2/13/2012

I got up at about 6:45 and made sure pancakes were ready for the family when they woke up. Jenny, of course, was already awake, doing her study thing that she does. The boys were down at 7:00 sharp and we all had breakfast together.

Jenny has MOPS on Mondays, so she brought the boys to church with her while I studied Chinese and read. I'm reading Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright. I'm not far in the book yet, but I can tell it's going to be good.

After nap time, we played a little game where I hid under the comforter and attempted to consume all children and then regurgitate them. It was pretty intense. I feel like I won, though no official winner was determined.

Later, Levi and I did some of his homeschool/preschool work.

I got a call asking if I could come in and do some para sub work over at the Chinese immersion school. This will be my fourth day there since last week. I've loved working there and having a day filled with Chinese! Oh. I guess I never mentioned that I'm doing that kind of work. I've been helping out at Scenic Heights Elementary School in Minnetonka. I help out in their Chinese immersion classes. So far I've worked with Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. It's been absolutely wonderful to work there. I'll share more as time goes on.

2/12/2012

It's been a while!

I made Jenny some eggs for breakfast. I thought they looked like they were dug out of the garbage can, but Jenny insisted they were good. I guess we'll never know the truth.

I went to see "Safe House" with Aaron and Ron. It was a pretty good movie! Denzel is quite the actor.

We had some Culver's for lunch and when I got back, I took over watching the boys so Jenny and my mom could go see "The Vow". Since I "vowed" to not see it (har har), my mom was gracious to take Jenny.

I studied a lot of Chinese today. I'm trying my best to speak it at home with the boys. Oh, on that note: We are getting Levi into a Chinese immersion kindergarten. We are very, VERY excited about it. It'll be the most familiar type of school to him, since he's spent most school time in China.

Levi and I did some homeschooling for a solid hour and a half or something like that. Today he was learning about liquids and gases and how to figure out which is which and also about police men i.e. what their role is in our society. It was hard explaining how police dogs chase people down yet aren't the ones that take the crooks to jail.

We finished up with some dinner and bed!

Worship

Woke up this morning and did our normal routine.


We went to church then after that we came home for lunch and naps all around. (Except for Jenny - she's been studying like crazy!) Her writing class is taking up a lot of her time.


Oh, one note on my schooling situation as well: I spoke with two Chinese teachers who both recommended I start out at the highest level Chinese class they offer at the University of Minnesota. That's a bit daunting, but I'm VERY excited about it. I'm just double checking at the moment to see if that specific Chinese degree will satisfy whatever language requirements school districts require if I were to apply as a Chinese teacher in the future. If the degree will hold up and get me a teaching job, I'll be enrolled this fall! I'm starting with my major i.e. Chinese, then when I finish that, I'll plow through my general ed classes online. I think I'll have around a year (?) of Chinese. I'm told I'll get credit for the other couple years I'm skipping, which is nice.


I worked out today. ChaLean Extreme Burn Circuit 3. Brutal! They are good shoulder and leg workouts though!


These days I'm reading a few books. I'm reading through PUSH by Chalene Johnson, Simply Christian by N.T. Wright, and re-reading Love Wins by Rob Bell.


Today I was reading Simply Christian and wanted to share something N.T. (can I call you N.T? Thanks) said in his chapter on Worship.

One of the main reasons theology (trying to think straight about who God is) matters is that we are called to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It matters that we learn more about who God is so that we can praise him more appropriately.

 I believe so many people don't worship God because they are told by others that God is their enemy (unless they believe 100% what that person believes). Would you worship your enemy? Doesn't make sense. If only people knew who God truly was and how he really feels about his children.


I'm guessing with the rest of the day, we'll be watching the Packers/Giants game and will sleep at 8pm. We don't sleep like grandparents these days. We sleep like our grandparents' grandparents!