Psalm 111

In doing devos today, I read the following:

Psalm 111

1 Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the Lord is gracious and merciful.
5 He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
8 they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!

This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. I thought that was really neat - I love looking at the Bible as a work of literature as well as instruction and direction. The beauty, complexity, and intricacy of the literary aspects of this work that was written over such a long period of time is amazing!

Paresseux

While teaching adjectives to my French II classes, I was emailed this video of how lazy people are (Lazy - what a good adjective! Not as good as festive though... And speaking of festive - Christmas is coming soon! Yay! I can't wait! I watched a few Christmas movies this weekend and have been listening to Christmas music since...) Following that big tangent, here's the link to the video Getting people to use stairs.

Accomplishment

And yet again I fail at blogging every day, but I did make it 3 times this week so far (counting today), so that's better than nothing!

Today I did lots! I finished my lesson plans for next week and my instructional assistant will be thrilled that I can get her my things to be copied tomorrow! Yay! I also did some errand-running, cleaned my entire apartment - afterward I realized that I really, really needed to open the windows because of the smell of the cleaning supplies. Hooray for non-suffocation!

And I am starting to realize the advantages of cable TV - I found a movie about Moliere in French! Yay! I feel like I'm doing some sort of research for a lesson, even if I'm not. Makes me feel accomplished with all I got done this afternoon.

Funny language-y thing: being accomplished (perhaps I'm thinking of this because of the film) used to be applied to people in the way that they have many skills, chiefly used to be women. Today, I am accomplished as well, but not because of my amazing skills, rather because I got an amazing amount of stuff done. (Obviously I'm not accomplished for my grammar or my language skills right now....)

Life as We Know It

Four and a half months after the fact, I am just now fully realizing that life as I knew it before is over. Yes, there are remnants of my life as a student from before (how funny it is to hear that!) like old college books, student teaching materials, and of course, friends.

One thing I have discovered though, is how blessed I was through my schooling experiences - high school, college, etc. And how strange it is to not be surrounded by people going through the same stages of life you are. It's very different, humbling, and sometimes disorienting remembering that the people I'm working with are so much older than I am , have so much more experience at their job, and some have kids my age or older. Weird. It's just very strange and hard for me to get used to following 16 years of being with people my age, going through the same transitions and growth. So it's pretty safe to say that life as I knew it is over and I'm the same sized fish, just in a much bigger pond.

Lazy Daze

I really should be posting every day since I really don't have much else to do except write lessons, grade papers, clean, and lounge around...so now I will. Hopefully...

In other news, how amazing and encouraging it is to have God on our side and have fellowship with others! I was really encouraged by Isaiah 43 and being reminded of what I have been blessed to do and spend my time on the past 4 years at school, camp, and home.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins... But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." But now thus says the Lord, he who created you O Jacob, he who formed you O Israel: "Fear not for I have redeemed you:I have called you by name, you are mine."

-Isaiah 40:1-2, 53:5-6, 35:3-4, 43:1

Homecoming, Homegoing

This weekend was thankfully and conveniently a three-day weekend so I was blessed enough to go back to Grove City to visit for Homecoming 2009. It was such an odd and bittersweet experience saying hello to old friends and goodbye (again) to college life. And here's one very small example of life moving on without me - sniff - the huge trees next to the entrance to South that I walked through for three years are gone! No more do girls have to squeeze between the massive trees or have a head-on collision trying to run in or out when it's raining and cold. Ah, Grove City life.

However, despite all the changes and such, it was good to go back, see friends, and realize that I miss it so much because I had such a great time there and met so many amazing people! So yay good times, great friends, memorable professors and the collegiate life and academia!