8) This is a good year, 75% more to go!

Monday - 

Ahh! My people!!! It was so good to see everyone again. x) You should have seen us on Monday morning, it was like a reunion of long-lost allies. We then proceeded to have Vacation Talk. ^_^ Well, return from vacation talk. xD It only took one day this time. We each reported on our week and talked about what we wanted to see over the next three weeks. It's kind of scary how fast time has flown! In between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, there are three weeks. As I write this, two are over. There's just one more. When we return in January, we'll only have one week of class time. We have a Microsoft show through our temp agency for a fundraiser. But, because we're going to Honduras this year and funds are short, we have not one but two Microsoft shows. And then we have a guest speaker one week. Which leaves only one week for class time. Eeek! I'm going to miss class time! And then it will be February. And we'll be getting ready to go to Honduras! We're going in the end of February or the beginning of March. How is this all happening so fast?

I'm writing this at the end of week 9. It's December 13. This all started September 14. Just three months ago. Three whole months ago! O_O So there are only 8 more left.

December -

One more week of class. Two weeks break.

January - 

Two weeks of Microsoft. One week guest speaker. One week of class.

February - 

I'm not sure all what's up for February, but getting ready for Honduras... including learning all the choreographed dances, I believe.

March - 

Two weeks in Honduras, unless we do it during the end of February. Spring break will probably be at the end of the month?

April - 

Maybe we'll have some class time here? Spring break could fall here. We leave for road trip around the end of the month.

May - 

Road trip! A lovely 4-6 weeks of road trip.

June - 

We'll get back from road trip sometime this month.

July - 

The year is pretty much over at this point. Graduation and all that.

August - 

This is that in-between month at GL. The class of 2014 is gone, the class of 2015 is not yet here! All of us students will be finding what's next. The interns will be busily earning their intern tuition. Some will be heading off to college. Some will be getting jobs. We'll be like the fellowship disbanded. There was a time when all 9 of them were together again. Well, 8, that is. Naturally 8. They lost Boromir, after all. Not that we're going to lose anyone. No way! But anyway, yeah. All 8 of them, together. Until Fangorn, where they split ways. And you know what Gimli said? Ahh, such a bittersweet quote which has been a favorite for years.

We will send word when we may, and some of us may yet meet at times; but I fear that we shall not all be gathered together ever again. - Gimli

*nods thoughtfully* It's like that with the Kotoomps from high school, you know. And I think it will be true of my class as well.

But you know what? It might not be true. We might have awesome class reunions. And it won't be long before the true beginning. It's not as though any of us were mortals, you know. Not in reality.


Ahh... it's good. x) So good. Life is good. Always. And this year is good. And class time is good, and it's not over yet. And I'm not scared of the year ending. It will be sad, yes, but it will also be happy. Goodbyes and hellos. I tore down that stronghold over Thanksgiving break. It's good. And this year has so much awesomeness that isn't just class time. There's still 8 months left! ^_^ That's almost 75%!!!

Anyhow, back to week 8! xD Which is really 12, if you think about it. There were 3 weeks before we started the official week count, and then there was Thanksgiving. So, 4 uncounted weeks + week 8 = 12 weeks. And as I write that would be 13 weeks. But I digress...

Tuesday - 

During Young Adults, Jim talked about joining the generations... ahh, I loved this... x) Then he talked about a page, a squire, a knight. And the significance of that blew me away. Symbolism from my very foundation! And then Sir Tom performed a knighting ceremony for all who wanted it. (which was pretty much every single person in the room. Imagine some 50 young adults lined up on one knee...) You remember his awesome sword? Third post I ever made on this blog, there's a picture of Abbie holding the sword. Ahh... It was good. It was good.

Did I mention I got baptized the Sunday before Thanksgiving break? I was born again when I was 10, or when I was 16, depending on how you look at it. But when I was 10 I was told that I was mistaken, and therefore not baptized. And when I was 16, I barely trusted anyone enough to let them know who I was. After all, it didn't go over well when I was 10. Plus the fact that at that time baptism was just as associated with rites of passage from one religious caste to another as its true meaning. And of course when I was 16 that whole religious structure had been long-since dissolved. And I am thankful that my baptism did not take place within that religious caste. And at 16, the atmosphere around me was... well... confusing or hibernating, you might say. That's it. My family came out of the religious house church of the Cooks and entered hibernation. I like this metaphor. It works perfectly. And there is a time when building walls inside is okay. Because I fell in love with Jesus behind those walls. And I had no need of baptism to establish my value. Because He gave me my value. And in time the walls were no longer needed.

But all the same, at that time the true meaning of baptism was restored within me, untainted and true. And I associated it with a knighting ceremony. x) And now I've had both. With my people.

Wednesday - 

That morning, Haley was feeling under the weather. She was to be the second chapter teaching that day, but I actually hadn't even read her chapter yet. I was going to read it during lunch! And yet there we were, putting our stuff into the cubbies, and Haley was saying that she felt so bad she wanted to go home and rest, and she hoped they'd ask me to do her chapter. So I hurried off to a quiet corner room to read and prepare in case that should come to pass. And her chapter... was AWESOME! I loved it! Haley did end up going home, but we just skipped her chapter and went straight from Millie's to Chad's... hoping that Haley would be well enough to teach the next day. She wasn't, though, and that night Tammie text me to ask me if I could teach it.

After class I hung out in the basement with several of my classmates for a few hours, then went to children's group. ^_^

Thursday - 

I taught Haley's chapter in the morning, and it was great. All about glorious things! Like when Phillip teleported. And the future glory. ^_^ And dear little Haley was well enough to come to class part-way through! x) So that was good. She's so sweet and so... so special to our class.

That night I had a sleepover with Megan. ^_^ We played with her house sisters and brother, who are about 3, 6, and 8. Then we had the most edifying conversations about science and literature until midnight. xD It was great.

Friday - 

I awoke... with a cold. So I didn't go to MOPs with her, since I didn't want to infect all the children. I spent most of the day resting at home. In the evening I had wanted to go with my house family to a nativity walk-through. They had a replica of the streets of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Herod's palace, etc. And you walk through it, like a tour, only you're part of the story. And... and... oh, it sounded SOO amazing. I'd been really looking forward to that. I'd even been excused from the ladies Christmas party in order to go. But walking around for two hours in the cold, while trying to fight off a cold... bad idea. And several of the girls were having a sleepover at Brie's, so I had wanted to go to that too. But it was better to rest. I was pretty dissapointed. But it was better that I stayed home. So I rested, watched a movie, and then I spent over an hour breathing in steam to work the phlegm out.

Saturday - 

I spent the day just resting for the most part.

Sunday - 

My house dad's retirement party was on Sunday. So I was there for a bit, but then I got a ride back home. I like having the house to myself... it's good for resting and doing homework.


Conclusion - 

And to conclude this post... ahh... it's a good year. It's a good year, we're 27% into it, and life is awesome.

'twixt 7 & 8!) Triumph on the Battlegrounds

The next week was Thanksgiving break. But it didn't officially start until Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday we had Vacation Talk! The tables, rather than being a U, became a square. We spent 20-40 minutes on each student... each of us talked about whether or not we were going home for Thanksgiving break, what our strategy was, and about the biggest truth we'd captured so far. And then the leaders and sometimes the other students spoke to each of us. Invested. Gave wisdom. Encouraged. It was awesome. x) I love Vacation Talk! It reminded me of Testimony Night each evening during the beginning of the year retreat. Only this time we knew each other and had walked together for two and a half months. It was like a review, almost. A review for each of us... of how far we'd come already, and what was next.

It took two days to get through all 21 of us, and I was one of the last on Tuesday. We didn't go in any particular order. And oh... it was good. Yes, yes, it was good. x) That night I went home and snuggled into the couch, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket with a castle on it, and waged warfare. And that night I proceeded to decapitate another Goliath. It was a good battle! And victory was sweet. I just snuggled up in that victory and fell asleep when I was done. ^_^

And on Wednesday, I tore down two strongholds. It's so much fun storming dark castles and pulling them down. =D I was busy about that all morning, for the most part. It's just so... so wholesome, so lovely, so adventurous. It is... well... reality. Reality at its finest. ^_^

Then in the afternoon my house mom got home from work early, and we made pies together. It was a good time. :) And the next day, we made Thanksgiving dinner together. In the afternoon I spent about an hour in my room pondering over my victories, and when I looked up I found that I had a message to share during road trip mentally composed! I love composing things in my mind. x)

And that night, I spent some time reading my novels I've written. ^_^ Well, my novel and a half, that is. Ahh, I love those books. Not in an arrogant sort of way, but in a... contended way, a satisfied way. He did give me a gift of writing. It's one of my most treasured gifts ever. I still have a long ways to go in honing this skill, especially in the very demanding realm of novel-writing! Because it isn't just composing, it's outright subcreation! But still. I spent time just grinning at my awesome characters, or laughing because I'd forgotten what brilliant dialogue they'd had. xD I'm looking forward to all the future novels I shall write over the course of my life. ^_^ I don't dream of making a living off of it, but merely writing for the pleasure of writing. I do hope to publish eBooks in future, but I don't imagine it being a major source of income. And I'm fine with that. I write because it is a venue through which I experience the abundance of my King in all His Awesomeness! ;D

On Friday I went out for coffee with Vanessa, who was an intern last year. ("went out for coffee"... an interesting phrase. Of course, it doesn't imply that it necessarily was actual coffee.) Vanessa has two sisters, Amanda and Alicia. They're both in my class this year. Alicia is really sweet! Amanda is... well... heh... let's just say that Amanda is a miracle. She's the second-oldest in our class, age 24. And she came out of... a LOT... of bad stuff. And she's still kinda hard-ish. But nothing like she was before, I've heard. And she's softening. It's good.

Anyway, I was going to have coffee with Alicia and Vanessa, but Alicia couldn't make it. So, just Vanessa. I remember talking with her last year when she was in Yuba City when I went and met all of them when I did my interview. It was good to be reacquainted. ^_^

Afterwards, we stopped by Fred Meyer just as the Black Friday deals were ending. So, the madness was over, thankfully! And... I FINALLY got a new journal! @_@ Ahh, I'd been planning on buying a new one for weeks! And I was down to two pages in my old journal. I was holding off from writing, because I knew I'd run out. It was slightly maddening, haha. But I hadn't had a chance to get to town for a while. So, at last, I got my new journal. ^_^ And I spent quite a bit of time writing that day when I got home. ;D

On Saturday, I went to the mall with Amanda. That's the other sister, the one who came out of a LOT of stuff. And, really... wow. She's the only one of my classmates I ever struggled to get along with. She still is... harsh, hard. But not like she used to be. Still. Yeah. It was good. =) In the car on the way there we talked about it, about how at the beginning she was judging me for being so different, and I was disliking her and struggling not to. And she compared herself to a bear, and me to a butterfly. She said she wants to learn how to be more gentle. And... she was practicing. And she did a good job. She really did. But I'm not used to such... hardness. Even someone coming out of that hardness. So it wasn't the most relaxing outing, but it was good and I'm glad we did it. Didn't buy anything, just looked. Found out we have very different fashion senses. xD

Anyway, I spent some time reading that evening. I don't have a lot of time for reading, but I'm slowly making my way through Goldstone Wood again. ^_^ I'm on book 4 right now. I think I was near the end of book 2 when I came to the Valley, so that's not bad! Three months of GO GO GO, and I've finished a fiction book, read one whole, and started another. I'm excited to get to the end of book 4, because... book 5 is out! =D And I have it on my Kindle. ;D I've never read book 5. I think I started rereading the series while I was waiting for it to come out. Or just after it came out. Or something like that. xD And book 6 is coming out this spring! Book 5 goes back a few thousand years, so we only have our immortal characters around. But book 6 goes back to present day in the story, so we get to read about our wonderful mortal protagonists again. ^_^ I'm looking forward to that. Ah, Felix! Leo! Daylilly! Even Foxbrush. xD Maybe Rosie too? Wait, come to think of it, she's actually immortal, isn't she? But she's only about 18, so she might as well be one of the mortals. She sure doesn't come in when we get books that happened centuries ago. U_U Anyway, this is way off topic. Where was I?

Oh yes! That night, I... I spent some time writing. =') Well, I've been doing plenty of writing, but that night I wasn't just writing anything. I was working on my novel. ='D Not that I got any actual scenes written, but I read through it and wrote about a thousand words of plotting. After the Search for Self Worth teaching, I've been able to see reality more clearly. And the reasons people act the way they do. And characters, also. I have a main character who's been confusing me since day one. xD I just had to rewrite her backstory. Now she makes sense!

On Sunday, I spent about 5 hours journaling. Yup. About 3.5 hours straight, and then a half hour later, and then another hour later. I was going over my week and all the fun stuff and the victories. ^_^ Anyway, I took a walk in the meadow and in the forest in the backyard. And I coined a new phrase I like. "Thinking edifying thoughts." Yup! I'll go for a walk for 45 minutes and just think edifying thoughts the whole time. It's awesome!

And that evening my house niece and house nephew, Kaiden and Kyla, came over. We had such fun! Science project and games and all. Just like I do with my real nephew. ^_^ I think I'm going to need to budget some of my support towards project supplies, though... my house mom is much less sympathetic to creativity than my real mom. She let us use stuff that day, but reluctantly. And I'm not sure if she'd do it again. The other day Kaiden asked her if she had some straws we could use for a project, and her answer really captures the sentiment! "Yes, I have straws, but they're for using... not for wasting!" Okayyyyy. So your grandchildren using materials for science projects is wasting them?

Very well, I shall respect that! That is a more normal view on the subject after all, isn't it? xD Really, I'm a Homeschooler here. I have such different perspective on these things. And her grandchildren are Homeschoolers also. So I'll set aside some of my own money and get us some supplies for our Homeschoolerish projects. ;)

And... that sums up Thanksgiving break!

7) Another awesome week in the valley!

Monday - 

I had the afternoon off, so I spent it organizing my closet and ironing my Eventforce temp agency shirts and whatnot. Then, just before curfew, I had a little adventure with the kitchen sink plumbing. So much  fun! But I managed to get it fixed in time.

Tuesday - 

Carpool change! Abbie, Sam, and I were Rachel's carpool. But they changed us to Alicia. Then, a week or two later, they changed us to Anna. I think they want to keep the class's three Administrators together... U_U

Hah! At Young Adults, PT (Tom) talked about... rejection! It was awesome. Rejection therapy... xD He played some movie clips from this guy:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/jia-jiang-rejection-therapy-krispy-kreme-jackie-braun-video_n_2206217.html

Wednesday - 

I spent the evening with children's group. ;D I'll be spending each Wednesday night with them.

Thursday - 

For Chapter 6, I have a note in the book that I wrote on Friday. The note says:

This was meant to be Sarah's chapter, but at the last moment she was under the weather and had to go home. Yesterday I was sitting in the corner adding some more highlights and notes, not knowing anything about that. As I got up to sit in my seat for class time...

Tammie: Jamie, do you like to be spontaneous?
Me: Yes!
Tammie: Do you want to teach this chapter?

Rachel says my face just light up at that moment. x)

I absolutely love this chapter and had soooo much fun teaching it. I added a few notes as I went, but most of them were already there. Sarah's Greek/Hebrew words were already on the board. And I came up with two questions to ask at the end while teaching. What are some of your mountains/valleys/crooked places that are being made straight? Were you converted but not discipled? And it was convenient that I didn't have a third question yet, because those two caused plenty of discussion, and we concluded just in time to then have lunch with the GHCC staff.

And everyone told me I did great on the chapter and Chad wrote me an encouragement saying I have a real teaching anointing on my life. x)

So I was really thrilled about that. Definitely one of the highlights of my year! Ahh... I loved that so much. x) When Tammie asked me... it took me a moment to grasp that it was really happening! Because I had read the chapter more than once, loved it, and added plenty of notes. I was fully prepared to teach that chapter. And when I taught my first chapter several days before, I had loved it... and I'd been pretty disappointed that I wouldn't be able to teach another chapter for so long. It is a joy, and a skill I want to hone. So, it was awesome. x)

When doing a chapter teaching, you look up a Greek word and a Hebrew word, and write them on the board. That was already done for me, since Sarah had been going to teach before she was too ill to be able to. You also ask three questions at the end to stimulate discussion... though, of course, there will always be more or less discussion during the chapter as well. So I came up with questions on the go. ^_^

And each week we all write encouragements to each other and put them in a box. You're supposed to write two or more encouragements each week, and on Thursday we pass them out. Always something to look forward to! Of course, I have my whole database set up for encouraging my classmates. xD It's fun. x)

Oh yes, and then, that evening, we went to a Christmas Tree Farm for Sam's birthday. His host family owns it and they live there. So it was most of the class, Jim and Tammie and their children, Sam's parents and siblings and other friends, and... more people in general. And a bunch of us played hide-and-seek in the tree farm in the dark! ="D It was so much fun. x) I spent most of the time with Lexi, Jim and Tammie's 10-year-old daughter. She is SOOO sweet! I'd never even officially met her before, and she was already treating me like one of her people. She was hiding with a few others in some trees in the dark. I approached, and she whispered to ask who it was. "It's Jamie," I said.
"Oh good!" she whispered excitedly, motioning for me to huddle into the trees with them, "Come hide with us!"
She was so welcoming I almost wondered if she thought I was someone else! "I'm not Jaimee Nelson," I whispered as I hid with them, "I'm another Jamie."
"You're Jamie Tucker!" she replied.
x) I spent just about the whole time following her, because she didn't want to be alone in the dark in the trees. It was awesome. She got to go wherever she wanted without worrying about looking up and finding that she was alone, and I got to spend the game with the sweetest little girl in Washington!

Friday - 

I spent most of the day at home writing. Working on a paper, journaling, and blogging.

Saturday - 

I went shopping with my house mom, I spent about an hour talking with Brianna on the phone... It was good. ^_^

Sunday - 

Nothing in my notes to blog about that happened on Sunday!

So, there you have it... week 7!

6) I am a Wordsmith

During class time, the fruit of the spirit came up for discussion, and Sir Tom suggested the idea that we could work on grasping one fruit per month. There are 9 fruit, and 9 months left! He just kinda threw the idea out there to see what the class thought of it, and I jumped on it. ^_^ So he appointed me the fruit sheriff. Nine people were supposed to volunteer to talk about one of the fruits each month, and my job was to see that we were putting it into practice, highlighting our success and noting where we can still improve.

The original plan was to have one person talk per month, but that changed! Before announcements at the end of the day, I stood up in front of the class with my clipboard to review the plan and get my volunteers for the talks. This... this was the first time I'd ever stood up in front of the whole class like that. I'm student 21, the very last. Tucker. It's alphabetical, so I'm the last to have a chapter teaching and the last to be Leader of the Week and all that stuff. xD Anyway, yeah, I'm very verbal during class time, but this was the first time I was up there standing up in front of everyone with my clipboard on the pulpit thingy. I reviewed for them what we were doing, who I already had down for what fruits, which were still available, and who wanted to do them? And then someone had the idea that we have two people talk about each fruit per month, since some people both wanted the same fruit. Then we went to three or four per month, which is pretty much once a week. xD

And... I loved it. I loved standing up there, talking. It wasn't my idea that we have 3-4 people talk each month. It wasn't my idea that each student talk at least once. They were my classmates' ideas. x) Just like back at NSA, where I would coordinate things, but it's not like I was some kind of mastermind behind it all. No. My classmates are involved and having ideas, I just... administrate it. Administrator. That's what I scored highest in when we tested for gifts and abilities.

I love administrating. And I love talking, delivering a message. I've spoken in front of my class a total of 6 times so far, as of week 8, (not counting testimony night and vacation talks). Three times as the fruit sheriff, once for my first chapter teaching, and twice filling in my classmates' chapter teachings when they were sick. And I enjoy it... so much! I went into this year both afraid of talking, and looking forward to it. When I did my interview, I said that talking was one of my weaknesses. But I had a little suspicion that perhaps that was not so. I'd never really had an opportunity to do any sort of public speaking, now had I? And people told me I was a good communicator. Not that I necessarily believed them, but it was nice to know I couldn't be quite as bad as I thought I was.

I think I came closest to believing it when Dad told me, though. Because he's so... logical! He always brings clarity to situations. For example, he told me that I could write "good communication skills" on my resume when applying for jobs because I can discuss topics that most people my age have never even heard of. I'm educated and quick to learn. While yes, in social settings, my communication skills will be a bit lacking because I haven't had much experience in there.

And when I put together a slideshow presentation last December when I told my family about GL, Dad said that I did a very good job with it, both in how I organized it and put it together and delivered it. It was a step below actually delivering a message, though, because I just read what I had written. But it was a good start.

Ever since I was little I dreamed of being an orator, a wordsmith, one who is eloquent and can weave words into brilliant patterns of communication. Why? Well, because I love words. And because I want to be like my dad. I've always looked up to him and wanted to be like him, and I've always admired his way with words. But growing up, I somehow got the idea that spoken eloquence is beyond me. I settled for writing. I knew I could attain eloquence in writing. But not in speaking. No. If I tried to speak eloquently I would just stumble over my words and lose my train of thought.

Apparently this is not the case, though. I started to realize that when Dad helped me to see it, but it didn't really sink in until I actually experienced it. It's good that I'm student 21, the last to have a chapter teaching. Because I had 20 chapters in which to gain confidence in discussion before standing in the front leading it. And to hear comments like, "Wow, I'm looking forward to Jamie's first chapter teaching!" and, "Jamie, you're so smart. We need to have a day where you just stand up there and teach us stuff all day." Ahh! Words of affirmation is my second love language, just behind quality time. So comments like that mean... so much to me. And after I taught someone else's chapter for the first time, Millie was telling me that it was clearly one of my strengths, and the enemy probably convinced me it was one a weakness to try and keep me from it. Even after my testimony at the beginning of the year someone called me a wordsmith... which is pretty much the greatest compliment possible. x) Wordsmith. I've always had a special fondness for that word, always wanted it to be mine. I always wanted to be a Wordsmith. And... I am. I am a Wordsmith. x)

So, yes! What about week 6? On Tuesday night at Young Adults the topic was our significance, on Wednesday I spoke about the fruit of the spirit with a slideshow presentation, and that night we had a foundations class about speaking in tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. On Thursday I had my first chapter teaching. That was really awesome. x) I had the last chapter in the book, so I got to conclude everything. And I made a slideshow to go with it. Here's a collage of the slides I made. ^_^ The first 4 slides were more detailed, because that's as far as I had gotten in my preparation. Then when I realized that we would reach my chapter that day... whew! I had my computer open and I was on Pinterest and Pixelmator and Kindle during class time in a rush to finish. xD So it very quickly gets less detailed after that. But all the detail wasn't really necessary, just a slide saying which section of the chapter we were on worked fine. And no one even noticed, and I certainly didn't tell them during my presentation. ;D

On Friday I went to MOPs again, and was with the 2 year olds. Then several of us girls gathered at Millie's castle before going shopping. Really. Millie lives in a HUGE house which looks like a castle. O_O And her host family Homeschools! They're Homeschooled in a castle! Ahh, I'll have to get a picture of it. Anyway, then on Saturday we had a surprise birthday party for Clara. And that pretty much sums up week 6. ;D

5) Class Time

This is Tom talking about the way the body, soul, and spirit interact with each other. Sometimes he or someone else will teach, but usually it's us students. Not that the leaders aren't involved, they're just sitting in seats participating in the discussion. Chapter teachings are so awesome! The first book we went through is called Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God by Francis Frangipane. As of week 7, we're halfway through our next book - The Fear of the Lord by John Bevere. It's so awesome how we as a class all gather together and talk about truths and how we can apply them to our own lives. Classroom isn't really class like any other class. No. And the more we are coming to trust one another, the more open we are. Each student is assigned a chapter in which they lead the discussion and keep us going, but we'll easily have 20 minutes where the teacher student isn't progressing us on to the next section of the chapter. We stop to talk about truth. To make sure everyone gets it. To see what the quiet students are thinking. And... and sometimes it will turn into a scenario where one student brings something to the table - either because they brought it up in discussion or because they responded to a bit of poking - and then wonders happen. The whole class will speak to that one student. "We've seen you change so much!" "Yes, we see this manifesting in your life!" "You don't have to be afraid of this or that." "Specifically in your life, you can apply this truth in these ways..." "Have you thought about it like this?" "This is how we see you..." And... oh, it's so awesome. x) I love it. It's a truly safe environment to open up, I've never seen an environment like this before. Of course, there are rules about opening up and sharing your heart, rules from orientation. Well, one rule, really. Don't share any of your Goliaths until you've found a truth to defeat it and are comfortable talking about it. And... oh, oh, oh! We as a class are just earning each others' trust so much. Because we're all hungry, and we all have the same goal, and we're all for each other. We all want the riches of our King, and we all want to make one another great. Making people great has to be done in a safe and proper environment. It really really does. I've seen people try to make others great in dangerous waters before. Hidden agendas and motives, a misunderstanding of what unity really is... it's dangerous to try and make people great when you have wrong premises. But when you have right premises... oh! It's lovely. x) I love being here so much! I love my people.

Anyway, more about week 5 specifically! Let's see... on Monday, we found my phone! =D It had been missing since the previous Tuesday, so I went nearly a week phoneless. It's good to know I can easily live without it. The only thing I really missed was my database, Bento. And I can't get Bento on my iPad because the manufacturer stopped offering it. So it was great to get my phone back. It was just on top of the cubbies in the basement.

And then on Thursday I spent the night at Rachel's house, which was fun. We watched Mulan, and went for a long walk in the woods and on the train tracks and in the neighborhood. We probably won't walk on the train tracks again, though, because Gene works with the locomotives. He says sometimes trains will go both ways on the tracks, so we'd need to be extremely careful. Anyway, yeah, it was fun.

4) The days roll by...

Monday - 

Dad and I got to hang out for a few hours. ^_^ He flew into Washington in the morning and got a few jobs done, the picked me up after class and we went to Subway for a couple hours. It was great to see each other and talk.

Tuesday - 

In the evening at Young Adults group the topic was... the cross. I'd heard things like this before, but really... just, wow. This message connected all the dots and made it come alive like it never had before. Just the fact that all the spiritual battles we fight today aren't up for question. Jesus already won these victories for us, and all we need to do is enforce it. If we're losing any battle in our life, it just means we aren't enforcing the victory already given to us. Ryan, the fellow talking, compared it to a sports team. He was like, "I wish the Seahawks thought like this! They're stressing me out with the way they've been playing. They need to step onto that football field and say, 'Yeah, we've already won this game. We could have just stayed home. But we're here to enforce the fact that we've won.'" Of course, that was just an example. Jesus didn't die so one sports team could defeat another. But His death did give his children all the victory in spiritual realms. I already have victory over all my Goliaths, and I'm just going to go take their heads off to enforce it!

Wednesday - 

I was actually all ready for bed by 8:45 PM, so I got to spend two hours journaling. Woo-hoo!

Thursday - 

"Every area of your life that doesn't glisten with hope means you're believing a lie and that area is a stronghold of the Devil in your life.”

Thiiiis, this is the quote which sums up a message about the importance of Hope. I didn't used to think Hope was that important. Sure, it's important... Faith, Hope, and Love... but before Thursday I didn't understand how vitally important it was. But now, here it is. And I'm breaking free from strongholds I didn't even know I was living in. It's quite nice. ^_^

Oh! And we also had a big Fall Festival in the evening. =D Like the Harvest Festival where we got all of those goldfish, some of which are still alive in the pond today. And hey, it's fun passing out candy to children. Really it is. Even though that stuff is deadly and full of poison... still. Forget that and just think about the heart of it. Passing out candy to children is awesome.

Friday -

I biked up to the facilities in the morning and spent three hours holding babies! =D It was soo awesome. x) MOPs, Mothers of Preschoolers, happens every other Friday. I volunteered to help, and it was well worth it. ^_^ I just love little babies so much. They're so... well... they're royalty. I cuddle them, and I feel it. Anyway, Carry Abbott talked about a chemical in the brain women get whenever they hold a baby. I like that chemical! x) Plus they gave all the volunteers a free drink certificate and 3 Friday Club Credits. xD Win-win!

Afterwards, I went to the mall with Tammie and some of the girls. Shopping is exhausting, and I have percolating thoughts and feelings about different fashion. But Tammie has earned my respect in a maternal way no one else ever has. So I allowed her and the girls help me pick out clothes I liked, and Tammie bought them for me. Brand new clothes are expensive! Even when they're on sale. I've grown up on thrift stores, so it all seemed terribly outrageous, haha. Tammie is very generous.

After that she dropped Clara and I off at a bonfire at Rachel's house, where about half of our class was gathered. The train tracks run just behind their house, so we got to hear a train zoom by in the darkness! And it was moist outside... surrounded by a hint of rain, good friends, and circled around a bonfire. So cool! 

Really, I say... this Friday was my favorite day so far. Because babies are just awesome. And because I had about half a dozen level five conversations throughout the day! And because I love my people. And we're all bonding. We're all becoming the family that each GL class becomes each year. And this Friday was just so precious in so many ways.

Saturday - 

When Carry Abbott was here, she talked about how we're growing new brain all the time. And it's just like how a body grows. It grows off of what you put in it. If we eat junk food, we grow new cells which are weak. If we eat wholesome food, we grow new cells that are wholesome. We're always growing, and we grow off of what we eat. Similarly, the brain is always growing. And our brains grow off of the movies we watch, the songs we listen to, the conversations we have, the books we read. So we need to choose wisely what we will grow new brain out of! Of course, I grew up in a safe environment as far as this goes! And I took responsibility for my own media/book/conversation intake at age 16. I was very discreet about that, actually, for a year or two. I had to be. Anyway, Saturday night several of us had a movie night! And... hah... none of us have any intentions of watching the movie a second time. Alchemy was not worth growing new brain on! @_@ xD Rachel's house mom thought it was a good one, but it had been too long since she'd seen it. She kept saying, "Ooh... I forgot about that scene..." So, just a note to all of you people reading this... try to avoid Alchemy if you can help it.

Sunday -

I had a good time playing with my house niece and nephews on Sunday!

Caden and Kyla are the older ones, age 10 and 11. Baby Ryder is their little brother. Toddler TJ is their cousin. There's one more cousin, Josh, who's about 9. But he doesn't come over often because his home is broken. As far as I understand the custody situation, he has summers with his dad (Barb and Gene's son) and stepmom, but spends the school year with his mom... except weekends maybe? I'm not sure. He's a lot of fun and has lottts of energy.

Caden and Kyla... oh, those children are just so WHOLESOME!!! I just love the way they play with each other and get along... they're kind, they're intelligent, they can easily carry on a conversation with an adult. They come up with the most creative and educated things while they're playing. They stayed until about 10:00 PM, so we spent hours playing and talking and such. And Kyla is an absolute chatterbox. After watching a movie during WWII the three of us carried on for several hours with German accents. xD For about the last hour before they left Caden was playing with legos while Kyla and I put together a map of Europe like the one I have in my bedroom. We'll work on coloring it and labeling it next time, and when it's done she's going to hang it up in her bedroom.

... It was a good week. :)

3) Levels of Intimacy

Right now it's the end of week 5, and I'm a few weeks behind! But I have a little something to share from each week. ;) Hopefully I'll get all caught up again today.

So! During week three, we had yet another guest speaker. Carry Abbot, who talks about the different roles of men and women from the original design. Like those awesome books Captivating and Wild at Heart. So it was cool having her here for several days. We also had two or three other GL programs visiting for the event. Only they're called Master's Commission. Generational Leadership used to be called that, but the name was changed a while back.

Here's the MC bus from Canada showing up! And I had three of the Canadian girls staying at my host home, which was fun.

One thing Carry Abbot talked about has proved really useful. She talked about the five intimacy levels between... well, people in general, really. Friends, family, acquaintances. Here are the levels:

1) Nice weather we're having...

Entirely surface conversation you could have with anyone, and no commitment to any friendship or relationship. For the friendship to continue, you need time.

2) Such and such said this...

Reporting what other people have said, telling little stories, and getting people's reaction. It's a good way to gage what people think and how much you have in common. There's very low commitment. For the friendship to go deeper, you need trust.

3) I believe this...

Level three is where lines are drawn. But it's still not extremely intimate, because your beliefs can change. There's moderate commitment at this point. To go deeper, you need respect.

4) My history. This is what I have done and what has happened to me in the past...

You can't change your history. And Carry Abbot was very firm when she stated that it is NOT SAFE to begin any friendship with level four. You have to walk through the first three levels before you get here, you need that time, trust, and respect. Level four is high commitment, but if you start here... you don't have that commitment, the people you share with are not prepared to take care of your heart. But, having walked through all four steps appropriately, with honor you can go on to level five.

5) My feelings. This is what I'm going through right now and how it makes me feel...

This right here is the very highest commitment. You can only have a few friends at this level. Three friends, maybe? People you love. People you are free to share the deepest feelings and struggles of your heart with. I believe the most literal definition of the word intimacy is: "Free to know and be known without fear of rejection." Level five is the very highest commitment.


I just love this scale so much! I'm using it to gage people around me all the time now. Take the three most important people to me, for example. I relate very closely on the first three levels with the person who is the most important to me, and we've had a few conversations on levels four and five. Not near enough conversations, though... relating on levels 4 and 5 with this person is so precious. x) And then the other two people who are extremely important to me... one of them, in a single conversation we'll seamlessly travel between all five levels on a regular basis. And the other person is Rachel, who was of course also there when Carry Abbott was talking about this. We talk about the scale and it makes relating easier, because our transitions between the 5 levels aren't as seamless. It's just so awesome!

And then classmates. Oh, it's so cool! The other day I was having a conversation with a few students... the ones I've related to the most these last two months. Two months of level 1, 2, and 3. Well, there was  level 4 on testimony night. But anyway, I was beginning to go into level 4 and 5 during this conversation the other day. Then an intern walked up and started to join the conversation. Annnd... I was able to send him away! Woohoo! It was so easy! I didn't have to awkwardly fall silent, because it just feels rude to say, "Go away!" But all I had to said was, "This is a level 5 conversation. You and I have only related on levels 1 and 2." It was as simple as that, and he walked away. >:D

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to take a hike with Megan and Rachel and her house dad! We'll see when I get back to write about weeks 4 and 5. Farewell!

2) A few pictures from week the second...

Me, Taylor, and Rachel went for a trail walk in the woods.

On Thursday, we set forth in the bus for a weekend conference called "Awakening Cry" in Spokane. I got my geography a little mixed up and thought it was in Idaho for a little bit, haha. But no, it's just on this side of the Washington Idaho border. This isn't all the luggage we brought, I took this picture before all the students and youth had arrived.

It's so cool how the sides of the bus go up to reveal a secret compartment for luggage underneath!

Annnnnd unloading the bus Thursday night after the first conference session! Then we were driven off to host homes where we stayed for the weekend. I was housed with Kristi, one of the staff, and Abbie, one of the Yuba City students. And our host home was a Homeschool family! With a cool basement! With epic bookshelves! Including Narnia! And they used Apologia science! I lovvvve that science curriculum. =D

For lunches and dinners, Kristi gave each of us an envelope with our name on it and $7 inside. There were plenty of restaurants and fast foods within walking distance, so we had our options. When done, we would return the envelope to her with the receipt inside. This is a picture of several of us at Denny's for lunch.

Did I mention how much I LOVE the bus? Just... road trip!!! =D The bus screams road trip. It's so much fun, it's so... free. I just love traveling. I love not knowing exactly what the day holds, not knowing what I'm going to eat or where I'm going to sleep, just knowing that I certainly will eat something and I certainly will sleep somewhere, but... I'm out on an adventure. With awesome friends, too. Think Bilbo Baggins. "I'm going on an adventure!"

...And when we returned Rachel's car had gone into a deep slumber and needed jumper cables. xD Hers is the white one, not the banana yellow one. That one belongs to Caleb, one of the interns, who is on the top of my mental "crazy drivers" list. I've got four names put down so far.

And this last picture is from today. My house parents, Gene and Barbara. And my house nephew, TJ.

This was another extremely full week! As will next week be. A guest speaker named Carry Abbott will be coming. And in my host home there will be three girls from Canada who are going through a similar discipleship program. Fun fun. And then next week my dad is flying up on Monday! ^_^ He has some work in the morning/early afternoon, and then we'll be hanging out in the late afternoon/evening before he has to fly back home. I'm looking forward to it! =D

1) The First "Official" Week of Class

That was this week! Today is Saturday. And on Monday, we'll begin week 2 of class.

This last week... it may have consisted of seven 24-hour intervals... but believe me, sometimes a single day lasted for three weeks. It was a BUSY WEEK!

Week one usually isn't this full. But there was a guest speaker for several evenings, so we spent the day at class, then the evening at the service. And we didn't go home in between each time. And class isn't just sitting in class. This week we cleaned the facilities and set them up for a funeral. There's worship in the mornings. There's the different possible activities of lunch time. There's quiet study time, which never lasts long enough. There's... a lot of stuff. ;)

The week was also an internal roller coaster. In a million different ways, with elements from a dozen different sources. I loved the seminar we watched in class this week... the things Malcolm Smith spoke of in "A Search for Self-Worth" were by no means foreign to me, but still... It's always lovely to gain a richer and fuller understanding of a concept. To think about things in ways you hadn't before. To focus on things you'd all but forgotten. To come to realizations that had never fully sunk in before. To see healing for wounds you'd forgotten were even there. It really is a beautiful thing.

Yes. Overall, this has been an excellent week! =]

And it has now been one month! As of the day after tomorrow, it has been one solid month.

... O_O

Have I really already been here a MONTH? The unit of time I've been here... feels like years, while at the same time feeling like only a week. It feels like a long time, but more than that it feels like a short time. A VERY short time. This unit of time I've been here... do I really only have ten more units before this is over? Only ten? So few?

Wow. I will never understand time.

Oh, and by the way! GL paid for us to have our hair done professionally. ;D You remember Jude, the baby who swallowed the sleeping pills? His mom is a professional hair-cutter. Tammie (the awesome assistant director) picked me and Sarah up yesterday and brought us to the salon.

Well, there we go. I've brought my blog up to the present! Hopefully I can easily fall into the habit of posting once a week. That would be neat. :)

3) Beginning of the Year Retreat

This was a really fun week. Some of it was hard, just because I'm not used to being around so many people. Socializing is... not one of my skills. But that's okay, even my classmates told me, "It's okay to be socially clumsy... This is a safe place for that! ;)" So it's cool to learn how to be comfortable around people! Socializing is a good skill to acquire.

So each day we'd get up, go do something fun all day, then gather at Brie's house in the evening. And at Brie's house we all shared our stories with each other. I loved that. It was my favorite part of the week.

My second favorite part of the week was definitely the team building activities! I don't have any pictures on hand, but we all went out into the woods to have a little adventure with a giant spiderweb. >:) Cords were tied between two trees, and every member of our class had to go through the holes in the web... without touching the strands. Not an easy task. It required strategy and leaning on each other. To add to that, several students were handicapped. Three had blindfolds, three had their hands tied together, and three were mute. I had no handicap, and spent most of my time around those blindfolded. I felt kind of like Laura from the Little House series, the way she would always describe what was going on to her blind sister. And... yeah. This activity was definitely my absolute highlight of the week, other than the evenings. I'll have to get a picture from one of the interns later! It was just so amazing, the way we were all working towards a goal together... we weren't socializing and making small talk, we were... accomplishing something! We were interacting with each other for a PURPOSE!!! It was just... so... ahhh! I loved that. x)

One morning the girls made breakfast for everyone, and another morning the guys made breakfast for everyone.

We spent one day in Seattle, just wandering around in groups. There were five others in my group. Megan, Rachel, Clara, Matthew, and Isaac.

The next day we went to a waterfall. When we all go somewhere, we either use our bus or we pile into two 15-seater vans. Or, rather, one 15-seater and one 11-seater. The bus is like... a 40 seater? I'm not sure. But there aren't any seat belts in it! And that's not okay! @_@ Haha.

After the waterfall, we went to a park. Here's the view from the top of the swing set.

On the last day when it was over, six of us girls came over to my host house for a hair cutting party! I hadn't planned on cutting my hair just yet, for Dawnmarie's sake... but considering the circumstances, I went ahead with it. It was a lot of fun!

Here's Sarah, Clara, and me. Sarah was a student last year, but she's repeating her student year again this year. Just because it's an awesome year and she wanted more of it... while not feeling quite ready to be an intern. And she loves Lord of the Rings and Narnia!

On Sunday I spent the afternoon with Megan, Clara, and Isaac. We went to a park and took pictures and fed ducks and played on the playground and such.

Then went back to Megan's host house, and she taught me how to crochet. ^_^ Megan is the one I was messaging the most several weeks before class started.

2) And the second week rolled around!

The second week... yes, a fundraiser. I wasn't involved, though, because we have such a large class this year and they didn't need everyone. I was thinking about it the other day... We have 21 students. 14 are girls, 7 are boys. That's exactly two thirds and one third! 

The tuition costs only cover about 1/3 the cost of the year per student, so to make up the difference we'll work through a temp agency when there are Microsoft shows. About 8 of us weren't needed, though. So we 8 were assigned to helping out some of the church families. 

On the first day, we were helping one of the host families move. Packing up their old house and such. I was playing with their 3-year-old son, keeping him occupied... and then their 20-month-old son got into some sleeping pills and swallowed 15-20 of them! He was rushed off to the hospital, and fought for his life over the next couple of days. 

On the second day, we went to Jim and Tammie's house to clean it. They're the assistant directors, so that when Tom (the old sanguine fellow with the cool office) retires after this school year they'll take over. Tammie is really awesome.

On the third day, we went back to continue helping the family move. We went to their new house, which has a bomb shelter in the back yard. Most of the day we spent painting the walls inside. (Inside the house, not inside the bomb shelter.) Then when we were just getting done in the late afternoon, we got to see baby Jude! They released him from the hospital... and my, did that little guy look beat up! He had black circles under his little eyes and was fussy and... generally looked like he was catching his breath. The doctors said that it was a complete miracle that he's alive... and what's more, there's absolutely no permanent damage. No damage to his brain, no damage to his heart, and any damage to his liver or kidneys would wear off in a week or two. Woohoo!

And a few pictures from the week...

My mailbox is the one on the far left.

I have such fun friends. Rachel, Clara, and Megan.

And my host home has an ammmazing garden in the backyard! =D I spent about an hour picking raspberries one evening.

1) A few pictures from the first week...

So, here's a picture of our whole class in the classroom on Orientation night. It's strange looking at this picture, because when I took the picture it was a picture of a bunch of almost strangers... but now looking back at it here is my whole class.

Me, Rachel, and her little sister Lavinia.

My bedroom.

The long driveway  to the main road, with the neighbor's dog.

Tom's super cool office.

Really, really cool office.

My little frog I caught on my first day off.

Rachel and Clara playing a duet at Brie's house.

1) Four Keys to a Great Year

The first week was orientation week, beginning on September 16th. And it seems like everything the leaders have been doing for the past three weeks is handing keys to the students. They've handed us more keys than I could list off the top of my head! I should go through all my notes and compile all the keys onto one page... that would be cool. ^_^

But during orientation week, Tom gave a talk about four of said keys. Four keys to having a great year. Tom is the director of the program, an old fellow who's quite cool and very Sanguine.

I... LOVE these keys! Well, I tend to just love keys in general... but really. These ones are extra special. I"ll just go over them quickly, though, because otherwise I might end up writing pages.

1) Judge other people based on their value, not based on their behavior!!!

Isn't that so epic? It's a good thing to be aware of (probably had never even crossed some of the students' minds before...) and a good thing to ever keep at the forefront of one's mind! Over the past 3 weeks, we students have often brought it up amongst ourselves. Especially when someone's behavior comes into question. ;) Because each and every person is made in the image of God and is therefore inherently valuable. EXTREMELY valuable! Their value never changes, never wavers. But behavior, on the other hand... >_> People's behavior can sure be awful sometimes. So, it's good to always think about people as they are created to be, not as they're acting at this particular moment. ^_^

2) Have confidence in Jesus. Put your confidence in Him and nowhere else!

...Because, really. Everyone and everything else will let you down. If you have a false perception of Jesus, that is an idol which will let you down. If you put your confidence in a "pastor" or any other human being, they will let you down. If you put your confidence in yourself, you'll let you down too. And it's so cool to NOT BE LET DOWN!!! =D 

3) Stop looking for donkeys!

This key is based on a story of when Saul went searching for his lost donkeys. He couldn't find them anywhere, and decided he'd go ask the prophet Samuel if he knew where the donkeys were. It was a divine appointment when he entered the city and asked a random fellow, "Do you know where the prophet is?" That random fellow was actually Samuel. And he said, "Saul, it's time for you to stop looking for donkeys. God wants to anoint you to be king."

Saul was concerned with his donkeys, while God had a much bigger plan than simply giving him the donkeys. Saul was annointed king, and then Samuel said... "By the way, your donkeys are tied up over there." 

Donkeys can represent a husband, wife, career... etc. This is the metaphor of the story. Just don't worry about those things this year! This year is a time to let God anoint you, to let Him give you divine appointments, to let Him prepare you for your future. And next year, next year you can think about your donkeys. God wants to give them to you. And He knows exactly where they are. So don't worry.

4) Your destiny is over your enemies' dead bodies.

Because we all have enemies, you know. Some more serious than others. Students in my class have struggled with addictions. Those are enemies. Sinful habits. Those are enemies. Fear, anxiety, doubt. Those are enemies. These things are the Goliaths that stand in our lives and mock God. These are the Goliaths that hold us back from our destinies. 

"Find something that you want to defeat this year!" said Tom, "Find something you want to defeat!"

Because throughout the year, we students will be handed tools. Truths. Weapons with which we can chop off the heads of our enemies! Mwuahahaha! And over their dead bodies lie our destinies. 

... I love being here at GL. I've been overwhelmed at times and I'm still finding my footing, but really... I LOVE it here! I miss my family, but I know I'll see them soon. And I know I'm meant to be here at this time.

Welcome

On September 14, I moved to Washington to do a small discipleship program called Generational Leadership. For short, it's called GL. Which, by now, no longer makes me think of General Liability. That's good. Especially since they refer to students as "GLes" instead of taking the vocal effort of saying, "GL students" every time. So, it's good that I don't have General Liability in my head every time I hear GL. Though there is a GL policy here, I'm sure. There's a "No Skateboarding" sign in the parking lot. Big GL hazard right there.

So, anyway. I'm starting this blog for my friends and family. I think it's a cool plan to put up a post once a week. Who knows if that will actually happen, with the extremely rigorous schedule I'm on here. But it's a nice thought. Maybe I'll just post a few thoughts, or a highlight from my week, or something random that isn't necessarily a highlight, or even just a picture with a caption underneath.

I've been here for three weeks so far. The first week was orientation. The second week there was a fundraiser. The third week was the beginning of the year retreat. The fourth week... the fourth week started today, on Monday. The fourth week brings the official start of the school year. Today was the first day of the official Week One. 

So perhaps I will put up three short posts now, one for each week. If only I can do it swiftly enough. There's an event going on tonight and in an hour I must depart. And it would be a poor idea to spend the entire hour writing. There are other things which are good to think about. Like food. Having something to eat would be good. And I'll get home late, so making my lunch for tomorrow would be good. And making sure I have laundry ready, so I have clean non-wrinkly clothes to wear in the morning. And- well, yeah. Plus homework, of course. There's SO MUCH to do when you only have two hours in which to do it. But I'm taking time to get this blog up, because I know I'll be happier that way.

Things should calm down soon. Actually spending my day off at home resting and getting stuff done would sure help. And when the schedule goes back to normal, most evenings will be free. So that's good.

Love you all, farewell!