Finally...

After Spanish today I checked my phone and noticed I had 2 missed calls and 2 text messages. They were all from my dad. We're talking 4 messages in a matter of an hour and a half. He knows how to send a girl into a panic because of course I think "4 messages in 1.5 hours and they say to call him asap so what the heck happened at home". My heart is pounding of course as I frantically dial home, but he was just calling to tell me he was coming to visit before a trip for work and he was trying to book airfare. AAAAAAHHHHHH! We get to go HIKING! For those of you who don't know, Redding has all kinds of crazy parks and waterfalls within an hour of here and I've been to very few because I don't have any friends yet who like to hike. I'm sure I won't be able to walk for a week after we're done hiking because I'm out of shape, but it will be worth it.

Kids say the darndest things

I was out on the playground today and one of my favorite little students came up to me and said, "Miss Jenny, I stuck my tongue out at (another little student who won't be named), but I was just kidding." So after a short discussion, I simply said, "well, thanks for being honest with me." The little boy played for a little bit, but then went up to one of the other teachers and said, "Miss Sue, I told Miss Jenny that I stuck my tongue out at ____ and she honored me." LOL.

More news in children's world...I have to teach 5th grade Sunday school. All the other teachers yelled out the younger grades and I didn't really want to argue so 5th graders here I come. I hope Jesus gives me some creative ideas because they're not impressed with the cheesy stuff like the little ones are! I do have a co-teacher who seems pretty nice, but we don't really know each other yet.

Okay off to veg for an hour. Another busy day tomorrow.

Prayer Please

Me again. Twice in the same day. Holly arrived home and is still quite sick. She left here last week with a cold which turned into pneumonia. She's taking some kind of medicine, but it makes her throw up. I obviously don't want to listen to that and I'm sure she would like to stop. If you could please pray for her that would be great.

In other news, I don't think I've ever experienced this kind of jet lag or however you spell it. It's only 3:15 and it feels like it should be at least 7. At least I should be awake for work tomorrow. :)

Thoughts so early on this Sunday morning

Well, I'm back in California. It was wonderful being home in Cincinnati for a week. I really didn't want to leave, but I know God's not done here yet. Flying is so not enjoyable anymore. The snacks are way lame and our movie screens were broken. I've never been one to fall asleep on planes, so I can't even do that. There always full flights nowadays too. Oh well, it's better than driving home at every break. :) The week went by really fast, but I did manage to get in 3 movies with the fam and visit some of my favorite Cincinnati restaurants. We saw Dan in Real Life, August Rush, and Enchanted. Dan in Real Life was a little slow for me and not as funny as I expected it to be. August Rush also started off a little slow, but had some great music and acting. Enchanted was entertaining and kind of funny. Even funnier was how Dad was squirming in his seat because it was part cartoon. :) I know you're dying to read about what restaurants we visited so here goes. O'Charley's was the first stop on Saturday when I got in. This may sound like no big deal to some of you, but I love their rolls and we don't have anything like it out here. I had Frisch's and Papa John's on Sunday, also two faves, but my pour stomach was feeling the grease. I had Dunkin' Donuts with Barb, best donuts on the planet, Skyline twice, and a UDF malt. Yum. I'll have to hit Whiskey's at Christmas time because they have excellent peanut slaw (cole slaw with finely chopped peanuts on top!) and potato skins. And by the way, I'm praying in a white Christmas so please join me. It was so nice waking up on Thanksgiving and seeing a little bit of snow on the roofs, but it was gone by noon. It can't snow until Christmas Eve though because I don't want any travel problems. :) Okay, I'm off to get some homework done. Chao for now.

Tecate Bound

Hola amigos! I just found out that I'm going to Tecate, Mexico! Yay for getting to use my Spanish! I'll post more later, but I'm off to a Children's Ministry meeting.

Oh yeah, Intercession is my AMT this quarter and it's absolutely fabulous! Beni Johnson (Bill Johnson's wife) leads it and she has some spunk. She totally reminds me of Judy Flynn, my favorite fiery intercessor in Cleves. :D

Okay, really got to go, but yay for a super happy day! :D

We finally have some color

Red Lion hosted an Art Sale this weekend. The art was beautiful! I spent almost an hour and a half just looking at the art. I did make a few purchases from the "Blowout" section. Good deals, good deals. The two Italy themed ones are in our main living space and the little cottage is in the first floor bathroom. And, now we have some color on our walls; it makes me very happy. If only I could paint like this...There are so many other cute accessories around town that would be really nice, but this is life on a budget. :)

Less than a week until I'm home...yay!

Mission Trips

Today was the big day. No, I did not get married. Someday, but not today. Today, we found out which mission trip we will be going on in April. Eric Johnson came in and said, "Repeat after me: I'm the most flexible person in the world." He then told us that some us would be on the Free Agent list. This was a list of people who didn't get any of there top 5 choices, but had to pick their top 3 from a shorter list (mainly of trips to Mexico). He also reminded us that free agents in the sports world make more money. Good analogy.

We trek out to the hall only to find that the lists have not been posted yet. After waiting for about 15 mintues in anxious anticipation someone put them up. There was a mad dash for the wall. Holly is taller and was closer to the front so she quickly saw that she received her first choice of South Africa. I high fived her and continued to peruse the list. I didn't get Kenya, my first choice so I moved on to Israel:nope. Next, I looked for Nicaragua. Negative on that one too. I knew I didn't get South Africa because I wasn't interviewed, so I worked my way back toward the Cabo list. No on that too. As my heart dropped, I knew I had to make it back to the Free Agent list. Sure enough, there I was. I wanted to look at the trip descriptions before I made my decision so I went back to my seat in class.

I was confused and disappointed for about a half an hour, but trying to be positive. After that, I was totally fine with it. You have to understand, this is totally not like me, I usually don't get over stuff in a half an hour. But, I just let it sink into me that any mission trip is going to be great because God is good all the time. The trips that we had to choose from were mostly Mexico trips and my new first choice is Tecate. It too has an orphanage so I'm praying that I get to go on that one. I also have a good friend in my small group who is definitely on that trip, so it would be fun to travel with her. Not to mention that I am taking Spanish so I could totally use my newly acquired skills in Mexico. Perhaps this was the plan the whole time...

I also feel that I am going to visit many nations throughout my life and so this Mexico trip, though I did not pick it at first, may be the appointed trip for this time. I pray for the opportunities to see the many facets of Africa, my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel, and the countless other countries God has laid on my heart. For now though, I'm just ecstatic that I have an opportunity to be here in Redding, preparing to go to another country in April to share God's love with someone who might not otherwise experience it.

God is good all the time. What exciting adventures lay ahead!

Random tidbits

First week of preschool came and went already. Lovin' the kids-they are so cute. Don't get me wrong they have their tempermental moments, but for the most part they are just adorable and funny.

Randall Worley was our speaker in school today and he will be in tomorrow as well. He's like a walking bible reciter, he rattles off verses like crazy. It was good stuff.

We are supposed to find out what mission trip we are going on tomorrow! I'm really excited! Any of the ones I chose will be excellent.

(I told you this was going to be random tidbits.)

My next AMT (elective class) is intercession so once again, I'm way excited. (I need a thesauras so I can look up the word excited.) We get to talk a lot about third heaven (place where God resides) so that will be way fun. Bill Johnson's secretary came in the other day and talked to us about third heaven and then we went there. It still sounds so crazy saying that, but it's so much fun. And, when I say go there, I mean in my mind, not like I left my body and went there.

Next Saturday, I get to fly home...yay! I really miss home, so I can't wait to see friends, eat at some of my favorite restaurants, and sleep in my very own, real bed for a whole week. Aero beds are great and everything, but nothing beats your own bed.

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of anything else. My head is a little foggy, I have a cold. It is on it's way outta here though, thank you very much.

Ok, thanks for stopping by to read my random thoughts. Peace and love to ya whoever you are. :D

Little ones

First day of work today was good! I forgot how little preschoolers are though, some of my third graders last year were tall. Oh yes, for those of you who don't know, I'm now a preschool aide in a classroom on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. It's only 10.5 hours, but it's good to finally have some money coming in!

There are 20 little darlings in our class, but 6 of them were absent today. They have so much energy! I'm just glad I get to hang out with kids again. I don't have such a huge responsibility this time either, so I can just play and secretly pray over them. Hehehe. Some of them need it too. It's amazing the labels we put on kids at such a young age. I won't even go into the things I saw today that made me scream on the inside. Did you know it takes 10 positive words to right 1 negative word spoken to a child? Yikes! I'm gonna be busy. :)

Off to rest. I've had a sore throat since yesterday. Got to keep it warm with hot tea and Airborne (best herbal cold stuff ever).

Yesterday I made carrot cake all afternoon with a ginormous mixer in Bethel's kitchen for the pastor's conference this week. Hopefully, they will enjoy it tonight for dessert.

Okay, off to rest for real.

Burger and fire, yes fire

I decided to try the infamous In-N-Out burger tonight for dinner after outreach. On the way home though I was re-directed because of a house fire. I don't think I've actually ever seen a house on fire that close, so it was pretty wild.

Then onto In-N-Out. I love their menu, it's so simple. Classic simple. And they were friendly. For those of you who don't know what it is it's a burger joint established 59 years ago by Harry and Eshter Snyder. They started it to "give customers the freshest, highest quality food and provide them with friendly service in a sparkling clean environment." This was all stated on my "lap mat". They asked me if I was going to be eating it in my car and I said yes so they gave me a "lap mat." I guess if I would have said no though, they would have put it in a bag, which would have made it easier to carry it into the house. Note to self to remember that for next time. The thing I like the best on this little piece of paper however, is that back in the day when they first opened burgers were only 25 cents! Craziness!