Jo’s BJU Approved Blog

Starbucks Java Chip Icecream is pretty much one of the best things ever. Just thought you should know. Monday it is back on the diet wagon for me. I just thought I would be immature and binge tonight b/c it is my last chance for good food until Christmas time.

[Jess is reading and listening to music as Luke walks in and takes a sledgehammer out of the closet. He walks across the room and swings the sledgehammer through the wall, then hands it to Jess.]

“LUKE: That’s your room. Finish up. We’ll hold hands and skip afterwards”

Lorelai: Uhh… so let’s get back to the party recap. Any little details you want to tell mommy?
Rory: Jess and Dean got into the fight.
Lorelai: Over you?
Rory: I was a contributing factor.
Lorelai: Was anyone hurt?
Rory: no
Lorelai: And that’s why the cops came and broke up the party.
Rory: yes
Lorelai: Not only did you go to a cop raided party, but you started the raid.
Rory: yes
Lorelai: This fence is broken because of you, this crap is on the ground because of you.
Rory: So what’s your point.
Lorelai: (singing) Did you ever know that you’re my hero?

Lorelai: Hey, you didn’t wake me up.
Rory: I set the clock.
Lorelai: Yes, but see, the clock stops ringing once I throw it against the wall giving me ample time to fall back to sleep. You, however, never stop yapping no matter how hard I throw you, thus insuring the wake up process

“I know I’ve always dreamed that some day a guy would buy me a really confusing Czechoslovakian novel.”
-Lane to Rory

Hey has anyone else noticed how parents are so quick to take credit for their children’s good behavior, but anything negative done by their children obviously must have been picked up from another source? Just a pet-peeve of mine.

“I gave you the Lincoln Logs, You gotta build the cabin.”
–Luke to Kirk

11Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.

12I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

13For great is your steadfast love toward me;

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

This article (Cadaver exhibit) came out a few days ago, but I didn’t get around to reading it until this morning. It just doesn’t seem right to me. For example:
Board members were concerned it would not show the proper respect for the bodies, which are preserved and displayed in poses with titles like “Running Man” and “Soccer Player.”

I would tend to agree with them. I am all about science and education and everything, but doesn’t there have to be a more appropriate way?

(VBS kids)

Saturday I went out to dinner with friends and then we went to Longwood Gardens. I had a lot of fun. It was nice to finally get out and do something. I’ve been going crazy stuck at home. I’ll be back at school soon enough. I fly back this weekend coming up. Yea! I’ll get to see Conley and Sarah V. and Cacie and all my campus store pals again. After the gardens we went back to their house and watched Remember the Titans.
My brother Tim got back from St. Lucia
Saturday evening so I met him back at church after the movie. He was already complaining about how cold the weather is. He cracks me up. He definitely fell in love with the Carribean. Who wouldn’t? He’s always cold so he loved the weather. Obviously it wasn’t as cool as China, but I mean what is? Ok, maybe not.

Sunday night I presented a Powerpoint of my China trip and gave a report to my grandmother’s church. They supported me so they asked me to come back and let them know how it went. My brother also talked about his trip to St. Lucia, and my sister had the opportunity to talk about her summer ministry as well. I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I was talking at my church. It is a lot more laid back at my grandmother’s church. We had to come back after church b/c my brother has to work in the morning. I went to say goodbye to my cousins before I left and got stuck up at the house for a while so we didn’t get out til almost 10. I was tired but I had a Full Throttle drink in the car and now I am wide awake. Lucky you my faithful readers.

Proverbs19:21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

When you’re not blond and thin, you come up with a personality real quick.
-Kathy Najimy

I was playing the piano today because I was really bored and starting to get depressed, and I came across this song that my grandparent’s pastor had sung while my family was at the height of our struggle with the family’s health problems. It had been such an encouragement at the time; and although it made me sad thinking back to that time, it also made me so thankful to see how God gave us the strength to get through that hard time in our lives.

“I Will Trust When I Cannot See”
J.W.P
When I cannot understand God’s leading,
When I do not know the reason why
He should choose the path that lies before me,
Still to Him in faith I can reply:

I will trust when I cannot see,
When I’m faced with adversity,
And believe Your will is always best for me–
I will trust when I cannot see.

When I feel the sting of disappointment
And my dreams lie crumbled in the dust,
When my best adds up to loss and failure
And the things that happen seem unjust:

I will trust when I cannot see,
When I’m faced with adversity,
And believe Your will is always best for me–
I will trust when I cannot see.

When I face the furnace of affliction
And the pain seems more than I can bear,
When I think it strange–this fiery trial–
Still I’ll tell my blessed Lord in prayer:

I will trust when I cannot see,
When I’m faced with adversity,
And believe Your will is always best for me–
I will trust when I cannot see.

“As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances. How depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had begotten it, it would wait upon Him as the flowers wait upon the dew. ” Charles Spurgeon from Morning and Evening

“God’s answers are wiser than our prayers.”
–Unknown

Today we had the kids go around and say where they would go if they could go anywhere and tell us why. We had 4 say they would stay in China. One guy said that he would come visit me and Emily. An A+ for him. 2 girls wanted to go to Japan, some wanted to go to Australia, Korea, Germany, England, Hawaii, and Ireland. I thought it was interesting, and it gave them a chance to talk and for us to get to know them better. My favorite was Harry who wanted to go to another planet and start his own country.
(Harry and Chris)

In the afternoon I went to McDonalds with Julie, Missy, Bri, Anna, and Ruby (one of Lari’s students). We went to buy some DVDs after lunch. I bought Hitch (because apparently 3 times on the plane just wasn’t enough:) ), A Series of Unfortunate Events, Princess Diaries, Sixth Sense (I don’t care who doesn’t like it, it is still one of my favs), and I Am Sam. We had a debriefing meeting with Mr. Trainer in the evening. I enjoyed it. I know I haven’t even left yet, but I can’t wait to come back to China. He hopes to have 15 return from Northland.

Sidenote: I’ve been trying to find semi-interesting journal entries to post, but have had no luck. I know you are probably thinking did she think the other ones she posted were interesting? I know it was hard to tell, but some of the rest of my journal entries are pretty mind-numbing. I was very tired by the time I wrote most of these at night. This one was ok comparatively.

Today we talked about Indians, tv, Thanksgiving, and more about their speeches. I got to talk about Gilmore Girls. Fun times…Everyone should know about Gilmore Girls. I also talked with some of the kids about Law & Order and CSI. I was glad we finally got around to discussing something important in class. We have 6 hours of class today, so we showed Finding Nemo in our afternoon session. We had them write down words and phrases that they didn’t know. Not many of them wrote anything down, so Emily and I ended up writing down things that we thought they wouldn’t know. Emily was funny b/c she hadn’t seen it before so she was reacting to stuff and the kids thought it was hillarious. Some of them talked a lot through the beginning of the movie, but most of them got into the movie eventually. My favorite phrase from Nemo that we taught the kids was “You want a piece of me?” And they thought movie watching wasn’t educational. That phrase alone will bring them great success in business.

For dinner, Emily and I tried a new place the Vanilla Sky Cafe. We had fun, but I don’t think I’m going to be a repeat visitor there. The place smelled like a garage. After dinner we went to a different coffee place. This one was called Good Wood. It was a nicer place so obviously the coffee was more expensive. I’m going to stick with the Beanery. We were trying to find someplace that was open before classes, but we’ve had no luck. The earliest a cafe opens is 9am. I think that is really strange. I miss my morning coffee Pete’s is open for breakfast, but I swear they use Maxwell House or something. I’m not a big fan of their coffee. Not enough to get up and walk all the way there.

I was surprised to see the joining of these two.

Excerpt: In a move that sent shockwaves throughout the evangelical and fast-food industries, Rick Warren announced Sunday from his Saddleback pulpit that beloved hamburger entrepreneur Ronald McDonald has “signed on” to help with Warren’s global PEACE Plan. “Ron’s progressive vision has been a great inspiration to me and Kay,” said Warren, “and we are just thrilled to have this clown helping us lead the Church into the Second Reformation.”

PEACE is the acronym that stands for Warren’s five-point global plan to: Plant churches, Equip leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick, and Educate the next generation. According to Warren, McDonald has the perfect leadership experience to help Christians tackle these five objectives because the hamburger chain has already successfully completed most of these biblical goals. Explained Warren, “Not only has Ron planted a franchise on almost every street corner in the world, but he has also trained millions of teenage geeks to be shift leaders, given affordable Value Meals to the poor, created the Ronald McDonald House for sick kids, and educated millions of Americans on the dangers of a high-fat diet. What’s not to like about this guy? He even dresses funnier than me.”

Read the article here.

I’m assuming that it is a joke, but I don’t know who started it or why.

Congratulations to my buddy Heather and her fiance Matt.
I saw this relationship coming for a long time even amidst all the denial.

Heather’s story:
Matt and I knew that we wanted to get married next summer, so I figured that we would get engaged at some point before that. Beyond that, I knew nothing. I kind of hoped it would be this summer, but I “knew” that there was no way he could talk to my dad in person so it wasn’t going to happen. Matt and I have been about 4 1/2 hours away from each other all summer, so we’ve been able to see eachother a couple of times. He told me he was coming to see me this weekend, which was exciting, but I didn’t expect anything. However, without me knowing he came down on Thursday and met with my dad who happened to be in town. Everybody did a very good job of keeping the secret. So, on Friday night he got here and we went to a park. We were just hanging out, playing on the playground, and walking around talking.Then he pulled his guitar out of the car and we sat on a bench and he started singing to me. He sang a couple of common love songs, and then he started singing a song that he had written. At the end of the song, this guy is proposing to a girl and he’s all nervous because he doesn’t know what she will say (by this time, I had caught on because he was starting to sound really shaky and nervous), So, he finishes and says “The only problem is the song doesn’t tell us whether or not she said yes……maybe you can fix that.” And that’s when he got down on one knee and proposed and I said yes.

So I finally was able to eat an entire day of meals without having any issues. That was a pleasant surprise. Now if I could just sleep at normal times. I pulled another going to bed at 7pm last night. I just could not stay awake. I’m pulling out the caffeine pills again today.