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Tuesday, November 16, 2004
There IS enough love to go around! (Not enough time, I'm afraid...) Well, I set up a new blog, just for the fun of it, during my ed tech class. It's new! It's exciting! It's www.papua2.blogspot.com. Yah, so original, I know. What can I do? I don't have time to be original anymore. But check it out, won't you?
That's all, have a great Tuesday.
Posted at 12:27 pm by PapuanPrincess
Saturday, October 09, 2004
The wonderful world of outdoor school
Outdoor School in three words: stretching, tiring, and going back next year! It was a blast! Or maybe a whirlwind... it went by so quickly! I absolutely LOVED being thrown into a new position and having to learn to deal with my nine girls. I've never been in any situation like it, where these girls were responsible directly to me (and I was directly responsible for them). I was their first level of authority, and I was the first to hear and deal with their problems. The weight of the responsibility hit me most each night when I while I was laying awake in our cabin listening to them sleep. Actually, they were close to angels the whole week (especially compared to other cabins!!). The worst problems we had were homesick epidemics that kept us up late. We did get them under control, though, and none of my girls went home early! One of the highlights of my week was Whitney, the most homesick, unparticipating, and negative of them all, clinging to me as we walked out to the buses on Friday. "Now that it's over I don't want to go! I'll miss you so much, Buttercup!" It was precious. Of course, they were sixth graders, so we had our share of dabbling our toes into the grown-up world... make up (supposedly forbidden at Outdoor school), boys (me attempting to convince my girls that relationships in sixth grade aren't worth the effort) and getting the "perfect" outfit together (I got tired of telling one girl "you look fine! now let's go!"). It was difficult getting them to the right places at the right times, but nothing too serious. They listened to and respected me surprisingly well, and that made the week go smoothly. One thing Curly (the director of the program) said that caught my attention was that the cabin counselors had to act as parents with out having very much training or practice. So, in light of that, I thank God for the great week of fun and learning I had with my nine girls, and I pray that I gave each girl the attention and love that she needed. I miss them a lot. Last night I put myself to sleep by repeating outloud all the things I had said to them all week... "Cianna, get your shoes on, and let's go!" "Alright girls, 1 minute left in the showers!" "Meet me at our 'magic spot' when you're done and we'll all go to the cabin together." "Girls, I'm turing off the light in 12 minutes!" "Yes, you can go, but take someone with you" and of course... "I said aboom- chica- boom!..."
Give my love to the middle schooler that's still inside of you. ;)
Buttercup
Posted at 08:23 pm by PapuanPrincess
Sunday, August 08, 2004
It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon... I'm sitting here scarfing down Cheetos and listening to Jaci Velasquez because no one is home, and I can eat and listen to whatever I want. I took the bus home from church because Ronda was going straight to her Growth Group. DowntownPortland is at its best on summer Sundays. I passed the Saturday market (a holiday for the senses) and crossed over the sparkling Willamette river. I got off a stop early downtown and stolled down the sidewalk, basking in the sun and thoroughly enjoying the lack of time pressure.
I really wanted to write about yesterday, though. Yesterday I got an awsome opportunity from God to talk to two guys at work about what I believe. We didn't get into theology, but hit on almost every ethical topic possible. (One exception being homosexuality, but that was probably because we ran out of time ;-)). Rob (a 22 year old ThirdCultureKid going to Lewis and Clark) started the conversation by saying, "So what's the difference between Presbyterians and Baptists?" Innocent enough to begin... but he kept asking more and more questions about ethical topics, explaning that he was just
"picking my brain." We discussed evolution, God's plan for humanity, "religious" wars, the war with Iraq,the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, forgiveness, the death penalty, marriage, premarital sex, abortion, divorce, and had started the topic of God "punishing" people with birth defects when the garden manager came back from lunch...:-S I wasn't able to go into huge depth on any one of these because he kept asking more questions, but I know many of my answers surprised them. The fact that I don't believe in evolution was one...Their defense being, "But humans and apes are the same species!", another was that I was completely opposed to abortion..."even if you were raped you would keep the baby?!?"...and my adamant, "Of course!"...and the ensuing sermon on the value of human life. They attemped to persuade each other that my opinion on contraception/abortion didn't count because of my stand on premarital sex... (just cuz I don't have to worry about getting my girlfriend pregnant like them??) The other guy talking with us, Justin, is only 20 and is living with his girlfriend right now. Justin and I talk a lot while we work and he found out on Monday, through random circumstances, that I've never even kissed a boy... he was naturally quite shocked, but I got to talk to him about my views and
standards on love-marriage-physical relationships without making it a religious issue. LOL well that was like the warm up for Saturday's discussion. He so thoughtfully brought up the kissing issue again while we were talking to Rob, so they both got a good laugh out of that. That's what started the idea that my opinion doesn't count. :P I felt I made some good points on evolution and could have gone on for a while on the "punishment" issue, but I'm very thankful that I was able to get in as much as I did. It was a really good experience; I felt confident in expressing my views, and I didn't feel like they were attacking me, but really just asking what I believed.
After we ended I prayed God would use my inadequate words and answers, and keep them thinking about what we talked about. The awsome part about it is that I don't have to worry at all about if what I said was "right" or not because God will use it anyway! It's an amazing feeling, knowing that God used me to reach Rob and Justin, but ultimately He's still the one in charge, and He's got the master plan for those guys. Go, God!!
You might keep Rob and Justin in your prayers, and me as well, as I keep up my witness for the next thirteen (w00t!!) days.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations. Ephesians 3:20-21
Posted at 03:59 pm by PapuanPrincess
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Quick update.... I finished Gaudy Night, and proceeded to borrow and read Busman's Honeymoon and Thrones, Dominations, which continue the Lord Peter/Harriet Vane mysteries. SO good! SO recommended! Dorothy Sayers is brilliant.
I'm afraid this is all I can do with such short notice. ;) I would love to blog about being a new orphan and the lessons I've learned this summer, however this must do for the present.
Books I've read this summer:
Ivanhoe
The Harvester
Anne of Green Gables
Treasure Island
Robinson Crusoe
Currently Reading:
Gaudy Night (A Lord Peter Wimsey book by Dorothy L. Sayers, and highly recommended!!)
Honestly, all my books are highly recommended. Each author builds his or her unique characters, forms fascinating plots (whether plots of everyday life or plots wildly unprobable and romantic) and brings the tale to a perfect close that seems to make it the best story ever written. This is one summer goal that I feel I have succeeded in: reading lots and lots!! Strangely enough, I haven't read one Jane Austen this summer. Thanks for reading my advertisement! Leave me a note about what you've been reading!!
Posted at 12:24 am by PapuanPrincess
Friday, June 25, 2004
I thought it was a pound of coffee and a Fish mug!!
I had a really cool thing happen to me today. I got air time on 104.1 "The Fish- the one Portland radio station that's safe for the whole family." Yup, the very same.
This morning, while getting ready for work, I was listening to the radio, as I do every morning. My sister had poked her head in my room at 6:50 to say bye (for the whole weekend! she's attending a wedding in Seattle :-( ). At 7:00 I forced myself to put my feet on the ground and to sit up. For the next several minutes I readied myself for the day, turning on three radios throughout the house as I did. Wow this is going to be much too long, I see. Skip to 7:25.
The radio peeps give the morning question dealie, right? They start by saying, "Name the person who said this at a famous commencement speech." As I'm sitting on my bed I say outloud "Winston Churchill." Because we all know his famous commencement speech... "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." Then he sat down. Considering the man this came from, it was a very, very profound speech.
BUT! That was not the quote. Instead it went something like this. "... and some day one of you may be in my position, taking care of the President of the United States. And when that day comes, I wish him a lot of luck..." (implying that the President will be a woman and the speaker is adressing the "first husband.") This speech and the story behind it were in my speech text book last semester. It's a fascinating story. It goes like this... A big liberal school like Standford had asked an important person to speak at commencement. That person, being unable to accept the invitation, was replaced with the second choice- Barbara Bush. Many students were unhappy about this, thinking she advocated a dutiful wife/support role instead of the independent woman type the school was looking to breed. So Barbara Bush was facing a very difficult situation. She used the idea above to communicate that she believed women could be "president" and men could be "first lady" in today's society. In the end, the graduates and the audience were won over to Mrs. Bush.
But back to MY story. So as soon as he began quoting her, I knew that the answer was Barbara Bush! At the end of the quote the announcer gave the phone numbers, and I called in as quickly as I could. The call did not go through. So I unplugged my internet and plugged in my phone. =S I got a busy signal several times, but finally someone answered!! My hands were shaking and I couldn't stop pacing. He said...
"Hi! The Fish... what's your answer?" and I replied...
"Barbara Bush!" Suddenly the show hosts were talking to me! They said,
"Hi, what's your name?" I said,
"um.. Rachel!" Again they asked,
"Who said this quote?" and again I replied
"Barbara Bush!" Then it was,
"The person before you guessed the wrong Bush." So I said...
" um.. okay.. does that mean I won??" (because they did not make it quite clear.) And they said
"Yah! You won!" All I could get out was
"Score!!" and they woman said
"You're going to the rodeo!!" I said
"Nice!"
Then my mind did a double take and I thought...
"What rodeo? When rodeo?? Why rodeo? Do I want to go to a rodeo??" I had completetly forgotten that I was to win a prize. But by that time a nice lady was taking my name and adress and phone number and telling me when I could pickup my tickets.... and so I said...
"um, when is the rodeo?" And she said
"Fourth of July." And I said,
"Oh." and then
"How many tickets did I get?" And she said
"Five!" And I said,
"okay!Thanks!
Silly me... I didn't ask WHICH rodeo! Fortunately there's only ONE of any worth that takes place on the Fourth of July. (The lady also mentioned that there are fireworks... I think she got the clue that I didn't know what I was winning. ;-)) As soon as I hung up the phone I rushed to my room to turn the radio back up and as I entered I heard...
"Sorry, that's not quite right..." and I thought to myself,
"They haven't gottten to me yet!"
So I sat there on my bed, all alone, becoming increasingly late for work, and I listened to my voice on the radio say "Barbara Bush!"
P.S. Anyone for a rodeo? I've got connections! ;-)
Posted at 11:55 pm by PapuanPrincess
Monday, June 21, 2004
Doing pictures takes MUCH too long... and the product wasn't so great anyway. BAH. Oh well. Picture Blog
Have a good week! Posted at 09:06 pm by PapuanPrincess
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Working in the garden center of my hardware store has taught me...
Lobelia are NOT the answer to the world's problems!
Even deadheading roses is theraputic. (Puttering around roses is highly recommended by Garden Girl).
Gerber daisies are beautifully comical.
Petunias (and Rachels) dissolve with too much rain.
... more to come as it comes to me.
On the really hot days, it takes getting wet before the breeze is felt. (Try making that an analogy for life! ;) I'd love to hear all ideas.) Posted at 08:47 pm by PapuanPrincess
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
When I grow up I want to be a Saxon Princess. Lady Rowena is a Saxon Princess. She ends up with Wilfred of Ivanhoe, like we all suspected would happen. But anticipation made it no less sweet.
I finished the book Ivanhoe yesterday. It was wonderful, and by the last page each character received what he or she deserved. Except Rebecca... she ended up being the tragic character in the novel. Every novel needs a tragic character. And a comic one, as well. Possibly two or three, if the author can manage it. In Ivanhoe I considerer both Wamba and Athelstane to be comic characters. Wamba says many witty things that take a minute to figure out. One of my favorite aspects of Ivanhoe is that Robin Hood and his men are actively involved in the story. Robin Hood (who is under the alias Locksley) is always a very romantic figure. Romantic in the ladies-courts-and-knights sense.
It is really a wonderfully heroic and romantic story, though, full of loyalty, corruption, suspicion, the power of beauty, the power of predjudice, aliases... speaking of, King Richard is known as the Black Knight, Ivanhoe as the Disinherited Knight, and Robin Hood as Locksley. Makes for a lively story. I also really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the tournament, or Rebecca's dress, or of the horrid character of the Grand Master of the Temple. What a creep. The hardest part of the book was how everyone especially the "Christians" hated and verbally abused the Jews. They seemed to take a lot of pride in making a public display of their hatred. But focusing on the positive... a wonderful classic that I recommend to all!
Finally I will end with comments on a beautiful picture that I would like to have posted. Unfortunately I am not that skilled yet at blogging. Try this link to see the astounding artwork, instead.
The Accolade
I found out tonight it is called "The Accolade" which means "the ceremonial bestowal of knighthood" (an accolade is also an expression of praise and approval). I am in love with this picture. It captures many inexpressible thoughts and feelings, and makes me feel like the Saxon Princess that I am. ;)
Posted at 12:30 am by PapuanPrincess
Sunday, June 06, 2004
They say if you spell MILK then you get 100,000 dollars... I'm not sure I belive it. Besides, I think I ate an "I" already. :S
I say the flavor of the cookies far outweighs 100,000 dollars!!
yes, yes, I know this makes no sense, but then does it have to??
Posted at 01:49 am by PapuanPrincess
This is for you Anastasia!
Posted at 01:12 am by PapuanPrincess
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