Albert & the F bomb teaches me

This week I continually lost patience with my 4th period class -- particulary Albert who dropped the F bomb in class and when I told him to come back into the room to talk to me about it after class, he said "why" and "what if I don't?" Punk. So then I was trying to see the positive in the situation, and what i came up with was that people are really stupid & annoying, and I am also a person, thus stupid & annoying as well. That's not really positive, but what is, is that I was led to think about how God loves people so much and is so gracious and patient. I had a new appreciation for how vast that love and patience and grace is. So that's good. The end.

My New Year's Resolutions

1. Prioritize Spiritual Things (Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.) Value people and character rather than possessions and performance.

2. Exercise effective habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, and put first things first, think win-win, seek first to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw.

3. Use my planner and schedule the hours of my day.

4. Get up at 5am and exercise/do devotions (I haven't started this yet :) )

5. Send birthday cards to all close friends and relatives

6. Create and maintain procedures at work and at home

7. Grade all daily papers by 4:30pm

8. Plan at home at night (don't stay late at school) and grade 5 essays a night

9. Be more healthy than last year -- drink more water, eat more veggies, fruits and whole grain foods, don't overat, cut down on sugar, eat organic food

10. Hand back all student work in a timely manner

11. Take off Wednesday rehearsals before grades are due

How am I doing? Okay so far, but I am still on vacation, so my time is wide open, allowing me to accomplish things I want with all the time I have on my hands. We'll see what happens when 8+ of my hours are gone. Some great things that have been soooo helpful: I bought a one-year Bible, which has given me short term goals clearly laid out day by day. Also helpful, Holly wanting to exercise & being in the same house. It's easier w/ another person. Also helpful, my planner. PTL for Franklin Covey. The last thing that was SO helpful was moving up one of the cabinets from the garage into my room, so now I have a little workspace for stationery and filing and my books! I love it -- Thanks Eric and Holly! (It was a beast -- so heavy).

Happy New Year! Hopefully we'll all lose 20-30 pounds and cut out the carbs and get up on time all year! :)

2006 Retrospective

HAPPY NEW YEAR, PEOPLE! As I look ahead to 2007, I am reflective about 2006 and what I experienced. Many firsts, many hard times, but mostly many people and things to be thankful for.

Holly had this idea, and I love it -- 2006, a year in review. Here are some of the highlights:

• I got an ipod and downloaded my entire music collection into it - it took a few minutes
• My mom went through & survived chemo, PTL
• Debra became pregnant with a second child who was born in December -- Caleb the Cute
• Shey & Jackson started putting words and sentences together -- Jackson's favorite word? "NO!"
• Our roommie Sarah Jane moved out and got married...and got pregnant
• My dad moved in for a 'short stay'
• Holly moved in (and we'll never let her leave...ha ha)
• I completed my first year of teaching honors Brit lit. and AVID
• I started this blog & put my pictures online -- everyone else was doing it!
• I went with the worship team to India for 2 weeks -- Paul and Annie are cool, It was great to see Kamal and Eric, It was a blast dressing like a native, and I LOVED Thailand. 1-2-3-BAM!
• First time to "host" a rehearsal dinner & sang & helped at Sarah Jane and Mark's wedding
• Enjoyed Mother's Day Tea with an emotional Mary Chestnut
• Global Night Commute - ICU and some 'chaperones' walked several miles to the Santa Monica City Hall and slept overnight to raise awareness abou the night commuters in Uganda
• We had a screening of Invisible Children at church (COC)
• Eric went with Adam and Jeff to Uganda & ate Matoki
• I completed my first year of co-advising the ICU club with Sam
• I helped lead music and hand motions for VBS (He was, He is, and always will be... our Messiah)
• Eric and I explored LA on our anniversary "trip" and enjoyed a chef's 6 course meal (our first meal prepared by a chef!)
• I organized my cards and memorabilia from 1970 on
• We met with the ICU club over the summer to hang out and plan -- we came up with our new logo! check it out at our blog
• Eric's mom, Mary, and Larry Chestnut moved from Woodland Hills (nice & close) to Georgia (far far away)
• Entertained Eric's cousin Joe for a few days, taking him around LA now that we're experts at the sights
• Eric started teaching science and geography at Santa Clarita Christian School -- he finally found a job he loves (although the 7th grade boys are a thorn in the flesh)
• I did my first GuluWalk -- An organized walk to raise awareness for war-torn Northern Uganda -- We were an orange mass on Topanga Canyon Road and attracted much attention!
• Went on my first COC women's retreat to Hume - we had a great speaker and a great time getting to know ladies
• Went camping in Kernville for the first time "diner style"
• One of my students, Michael, got saved
• I was blessed with a student teacher, Ms. Starkey, who now has a job teaching at a Christian school with her husband. :)
• Enjoyed "Early Thanksgiving" at mom's with friends & family
• Eric and I had an awesome time together at the ACSI convention -- Association of Christian Schools International (we went to great teaching seminars!)
• Enjoyed Thanksgiving at Dave & Marybeth's -- especially hearing what Joce and Sheylah were thankful for! "My dinner"
• Finished off the year with finals week, Christmas musical programs at church, and Christmas lunches/dinners with Eric's dad's family, his brother's family, my Uncle Frank's family, the Brock's, and finally with my brother Steve's family.
• I have eaten some fabulous holiday fare, received many restaurant gift cards, and gained some poundage... Time for New Year's Resolutions.

Thank you for taking a stroll down the memory lane of 2006 in the life of myself, Jennene. I pray that this year we redeem the time and put first things first, setting our hearts and minds on things above.

My Pictures Are Online

Hello friends & family. I now have a flickr account, so you can view my pictures and download them to your computer, camera, photo ordering site, whatever! Go and check it out! :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/62394263@N00/

In other news, my nephew Caleb came into the world in December, and we all like him a great deal. Here he is in all his glory: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62394263@N00/331558779/

It's Cold in NorCal

I picked that title because it's cold here and because Eric dislikes the abbreviation "NorCal."

So we're here at mom's and it's nice to be back. Even though it's cluttered (I've already sneaked two old cleaning items from the bathroom into the trash -- sorry mom, but these things have an expiration date too!! :) ], even so, I really like my old house. I also love that it has a big yard full of crazy, wild growth. For some reason I feel inspired here -- mainly to clean & organize & decorate, but also to create things and cook and read and enjoy silence and nature.

So my main thoughts for the day are:

• I'm grateful that Eric is now a teacher. We shared tons of ideas on the way up here, and we both brought work to do. It's nice to share such a significant passion between us.
• Second, I think it would be cool to have been a follower of Christ back in the day & have him exposit the scriptures to us -- Luke 24:27 -- "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the scriptures." How cool must that have been?

That's all for now. I have some laundry to do...

Life Lately

Well, well, well. Someone's still logging in, eh?
Sorry I've been gone so long. October was a busy month and Eric hogs the computer, so it's hard to stay on top of the blog. Please forgive me! To make up for this long absence, I will provide many highlights from October, and will attempt to alliterate a little.

HAPPY HIGHLIGHTS:

Women's Weekend Retreat: Hume Lake was lovely -- fall colors and deer. Judy was a great speaker. Lesson learned: Circumstances of life will be hard, even heartwrenching, but God is sovereign and wants us to trust Him regardless of circumstances. Father knows best. :)

GuluWalk: We walked for peace in Uganda & were stars on Fox News! A cool time to empathize w/ the Ugandan kids, make a statement, meet people, bond with ICU and wear orange.

Camping in Kernville: Getting lost w/ Holly about 5 x; Melted marshmallows, Sittin' around doin' nothin' around a smoky campfire, quirky little coffee shops, cozy in the tent w/ Worsham, getting hooked up by the Smiths, who provided tent, tarp, hatchet entertainment, etc.; Molten bottle (we melted a bottle in the fire and reshaped it); and a little polar bear swimming. The desert flowers were blooming on my way home. I'm sold on Kernville -- we should definitely do it again!

Halloween happenings: I didn't really celebrate officially, but I did attend school in my Salwar Kameez from India, and even added eyeliner & a red dot to my forehead. At night I visited my student's family's haunted house -- pretty pro. My favorite was the insane guy in the "rubber room" with the silence of the lambs mask on, and then getting chased out by Jason with a chainsaw. I hung real close to the 60-year-olds who went through ahead of me -- no idea who they were, but I was their little buddy through the whole thing...
The family's trying to get me to take it on for the school. We'll see.

TMC Student Teacher: Jenny Starkey, aka Mrs. Starkey, is my student teacher now. She's great. She's taking on more lessons with my classes, and she took some papers home to grade this weekend (PTL). I'm hoping to get some filing and gobs of grading done while she's here. :)

Subordinate Conjunctions and Exercise Balls

Just wanted to keep my readership updated on the exciting life I lead.

On a sad note, the Crocodile Hunter has passed away -- stung in the heart by a sting ray (apparently rare). It's weird, I feel like I know him and I'm sad that he's dead -- only in his 40s. Seems like it was only a matter of time, though. Can one be so intimately acquainted with the dangerous creatures of nature without ultimately being destroyed by them? e.g. Grizzly Man?

On a lighter note, I have the day off for Labor Day (Eric & I are laboring on our grading, however). The weekend has been lovely so far, starting with a Loaded Questions party (Hugs & Kisses from Alaska), Mike B's birthday lunch at our house, Little Miss Sunshine, and a fun-filled evening at Jeff L's with singing, screenwriting, camping plans and excercise ball experiments.

Loaded Questions is ever a test of quick wit and creativity. We started writing our answers before the questions, which proved to be quite riotous. The common answers included Don Johnson (naturally), midgets, dead hobbits, Keebler Elves, hot bidets, packing heat, and of course, poop and farts.

So... subordinate conjunctions? This is what my students are supposed to be learning these days. Here's a sample of their genius grammar work, an actual sentence composed by a student: "Although Gaby's fart smelled, no one knew it was her." (although is the sub. conj.). I'm so proud. :)

The 7 Habits According to Peter

Stephen Covey wrote a book I would like to read yearly, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Private victory leading to public victory is something I find that I am constantly needing to work on.

But although the concepts are helpful for living effective lives, his ideas are not new, and were laid out in the Bible (of course). I was pleased when I stumbled upon the private/public victory model in the New Testament.

2 Pet 1:5-8, "...make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindsness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective..."

Covey starts with world view being rooted in essential values, real character.
Like faith. We base our world view on the unchanging, perfect character of God. He is the author of our faith and thus the essence of our worldview.
Covey then discusses being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first, habits of private victory. A lot like goodness, knowledge, self-control and perseverance.

Then he moves into interdependence, or public victory. Think win/win, to seek first to understand, then to be understood, and to synergize (creative cooperation). i.e. godliness, brotherly kindness and love.

I love it when I can find interesting connections in the world, and this was a moment of enjoyable discovery. Now if I could just practice these habits/make every effort to add to my faith...

I like to break things!

Lately I have been breaking things. I put glass pieces into the garbage disposal (accidentally) & now it's broken. The clothes washer stopped draining the wash water during my load. I dropped the barbeque sauce (who still puts condiments in glass bottles??). I dropped some other bottle (thus putting the contents (along with glass fragments) into the garbage disposal. And last night I thought I broke the computer mouse. Turns out it just ran out of battery life.

On top of that, I have ants coming out of corners and cracks all around the house. Also, for last night's dinner I served taco salad with tortilla chips that had been exposed to Raid (also accidentally). Am I trying to kill my roommates?

I guess that's pretty much it, but it is leading to a rather stressful week. I only have 1 1/2 weeks left of summer and I don't know how I'm going to keep living my life AND have a full time job. There's just too much to do. And to break.

Numbers

I have been reading Numbers, and it is intense. Today was ch. 16, where twice Moses & Aaron had to fall facedown before the Lord begging Him not to wipe out the entire people of Israel. God keeps telling them to get out the way "so I can put an end to them at once."
Whoa!

This time the cause was Korah & etc. Levites, rising against Moses, claiming he is going too far in "lording it over the people" and that they should be able to be priests for themselves.

A few things popped out:

* People dislike authority and are easily aroused to jealously of their power. Korah & peeps were guilty of this, & I often find it in my own heart. Why must I try to control things? Just trust in God's goodness & submit to leaders.

*People are (I am) stupid, whiney and forgetful when it comes to God. I'm constantly amazed at the Israelites. Time and again God provides for them (manna, the promised land, escape from Egyptian slavery, guidance in the desert), & God shows miraculous signs of His power, but somehow these people consistently make bad choices. They grumble against the food, they listen to the 10 spies instead of believing the Lord, they demonize Moses for their suffering & for the earth swallowing up the mutinous Levites. As if they had not seen the Red Sea part! As if they did not have a cloud and pillar of fire lingering over their camp at all times! As if they had not seen thousands of their own people plagued because of their whining! And most recently, they just watched the earth swallow up the people who challenged Moses. I would think they would shut up and do whatever he said! "Yes, Moses, whatever you want, guy!"

Sadly, I also listen to man, whine & complain, forget about the blessings & benefits from the Lord in the past and even right in front of me. It's humbling to see what humans are like as the drama of the Israelites unfolds in Numbers.

"New post"

Well, here's another post.....
Let's see, what's been happening..... Well, the summer is slipping away rapidly (like sands through the hourglass). Just last week I participated in Vacation Bible School at church which was a re-creation of first century Bethlehem for the kids. Pretty awesome!! A typical sight was a kid playing with dough at the "Farmer's Market", which was then cooked on a hibachi. Just look at the glee in John's face (above).

Eric & I got worked over at the dentist the other day -- I got three fillings & he got two & a "deep" cleaning. We were bummed, but also strangely relieved. Now we are super motivated to care for our teeth -- every last molar, canine, and incisor. (During the drilling: "Please God, no root canal -- no root canal!!")

The last several weeks we have been adjusting to having my father live with us. He still hasn't quite figured out the TV/DVR remotes, but he's made himself at home and has been helping clean up & eat the dinners I've been making. Yes, I've been cooking for the family, which has been pretty fun, I must say. Eric & I sure aren't used to having a 73 year-old around.

Besides that, I've been going through pictures, cards, and general memorabilia from the last ten years. It's been overwhelming at times, but I've enjoyed reading all the cards, thinking about all the friendships and family relationships that have meant so much to me all these years. I've had lots of funny, depressing, wonderful times with loved ones!!! You know who you are.

Coffee Talk #1

Well, here's my blog. I guess I'll start by saying welcome. Welcome to my blog. I don't know if anyone will read this except me (and maybe my mother), but I feel kinda like Doogie Howser, which is pretty cool. Eric said he'll read it (he's sweet).
Anyway, thanks for being here! You're all sweet!