His Servant

I'll be excited to hear how your week went if you get on this evening. =) @Christian

And I will be glad to tell you. =)

It was fairly standard, as far as my weeks go these days. xP Tuesday was a snow day, due to the cold, and Friday almost was. That day I did work around the house and then went to an orthodontist appointment, where they removed my false tooth, leaving me with a lisp when I talk without my teeth clenched and a slur when I talk with my teeth clenched. Needless to say, talking hasn't been too fun the last several days. Still getting used to it. xD

At work, the kids were pretty bad this week… All four of the veterans in our class – meaning the ones who've been there the longest – behaved very badly every day. Whereas many of the newer kids did very well. Which is somewhat typical, but the veterans were particularly bad this week. We had to restrain two of them who we hadn't had to restrain in a very long time – and for one of them it had been about a year… I think they're just suffering from not having anything to look forward to. Which is typical with kids who only behave to get what they want. So it's just exposing that they're definitely not ready to transition back to their home schools anytime soon.

Other than work… Bible study on Wednesday night went well. We read through most of the book of Esther. I really like it when we just read… It's so powerful to just let the Word of God speak for itself. Friday night we watched Divergent, a movie based on a book that Nicolas and Rosie had read, but that I had refused to read until I saw the movie. xP It was very good. Lots of action and a good story. Great character development as well.

And then there was today, which started off poorly but became really great! I'll get to the "poorly" part after I describe the great part. xP I gave three tours today, one of which was a youth group made up of mostly high school kids – which is my favorite tour to give. I told you at Disneyworld how my last youth group tour went: the kids were really rowdy, so I really laid into them with the gospel at the end of the tour. This group wasn't as rowdy. They were very interested in what I had to say, and they had good chaperons who kept them in line. I still really went into the gospel with them at the end – more so than I usually do with my tours – just because I know that age group really needs to hear the truth about what salvation really means, what Jesus really came to do, and what repentance should really look like. The founder of the museum also came in later in the day, and I got to talk with him about changes that are going to be made over the summer. So, all in all, it was a great day.

However. At the beginning of the day, I dropped my Kindle while getting out of my car at work, and although it fell on its back, the front screen shattered. So even though nothing was wrong inside, the touchscreen stopped working. So I chatted with Amazon tech support tonight, and they can't do anything about it. It's under warranty, but not when dropped. xD So I looked up some possible options for new ones on Craig's List, because I really don't want to buy another one full price. We'll see what happens.

Anyways. How was your week? XD

Okay! Thanks for telling how it went! Do you know how long you'll have braces on for? And just wondering, why'd they take the false tooth out, if you don't mind my asking? I know what it's like to have a lisp and stuff because of all the weird mouth things I got done for the 8+ years, so I'm sure it's no fun.

Sorry about the kids at work… no fun. =/ Yay about the snow day though! XD Glad your Wednesday Bible Study and tours went so well! That's great! Also, a question about the tours… I thought you had mentioned that you couldn't go into stuff like that unless it was like a family? Or am I confused about that? Owwwwww. =/ So sorry about your Kindle… I'm sure you gotta hate that. Gah.

My week… started off not very great. So unmotivated about life, I guess. Having nothing pressing all day, every day is really getting to me. I'm not the type of person to just sit around, and even though I'm not doing that, I don't like the no-interaction, same old-same old routine each day. =/ Thursday though, was really awesome. I'm working on this Assyrian Newspaper that I had been putting off which I really started getting into. And then I drew two Assyrian soldiers, which was super cool. xP And I got started on lots of memory work. And then I so enjoyed my Isaiah reading that it really uplifted me from such a bad week. So, the past few days have been good. But overall, nothing exciting in the least in my life, like normal. ;)

I really have no idea about the braces… Could be just another year or longer, I dunno. They took the false tooth out in order to start pushing over the teeth that are supposed to be filling in that spot. It's complicated, but they originally made the gap to move some teeth out of the way, and now that they're out of the way, it's time to fill the gap again. Thankfully no one seems to mind the lisp/slur too much. I explained it for all of my tours today, and they didn't treat me any differently. But I often notice people staring at the gap in my mouth – especially when I'm with my students at school. =P

The only groups we're not allowed to give the Bible side is public school groups. It's a legal issue, I guess. But anyone else we can, unless they specifically ask us not to. The youth group was from a church, so I would naturally give them the Bible side of things… Maybe you didn't understand what I meant by youth group. xP

Yeah… God gave me peace about it immediately after it happened, but I'm glad I had a good day other than that, because I may have been pretty down about it otherwise. xp I should be able to replace it. I just hope I don't have to buy another one at full price…

So glad to hear that your week improved with the Isaiah reading. Man, those chapters were so good… I totally know what you mean, though. I would call that restlessness. Getting tired of the same old routine, longing for something to change. I feel that way sometimes, even though I guess my life is a little more exciting than yours. =P The only solution I've found is just pursuing more intimacy with God. Because that's what we're called to as singles, really. We don't have spouses with whom to share intimate feelings, so God should be everything we need at this time. (And at all times, really, but we need to be more focused on that now, when we feel alone or restless so often.) And He should be all that we live for. That ought to excite us and give us motivation with each new day.

Btw, I know what I'm going to reply to your WinterJam e-mail. I just haven't had the time to write it yet. I should be able to soon. ;)

Gtg for now. Ttyl!

Ah, that makes sense, about both first and second paragraphs. XD Yeah, I think I didn't read your thing carefully and read "high-school" group. My bad, sorry!

Yeah, and really, that's all that gives me motivation throughout the week - is my time with God. I try to switch things up throughout the day regarding things I do, so as to give it a little different feel, but I still find myself pretty restless, like you said. =/ And sadly, I don't go to God as often as I should in those moments… I can start feeling sorry for myself that nothing more is going on in my life. It is a good time in life to just rest in Christ and trust Him with everything.

Cool! I was wondering when you were going to get around to that, though I know you have a busy schedule, so I wasn't worried. ;) Looking forward to getting it! Are you meaning, like, tonight, or just sometime soon? ;)

I honestly have no idea what our plans are, but I told your idea to Amy and Daniel and they said they'd talk about it or something like that. But, I'll try to keep you updated. I really have no idea what this trip will be like other than I'm getting lots of driving hours. Since I'm kinda like a tag along, I'm just doing what they say. =) But thanks so much for the offer, and I'll keep you updated! Less than 2 weeks!!

Alrighty, makes sense :) Looking forward to itttt!!!

Unfortunately, no, I didn't get to it tonight. I probably should have, but I didn't. Sorry I was gone for so long. I spent too much time watching YouTube videos on various things that interest me regarding Christian rappers and their relation to the world. Definitely stuff I need to figure out in my mind, but not that I need to be spending so much time on… Especially when I hadn't read my Bible yet, due to my tablet failure. So about an hour ago I stopped and read and meditated. It was much needed. I'm glad I made myself stop everything.

How has your evening been?

Not too much actually… Bible time, talking on here, talking with Amy, and reading a book to Faith.

Oh, it's fine about the e-mail, don't worry.

Okay, but I have this super cool thing to tell you about something I read this week, if you're still on…

I am most certainly still on. x)

Okay, so I just finished reading this book titled "Moses: The Man of God", which I think I've mentioned to you before. Anyways, it was a really excellent book, and very insightful about lessons one can learn about Moses' life, whether practically or just realizing the man of God he was.

At the very last chapter, the author brought out this point which is SO neat that I had never realized before: Moses asked for two main things in his life… 1) that he could see the glory of God and 2) that he could see the promised land. And during his life, the Lord answered those in part. Moses did get to see God's glory from behind, and he did get to look over into the promised land. But it wasn't like that they were fully fulfilled. And yet, in the story of Christ's transfiguration, those two desires from Moses were fully fulfilled - he stood on a mountain in the promised land, and he saw Christ's glory during the transfiguration.

Maybe it's just me, but I had never seen that before in Scripture, so when I read that, I was like "Whoaaaa. That is so… good."

Whoa…… Wow. That's just… wow. What an awesome note to end the book on…

I know. ^ _ ^ That's exactly what I thought… it was so excellent I told everyone at breakfast that morning about it. It was just so amazing to see that in Scripture!

I love it when someone brings something new out of Scripture that no one seems to have ever observed before, and you don't have to be afraid that it's heresy, even though it's new, because it's just so awesome that it seems like it's exactly the kind of thing that our God would do. This would be one of those times. I don't get to experience them very often. xP

Yup. Me too… and so when I do get them, I'm just like - wooooooooow. ^ _ ^

Will be leaving MV till my birthday, and then probably for the next week after that as well, we'll see how the time goes though. So, bye friends! Have a great next couple of weeks!

Aw, good bye Bethany! =( hug

Bye Bethany! :( Have a great couple of weeks too!

Bye, Bethany! I'll miss talking with you this weekend!

And, I really really am going to try to get that e-mail finished. xD I started it last night but didn't get very far. I want to finish it this evening, but we'll see what happens.

Hope your trip is awesome! :D

Love this picture. XD

http://photoshop.biblebee.org/p/pentimone/2011nbb-pentimone-4000_22_2_156

Thanks, peoples! XD

Having a great time here! Watched a really awesome movie last night. Made me cry. ;) But because there were so many people around, I had to do it quietly. =P

I was looking for the J. family's music, and can't seem to find it. Maybe you can help me…? :)

For sure. =) Here's the link: http://www.thejohnsonstrings.com/

Oh. My. Wowwwww. They are amazing!!!!! I especially like their Hallelujah Chorus!

I knowwwwww. =) It was so neat to see them live. And they won the best music award at the festival on that song!

Okay, so, this post wasn't nearly as bad as the one on Nicolas's IY, but there was at least one glaring mistake that really bothered me more than your errors usually do. =P Actually, the problems are really only found in one paragraph of the post.

1. Those who have been here for a while, as well as those who request *one*, *are given* a MV job. Ian *here is* the MV Court Adviser. Sam is the King… and I was the MV Court Scribe until, apparently, Sam banned me from that job. *Which* I still have to figure out, because I was quite enjoying my position.

The "of which" was my biggest issue. That makes absolutely no sense there. xD You would only say "of which" when you're introducing a prepositional phrase that you don't want to say backwards. (e.g. "This is the kingdom of which Sam is the King" instead of "This is the kingdom that Sam is the King of" – because it's improper to end a sentence with a preposition.)

Thanks for the feedback. You know… now that I think about it, "of which" is another phrase I use all the time in talking and writing papers, especially. So it's just another bad habit I should break.

Yeah, I actually have an acquaintance at the Bible study who does the exact same thing. Except he does it in his speech. He's always inserting phrases like that because they sound intelligent, but he doesn't know where to place them, so it ends up sounding silly. I just want to help you to get away from that.

Sorry I hadn't told you about my surgery! I kept forgetting to tell you… Not like it's terribly important that you know, but I feel like it was probably kind of weird to find out from a good friend's dad that he's having a surgery in two weeks, rather than just hearing it from the friend. =p Especially when you're always asking me what's new. XD

So I don't know if you heard all the details or not, but when I was 9, I had to have some bone material taken from my hip and put into the bone beneath my upper gum line in order to build up the bone there – since I was born without much of anything there. Back then, I had to stay in the hospital for a night, and it was a fairly long recovery, but now they only have to take some bone cells from my hip, so it won't be as big of a process. I'll be back home by the end of the day, but I'm supposed to take it easy. And I can only eat liquid foods for a couple of weeks, slowly transitioning to more solid stuff after that. I have to give the bone cells to produce more bones in my mouth.

I think I told you about the gap in my teeth that has been left because they removed the false one I had; that's the problem that they're trying to resolve. The gap is there because there's almost no bone in between those teeth – so they have to create it in order to move my teeth around to the right spots. So that's the goal of the surgery. They also talked about possibly taking some skin from my hip and fixing up my upper lip a little bit, since it does still look slightly abnormal, due to the operation way back when I was a baby. Not sure how I feel about that, but I'm not opposed to it.

So anyways, I'm sure I don't have to ask you to be praying about that. ;) It shouldn't be too big of a deal. Just pray that the recovery is smooth and quick and that it won't be long before the bone's growing and my orthodontist is able to get back to work in my mouth, so that I can be done with braces asap. ;) I will greatly appreciate the thoughts and prayers I know you'll have for me. =]

You didn't even tell me about your surgery, BAKA!

I'll be praying, too, Christian! Sounds horrible… i can only imagine. gulp ^being fearful of hospitals dosen't help me…^

You didn't even tell *me* about your surgery, *BAKA*!

I know! I feel so bad! I haven't known for very long, so it's not like I've been really holding out on you guys. It just always slipped my mind when I was here.

I'll be praying, too, Christian! Sounds horrible... i can only imagine. *gulp* ^being fearful of hospitals dosen't help me...^

Oh goodness, this is one of the simplest things I've had to go through. =P I've had upwards of 15 surgeries in my life, so this is a piece of cake. The only part I hate is going under – when they put me to sleep. Thankfully I've convinced them to stop using a mask with laughing gas, because I have a pretty legit fear of those, due to experiences when I was younger. Now they put the anesthesia in through an IV, and I just slowly drift off. Not as bad, but I still hate the feeling of losing consciousness and control.

I would say I was a tad bit surprised when I heard about it on the phone call yesterday, but I totally understand about something slipping your mind. I have that happen way to often. But, it's good to know about it now and hear some more details. And yes, I'll definitely be praying for you! And you'll have to keep me updated. I hope you can transition well into the soft foods. I dunno what you think about eating soft stuff, but I really liked certain foods so it was especially hard for me to give them up (potatoes and pasta, for the most part). Hopefully you'll get to really good soft foods to make up for not getting to eat normal stuff. And be sure to make some peanut butter smoothies sometimes!!

Do you know what time your surgery is next week? I'll be praying, especially as you go in, because I hate the unnerving feeling of losing control of your mind when you get medicine through the IV. But yes, I'll be praying for you throughout the whole recovery as well.

I knew it. xP As soon as Dad brought that up, I was like, "No! I forgot to tell Bethany and Carissa! I feel so bad that they're hearing it from my dad first!" xD I'm actually not too apprehensive about the soft foods. I don't remember it being too bad during the summer of 2012 when I had the metal halo device. I ate a lot of pudding, mashed potatoes, ice cream, and applesauce – none of which are bad at all. xD I think I'll only be able to drink stuff for the first few days, though, and that will probably be pretty hard. But, yes, I've already been thinking about the peanut butter milkshakes! XD I'm sure that will be my favorite part. ;)

I do not.. Probably some time in the morning. The time 7:30 sounds familiar, so that could be the time. I'll let you know, though. Yeah, the IV thing… probably the weirdest sensation I've ever known – to be totally conscious one second and then waking up hours later and realizing that there was a long period of unconsciousness in between – and then you're still not even totally awake yet, so you have that terrible groggy, half-in-control feeling… Ugh. Not much looking forward to it. But it won't last forever, and it's in order to help me, so I can't complain.

Thank you for your prayers. =]

It really is fine, so don't feel bad. Glad I know now though! Honestly, when recovering from my surgery I don't ever remember eating much, if any, applesauce or pudding, which is so silly, because I was half starved for anything other than a milkshake! I tried drinking chicken broth but that was mega-salt intake so I quit that pretty fast. I couldn't eat mashed potatoes till like 4 weeks later, because that was still too thick for me. I dunno why we didn't think of those other two though!

Yeahhhhhh. That was like one of the weirdest and most horrible feelings I've felt before. After my surgery I was trying to explain it to my siblings and they were totally creeped out and didn't like hearing about it. So yeah, I'll definitely be praying for you then!

I'm leaving very soon to take Ethan out to a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game tonight for his birthday, since Dad's too sick to take him. Please pray for safe travels and a fun time!

Talk to you later!

Oh, tell him happy birthday for me! Turning…9?

Yep. :)

We had a fun time! Quite the experience. The "JumboTron" (remember, that word your mom didn't know in The Bowl Game xD) there is supposedly the largest screen in North America. Which means it's bigger than the screens in New York on Times Square. O_O It was huge. And Dad's seats are so close… It was a fun atmosphere, despite all of the inevitable idolatry and vanity of it all… It's a fun thing to do every once in a long while, I guess. ;) Ethan loved it, so that's all that matters. xP Plus, because the Cavs scored 25 points within the first quarter, all McDonald's restaurants in the area were offering a free quarter pounder sandwich to anyone who had a ticket from the game. So after the game was over, Ethan and I went to dinner at a McDonald's near our house. xP I think I'm his favorite big brother now. XD

Anyways, hope your evening went well! Talk to you soon.

Glad you both had a good time! And yeah, when you mentioned the Bowl Game, I remembered what you were talking about. Very interesting! Awww… it's so awesome when you do stuff for little sibs and they totally just love it and look up to you even more! Glad you both enjoyed it!

Younger sisters look up to you? I always thought they looked down on you.

Huh? For the record, Sam, Bethany is the fourth tallest in our family. With only big brother and parents being the tallest. So yeah, I think you are the confused one.

Huh? For the record, Sam, Bethany is the fourth tallest in our family. With only big brother and parents being the tallest. So yeah, I think _you_ are the confused one.

Umm… that actually makes him right. Because you are Amy's younger sister, and you are able to look down on her. =P

I'm so confused now. Sam said - "I thought younger siblings look down on you" and my point was that they can't, since I'm taller than them all. Which means I look down on them… but maybe I'm totally missing something obvious?

^Bear with me, I normally get things so slowlyyyyyyyyyyy…^

Something else awesome at the game was that I got on the JumboTron a couple of times. The first time wasn't anything special. I just happened to be in the frame when they had the camera on someone else. But the second time was very significant. Dad has this sign that he made to take to Cavs games which I had with me. On the front, it has the Cavs logo and "Let's Go Cavs!" or something like that on it; but on the back, in big letters, it says, "King James still needs King Jesus!" (King James is the nickname given to LeBron James, the biggest name in basketball, who plays for the Cavs.)

So near the very end of the game, I was bouncing the front of the sign up and down to the beat of whatever music was playing, trying to get on the camera, and it worked! So I immediately flipped the sign over, and for a second or two, every one of the thousands of people in the stadium could see the message about Jesus on the biggest screen in North America. O_O That is, for the couple of seconds before the cameraman quickly panned away, obviously not happy that I had changed my sign. XD

I'm so confused now. Sam said - "I thought younger siblings look down on you" and my point was that they can't, since I'm taller than them all. Which means *I* look down on _them_... but maybe I'm totally missing something obvious? ^Bear with me, I normally get things so slowlyyyyyyyyyyy...^

No, I see what you're saying. I think he made it in a figurative sense anyway, but I was making a joke out of the fact that if it were Amy talking, she would be able to say that she has a younger sibling who can look down on her, because you can. =P

Wow, that's really great!! Glad you were able to have that opportunity, even if it was just for a couple of seconds! Never know what the Lord might use in someones life…

Ohhhhhh. Well, yeah, that makes more sense… facepalm

pats

Yeah, whatevers… my poor, little brain can never get the jokes, and I must bear with it…