fantastic, made of plastic!" ? Haha!
Now this show doesn't count really to me, although it did run through the 80's I believe, but I absolutely loved "The Wonder Years." Kevin Arnold, Winnie Cooper, Paul, the brother, and the hippie sister that showed up ever so often. I loved the opening song and pretty much everything about it.

Then there's always "Alf", "Care Bears", "Family Ties", "Smurfs", and "Fraggle Rock."
Oh man, I'm telling you, the 80's were great. At least as far as toys and T.V. shows. Clothes on the other hand….

What's Been Going On

Today I feel like mainly summing up what has been going on lately in pictures. Probably the biggest change that has happened lately is that I stopped tutoring. It's not like I was dying of too much work. That's practically impossible to say now that I don't have homework or lesson planning anymore. But one full time job is enough for me, and I like actually having time to make dinner at night now. Although I really haven't made dinner too often yet. My favorite girl that I tutored is named Allie and on my last day, she brought me some flowers that she picked from her mom's garden. I thought it was very sweet.

She also drew a picture of me. I think for a third grader she's a pretty good little artist.

I never really wrote anything about my Bible Study's ski retreat. It's a little late now to go into a ton of detail, but it was a really great time. It was fun having a smaller group and getting to have good conversations with people that I normally don't always get to talk to. Plus I made a couple of new friends! :0) We also got to build a legitimate snowman! Something I have not done since I was five, and then it was really my dad who made it.

Recently they filmed a movie in the little group of homes that my friends and I live in. Our guess was that it is because it looks like a camp. All the houses are green, except the owners, whose house is yellow. It threw off my theory a little bit until they painted the front of their house green to make it match! They painted it back shortly after filming. They were around for about a week. Our landlord told us that it was an America Ferrera movie, but we are pretty suspicious about that. The signs said "Parental Guidance." So we'll just have to wait and see. Below is a picture of the lights that were shining into my bedroom at one o'clock a.m. in the morning on the last night of filming! If I hadn't had my blinds closed it would have looked like daytime. Thankfully, I was able to fall asleep before they left.

This is the notification we got the day AFTER they started filming.

I recently went to Chinatown with Melissa Johnson.

We came across this store.... Don't they mean Jade RINGS?

This....

Is what fell out of this...

All we know is that it was called a Sesame ball. Melissa was a little sad when she dropped the inside on the ground. But I don't really consider that a bad thing.
My mom and I like to go to Pasadena together. She has a few senior citizen sites that she goes to to inspect their kitchens and give them talks on nutrition. After she's done we typically either go to this really cool bookstore called "Vroman's", or we get Boba at Tapioca Express in Marino. Yum! I'm so glad my mom likes Boba. I usually sit in the car at my mom's first site and this was my view from the side mirror!

I just love old buildings!

Recess

Well, after almost two months, those second graders are still cracking me up. I may have mentioned this before, but what I find particulary amusing with this bunch is how they are constantly changing up what they play at recess; they range from the normal to the extremely abnormal. There is generally a large group of boys playing soccer made up of about five regulars and about five to eight drifters. Yesterday two of the girliest girls in the class were playing to my utter astonishment.
Then you have the swingset crew. We have one tire swing, two regular swings, and too many kids. Three can fit on the tire swing and the position of "tire swing pusher" is surprisingly as coveted a spot as a rider. Since I am a bit taller and slightly stronger than most of the little tykes, most of the riders prefer me to push. I was doing this one day and one of the girls burst into tears because I was taking her job! On the regular swings, back and forth motions do not suffice. The kids do flips and twists and all sorts of tricks on them. I often fear for their lives. (That might be a slight exaggeration.)
Finally you have the creative kids. Soccer balls and swings are mere childs play. These kids are into sticks and stones.


They use the sticks to kill bees, make little teepees and do all sorts of odd things. I let them cart the little stones around; they used to carry the big ones all over the place but I put an end to that, I was worried that they might drop it on someones foot and break it and then I would be fired. I don't know what they do with them exactly either, although they have invented a new game called "Destroying Elmo." They take a little stick which they name Elmo for some reason (and I asked, they are referring to the little, red, furry Sesame Street character) they stick "him" in the ground, and then they take a rock and smash him until he is buried underground. This they do for the entire thirty minutes or so of recess.
So that's my class. They're an interesting bunch.

Spring!

Okay, so it's not really Spring yet, but it feels like it! Actually, it feels like summer. The other day I got home from work and had an hour until my tutoring job and Jen had the sliding door opened and the breeze was coming in and I was just wishing I didn't have have to go and be stuck in a building until it was dark outside. Well God is so good because one of my students didn't show up and so my boss said that I could take the hour off. I grabbed my Bible and headed over to the Starbucks across the street and was able to sit and read outside. Oh it was nice! I read a verse in Hebrews about God's faithfulness and because I was already looking at God's beautiful sunset He created that night, it led me to think about something Eric said at our Bible study ski retreat (which I have yet to blog about). He had made some calculations to figure out that if there are 6 billion people on this earth, and say they sinned against God 5 times a day (even though it's surely way more) than it is a crazy amount of times that God is sinned against per second. I think it was in the 300,000's but probably more. Anyway, it stinks to be sinned against by someone else even a couple times a day, but I can't imagine how it would feel to be sinned against hundreds of thousands times a second! And yet God still holds the universe together. He still loves us, even unbelievers who don't acknowledge Him at all. He could have chosen to flood the earth again, but He is faithful to His promises and that amazes me. God is so good!

Valentine's Day

The best day of the school year! :0)

Cares

Luke 21:34 "But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkeness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap."

It's amazing to me how easy it is for us as Christians to get caught up in the "cares of this life." I guess in one sense it's not too amazing with what I know of the sin that is in me, but when I sit and contemplate what I know of God and what I know is in my future, it's downright ridiculous and upsetting. I am extremely grateful for those times when God wakes me up out of a long, apathetic stage in my life where I am not seeing things clearly, blinded by selfishness and pride. I am thankful that "if we are faithless, He remains faithful - for He cannot deny Himself." I am also exceedingly thankful that He answers prayer. God is merciful and gracious and we are so undeserving.

More Second Grader Quotes

They're still cracking me up...

(Okay, so they've been singing this song in class that has a part that says "a beautiful maiden.)
Kathryn: Miss Taylor, Nicola sang, "Kathryn, a beautiful maiden."
Me: Nicola, did you sing "Kathryn, a beautiful maiden?"
Nicola: Mm hmm. (With a sheepish smile.)
Tommy: Nicola's a lady man!
Me: You mean he's a LADIES man.
Tommy: My dad says that I'm a ladies man.
Me: So you flirt with girls?
Tommy: No.
Me: But you're just like Nicola?
Tommy: No way! I'm NEVER like Nicola! I always eat ALL of my sandwich!


Joshua: Miss Taylor, did you know that everyone in the whole world are brothers and sisters in Christ?!
Me: Well, that's true only if they are Christians.
Tommy: Nicola and I are so close we are like brothers, but in Christ, we're like brothers and SISTERS!
(Okay.)

Sunday Morning

My roommates and I had a slightly different morning than we expected. Jen offered to drive us all to church in her car, so we moved some boxes that Megan was bringing for Merilee to the trunk and we were on our way, icy windshield and all. Everything was going fine until we passed Sylmar. We heard the familiar thump thump thump and knew something was wrong. Jen started to get a little worked up but Melissa successfully calmed her down as we pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway.



Thankfully Jen has Triple A, but she was sure that she didn't have a spare tire. The guy she called said that they couldn't bring one so the car would have to be towed somewhere. When the Triple A arrived on the scene he couldn't believe that Jen had never had a spare. He said that he wouldn't have room for more than two of us in his truck, so I called my dad out of church to come and help us. Meanwhile, the Triple A guy lowered the ramp on his truck and said that he had to check something in the trunk.





(At this point I realized that the man looked just like the tow man in "Adventures in Babysitting", gray beard and all...minus the hook.) A few minutes later we hear, "uh...you have a spare back here." Jen hadn't realized that the floor of her trunk lifts up. So I called my dad and told him that he didn't have to come pick two of us up after all and the Triple A guy proceeded to change the tire. This whole time Megan, Melissa and I were cracking jokes. It was pretty fun. We were actually pretty glad that we didn't all have to be separated. It was fun to have a little adventure together.
Seeing as how we had already missed about a half hour of first service, Jen decided that we should just to get the tire changed since you're not supposed to drive to far on the spare. By the time we got to Pep Boys Jen was finally laughing with us and she cracked a joke herself.





We felt a little out of place inside the tire store in our Sunday outfits, but it added to the humor of the morning.



Thankfully, they changed the tire pretty fast and we made it on time to second service. :0)

2nd Grader Quotes

Student: "This is the worst day of my life."
Me: "Why?"
S: "I got a zero on my spelling test."

Different Student: "This is the worst January of my life."

"My one goal is to get my Webkinz a girlfriend by the end of this month."
(A webkinz is an online pet, for those of you who didn't know.)

S: "I LOVE this game!"
Me: "What game are you playing?"
S: "The boys chase us with sticks...and we run."
(They are no longer allowed to run with sticks.)

Two separate notes Becky found on a table:
"I get to take home the turtles today."
"Note to self: take home turtles."

Me: "What are you playing?"
S: "American girl dolls and monsters."
Me: "So the girls are American girl dolls and the boys are the monsters?"
S: "Yeah well it's like on T.V. and movies and stuff...they aren't really dolls!"

S: "Where's the man?"
Me: "What man?"
S: "The man that was on Miss Nenandov's desk...he had innards."
(Becky used to have a see-through little plastic man on her desk with colorful...innards....sometimes the vocabulary of second graders amazes me.)

Second Graders

God was very gracious to me this semester and saved me from a life of boredom. Not that there weren't nice things about not working every day. I am just not very good at being very disciplined without a normal schedule. Anyway, all that to say I am now working as a teacher aid to my good friend, Becky Nenandov. She teaches second grade at a small Christian school that happens to be right next door to my house. I mean that literally. It's pretty nice because on Thursday of last week, my alarm didn't go off and one of my roommates yelled into my room 10 minutes before I had to be at school. It's also pretty nice to walk home for lunch. :0)
I absolutely love the second grade. I liked it during observations in school, and now it's just as fun. They seriously say the funniest things ever. I feel like I laugh through half the day, which is nice because I love to laugh. I was just about to say, "who doesn't", but then I remembered that there are actually people who don't. Including one kid in particular that I tutor. But that's another story.
My job consists of various little responsibilities. Everything from grading papers, getting the trash can out of the boys bathroom and putting it near the lunch tables, teaching a reading group, cutting out things, tying kids shoes, watching the kids on the playground at recess and lunch, those kinds of things. Going into it I thought that watching the kids on the playground would be my least favorite part of the day, but it has actually turned out to be my favorite part! It's the time of day where I have the most interaction with the kids and I don't wind up "managing" them nearly as much as I thought I would have to. It's the one time where they are allowed to be a little crazy and get away with it. They are so creative too! I get to play tetherball and frisbee with them sometimes and swing and push them on the swing, and just stand back and watch them play "American Girl dolls and Monsters." Don't ask. :0)
Oh boy...I'll have to post some quotes up here next time. They might only make me laugh, but oh well.

Maggie vs. Santa

Okay, so I know I have posted a lot about Maggie lately....but she is so cute and funny I just can't help it. The following is a little video I took of Maggie this morning as we were taking down the Christmas decorations. Emily and I absolutely detest my mom's dancing Santa Claus. It's kinda scary and annoying and thankfully, Maggie agreed. I think she really was scared of him because she had no problem chewing on my mom's singing reindeer, but it was like she was scared to actually attack Santa. :0)

Okay, so I'm having trouble uploading the video...but if you go to www.youtube.com/manderstee you can see it.

Maggie Moo

When I first wrote about Maggie on here I had only known her for about a day and I liked her a lot. Now it's been about two months and now that I know her better I don't just like her, I love her! She is a hilarious, fun-loving, cuddly, sweet, fast-growing dog.

The primary characteristic that sticks out though, is her quirkiness. So here is a list:

Top Nine Maggie Quirks

1. Her irrational fear of dark-colored sewage covers. - Every time we come near one on a walk she plants her feet into the ground and won't budge. We have to pull her with her little bum sliding on the pavement. Either that or she runs far around it. She's fine with the light colored ones though..those that blend in with the rest of the sidewalk.

2. Her fear of trash bags. - This one is a little more rational because the noise scares her when my mom or dad takes one out and shakes it open. Nevertheless, it is funny to watch her run in fear.

3. The way she sleeps with her head in her food dish. - Very subtle indeed.

4. Her love for the metal part of Higgin's old leash. - I think it's mainly that it feels good as she's teething.

5. Her affinity for squeak toys. - She takes one and jumps on to the couch near one of us and starts squeaking and squeaking and squeaking and squeaking until you feel you're going to go crazy! Once I took it and threw it behind the couch and she gave her cute little howl/bark. :0)

6. She steals our shoes and takes them outside through her dog door. - Actually, she'll take anything she can fit through her dog door outside. It's really funny to watch her carry something really large..she moves so quickly with it.

7. She loves to play with Nalgene bottles. - Unfortunately, my mom gave her my nice one from Starbucks without asking.

8. She loves sleeping on her back. - Her paws just go everywhere. What makes it especially funny looking is that her legs are so stinkin' long!

9. If I sit in a chair and lean back she barks at the bottom of the chair leg as it moves back and forth. - She basically freaks out...she lunges for it then backs up and growls. It's so funny!

Weird Dreams

I don't know what it is about sleeping downstairs in the sewing room on an air mattress, near Emily, but I have been having some unusual dreams. Now to those close members in my family, this would come as no surprise to them, since I am known for having strange dreams. But it came as a surprise to me, because I have been sleeping so well the last 4 or 5 months or so, that I've barely been dreaming at all.
Anyway, to get on with the dream. I was in a room with a large bed and I had just killed a snake. Well...I could see that there were about three more large snakes moving around under the covers at the foot of the bed and their heads were as large as dogs. They were coming and at first I thought that I could kill them, but soon I realized I couln't. I jumped off the bed and around this time I realized that my dog Maggie was in the room. I just thought, I had to get out of there and so did Maggie. So who do I try to call on my cell phone? My boss at the tutoring center. Very weird. For some reason I had now closed the door and was outside of the room...I had left Maggie in there! But the phone wouldn't work...and Maggie was going to be eaten....and then I woke up. It was about 5:20 a.m. and unfortunately, the dreams had just begun. I won't recount all of the rest because people might just think me too weird....but anyway...I had driven to work...I am pretty sure...and I realized that somehow I did not have my car, it was in some random parking lot and so I had to call someone to pick me up. All of a sudden, Emily, Jeremy, and Melissa Johnson were there. For some reason, in order to get my car we had to go to a large hotel. We were inside, climbing up the incessant, small stairway and as we neared the top, a man and his little girl, who happened to live there permanently were outside their room. The little girl was on the stairway and so someone lifted me up to get over her and I bumped my head very hard on the ceiling. After that I was in a parking lot with another friend...my car was supposed to be there but it wasn't, but she was picked up by her fiance (this friend was not Kristin Cooley even though some of you may be thinking it was). They left...but for some reason she was suddenly there again with me and we were running to my house. Then all of a sudden we were in my cousin's car...although it wasn't his gigantic truck and my friend was telling me that she didn't think she wanted to marry her fiance after all.
Next we were at my house and I had invited a few friends over...the group that normally hangs out at Anton and Marietjie's on Sunday nights, only none of those people were really there hardly. It was very random people..and when I say random, I mean random. (I really use the word "random" too frequently.) Anyway, we were all crammed into the sewing room that Emily and I happen to be sleeping in, even though in reality...this room could really only hold about 5 people max. (There were about 20 in there.) I went out to the kitchen to talk to my mom and she was asking why there were so many people there, and I said I had no idea because I didn't invite them. Next I walked into my living room and started playing the piano, only I was a prodigy or something. I wasn't even looking at the keys and I was playing a symphony or something. (That part was pretty cool.) Next thing I know, my friend Ellen is coming out of the sewing room telling me that she is going to leave. So I go into the sewing room and everyone is gone! I head back to the living room and Megan Cooley is there...like she had been there all along even though I hadn't realized it. She was telling me that Kristin was moving to Texas, which I thought was strange considering she was getting married in May. Then suddenly we were at the Cooley's old house and we were walking down the hall and there were all these cool paintings on the wall...only they were in sets of two which indicated that Kristin and Megan had taken an art class together which I considered odd since they didn't really seem that into art. I asked Megan how she felt about Kristin moving to Texas and she said she was happy about it and all I knew was that I was sad, and then I woke up.
So there you go....a little insight into my strange brain. At least that's what Emily thinks. This was two nights ago. Last night was much shorter but just as weird. I could fly and I would punish people (?) by taking them and flying over the ocean about 100 yards from the shore and would threaten to throw them in if they didn't do something. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. Weird. Well, I'm kinda hoping I don't dream something so strange tonight.

Prayer

I really love going to night church and last night especially. It was the second part of a two part sermon that John did and I missed the first one, so I was glad he did a review. It was on God's sufficient grace in trials and it was so uplifting. It was one of those messages where I feel like I just want to sit there forever and stay in that frame of mind. It's so easy to get up and get involved in a conversation with somebody that doesn't have anything to do with the message and then forget what you just heard. Anyway, we were reminded about how we are often driven to times of intense prayer when we are faced with a very difficult trial and, in a way, it's a sad commentary on our lives that it takes something like an extremely difficult trial to bring us to that point of such dependence on God.
This reminded me of something that I have been thinking and reading about recently. God tells us all throughout the Bible to pray to Him and to bring our requests before Him. To bring everything before Him. And He tells us that if we ask Him anything in His name (according to His will) He hears us and answers us.

Matthew 7:11 "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
Luke 11:13 "...how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Matthew 21:22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
John 14:13 "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you."
John 16:24 "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."
Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us..."
James 1:5-6 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."
1 John 5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him."

Again, why do I not come more often to God in prayer?! He has given us who know Him every spiritual blessing. I find it extremely encouraging, for example, that it is God's will that people be saved. It's also His will that I tell others about Him. If I pray that He would give me boldness to evangelize for His name's sake, and I pray for wisdom in this area with no doubting, then He promises to answer! He hears us! If I am seeking to honor Him in my life, in regards to a job, and I pray that He lead me and guide me to do what He wants me to do...and I pray about this with faith, He will answer! It's so comforting to know this! And I hope that anyone reading this may be encouraged as well. God is faithful!

Sister Day

So, my sister is pretty brilliant. Mariejtie and I joke about how people think we are creative, but we really just steal ideas from other people or places (like our pumpkin...that ironically won "most creative). But anyway...my sister is creative in the true sense of the word. She came up with Sister Day. She felt that since there is a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, why not have a Sister Day? (If any of you want to steal this idea, you could have a Sibling's Day too. :0)

Emily thought that since both of our birthday's are in May and her's is the 16th and mine is the 26th, than Sister Day needed to be on November 6th. (The month that is halfway to May and a day that still had a 6 in it.) Emily also said that presents must be involved.

We started off the morning with breakfast at Egg Plantation and I got my favorite meal there. One of my favorite meals of all time actually. Strawberry and Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast. Oh my! It's good. :0) I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it, but oh well! Here are some pics of Egg Plantation.

After Egg Plantation, Emily did have to go to one class to take a quiz. I ran home and finished getting her present ready. I didn't have much wrapping stuff so I kind of threw it together.

After her class, she rushed over to pick me up and we drove over to the mall to see the movie, Dan in Real Life. It was so good. It was one of those movies that you leave just thinking, "what a great movie." It was the first time I had seen Steve Carrel (or however you spell his last name) play a normal person. It was kind of a comedy drama. He was still funny, just in a different way. Anyway, I would recommend it for sure. It was pretty clean too. We actually opened our presents in the dark theater before it started. I got Emily a necklace and headscarf thingy and I decorated a frame for her. (Again, a stolen idea.)

Emily got me the new Rascal Flatts CD, but seriously, the most precious thing she gave me was a poem that she wrote. I may embarrass her but I have to write it on here. She is seriously really good I think. She based it off of three pictures of us when we were little.

Head bending down, mouth open in speech, Who is she talking to so intently? Sitting in a cardboard box, wide grin, Who is she being so silly with? Arm around a shoulder, a protective grasp, Who is she caring for so sweetly?

Her sister looks up and understands, Her sister grows up to be like her, Her sister sits beside her in a box, Her sister grows up to laugh with her, Her sisters' is the protected shoulder, Her sister grows up to depend on her

You still teach me now, Things more important than speech, We still giggle when life is funny, But we experience the hard times too, You still look out for me, That's what sisters do

Anyway, I thought it was incredibly sweet. That was my favorite present. (But the CD is pretty cool too. :0)

After the movie we went and got lunch at Panda Express. Yum! We split chow mein and orange chicken so we could fit in some Pink Berry. So delicious.

The day was so fun! Haley, even if you don't agree, in my mind the day was completely pakkish. My sister is the coolest. It's definitely going to be an annual event!

Maggie Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Maggie. They are mainly for my dad. She has already grown!