Swim Team

I do not know if I will end up in Memphis, but I was looking at swim teams their and came across this incredibly cute picture. I have had a dream since I was a child to coach a swim team. Teaching children to swim is one of my FAVORITE things to do. I love it so much. I was reading an article awhile back that swimming is one of the best sports for children who grow up in poverty. It is a sport that improves a child's self-esteem, independence, and perseverance. It is also a team sport- where you have to rely on each other but you note each others gifts. I just think it is the best sport, but maybe I am completely bias.

Enjoy this picture for what it is :)

Thanksgiving

Home was marvelous. Lots of time with my family and as you can see, lots of time with my Dad. It was 30 degrees, I wore my North Face every single day, hiked, gained five pounds (most likely), and loved every second of it :)

(The first two pictures are not very clear because they are from my phone.)

Doesn't this look extremely enjoyable? 

I wish it was me.

Welcome to Reality

Honor killings are real. They happen daily, especially in the Middle East. Read about it- be informed so you can pray.

"A Killing Set Honor Above Love" by John Leland and Namo Abdulla from the New York Times.

A Snapshot at History

Sometimes I wish I was alive to hear Martin Luther King Jr. give his "I have a Dream Speech." I am just so inspired by this man. When I was studying in D.C. I would walk to the Lincoln Memorial from my apartment, bring a book to read, and sit on the steps of the memorial. One time I had to put my book down because I kept getting visuals of what it would be like to be there when he was giving his speech. I have also been writing my Gospel and Culture paper on Education Reform in Memphis. I have taken quite a close look at how the Civil Rights Movement and segregation have contributed to education in Memphis. Let's just say my love for studying history has been rekindled. 


On Tuesday I have to perform some poetry and lyric pieces. Most people did a poetry program about people being lost and not knowing God. I thought I would switch it up and do it on poetry and song lyrics from the Civil Rights Movement. Totally normal, right? Probably not.


A tiny part of it is below from Mr. Bob Dylan himself. P.s. If you are super cool and think that spending time reading MLK's "I have a Dream Speech" is worthwhile (which it is) then read it here. 


Death of Emmett Till (1963) by Bob Dylan
Twas down in Mississippi no so long ago,
When a young boy from Chicago town stepped through a Southern door.
This boy's dreadful tragedy I can still remember well,
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till.

Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up.
They said they had a reason, but I can't remember what.
They tortured him and did some evil things too evil to repeat.
There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing sounds out on the street.

Then they rolled his body down a gulf amidst a bloody red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide to cease his screaming pain.
The reason that they killed him there, and I'm sure it ain't no lie,
Was just for the fun of killin' him and to watch him slowly die.

And then to stop the United States of yelling for a trial,
Two brothers they confessed that they had killed poor Emmett Till.
But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit this awful crime,
And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.

I saw the morning papers but I could not bear to see
The smiling brothers walkin' down the courthouse stairs.
For the jury found them innocent and the brothers they went free,
While Emmett's body floats the foam of a Jim Crow southern sea.

If you can't speak out against this kind of thing, a crime that's so unjust,
Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt, your mind is filled with dust.
Your arms and legs they must be in shackles and chains, and your blood it must refuse to flow,
For you let this human race fall down so awfully low!

This song is just a reminder to remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today in that ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan.
But if all of us folks that thinks alike, if we gave all we could give,
We could make this great land of ours a greater place to live.

Lord help me

Let me just tell you how crazy this month is going to be... are you ready?

Next week I am giving my Gospel and Culture presentation.

In approximately 2 weeks I am going to my final Teach for America Interview.

In a little over 2 weeks I am going to find out if I passed my teaching exam.

By the end of the semester I will have written more papers in my life (just due to this semester alone) and will be done with my hardest semester.

Right after my last final I drive up to Northern California and catch a red eye to Memphis for my final interview.

I come home on a Sunday and leave for Germany that Tuesday at 6am.

Lord help me. It will be okay! It is just apart of the journey, right?

{Word}

I wonder

What if family looked like the way that God intended it?

I am researching Divorce pertaining to Poverty in Memphis.It is just one of the many sub-topics that are directly related to education in Memphis. I stumbled across this article. I think it is worth the read.

P.s. I really wish my paper would not make me cry every time I sit down to write it. It is just so sad.

Thankful

I am so thankful for the following reasons:

1. My TN middle school content knowledge test is over- now I just have to wait and pray that I passed :)
2. I saw my Mom, my Dad, my Grandma, my Stepmom, all of my Stepmom's family, and my church family from home this weekend.
3. I went to the beach for the first time since I started studying for my exam- and my soul feels refreshed.
4. Seeing my church family from home made me realize how thankful I am to have an extended family at home.
5. I just feel so loved and blessed. I have to write a fatty paper tomorrow (it will probably be around 40 pages), but I am not stressing, so praise the Lord.
6. God is good.

My Mom and I in Huntington Beach. 

A Friendly Reminder

Dr. Corey's e-mail/message, sent from Dr. Greene:

One thing I meant to mention at the end but neglected to do so was a word of encouragement to your students. If you could convey this to them, I would appreciate it.

My hope is that through the learning of this class that you as students interested in global service and making an impact for Christ, would take some risks and immerse yourself in one of those transformational environments. As I reflected with you last week, I remembered again how much I needed to break out experientially from my subculture and living in the world of the "other," only to discover that the "other" was not much different from me. We laughed and had families. We worked and loved. We needed to know grace. I challenge you as Biola students, mature and brave, to think and pray about how you might experience your "plunge" during these years of life in your twenties when you are about as free as you'll ever be to go for it with hardly anything to lose. As I write this, on my desk is a paperweight that reads, "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" You have an exemplary professor in Dr. Greene who, among others, is giving you the tools you need and I wish I had. May something stir in your heart this semester calling you to a new challenge--beyond your comfort boundaries--that will change you for the good, for good. God has throughout history used willing college students like you to take some risks for the sake of Christ's love, risks that have few if any regrets.


{Amen}


It is a Friday night. I am home reviewing before the big test tomorrow and reminding myself that God has orchestrated all things for the purpose of His will. Pray for me, por favor. 

America Remembers

Obama is in The Republic of Korea today. Here is a video from The Republic of Korea and United States of America remembering the vets.

Watch this video from the White House Blog.

Say thank you to someone serving today or someone who has served!

I will not look like this on Thanksgiving, but I had to share this picture because Marilyn is looking pretty snazzy in this Pilgrim outfit. Last thanksgiving I was in Williamsburg, VA enjoying festivities with fake colonial people. I thought I was in a legit time machine and had to blink a few times to make sure it was real... which it was.

This thanksgiving I am going home (!!!) and will enjoy non-thanksgiving related food (hopefully). Last thanksgiving the only thing that I ate was chocolate fudge pie. It filled me up for the whole day because it was probably plus 2,000 calories. I do not know what it is, but I am not one for holiday food.

Obama in Indonesia

Sometimes I am really impressed with Obama.

He went to Indonesia on his trip to Asia, along with China and now Korea I believe. I think that this article is worth reading. Things to look for and give thought to: reconciliation, contextualization, effective communication, and religion.

Click below:

Obama in Indonesia

Bah- Sunday Sad Secrets.

Why is this so sad? Why is Post Secrets Sunday blog sooo depressing?

Lots of people are hurting in this world. Lots of people are lonely too.

Jesus, rescue them.

I am going to start praying for these people.

Preach it DuBois

"Of all of the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental…The freedom to learn…has been bought by bitter sacrifice. And whatever we may think of the curtailment of other civil rights, we should fight to the last ditch to keep open the right to learn, the right to have examined in our schools not only what we believe but what we do not believe; not only what our leaders say, but what the leaders of other groups and nations, and the leaders of other centuries have said. We must insist upon this to give our children the fairness of a start which will equip them with such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that they can have a real chance to judge what the world is, and what its greater minds have thought it might be.”

-W.E.B. DuBois, "The Freedom to Learn," 1949

The Bay

I have been trying to wrap my mind around a lingering thought recently: why do I think it is not okay to be comfortable or to go after something that I know will be comfortable?

This thought has been in my mind for quite some time now. I have a huge heart for the bay area and every time I think about it I am overcome with joy.  But when I think about spending my life their I feel guilty and think that I do not deserve it, because my life would be too easy or that I would not be fulfilling what Jesus was all about- denying our selves. But was that really all that Jesus was about? I believe that we are supposed to deny ourselves daily, but we are also suppose to go after the things that we love. Jesus came to bring life, and life abundantly.

I had dinner with my friend Justine the other night and I was telling her about my concern with thinking that I do not deserve to live in the Bay because of living comfortably. She reassured me that having the passion I do for the bay area and for change is not something that is necessarily from myself, but from the Lord. I know this may sound silly… but I have NEVER have thought of it like that. I always thought I was being selfish because it is my favorite place in the world.  The Lord puts desires on our hearts for a reason- and He will most likely use our desires to bring about some crazy plan that we never dreamed of.

Someday I will return to the Bay Area. I am sure of it. I will live in San Francisco and either teach, work for a non-profit, or something of that sort.

It is kind of fun to try to look at your life from a birds eye view. Kind of frightening as well. I still want to go Memphis- extremely bad. I believe that if the Lord places me their I will be challenged and stretched. I will grow like crazy and I will hopefully master the art of teaching.  Hopefully I will be a light. God uses everything for His glory- I just have to remember that.

Although this may sound like I am stressing out, I am not. I am rather content and know that the Lord will place me where He desires. That is a rather comforting thought right there.