How to Appreciate a Jelly Belly

I've been to the Jelly Belly factory over half a dozen times in the last few years, each time bringing a new group of 2nd graders to experience the sugary magic. They loved it- the smell, the colors, the jelly belly shaped hamburgers. And grown-ups love it, too- looking at murals carefully crafted out of the tiny beans is fascinating. And woven throughout the tour are multiple homages to President Ronald Reagan, who championed Jelly Bellies as a "national candy" of sorts, using them as gifts for foreign dignitaries and always within reach of a bowl containing his favorite flavors.

That's one of the many things President Ronald Reagan has left as a legacy, featured at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. My parents joined me for the weekend in Southern California, and per their suggestion, we braved L.A. traffic to spend a day there.

In recent years, Air Force One (operational during Reagan's administration) has come to rest in a larger-than-life exhibit hall, alongside the presidential helicopter and motorcade. Visit the museum and you'll get to walk through the plane in all it's retro glory- pretty cool.

And the large portion of the Berlin Wall that stands on the lawn pays tribute to Reagan's stand against the Cold War (the original "Can't we all just get alooong?")

It's hard to believe that while I was in grade school, our world was facing that challenge. Most remember favorably Reagan's years in office and, while Presidential Library's can be suspect in presenting history accurately, I enjoyed this walk through MY past.

A quick stop at Checkpoint Charlie (and I felt a need to help this poor mannequin, who didn't look quite assertive enough)

Reagan's final resting place overlooks his beloved Simi Valley, and displays his own quote: "I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."


(It's been a while since I threw down a shout-out: What is UP, Willis' in Stockton! Yeah...you! I know you're reading... he he)

Life is Tough

Happy Valentine's Day, all! (and that's all I have to say on that subject!)

I've been such a slacker on the ol' blog lately, but with good reason! I started my MA coursework on Saturday and participated on the worship team for all three Sunday services. This week, I'll be LEADING all three, as most of our lead team is out of town. A group from our church is now in India, serving and ministering in Calcutta. Meanwhile, I'm housesitting (and fish-sitting) for one of the couples on the trip. This is VERY exciting, because they have a BEAUTIFUL condo in downtown Long Beach. I wake up to an ocean view. This morning I took a couple pictures at sunrise.


A view from the Living Room.
My new commute to work : ) It's like driving the Long Beach Grand Prix!

Not a whole lot of other news to report. (WHOA! I had to momentarily cease writing because one of my students just brought me a rose and a balloon....how SWEET!) Soon, it will be full speed ahead as I "formally" become Worship Leader for Revolution Bellflower. Stay tuned for updates.

And a major shout out to BOBBY, who hooked me UP with some great music last week. Thanks dude. It will be used.

Princesses Bust a Move.

Here's another short clip from our COTW trip to Disneyland. This time, the choir entertains an audience of Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine and Mulan...some are quicker to "break it down" with the kids than others, but all seem thoroughly entertained! And the kids LOVED it. (if the video won't play for you now, it will soon!)


Go, Jasmine, Go Jasmine, Go...

More Coffee, Please.

And She's Down for the Count...

First, my colleague in the neighboring office to my right caught strep throat. Then my colleague in the neighboring office to the left caught a nasty bug. I LAUGHED in the face of viruses....HA HA HA! This weekend I sang at Carlos and Michelle's wedding, and immediately following felt a little woozy. Still, made my way over to Cheri's birthday party for some fabulous pasta. Shortly after, it hit me.

So I spent Superbowl Sunday lying on the couch with a box of kleenex and a blanket. Thank goodness this is the one day a year where you CAN sit on the couch all day, and nobody calls you lazy....just "invested in the game." And I watched ALLLL of the game (minus the weak halftime show with Prince when I took an ice cream run). Despite feeling like hell, I actually enjoyed taking time to relax. Today...lots of decongestants as I'm back at work. Hopefully I'll clear out a little before I have to speak in several presentations tonight.

It's Called Punctuation. USE IT!

I used to read this book to my second grade students. It's called "Punctuation Takes A Vacation." Cute book. What would happen if punctuation didn't exist? Reading would be pretty stressful! THIS is what I was teaching second graders. SECOND GRADERS. For some people, this information seems to get lost somewhere in between childhood and adulthood, which is particularly distressing to me. I thought punctuation was a non-negotiable concept in writing, but some people view it more as an option: case in point, most e-mails I receive from Jr. High students and, now, the collegiate community.

Since this blog is read by literally millions of people worldwide, can I take a moment to advocate the use of proper punctuation? Perhaps this can be my lasting contribution to society (even though writing will eventually be a relic itself). PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, your teachers have been trained to instill knowledge in you for good reason. Included in your education was a subject we call Language Arts, which gives you all the tools you need to become a successful communicator as an adult. You may not remember, but you DID LEARN how to use funny little shapes called periods, commas, and exclaimation points. This was not busywork, but the acquisition of an important life skill.

When you fail to use this writing etiquette, you are not presenting yourself in the best possible way. Certainly, in business and academic situations, it can put you at a severe disadvantage. In contrast, using proper punctuation contributes to your appearing intelligent...even if you're not.

I beg and I plead. Honor your teachers. Use the punctuation keys. And while you're at it, "u" is actually spelled y-o-u.

A Visit With The Mouse

At 1:00 a.m. on Sunday night, I put the finishing touches on my research paper and was FREED mentally to enjoy a day at Disneyland with Christa, Mikey, and the COTW. These kids are incredible, and it was a blessing to be able to join them for their first experience at the happiest place on earth. Christa does a fantastic job organizing and keeping all the details together, which made the day really enjoyable. Not normally a "ride" person, I think I rode more rides this day than my last 5 trips to Disney combined. Sarah, my little appendage for the day, was a sensitive one...so it was fun being her therapy before and after each ride. :) She challenged ME to be more courageous, too! Our first ride of the day was Soaring Over California. I asked Sarah what her favorite part of the ride was...she said, "the heaven part." Gotta love that. And hearing kids like Solomon say "I'll remember this day forever" made it SOOO worthwhile. It was actually very convicting, knowing how much I take for granted every day. Here is some photo documentation from the FABULOUS world of Disney!

Heidi, Me, Jeannie and Nicole...some of the MANY chaperones!

The WHOLE gang in the Hollywood backlot.
The boys enjoyed their visit with Hercules...

While girls relished their time with the princesses...

We had a special performance for the princesses and they joined in the dancing!

Here's my little Sarah flaunting her "1st Timer" pin!

Jeannie and Solomon were fast buddies for the day.

Holding Sarah's hand on one of her FAVORITE rides of the day...Peter Pan.

There are all kinds of goodies at Disneyland!

...And then there was Mickey.

The kids performed a couple numbers for the Mouse...and Mickey put down some MOVES himself! (The audio seems to be a little off...sorry!)


Oh yeeeah....even the LADIES love Mickey!

We finished off the day with a 3-D movie. WHAT A TEAM!

Celebrity Sighting #1

Have you seen The Count of Monte Cristo?
The guy on the far right was at BJ's in Huntington the other day! : )

Jamie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Yesterday was not a good day.
Mom says some days are like that.
Even in Australia.

State of the Student Address

Tired. Beat-up. Crosseyed!

That's right, fellow Americans, I'm back in school! For those of you who DIDN'T know this information, I am OFFICIALLY a student again after being accepted with flying colors into Biola University's Master of Arts Program. At the conclusion of my coursework, I will have Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in Organizational Leadership. I figured that would be really beneficial with all the leadership and ministry roles I juggle. Its been a different experience so far, already realizing that Biblical integration is a large part of the education here, unlike CSU Sacramento- my undergraduate home.

And the 80% staff tuition waiver makes it worth it!

Currently, I'm taking a course in Health Science, which serves the dual purpose of Clearing my Teaching Credential and contributing toward Masters units. I can't believe the amount of work I've had to do in the last 2 weeks (Interterm courses last 3 weeks). My project now is writing a research paper. I'll be addressing the question of Spiritual Wellness in the Secular Classroom- a messy topic, even for seasoned faculty here. The question I propose is: In today's pluralistic society, is it appropriate for the public school to deal with with Spiritual Wellness, and CAN you positively impact a student's spirit without introducing the concept of a deity? I have yet to fall on one side of the argument or the other, but my research so far has been very interesting.

SO, every waking moment for the next week will be a slave of the books. I have nothing planned on the calendar. Not a fun week, but it will be over soon, and worth it.

On a lighter note, it brings me GREAT JOY to wish my dearest friend KIM CONNER a HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU, GIRL!!!!

I Want This.

The only thing that's missing is a hacksaw.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

As you can imagine, as a teacher I had more than my fair share of humorous interactions with little ones! I went into crazy binge-cleaning mode this week and cleaned my bedroom top to bottom; bottom referring to the conglomeration of memorabilia underneath my bed. Never clean out memorabilia without expecting to spend hours looking through it. I came across a box of letters and artwork from former students and stopped to read them for some giggles.

One of my students, Jonathan, once ran up to me on the playground and excitedly said, "Look, Miss Petersen! I found a wood chip shaped like Oklahoma!"

Taylor told me that his jacket was "snowball proof."

Logan asked me the following question: "Is it against the law in Stockton to wiggle? Will you go to jail?" (Maybe a parent used this one during church...)

Chloe wrote me a lovely note with a white rock taped to it. It said, "Miss Petersen, This is a rock that I polished for 28 days. I hope you like it. Thank you for calling me Chlo-bug."

Zachary once asked me, "Miss Petersen...did you know that the Washington Monument was made out of marbles?" (2-6-02)

Blake wrote the following in a letter to the President:
"Dear Mr. Bush, I know you must work hard at the White House signing bills, making laws, and I appreciate that. I think you're a very good president to me and I think you're an honest man too. I will write to you when I have time but, you're not the only worker. I'm busy also and I wish I could visit you but they shut the White House down. When they open it again I hope to see you. From, Blake (2-7-02)

Another student scribbled out a letter on lined paper, and at the bottom it said "Let God Take Care of You." I'm sure this student meant to write something like "God Bless You," but it came out a little differently. I stopped and thought about that phrase. How often do I stop and LET God take care of me? How often do I feel stressed out because I'm trying to get everything done myself? What an unintentionally profound statement from a 7-year old. I thought it was beautiful, so I laminated it and taped it to my computer monitor. Now it is a daily reminder to "let go and let God." I need it. Leave it to a child to remind me.

Pure and Holy Passion

"There are a diversity of gifts, but the same spirit...given to each one for the profit of all." -1 Corinthians 12:4,7
"As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." -1 Peter 4:10

My friend Matt e-mailed me a short video from Revolution's Sunday service (thanks, Matt!) Here's "Pure and Holy Passion" sung by a worship leader who doesn't know she's being filmed...



PURE AND HOLY PASSION

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You.

To know and follow hard after You.
To grow as Your disciple in the truth.
This world is empty, pale and poor
compared to knowing You, my Lord
Lead me on, and I will run after You.

Jack Bauer Power Hour (all 4 of them)

GAAAASSSSSSP....Cough, cough......I'm feeling a little lightheaded this morning. Maybe it's radiation exposure from the giant nuclear bomb dropped near L.A. yesterday. At least I spent my final radiation-free moments with the best of the best....my allegiance-pledging 24 friends! Unfortunately, I'm the LAST person from our group to blog pictures and commentary from last night's 4-hour premiere marathon...you can read about it at Bobby's blog. Or Rachel's. Or Bambrick's. Or Michelle's.


Bobby, Rachel, and Will sport CTU apparel.

Seven Years Ago Today....

....was my FIRST DAY TEACHING! I had graduated from Sacramento State in December, and fell into this position just as it was being vacated...a total stroke of God's provision. I had observed in the classroom for two days prior- and was unprepared for the transition so quickly. It was sort of a learn-as-you-go kind of thing, since I hadn't done a credential program, and hadn't taught anything outside of Sunday School. On my first day (which I didn't know was my first day, at the time....), the teacher I replaced said she had a meeting and asked if I could conduct the spelling test and assign the language homework. She never did come back to the classroom that day. From then on, I was IT! Scary, huh? With SIXTH GRADERS, no less. Aww, live and learn.

Chalkboards have become a thing of the past. Now it's whiteboards (which save the carpets from the horrible white dust). I'm sure students will miss making chalk clouds from banging two erasers together, but I won't. Since then, our world changed with 9/11/01, and security is MUCH tighter in all educational facilities. A sad omission from the classroom is the ability to bake a batch of cookies and bring them for the kids. Gone are the days of parent-facilitated potlucks, not with the threat of Anthrax staring us in the face!

Lots changes in seven years...like the fact that I'm not teaching anymore.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Whoops...am I a little late?)

Slowly, but surely, right? I know some of you have been losing sleep, wondering how I rang in the new year. Well...I was surrounded be good friends and LOTS of toilet paper. Jessie and Sarah hooked up a karaoke machine which was abused throughout the night, forcibly cranking out tunes from Cyndi Lauper and the Backstreet Boys. No one (or machine) should ever be subject to that horror.

Kaelyn joined us briefly (unhappily), then left for the "party" at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Jessie entertained with singing...and choreography!

Stephen lost his dignity at some point in the evening. I think this might have been it.

When the karaoke machine got boring, we relapsed into Jr. High mode and decided to vandalize another friends' party armed with TP and firecrackers. It was with James Bond precision that we executed this mission. (Not that they didn't KNOW it was us, but still....)


Back at the ranch, we turned our attention to Times Square, where the ball dropped and 2007 commenced. Our first activity of the new year? A rousing game of Apples to Apples!

How Are You Going?

I need to take a short recess from my holiday documentation to bring you this confusing report from my experience at Trader Joes last night. I was standing in the check-out line looking at the gourmet chocolate bars to the left of the counter when I heard the cashier greet the customer ahead of me with "How are you going?" I thought maybe I heard it wrong, because no normal person would say "How are you going?" That's just a weird fusion of the phrases "How are you doing?" and "How's it going?". The recipient of this greeting looked as confused as I was, and replied with an awkward chuckle. My default position on this issue was that it slipped out of her mouth incorrectly, and obviously she didn't catch it.

I was on high alert for abnormal greetings when I approached the counter myself. "How are you going?" she said. (Believe me, I watched her lips carefully to make sure.) The greeting was bittersweet: I was pleased that it validated my original confusion and it wasn't my hearing loss, but I immediately realized that I had not thought through my reply to this question. How does one answer this question? "I'm going by car? Shopping cart?" Do I pretend I heard "How are you doing?" and respond with the typical "well, thank you"?

Would she even listen to my reply as she diligently scanned my fruit bars?

I went the safe route and responded with a jubilant "Happy New Year". Please, stick to normal greetings so I can use my meaningless automatic reply. I don't want to have to think at the grocery store.

All Hail Queen Mary!

After a year and a half of wanting to tour the Queen Mary, I FINALLY got the opportunity to do so- with my parents! The parental unit stayed over a couple nights at my place, and we made an all-day event out of our visit with the Queen. Legend has it that the ship is haunted...they offer a tour that takes you to various locations at which there have been ghost sightings/paranormal activity. While I believe in the spiritual realm, I don't know if I subscribe to the idea that the ship is "haunted". But, it was interesting. We explored the floor of the ship that rests against the ocean, investigated the first-class pool that is rumored to be home to many spirits, and travelled through the mechanical underbelly of the ship. I didn't see ANY ghosts. We did experience a fowl smell around the pool, but that was because a 2-year-old in diapers left his stale mark there.


Mom and Dad have passports in hand!


The best part- watching the sun set over Long Beach. Gorgious.


....and, that's a really large smokestack: up close and personal!

Home for the Holidays

Oh boy...so much to blog about, the task is a bit daunting. I'll attempt to summarize my holiday events with the following pictures:

Christmas at Grandma and Cliff's. We enjoyed supper and a gift exchange, complete with a surprise return of the porcelain Chinaman (a prank gift that has been showing up at gift exchanges since the 90's). It was nice to celebrate Christmas with BOTH sets of Grandparents this year.


...and she even let me enjoy a spin in their new golf cart!


Then, of course, I had to get some time in with my peeps at the Conner household. Aidan is growing up so fast! I was pleased that he quickly became attached to my gift for him....a t-shirt bearing the title "Current Family Favorite." I always welcome fellowship time with his mommy and daddy, too.


CHRISTMAS EVE @ the Turners...a family tradition, but not usually with so many children around! Guess we'd better get used to it. Rylan (pictured above) is an old pro at the Christmas festivities, but this was a first for sister Kinley (pictured below). We did carolling a little different this year....the Children of the World sang a few songs for us.


On this trip, I met Daniel and Amanda's baby, Anne-Marie, for the first time. She spit up all over Auntie Jamie. I'll let it go...this time. Following the Christmas Eve midnight service, we joined up the Bakers (Rich & Allison, and Dan & Amanda) for some wild karaoke...until 2:30 in the morning. Yipes. It's easy to crank out BeeGees tunes when you are on an adenaline override! I HAVE VIDEO THAT YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS....coming soon.

Deep breath....that concludes the STOCKTON leg of the trip. Christmas Day it was off to Tucson!