This totally reveals how often (or not so often) I've been posting lately! I had been kicking myself thoroughly for not waiting until this week to submit my week 1 photo entry for I Heart Faces. This week's theme is "Joy", and if this is not joy, I don't know what is!
Kicking myself...until I remembered this shot of Preston I took this Fall!
Check it out - his shirt reads, "MY MOM KICKS HARDER THAN YOUR MOM". Love it!
J-O-Y!
My amazing cousin Jason and his wife Janelle are parents to him and his five siblings. They have one biological child and five foster, including Preston, all of whom they plan to adopt this year!
Please pray for them, as they recently faced some bumps along the road in their journey to adopt one of the children. God couldn't have been more gracious to Preston and his brothers and sisters than to choose this godly, loving young couple to parent these sweet kids!
Also pray that God might provide a new ministry for Jason as he serves the Lord and financially provides for his family. And soon, as funds to salary him have run out in his present ministry. Because the adoptions are not final, the family must remain either within the state or the county, which limits their options. But they are confident (we are too!) that God knows their situation and will continue to bless and guide them!
Don't let the sweet face fool you. This busy little girl will keep you on your toes knees! I lived with Samantha's family when I first moved to Southern Maryland in 2005. If each week I kept her from danger and prevented her from burning the house down, I got paid. She's now four years old and I cannot believe it!
IHeartFaces is hosting a photo contest, and here is my entry for the Kids Category!
One of my very favorite classes in high school was Current Events with Mr. McLean. My parents didn't get a computer until I went off to college, so in 11th grade, TV was pretty much my only source of media.
This is one paper I wrote in Current Events class. The first sentence tells me we were to write about the news happenings we best remembered while growing up. Of course, this was pre-9-11 which, I'm sure, makes the top of the list on all of McLean's present students' papers.
I love reading through old pieces of writing. You can hear my blogging voice even then!
***
Many historical events have taken place during my lifetime, though a lot of them had little impact on me, the ones that happened when I was really little.
I do remember in 1990 and 1991, I was in fourth grade and Desert Storm was in full swing. We'd sit there in class and have group discussions about the Gulf War specifically, but also just about war in general. We hadn't experienced or heard much about it, maybe a few stories of exaggerated heroism by our grandfathers in WWII, but that's all they were to us - stories. Something we might read in a book or in movies we would watch. But while sitting in that fourth grade classroom, writing letters of encouragement to soldiers we didn't know, and collecting packets of Kool-Aid to improve the taste of the water there, it suddenly became clear to us students what war meant.
I know I must have watched actual live coverage on the whole thing quite a bit, but the only day I remember watching actual fighting was a cloudy Sunday afternoon in January. I keep thinking it was right around New Years, maybe New Years Day or the day after, I'm not sure. I remember sitting in front of the TV with my family and seeing these people with the funny looking gas masks on. The newscaster would interview random soldiers, and though it seemed to be in the middle of the night there, you could see the sky light up tremendously in the background. It would look plain as day for two seconds, get dark for a brief moment, and then be replaced once again with streaks of light. The people had to yell when they spoke, and at certain points they seemed to almost be in a state of panic. I'll never forget that picture.
The reason I remember that specific day so well is because of what I was doing when I was watching it. I was lying on my stomach with a pencil and several pieces of paper. I drew a picture of four children, two girls and two boys - one African American, one Native American, one Asian, and one American. I drew them all playing together, and I even wrote a short story about each one to go along with the picture. Even at ten years old, the difference between war and peace were obviously becoming real to me. And only now has it made me realize the significance of me drawing and writing what I did. I never could figure out why that day stuck out in my mind before.
Of course, Desert storm didn't have as much an impact on me as it would if the fighting were over here - we also knew that we would win the war. But, like you said, unlike previous wars, we had total television coverage of it from start to finish, and we could transport ourselves to the Middle East with a click of the remote.
Well, now that I've written my required number of pages, I think I'll end now - just kidding. I'll try to briefly tell about the other events that stick out in my mind.
(Add: The above is so classic me! I actually wrote that in my paper!)
Just a year before Desert Storm the Berlin Wall came down. Now, this was one event that I had more background on then the Gulf War. That's because in 1985 my mom, grandma, and uncles all took a trip to Germany to visit some relatives in East Berlin. Of course they went into the city to snap pictures of the dividing Wall. When they returned I remember my mom telling me why they'd put it up in the first place. I thought it was cool to see all the German writing and painting on the wall! So of course we were watching the news when they tore it down a couple years later.
Thinking about it now surprises me that I understood the tragedy the Wall brought the city. I even remember seeing everyone crying as they were finally reunited with their families, some men who had never before seen their small children.
Then one day in third grade one of our relatives from Norway, who had been to Germany, came to visit the US for a few weeks. My parents thought it would be a good idea if Guro came to Aquila [Primary] School to talk to my class about what it's like to live in Norway. She also talked about the Berlin Wall, since she had just been to Germany. She even brought a real piece of the Wall for us to look at and touch. The piece was about the size of a fist and there was definite signs of graffiti on it. I remember feeling lucky that my class and I got a chance to hold a piece of history in our hands, one we had only seen on television. It made the whole event even more real to us.
Another event I recall is the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling. It happened during the same year as the fall of the Berlin Wall, but I think it impacted me even more. At school, everyone was making a big deal about it. We had many, many discussions about the event, and teachers were pushing the whole safety issue. They let us know that it very well could have been any one of us - Jacob was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also everyone was concerned because Jacob was only two years older than us. We talked about what we can do to make sure that never happens to one of us. We discussed the mistakes Jacob made that caused him to be vulnerable to the harmful situation. I don't think I need to say that I learned a lot that year!
(Add: Over the couple of years that followed Jacob's kidnapping, I'd be at Target or somewhere with my parents and imagine that Jacob was hiding from his kidnapper in the store. I'd find him and he would be returned to his parents. Today, Jacob would be 30 years old, and although his parents rightly keep up hope of his survival, it's probably pretty unlikely. Some say his kidnapper took him to Mexico where he became part of a child trafficking operation. yet who knows what actually happened?)
You're probably wondering about how the Challenger explosion impacted me. For some reason, I really don't remember watching anything about it or hearing about it at school, although I do recall an old Punky Brewster episode that focused on the Challenger in detail.
I thought I'd leave the more recent events alone, except that I will comment on one thing from last summer. I found myself getting to watch the news quite a bit then, and I really got into and followed the whole Andrew Cunanan murders. In July it probably caught my eye since it started out here in Minnesota. It really surprised me when I heard that he ended up in Florida. After the Versacci murder I was into the story again. I wanted to see what would happen next, like so many when they watched the O.J. trial and now with the Clinton allegations. of course, i didn't want Cunanan to kill anyone else, but I wanted to know if he killed the fashion designer as well as the others here in Minnesota. I couldn't wait to find out if he would be caught and, if so, what would he say about it all? Like so many others I asked why?
I was kind of disappointed when it ended like it did, though I was glad he wouldn't get a chance to kill anymore. I was just fascinated with the story of it, and I wanted to know how someone could be as cunning and aggressive as that. It was certainly the murder mystery of the year!
(Add: Still creeps me out to think about it!)
I spoke briefly to my parents about significant events in their lives, and my mom mentioned the Kennedy assassination. She was getting ready for school that day and heard the bulletin on the news. I don't think she ended up making it to school. They must have canceled it for the rest of the week or so.
My dad talked about the years between 1964 and 1966. The sudden attitude changes during that time impacted him, in that he couldn't believe how fast so many things took place.
He said that the breakdown of the home was one of the things that triggered these changes. Rock and Roll was popular by then, Kennedy had just been killed, and the First Amendment of the Constitution concerning education had been altered. Kids were beginning to rebel and family morals no longer worth talking about. The Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam intensified this new attitude, which just caused even more protesting, demonstration, and draft card burning. These events were happening so suddenly that all anyone knew to do was avoid everything and try to get their own way.
Take, for example, those who were born in 1947. In 1964, when they turned seventeen, everything war was very new to them. Up until that point they had never lived to see anything but peace. This caused many rebellious feelings once they received draft cards. It was like that with many people at that time.
Along with all these other new ideas like Rock and Roll and the Civil Rights Movement, one was bound to have different opinions. They expressed them forcefully and violently, which seemed to happen out of the blue. My dad feels that these three years showed the quickest and most significant changes in his lifetime.
So I guess this is my [unofficial] 100th post! And you all know what that means...
Welcome to my 100 Things post! (Oh dear, what am I getting myself into?)
And to top it off, Amanda of Mandigirl Muses who, by the way, is one of my all-time favorite bloggers (maybe it's partly because you're so, I don't know...honest? and because you really carried me into Blogger!) has offered Think Out Loud its first award, which is called the Honest Scrap Award! What better timing than my 100th post?!
No award comes without its bloggiful duties. The recipient of the Honest Scrap must offer her readers 10 honest things about herself. Yet since this whole 100th post thing only happens once in a blog-life, I'm not going to use the Award as an excuse to list just the required 10. I will include at least 10 good, honest items about myself to fit the award requirement, but the rest will just be random things that come to mind. I will do my best to state things I have yet to mention on my blog (which means you need to go read the previous 99 first - j/k!).
It sounds easy to come up with 100 tidbits, quirks, experiences, traits, preferences, etc. about oneself, but it's not. You get to about #36 and think for sure you've bypassed #60. And from there you just start making stuff up, listing what you ate for breakfast everyday this week, or begin offering TMI, such as to say you shave your armpits every five days (which I do, btw). And for the final 10 you'll state reasons why this will be you're last blog ever. Reader, beware!
So! Let the fun begin! (Seriously, that "You're So Vain" song totally popped into my head at this moment.)
1. I have been wearing a lot of black shirts/sweaters lately. I'm not really sure why. It's just an easy match.
2. My favorite perfume in the whole world is Estee Lauder Pleasures. A woman whose children I used to nanny would come downstairs every morning wafting the scent throughout the kitchen while I'd be getting breakfast ready for the boys. I had to buy it. And it wasn't one of those times where you admire perfume on someone else but it ends up smelling horrible on yourself. It's absolutely lovely.
3. My sinuses are mildly allergic to perfume. Oh, how ironic! I can only wear one half of a squirt on the back of my neck.
4. I get claustrophobic if I'm underwater for a long period of time. I'll jump off the high dive, but not head first or one of those "pencil" dives. Although I still love pools and surface swimming. But funny how things that didn't used to scare you as a carefree child terrify you as an adult. Roller coasters, skiing, and trampoline flips, same thing.
6. As a treat, my mom used to toss my brother and I a handful of mini marshmallows, and we'd scramble to the living room floor picking them up. Not exactly the healthiest of snacks and a sort of unusual feeding method, but a fun novelty I remember from childhood.
7. I've been to the Bahamas. But it was the end of November and chilly. And tragically void of romance.
8. I have this horrible habit of shopping at Wal-Mart just after a work out. That is, in my workout clothes and sweaty, stinky self. It's bad when you can smell yourself and feel like puking. But those poor shoppers. That's right - get outa my way! I can't stand Wal-Mart but I shop there anyway. It's just a sacrifice a frugal has to make.
9. I loved going to church camp as a child. And counseling too!
10. I miss the freaky thunderstorms we got back home.
11. I was stalked for three summers during college. Literally the scariest time of my life!
12. It's settled. God did not install the the multi-tasker gene when he made me. "Oh, and by the way's" completely overwhelm me. I get distracted easily and it's so frustrating! Give me a list.
13. I worked at an indie coffee shop called Brewing Grounds for two months. Loved learning how to make espresso. And I have to say, I prided myself in frothing perfect foam. Yet those two months have ruined me forever. No one can live up to my standard. Hear me: If foam has been made correctly, you should not be able to actually see the bubbles.
14. I refuse to tip a barista, although that has absolutely nothing to do with my stint as one. As much as I love lattes at Fourbucks.
15. I love to play word games like Scrabble, Reader's Digest's Word Power, Balderdash, Scattergories - all of it. Let's play! I once beat my English teacher grandmother at Word Power, and boy, is that a feat!
16. This is fun!
17. I have a hard time maintaining close friendships and I don't know why. (This is as raw and honest as you're gonna get!) Still, I have no trouble making friends. But they remain at arms length. Ugh.
18. My dream job (or so I naively think) is to work - in any sort of capacity - at a news or radio station! (Just not the late night shift.)
19. At age 3 I cut my left index finger off a few centimeters from the tip. I guess I wanted to see what would happen if I stuck my finger in the grate at the top of the mall escalator. Until it got stuck and ripped. (Mmmm, hope you're not eating!) I yanked it out and my fingertip was dangling by a thread of skin. I walked over to my mom (who is excellent at supervising her children!) and said, "Mommy, lookit." She said, "Oh, my!!!" and all I remember is some dude scooped me up and wrapped new white towels from the shelves at Montgomery Wards. I vaguely recall the ambulance ride, but I remember trying desperately to push away the doctor's hands as he tried to administer anesthesia to my finger and sew it up. My finger still bears the scar and sits slightly crooked.
21. I got to sit in on a PGM "Unshackled" live recording and met announcer Bob O'Donnell and organist Ralph Colburn. Neat experience you don't want to miss if you visit Chicago.
22. I saved a butter container full of agates my friend Jamila and I collected over the span of our childhood years. They were our jewels. Our treasure. We fought sometimes violently over them. "No, I found it first! It's mine!"
23. I'm realizing that adults still possess the same bad attitudes as children. They just hide them behind pride. I work with people at Social Services. The only difference between them and more stable/responsible individuals is that they don't care a lick what people think of them. We do. (We just blog about it.)
24. I always leave a CVS drugstore with sweaty armpits. (I try to give back.)
25. I am stoked about starting up Women's Bible Study again this month with Beth Moore's "Esther"!!!
26. My husband's hands are the same length as mine, except that his fingers are twice as fat! :)
27. Which reminds me of the time he broke my ring finger two months after our wedding! I had to replace my lovely diamond with a bulky metal brace for weeks! (FYI: Never try to catch a football that's filled with too much air. Or switch to Nerf altogether.)
28. I like reading maps. (Ask Jeromy.) I think the dreamer in me gets to imagine visiting different places of the country/world. Note: If you are single and love to travel, become a short-term au pair. You can literally open up a mappage, point to a city and say, "I want to live there." And you will find a job!
29. I have received two speeding tickets in my driving life.
30. I haven't skied since my "bum knee" trampoline accident and surgery in 1999. I'm almost afraid to. But in the meantime, let's go tubing!
35. I don't own more than three or four pieces of jewelry. I wear a simple necklace until it wears out.
36. I just learned how to pan-sear meat.
37. I "became a woman" on my actual thirteenth birthday. And of all things, I wanted a pool party! I thought the cramps were just butterflies due to excited anticipation. Ha!
38. I will always be a city girl at heart.
39. I don't like the texture of onions.
40. I still own a few mix tapes I made in high school. Tapes.
44. I am anal about washing floors and dusting. Oh, and staying on top of laundry.
45. I was a waitress for one year at Bakers' Square. Not for me. It required too much multitasking! I visited with guests too long so while I made good tips, I could never handle very many tables at a time. Good experience, though.
46. I fell on a beehive when I was four and received over 100 yellow jacket stings. My cousin and I were climbing a tree and I fell off a limb, smashing the nest. They were mad! Good thing neither of us was allergic, and that my cousin's older brother, who is deathly allergic, was in school at the time.
47. I floss and rinse every night. And despite my rigid discipline, still get cavities.
48. I ate my first sweet potato in 2005. And I love them.
49. My husband and I watch Nanny 911 together. Maybe if we expect the worst, parenting will seem a breeze! (haha, yeah right!)
50. My slow cooker is my friend.
51. We had to wear skirts or dresses in college (and although that wasn't my most favorite rule on campus, Pillsbury shut its doors just last week, after 51 years of equipping young adult Christians.) I own a few sundresses, but I think I have just two of the floor-length skirts left, which I still wear from those four years. (They say "freshman 15" on the butt.) And if Clinton or Stacy ever caught me walking down the street in one of them, I'd be handed a $5000 Visa card.
52. I either wanted to be best friends with Punky Brewster, or I wanted to be her! As a little girl I would have done anything to meet Soliel Moon Frye. I remember when she went on Double Dare as a contestant and after the show shook hands with the kids in the audience. I wanted to be there so bad!
53. Unless at the gym, I usually wear some form of clog. Even in the winter. I'm not a shoe queen by any stretch. It's all about comfy.
54. I wish all my family and friends had a Facebook. It's just so stinkin' convenient.
55. I wish it could be Fall all year long. Semi-warm days and cool nights.
56. I never believed in Santa, although I wanted to.
57. My first real babysitting job was when I was eleven. And for a 6 month old baby named Alyssa. I thought it was the best day of my life.
58. I can't relax amid clutter.
59. I love reading aloud to children.
60. Biggest pet peeve ever: drivers who choose not to signal. (Try living in DC!!!)
61. I have the cutest baby niece in the world named Scarlett!
62. I own a pink cell phone.
63. My favorite lattes are Lite White Berry at Caribou and White Mocha at Starbucks.
66. I don't really like tea. Wasn't raised with it.
67. I made lefsa for the first time this year.
68. I typically fall asleep halfway through a movie. It doesn't matter what movie. I even fell asleep watching Prince Caspian in the theater!
69. My hands and feet are usually 10 degrees colder than the rest of my body. Jeromy refers to these appendages as "ice picks".
70. I rarely get sick. (What's the Christian version of "knock on wood"?)
71. I acquired a new love of pistachios this year.
72. I sold wrapping paper for a school fundraiser to an old local news anchor back home, Bud Kraehling. I was so tickled!
73. I don't particularly like savory sweet, such as fruited pork.
74. I wish I could spend more time with my brother's family.
75. Sometimes I miss the pre-gadget 80's. (But you can keep the tunes!)
76. I never dated in high school. (PTL!)
77. I hate to run but I do it anyway.
78. My favorite Disney movie is Aladdin. (Everybody sing it with me, "I can show you the world; shining, shimmering, splendor...")
79. I stand at 5'6 and weigh 144.8 lbs. (I rarely step on a scale but was just curious this morning.)
80. I am sort of afraid of dogs. Well, at least dogs I don't know. It's usually a case of the growl being worse than the bite.
81. We turn off the heat at night during the cooler months. And with our heavy comforter, we don't need it! This is the first winter we've done this, and it's fun to see how much $ we've saved each month!
82. I've never received a french manicure. And my last regular manicure was the day before my wedding. And first pedicure at that! But so nice.
82. I'm contemplating taking a course in transcription.
83. My cousin Sarah is married to Chris Sligh, the frizzy-haired finalist from last year's season of American Idol. What a ride this has been for them! (See video at the end.)
84. I'm still using shampoo I "bought" almost a year ago. And toothpaste. And body wash. And makeup. And.... Thank you, CVS!!!
85. I can't stand feeling overheated after a shower. I always blow dry my hair while standing under the ceiling fan.
86. I will never - I repeat - never lie in a tanning bed again. It was my dirty habit during high school and college, but after that last burn (from new bulbs they forgot to tell me about!) and after seeing my aunt's skin cancer scars, I really mean it this time. Blond hair, blue eyes...yeah.
87. I love fresh water fish but am not a fan of shellfish and other bottom dwellers. I'll eat a crab or two, but please pass the burgers!
88. I remember obscure, random facts and events (my brother does too), but I fail horribly at Trivial Pursuit.
89. I would wear my pajamas all day if I could. (I didn't shower until 4pm yesterday, if that counts.) For the comfort and productivity it provides. I actually used to be the opposite and love to dress up. Marriage does weird things to a person.
94. I look up to father and grandfather figures in my life. Probably because I never knew my own grandfathers (it was always "Mom's dad" or "Dad's dad") and because my father worked so much. I always hope these figures don't think I'm weird.
95. I started writing stories when I was nine. Maybe I will share one soon.
96. I always choose the ooey-gooey middle-cut brownie, while my husband loves the corner.
97. I was an AWANA clubber from Cubbies up though JV and then worked as a leader throughout high school and college. Youth on the march!!!
98. I never considered Brad Pitt good looking. Still don't.
99. I got my first prescription for glasses this year, but I hardly wear them, though I should.
100. I love meeting people through Blogger and wish I blogged more.
And now I must nominate at least 5 other bloggers to receive the coveted Honest Scrap Award. Remember, each taggee is supposed to post the award picture on his/her blog, followed by a list of 10 - just 10 - honest things about themselves (I only listed 100 because of my 100th post). That's it!
My dilemma is determining at leas 5 bloggers who read my blog on a semi-regular basis! Well I'll tag and see what happens!
Considered yourself tagged (I highly recommend these blogs, btw):
