January 2016

Just finished watching Downton Abbey. It was soooo good. We love that show and I love watching it cuddled on the couch with Christopher. We’ve had a lot of good memories with Downton Abbey marathons and I’ll miss all my Downton “friends” :). BBC shows are the best. 

This has been such a lovely Sunday. Chris gave a great talk at church, about the happiness we can experience on earth and the eternal happiness we can have through Jesus Christ. He’s a great speaker. After church we helped an older lady move some furniture, then we came home and ate butternut squash soup from last night, and of course some cookies. 

  
Husband and I hung out at home all day together and it was so delightful. We watched movies. He slept. I did a puzzle. We ate. We took Edel on a walk. We laughed at our animals. I ate way too many dried nectarines (which have been nicknamed “bum peaches”). And now we’re going to bed. Lovely day and back to school and work mañana!

Saturday morning! Exclamation point!

I’ve had a long few weeks at middle school and with middle schoolers, and I’ve missed waking up when I want, and doing what I want when I wake up. Today is a day where I can do that and I’m happy happy about it! Naturally, I woke up at 6:55 am hahaha. During the school week I get out of bed about 7:15 am, so it’s funny I woke up earlier. But I feel well rested and it’s so nice to not have to get out of bed and get ready for school though.

Getting up has been especially hard for me lately. Maybe because it’s always dark when I get up, and the bedroom is usually chilly willy. I want to enjoy getting up, so I’m working on that. Any tips? Dancing around like a kook when I wake up is helpful, gets me moving and awake. I don’t do that very often, but I shall.

In 8th grade language arts yesterday, where I subbed for two days, the kids were asking me for some “pearls of wisdom” that they had to write down. One wanted to write what a fellow classmate came up with: “Hope is like pizza, great!” Funny. But they requested some from me because they had to write down some “pearls of wisdom” from an “adult.” :) I had a hard time thinking of any on the spot, but my mind turned to some great peacebuilders: Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and David O. McKay.

Dr. MLK: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

David O. McKay: “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

Gandhi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Mother Teresa: “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”

And thinking of peace building always takes me back to President McKay’s prophetic vision for those of BYU-Hawaii (12 Feb. 1955): “Those noble men and women, the world needs them. One man said the world needs men who cannot be bought or sold, men who will scorn to violate truth, genuine gold. That is what this school is going to produce… You mark that word, and from this school, I’ll tell you, will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally.”

Hahaha the cat just jumped on the keyboard, stood on the power button, and turned on some demo beat song.

This morning after laying in bed on my phone, with Chris sleepily cuddling me, I came out in front of the heater and explored pinterest. I don’t use pinterest that much, but it has a lot of beautiful ideas and gets my creative juices flowing. I found I bunch of great quotes that I had previously pinned on there as well, so to continue along with the Pearls of Wisdom, I shall share them.

Now it’s time for a walk outside. It’s light out. And it snowed almost an inch last night… we’ll take what we get! Snow brings beauty and magic!

I’ve been substitute teaching lots lately, which is good, but it made me especially excited about a three day weekend! Thank you Martin Luther King Jr. :) I know his contributions to society are incredibly greater than a simple day off school, and I’m glad we have a day focused on remembering his influence.

I like my Martin Luther King Jr. Day to be one of adventure. It’s tradition. :) Two years ago, Chris and I very spontaneously went to Kauai for a four day weekend (also sort of a honeymoon), and last year we went on a frosty camping trip to Hidden Lake. I don’t remember many Martin Luther King Jr. days before those two, but I decided I want to have a tradition of an MLK day adventure.

Chris and I talked about taking Edel and camping on Captain Cook beach a couple hours away in Nikiski, or walking from Bishop’s Beach to Diamond Creek beach in Homer, which would be roughly 6 miles maybe. Not sure really. Buuuuuut MLK monday morning came around. We slept in. That was sooooo nice. I didn’t wake up in the cold and dark to an annoying alarm sound disturbing my dreams. Gah, waking up is hard to do, for me. Actually it’s just the getting up that is hard for me. But this MLK day wake up and get up delightful.

Chris had some work to do, so I took him in about 11. He later went to lunch with his friend and I went to lunch with my friends, aka my mom and sister. My lunch with them was perfect, just what we all needed.  The food was tasty and the conversation was truthful and deep.

Chris kept working and I hung out at my sister and brother in law’s. I played with my nieces, zoned out watching a bit of Big Bang Theory (so glad I don’t watch much tv, though I definitely get excess screen time with phone and computer), and then the girls and I decided to make a little adventure happen.

  
We went to the beach. It’s not a humongous adventure, but the girls and I can turn simple things into adventures.  Katy, age 7, almost didn’t join us because she got weird at the last minute and decided she didn’t want to come, but I’m so glad she chose to join Natalie and me! The girls’ dog, Cody, was also along for the adventure. We hadn’t taken him to the beach in a while and we were all happy to do it.

Once we got to the beach, we ran into, like 15 other dogs, and some human friends too! And then the girls and I just wandered around. It was perfecto.  

Chris met us down at the beach and we explored together. Natalie brought a jar to catch some sea creatures since it was low tide, and she caught a couple see through tiny fish things. Katy danced around by herself, went to the ocean, threw sand around, and took her gloves and coat off for a bit. Cody, the dog, took the gloves and ran around with them in his mouth playing with them. He’s so funny when he does that. He loves gloves, shoes, and socks, or anything that will get a person to chase after him.  

  
Our beach adventure was simple and rejuvenating.

 The girls and I even stopped at Two Sisters bakery on our way home and got some tasty treats. I had some mini cards in the car so we played war and go fish too. Perfect. Before getting in the car we slid around on the ice in the parking lot. I want to go ice skating. And roller skating. I wish we still had a roller rink here… 
And some MLK quotes to end the day:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“I have a dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”

“We must all learn to live together as brothers — or we will all perish together as fools.”

“What is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy.”

“Mankind must put and end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

And my current favorite:

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ”

Christoher and I are trying to go to sleep right meow. Actually, I just fell asleep and twitched and started having some random, mini dream. That’s normal around here. Our sheets are nice and clean, the cats and Edel are running around the house and disturbing the peace, and husband and I are cuddled up. We can hear the rain outside the open window and the room is cooling off. Christopher likes the window open because it gets toasty warm in here at night. I like being warm, but not too warm. And right now I’m not quite ready to sleep so I thought I’d write quickly. I haven’t been very diligent with my paper journal lately, but doing well blogging. 
We went to my mom’s house tonight and met my sister and nieces there too. We are some ice cream and ended up watching all of Willow. That movie creeped me out when I was little, good to watch it now that I’m an adult person.

While we watched Willow, I got on Instagram and came across the account of a girl I met at BYU Hawaii. I didn’t know the girl very well, but where she’s at now is pretty different from where she used to be. Looking through her pictures inspired me to eat better. She talked about how preparing and sharing food is a special thing, not one to always be rushed through. Sit down and eat; don’t just snack all day. And eat in season and eat lots of whole foods.

She had a rule that her kids could eat anything she did. That’d keep me in check to eat better. I usually really enjoy preparing, sharing and consuming food. I really want to garden and grow our own foods. What a dream. When we got home, I made some Thai curry for the first time ever. It didn’t taste like our favorite Thai food truck in Haleiwa, HI, but it was still good. :)

The past couple days have been refreshingly cool, making some beautiful frost and a little snow! Alaska (or Homer at least) has been oddly warm the past few winters, and we haven’t gotten much snow, plenty of rain though. But we’ll take what we get and enjoy the season we’re in. Cheers!

Also, I just watched this little film and enjoyed it. Today I rise.

Thank goodness it’s Friday! I woke up happy this morning knowing a three day weekend was ahead of me. Yesterday I woke up frumpy (oops, I meant to type ‘grumpy’, but frumpy works too) because I was sick of the daily grind – wake up sleepy, work, come home, eat, waste time, go to bed… meh. Okay, now life hasn’t been that much of a grind lately, but I sort of felt like I was stuck in a cycle that I didn’t want to be in. And I had a bad, poopy attitude. In the winter, I’m don’t really work full time and Chris and I seem to leave Alaska plenty and adventure around. And when we’re home, we usually spend a good amount of time together and watch movies and such. And we hang out with my family of course. I guess I just felt like Chris and I hadn’t had good together time lately and it was wearing me out. Maybe I’m just a weenie too, one who doesn’t do well with going to work everyday with a job with regular hours.

I am so glad that it’s friday and especially glad that it’s a three day weekend! Here’s what I’m up to right meow. Chris is playing xbox with some boys some I’m listening to Enya and blogging and planning and such. And hello! Piper is still nursing! 9 months old… so funny. I love these creatures. My phone is filled with  pictures of our animals.

I substitute teach and I love that, because it’s flexible and fluid. Sometimes I don’t know I’m working until I get a call at 7 am (or 5:30 am) and the job changes day by day as I fill in in different classrooms, different subjects, different ages, different teaching. I love substitute teaching. It doesn’t pay millions, but I usually enjoy it, and any extra monies are nice. The job is better when I don’t think about the money that I’m making/not making. I enjoy being in the schools and with the kiddos and helping them learn and feel accepted and loved. I sub at the middle school and the two elementary schools around here. I have a niece at each elementary and my mom works at the middle school, and it’s so nice to see someone I love so much when I’m at school! I love that. And I love being at the middle school and being able to work with my mom sometimes. Two of the schools are just a short walk from my house too, which is delightful.

Anyway, I’m so glad it’s Friday, FRIYAY. And so glad it’s a three day weekend, because I don’t have an extra day off for a while, which is good that I’ll be subbing lots.

I wasn’t very excited about my sub jobs the past three days because they were a bit out of my comfort zone, but they ended up being pretty great. In whatever I do, I just want to be helpful to others, and I was able to do that and I felt appreciated, so it was good good.

I have lots of thoughts about getting my teaching certificate, but so far I’ve not taken much action in that direction. I have lots of encouragement and support in becoming a teacher though. I need to get an internship passed off so I can officially get my bachelor’s degree, and then I’d need to do some prereqs and take the PRAXIS to get into an education program. There’s an online masters program through university of Alaska that a friend is just starting, and that’s what I’ve looked into. Any thoughts or motivating words for me to get my tush in education gear?

Three Kings Day

Epiphany is a Christian feast day that commemorates principally, but not solely, the visit of the Magi, or three wise men, to the Christ child.

About twenty years ago (am I old enough to say things like that??), my sister had a friendly pen pal from Louisiana. His name was Albert and he as like 50 years old or something. How did they become pen pals? No idea.

But I remember that he once sent her a big cake baked with a little toy baby inside. Well, with my recent research on Three Kings Day, I realized that that’s what it was for! But I think King Cakes are something that they do from Epiphany to Mardi Gras, it’s like their Carnival season. But they’re called King Cakes, and the person who finds the baby (or bean) is supposed to provide the next King Cake. They do something pretty similar in Latin American countries I believe. At least that’s what it looked like when I watched the global snapchat stories of Three Kings Day.

I had a great Three Kings Day, even though I didn’t do much Epiphany celebrating. Next time. :) I really enjoyed my creation tool today though! This was formerly Chris’s office, and has turned into a place where we stash stuff, but I also want it to be a room where stuff is created, like fun crafts, yay! And a good place to read and study. It’s a work in progress, but I used it today to create stuff and that was super.

I got up early this morning and that was super too. I love the morning light, when the sun is coming up. I even did yoga this morning! When I do yoga, I feel so productive and on track. :) I think because it’s a goal I have and it’s so good and uplifting when we accomplish our goals. 

We had mutual tonight with the youth, and OMG, like all our young women were there! It was so awesome! We did a great journal focused activity, ate cookies, and had a great time together. I’m so so glad so many girls were there! Does anyone have any good ideas for mutual? That’s always kind of hard for me. CHEERS.

I like playing this song on guitar and singing along. :) I miss Christmas time.

We Three Kings
We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Frankincense to offer have I.
Incense owns a Deity nigh.
Prayer and praising all men raising,
Worship Him, God on high.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Myrrh is mine: Its bitter perfume
Breaths a life of gathering gloom.
Sorrow, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in a stone-cold tomb.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Earth to heav’n replies.