Pink Mascara

For those of you who so bravely took my 10 question quiz about 2 months ago, you already know that I have been coveting pink mascara for quite some time now. Every time I've been to a drugstore in the last 2 months, I have been searching the cosmetics for pink mascara. You will NOT believe what I found this evening in K-Mart. (well, I'm fairly certain that with my brilliant set-up you will guess...pink mascara) I found ONE SINGLE SOLITARY pink mascara! It's actually called Wild Orchid. Nice, huh? But alas, in an ultimate sacrifce, I will be presenting it to Miss Kelly Elizabeth Hales tomorrow at school (she is coming to spend a day in my classroom! yay yay yay!) I wanted to buy us matching tubes of pink mascara, but there was only ONE in the WHOLE store. I am giving it to her witha very happy heart. The way I figure it, she, being a hip high schooler, can totally get more use out of pink eyelashes than I ever could. Where would I don pink mascara? I would be tempted to wear it to school, but so many people mistake me for a student as it is, I don't want to give them any more fuel. My day for pink mascara will eventually come. I will find another tube...one day. But OH my, I am HIGHLY excited to give it to Kelly. I hope she likes it as much as her BRIGHT blue mascara.

Bless whoever it was who dreamt up colored mascara. Who needs boring black eyelashes when she can have pink, purple, green, blue, or red ones? The world needs more color!

Oh, to be small enough to fit in a wagon!

The Christmas I was 8 was truly great! Santa brought a Kid Sister doll (My Buddy's friend), an amazing ballerina costume complete with a tutu, and my very own metal Radio Flyer. There's this really great picture that my mom took of my brother and me on Christmas day. We're at the bottom of the driveway heading to Palm Bay Elementary so that Alias could try out his new basketball on the courts. Alias is pulling me in the wago and I'm wearing hot pink sunglasses (a Christmas gift from Alias). I wish I could post that picture on my site, but I don't have a scanner. Instead, you will have to look at these little kids (who look nothing like my brother and me).


Yesterday I was over at the Lambs' house and we were watching the Tony Danza Show. (Can you believe that Tony Macelli now has his own morning talk show?) On the show were two little 8 year old boys who made over $700 selling lemonade. They used their profits to buy Radio Flyers for a children's wing at a hospital so that the patients could get wheeled to their X-Ray sites and other places in a wagon instead of a wheelchair. Their story, of course, brought tears to my eyes. And then I was reminded of my very own Radio Flyer.

I think that Alias probably only pulled me in the wagon about 3-5 times. It really wasn't a mode of transportation for me; instead it was key in my weekend adventures. My Radio Flyer was pretty much the best thing...EVER. On Saturdays, after watching a couple of cartoons and Saved By the Bell, I would use my wagon for one of three activities. The activity that I used my wagon for the most was no doubt collecting rocks. I am proud to announce that I was a serious rock collector (and even won first place in a nonfiction essay contest in the 11th grade about my rock collecting). I would load up the Radio Flyer with the tools I needed to scout for rocks to add to my vast collection: the R volume of the Wonderful World of Disney encylopedia opened up to "Rocks and Minerals" so that I could identify my discoveries and a little hammer that I used to burst open the rocks I'd find to see if there were any sparkles inside. Also in the wagon went Goldfish crackers and an Ecto Cooler box drink for my afternoon snack. With my wagon fully loaded, I pull it two doors down to the small baptist church with a circular dirt drive (which was FULL of rocks). Sometimes my best friend, Selina Lugtu, from across the street would see me out scouting for rocks and would ride her bike over. Selina was really cool. She was from the Philapines and had super straight black hair that I loved. She also had a much older brother and sister who were WAY cool. I always liked spending the night at her house because she always had tons of soda and junk food (something that I didn't have growing up). Her brother, Charlie, also had a Nintendo long before Alias and I got one, so I loved to watch him play. Selina and I would use the knobs on her bed posts as microphones and we'd sing songs. I sang the song from Kids Incoprorated and she'd sing Madonna songs. Her older sister, Trisha, told us that french kissing was called "boshy kissing." We had matching criss corss shoes (hard to explain). I once told her two very crazy things: 1. when we were getting ready to go to church during some fall month, I told her not to wear white shoes because it was against the law (I grew up hearing that you can't wear white shoes past Labor Day) and 2. George Michael sings Christian music because of the song "Faith." I hope she doesn't remember me for the crazy things I told her. We once formed a club called The Flamingo Kids (my mom used to love flamingos) and we didn't want another girl in the neighborhood, Jennifer, to join. Jennifer was mean to us. Sadly, Selina moved away the summer before the 4th grade. We wrote each other a few times that first year she was away and then we lost contact. I miss her. She was my very first best friend and I still think of her when May 4th rolls around (her birthday).

Back to the wagon stories. Another wagon activity that I would do was to pull my wagon in my front yard and sit there as I wrote in my diary with ballet slippers on the cover. I used to write about the first boy I ever had a crush on, Bryan (with a Y) Barone. He was a year ahead of me and he had a tail (not a mullet, but a tail). I had a crush on him from first through fifth grades! Then he went off to junior high. We were reunited as physics lab partners when I was a junior and he was a senior. We weren't lab partners for long though; his girlfriend, Molly, transfered into our class and then I got stuck with Richard Skeet (who sadly died in a car crash on the morning of his graduation).

The last wagon activity was: I'd load up my baby doll, who I named Bailey after my cousin. I got Bailey the Christmas I was 4, along with the Barbie Dream House and the whole Western Wear Barbie, Ken, Skipper, and horses. I loved Bailey the most. She is packed away safely as I write this. I even had a diaper bag that I'd load up with her plastic bottles of milk and orange juice in the wagon. I'd wheel that wagon up and down the street for hours.

Every kid deserves a Radio Flyer. I wish I still had mine. I don't like the new plastic ones. When/If I have children, each child will have his/her OWN Radio Flyer.

a little tea and sympathy

First things first: I really hate coffee. Really. The fact that I hate coffee is a little funny for two reasons.

• Reason one: In college, for a year and a half, I lived at the Wesley Foundation which put on a weekly coffeehouse (which was pretty dang cool if you ask me). I had 3 jobs for coffeehouse: go shopping for supplies, bake something (oh man, I loved to bake), and man the coffee cart (which of course meant making coffee when we ran out). Someone who HATES coffee (even the smell makes me sick) should not be in charge of actually making coffee!
• Reason two: The first year out of college I worked (and even managed) a coffee and tea shop. Now, I had the tea side of the shop way under control. The coffee side, however, ummm...who would want ME to manage a coffee shop?? It took me about 2 months to realize that it was NOT eXpresso, but eSpresso. I will say this though: I got pretty good at making all those espresso drinks thankyouverymuch!

I can't seem to escape coffee. My step-mother used to be some sort of manager at Barnie's headquarters so I was always being carted around to Orlando Barnie's stores whenever I went for a weekend visit. I worked at Barnes and Noble and had to stomach the smell of Starbucks coffee (and that's the worst kind, sorry all you Starbucks lovers, it's just way too strong). And then, when you meet up with friends, what do they always want to do? Go out for coffee! Ugh! So of course I either get apple cider or tea. Oh yeah, hot chocolate is always an option (which I always ask for it to be heated for a child...because otherwise, it's entirely too hot). And what the heck with the Gilmore Girls? I mean, I really like the show, but I get SO sick of their coffee talk! Are the REALLY that addicted?

This whole post came about because one of my students, a ninth grader, came into class today with ... a cup of coffee?! A 14 year old addicted to coffee? Crazy. Anyway, he told me that since we had to unexpectedly come to school today, he begged his mom to stop at the 7-11 to get him a cup of coffee!

I drink a cup of peppermint tea each morning. I can't drink it hot hot hot though, so I have to wait for it to become luke warm, which usually happens midway through first period. Other tea flavors I'm quite fond of include jasmine, rose, and Earl Grey. I am definitely a floral flavored tea person over a fruity flavored tea.

Today, with my cup of tea a dose of sympathy, my little 9th graders told me all their tales of Hurricane Jeanne. I don't have any idea why "they" decided to have school at the last minute because barely anyone is here. I had 12 people absent in a class of 22!

New Music

Thanks to I can't remember, I have discovered eastmountainsouth. Really great. I bought their CD and don't regret the $15 spent.

Thanks to Matt, I now have 4 really amazing Patty Griffin tracks. How come I didn't know her before today? I just don't understand. Seriously though, MY GOODNESS. I have listened to the same songs for the last hour or so.

So, if you're looking for some new music, check out eastmountainsouth and/or Patty Griffin. Pretty much, you won't be disappointed.

Sometimes it's the little things...

I am someone who gets way too excited over very little things. This aspect of my personality overwhelms some people, I think. I'm not quite sure if overwhelm is the correct word, but when I get very excited (especially because of something quite small), I have been Shhhhed (as I do get loud) and looked at strangely.

Today I'm most excited because I got new nose pads on my glasses. A couple of days ago my glasses were sliding down my nose more than usual. Eventually I discovered that I had lost a nose pad! Well, my eye doctor's office was opened up for glasses and contact pickup, so I figured maybe I could get some new nose pads. Sure enough, one of the assistants set me up with two round (not ovals) nose pads. They are the cutest nose pads that even graced a pair of glasses! So now I want to take my glasses off and show everyone my cool nose pads. I am still so excited about them! My new round nose pads make me want to stick with glasses (as I have been wanting contacts for quite some time now).

Something else relatively small that got me really exited: I recently was given a cat hair roller as a little gift (like a lint brush). I was (and am still) so super excited! I love to wear black pants (especially if my pants hail from Anthropologie) and I love my cats (especially the one that lets me hold her!), so I am in dire need of a cat hair roller. I have one! I love it! And it makes me really excited to use it!

Here are more relatively small things that get me really excited:

• when someone comments on my blog (but this is not a lame attempt at getting you to comment. If I have to ask for comments, then they don't mean as much!)
• when a song I really like comes on the radio
• when I get to sing a song that I really like in church
• buying stamps at the post office (especially if they're new and exciting stamps...but regular old flags get me excited too because if I am in need of a new book of stamps, that means that I've written a lot of letters!)
• getting new pens (and I just got new pens from Staples and guess what? I got a mysterious $10 gift card to Staples in the mail and it's not my usual teacher rewards certificates)
• getting a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles
• finding a new pack of stickers in the grocery store that I don't have (especially if they have Cinderella in them)
• when I get 300 miles to my 10 gallon gas tank
• whenever my odometer turns something really cool (mainly when a palindrome is involved)
• whenever I finish a book, especially if I can read the whole thing in one day

Anything else that I can think to list is actually pretty big. When I mean small, I mean insignificant. Getting a letter makes me crazy excited, but I wouldn't call a letter small or insignificant. Figuring a song out (by myself with NO help from online tabs) makes me crazy excited, but again, that's no insignifcant feat! Finding $98 black pants in Anthropologie on sale of $14.95 with an additional 25% off makes me CRAZY CRAZY excited. But again, that's HUGE, not small :).

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about my round nose pads.

It was the worst day of my life, what do you think?!

For anyone interested, this is what I've gone through in the last few days:

Saturday:

• 1 pm it began to rain and didn't really stop...ever.
• The wind was pretty crazy all night long.
• 1 am the power went out.
• It was an awful night. The wind and rain was unrelenting. Windows and doors shook and rattled. Pieces of metal from houses across the street were ripped off and landed in the backyard.

Sunday:

• By 7 am it was light enough to see outside, so I stepped outside. Shingles were everywhere in the backyard, along with pieces of neighboring roofs, insulation, and chunks of styrofoam.
• Ice cream for breakfast -- hands down the best part of my day.
• I became aware and extremely dismayed by the extensive water damage in the house. It was/is awful.
• Cleaned up the backyard of all the debris. Whew!
• The wind and rain sill didn't stop. I began to hate the wind.

Monday:

• News of Eau Gallie having power set my mom in I in search of coffee (actually, I was along for the ride as I do not drink coffee). We found a Denny's opened and my mom got coffee while I got root beer! Some crazed old man was RANTING and RAVING about a cup of coffee costing $1.49, so my mom told him that she'd buy his coffee (isn't she sweet?).
• No power turned my attentions toward reading. I nearly read the entire Treasure Island in one day, but did not. I do love to read an entire book in one day. It makes me feel very smart :-).
• Yay for Capri Suns, Raisenettes, and Cheetos.
• Ended up going over to my "grandparents" house to spend the night.

Tuesday:

• Called my house early this morning and realized that the phone and power were both restored.
• Cleaned up my "grandparents" yard.
• Came home and wet-vacced (that's probably not how to spell that and it might not even be a word) the house. Oh my goodness, it's distressing.
• Called the insurance agent who said that an adjuster will be out in about 4-5 weeks (thanks a lot!).
• Found out that Palm Bay High School is one of 24 schools (out of 85 in Brevard) that will be closed for the rest of the week (bringing missed days up to a grand total of 12!).
• Posting this blog quickly before I head back over to my "grandparents".

I guess you could say that things are getting pretty serious (yes, that is a direct quote from Napoleon Dynamite but I am not using it in reference to me and a boy...I am using it in reference to my overall mood). I just want all of this hurricane stuff to be over with. The damage is pretty bad in some places. Well, that's all I have to say right now.

Ohhh, the cleverness of me!! ;-)

Please check out my list of links on my sidebar. I have figured out how to do something very clever. Set the little hand/cursor over each link and read the descriptions!

So, it's 8:30. We're on curfew/lock-down. Apparently around 10-11 pm we're going to begin 6 hours of 100 mph winds. Hopefully I'll come through intact!

As you might have already noticed, I took Wendy out of my profile and added myself. I think that I will miss Wendy! She's far more magical than I am.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane/Palm Bay High Halls

I've spent the greater part of today in my made-up bed either sleeping, looking out my window at my bamboo forest blowing in the crazy wind, or listening to music via headphones. I absolutely love love love music. I would have to say that most of my best friendships have been/are centered around music. Whenever I try to be great friends with someone who has entirely different music tastes than me, it pretty much backfires [I could prove my point by telling a pretty amusing tale of how I was almost friends with a heavy-metal lover...but then I went to a heavy-metal concert...whew...we're not so much friends any long... that was definitely the short version of the story...I've been told often that it takes me entirely too long to tell a story, something I'm working on :-)].

Allow me to introduce Dana Michelle Prestwood (although, I don't have a picture of her to post here), my very best friend from 8-10 grades. Dana and I enjoyed sharing every single class together in junior high, being on Odyssey of the Mind together, getting caught "red-handed" putting our handprints on the cieling of a classroom (literally, the teacher caught us with red paint on our hands), playing our orchestral instruments together at solo and ensemble competitions, going ice skating on her birthday, going to Disney World on my birthday, riding our bicyles ALL over Brevard County while getting the worst sunburns of our lives, getting our one and only detentions because we talked during announcements in 10th grade, taking tape dispensers and staplers from our favorite teacher EVER (of course we'd always return them), sneaking out of the patio during lunch time in order to hide behind the orchestra building to play SPIT and TONK (card games...cards were illegal), and most importantly, Dana and I shared a profound LOVE for DC TALK.

Dana and I once dressed up as 2/3rds of DC Talk for Halloween. Of course no one even knew who we were, but that didn't stop us (and another friend) from singing and rapping our way around the neighborhood collecting candy. We saw DC Talk together a total of 3 times and we even met the members of their band. Dana's dad would even play our DC Talk games with us: he'd be Michael, Dana would be Kevin, and I would be Toby (because if you all didn't know this, I have MAD rapping skills...and I'm not even kidding). During one sleepover, Dana and I stayed up all night drafting fan club letters to Toby, Mike, and Kevin. We had both of their videos and we taped them onto a mini tape recorder. We'd play the tape recorder as we walked to our classes and we pretty much memorized everything they said. During class time, we'd write each other notes and draw the DC Talk symbol on them. We'd recite lyrics to each other. Oh how I miss Dana Michelle Prestwood.

Well, yesterday I had to "babysit" the senior class for 2 hours while all the seniors came to pick up their senior class shirts. I say "babysit" because the only reason I was present was because an adult had to supervise in case any problems arose. I will say that I was needed on 2 separate occassions. However, for about 1 hour and 55 minutes, I was not needed and ended up having the time of my life!

Anna Olivia is a senior at Palm Bay High School and guess what?! I've known her since she was about 4 years old. We grew up going to the same church AND I was always her and Matthieu's fill in babysitter on choir nights in case their usual babysitter couldn't make it. I babysat for Anna and Matthieu a great many times and last year I was reunited with them at Palm Bay High School. Matthieu graduated last year and as I mentioned, Anna is a senior this year. She was in the cafeteria yesterday too to help distribute t-shirts. There were so many helpers that Anna ended up being the pen holder (she sat there and held the excess pens). I could hear Anna humming a familiar tune and so I started to hum along. Pretty soon we were singing, word for word, every single song from the newest Relient K song. OH THE FUN WE HAD sitting in the cafeteria and singing things like, "Ok, so who doesn't own a cell phone? Who brought back their permission slip because I know nobody wants to stay home when the rest of us can go and make a day of it. 'Cause theme parks are so much more fun when the sun's outside -- na na na na na -- I lost my phone to the lake beneath the batman ride..." and, "Nooooo, arts and crafts is all I need, I'll take caligraphy and then I'll make a fake degree!" We had so much fun. Soon we exhausted Relient K songs because I can't sing along to the songs off Anatomy of the Tongue and Cheek yet because I just got that CD a week ago. So, where do you turn when you run out of Relient K songs?

"Tick tock, tickety tock, tick tock, tickety tock, tick tock, tickety tock, tickety tickety tickety tock..." That's right, folks, one turns to DC TALK! So then we started rapping, "Down with the one that is known as the Son of the G to the O to the D neverdone...", "The other night I met a girl and she looked at me so nice, I asked her for the didgets and she didn't think twice, a couple of days later I called her up and asked her out...", "TAKE THIS MOB FOR A RIDE...HUH! Pullin' out my big, black book (black book) 'cause when I need a word defined, that's where I look, so I move to the L's quick fast in a hurry..." Pretty soon it was time to move the senior party from the cafeteria to the gym in order to take the huge panoramic picture, so this called for a trek through the halls. Anna and I kept on singing our DC Talk songs and whoa, I was transported right back in time and it felt like the glory days of Dana and I singing the groovy tunes.

Anyway, laying in bed, listening to Relient K this evening, made me think of Anna and Dana fondly. And now they'll live on in infamy on my little space of web. :-)

Could be the last post for a while.

Brevard County is expecting to get beat up by yet another hurricane, Jeanne. I am really upset about this whole thing. For the last month and a half, my life has been consumed with hurricanes. Thankfully, Brevard didn't get directly hit by Hurricanes Charley or Ivan (although, we did catch the backlash of Ivan earlier this week when he looped back around and drenched us for 2 days straight), but the anticipation of the storms possibly hitting us really can stress one out. Again, thankfully I wasn't home a couple weeks back when Frances came through, but again, it's the stress of watching the news and hearing people's opinions that can really wear on one's nerves. So here we are, hours away from Jeanne.

Yesterday, we got the announcement that school is cancelled on Monday right smack in the middle of the day (so of course the news of no school had kids excited and their attention spans pretty much were nonexistant). After school yesterday I had to deal with fixing another flat tire. (Maybe I haven't mentioned lately how I hate my car!) I have had this car for 7 years and have had so many problems! Ignoring the current noises my car is making, the tires have been going flat (which is particularly irksome to me). After Hurricane Frances, I took my car to get the tires rotated and one of the tires needed a plug. I waited for 3 hours (no LIE!). And what are the odds that the aforementioned tire needed ANOTHER plug because ANOTHER stupid nail found its way into the tread?! Fortunately it didn't take 3 hours to plug up this go around. After tending to the tire, it was time to pass by Don and Ginnie's house to help them put up their boards. Then...I had to brave the grocery store. It was unbelievable. I turned the cart down the bread aisle and couldn't help but exclaim aloud, "You've got to be kidding me." There were only about 20 loaves of whole wheat bread left upon the MANY bread shelves. The lines were the longest I've ever seen them (and I have seen some really long grocery store lines on Christmas Eve and the day before Thanksgiving). Then I went on the hunt for gas. Don told me that he waited in line for gas for about 45 minutes earlier that afternoon. After passing by several gas stations with either entirely long lines or bags over all the pumps, I decided that I just wasn't going to worry about it.

Wouldn't you know that I didn't get enough C batteries last night to fill the radio in case the power goes off (which I'm quite sure WILL happen and it makes me sick to my stomach to think about going days without power, that might sound really stupid, but it concerns me). So I went out just a couple of hours ago to secure some more batteries. Guess what?! Getting gas was relatively painless (probably because everyone and their brother got it yesterday). However, the search for 2 more C batteries was sadly in vain. Oh well.

The wind has already arrived and it was sprinkling when I went out. The really awful thing is that Hurricane Frances debris has STILL not been picked up, so all the neighbors' piles of branches and other things will become airborne missiles when Jeanne breezes in. I'm concerned about this. I feel so badly for all the people who have roof damage that still isn't fixed because guess what? They're saying that Jeanne might be worse than Frances. One good thing though is that Jeanne is fast moving (none of Frances's 1-4 mph crap).

So the grand total of hurricane days (missed days from school) is up to 8. Who knows what it will go up to once we find out what Jeanne is capable of doing? Missing all this school has also been very stressful. The make-up schedule is still to be determined and the grading periods have been thrown off whack.

GOSH! I am really upset! How much are we supposed to take with all of this hurricane stuff? I know that I've been very blessed in terms of home damage, but all the anticipation and the news and seeing the neighbors who haven't been as blessed as me has really gotten to me! I'm just glad that BrightHouse got the cable up and running again (even though in about 10 hours it probably won't be working). The cable went out for a couple of hours this morning, affecting my ability to watch the news and to get on the internet.

So this might be the last post for a while! I do have several AA batteries though, so should the power go out, at least I'll have the ability to listen to some music :-).

Fall and all its Glory

Fall is here. It's kind of hard to get behind the season of autumn when you live in central Florida. Nevertheless, I absolutely love fall. There is no better season. Even though our leaves don't change in central Florida, the very air changes. I'm not talking about a temperature change. It's more than that. A special feeling accompanies fall and I love it. Break out the apple cider and bring on the pumpkin flavored everything.

I would have to say that the first time I truly saw fall leaves was just 4 years ago. Halloween weekend of 2000 was spectacular! It was my first visit to Karen and Philip's Wilmore, KY residence and it was perfect! The three of us went for a walk around town and I was just in awe. There were leaves everywhere and I remember picking some up and wanting to save them forever. Philip gave me a box that some sort of monkey bookends came in to keep my fall leaves in forever and ever. However, you might have already known this, once the leaf dries up, the edges curl and it gets really crackly and fragile. Sadly, I don't have those leaves any more. What I should have done was press them in the pages of my journal. Oh well... I even wrote a letter on one of those beautiful-dried-up-cracky-fragile leaves. One day, Karen, Philip, and I went to pick out our very own pumpkins. Each of us selected our own pumpkins. After careful consideration, I chose a nearly perfectly round pumpkin with bumpy skin. I remember, as if it were just yesterday, spreading the newspaper out on their front porch, setting our pumpkins down, cleaning out the guts, and carving our very own designs. I decided to go with the standard pumpkin face. And then came the Halloween party! Now, I was very impressed that a seminary was hip enough to realize that Halloween is indeed a fun holiday (whether it's pagan or not...come on, dressing up, bobbing for apples, and eating candy is nothing but fun!). Karen and I went dressed as flowers! Our costumes, though last minute, were smashing! We wore bright green tights and fun flower headbands. [I feel that I should now mention that it was upon this visit that I proclaimed to Karen about how neat it would be to have a Cinderella dress so that I could wear it to all sorts of costume-necessary functions. Little did I know that a year and a half later she would present me with my very own, Karen-crafted Cinderella dress.]

Fall in Wilmore with Karen and Philip was spectacular. The leaves were beautiful, the pumpkin carving was much fun, and the Halloween party complete with square dancing was smashing. Fall in Palm Bay leaves a bit to be desired, but I have my sights on being somewhere next year to experience fall in all its glory.

I am looking forward to the weekend of October 8th. Not only will I be in Atlanta to see Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken (remember, you all are supposed to be praying that Sandra will sing "High Countries" and "Awake My Soul"), but I'll be somewhere north of here where there might be pretty leaves and cooler weather. (Ok, I guess I should explain the boldfaced, italicized, and underline words "somewhere north of here"...it's a Derek song! I'm quite proud of the reference, thankyouverymuch. I may miss some Dylan song references, but never would I miss a Derek one.)

List O' Links -- Blog Number 99 (I think)

Some of you regular readers may have noticed that I figured out how to use blogroll and have created a list of links in my sidebar. Tiny steps = BIG SMILES in my life! So, I would like to offer an explanation of my links (2 of which I just added today). They are listed in alphabetical order, so I shall explain them in the same order.

Alisa’s (not me) Blog – Her name is so cool and is pronounced the same way as mine, so naturally I had to include her blog in my link list! I found her website, which is really really neat looking, by linking from someone else’s. Not only is her name cool, but she loves Sandra McCracken…so she’s pretty much one of the coolest girls…EVER!

Aunt Alison and Uncle Lonnie’s Pictures – Alison and Lonnie work for/with the LPGA. Lonnie is a caddie and Alison does some type of survey work (I think). They’re both photographers and if you go to their site, you can see some of their handiwork. They’ve also been published in Golf Magazine. Here are 2 awesomely cool stories about their photos. At a Nashville tournament, they took some pictures of Amy Grant (I LOVE her) and developed them…THEN…got her to SIGN the picture! (Also, a few years after that, they saw and photographed her AGAIN and got her to SIGN A BIRTHDAY CARD FOR ME!!) At the Bob Hope Tournament earlier this year they saw President David Palmer (the president on the TV show 24). His real name is Dennis Haysbert. I told Lonnie awhile back that should he ever come head to head with President Palmer, I’d appreciate an autograph that says PRESIDENT PALMER. Lonnie delivered!

Colby’s Blog – I believe I linked onto his site initially from his brother’s site (which I found by searching for Relient K). Anyway, Colby usually has some pretty funny stuff to say and show (I like the nonsense pictures he posts).

Derek Webb – You all should know how I love Derek (a singer/songwriter married to Sandra McCracken).

Jed’s Band – here’s Bleeding Charity’s website, which is pretty neat. Jed is such a dear friend of mine who I met at the University of Miami my freshman year. We played together on a praise and worship band at the Wesley Foundation for a year and I still think of him whenever I sing/play/hear “Be Thou My Vision.” We share a fondness for Caedmon’s Call and Derek and he’s just about one of the funniest and smartest guys…EVER! Once, I lost my blog, and Jed found it floating in cyberspace. I am grateful.

Jed’s Blog – Jed sometimes posts something neat that he has written, but more often than not, he posts some sound files of things he’s working on.

Karen’s Blog – YAY! I am so happy that Karen has a blog now! She is one of my dearest friends! She taught me how to play the guitar and made me my very own Cinderella dress! She’s my most faithful correspondent in the whole wide world (as she currently resides in Scotland) and I hope that her venturing into the world of blogging won’t affect the traffic of snail mail in my mailbox. Because really, I love getting letters from Karen Jane.

Matt’s Site – It is because of Matt that I now have “Too Tender” by Caemdon’s Call on my computer. I have tried in vain to secure a CD version of My Calm//Your Storm for more than a year. I have the cassette, but needed the CD so I could send “Too Tender” to a friend. Matt’s a Caedmon’s, Derek, and Sandra fan, so therefore he’s cool! He also comments on my blog and I am quite fond of comments. Thanks, Matt.

Meg’s Blog – Meg is pretty cool because she loves Jane Austen! She also has curly hair and we all know how much I love curly hair! Meg was the first person to ever place a link to my site on her site. So, she's totally cool for that :-).

Michaela’s Blog – Any Sandra McCracken fan is definitely a friend of mine! Her site looks, and reads, very cool!

Phil’s Journal – Married to Karen Jane, Philip is very funny…all the time. He doesn’t recognize Peter Pan for the amazing movie that it is. No one is perfect. Philip was pretty much the main reason for this summer's Joke-Off. We wanted to answer the question: Who is funnier? Turns out, we're tied and Karen beat us both!

Ryan’s Pictures – Ryan is the Bob Dylan lyric king. Definitely a bigger fan than I am (I can admit when I’m beat), Ryan is also very funny…all the time. He also appreciates the pure magic-ness of Peter Pan and has laughed at some of my jokes.

Sandra McCracken – Ok, I want to be Sandra’s best friend. That’s all I have to say about her.

And that's pretty much it for my list o' links (in case anyone cared).

A WHEAT Field, apparently -- Post 98

I think when I grow up I want to live somewhere where the corn/wheat grows. I want more than orange groves. I think a nice-red-falling apart-wooden barn is perfect. I also like looking at pictures of wheat fields (but I chose only to post a picture of a corn field because I can't post more than one picture in the same post using Hello and since I'm so close to post #100, I want to save them up...but guess what?! It's a wheat field anyway!). So anyway, I'd like this to be my backyard some day:

It's simply beautiful. Today it rained nearly all day. I hate the hot sun and so Florida is not really a good place for me to live for the rest of my life. I read an essay today about a student's favorite place. It was all about Brevard County. It was really sweet and I love the fact that he loves his home and wants to stay here forever and ever. I want more than Brevard County though. I want corn, or wheat, or a barn.

Blog Number 97

Does anyone remember the coolest show on earth, Parker Lewis Can't Lose?

Blog Number 96

I'm counting down to the 100th post! Anything that is 100 is cause for celebration. For instance, I give my students smarties on the 100th day of school (because afterall, they are 100 days smarter...or at least in theory they should be).

Nothing too deep or exciting to discuss tonight. However, I stopped by www.grassrootsmusic.com tonight after a long hiatus and discovered some things:

Relient K has a new album coming out on November 2. I am excited and plan on purchasing their Anatomy of Tongue and Cheek tomorrow (since today was payday and I want a treat).

The tracklisting for the new Caedmon's Call release Share the Well is up, but no real audio samples.

And there was a crap article on Bebo Norman. I don't think there are any Bebo-ites who read this blog, so I feel that I can safely call it a crap article (and truth be told, it wasn't even an article, it was more blurb-like...it was a Bebo Blurb, which is amusing to say...and write).

Just so everyone knows: there are 20 more days until I see Derek and Sandra Live and In Concert. Here is the silliest prayer request I've ever asked for, but would you all please pray that she'll sing "Awake My Soul" and "High Countries." I just saw someone's blog who recently saw her in concert and she sang those two songs (along with about 20 others....how awesomely blessed that crowd was to see her sing over 20 sings!!). They're like my all time favorite songs and wish her to sing them! So, pray! Thanks.

Well, happy weekend, everyone. I'm off.

patio gathering

Yesterday was the national See You at the Pole day. In spite of the poor advertisement (as we couldn't display posters in the school and we had just gotten back to school from the hurricane hiatus), we had three prayer sessions in the morning (7:00, 7:30, and 8:00). Each session saw more and more students. In total there were probably about 50-60 students.



It turned out that the group was too big to encircle our flag pole so we moved the gathering to the patio area. The move to the patio, I think, was a huge blessing because more people saw and came by to join in. Also, every single administrator was outside on their "patio duty" and I noticed them all watching as prayers were being lifted up.

Not only was yesterday See You at the Pole day, it was CIA (Christians In Action). My how the Lord is working on Palm Bay High's campus. Many new faces came yesterday, including a fellow teacher (and I still don't know who invited her, but I'm thrilled she came!). For now we're all meeting in my classroom, but I'm praying that by the end of the semester we won't have any room to meet in my classroom! I am enjoying getting to know some new CIA agents and this morning got a surprise visit from 3 of them!

Recently I was telling my friend, Jed, what another teacher recently told me (roughly): "If you don't believe enough in public school to send your own children to one, you shouldn't be teaching in a public school." That comment really made me think, and continues to make me think. Should I ever have children of my own one day, the Lord only knows where they would end up going to school. However, if I had a child today, I would probably lean towards sending him/her to some sort of Christian school (I would carefully/prayerfully select one however, and steer clear of extremist, independent baptist schools...no offense). Through talking it over with Jed (who had a killer analogy to offer), I really don't believe what my fellow teacher told me is worth anything. To quote Jed, "To say that willingness to send your own children to a public school is a necessary qualification for working in a public school is parallel to saying that being a volunteer doctor in a clinic in Africa means that you'd need to be willing to have your own children receive all of their medical care at that clinic."

So...I truly believe there is a great need for Christian teachers in the public school system. I really feel that the public school system, or at least my experience at Palm Bay High, is just as big a mission field as there is in Africa (ok, so maybe the mission field in Africa is a bit bigger, but maybe you get what I mean). Anyway, the events of yesterday with the patio prayers and CIA were super encouraging to me as a teacher in the public school system.

All in all, I'm happy to be serving God at Palm Bay High.

HOLY INTRUSION!

This guy is my hero.

In case you guys don't know, this man, a 32 yr old, dressed up like Batman (obviously), hopped a garden wall and scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace (something he no doubt learned from Spidey, his pal). Sadly, 48 yr. old Robin wasn't limber enough to make it over the wall and was apprehended before his friend, who stayed perched atop the wall for 5 hours. I love Batman.

Happy Red Toes

Today was the first day back to school in 11 days (counting 2 weekends). I was actually quite excited to return! I missed my students, believe it or not. I stayed up until 11:30 last night (which is late for me on a school night) grading the last bit of essays and theme paragraphs that I took home nearly 2 weeks ago. This morning when my alarm went off at 6 am, I didn't snooze for about 40 minutes (which is something I'm fond of doing and my snoozing habbit used to annoy the heck out of my freshman year roommate). I was awake before my alarm sounded and was happily ready to get up! I was rested and anxious to get to school. With 40 more minutes to get ready than I usually have in the average school day (remember, I enjoy sleeping until the last minute possible, usually), I painted my toenails red! It's been so much fun to look down at my red toenailed feet all day. My toes looks so bright and cheery. They're happy! I also had time to curl my hair (for my stubbornly straight hair this means merely curling up the ends of my hair) and put on make-up (something I haven't done in...oh gee...ages!). So, when I headed out the door at 7:05 with my traveler's mug of peppermint tea (one of my FAVORITES) and pumpkin muffin from Atlanta Bread, I was more than ready to face the day! I even had new Mary Engelbriet posters to drop off to be laminated at the media center (whilst in Atlanta, I went into a neat teacher supply store and bought some new posters!).

Here are the good things that happened today:
*with the extra time this morning, I was able to check my email and discovered that someone had put up on his website an MP3 of the very song I've been waiting to get on my computer in order to send to a friend for YEARS! What a sweet surprise!
*a boy in my first period class presented me with a joke book and totally made my day
*an announcement during homeroom relieved me of the little bit of stress I was feeling (interim reports had been postponed until next Monday)
*another teacher's students showed up during homeroom with 70 copies of A Tale of Two Cities, which saved me the hassle of getting the books out of storage
*Kelly came to visit during 3rd period (her school is still not in session because it's being used as a special needs shelter down in Sebastian). I always love when Kelly comes!
*Zach and Shane came to eat lunch in my room (both boys were charter members of the CIA, the afterschool Bible study, from last year)
*All my classes seemed to like, and do very well on, today's classwork assignment. Candy was involved!
*6th period was just one laugh after another
*In only a matter of minutes the season premieres of Seventh Heaven and Everwood are due to air on the beloved WB! Yay for the fall line-up being in place.

This probably is a very fluffy, boring blog entry. Sorry! It was a great day for me! I'm flying high and now I'm off to watch some TV!

Sunday Thoughts

I've been reading Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by C.S. Lewis for quite some time now. I picked it up for only $3 this summer while I was passing through Gatlinburg, TN at one of those Discount Christian Book Warehouses. I've pretty much been reading this 120 page book for about a month and a half now. You might wonder why it's taking me so incredibly long to read this short book? I only read it during church (which might be irreverant, I know, sorry). The last C.S. Lewis book I read, Till We Have Faces, was read only in the gym (which was not as difficult as one might imagine, I actually got quite used to reading whilst on the elliptical machine). I feel kind of guilty because I probably should be giving Lewis my full attention, not to mention the material I'm reading. It's a little ridiculous that it's taking me so long to read Letters, not to mention a little annoying because I end up having to reread parts so I can refresh my memory. I plan on finishing it up in the next day or two...outside of church.

This morning I woke up and found myself not really wanting to go to church. My reluctance to go really wasn't any reflection on my desire to spend time worshipping God. The church I'm attending right now simply exhausts me and I often find myself so distracted during service that I've taken to reading during the hour teaching instead of listening and trying to gain something. Sitting in church this morning, it became clear to me that I really need to go somewhere else to worship. I began attending this church in January. I liked it fine for a while, but then I guess I began to be my judgmental self (something I'm not too proud of) and I turned to picking apart every thing. This summer I thought, "Well, since I'll only be in Palm Bay for one more year and I'm tired of church hopping, it will be ok if I just stay here until I move. Then I can find the perfect church." Ok, I know that no church is perfect. But, I am tired of the Hollywood church I'm currently attending, and I want to go somewhere else. I don't want the bright lights, modern worship, and celebrity pastor any longer. I want to go back to where I came from. Funny how I've come full circle.

While sitting in church, I began flipping through the read pages of my book and rereading passages that I've underlined, starred, or put smiley faces by. This passage struck me:

It looks as if [Anglican clergymen] believed people can be lured to go to church by incessant brightenings, lighenings, lengthenings, abridgements, simplifications, and complications of the service...Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they don't go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best--if you like, it "works" best--when, through long familiarity, we don't have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping...A still worse thing may happen. Novelty may fix our attention not even on the service but on the celebrant. You know what I mean. Try as one may to exclude it, the question "What on earth is he up to now?" will intrude. It lays one's devotion to waste. There is really some excuse for the man who said, "I wish they'd remember that the charge to Peter was Feed my sheep; not Try experiements on my rats, or even, Teach my performing dogs new tricks."

I felt like Lewis was writing those words specifically for me. I love love love when I read something that I wholeheartedly connect with that I feel like the author was able to see inside my mind and put in writing that which I could not find words to accurately articulate. As much as I've been guilty of wanting to get away from the "traditional" church service I grew up attending at a very traditional United Methodist church, I can recognize now that I was completely unaware of the service. My attention wasn't on the service, it was on God. Ever since my move to Miami for college, I've been attending churches where the focus is on the service, not God. I've been attending services where the worship team coordinates their outfits and the musicians get solos. I've been attending services with fancy, elaborate power point presentations with fill in the blank sermon notes (where sermon note binders are for sale in the bookstore). I've been attending church services where you have to apply and audition to serve in music ministry and where hundreds of church goers flee the sanctuary in order to stand in an insanely long line at the media booth to purchase DVDs of CDs of the morning's service. I have often found myself asking, "What on earth is he up to now?" when the pastor begins another sales pitch or when an electric guitar solo kicks in. I have sat amazed at how the masses adopt, without question, whatever is said from the pulpit or in small groups.

[[Well, I probably am sounding pretty judgemental right about now. I would like to say that while I personally am finding fault with my church, there is a lot of good, too. For instance, hundreds of church goers came together and fed 3,000 people in the community this last week who were severely affected by Hurricane Frances. Hundreds of people came together and went out cleaning up yards and sawing up trees. The church definitely welcomes hundreds of people, right where they're at, often times people who haven't ever been to church before (or who are trying to return after many years of staying away).]]

All this to say, I want to go to another church.

I will leave you readers (those of you who have read until this point) with another quote from Letters:

We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.

I love that...The world is crowded with Him.

here comes the story of the hurricane...

Frances has made it next to impossible to secure some ice cream in this town. Yesterday I went to Friendly's for a sundae with my "grandparents." How is it that their peanut butter sauce is so amazingly delicious? Oh how I love ice cream. Oh how I hate Frances because she took away my ice cream. In lieu of ice cream, I settled on a nice box of Whoppers. Whew, they're good! And guess what? They contain 30% less fat than the average chocolate candy! Does that mean I should eat 30% more?


Why are Whoppers so dang tasty?

My week spent in Atlanta was all about family. My great aunt, Olivia, passed away and our main purpose for going to Atlanta was for her funeral, the evacuation was secondary. I really only remember Olivia for her crazy pilgrim-like shoes. I loved them. Most everyone would think they were dorky, but then again, I choose to wear saddle shoes. It was kind of fun to be around lots of my mother's cousins and I took the opportunity to soak up stories about their grandmother and about my mom's dad (who passed away when she was 17). Anyway, Olivia was my mom's favorite aunt. Olivia was one of eight children, one of me mom's dad's sisters. Now, my great aunt, Anne, is the only Blackwell sibling left. She lives about 3 doors down from my grandmother, so we were able to spend some time visiting with her. I have quite a bit to say about my family, or my grandfather and his parents, but I'm not quite sure where to begin or how to articulate it all. I'll just say this: my heart is full with all thatI've learned about them. I wish I knew them.

I ate the entire box of Whoppers. The back of the box says there were 3.5 servings. If you're Alisa Beth Mix, there's only 1 serving. But now I'm feeling a little sick and in need of something to drink. Farewell.

I AM SUSHI

According to the Completely Pointless Personality Quiz, I am sushi. Wouldn't that make a great book title? I will just settle for a blog title.



The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

According to the 100 Acre Woods Personality Quiz, I am Owl. I took the quiz twice because there were a couple of questions where I was equally torn between two answers. The other time I was Kanga. But, I like what it says about Owl. Sometimes I guess I don't have my facts straight. That makes me laugh.

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

Sadly, I'm Apple Pie, and not Pumpkin. Pumpkin is my favorite pie.

find your inner PIE @ stvlive.com

I wanted to be yellow, but I'm not. Oh well. I thought the color test was fun.

VIOLET You surround yourself with art and music and are constantly driven to express yourself. You often daydream. You prefer honesty in your relationships and belive strongly in your personal morals. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

Emily and I went to get ice cream on the first day of school! I love this girl!! 

I changed it to black and white and can't figure out how to get it back to color. LOOK AT HIS SHIRT!? It says THE MIX. By the way, this is Cliff from Caedmon's Call. 

Caedmon's Call singing "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" as a soundcheck. 

Danielle, of Caedmon's Call, singing "Walk With Me: with a full moon behind her. 

Moments before pulling out of the driveway for my big road trip adventure. Henry was there to keep me company. 

Kelly took this picture as we were on our way to see Napoleon Dynamite! We thought this workman was awfully hot standing there with his sign! He smiled at us when we drove by! You can see the blemish in my windshield that has since been replaced. 

A path I hiked down to a water lookout outside of Mammoth Cave. 

The stairway leading down into Mammoth Cave, the 8th wonder of the world. 

This deer was right outside my car...see the rear view mirror? This is what I saw on my drive out of Mammoth Cave.  

Here is Henry, one of my gnomes, at a Smokey Mountain scenic lookout point. 

A picture of a girl with her guitar playing in one of the many gazeebos on Belmont's campus. 

This picture documents my first taste of caviar. For my birthday, Sharon took me to a fancy tea party...so fancy that caviar was served! 

Saffie has climbed up and settled into a shelf on my sort-of bookshelf thing. 

Saffie is not allowed on the chairs, but doesn't she look hilarious? 

Big Chloe sleeping by the front door. Doesn't it look like I'm disturbing her? 

a hard rain's a gonna fall...again

Hello everyone! I got home about 2 hours ago from Atlanta and have realized that I should have never come back! It looks like Hurricane Ivan is going to be heading straight up the middle of Florida. I just don't believe it!

All is well here. My cats are alive and I dare say that both were relieved to see me! Power, water, cable, and phone lines were restored yesterday, so I'm living large! There are still quite a bit of people in Palm Bay without power.

One of my next door neighbors lost quite a bit of shingles from his roof and didn't bother to pick them up out of my backyard! I can't believe it! Not all of the bamboo in the backyard is down, which I'm happy about! What is still standing, though, has been stripped off all leaves. So, it looks quite bleak. My car didn't hold up! One of my tires was completely flat (but has already been fixed thanks to USAA), my windshielf wipers have left my windshield, there are quite a bit of scratches on my passenger door from flying debris, and some paint on my hood has bubbled up and, after I touched it, flaked off.

It was so strange to see all the uprooted trees along the highway and especially along Palm Bay Road once I pulled off the highway. So many billboards and highway signs are down. The funniest thing I saw was a flooded pasture with cows standing still knee deep in water. It was hilarious.

And now my attention is turned to all the Ivan hype. It is looking pretty grim. A category 5?! And, CNN reports that 20 people in Grenanda have been killed and 90% of the island's homes have sustained damages. While I was in Atlanta, I watched Good Morning America and they had this segment called "Where to Spend Your Retirement." Would you believe that Palm Bay and Melbourne were both mentioned right before Good Morning America turned to their field reporter in Brevard County who was reporting on the damages from Frances!? Too funny.

After this hurricane season, I'm absolutely certain that it's going to be my last spent here in Florida. On to graduate school next fall...not in Florida.

Stay tuned for a more detailed recap of my week away from my blog :-)!

stuff

So I'm pretty much set to take off for Atlanta tomorrow at the crack of dawn. The Bee Line and Turnpike have suspended all tolls...yay! I figure that if the house is demolished, it's all just stuff anyway and doesn't really mean the end of the world if it's not here when I get back. This might sound a bit dramatic, but the news is totally making it sound like it's the end of Brevard County. They keep stressing the point that this is the biggest hurricane to hit the eastern coast of Florida in over a hundred years. Generally I am a very light packer and only take a few essentials whenever I go on a trip (something I learned when I went to England...you don't really need all that much and furthermore, you don't really miss everything), however since this trip is under abnormal circumstances, these are the items I have added to the trunk of the car this time:

my guitar
my 3x5 framed autographed photo of Amy Grant
my 5 filled up journals

Not much, but I figure the above items really aren't replaceable. I haven't packed my shabby grey stuffed cat that I've had since I was 4...I should and I think I will. Naturally, I'll be silent on my little space on the world wide web until probably next Tuesday (dear me, I hope my cats will survive). So...adieu.

the biggest storm EVER

It looks like Hurricane Frances is indeed heading my way. The latest projection is that the storm will come ashore in Vero/Sebastian and that puts Palm Bay/Melbourne in a bad spot. Apparently the upper right side above the eye is the worst spot and if Hurricane Frances doesn't change her course, then it looks like P.B./Melb. will get hit pretty badly. The school board has decided to close schools on Thursday and Friday. (I am in school right now, but it's my planning period in case any of you wondered.) Students are entirely freaked out and each period they come in with billions of questions for me. The truth is, I'm actually a little freaked out myself and have a billion questions of my own. I just came back from heating up my soup in the faculty longue and that place was a buzz with anixety as well. People are saying things like, "I've lived here all my life and this is the first time I'm seriously worried." Having also lived here my entire life, I've seen so many false alarms and actually each time a hurricane is headed my way, I kind of blow it off with, "It won't hit us, it never does." But I guess maybe this time it will. It's a category 4 and bigger than Andrew. However, it could turn at the last minute, its power could be diminished...and infinite amount of what ifs are swirling around.

I'm leaving town tomorrow morning around 5 am, not because of a hurricane, but because Aunt Olivia passed away and I'm going to her funeral in Atlanta. The fact that I am, in essence, evacuating is kind of stressful and is requiring a great deal of faith on my part. I'm leaving Chloe and Saffie, which I've done before for 4 days without any problems (yes, their litter boxes tend to be a bit full upon my return, but at least they don't use the house as their extended litter boxes). Even though they're just cats, I'm kind of worried for them and would hate to think that they'll be scared to death should Frances rip our roof off and expose them to the rude elements of a category 4 hurricane. Not to mention I'm a little, a lot, anxious about what I might be returning home to. A student told me today, "Me and my dad are looking on the bright side of things; we want a new house." I really don't want a new house and would like for Frances to stay away from mine. I also don't want the mobile home parks to be demolished like they were in Charley's wake.

I've personally seen the damage a category 4 hurricane can cause. In 8th grade (which is what grade I was in when Andrew struck south FL), I went on a mission trip of sorts, a hurricane relief trip, to Miami. It was devastating. My friends and I (the only youth on the trip and therefore we were not able to do physical hard labor with the men from church who went) were stationed at the meaty canned food table of a make-shift grocery store. We saw countless families come through wanting cans of Spam and Spaghetti-O's and we had to ration them. That was heartbreaking. I remember wanting to give each family all the Spam they wanted. But we couldn't. I remember riding in the church van, all the way in the back seat sandwiched between Heather and Heidi (my best friends...they were twins!), in complete silence as we drove through Homestead and Florida City and saw the piles of garbage that were once homes. Then, years later, when I returned to Miami for college and worked at a church in Homestead, the residents still talked about Andrew like it hit yesterday. Nearly every year we had hurricane days off from UM because the minute there was a hurricane threat or watch, Miami's mindset was, "Better safe than sorry."

All this to share with you all: I am a little nervous. Anytime I think about a life or death situation, I'm reminded of the book of Esther. You might know that it's the only book of the Bible that doesn't mention God. However, God's presence is all over that book. The book of Esther shows how God is totally faithful to His people who trust in Him even through tragic circumstances. When Esther was going to go to the king (he was going to kill all the Jews) she said, "If I perish, I perish." It all boils down to that: if it happens, it happens. Also, just a few weeks ago I posted something about the Jars of Clay song in which they sing, "He has calmed greater waters and higher mountains have come down." So, I shouldn't be nervous or scared. Whatever happens, whatever possible aftermath I'll have to deal with (if Franny does strike), the bottom line is: it'll be ok. Thanks to Jed, I'm listening to Andrew Peterson's CD Love and Thunder, specifically the track "Serve Hymn", right now...which is calming me! Thank you, Jed. You were right: Love and Thunder is amazing.

I have CIA today after school (Christians in Action). It will be a good time of prayer and discussion about faith and fears. I am off to unplug electrical equipment in my classroom now. So, for all of those who are elsewhere and free from Frances's threat, please pray. [Those of you who are within Frances's threat, you can be praying too :-)]