Call me a cop out…

Tim sent me this today, and I couldn’t agree more.

“Lastly, for those preachers who have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance in preparation to preach it on Sunday. Just give it some time. The thirst will remain that only Jesus can quench. So, we’ve still got work to do….until we see King Jesus and voting is done once and for all.”  –Mark Driscoll

Janine reminded me today how awesome it is that we get to vote.  So so true.  Hurray for democracy!

Moving Lessons Vol. 1 of many to follow

It’s only been 16 days but I feel like I’ve been away from home for a long time.  I’ve already missed a dear friend’s wedding and Asha looks startlingly different to me.  It would be a lie if I didn’t say that I didn’t have a complete meltdown already.  In fact, I think I have counted 3 (four if you count today’s literal meltdown when my classroom warmed up to a saunific 95 degrees).  It usually comes when I experience something unpleasant and foreign eg. being alone on a Saturday night at 9 pm.  My mind furiously draws a Venn Diagram – filling the 2 circles with excruciating detail leaving the middle section completely bare.  I have found that a good cry and a generous nap to follow is just the right remedy 🙂

All I can say is thank goodness for Tim.  I love that he can talk about my family, my San Marcos coworkers, my friends, and San Diego with me.  I appreciate that he doesn’t try to sell me on the bay area thing but listens, consoles, and eats with me.  I have never been so aware of how self-reliant I was living in San Diego.  Tim reminds me of how good it is to be needy with God.  I hate feeling clueless, lonely, and lost… but it’s almost totally worth it to experience how completely capable, loving, and lavish God is with me.

All over again

When I left San Marcos High School, I wondered if I could love another group the same.  (I wonder if parents feel like that when they are prego with their #2).  I’ll find out tomorrow :]

When Michael Scott hits too close to home

Watching this team win relay after race after race made me so happy.  So happy in fact that I would burst into song. Cue reggae music.  Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up it’s bobsled time!

Move over Mr. Scott, I am the new mayor of Inappropriate City.

To America’s Finest City (and her inhabitants)

Thank you for being the womb (or placenta as Shannon prefers), for every good thing in my life.  In this 372 square miles I found Jesus, my best friends, the wonder of the california burrito (that isn’t really in most of california), that flip flops as an acceptable form of footwear under any circumstances, blue skies, and my future husband!

Norcal you have big shoes to fill.  I am ready for your best shot.

I love summer

Last school year, when my friends would say “hey at least you have summers off!” it would raise my core temeprature 2 degrees.  In my best bratty teenage girl voice, I’d scream in my head YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW.  Little did I know, I’M the one that doesn’t even know.  This summer stuff is fantastic.  Some of the perks I experience every day include (but are not limited to)

1. Hanging out with Tim as we are both unemployed.
2. Enjoying time with the family – namely Phoebe.  Now that Ernest is gone, she is forced to love me.  I know my efforts have paid off because this past weekend she let me by her a pink dress, a pink halter top, and a denim mini skirt.  I don’t have 2 younger brothers anymore!
3. Practicing my drifting on Mario Kart
4. Planning my wedding… or not planning my wedding (there’s just so much time!!)
5. Seeing friends
6. Getting a chance to breathe
7. Spending time with Jesus in the middle of the day
8. Not lesson planning

But all good things have to end.  It’s so surreal that I’m leaving San Diego in August.  Depending on what I’m thinking about, I’m excited, anxious, sad, hopeful, nostalgic, and grateful for this move.  One thing is clear – God is making a way for me.  I still can’t believe I have a job in the thick of an educational budget crisis with a school that I can get excited about.  Times like this, I’m reminded that being anxious is so dumb.  And as cheesy Christian bookmarky Proverbs 3:5-6 is, every word of it is completely tried and true.

Excel Awards 2008

Anybody knows that teachers are the world’s most furtive kleptomaniacs.  They take ideas from other unsuspecting teachers and tinker, twiddle, and twitch to suit their needs.  With that said instead of being sneaky about it, I’m going to come straight out and say it.

I need your wedding planning files (.doc, .xls, .mdb)

Tim and I are willing to pay top dollar (read: buy you dinner) if choose to use your documents.  We figure, why reinvent the wheel? So go ahead!  Send them to candylam at gmail dot com.  You don’t have to be married to participate.  You don’t have to be organized to participate!

Looking forward to the submissions! (Thanks Yee for being the lonely only submission!)

New and Improved Version

[He said…]

We got to Gasworks Park (which I kept calling Waterworks… thank you monopoly) and right when we got there, Tim had to go to the bathroom. He had been complaining of a stomachache all day so a bathroom trip right when we got out of the car made complete sense. He was walking to the public restrooms with his man purse of a camera bag when I said “Hey Tim I can hold that for you!” “It’s okay, I got it.” I insisted some more and made some statement about the cleanliness of public restrooms and he walked straight in camera bag in tote. Weird. Tim is usually more than eager to let me carry his gear for him when I offer. I thought about it for some more and then I realized why he took the bag with him. GUYS PEE STANDING UP!!! Of course! No wonder it’s no big deal to carry a shoulder bag. By the time Tim came out I was feeling so smug with my own brilliance I could’ve made Paris Hilton seem insecure.

The park was more beautiful than I could’ve imagined. Little grassy knolls overlooked the Seattle skyline… People were lying on the grass picnicking… In the middle of the park was this huge exhauster-compressor where kids can play and climb on old machines. Tim takes out the camera and starts to take some pictures while accidentally leaving me alone with his camera bag. I had left my purse in the car so in my boredom I started looking through his camera bag instead. I opened the first pouch where I knew the memory cards were and before I knew it Tim came over and snatched it out of my hand. I think he caught himself snatching so he muttered something about how the memory card holder holds memory cards and how there’s only 3 because his friend borrowed one of his cards. He suggests that we go over by the water and so I follow quickly putting to rest the weird awkward snatching incident.

Once we sat down we talk about some random things. Sometime during a lull in the conversation Tim goes “Can I tell you something?” We say this to each other whenever we want to switch the subject so I follow the norm and say “Of course! What’s up.” Tim explains that 2 years ago he had journaled about taking me to Ray’s and then to this park. He then says, “I thought it would’ve been cool if I could’ve proposed to you here.” The way he said this made it seem like he was bummed that it was just shy of a perfect day. So I took the cue and started telling him how happy I was that we got to be in Seattle together and how in many ways this day was perfect already. He agrees and we just sit there for maybe 30 seconds… and then he says, “actually, there’s something else.” Tim then starts reaching behind him to unzip his camera bag and delivers the trifecta…

Candy I love you,
I want to spend the rest of my life with you,
Will you marry me?

To which I say

OH MY GOSH… YES!!! (I think I may have even yelled it. Woops)

‘We hug, I think to myself “I should cry…” But I couldn’t so I just laughed uncontrollably. Before I knew it, my left ring finger weighted significantly more due to some carbon and platinum getting on it. Oh yeah, icing on the cake, a kayaker rowed by and yelled “Congratulations!”

I couldn’t have loved a better proposal.

And to make it all official (cuz it ain’t real unless it’s on Facebook…)

Yes, I’d like to confirm 🙂

Month Nine

Dear Class,

I can’t believe our time is almost over. I mean you thought you were the only ones staring at the clock and counting down the days.. Long before the summer, your teachers started counting down the days. We (really one teacher) actually made separate calendars in the staff lounge – one for counting days left, the other one counting teaching days left (which are 11 and 8 respectively). We love you. Really.

Most of you just finished your first round of testing! I’m so proud of you! I don’t know if I could sit through 3 weeks of star testing now. Of course I didn’t tell you that lest you start a coup and stab me repeatedly with freshly sharpened No. 2 pencils. I remember watching you sit still for hours while you were subjected to inane questions like how many ATP’s are made from one molecule of glucose, and thinking, “I can’t believe they’re really going to take this test even though it doesn’t count!!” It made me smile just for a little bit.

Many things happened this month that rocked my heart – first the cyclone, then the earthquake and the very silver (more like platinum) lining of all of this – my engagement to the love of my life. As I stood in front of you and told you stories of these events, you listened with such attentiveness I swear someone could’ve dropped an elephant next to you and you wouldn’t have even flinched. As you sat there in stunned silence, I got the sense that you weren’t simply listening, but I was being heard. This whole year I’ve been trying to get to know you. I want to know how formal went, how you picked your dress for your quince, and why you are so sleepy today… I thought that knowing you would give me an in with you. Who knew that letting you know me would do the same.

Thanks again for another lesson I would never have learned in my credential program. I never want to stop learning from you.

Call me unpatriotic…

But my rebate check economic stimulus package is going straight into my checking account. It’ll be my gas money for May.