Interests:Some stuff I like includes: reading--anything from CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein, to Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, to John Donne, Tennyson and Milton, to Elizabeth Eliot-- having fun w/ friends, eating, vollyball, chai tea, hazelnut coffee (at panera--mmmm!), Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Chris Rice, Andrew Peterson, Handel's Messiah, Celtic music, Telecast, RiverTribe, Caedmon's Call, "Fiddler on the Roof", walks in the woods, the word "twilight", friendly hugs, Fall...this list could go on...and on... Expertise:Procrastination...I encourage everyone to try it tomorrow! (or maybe the day after)
...Inadvertantly injuring myself...
Making people laugh--usually while engaging in one of the above Occupation:Student
1) I think that one of my Chinese students might have some Calvinist leanings (while perhaps forgetting his place). Describing what he did during his last week in China, he writes "Finally, I preordained a apartment in Dayton."
2) " After that [parent's encouragement to learn English], I started to work hard. I got up early in order to remember words. I did a lot of excesses before I had the final exam from high school." oh my...I don't know what to think...
3) "Although the United States has the same area as China, most of diets, just like hamburger and fires, are the same all over the country."
4) "If some guys need to help, most of Americans will give their hands to help those people." --Ouch!
5) "The computer is very useful. We can do our homework and do our business in it." no comment.
6) From a reading test that I gave last week, where students needed to write a sentence that showed the meaning of some vocabulary words, which included "sacred" and "seek." "When someone tell me a sacred I should not tell anyone about what he told me." "The people might being seek if they work very hard."
It's true-- I have an incredibly hard time resting and just doing nothing. I don't know when it happened, but I've realized over the last few months that it's just so hard to stop and just let myself do nothing. It seems that I must always be doing something, even when I have a cold and have been sitting on the couch. This morning I've shot e-mails back and forth with coworkers, created a writing exam, translated a letter to the boy that we sponsor in Ecuador... and now am writing here.
Maybe I'll stop when Jason comes home. Resting comes easy to him. He is able to have a phone conversation while just lounging on the couch (whereas I must be doing something like folding laundry or washing dishes). When he starts to feel under the weather, he just plunks down and reads or naps or something equally restful. I have a hard time doing that unless he sets the example.
Part of the difference between the two of us may be personality... or perhaps it comes from a particular outlook on life. It's one that I would like to adapt, and quite frankly, one that God advocates. He gave Sabbath laws that once affected people physically and which now point to a spiritual rest that is found in Jesus. Apparently, for both physical and spiritual health, rest is necessary. However,when left to my own devices, I tend to run myself ragged (physically and spiritually). Thankfully God does not often leave me to my own devices (except to remind me of my need for Him) and has provided me with a reminder of the need to rest in the person of my husband, who is definitely a blessing in this respect.
Well, I'm writing this while under the influence of cold medicine and an over-all congested head, so hopefully it makes sense. I guess this all brings me to a rather strange prayer that needs to become part of my life:
Since I am now entering a slight "break season"--still showing up to work but not teaching or really doing much--I've decided that it is time to attack, conquer and send out my wedding thank you notes... 7 (almost 8) months later. This has been somewhat instigated by receiving thank you notes from two couples who got married after Jason and I (thankyou, Katie and Gwen for the guilt!).
Things that I am pondering as I approach what I hope is the final entry into wedding note land:
Would I have been as excited to get married (and end the planning) had I realized that wedding planning was not enough? There is wedding purgatory afterwards in the form of thank you cards that must be completed.
Is a typed form letter tacky?
Why can't my husband have readable handwriting? (He's not feeling too down about this, incidentally)
Who is this person half way down the list?
Is it possible to keep a straight face while writing a note thanking an individual for a peppermint-shaped cheese platter that proclaims: "Jesus, Sweetest Name I Know"?
I am thankful for the many people who came together to celebrate with Jason and I , and who provided us with so much of what we currently use on a daily basis. I just wish that I could have thanked them in person instead of having to write notes 7 months later.
