DONE!!

Sorry it has been soo long since my last post. It has been a busy two weeks. Since my last post I have made three presentations about the US 2 program and David and Margaret. Since it is close to Christmas several churches had asked me to speak about what I do and essentially be the one who brought the gifts back so they wouldn't have to drive to La Verne. It was fun and I am glad I got to share about what I do. At one of the events, there were some teenage girls that they wanted me to focus my attention on and the next week at church one of the church leaders thanked me for saying things to the girls because they always see people their parents age working for the church but they don't see enough young people.

That Saturday, Lauri and I had a girls night out. We went to Victoria Gardens, this really cool outside mall. We ate at California Pizza Kitchen and then went and saw The Holiday. It was one of the best movies I have seen in awhile. Good chick flick, but also good overall.

That next Monday, my leadership girls and I and a few other key people at the agency at breakfast with California State Senator Bob Margett. He supports D and M and the two boys homes in the area. He wanted to connect with some of the girls and give them support. The president of Citrus College, a community college in the area, was also at the breakfast and the Senator made a gift to all of the girls from the Cosmetology school at Citrus. Each of the girls at D and M get a manicure, pedicure, and a haircut. The girls were really excited and it helped them to see someone who had a hard life in the beginning so successful.

Last Friday night was our JMS Christmas Party. It was a blast! It was really good to see all of my coworkers in a non-work situation. We played a really corny game, but most of the people really got into it. Everyone had a Christmas light bulb necklace and anytime they said Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Kwanzaa or Hanukkah, the person that heard them first got to take their light bulb. Their were some really sneaky people! We also played Po-Keno. Sort of like Bingo. I found out that some of my coworkers are REALLY competitive.

Saturday Baba and Arlene drove through La Verne going to Pasadena and I had lunch with them. That morning I got up and deep cleaned my apartment. It hasn't looked this clean since I moved in. Lunch was great. We went to Casa de Salsa a nice Mexican food restaurant. It was nice to spend time with my grandparents outside of family events.
That morning I also locked my apartment keys in my apartment!!

This week has been a blur, even though it feels like Monday was a year ago. Wednesday we had a White Elephant party. I don't remember when I have laughed that hard, except at the Christmas party. One of my coworkers received "Bubba" teeth. To my readers in Texas, at least in CC, you know what the teeth look like.

It was HILARIOUS! I was lucky enough to receive bride and groom bobble heads.

I am leaving tomorrow for Texas and I am very excited! I can't wait to be back in the South and be with my family and church and friends!

I don't think I will write before Christmas, so to everyone -- Have a Blessed Christmas.

Grace and Peace!

News Flash -- A few additions since yesterday!

As most people know I have been working at the school and also at the emergency shelter. My principal and I talked last week about cutting my Gillette time down. While I enjoy going to Gillette and I think it helps some of the girls that transfer over sometimes it makes my day feel very rushed. And I feel bad when I don't go because we are short staffed in the office or it is just a crazy day. So as of today I only make and take work over to Gillette and just check up on them once a week. Because I am going to be in the office more time now, again as of today I have been given the advisory position of the leadership girls. These are girls who apply to be on Leadership. Please don't ask what Leadership means because none of the teachers can come up with a good definition or another good title because all of the girls are so different. This group is big point of contention during our weekly meetings, especially since we can't come up with a different name and don't have a good definition. Essentially, these girls do well in their classes, get good citizenship grades, do well in the cottage life and the special part is they get to plan activities for the other girls. So we will see how the girls take it when they find out I am the advisor and not one of the office staff that they all (well most all) love. I will keep everyone posted about this assigned endeavor.

I heard someone today use the word irk, and I thought my mom was the only one that used that word. But I realized that something has been irking me for a very long time, even though I just put on a smile and laugh with everyone else. I am assuming that most people know I am from Texas, which essentially is part of the South. I am also assuming that everyone knows that I say y'all, probably because I am from the South because rarely do my parents say it. I say y'all in most of my conversations because that is the word I use because it makes sense to use it when talking to many people. Several times in the last week I have been made fun of because I say y'all. I know this is just a playful joke, but oh my it is just a word. Two people asked how to spell it and then if we learned the word in school. I think they all want to say it, but now are scared because they have made fun of me. Even the kids catch it sometimes and they bring it to my attention. So I finally said it was in the dictionary...Variant(s): or y'all /'yol/Function: pronoun. chiefly Southern : YOU -- usually used in addressing two or more persons (taken from Merriam-Webster).

Well that is all for now
Grace and Peace

Oh my it's December already!

I was told that I needed to do another post, so I will try to catch everyone up from my last post (since it was awhile ago).

Thanksgiving happened. I went to Phoenix to see my family. I think it was the first time that we were in Phoenix for Thanksgiving. It was great to see family since we only see them once a year. Had some great times with my grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins. Also some bad times...University of Arizona lost the Duel in the Desert against their arch rival Arizona State University. It was a sad and very embarassing few hours.
We have had a bit of a cold spell here, but today it was almost 80 degrees. Honestly this past week has not been that exciting. It is really weird here because the sun starts going down around 4:30. The day goes by so fast because there seems to be less hours of light. So by the time I get home from work the sun is already going down. I have spent a lot of time just reading because it was dark and cold.

Today in math we put up a Days til Break countdown. We have 14 school days. It seems like this semester has gone by so fast. Well not technically a whole semester, but at least I don't have to make a semester final before Christmas. I can't believe that there are only 20 days until Christmas. And that means that I will be going home for 2 whole weeks!

This coming week I have three US2 appearances at different churches. I go say a little something and they give me gifts for the girls' Christmas. I have also made a wish list on http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/105-9775445-2749263?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=270VO20EQFLXH for books that I think the girls might like to read.

Well hopefully the next 20 days are more eventful than the past 20 days.
grace and peace