Monday, May 25, 2009

Reading List...10 summers ago...

Tonight I was cleaning up some stuff in the attic from when I was a kid -- I am constantly going through my old toys, books, and schoolwork and getting rid of stuff, though it's a never ending task -- and I found this. I made a sort of scrapbook page consisting of library receipts, and also had a list of books from my 6th grade reading teacher.

Here are some of the books I read during the summer of 1999, or had read by that point:

Ella Enchanted
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Walk Two Moons (Sharon Creech)
Julie of the Wolves
The Talking Earth
The Westing Game
Figgs and Phantoms
Soup's Goat
Lyddie
A Wrinkle in Time
Achingly Alice
Wringer
2095
Knights of the Kitchen Table
Holes
Park's Quest
Half Magic
Bunnicula
Abel's Island
The Master Puppeteer
My Side of the Mountain
The Village by the Sea
Nothing But the Truth
Thames Doesn't Rhyme with James
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Charlotte's Web
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Seventeen Against the Dealer
Homecoming (Voigt)
The Phantom Tollbooth
Watsons Go to Birmingham
Little Women
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen)
Ice (Phyllis Naylor)
Caddie Woodlawn
Harriet the Spy

Also, in 1996 at age 8 1/2, I wrote the following book report, probably for my Caravan group. In my current opinion, it is the lamest book report ever.

"Esther of the Andes was about Esther Carson Winans who lived in Florida and was born there September 14, 1891. Her mother's name was Anna and her father's was Frank.
"Esther was afraid of nothing. She was a missionary in Peru and married Roger Winans. She liked the mountains very, very much. She died on November 6, 1928."

What were some of your favorite books as a kid? Did you ever do summer reading -- but for fun -- perhaps at the public library?

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Bible study, anyone?

Soooo, I've been thinkin'....

This summer, on just about every Sunday morning and evening, I'll be speaking at a different church around the area in order to raise support for this coming year of teaching in Ukraine. Hence, I won't ever really be able to go to my home church's Sunday School group, even if I wasn't living at my dad's once the school year finished (that is of course pending employment near there). Plus, I won't be hearing sermons, as I will be sharing about Ukraine -- I am hesitant to use the term "preaching", but I suppose that IS what I'm doing. While I'm at my dad's, I want to get involved in GracePointe Community's (aka Marley Park's) young adult group that meets on Tuesday nights. If I'm lucky, I may have a Sunday or two off that I could go to their Spanish service or contemporary worship service.

I want to make sure I'm spiritually fed through the summer, and not just from listening to the remaining chapel messages from ENC and other schools that are on my iPod. So much of my time is or will be spent on the computer or reading "fun books" (not textbooks anymore, hallelujah!) that I need to have God's voice not drowned out by other media.

Here's my idea--let me know if you're up for it.

I want to read through the gospel of John through the month of June. My overly-ambitious idea was to read the entire thing each day, but my more realistic goal is to read it each week. That's right, to read the entire book (21 chapters) each week, averaging about 3 chapters a day. This way I can get the Word into my head and life even more (at least, the book of John, anyway).

Actually, I'm really not sure how that first idea lends itself easily to any sort of accountability group or discussion, so maybe we need a plan B. Perhaps a modified version of reading through John -- a chapter a day for within the small group? Where we just read it and then leave comments on a blog or a Facebook note? We could also pick some Christian book to read and discuss--I've got a few listed on here that I'm interested in reading.

Let me know if you're interested, by next Sunday, because I want to start this on June 1, and hopefully continue for the rest of the summer before I leave for Ukraine.

Lovely Paintings....

Tonight I was surfing around on the net and decided that I would post some of my favorite paintings... :)

Dance at Bougival, by Renoir

Anybody know this one? It was hanging at the house where I babysat.


Rainy Day in Venice, by John Rabbetts (Even though there aren't many different colors in this, my eyes are just drawn to the umbrella!)

Guernica, by Picasso. (This is not a lovely painting, I know.)
We learned in Spanish class that this depicts the bombing of a city in Spain, and the painting (helped by Picasso's cubist(?) style) gives you that sense of chaos, disorientation, and disorder that the people experienced.

Las Meninas, by Diego Velazquez. The artist is painting a portrait of the king and queen, who you can see in the mirror in the background. Pretty cool, huh?


The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Rembrandt

Cafe Terrace, by Van Gogh

Hmm, looks like there's a trend in that I seem to like cheerful-looking paintings with bright colors, and mostly those within the Impressionist style. (I need to take another art course--NOT Arts and Music, but a course that will help me match painting styles with the right names!)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Graduation is upon me...

So here I sit, less than 2 days before graduation from college. Holy cow.

I told one of my friends that I didn't like being in this limbo state of being done but not moved out. Plus I am doing a lot of moving this summer, living for a month at my mom's house then 2 months at my dad's before moving to Ukraine on Aug 15. That means a lot of packing and unpacking and packing and living out of a suitcase. I've got a lot of cleaning to do once I get home, by getting rid of things I really don't need or use any more.

I can't believe that in a few short days I won't be with my friends on a regular basis.

Issue #1: I'll miss going to dinner right at 5pm and sitting with my friends, and seeing others, including people within the ENC community that aren't necessarily students (like my quizzers and friends from Wolly). I already miss chapel and the opportunity to see everyone, like faculty and staff. It'll definitely be an adjustment to fit back into my "home" culture.

Issue #2: ENC has become home, and has been home these past couple years. At least, one of my homes (El Paso, Maryland, etc.). So this summer, I'm going home, wherever that is.

This past week has been a great time of concentrated social life...for instance, hiking on Tuesday with the senior class, the mascot-announcement ice cream social, a picnic on Wednesday with friends, movie on Wed. night with Education seniors, etc.

I'm going to miss having the beach nearby. Angel and I walked up there this evening, and just stood on the pier thing, looking out at the water and Boston. I'll miss the semi-quiet atmosphere, and the view of the city, and just riding in the car on Quincy Shore Drive and enjoying the view.

I'll miss the library and having access to a ton of books, even though I wasn't able to read all of the ones I wanted to. Plus, having access to Boston and all kinds of places close by is great.

Here are my grades for this semester:
Student Teaching: A
Student Teaching Seminar: A
Independent Study in Theology: A
:)

Umm, it's time for bed, because tomorrow my family's coming in! (and I have a lot of people to see and things to do...)

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Ukraine blog!

Hi all,

I wanted to let you know that I have begun a blog for this next year in Ukraine.

It can be found at ukrainejh.blogspot.com, and I'll update it periodically. Feel free to leave encouraging comments!

Also, you'll probably be able to find photos on my Facebook account! :)

If you would like to support me financially, you can do so at You + Me + KCA = Teaching Math in Ukraine.

Have a wonderful day!