Life isn't very "shiny" right now. It's not horrible; there is just a dullness to it. I'm not sure what makes it that way. Perhaps falling into the routine of school once again, trying Weight Watchers, and knowing that life is waiting for me out there if I could just make it through this year. (Where does Weight Watchers come in? I make it very limiting so that I don't run out of points, therefore not eating all the foods I love.) I have somehow come to another season of waiting in my life, and I always grow restless when that happens. I think the difference this time, however, is the knowledge that I am about to step out of a covering that I've had since I was five. School will no longer be my main occupation, unless I am teaching it.

Although life has become rather "blah" to me, there are a few glimmers that get me through. Tonight, I baby-sat for a family that I've watched for seven years. After putting the two younger ones to bed, I waited, knowing that one of them would come to me with some sort of complaint or request. Sure enough, not five minutes later, the youngest found me.

"He won't stop making noises!"she complained.

"If you keep asking him to stop, then he will keep doing it because he knows it annoys you. If you ignore him, he will stop."

LONG PAUSE as she played with her stuffed puppy...

"Were you talking to me?" she asked finally.

"Yes, I was." I said, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, what did you say?"

I repeated what I had said the first time.

"But I'm not annoying him! He's annoying me!"she said, indignantly.

"I know. Ignore him and he will quit!" I replied, not sure how she could misunderstand me.

"...So you want me to annoy him?" she asked, confused.

"IGNORE HIM! Go to sleep!" I closed the door to her protests.

Maybe annoying him would have worked after all. 

The Impressionable First Day of History 133

I think this semester is going to be interesting. Having taken most of my required classes, I am now enjoying electives. I call them the Sunday drive classes (as of two seconds ago), and I aim to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the "ride."

One of my professors has already proven to be hilarious, something that I know helps me get through the hour. Apparently, it also helps him. :D Yesterday, we had the basic introduction class, sharing our names and their meanings. Surprisingly, over half of the class didn't even know what their name meant. I've known the meaning of my name since I was in fourth grade. I even know the meanings of the names of my future kids. (Granted, I've been called obsessed before.It comes with the territory, I suppose.)

My professor is from Sweden, as is his name. Calling on us to guess the meaning, and getting no response whatsoever, he informed us that the first part means "thunder" or "god of thunder" as in Thor. (See picture, above right.) The second part means "bear," creating the meaning...God of thunder bear! He is allowing us to call him Dr. God of thunder bear.

Dr. God of thunder bear called attendance: "Daniel."
Daniel: "Here, but I go by Danny."
Dr. GoTB: "Yes, but one day you will go by Daniel again."
Danny: "Um, okay."
Dr. GoTB: "No, when you have a job interview you will."
Danny: "Probably not, but okay."
Dr. GoTB: "I had this friend Bobby, who wasn't getting hired, so I told him he couldn't go by Bobby. He needed to go by Robert. He introduced himself as Robert, and he got the job!"
Danny: "Okay, I will tell them my name is Robert then."

Come to find out, we have a Bobby in our class...oops.

Setting a Goal...

I haven't written in a long time...on here, that is. Life has kept me busy in the past year. However, that is about to change. I am going to set a goal of writing so many times a week, just to keep in the habit of writing. Along with the normal blogging, I am hoping to start a book review system that a friend of mine wrote a blog about where I can read a book (sent to me for free) as long as I review it on here when I finish. Not too shabby, I'd say!

My number one goal of writing is to think thoughts "out loud" (or in this case, online) instead of just talking to myself while grocery shopping or browsing books and movies. I'm excited and can't wait to see what comes of this new endeavor. :)

Until I write again! (You didn't think I'd start today, did you?)

My Latest Inspiration...

I recently watched one of my favorite movies, You've Got Mail. Well, actually I watched it twice. I love the story- how innocent Meg Ryan is, the relationship between her and Tom Hanks, and the children's bookstore. I absolutely adore The Shop Around the Corner. 

It is this movie that has inspired me to do something I never thought I could do before. I love children's literature. If you asked me to list my favorite books (not just children's books), most would be children's lit or Juvenile Fiction. I've always loved reading, and children's books are just so much fun to read. Being an English major, I was able to take a class at Truman on children's lit. That combined with You've Got Mail and I have found a new career! I've never been so inspired by a movie. 

I would like to open a children's bookstore, just like The Shop Around the Corner. A place for kids to come listen to stories and play but to also be able to buy the books they love. I doubt it would soar in Kirksville, but I could see it in a city...as long as Fox Books isn't around the corner, a.k.a. Barnes and Noble. :) Just imagine me in that picture instead of Meg Ryan, wearing the princess hat. :)

If you have never seen You've Got Mail I definitely recommend it. It is adorable and funny. I think I might watch it again...

41st Family Reunion

Today I went to my 41st family reunion. It was different than years before...hardly anyone came. It is true that we have had some deaths in the past year, but each year there are less and less people. It is rather sad. Normally, I say that it could be my last year, that I might not go anymore. I mean, I made it to 41, right? (I've had that many because my mom's family has two in June every year on both of her parents' sides. I've never missed one.) I even said it this year.

I was wrong. I, along with my three of my cousins, volunteered to be in charge of it next year. I knew it would be some responsibility, and I love administrating things, so it should be fun. This also means that I will be attending next year. I am also somewhat in charge of it. Wow...it is still sinking in. The thing is, if no one volunteers next year to organize it, we might be doing it for a loooong time. We are just taking one year at a time though :) I am excited because our plan is to recreate the reunions we had when we were little. Those are some of our best memories. We want our little cousins to have the same opportunity to have those memories. It should be fun. My aunts, mom, and grandma have been really supportive and helpful...in the six hours since we decided to do it :)

Of course, now I have to post a cute story...Nelita, one of my second or third cousins (it confuses me) is six and says such cute things...Crystin, Heather, and I were sitting at a picnic table, talking, and she was just listening. Crystin mentioned needing to go to Wal-Mart, and Nelita said, with her a solemn face, "Low prices, live better, when you shop at Wal-Mart." Her grandma, my great aunt said that she regurgitates commercials all the time. We were laughing, and I asked her, "What about McDonalds?" She replied that they did not "have a motto." I sang the little "I'm lovin' it" jingle. The whole time, she was staring at me, very solemn. She literally stared at me for a full minute, and I was not sure what she was thinking...finally she said, "At Home Depot, you can do it, but they can help." I started cracking up. She then went on to tell us how she goes once a month, even this month, to a kids workshop. It was so cute. Her voice was animated, but her face was still solemn.

I hope I am not in way over my head on this! I think that for Nelita, Tia, my other cousins, and my grandma, it is all worth it. (Pray for me though!)

Always,

Me

Delight...not Turkish :)

I suppose I am to be considered a sporadic poster. I normally am too exhausted from work to do much on the internet. Sleep has become my best friend :)

Tonight, I had the sudden urge to post. I don't know if it is because I miss the feel of typing (and I mean real typing, not chatting typing) or if I just felt bad because I never keep up with my blogs. Either way, here I am, settling in to type an inspiring blog. Well, a blog anyways.

Lately, I have been really thinking about delight. I love that word. I love the way I feel when I think of that word. It is one of my favorite words. I love it even more when I add, "All my delight is in You, Lord." Those words bring such joy to my heart. I honestly can't help but smile a little and sigh when I say them, think them, type them.
What is so special about those seven words? For me, they hold such meaning and power. Obviously as the song, None But Jesus, says, "All my delight is in You, Lord. All of my hope. All of my strength." When I know that I am delighting in God, I have strength and I have hope. Those are two very important things to have while living in the world. I have to have hope and I have to be strong in the Lord. When I am delighting in Him, I have those two things. They are vital to my walk in Christ.
Those words have a depth to them, and it is easy to just breeze over them and not really understand how important it is to delight in the Lord. I have realized that I can say I am delighting in the Lord, and I might be, but I might also be delighting in something else. I am not delighting completely in God. It is easier then for me to get bogged down in life and feel a little hopeless and weak at times. When I am fully delighting in God though, and nothing else matters to me, I have such joy in life.
It's like in Psalm 37:4 when it says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." I used to read that and think, If I delight in Him, God will give me what I want." However, I had to see that really, when I am truly delighting in Him, His desires become my own. I don't have to worry about Him not giving me what I want. I want what He wants. How refreshing is that? I don't have to worry about it. I just have to love Him and seek Him. I am nowhere near perfection, but I have decided to give it my all and delight in God, without holding anything back.

I guess I should leave a little story here...today at work, one of the kids was bored, so I was kind of playing a game with him. I would puff up my cheeks and act like I couldn't breathe. I took his hand and had him "pop" my cheek by pushing on it. I released the air and thanked him before taking another gulp of air and puffing up again. All of a sudden, as I was expecting his little hand to push out the air, I see his fist come at my cheek and make contact on the bone. It happened so quickly I did not know what to do. The air went out of my cheeks in a WHOOSH. It hurt so much! He just laughed. He is six, and has not mastered common sense yet :)

Always,

Me

I am right...right?

So many times I have gone to post on here, but I just don't have the time or energy. Until now, that is. Well, I have a few minutes. My mom and I are going to see a movie, a rare treat these days!

This week I took Peter and Joel Liu to their childcare places while Kelly was in Connecticut. It was very interesting. Peter has always been somewhat intelligent, but lately he uses such grown-up sentences and words. I can't believe he is already 4. On Thursday, we were driving to his preschool, and he asked me if I knew Jon. He believes that I am a Shipman and constantly wants to go to "my" house. I told him I knew Jon, and that he was my friend.
He then asked, "What about your sisters?" I was confused at first, mistaking sisters for sister's, and thinking that he meant Katie's friends being my friends too. When I questioned him, he said, "Oh, I mean your brother....Zack? Oh, Zachary."
There was a pause and then from Peter, "Dude, did Zack get so tall because he kept eating a lot of food?"
"I think you probably right Peter."
"I am right." Such confidence from such a little boy!
"Peter, are you always right?"
"Yes."
"You're never ever wrong?"
"No. Are you ever ever wrong, Nikki?"
"Yes, Peter. I am wrong all the time. Jon is wrong sometimes, Matt is wrong sometimes, everyone is wrong sometimes."
"Oh. I'm not."

Thinking about this, I realize that SO many times, I have the same attitude. I am never wrong; it's everyone else. I put such confidence in myself that I even tell God that I am more right than He is. Okay, so I don't outright say, "God, You are so wrong!" I live that way though. I make decisions based on what I think it right instead of what really is right.

Thank goodness there are people out there who can bring light to my life...even if they are only four years old!