I miss you!!!

This beautiful lion is dedicated to Katie because I miss her ever so much!!! And I miss Niklas and Jenny too! Was it just one year ago that we spent New Year's Eve ordering delicious desserts from Chili's? I had my molten chocolate lava cake (which I highly recommend by the way) and Katie, Niklas, and Jenny helped me with my frustration over financial issues! I never thought then that I would have paid my whole credit card off a year later! I think this is the first year ever that I haven't seen Katie at Christmas and I'm so very sad about that. :( I hope I can see all of you guys soon!

Merry Christmas!!!

Wow what an amazing Christmas! Our whole family reunited for dinner at Ragazzi's, so we got to see little Leland, our sister Cameron's baby. Our brothers Jacob and Ryan and his girlfriend Jessica came too. Jessica's having a baby in about 2 weeks. It was awesome because it was my mom's first time seeing her first grandson, Leland, and it was only Mike's third time seeing him. Leland was SO good. Cameron is so blessed to have an awesome son who will be entertained by people easily. For the entire 2 and a half hour dinner, he didn't cry at all. He just got passed around from person to person and never complained. What a great kid! He was so adorable too!

Christmas Day was with my mom, Mike, my granny, Kathryn, and me at home. We had a great time! I was particularly exhausted because I had been finishing presents that I was making for my mom and Kathryn until late on Christmas Eve, but the presents were totally worth it. Several months ago I had found a box full of 8mm video camera tapes that were of my family from when we were little. I had never seen the video on those tapes ever, and I knew that my sister and mom and had never seen them either. So I decided to edit the tapes, add music and effects to them, and create a movie for my sister for Christmas. It was absolutely hilarious and overwhelmingly emotional at the same time. It meant a lot to my sister and I especially because my sister has become very sad over the past year or so that she's forgotten what our dad's voice sounded like. In the movie, there are a bunch of times where my dad is talking and you can hear his voice so loud and clear. We were all crying, even Mike (who never even knew us during the times of the video), by the end of it.

Peter came over too and we played soccer, went out in kayaks on the pondlake, and sat around the table talking. It was such a great Christmas! Enjoy all the pictures of our Christmas! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

More awesomeness from Jesus!!!

Okay wow. So here's part 2 of the Miguel story, along with pictures of him being dressed up as a Christmas tree from the youth group Christmas party!

So on Monday, I told one other teacher about what happened last weekend and within 48 hours, the story had spread all over the school. The awesome thing was that everyone seemed to understand that I'm not the person who deserves the praise and glory. It's all Jesus. All week people were coming to me, telling me how it moved them to start believing again - that their faith had been renewed and they wanted to help in any way

they could. So over the past 5 days, people have given me 5 huge boxes of food for Miguel's family, 3 bags of ornaments and lights for their tree, blankets, curtains, clothes, $50 gift cards to Old Navy and Barnes and Noble, 5 kids DVDs with Spanish language tracks, 6 books in Spanish, and almost enough money to buy Miguel the skateboard that he wants! The kids in my class have been talking about it all week too! One little boy who also has a rough home life came up to me and said, "Miss Tice, my mom and dad said that they don't have any money to buy presents this year. Do you think if I ask God for a present, will he hear me?"

4 different people have said that because of this week, it's the best Christmas they've ever had. How awesome is that? It absolutely leaves me in awe of Jesus, wondering how one simple thing like answering a prayer for a Christmas tree could spread to that many people and influence their hearts, beliefs, and actions. What a beautiful savior we have!

There's even more that's happened this week besides that...like me and Malena becoming a prayer team, and me getting guidance and leadership from her...taking Miguel snowboarding on Wednesday...more prayer requests being answered by God! Unbelievable. ANDDDD...I memorized my first verse in Spanish this week! Well I already knew "porque para Dios no hay nada imposible" but that one's so short, it doesn't seem like it should count! Here's the one I know now by heart: Psalm 70:5

"Yo soy pobre y estoy necesitado.

Ven pronto a mi, oh Dios.

Tu eres mi socorro y mi libertador.

Ino te demores, Senor." Salmo 70:5

I hope you guys have had as great a week as me!!!!!

What a day. Gracias a Jesus. What a day.

You are never going to believe the day I've had. Let me preface it by saying that last night I had been listening to the Christmas carol, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and the last two verses of the song were really speaking to me. The third verse is about how the guy in the song was in despair because he looks around and all he sees is hate and cruelty. I have sort of felt like that lately...not completely hopeless, but just that I've been in this slow time of not really sensing God working in my life. But anyway the next verse of the song says, "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor does he sleep, the wrong will fail, the right prevail, with peace on Earth, good will to men." For some reason last night, I was really into that "God is not dead nor does he sleep" part. No matter what I might think, God IS working and he has NOT forgotten about me. And then today he gave me a beautiful, most-needed gift that showed me exactly how "WITH US" God is. Here's the story. It's long, but worth reading. Trust me.

It all started this morning at church when Pastor Pete was teaching about salvation. I was translating as much as I could for Miguel who of course was with me. At the end, we were singing the song "Majesty" and I noticed that Miguel wasn't standing up with us. I looked over to see what he was doing and he was writing something on a piece of paper. This is what he wrote:

"Muchas gracias, Jesus, por todo." Thank you, Jesus, for everything. He smiled at me and I leaned over and added, "y por salvarme" which means "and for saving me." He immediately crossed out "me" on the end of salvar and wrote "nos" to make it "salvarnos" which means for saving US. He smiled at me again and we went back to singing.

After church, we were invited to lunch by a woman from Peru who speaks spanish. She just loves Miguel and calls him Miguelito. Her name is Malena. She is a small grandmotherly type woman who is just so kind and loving. So we went to her house for lunch. At her house she had a big Christmas tree and about 10 presents under it. Miguel told me, sadly, that his family can't get a Christmas tree this year because it's too expensive. He kept touching her tree and whispering "Que bonito, que bonito" meaning like "how beautiful, how beautiful". Then he said to me, "Look at all her presents! There's lots of presents!" I said, "Yes, and you're going to get lots of presents for Christmas too." (Because I know he is!) And then he looked down sadly at the floor and shook his head saying, "No I'm not. I don't have a tree. Santa Claus won't come without a tree." Well I went to tell Malena what he said and it broke her heart as much as it broke mine. She said (without him knowing), "Let's pray for a tree for him." So we did. And at the end she clapped her hands together and said, "Okay he's getting a tree!" I was like, "Hahaha yeah right. I wish it always worked like that." She said, "No, he is. We asked, and God will come through." I just kind of shrugged and smiled.

So THEN...after lunch...Malena came with us over to Miguel's house to meet Miguel's mom. They talked for about 15 minutes and then Malena asked her about her relationship with Christ. Then she started telling her the gospel, all about the glory and promises of God and tears started falling down Miguel's mom's face. Finally Malena asked her if she wanted to accept Jesus into her heart right then. She nodded yes and we all prayed together, including Miguel. She repeated a prayer to accept Jesus and then gave us big hugs, thanking us for everything we're doing for her family.

There was a Christmas party for the youth group tonight at church so Miguel and I asked if he could go to it. He was SO excited. He kept saying, "It's going to be so much fun! We're going to play games and open presents and have fun!!!" At the party they played a fun game where there were 4 teams and the teams had to decorate one kid on the team like a Christmas tree. It was hilarious. Miguel's team picked Miguel to be the tree! I took pictures, which I'll add later! Well one of the youth leaders thought Miguel was definitely the cutest tree of all of them and I laughed saying, "You know I think this means a lot to him that he got to be the tree for his team," and then I proceeded to tell her about what he said about not having a Christmas tree and Santa Claus not coming. I had not told ANYONE else but Malena that he said this. Well the woman said, "Really??? I have a Christmas tree at my house that I don't need and I've been trying to give it to somebody but nobody needs one." I stared at her. "What kind of a Christmas tree?" I said quietly. She pointed at the church Christmas tree, "Like that one. A normal Christmas tree. Do you think he wants it?" And I'm sure Malena would have said to me at that point, "Why are you surprised? I told you God would give him a tree!"

SO THEN....no the story's not over yet. If you're not crying yet, just wait...So then after the party we had to go BACK to Malena's house to pick up a box of stuff for Miguel's family that she was getting together. So we did. There, we told Malena about the Christmas tree and she was so happy for Miguel! He sat down on the sofa and she asked him if he understood what happened with his mom this afternoon. He said he thought so. She talked to him a little about it and then asked him if had Jesus in his heart too. He said yes and she asked him to tell her about it, like when did he accept Christ, where was he, all the juicy details that make testimonies so great. He said, "Today. At the end of church I believed, and then I prayed with you at our house." Malena looked at me and I at her. We both looked at him and said, "REALLY?????" at the same time. He smiled and we gave him a big hug and told him how happy we were. Then she talked to him about Jesus and what believing in him means and what it doesn't mean. She told him that Jesus doesn't promise that he'll never have problems and difficulties, but he promises to never leave him and to help him through anything. For about 20 minutes Malena talked and Miguel just sat on the sofa, never taking his eyes off her, smiling with the biggest, most content smile you've ever seen.

So Miguel and his mom accepted Christ today AND God threw in the Christmas tree, just because he could.

Porque para Dios no hay nada imposible! Lucas 1:37

Moosey Christmas Tree!

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!! I put my Christmas tree up!!! Kathryn helped me! And my Calabaza cat was very confused. He kept trying to eat the tree. Then he tried to eat the presents. Then he went for the ornaments. We were like, "CALABAZA!!!" DON'T EAT THE TREE!!!" About half of the decorations are up in my house, but my tree is now completely done!! It's covered in mooses! Last year I had the tree up and decorated by the first week of November. I was a little late this year, but at least it's still 13 days until Christmas! Here are pictures of my beautiful Moose Christmas Tree!

Bum Weekend

What was supposed to be an awesome, fun-filled weekend ended up being a total bum. Remember how Miguel and I were going snowboarding on Saturday? Yeah that didn't happen. Why, you ask? Because I woke up on Saturday with a sharp electrical pain shooting through my neck. It was so bad I couldn't move for nearly the entire day. I just laid in bed with ice on my neck crying out in pain and wondering if I should go to the hospital. It wasn't like having a stiff neck, like you just slept on it wrong or something. It was more like receiving an electric shock directly into your nerves. I was highly annoyed. I mean, the thought crossed my mind that maybe it happened to keep me from taking Miguel up to Wintergreen that day...like maybe something bad was going to happen if we went (like he'd break his wrist or something)...so I was really okay with not going. I feel bad even saying this but I was kind of annoyed at God (although I got over it very quickly). I was annoyed because if God was trying to protect us then I'm okay with that. But I was still the one who had to tell Miguel that we couldn't go and his little face was so sad. He understood, for sure, but he was so disappointed. Fortunately, in his brilliance, God made kids resilient and he immediately cheered up when I asked him if he wanted to still go to church on Sunday. So it's all good now.

Today has been a little better. Miguel and I went to church and Pastor Pete's message was fantastic. It was all about the first chapter of Luke and the purposes of putting the announcements of John the Baptist's and Jesus' births in there. It was cool because he focused on the verse that says "for nothing is impossible with God". He was talking about how Zacarias (I've been reading the bible in Spanish for so long now, I can't remember how to spell his name in English) and Mary were both using excuses for why God couldn't use them (Zacarias said he and his wife were too old, Mary said she was too young and for obvious reasons). It's just like we make excuses for why God can't use us. It's the very thing that disqualifies us that makes us a candidate for God's power. While I was attempting to translate for Miguel the comparisons the pastor was making, Miguel found similarities of his own. He said, "Look Miss Tice, it says they were both scared at first but the angel said, 'Don't be afraid.'" Finally, the pastor ended with a really cool observation. He said that many times we read that passage where it says that God found special favor with Mary and we think there was something special that Mary had that we don't have. THAT'S why God used her and not us. But then he pointed out a verse in Ephesians 1 that uses the exact same Greek word as "found favor". It's the word used for "freely given". It's the same original word. So there was nothing special about Mary. It was God, freely giving her favor. So once again, we can never think that Mary had any special characteristic that qualified her for special favor, but not us. I thought that was cool.

After church, I talked to Miguel's mom for about an hour and a half outside their house. She wants to learn English so she can communicate with other people here so she asked me to help her. She wants to come to the Christmas Eve service at my church, if she doesn't have to work. And her oldest son, Ivan, wants to play indoor soccer this winter with SOCA. I contacted SOCA to request financial assistance, because I don't think scholarships are available for indoor soccer. If you could, please pray for Miguel's family - that his mom would be able to learn English without too much difficulty, that SOCA would allow Ivan to play with at least some financial assistance, and that all three of them would go to sleep at night knowing there's a God who cares about them and who is looking out for their needs.

Okay, fine so I guess the weekend wasn't completely wasted. In fact I guess it was kind of nice doing nothing and just laying in bed the whole time. Fine, fine, fine, God. I suppose I've learned, once again, that your plan's better than my plan. Why do I have to be such a stubborn learner?

It's SNOWING!!!

IT'S SNOWING!!! YAY FOR SNOW!!! We didn't get out of school early. The snow didn't stick. There wasn't enough of it to do anything with it. BUT IT SNOWED!!! It's the first day of snow!!! Here's a picture that my little friend, Miguel, made me. He's learning English more and more every day, but still can only communicate in Spanish. He absolutely loves going anywhere that I'll take him so we go to church every Sunday and last Sunday evening he went to the youth group for the first time! We also go to the skatepark because he really likes riding bikes and skateboards on the ramps. He loves, and I mean LOVES, my cat Calabaza. He draws pictures of him and asks about him all the time! He gave me another picture of Calabaza with wings so that he could fly! That's Calabaza in this picture too! See him? Miguel's never seen snow before so today was his first day seeing it! He really wants to go snowboarding so I'm going to take him up to Wintergreen on Saturday for Opening Day!

Check this out: So that I don't have to pay for rentals at Wintergreen (VERY expensive), I wanted to get kids' snowboard equipment that the kids can use so that I can take them without having to pay. (I know what you're thinking...WASTE OF MONEY! DON'T DO IT BETH! YOU'RE TRYING TO STOP SPENDING MONEY, REMEMBER????) So I was like...hmmm, I really don't have the money to buy kids' snowboard equipment. So how can I get it for free? And I made a plan. When my plan was complete, GUESS WHAT! I got a really nice snowboard, snowboard bindings, snowboard boots, AND a kids' snowboard jacket all for 72 CENTS!

HAHAHAHAHA I was so happy! So take that all of you "no, beth, don't spend more money, beth" people! It's onward to Wintergreen on Saturday for Miguel's first experience in snow!

Two Lessons I've Learned in the Past Week

1. The United States Post Office apparently exists only to sell stamps, making it on par with a grocery store, minus all the great food: Well I ordered this totally awesome present from Shutterfly.com for my little friend Elias down in Atlanta. But that was back on November 1st and it still hadn't come yet. So I, being the brilliant young mind that I am, decide to go to the post office to have them track it. Seeing as how I had the delivery confirmation number and all, I didn't think this would be a problem. When I asked the lady to track it she typed the number in and said, "Oh." Curious about what that could mean? I was too. She explained, "Oh. Well it says 'Information not available.' So we don't know where it is." I asked if there was a number we could call and she said, "Oh yes, but they don't answer the phone." I said, "What do you MEAN they don't answer the phone?" She said, "They just don't." So after going back and forth, trying to figure out what happened to this package, she said, "Look, ma'am, we're the United States Post Office and that's not what we do here. We don't track packages. We just sell stamps." I just stared at her for several seconds, wondering if she was thinking about what she just said. Finally I said, "So you're like a grocery store? But without all the food." With no answer to that, I just left. Since then, miraculously I have received the package finally.

2. Products that a store is named for can very well be unavailable for purchase during normal business hours: I needed to refill a prescription and I noticed the time was about an hour until closing for CVS Pharmacy down the street. I said to myself, "Perfect, I can get there with plenty of time before they close." I like to call this My First Uneducated Thought. I drove to CVS, complete with my Spanish textbook with which to study while waiting for my prescription to be ready. Thinking that there would be a prescription to wait for is known as My Second Uneducated Thought. So I enter the store and walk to the back and THEN notice that the pharmacy is closed. I blink several times thinking maybe I'm just imagining the barred screens pulled down above the counter. Fortunately the loyal, hard-working fellow who was given the title of Store Manager happened to be at the front of the store. I asked him why the pharmacy was closed. He said, "Because it closes at 6." I said, "But isn't the store open until 9?" He nodded, giving an affirmative answer to my question. So I immediately followed up with, "And isn't the store called CVS Pharmacy, as in PHARMACY, as in the ENTIRE STORE WAS NAMED AFTER THE PHARMACY?" He nodded. "And don't you think that if a store had the title of PHARMACY, then the pharmacy should be open if the store is open?" He stared at me, not knowing whether it was safer to nod or shake his head no. So I ended with, "If a store was called CVS Sporting Goods but the whole sports section was closed for three hours while the toilet paper section was still open, would that make any sense to you?" Apparently those must have been My Third and Fourth Uneducated Thoughts, as there was no answer to either of those questions. So then I left.

longest time between posts

I think this has been the longest time ever that I've gone since writing a new post for my blog...unless you count the 27 years before I started writing a blog. Life has been SO busy. Here's a rather long update:

1. Thanksgiving with my family was awesome! I have so many pictures, memories, and stories from this weekend! Of course my mom, Mike, and Kathryn were there, but also Grandma Pickwoad, my brother Ryan, and my friend Peter. Mike has been renovating the barn to get it ready for the horses for the winter. Kathryn was helping him all last week. Peter and I played soccer. We ate dinner and then played several rounds of dominoes, our latest after-dinner tradition.

2. On Friday, I was at Toys R Us right at 5:00 AM, the perfect time to shop with 8 million other half-awake, pajama-clad, impatient American shoppers. I was there for a specific reason. Of course so was everyone else. There were so many people in that store, it HAD to be a fire hazard. You couldn't even move without touching somebody. No way could you push a cart through there. But there were also like 10 BIG toys I was buying and there was no way to carry them all, so I made a genius plan. I kept my cart in a concealed location and then maneuvered my way back and forth through the store, climbing over toys, under other people, squeezing through the lines for the cash registers that snaked ALL the way to the back of the store, across the back of the store, and ended back at the front doors. INSANITY. But I bought 10 BIG toy presents for kids, all for at least half-price or more. Was it worth it? Yes, all because of what I like to call Genius Plan #1. When I had everything I wanted, I realized I was starving and thirsty and I predicted impending boredom as I stood in a line longer than the one to ride Dumbo at Disney World. Thus I brought on board Genius Plan #2. So I left my cart in its concealed location and ran to my car to grab some poptarts, a bottle of water, and my iPod. Then I stood in line, eating breakfast and watching a movie on my iPod. It was the most delicious, relaxing line-waiting experience I've ever had!

3. I had lunch with my mom, sister, and Grandma Pickwoad at Ragazzi's. Then that evening, Mike was really excited to go to this first-ever concert at the John Paul Jones Arena. The two marching bands from UVA and VA Tech were holding a fund-raising concert together! We all decided to go with him and the concert was almost sold out!

It was a great weekend, but I've learned many lessons in the past week so I'm going to write those on my next post.

It's almost Thanksgiving!!!

I'm so excited!!! It's almost Thanksgiving! I get to go see Chaos, my favorite dog, and stay with him for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! I think I'm going to bring my ridiculously handsome Calabaza cat with me because Chaos might like somebody to chase and maybe Calabaza would like a big friend to run away from. hahahahaha!

Oh yeah and I went to Hallmark today to get a Thanksgiving card in Spanish (which they did NOT have, let me just point out, AND they didn't even have a blank Thanksgiving card...I thought this was Hallmark, the place that has a card for EVERYTHING?!!!), but anyway guess what they DID have! MUCHOS MOOSES! They had big mooses and small mooses, moose ornaments, and mooses with light-up noses (okay I think technically those ones were reindeer...but at Christmas time, anything with antlers is considered to be a moose by me). And there was a delightful moose named Rodney the Reindeer and he was special cuz if you buy 3 cards he was like half off or something so of COURSE I had to buy 3 cards. There were a couple mooses I didn't get cuz there was no special for them (so sad), but I got 2 big mooses and 3 little mooses. The big moose I didn't get had a delightful holiday scarf on his neck and I took him up to the cashier lady and asked if he had a special price and she said, "No he's just a regular moose." And I said, "JUST a regular mooose??? He has a Christmas scarf! He's not a regular moose!" And she said, "Yes he is. There's no special for him." And I said, "But he's for Christmas. And he's so nice-looking. Look at his scarf. That's a Christmas scarf." And she said, "No." So I didn't get him. But you should see those other mooses! They are so happy now and they met my Calabaza cat and he likes them too, although he's a little intimidated by the moose that lights up his nose and sings "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". They are all some nice-looking mooses! I feel bad for the Christmas moose (or as SOME people call him, the regular moose) that I couldn't get. All his friends got to come but not him.

Well...I hope all of you guys have a great Thanksgiving! Maybe you'll see a moose out in wherever it is you're going for Thanksgiving, except I don't think mooses live in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Florida and Maryland and Texas and Georgia and Virginia but that's okay cuz maybe you'll see a deer and you can just pretend it's a moose. Oh yeah and I'm going to be sure to give that good little Chaos boy lots of delicious turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie so he can have a proper feast!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

Balls of Cotton

Well I'm back home now but we got to do the coolest thing on the last day in Georgia. We were on the way to the airport and we passed a cotton field with the cotton fluff balls popping out of the little seed pods! I had never actually seen the cotton plant before, especially not with the cotton actually coming out, so we careened off the road and into the cotton field.

It was the coolest thing ever to see the cotton actually coming out of the seed pods! I guess I didn't realize it would actually look like little cottonballs coming out of the pods. It was so soft and fluffy! Now I'm completely confused because I don't understand why a plant would make these cottonballs. What survival value does a fluff ball have for the plant? And then I was told something else really cool...do you know what they do with the cotton after they pick it? They shape it into big cubes of cotton - like hay bales, only cotton bales. It's totally cool!

So that was my Georgia cotton education for the week. Tiny little fluffballs as far as you can see. I want to grow some cotton at my house now! I wonder if it can be grown in Virginia!

National Leadership Honor Society!

Guess what my sister did! She was inducted into the National Leadership Honor Society on Sunday! According to President Eisenhower, this is one of the most prestigious honors in a collegiate career. My mom and I flew down this weekend to see her induction! So yesterday we started the day off going to her church. She goes to First Baptist Church and they have a great band! We sang Glorious One and All Because of Jesus by Steve Fee!

After church we went to Kathryn's induction! Her mentor, Dr. McMillan came too. Here's a picture of my sister, my mom, and Dr. M. with Kathryn's certificate. We were all so proud of her!

Then as she was mingling, I got bored with idle small talk so I started looking for cool things to take a pictures. This was a neat looking staircase I found.

In the afternoon, Kathryn taught Mom how to knit. Kathryn knits scarfs but she didn't know how to end the scarfs until yesterday. She finally figured out how to do it so she ended like 3 scarfs yesterday and started a new one. So now I'm surrounded by these crazy knitting people.

Oh and just for the record, scarfs sounds way better than scarves.

The Tice girls at the beach

Guess where I am!!! Georgia! I flew down with my mom on Friday after school to visit my sister. Yesterday we went to the beach at Tybee Island and it was a perfect day at the beach! It was so beautiful and there were a bunch of dolphins swimming really close to the shore! We climbed on the rocks and took lots of pictures! The temperature was nice and warm and the sky was so clear and blue!

We went to the marina too to see the boats. There were lots of pelicans perched everywhere. Kathryn took a picture of me waving to a nice-looking pelican. Afterwards we went to River Street, where I bought another chocolate-covered apple, and then to Olive Garden for dinner. Here are some pictures of me and Kathryn together and the bottom one is of me doing a flying side kick!

3rd grade to college in one day

Hahahaha so tonight we had a fun time in my spanish class. It all started after soccer practice, when I went to take one of the kids home like I always do. Except when we got to his house, nobody was home. So we went to his uncle's house. Nobody. Grandparents and other aunts and uncles' house. Nobody. I said, "Dude, are you sure there's not some party tonight that you forgot about? How could your parents, brother, sister, 2 grandparents, 4 uncles, and 2 aunts ALL be missing?" He just shrugged and said, "I don't know where they are." And of course the ONLY phone number we had for his entire extended family was not being answered. So I had my spanish class and I told him, "Well, buddy, I guess you're going to have to come with me to spanish class. Here's the good news: you know spanish!"

When we got there, he said, "Wow, I can't believe I went from 3rd grade to college in one day!" He helped me complete my work too by answering my questions when I had was like, "Pssst, hey Brian, what's the past tense of 'ofrece'?" And he laughed at all my teacher's jokes. He thought my teacher was hilarious. About halfway through the class he started raising his hand to answer questions and by the end he had his hand up for every one. I couldn't believe an 8-year-old kid, surrounded by college students in a college class, felt brave enough to raise his hand to answer questions! Of course, duh, he knows spanish, but still.

After class, on the way home, I asked him if he thought 3rd grade was any different from college. He said, "Nah, it's pretty much the same." I was like yep, no matter what grade you're in, it's worksheets, raise your hand, answer questions, take tests, teacher tells you you're wrong, and you do more worksheets.

Who knew you could go straight to college from 3rd grade.

An Offering of Friendship

What a wonderful four-day weekend! I wish every weekend had four days! My weekend was totally full! On Saturday I ended up going to a Mexican wedding for most of the afternoon. Then I went over to a friend's house with Miguel, this really cool kid from my school who just moved here from Mexico. On Sunday, Miguel came with me to church and he ended up spending the rest of the day with me until 9:30. We went to the skatepark, built Legos, played soccer, ate lunch at Qdoba, and just had a great time! Today Miguel and I went to watch our friend Greg play soccer. His team won the state championship! Then we went to the skatepark again and had dinner at Cici's Pizza! I've been playing all weekend with my delightful kitty, Calabaza, too!

Miguel is truly an extraordinary kid. He's very smart, for one thing, but he's absolutely one of the nicest kids I know. His family moved here a couple of months ago and they left Mexico with almost nothing. Miguel had to leave almost everything behind. I've been slowly trying to give him things that I don't need anymore or things that I can find at yard sales, like puzzles and Lego blocks and stuff. The thing that makes him different from most other kids is that he totally wants to reciprocate this spirit of giving. He doesn't want to just take stuff that I give him. Every time I see him, he has a present for me. He has so very little, yet he's willing to give away anything that he has.


It reminds me of the story in the bible about the woman who put only two small coins in the treasury at the temple (Luke 21:1-4). Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."


This kid who has so little, leaving everything behind, moving to a place where he can't understand a single word of the language, and yet, who can't stop smiling...this kid gives away everything he has. Miguel loves my cat Calabaza. He's always finding things to give my little orange kitty. I took these pictures of Cala today so I could give them to Miguel tomorrow at school. I am so thankful that God has sent me this beautiful picture of humility through this child, a boy for whom material possessions mean everything and nothing at the same time. And I am so grateful that God lets me help Miguel and other kids like him.

the fifth graders got me!

There's this other second grade teacher named Mr. Rough and he has a farm so he brought eggs in for his class so they could see the eggs hatch! So now he has all these baby chicks and theyr'e so cute! In case you're wondering why I have white stripes in my hair and a variety of nail polish colors on my fingernails, the fifth graders got me. They had a "math store" where they sell services and you can buy them with "math money". They sell things like desk cleaning, playing on the computer for 5 minutes, a massage, playing card games, etc. There's also usually a booth for hair spray and fingernail painting. Anyway they invited me to the store and I had a most delightful time! I bought a smoothie, hired 4 kids to come clean my desks and chalkboard, played a variety of card games, got a massage, and got my hair and nails done! It was quite entertaining. You should really try to come to the next math store!

Happy November!

Today was a long day. We had parent conferences and I didn't get home until 8. The one good thing about parent conferences is that we have an AWESOME PTO that orders dinner for all of us teachers every conference night. Tonight we had food from Mel's Diner - delicious chicken, possibly the best macaroni and cheese I've ever eaten, green beans, rolls, etc. And you can eat as much as you want! It's so good!

And last night of course was Halloween and I bought a bunch of candy to pass out to kids on my street but by the time I had to leave for my Spanish class, not a single kid had come to my door. I was so sad. So I just left a bucket of candy on my sidewalk for the kids. It wasn't the same though.

I took my new cat Calabaza to the vet today for a check up. It was cool because I took him to Dr. Doss who was my family's vet for all of our pets when I was growing up. Dr. Doss was like, "I remember you when you were just this little!" It was cool seeing him again and for the first time with a pet of my own. Calabaza is one healthy cat!

Oh yeah and one of my firebelly newts died. I'm so sad for him. I don't think my newts are happy at all. They won't eat anything. If they don't eat again tomorrow, I'm going to take them to the pet store to see if the people there know why they're sad. Everything should be right for the newts, so I don't know why they're not happy. I feel so bad for them. I wanted them for so long and they're not even happy. :( My kids were so upset about Flame dying and we didn't want to just dispose of him. We're currently studying ancient Egypt so the kids asked if Flame could be a pharaoh. What did they mean by that? They wanted to mummify our dead newt. So of course I said, "YEAH! LET'S DO IT!" Okay a bit morbid. Depressing. Possibly creepy. Butttt...it would kind of prolong Flame's "life" by allowing us to interact with him just a little longer. So he's currently bathing in a mixture similar to the Egyptian's natron salt, drying out. In a couple weeks, we'll wrap him in linen cloths and the kids are going to make him a sarcophagus and a pyramid for a burial tomb. Then we're going to have a ceremony and we're going to dress like Egyptians and lead a burial procession through the school in honor of Pharaoh Flame. And THEN we'll bury him. The kids are very excited about turning him into a mummy. I'm not sure what I think of it.

But I do know for sure that I'm tired. Goodnight.

Beautiful little guys!

Here are some pictures of the 3 firebelly newts: Fireball, Flame, and Fuego. Which one is which? There's just no way to be sure!
This is one of them, maybe Fuego, and look! He's giving the peace sign as he's swimming by!

This is probably Fireball and Flame, with their little arms around eachother! They are clearly friends. And the guy at the pet store said they had no capacity for friendship, loneliness, or love. What does HE know?

Here's Fuego again, swimming like a crazy aqua maniac. He's always in the water! I just love looking at their beautiful bellies. It's mesmerizing.

Calabaza

I think I've decided on a name for my little kitty. Everyone seems to be in agreement that Pumpkin is the best name for him, BUT my mom already had a cat named Pumpkin and my hamster is now named Pumpkin so I think that's a little too much of that name. So I've been calling him Cala from the Spanish word for pumpkin - "calabaza". I think his full name will be Calabaza and it'll just be Cala for short. It's really easy to call him too...if you say "calacalacalacalacala..." he comes!

5 in one week. That must be a record.

I think I've just set a family record. I went from NO pets to FIVE pets in one week! Remember earlier how I was saying I wish I had a hamster, some newts, a corn snake, and a cat? Well now I've gotten my hamster. I've gotten my firebelly newts. And tonight...I GOT A CAT!!! He was a stray cat that my mom found in Waynesboro. He's been on his own for a long time, and he's very thin (obviously he's not very adept at hunting). But he's REALLY friendly...like REALLY REALLY friendly, which is good because those are the kind of cats I like. He's been following me around everywhere! He doesn't have a name yet either and I was warned by my sister not to accept any suggestions from my mother. I didn't really take her warning seriously until my mom brought me my new kitty and she said, "I think you should name him Harry Peter."

My mom is notorious for coming up with bizarre names for animals. Take some of her past animals for example... MR. Sally, Bridget, Sir Thomas, etc. Of course my sister isn't much better what with her evil, vindictive cat she named Cuddles, possibly THE most inappropriate name ever. Still, they mean well.

My friends Jonathan, Sara, and Kim came over tonight after we went to a totally cool worship event at the University Chapel. We got to hang out and they met my new kitty, who is still nameless at this point. They had good suggestions - Jack for Jack o'Lantern, Alexander, Buddy, and Jonathan was really pushing for Trout.

So we'll see... we've named the hamster and the newts now too! The hamster's name is Pumpkin Pie and the firebelly newts are Fireball, Flame, and Fuego (the Spanish word for "fire"). I'll post some ridiculously cute pictures of my newts tomorrow! For now, it's off to a goodnight's sleep with Harry Peter.

more new friends!

Well tonight I went to the pet store to find out when they would get any more firebelly newts in (since they were sold out of them this past weekend). The guy working tonight said, "We have firebelly newts right now!!!" I was so excited! I've wanted a firebelly newt since I was a little kid. Every time I went into Pet Forum (the best pet store in town) I would go straight to the tank of firebelly newts and stare at them in amazement at their brilliant bellies! My parents would never let me get one though. So I was stuck with just wishing I had one for my whole life so far... UNTIL NOW!!

I learned all about how to care for the little creatures tonight and they're surprisingly easy! Easier than most lizards and amphibians! They eat a wide variety of foods, including crickets, small fish, chopped up worms, and food pellets. They don't need a heat source, unless their water gets really cold. They don't need a filter. They don't need a light. Those things are all just nice to have, but not necessary. Really they just need a place to swim and a place to get out of the water when they want to. So I decided to get one! Well, actually I didn't get one. I got THREE!!! They are so nice looking and they are very good swimmers. They don't have names yet so if anybody wants to suggest names for three delightful firebelly newts, I'm open to ideas!

YAY!!! I can't believe I have my very own firebelly newts at last! I just can't stop looking at them!

MY NEW BABY!!!

Look everybody! Here's my new baby! I just got him today! Anybody who's talked to me in the past month knows I've been desperately wanting a pet. I've almost bought a corn snake once, a cat three times, and the pet store was out of fire belly newts, which I really wanted. So instead I decided to get a new little furry friend! He looks kinda like Mouse King, but he's lighter colored, sort of pumpkin spice color. He's really friendly! He won't crawl into my hand yet, but he lets me pet him already and it took Mouse King like two months before he would let me pet him. He's very curious and wants to explore everything. He's been spinning in his wheel for the past couple of hours! He's really small so I think he's just a baby and he'll probably get a lot bigger in the next few weeks.

Anyway, he doesn't have a name yet so if any of you have ideas for a name for him, post a comment! The winner will earn endless fame among 18 seven-year-olds and recognition on a future post of this blog! How can you pass that up?

5-YEAR WINNING STREAK!!

My school does a massive fundraiser every fall to raise money for the PTO. The class who sells the most wins a pizza party! I just found out tonight that my class won for the 5th year in a row! YEAH!!! I get to announce it to my class on Monday!

Terri Allard, Paul Reisler, and Kid Pan Alley!

My school just did the coolest thing ever this week! We had Terri Allard and Paul Reisler come with the program, Kid Pan Alley, to work with all of the second and fourth grades! It's the neatest music program I've ever seen! They worked with every class in second and fourth grade for two days, writing a song.


They took the kids through the whole process of how to write a song, from brainstorming to creating lyrics, rhyming, rhythm, editing, practicing, and even recording the songs! The kids loved it! Each class gets to write one song in the two-day period, but my class was called the "core" class so my kids actually got to go with Terri and Paul EVERY day this week and they wrote two songs instead of one.


Then today all the second and fourth grades performed all the songs in a concert for the whole school! It was so awesome! The songs were amazing! It's hard to believe 7- and 9-year-olds wrote them! The cool thing was when a kid would start singing a melody for the song they wrote, he could just start playing it on his guitar! I don't know how he did that, but it was so cool! Like the kids would just make up a melody and he would start playing whatever they were singing! Crazy. He's so good and Terri Allard has such a beautiful voice! Man, I wish we could do Kid Pan Alley every week! You can find out more about it if you go to http://www.kidpanalley.org/!