A Wedding in Kansas

We flew from Boise to Wichita to attend a wedding. Conveniently, Nathan's sister, Lauren, lives 30 minutes from the wedding location so we were able to celebrate our Christmas with his family at her house this year.

Nathan's good friend (another one of those friends Nathan has had since he was six years old) got married yesterday. Nathan and Jay played the prelude and postlude music during the ceremony. The wedding was beautiful and simple. I don't know the couple well, but from what I have heard, it was a true reflection of their personalities. I wish I had pictures from the ceremony to post, but I was filming that with the video camera, so the only pictures I have are from the rehearsal, the reception and the "after party".

The Rehearsal Dinner-


Breakfast at Newells-



The Bride and Groom-



Reception and After Party-














Married to a Legend?
At the reception, I was standing in line for the restroom and began making conversation with the girl in front of me. I asked her how she knew the bride and groom. After explaining that Nate (the groom) was her professor at Bethel College and that she had been dating the bride, Kendra's, cousin for three years, she asked me how I knew the bride and groom. I told her that my husband was a friend of the groom and had been one of the guys to play the prelude music during the ceremony.

"What's your husband's name?" she asked, excitedly.

"Nathan Gillis," I responded.

"Oh, yeah! Everybody knows Nathan. He's a legend around here!"

"Really?" I tried to contain my surprise. (It's one thing when your husband's best friends tell you he was a legend in college. It's something else entirely when the stranger next to you in line for the ladies' room is telling you that your husband is a legend!)

"Is it because of his song?" I asked her. Nathan wrote a song in college called Sober and Saved. It's pretty popular among his friends.

"Well, yeah... and his band and just... everything! Everybody just knows about him. He's one of those students that everybody talks about."

I guess I did marry a legend!

Christmas in Kansas

Christmas Lights

My parents moved into a new home shortly after I graduated from high school. This means that I did not spend much time "living" in the house that they own now. However, I fondly think of it as "home" when I visit.

Two blocks from my parent's house, there is a house that is decorated every Christmas with lights and decorations that are more extravagant than I have seen elsewhere. I have never myself had the motivation to put up Christmas lights (outside) but I LOVE seeing them during the Christmas season. When we were children, our parents would bundle us up and load us in our blue Aerostar 7-seater van (and before that, the orange VW van) and we would travel around the neighborhoods in the foothills of Boise where there were beautiful homes with elaborate Christmas decorations lighting up the neighborhoods.

For me, these lights are the most powerful sign of the season.

Last year was the first Christmas that I had taken Nathan home with me (although it was not the first time he had visited my parents with me). The memory that stands out the most during our visit is when Nathan and I walked to this amazing house down the street from my parents to look at the lights more closely. We told ourselves that we would visit that house again and look at the lights again. Here are some pictures of the house this year...

My Babiest Sister of All is Getting Married!!!

Exactly two months after Nathan and I got married...

On a Thursday night (after eating at a restaurant called Chuck-O-Rama's with our family)...

Lindsay's boyfriend, Nathan....

proposed to her!

I think my mom said it best when she said, "Just like you and Nathan, Lindsay and Nate are two peas in a pod. They just fit together so nicely."

I wish I could post a bunch of cute pictures that I have of them so you can see how adorable they are, but we are still on vacation and our pictures are at home so I will have to do that when we return.

Our family is so excited!

Congratulations to them!!

Quote of the Vacation

My little niece, McKayla, has had a long-standing crush on Nathan. On every vacation we have spent with her, she will silently follow him around and always sit near him and just look at him. If he should have the opportunity to wander out of her sight, you can hear her voice resonating throughout the house with, "Where'd Nathan go? Marika, where'd Nathan go? Mommy, where'd Nathan go?" But, once she finds him, her pattern of following and staring would continue.

This is the first time we have spent with her where she has not been paralyzed by shyness when she is around him.

In fact, the exact opposite happened.

McKayla took to calling Nathan "daddy" on this trip. Then, on Christmas day, McKayla sat on Nathan's lap for 20-30 minutes talking, wrestling, and trying to give him kisses. When Nathan would turn away from the kisses (not knowing if he should encourage such harmless, but potentially questionable, behavior) McKayla would order him to "stop your wiggling!"

Andie (her mother) told her, "McKayla, at least try to play a little hard to get."

Then, when she said, "Hi, daddy" to him again, Nathan said "There's your dad" and pointed to Keith. Then, McKayla put her hands on Nathan's hair and (taking note of the color) said...

"Hi, black daddy!"

Reading Reading Lolita in Tehran in Boise

Yeah! I finished it!

While I can't say that I enjoyed most of the book Reading Lolita in Tehran, there was a terrific quote right at the end. The author, Azar Nafisi, was writing about being a writer and about freedom. Obviously, her experiences in Tehran with the limitations placed on the freedom of the people (especially the women) make her quote more meaningful and much more important in her own world.

But, to me, this quote brought to mind this blog and my friends who keep blogs. I know that, for most of them, blogging is an important way to capture the experiences of life and to make the memories concrete. By writing about our lives, we make ourselves vulnerable to the criticism and judgement of others, but we also open our lives to those we love. Our blogs are something to keep us connected to our friends and families and it is also something we can leave behind so that our children and loved ones will be able to read about our lives and know us a little better.

"I have a recurring fantasy that one more article has been added to the Bill of Rights: the right to free access to imagination. I have come to believe that genuine democracy cannot exist without the freedom to imagine and the right to use imaginative works without any restrictions. To have a whole life, one must have the possibility of publicly shaping and expressing private worlds, dreams, thoughts, and desires, of constantly having access to a dialogue between the public and private worlds. How else do you know that we have existed, felt, desired, hated, and feared?
"We speak of facts, yet facts exist only partially to us if they are not repeated and re-created through emotions, thoughts, and feelings..."
-Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (pages 338-9)

Reading Lolita in Tehran update: page 310

Christmas in Boise

Christmas in Longmont

Traveling Quotes

On the plane from Salt Lake City to Boise the flight attendant put a whole new twist on announcing the rules and regulations.

Taking off:
"...individual oxygen masks will be released from the overhead compartment and oxygen will begin flowing through the mask. We are almost 100% positive that oxygen will be flowing through the mask. If you are seated next to a child, or somebody behaving like a child, please secure your own mask before assisting them..."

"...This is a non-smoking flight. Smoking is prohibited in all areas of the plane including the lavatories, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. (He actually did say blah, blah, blah!) Tampering with or disabling the smoke detectors in the lavatories is a federal offense and punishable by fines or jail time. And please don't mess with the video cameras either..."

Landing:
"...As we approach the terminal, please wait to unfasten your belts until the captain has brought the plane to a screeching halt..."

"...Please be careful opening the overhead bins as items may have shifted during the flight. Please be careful, folks. If something falls on your head, frankly, it's too much paperwork..."

"...If you are interested in our frequent flyer program, please ask one of the attendants for a form. If you sign up for this program you can earn airline rewards and benefits without having to marry a flight attendant..."

Christmas in Our Neighborhood

I love Christmas lights! They are one of my favorite signs of the season. I have never put them on my own house so I especially appreciate the people who spend time and exert effort putting Christmas lights on their houses. Here are some of the prettier ones in our neighborhood.

Nathan is Reading!

I'm so proud!


There are only a handful of topics that would invoke this kind of behavior from Nathan. This time it's the rock band The Clash. Nathan actually ventured to the library of his own accord, found a book with more than 350 pages, and took over my favorite recliner.

You would think his good influence would rub off on me and I would be farther in Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's not.

What to Buy a 12-Year-Old Boy for Christmas?

This was the hardest question Nathan and I had to answer today.

We considered all of the following...

-The Simpson's Movie

-a rock'n'roll CD (which brought to mind a whole new plethora of questions like, Will he like this? Is this appropriate? Will his parents approve? Is a country CD a better idea?)

-Guiness Book of World Records 2008: The Glow-In-The-Dark Edition

-The Book of Drinking Games (oh wait, that was for somebody else)

-A 50's pin-up girl's calendar and a 50's pin-up girl's book (Since we kept seeing these items in Barnes and Noble, Nathan thought maybe it was a sign that we were supposed to do something about it. I quickly reminded him that Austin does not, nor will he ever, think about girls that way!)

What we finally decided on...

-A gift certificate to Suncoast

Hopefully, that will make everybody happy. And if he uses it to purchase something that upsets his parents, he's on his own!


Reading Lolita in Tehran update: page 179

Awww!

To conclude my day at work, I covered class for a teacher who left early for Christmas break. This involved the ever-chaotic task of monitoring the behavior, volume, and safety of children nursing sugar-induced highs during the "holiday" party- one of the few tasks I don't miss about being a classroom teacher.

In a classroom littered with cookie crumbs and soda cans, a crowd of students were gathered around two glove-wearing fourth graders competing to see who could open the peppermint candy wrapper the fastest. A lone fourth grader sat to the side at an empty table. I went to sit next to him while the other children were loudly cheering.

The boy turns to me and says, "I haven't had a lot of fun in my life since I became a Jehovah's Witness."

Are You Smarter Than a Fourth Grader?

Today, a teacher had a chart on the overhead comparing the snowfall in two cities- Louisville, Kentucky and Portland, Maine. She was working with the students on how to use a chart to answer questions. She's in the middle of the lesson when I enter the room.

"So, how does that compare to the snowfall in Louisiana, Texas?" she asks. "Oh, I'm sorry, I mean Louisiana, Kentucky."

Over the next couple of minutes, she referred to the city of Louisville as 'Lewisville' (two times) and as 'Loozyville.'

Never once did she say the name of the city correctly.

Quote of the Day

Today was the second day of training on two Language Arts programs that my district will pilot after the holiday break. One of the trainers was discussing the importance of vocabulary instruction. She used the following example to illustrate her point- that children get excited about new words.

"I'll always remember when a boy in my class came to me so excited because the weather man on the news the night before had used the word 'omnious'."

At my table, the five of us looked at one another, a little confused. She continued her story.

"Guess what, Mrs. J?" she said (telling us what the boy had said to her). "Last night, ___(insert weather man's name here)____ on the news said that the weather was omnious!"

At my table the smirking begins. She continues...

"He was so excited about the word omnious and now he'll never forget what omnious means. That's why it's so important to interact with your kids using the vocabulary you are trying to teach them."

By the FOURTH time she used the word incorrectly, the literacy coaches and administrators at my table were desperately trying to avoid eye contact with one another and we were barely hiding our chortling (another shout out to the free rice vocabulary website)!

The fog of ignorance settling over that room was quite ominous!

Reading

I enjoy reading and I just love books. Most of the time, I think these are nice qualities about myself.

I am part of a book club through my church. We have read some terrific books in this club and (even though I am younger than any other participant by 20 years) I enjoy the discussions about the books and like to think that I can offer a more youthful perspective. I do wish we served snacks, though.

The last book we read (or are still reading, as the case may be) is Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi. The book is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and it's a book about books. What's not to like, right?

Wrong.

Reading this book has been tedious and laborious. (See, the free rice vocabulary website is paying off!)

Unfortunately, because of the not-so-great quality of my personality that feels obligated to finish a book once I have started (even though the book club meeting has passed), I may waste some of my precious holiday vacation finishing it.

My New Favorite Website

I have to admit that I stole this from another blog, but I think it is pretty awesome! If you are a vocabulary buff like I am, you may become addicted... all while contributing to the fight to end world hunger. What could be better?
www.freerice.com

Quote of the Day

"My last name is Bunny Foo Foo Tomato Bones Blasco Cat!" -a kindergartner (breaking the silence in the middle of her test)

A Saturday in the Life of Chloey, the Cat

Early in the day...

A little later...



Even later...



The next day (Sunday), Chloey decided to add a little excitement to her routine... she spent the day in the other box.

We've Been Elfed!

If you have some spare time, you should try getting elfed! It's the most fun Nathan and I have had in a long time!

Testing

With a blog title like that, many of my teacher friends out there might find an involuntary shudder run quickly down their backs. While I could go on and on (and on) about testing in schools today, that's not what this blog entry is about. Yes, I have been spending this week (with 4 other teachers) testing every single child in the elementary school, and the monotony of the task is broken only by the absolute individuality and beauty of each child.

As I walk the students up and down the halls, I ask them about reading (surprise, surprise). I ask them if they like to read, if they think they are good readers, and what they like to read about. I couldn't resist sharing the responses.

"What do you like to read about?" (to any number of first graders)

"A lake, a cat, a dog, a table, a cup, and a bug."

"Ducks and spiders."

"Stuff in the lake... oh, and monsters."

"Dinosaurs that lived here a long time ago, and Christmas and Halloween."

"Cats, dogs, monkeys, and bears."

"Snowmans."

"The cookie ones."

"Dogs and cats, bats and frogs, foxes, vampires, kids, camping, dinosaurs, birds, owls, foxes, wolves, snowmen, school...." (I had to stop this poor first grader before he listed the topic of every book in his classroom!)

"I like to read books that are not hard, and books that I can read- the ones that are easy." (Amen.)

Sometimes I REALLY wish I taught first grade!

The Fruits of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
-Galatians 5:22

Last night I spent some time making Christmas presents. As I was settling in to bed, I was thinking about the people I had made the gifts for and how they each seem to strongly reflect a fruit of the Spirit. I began thinking about many of my friends and how one fruit in particular seems to radiate from their personality. I would like to share the fruits that I think are strongly represented in my friends.

Tammy: Patience
Tammy has waited longer than anybody I have met and, while I'm sure she struggles in her wait, she somehow always stays positive.

Nathan: Kindness
Nathan is the kindest person I have ever met. He does whatever he can to make people feel good about themselves and he never has a mean thing to say about anybody.

Dede: Faithfulness
Dede lives her life by the values she holds. She doesn't make excuses and she is loyal to those she cares for.

Ramona: Joy
No matter what struggles she is faced with, Ramona will always find the joy in a situation. She looks for beauty and sees it everywhere.

Anne: Gentleness
Anne's courteous and kind character gives people a sense of peace and calm when they are with her. Even her voice is serene. And, you can feel the gentleness in her hands when she finishes your haircut with a light back rub!

Shera: Goodness
Shera is a good person! Her character shows her goodness. She is kind to people and is an amazing listener. She is the person I always turn to for moral advice as she seems to have an innate knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. And she knows what to do about it and isn't afraid to do it, even when it's difficult. (Remember CSAP?)

Lindsay: Peace
Lindsay is the peacemaker in our family! She can objectively see everybody's side of a situation and stays friends with us all, even when we disagree. She is happiest when we are happily together as a family.

Dad: Self Control
My dad has more self control than anybody. For years, he has worked nights at a hospital, sleeping during the day when others are awake. He is an avid runner (even at his age!). Despite having lost almost all of his hair, he has never resorted to a combover! And, as if that isn't enough, he was the only man living in a home with five women for years and years!

Lauren: Love
Lauren is such a loving person. She has welcomed me to her family and has never been anything but excited about having me marry her brother. She has always shown unwavering kindness and understanding as I have searched out my place in her family. I have seen her show love and forgiveness to her friends, and she is never afraid to express her love for others!

Snow!