Encouragement works

The other day, a friend said to me, "The older I get, the more I realize that nobody really cares about me except me!"

And I see what she means. How can anyone care about me when they're busy caring about themselves?

That's when the same friend expressed why she so LOVES to encourage people. In doing so, she becomes an embodiment of God's care for them. It's like He's saying, "I see you!" "I notice you!" "I care for you!"

Like the flowers in the photograph. Ivory was gone for my birthday, but she thought of me while she was gone, and picked me a wildflower bouquet. AH! She thought of me! She wanted to show me that, in that moment that she picked the flowers, she cared that she wasn't around for my birthday.

And the phonecall serenade from the Gilleys!

And the cake and card from my university classmates!

And the Mocha Coconut Frappuccino from my mom!

And the text I JUST got from someone!

There is power in encouragement, and I hope that's an encouragement. :)

Now at participating Safeways

$2.00 Grande Frappuccinos!
Limited time only

My mom treated me to a Mocha Coconut frappuccino today, for my birthday :)

Thanks, Mom.

The Gilleys suprised me with an over-the-phone birthday serenade!

Thanks, guys!

I am blessed. I can never say that I'm not!

Currently listening to:

I must say that this is my favorite version of the song. It just came up on my Pandora playlist, and I had to stop what I was doing and just listen. I was struck again with how GOOD God is.

This song -- for nearly four years now God has ministered to me through it --

First, Kim Walker's, in a sanctuary, surrounding by 23 other hearts bursting with gratitude to our God...and Shane Stevie's word to us about God's unrelenting love.

Then, in a hotel room. My macbook crashed. I fell asleep in tears and woke up to the voices of my classmates, singing this song around the bed, their faces lit by candles. I don't know that I have ever felt more honored than in that moment.

Then, in Spanish at a youth conference in Walla Walla.

Then, John Mark McMillan's, from my brother's iPhone.

Then, David Crowder's, from Rebekah's laptop.

And still I hear the song, and my heart swells with gratitude:

How He loves!

Drum roll please...

As of this morning, I have been awarded:

$667 from the Marit Thomas Rhodes Scholarship

$1,000 from the Ferne Daniel Scholarship

Woot! I am so grateful!

Anxiously awaiting results...

Mock-interview: check!

My classmate Joanne and I arrived home exhausted but oh SO relieved! The interview was not nearly as grueling as we had anticipated.

We find out tomorrow morning who is awarded the education scholarships...May the best student win!

Meet the winner of Macy's Million Dollar Makeover!

Click on the photo to link to the Macy's Million Dollar Makeover finale!

America Names Amy Ferrell of Wenatchee, Washington Winner of “Macy’s Million Dollar Makeover with Clinton Kelly”

Read the article here.

Adventure to Ellensburg

I have spent the night perfecting my teaching resume.

Tomorrow, my classmate Joanne and I will take our nearly perfect resumes to E-burg for a mock-interview. Three panelists will scrutinize these resumes and grill us with questions like, "What is your philosophy of education?" or "If I walked into your classroom during a reading lesson, what would I see?" Then, they will deem us worthy...or not... of one of the three scholarships available to us.

You must understand, we're both ridiculously nervous! And overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunity! God has set us up for an adventure. Bring it on!

Esperanza Rising: Check!

I recently read this book in both English and Spanish. Here are my thoughts:

What's it about?

It's 1924. A wealthy, young girl lives in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on her father's vineyard. When her father unexpectedly dies, however, she and her mom are left without property, without a home, and - for Esperanza, worst of all, - without servants!

Esperanza and her mother travel, together with those who once were their servants, to the United States in hopes of making a better life by working in a migrant camp in California. Now in a foreign land and stripped of her wealth and power, Esperanza must learn to work for the first time in her life, and to associate with those who she once considered beneath her.

Through all of this, Esperanza learns to hope.

Aguantate tantito, y la fruta caera en tu mano.
Wait just a little while, and the fruit will fall into your hand.

What did I think of it?

This book is particularly strong in symbolism! For this reason, the book could be used even at a high school level, which is when students begin examining symbols.

I also like that this book’s historical accuracy. The story is based on the true story of the author's grandmother and so very accurately portrays the people of that time and the time they lived in. The author takes care to showcase not just Mexican culture, but, within that, the culture pertaining to those from Aguascalientes – their superstitions, food, traditions, and way of life. 

Author Pam Munoz Ryan

And I loved the dynamic character of Esperanza. She starts out selfish and is chastised for her selfishness, but then gains both generosity and wisdom as the story progresses. In this way, the reader can also learn from Esperanza’s mistakes and connect to her as a flawed individual.

The downside: the cover is pretty girly-looking. If I will be reading this to an entire class, I want both the boys and girls to enjoy it.

I would also include more thorough explanations of the historical situation the characters were in. In her afterward, the author mentions the Mexican Repatriation, but, as a reader that had never heard of this event before, I left the book confused about it. 

And when I closed the book cover, I was left with unanswered questions. Did Esperanza and Miguel’s families truly find a better life in the United States? Did Esperanza ever see her best friend again? Did she visit her former home in Aguascalientes? I would recommend a sequel to the book so that these unanswered questions could be answered.

Suggestions for Classroom Use

Approximate grade level: 4th through 9th
Themes: Starting over, hope, and new life
Suggested content area: Social studies: immigration
Academic activities:

• Tweeting and acting: Students will tweet their favorite scene from the book (write it in 110 characters or less). Then, students will walk around the room silently and group with those who described the same favorite scene. Students will then be allotted 10 minutes to prepare a reenactment of their favorite scene in their groups, after which the teacher narrates a re-telling of the story, inserting student reenactments at appropriate spots.

• Compare/contrast Mexican immigrants then and now: Students will work in groups with large chart paper. They will draw a Venn diagram on the chart paper and brainstorm similarities and differences between Mexican immigrants then and now. Ideally, at least one child from a family of Mexican immigrants will be in each group. Groups will share their findings with the class. Each group gets a point for every unique idea on their Venn diagram and adds new information to their diagram.

• Family investigation: Students will be assigned to interview one or several family members to understand their family’s immigration history. They will discover their family’s purpose for immigrating to the United States. Students will then share their findings with the class.

I'm full...

...and I think I know why.

Here's tonight's dinner:

Chicken stir fry with rice, two helpings of rice

and half of a corn on the cob

A fruit salad of pineapple, mango, nectarines, and strawberries (the image is just the closest I could find on google images)

and, of course, a glass or two of orange juice

THEN followed the post-dinner snacking. ENTER the unnecessaries:

Tomorrow, I'll have to take Frog and Toad's advice and exert some more willpower.
Some friendly advice:
Just say NO to post-dinner snacking!

You know you live in Central Washington if...

The other day, I stumbled upon a list entitled "You know you live in Eastern Washington if..."

I could relate to maybe half of the items on the list - which got me to thinking and looking at a map: Wenatchee is NOT eastern Washington! It's CENTRAL Washington.

Hence, the new list for Central Washingtonites.

You know you live in Central Washington if...

• There are night-crawlers in your refrigerator.
• You or someone you know (YOSYK) takes a week's vacation every year for hunting season.
• You are bothered with neither much rain nor much wind.
• You refer to any place on the other side of the mountains as "Seattle."
• You refer to many places in Eastern Washington as "Spokane."
• You can accurately pronounce almost any city name in Washington, because you're not far from any of them.
• Your dogs roam free, or can.
• There is an orchard nearby to dump your food waste in.
• You would never, EVER call an orchard a "farm."
• It usually takes the same amount of time to get from point A to point B, not matter what the time of day (in other words, traffic isn't an issue).
• You are sad because the last drive-in teater in the area closed down.
• You've taken a class field trip to a dam or fish hatchery, or both.
• You gift Aplets and Cotlets to your out-of-town guests.
• Sons of orchardists and sons of orchard workers go to school together, where the population is about half Caucasian, half Hispanic, no Asians, and maybe one or two African-Americans.
• YOSYK works "cherries" every summer.
• Forest fires outnumber house fires in the summer.
• The obvious, easiest, DUH university to go to is.....you guessed it! Central Washington University!
• Among your friends and colleagues, there are about equal parts UW and WSU fans.

Note: these are overgeneralizations based on my experience, some of the likely false.

Have any to add?

Macys to announce contest winner May 24

Follow this link to read about a Wenatchee kindergarten teacher who is in the top 2 (!!!) to win Macy's million-dollar makeover! Amy Ferrell, all of the Wenatchee valley is behind you!

Note to sound guy: cue for "Oh Happiness!"

17 May 2011

To the donors to the Washington Apple Education Foundation:

I am so surprised and grateful for the Keyes Fibre $2000 scholarship I have been awarded!

I am in a teaching program, aspiring to graduate in June of 2012 with my B.A. in Elementary Education.

I have had a goal throughout college to graduate debt-free! And this is becoming a reality! Last summer, I sorted cherries, saving all my earnings. That, combined with continual earnings from my job as a tutor in middle schools and help from my parents, has paid for my first year at the university. No loans! No grants! No scholarships! But this summer, I am scheduled for summer courses. Because of that, I knew I would not be able to earn enough this summer to cover my final year at the university. But I was not too worried; I knew God would provide for the door He has opened.

This morning, I received the unexpected letter from WAEF, informing me that I have been selected to receive a $2000 scholarship! This is God’s provision. The scholarship will pay for my entire fall quarter tuition!

Thank you for helping make my goal of graduating debt-free a reality.

Look for me among the elementary-school teachers of the Wenatchee valley!

Gratefully,

Dahlia

Photos of Spring

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree...

 Why do ye fall so fast?

Your date is not so past 

But you may stay yet here awhile 

 To blush and gently smile

 And go at last. 

May is birthday month

First, Oliver.

Then, Mando. (No photos of that one, sorry ): )

Then, Me. (Yet to come)

Then, at the beginning of June, Mario.

Happy birthday to May-ers!

Wishy washy results on the ice cream

I didn't take any pictures, but I think that, because of a case of impatience, the fried ice cream only turned out OKAY.

But here's the recipe, given to me verbally by a friend of the family who once cooked in a Mexican restaurant:

Deep-fried ice cream

1. Crush some cornflakes into a bowl, crushed well but not too fine.
2. Roll scoops of ice cream (whatever flavor) in the corn flakes until well-coated.
3. Freeze the ice cream for several hours, until very firm again.
4. Heat vegetable oil in a deep-fryer until VERY hot, exceeding 350 degrees.
5. Dip ice cream balls, one by one, into the oil for no longer than a second!
6. Arrange each ice cream ball in the center of a plate and drizzle with honey and chocolate syrup, then add a dollop of whipped cream and fresh strawberries, if desired.
7. May be eaten immediately (warm) or returned to freezer before adding honey to prepare later.

Today, I'll attempt to make deep-fried ice cream.

Check back tomorrow for results from tonight's experimental dessert!

Who is this leaning on her beloved?

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

Song of Solomon 8:4

My peers' thinking is backwards, and today's middle schoolers often think that the best thing in life is romance, and the sooner the better.

So we settle for cheap romance.

"Good Christian girls" let themselves be lured away into young men's arms, and then they let them into their beds, and they go to that place of intimacy prematurely -- because they are intoxicated with what they believe to be the feeling, the pleasure of love.

But, in all of this, love is absent, or it is stifled by disobedience to the Holy Spirit's voice. All the while, True Love's knock is at the door, unanswered. 

Help us, Jesus, to NOT awaken love or even to stir it up before it's Your time!

Would You draw us in, that we may be captured by your True Love?

For it is only Your love that will last.

It is only Your love that is true.

It is only Your love that we want.

The Princess and Curdie: check!

How the faithful city

has become a whore,

she who was full of justice!

Righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

Isaiah 1:21

This is the story of The Princess and Curdie, of a poor miner boy who is sent by his Mistress to set right the fallen city.

"Now, Curdie, are you ready?" she said.

"Yes, ma'am," answered Curdie.

"You do not know what for."

"You do, ma'am. That is enough."

"You could not have given me a better answer, or done more to prepare yourself, Curdie."

After reading this book and stumbling upon the scripture in Isaiah, I am more in love with GOD, and who He is:

   truth,

   righteousness,

   goodness,

   love,

   purity!

I LOVE that Curdie purged the palace of its traitorous inhabitants!

I LOVE that God HATES sin and will not stand for it to be in His presence!

I LOVE that He requires purity, and that he takes us through fires to make us poor.

"Yes, she went on, "you have got to thank me that you are so poor, Peter. I have seen to that, and it has done well for both you and me, my friend. Things come to the poor that can't get in at the door of the rich."

Dialogue with an unwilling reader

Yesterday, at one of the middle schools I tutor at, I got SO frustrated with myself and with Carlos (a pseudonym), a sixth-grade student.

I tried all I could to get him to read.

Here's our conversation:

"I don't want to read."
"I'll read with you."
"I hate reading!"
"What DO you like?"
"Video games."
I enlisted the help of Jose, an eighth-grade library guru, and found a graphic novel with lots of violence and yucky stuff. I brought it to Carlos.
"I've already read that!"
"Come on, then, and choose another one!"
"No! I don't want to read!"
*Sigh.*
I found Mrs. Wilson, my supervisor.

"Carlos, you need to read."
"I don't want to!"
"I understand that, but it's not a choice. You have 5 minutes to pick a book, and then you'll read for 15 minutes with Dahlia."

**5 minutes later**

"Hey, Carlos! Did you find anything?"
"No."
"You don't have a book to read?"
"No. I don't want to read."
"Okay, then, I'll just choose one."
He sat down, faced away from me, and put his head down.
"Carlos?"
No answer.
I picked a book at random. "Come on, let's read this book!"
No answer. No movement.
*Sigh.* I bonked him jokingly on the head with the book. "I'm not a fly on the wall to be ignored!"
No answer.
Now I was stuck. And frustrated. Almost gonna cry! So I left.

I took a walk, hoping to find Mrs. Wilson so I could ask her for advice. But I couldn't find her.
So I just kept walking. I ran into a coworker, who commented on how green my eyes were. It was silly, but it was enough of an encouragement to snap me out of my frustration.

So I went back to Carlos...
   ... and found him reading the book I had left behind!
Still hunched over, and still turned away, but reading.
I sat down, facing his profile.

"Hey, Carlos."
He flipped a page.
"I'm sorry for hitting you over the head with the book. I shouldn't have done that."
He flipped another page.
"Will you forgive me?"
He nodded, and flipped another page.
"So, can you read to me?"
He turned his body and lifted his head slightly, just enough so I knew I was welcome now.
I sat next to him, and we read. :)

He loved the book. And he even taught me a thing or two about snakes! :P

So I don't know what lesson I should have learned from this. I'm just glad everything worked out okay, and I hope the next time he needs to read, it won't be as much of a struggle.

Canada's greatest explorer

Who ever heard of David Thompson?

On our trip to the local museum today, a group of middle-schoolers and I (along with other staff) discovered this young British extraordinaire. 

He traveled a few years after Lewis and Clark in the 1800s, trekking from Canada across the United States to create an alarmingly accurate map of the Columbia River!

  And all of this for beaver-fur hats!

 

A true Pocahontas story

When he got settled in the U.S, he never left. He married a Native American woman and stayed with her for life, raising something like 13 children together.

If you're inspired to script a movie about this guy, read more in this 2007 article about him.

Or, if your interest is just piqued, check him out on this Canadian website celebrating him as Canada's greatest explorer.

Prince Edward Island...

...I may be there next summer :) :) :)

Future...ack!

Call this a transition period, if you like.

Maybe it's more like a planning period.

All sorts of new opportunities await. Three stand out:

1. Scholarships! I've been notified that I qualify as a finalist for 3 major scholarships I applied for! This means that May 25th I'll head over to Ellensburg for a mock teaching interview, resume in hand! What I'm thinking is, even if the Lord doesn't have planned to finance my year with any of these scholarships, the mock interview will be a worthy learning experience in itself.
2. New job? Several factors this summer and in the upcoming year make keeping my current jobs somewhat difficult. So I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation...What's next, God?
3. Student Teaching!! A teacher contacted me today, asking if I would like to student-teach in her classroom! I'm thinking -- wow, God IS faithful to open doors. Not one month ago, I was worrying that I had NO clue where to student teach!

Ah, when the known and the unkown merge, what can I feel but nervous excitement?

To Blossoms

The apple trees are all a-bloom, forming fields of white. I love it!
But the delicate blossoms don't stay nearly as long as we would all like.

Here's one person's lamentable oration to blossoms:

To Blossoms
Robert Herrick

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
     Why do ye fall so fast?
     Your date is not so past,
But you may stay yet here awhile,
     To blush and gently smile;
     And go at last.

What, were ye born to be
     An hour or half's delight;
     And so to bid good-night?
'Twas pity Nature brought ye forth
     Merely to show your worth,
     And lose you quite

But you are lovely leaves, where we
     May read how soon things have
     Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride,
     Like you, a-while--they glide
     Into the grave.

Well,...

I made a student cry today.

....

:(

*sigh*

Saddlerock, Teaching, & Learning

Dusty pants.
Sunburned neck.
Sore feet.
Droopy eyelids.
FULL heart.
  
An estimated 300 5th graders scampered up the Saddlerock trail in Wenatchee today. They visited stations like "landscape art," "smells of Saddlerock," "coyotes and cougars," "super sagebrush," and "mule deer and marmots," among others. About 60 to 90 of those students cycled through a station taught by ME!


Saddlerock, Wenatchee, WA --
pic from http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc33058.php

What began as a cause for nerves and lack of sleep ended as an incredible learning experience. I learned the power of visual aids (called realia) to catch the interest of the most BORED student, and I experienced teaching a subject to students who know more about the subject than I do! (HEY - YOU try teaching a lesson about deer to the son of an avid hunter!) I also learned the joys of team-teaching: if I totally space out about that canister of marmot scat I was going to pass around, my partner will remember for me!

Today was a step-up for me, teaching to REAL kids, and not just classmates pretending to be  kids. :)
Praise the Lord for small beginnings,
and Saddlerock field experiences with 5th grade students!
:)