Adventures on the West side

Some highlights from my recent trip to Kirkland/Bothell/Bellevue:

1. a Starbucks morning bun and passion tea lemonade with J, a dear friend
2. tried out the Teriyaki place in downtown Kirkland with E, another dear friend (it was great food and friendly service -- brings back memories of the Nasai days, if you ever had the opportunity to be acquainted with that restaurant). This was the friend I talked about sex trafficking with.
3. the trip to Blockbuster with J2, my former house sister. After the cashier scanned J2's mom's blockbuster card, he informed us that it had a balance of $5.40 from 228 days ago. We got a good laugh out of that, paid the balance, and took Julie & Julia home with us.
4. realized that the Blockbuster late fee was from the LAST time I visited them! Woops!
5. worship, testimony, message, & fellowship at CCK
6. the sudden downpour of rain while J2 and I were taking a walk. Good thing I packed an extra set of clothes!
7. ventured to Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, Urban Outfitters, Romy, and Forever 21 with E2 (house sister) and MJ (also a house sister) -- such fun!
8. reunited with my sister in Bothell
9. drove home with pizza in our bellies, thanks to the G-fam!
10. greeted outside the car by a rambunctious 4-year-old who was glad to have us back! :) :) :)

Thank You, Lord, for family, friends, and community!

Human Trafficking, continued

I was relating with a friend my concern for the young women caught in the sex slave trade, and she helped me see this:

Trying to stop human trafficking is trying to heal a disease by treating the symptoms.

Human trafficking is the symptom of a cultural worship of sex.

And film stars Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, who have a foundation to end sex trafficking, actually feed the issue by starring in films that promote this worship of sex.

Food for thought.

Human Trafficking

Thanks to Rebekah for directing me to this website.

Brad and the Sex-Cafe from Tom Davis on Vimeo.

A burdened heart

Today, something interesting happened.

I was working at a middle school, playing Clue with JM, an eighth grade boy, when RD, another eighth-grade boy, came over and talked with me while I played. Our conversation was short, shallow, and all in Spanish. He doesn't speak much English because he just moved here from Mexico this year. He wanted to know what Clue meant.

My game with JM ended quickly because his dad came to pick him up. RD stuck around, though -- he kinda floated between me and another staff member who speaks Spanish.

That's when I began to wonder, as I have so many times before, why does he stay after school? If it's not to hang out with friends, what is there to stay for? What could be going on in this boy's mind? What wounds, what needs does he have that drive him to seek us out instead of his peers?

Later, I found myself -- partly by chance, but not really -- sitting next to RD while watching two other boys play foosball.

"Why did your family move up here?" I asked.
"They didn't." He went on to explain that only he and his dad are up here. His brother and sister are both in Mexico.
"Are they living with your mom?"
"No, with my grandparents. My mom left us when I was 5, and she has like five other kids with another dad. I don't know them."
"Do you know your mom?"
"Yeah!...but only from a long time ago."

There wasn't much more to our conversation, but it left an impression on me. I left work with a burden on my heart for this boy. To top everything off, he's being taught in a language he doesn't understand with only his peers to translate for him, so he's failing two of his classes. I knew I had to pray for him, and I know he is one of the many reasons God has me where I am.

How perfect, then, that at our prayer service tonight, we interceded for the younger generation! I had him in mind as I prayed, and, as a result, I have enlarged faith for restoration in this boy's life!

Unfaithful

She swept aside the curl that caught her tear. How many years had it been?

A jangle to her right made her whip her head around. Keys? He had always hung his keys from his front pants pocket. She heard the sound again. It was the woman at the next table. She wore a grey collared jacket--the kind business women used--and she gestured emphatically with Starbucks coffee cup in hand so that her dainty silver watch clinked on the glass-topped table.

She looked away from the woman and to her own square-faced digital watch. She had bought it at a yard sale for seventy-five cents. Then her eyes drifted to the wedding diamond on her ring finger. It didn’t glisten now like it had that morning as she held it up to the apartment window, debating whether to wear it or not.

The door behind her whined open. She tensed. Her eyes flitted from her dusty red Converse sneakers, to her faded black pants, to the ring on her hand. It didn’t fit. It wasn’t right. She yanked the ring off, stuffed it into her purse pocket. Who did she think she was, anyway? Why was she here? How could she believe he loved her still? Heat and pressure built around her eyes. He couldn’t see her cry. Without looking behind her, she stood, flung her purse over her shoulder, and rushed forward to the only other door leading out.

“Carla!”

She looked up. It wasn’t the person from behind. It was him – on the street side of the partially-open door, hand clutching the handle opposite hers. She couldn’t face him, couldn’t look into his eyes, couldn’t search to read sarcasm in his smile – so she looked through the glass to his hand. On it was his wedding band.

Every Woman's Song

This is a poem I wrote for a creative writing class last year, inspired by Valentine's Day three years ago. :)

I love to rouge my cheeks and curl my hair
On evenings with the girls. We offer tips
On how to line the eyes just so. We share
Our tubes of gloss for rosy-golden lips.
No envy-green, no matador-red smears
Off Kortney’s applicator brush onto
My eyelids. Only gently Jessie weaves
My curls into an ornamental bloom.
Cascading satin, pinks and yellows, flash,
Caught on camera in the living room.
We smile. We twirl and wave our matching sashes
At the lens, our temporary groom.
     I hear the heart of every woman’s song.
     I love to step in time and sing along.

All rights reserved by jonnybaker

Matthew 15: 21-28

What do I really want?
Disciples.
Don't we all?
Isn't that what makes life worthwhile?

The pastor's message today was about the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28
who pleaded with the Lord for her daughter.

I don't have kids, but I could still relate,
as a spiritual older sister to younger ladies and girls.
We must cry out and intercede for the sons and daughters of the church!
We need women of great faith.

And he made the point that
all women in the Bible are representative in some way of the church.
Are we, like this woman, offering a
persistent,
faith-filled intercession
for our sons and daughters,
or our sisters and brothers?

And, as a daughter,
am I interceding for my parents?

Lord, can I have just a crumb of your power, to touch these young ladies with?
Can I have just an ounce of your love, to bless my mom with?

Some pictures of the wedding



Waiting...



Here she comes!!!
Her son got to give her away :)



The bridal party, from behind :P Can you guess which one's me?



The ceremony began with worship! Awesome!
You can see our handsome groomsmen from this view, also.



The band! They came all the way from Walla Walla for this.



"Tying the knot."



Just married!



Yum, yum!



Just Stop It!

I MUST post this video. It's just SO funny! One of my professors showed it in class as we were about to begin a unit on classroom management.

"I'm itching my bones."
-Oliver today, meaning that he was scratching his back!!

An open door

I'll join with the rest in exclaiming triumphantly:

I'M ON SPRING BREAK!!!

It was satisfying - so satisfying - to click that "send" button in my email to my bilingual ed professor yesterday. That click meant my final assignment for the quarter was finished, and the rest is out of my hands. This is one of those times that it feels GREAT to not be in control.

Plans for this break:
Explore Leavenworth with a dear friend who is coming to visit me tomorrow morning (!!)
Take Oliver to the park while my mom does the taxes
Throw my dad a birthday party
Learn to garden and to sew
Finish The Calvary Road
Meditate on Lamentations 3:41
Visit some ladies from church to get their recipes!
Call a newly-engaged friend
Get fingerprinted
Meet with my brother and sister to set youth group plans for April
Finish my pre-autumn application
Buy some pointy-toed black flats
Meet my brother's mysterious roommate
Visit Kirkland/Bellevue?
Clean my room
Wash and vacuum my car

Wow, I'm glad I did this listing exercise, because now I am more excited than ever for these next two weeks! I was beginning to wonder what I'm going to do with all this TIME, but it seems now the question to ask is, how am I going to do all this in the time I have?

i hear bananas boost your energy...

2nd quarter.

Tomorrow it ends.

Pulling an all-nighter.

A word from the trenches

Just sent my first email asking for permission to use copyrighted material!

(Actually, I didn't see a copyright anywhere, but thought I'd email just to double-check.)

I'm in the middle of completing final projects and studying for final exams, and have been for the past couple of weeks, and will be for the next week and a half at least. That's why I have not kept up with the blog, or with anything, really. :)

I will add a comment here, though: thank You, Lord, for community.

What I mean is, it would be way easy to stress out about school if I was a regular student attending school with a schedule unique to me. But - praise God! - I'm not! I've got a cohort of 20 other students with my exact same school schedule and the exact same assignments and exams to study for, and I see the Lord using us to hold each other up.

I'm really looking forward to this Wednesday's study group at a classmate's home :)

Thank You, Lord, for community!

I've got that feeling again.

It's like I'm pregnant with an idea...
or a story, or some news,
but I'm not sure what it is.

I wish I could share it,
explain it, or say it, but how?
if I don't know what it is?

It's that feeling of restlessness,
anxiety and excitement all at once.

And I wonder if, maybe,
It's the joy of the Father,
birthed and shut up in my bones!

So I must let it out! I don't want it to
rot from unuse
and produce bitter fruit.

I must let it out!

Our Valentine

It's been the song of my heart today, and for many days.

Take it all! Just give me Jesus.

St. Valentine was most likely a Christian martyr.

This adds some depth to what I thought was a silly holiday!

What did you learn in school today?

A lot to learn

It's a tough spot to be in, total inexperience.

I was there when I was hired on at Pier 1 this last Christmas. I knew NOTHING about retail, & my sister & mom can attest that I came home in tears once or twice out of just frustration! Frustration, and feelings of inadequacy, and even a little stupidity.

Well, I'm there again.

My 3rd grade mentor teacher had me lead a reading group with three tangled (struggling) readers yesterday, and I must have allowed them too much slack, because afterward, my mentor teacher assured me that I am the leader, not the students.

Today also, I led another after-school math class for middle school students and ended the hour exhausted! I only had four students, but two of them were squabbling siblings, and the other two also wanted to demonstrate their rights to freedom of speech, even immediately after I set the ground rules, one being "NO TALKING without permission during instruction."

It's funny, but frustrating. :)

"I have a lot to learn," I told my sister today.

"Well, yeah!" was her reply.

:)

On another note...

This is slightly off-topic, but I finally found some shoes I'll order for the special wedding I'm in this weekend! (Yes, THIS weekend, and I'm barely about to order the shoes!)

It's simple, flat, classy &, most importantly, OFF-WHITE! It is unbelievably hard to find shoes in this color this time of year!

Combine the shoes with a teal dress from a local bridal shop, a cream lace shrug from Forever21, pearls from my mom, and pearl-looking earrings and flowered hair clip (not visible in the photo)...

...and the look is finally complete!

And so my sister, the niece of the bride, a younger friend from church, and I will accompany our worship leader this Saturday at her wedding. And she will finally get the husband we've all been praying for the past ten years :)

God is faithful!

Future Teachers For Christ continues

Our future teachers for Christ meetings are under way, averaging 3-4 students per meeting.

It's been helpful to talk through constructivism (the teaching philosophy we're being trained under -- it's a child-centered, kind of humanistic philosophy) and identify both the good and bad parts of it. In class, it's almost taken for granted that we all believe in constructivism.

More than anything, I love how this group is connecting me more with those who are Christians in my class! We are sharing conversations, prayer requests, and resources with each other. SO cool.

One thing I'd like to see improve is my preparation for our "meetings." I'd like to enter the meetings with questions I'm stuck on, revelation I've received, or a burden that's on my heart to share with the others. That's what this blog post is helping me with. It's getting me thinking in the right direction. :)