Greetings From Iowa

Hi everyone who reads this. I am in Iowa. The sun is about to set on a very lazy day for me. Its great here. Outside there are beautiful houses and snow...lots of it! The weather is cold. Today it was warmer... 20 degrees. =) Being here is great. Jonathan's family is awesome. His mom is sweet and gentle and his dad is funny. His brother Will is funny too. We got here Saturday night. Sunday was church. Will is part of a team that does puppeteering and they had a performance Sun night. It was great. Monday was an adventure, driving like an hour to get to a decent mall. Then coming back and having dinner ready, and leaving on another long drive to the movie theater. Everyone fell asleep. We wacthed the Chronicles of Narnia. It was really good! Today Jonathan and I faced the cold and walked Downtown. I got to see the Mississippi river, and visted the muscatine library. They also have a cool yarn shop with really expensive yarn. Then we came back to chicken nuggets for lunch, and watched Fantastic Four. lol. Bad choice. Oh well. Now we are being lazy again. Jonathan is sleeping. This is a great vacation already. Every morning I go wake up Jonathan then go downstairs and food is placed infront of me. Its so great! The weird thing about Iowa is that noone else seems to like it here. I think its beautiful. It really is a white christmas!

The Final Final

Today I took my last final! Woo hoo! I woke up at a wonderful 6 am and walked to the bus stop in pitch black freezing weather. I got there 15 minutes early, but I didn't study much...at all. I don't think I did that bad. I walked out of there and seconds later sold my books back, for the last time. I got 81 dollars. Not bad. I took half of that and bought my cap, gown and tassel and a cup of noodle. Then I had graduation practice. It was actually fun. I thought I wouldn't know anyone, but I recognized a lot of faces. The coolest thing was I talked to this girl who was in the class I had the final for that morning. She is actually a Christian and goes to Westgate church. That was really cool. She's a funny person too. Its a shame that I meet cool people like that the last day of school. Today has been long and crazy but really fun. Three more days till Iowa. I don't know how I will be able to stand the cold weather. I am a wimp. I can hardley stand this California night weather. Two weeks and three days till Disneyland! Two days till Graduation! Tomorrow is also a big day. My preschoolers have there Winter Program. This means showing off to parents what we have taught the kids. I don't like interacting with the parents very much. Some of them are very nice but some are just plain crazy. Same goes for the children. Well, time to rest up; there are so many more festivities this week.

The Last Days of School

I have one week of school left. Forever. At least for now. I have been in school for 20 years. Yes thats right. I started school at 3 years old at Challenger. That is when my mom started working there. Now I work there! And I am finally graduating college. I have been in college for five and a half years. People keep asking me if I am excited and I don't really know how I feel. I am glad that I don't have to do anymore tests, essays, APA style research papers, no more turnitin.com, no more teacher evaluations, etc. It still does not feel real. Maybe when I put on a black gown and cap, I will feel like this is real. I am really going to miss going to school. I like the going part but not the doing. I love meeting new people in my classes. I really do like learning about children and stuff. I will really miss how easy it was to meet people who are not Christians. I have met an awesome friend in the last few years at SJSU. When I first met her, I knew she had no belief in God at all, but the other day she told me that after last summer she started to think that there was a God. I was so excited to hear that. She is such a funny person. She always made me laugh with her random stories. This morning in class this guy kept talking about Chuck Norris. It was funny. This morning was funny too. I think my alarm went off... well, I think that I ignored it because next thing I knew it, it was 8:13. I usually leave my house at 8:15. I still made it on time. Phew! Winter makes me have really bad personal hygiene. Its too freakin cold in the morning to get into the shower. The other day I had to pour hot water on my windows to defrost them. Its officially winter! I am also getting ready to go to Iowa to meet my fiance's parents. I am really excited to meet them and see how they are. I'm sure its going to be a blast. Then, I am going to Disneyland for New Years. I love Disneyland. And I have always wanted to go with a "significant other". All my dreams are coming true. lol. ANYWAY, I guess soon I will know how it feels to be a college graduate. I hope it doesn't hurt.

Days Off

So I only had one class today. I usually have two, but my teacher wanted to take the week off. YEAH! My tuesday night class is cancalled as well and I have no classes on Wed. What to do with all this free time? Well, I tried to get together with some friends I haven't seen in a while. Nothing seemed to work out for today. So I must result to laziness. I have been on my computer messing around with I Tunes. I am making different playlists and adding some of my music. Fun times. I think its kind of weird that I'm using I tunes but I don't have an I Pod. Hmm.

I also thought about going wedding dress shopping. This is hard work. You wouldn't think it would be. You think you're going to try one dress on and then you cry and say "This is it". But no. You try on lots of ugly dresses. You find a gorgeous one thats out of your price range. You get tired of trying on these dresses which are heavy and sometimes uncomfortable. You sometimes don't fit the dress so you are sucking in and can barley breath. I shouldn't complain too much. All the pain will be worth it..once I find that perfect dress. The benefit is that I get to marry an amazing guy; so i'll do anything to find that perfect dress to be his beautiful bride.

I have less than one month of school left untill I graduate. PRAISE GOD! 26 days until I leave for Iowa to meet the parents. 40 days till i'm in Disneyland! (side note: I had a dream last night that Disneyland was too crowded and we didn't get it. This dream was far too realistic). And only 7 months and 4 days till I am getting married!!! Yikes. So much is happening.

Back to School

Today I started my Practicum for class at Hoover Middle School. It's really close to my house, which is nice. When I showed up, I had no idea where to go, so I asked a girl if she could show me. She was nice enough to walk me over. I felt like I was a new student, going to school for the first time. I got a map of where I was to go for the first four periods of school. The first was an art class. I had no idea where this building was. The administration at the office was not too friendly or helpful. So i'm walking around aimlessly, I step in mud. Yup, it still feels like a first day of school. I ask a PE teacher where it was, and she pointed in the right direction. Meanwhile, announcements are being broadcasted. There was a break in at the school last night. They know its a student because of what was taken. They ask the students to write annonmous notes saying if they knew anything about it. I realize very quickly this is not Challenger school. I go into the first class. Most of the students are Hispanic and bigger than me. Kind of scary. During class I just walked around and introduced myself to the kids. Next class was a reading class and a language arts class. I got to tutor some boys who were having a hard time. A sixth grader was reading at a 2nd grade level. In the same class are kids who are reading at a high school level in sixth grade. This must be really hard for the teacher. The teacher was really great. She told me that she had taught in a private school and then moved to public school. She realized that at private schools, there is no challenge. The students are tested before being admitted and parents are paying for there kids to be there so there is not much problem with motivation. This really stuck out to me out of everything I heard today. These kids in public schools are in a tough spot. They are not bad kids, they are just in bad circumstances. They don't know anything other than what they have experienced, and they don't believe there is life outside of San Jose. Mrs. Austin was telling me that one of her sixth grade students was running away from home; her mom would be searching for her all night long. Kids are still kids though. Girls between classes were talking about Napolean Dynamite, and about how cool Tinker Bell was.

In general it was a different and scary experience. I realized how blind and innocent I was in junior high. It made me sad to see a girl eating lunch alone by a tree, and how I wish I could have sat with her and be her friend. Public schools face a lot of issues that private schools don't. The teachers at pubilc school have only 50 dollars for supplies. Teachers are selling pencils to students for 10 cents and giving lectures about ruining the supplies because its all they have.

It was scary being the new kid, even though i'm in college. As I was walking in the hall between classes, blending in with the hundreds of junior highers, I felt more at ease when one girl said hi who I had met earlier. I made a friend!

Menker Relief Efforts

So the Lord gives and takes away. I know this because He gave us a roomate and then mysteriously took her away. She left me a voice mail saying she can't move in, she can't afford it, blablabla. Typically I would get furious. Part of me was mad, at myself for trusting her. I mean, I even told other people they couldn't move in because she was. But I trust that God will provide for us. He always has. So if your reading this and know a cool Christian (preferrably) girl around 18-30 who needs a room to rent, send her my way.

Meanwhile, in tough times we pull togther and do all we can. One thing you can do is PRAY. Pray I find a perfect roomate fast. Since we are probablly going to have to cover some of the extra rent, we are organizing a Menker Roomate Relief Garage Sale. These next two weeks might be a bit tough financially. If you want to buy some of our old crap and support us, come on Saturday morning.

And after that you should go to Saturday morning bible study. My favorite way to start Saturday mornings. 10:30 am at the crusade house. If only I could be half as wise as Dr. Dolphin...

By the way, yesterday was my birthday and it was really awesome. A day filled with lots of love. I'm so blessed to have such loving people in my life. I'm 23 now! Woo hoo. I think I like getting older. I feel more like a real adult everyday. Maybe some day i'll get there. I bet after I graduate college I will feel more adult.

I just realized i'm way off on some other topics now and not sure how to end this.

Better Late than Never

I often forget to rejoice in the amazing things that God does in my life. Recently a natural disaster struck New Orleans, where both my parents grew up and a bunch of family still lives. By God's grace they are all safe and sound. Talk about perfect timing, my aunt flew here to California the Saturday before the hurricane came. Although she still doesn't know if her home is ok, and she can't use her cell phone to contact any of her friends, at least she is not one of the many whose lives were taken by this distaster. Two other family members were airlifted off their roof. Crazy how I see these things on the news. It doesn't seem real, but its part of me and my family.
Saturday night I was praying for a roomate and on Sunday by crazy perfect timing I found one. And not just someone who needs a room to rent but someone who actually wants to live in my house in particular. Then, last night as I was at Cary's birthday party I really missed my camera (actually Jonathan's camera). My borther accidentally took it home with him like three weeks ago and I don't see him often. Minutes later and my mom leaves me a voice mail saying that she has my camera. That means I will get it back today at work, and hopefully I will get to put pictures on Flickr. I really have missed it. =)

There are really so many things to be thankful for.

Lately I haven't been praying enough, but when I do, He answers. I think sometimes I don't deserve that but thats what God is all about.

Liverland

Kids have great imaginations. This week at work, three year old Cade has been taking us on adventures to "Liverland". Hmm..Liverland. I can only imagine. There is a play boat on the playground and he would yell at everyone, "Get in! We're going to Liverland!" Cade proceeded to chaufer us to Liverland. He would tell us when we arrived, and then announce, "Now, we are going to the pool!" So Liverland has a pool? What is Liverland?? Is it like Disneyland? Personally I dont really like liver. Maybe Cade does. What about like Pizzaland? Then I thought it could be Livermore and he's just confused, yet he seemed so confident. So I asked his Mom about this so called Liverland. Turns out Liverland is actually Neverland. So cute.

High School Reunion

I went to my friends Birthday party tonight at PF Changs. It felt like a really akward high school reunion. Most of the people there I haven't talked to in awhile, and even the birthday boy I haven't hung out with in over a year. But for some reason I thought it was important to go tonight. Maybe to show that I still care. I did realize though that I have changed and many other have not. When asking people what they were up to, I didn't hear much exciting news. Most people said something along the lines of "nothing much". Thats cool and all but you think in 5 years something might have happened. The coolest thing I did hear was my friend Aaron went to the Marines, came back and is now in culinary school in San Fransisco. He was telling me about his school's restaurant that is completely student run.
Other than Aaron, everyone was the same.
I'm glad that I have changed. I'm glad that I have goals and that I am soon reaching those. I'm glad that I could come home and be content with just typing this blog. I'm glad that I don't need to drink to have a good time.
Part of me wishes I didn't go. I would have been satisfied laying on my couch watching a movie with my boyfriend. At least now I know that if a real reunion is ever held, I will not be attending.

My New Blog

I don't know why I am doing this. Maybe because of a conversation about blogging yesterday. I realized a long time ago I tried to set this thing up but I gave up. Then when I was commenting on freshpencil I thought I would give it a try again. So here I am. Ready to blog my little heart out.

I just got home thirty minutes ago and I felt pretty gross. Its a hot day and I had been in the sun for a while. Today was Welcome Week at SJSU and all the club tables were out. That means myself being a Leadership member of Crusade, had the responsibility of being out there for awhile. Then I took the bus home and walked to my house. I finally got here and I was checking my e-mail. I got an e-mail from my teacher of my online class. I had to make a student homepage and I think I mentioned Crusade. My teachers email said "Thats great that your in Campus Crusade. I am a Chrsitian too!" Wow. I've never had anything like that happen to me. God is good and that just blessed my day. Now to go run around with Preschoolers!