Does the tree of life...

...in Genesis 3:24 still exist on the Earth? Is it still being guarded by cherubim and a totally awesome flaming sword that turns in every direction? -Ask Anything, Mars Hill Church

K, so I totally stole this post from Bjørn, but we did find this question together so I guess it's not fully a theft. right? Anyway, Ask Anything is Mars Hill newest q&a site, in which anyone can write a question to head pastor Mark Driscoll, and then people can vote for which questions they want him to answer, and at the end of the week, he writes a response to the #1 question. Pretty cool idea.

And anyone that knows Bjørn and I well, know that we are big fans of Mars Hill and Driscoll. Being somewhat techny nerds (Bjørn= way techy nerd; I =only a little bit. I try to balance him out!), we always listen in to the Mars Hill podcast. Nothing like a good sermon on a friday evening! haha kidding. Not kidding though: after going to the locally famous Nuthouse Bar & Grill last Saturday night, while i fell asleep on the couch, Bjørn and a couple of guy friends spent an hour and a half watching Driscoll and Piper videos on Youtube. The epitamy of theology meets technology nerds.

This video is pretty funny though. Worth checking out and laughing about.
"Be a Man"

Guess WHO came to visit?

Jill came up two weekends ago (I know poor form on the late blog posting-alas, i am human). The weather was amazing, and we had an awesome time. Friday, we went to an apple orchard, south of lynden on ten mile road, because I had observed the last time I was there that they had golf carts free of charge that anyone could drive around their orchard. Jill and I way took advantage of that and drove around for an hour. Most other people probably would have gone for about 20 minutes.
Yes, I stole an apple.
Crazy 'Ol Maurice
Saturday, we babysat 3 little boys from our church that Bjørn and I are good friends with. We started out with skateboarding-these boys are pretty hardcore, especially the 4-year-old. And then we took them to a local pumpkin patch (stoney ridge on the Van Dyk, for those of you that would know). I love these boys, and even get to babysit them again on friday.


Confession: I bawled after Jill left. There's just something about moving away from family, and getting to be around your best girl friend, that hit me after she was gone. But the whole familia will be up for Thanksgiving, so I can be patient. I think.

in the waiting process...

The principal at Sumas Elementary is finally back from her vacation in Korea. She said that today she will be talking with a couple of other principals to work out moving some $ around to fund my official job. She also said that hopefully within this week, she could get me going as a substitute until the official job falls into place.

It is good to have more security. But for now, I am still on the waiting front.

So far, I have only been working as an assistant in the after school program at the neighboring school, Everson Elementary, 3 days a week. It is already a lot of fun, and I can't wait to work more one-on-one with the ESL kids.

introducing Senora Bulthuis

That is right, may I introduce you to the head of the brand new ESL department at Sumas Elementary School, myself. In a somewhat bizarre last couple days, I went to Sumas Elementary for an observation/interview for a position working one-on-one with special needs kids at the school. During my interview with the principal she actually asked me how interested I would be in doing something ESL related and using my spanish skills to work with the 20+ new Hispanic students in the school. I was thrilled. She is in the process of figuring out funding and setting up the official job, but until that process is completed she has hired me on as a substitute para educator (which get paids a good rate, just no benefits yet).

My job will basically consist of working one-on-one and in small groups with the Non-Native English speakers from 12-3pm, adjusting the level of language to their comprehension levels, which involves some translation into Spanish. I will then be "shadowing" two ESL teachers at Everson Elementary who run an after-school ESL program. The hope is after a couple of months of shadowing this after school program I will start a similar program at Sumas Elementary.

Currently, there is only 1 other TESL certified teacher at Sumas, who has a basic level of Spanish. Therefore, I am as equally if not the most qualified ESL teacher for the school, which is quite a different feeling for me. But I definitely need to study some Spanish vocabulary and hopefully with a little practice, I will get back into the hang of speaking it. I'm SOO excited!