Dakota Is The Key

Yesterday, we went to the United States to renew my passport. My passport has been expired for 6 years (and an odd number of days), plus I have been married and had a name change in my absence. To top it all off, I haven't been to the states since grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary in July of '09.

So when the very big, African American border guard took one look at my passport and asked us to come inside, I wasn't surprised. When they had us empty our pockets, looked through Jesse's wallet and my purse and searched the car, I still wasn't surprised.

What did surprise me was when they started apologizing. They didn't ever come out and say, "I'm sorry." It was more like, "You'll soon be on your way... we just have our protocols, etc., etc." "Well, it's just that with your passport being so outdated, we simply have to verify who you are." They started making little jokes and we all laughed together. It was awesome. :-)

The last thing they had me do was fill out a card declaring if we had any tobacco (no), fruits or vegetables (no), bringing anything down to sell (no), firearms or weapons (no), money over x number of dollars (no) and our destination, which I wrote down as "Minot, SD."

Now, there were two border guards and my husband both peering over my head as I wrote that. No one said anything. No one even noticed. It wasn't until we were back in our car and on our merry way that I said, "South Dakota, eh?" and my husband looked at me strangely and said, "We're not going to see Mount Rushmore today." Haha!


Ah! Minot, South Dakota, you exist, even if just in my mind.

March 25th -- what's on your feet

My favorite socks!

I am ridiculously picky about my socks. When I was a little girl, I gave my Grandma Holter a very hard time about putting my shoes on because my socks weren't exactly lined up against my toes. I forced her to put my shoes on three times before I deemed it was acceptable. Looking back, I wonder how a three year old child held such power. Haha!!

However, all joking aside: if my socks don't fit right, my feet hurt. Weird, eh?

Life & Caramel Apples

This morning is all about getting ready for the afternoon. You get up, get dressed, clean the house, practice the piano, research, study, run errands... For breakfast, I ate some apple pie leftover from Thanksgiving: the top is still crackly with sugar and cinnamon. I adore apple pie. If I were Snow White, the wicked step-mother of the fairy tale would have to slightly change her methods of poisoning. "Here, love. Have a slice of pie." "Is it apple?" "Yes, my dear, certainly is." "Is it poisoned?" "Yes, love, it is."

Who cares about little details like that when apple pie is involved? :-)

I am officially into my second week of teaching. The students arrive in good humor and less shy than they were last week. Yesterday, they were all trudging up the driveway through the mud and landed on our doorstep two inches taller in ruined shoes. Poor peoples! Megan made me laugh when she left... she kicked her shoe and mud flew everywhere. Some of it hit the house... some of it landed high in the trees... some of it ended up on her mother. (Which is why I stopped laughing as soon as I could.) 

This has to be the start of my favorite season. I know why they have so many holidays in the winter: we need a reason to celebrate. The cold here can be simply unbearable and dull.. I so enjoy having a reason to bake and cook and buy gifts for people. On Sunday, we had Thanksgiving dinner with Jesse's extended family. We had chicken. Chicken is definitely my favorite fowl. It's moist and has that lovely chicken taste that (despite the rumors) nothing else in the world has. 

Next along is Jesse's birthday, Halloween, Christmas, New Years... 

I bought cream today so I could make caramel apples. Any friend care to join us? :-)

You know, when I began teaching I never thought I would be pushed so hard and so far out of my comfort zone. No one person is the same. I prefer folk, hymns, celtic... music I consider gentle and beautiful. And yet, I am endeavoring to each musicals, rock, country. If I am to teach these genres, I must find something to appreciate in them. I must learn to love something in them. Thank goodness that there are elements in every genre that I am already comfortable with. It does not matter what type of music it is, there are certain qualities that are always the same in good music. The fundamentals, the love and passion the artists express into the songs/tunes, talent, effort/hard work... and we all need to understand these qualities before we can understand any type of music. 

Back to the subject! I love being pushed far beyond my limits. I love getting advice from my husband and other musicians. I love it when I have to wrack my brain in the middle of a lesson to find the best worded answer. I love hearing parents tell how much they like the motivation their children are expressing. And yes, before each lesson, I am scared. I pray and search my heart (soul) and mind (intelligence/knowledge) for the best means possible of teaching this individual who has come to me to learn. 

Without teaching or performing (or some other form of musical expression) it is very easy to let what you have sit and mold in the corner. Because of my job, I am forced to grow in ways I never would on my own. In this way alone, teaching is a life changer. 

And now, I shall get off my apple box and get on with my day. If there are any students or their parents reading, thanks for helping me become a better person.

I am wishing you all the best of Wednesdays. May you find some joy today!

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear. -- Thomas Jefferson

On Astute Employers And The Benefits Thereof

P.S. Just in case you think I'm some kind of hard worker or something, I actually didn't do any of the things I listed at the bottom of this post. :-P I made pizza and watched a movie instead. ;-)

Another fascinating day at DQ! I decorated 4 10" and 8 8" cakes, plus three logs (one of which ended up taking the role of catastrophe). I worked from 9 until 3:30 with only a short break in between.

I work with some interesting, beautiful people:

Donna (my employer): This woman reminds me so much of my mom in many ways and... in other ways, she's very much unlike my mother. She's gentle, sweet and kind. She's very firm about the way things should be done. She loves color. And the best and scariest thing about her is how astute she is.

I had just finished putting the different colors of icing gels on a cake when she popped into my little nook. She looked at the cake. Looked at me. Smiled. Looked back at the cake. Then she said, "When I met you, I could just tell you were a vibrant person. Rich and vivid colors make up your personality. But this... [indicates my creation] well, it's so dark. Looking at this, I am seeing some of your internal insecurity issues. Try to be a little brighter on the next one." Then she smiled at me again and walked away... leaving me slightly speechless. She was so right.

For the rest of the day, I analyzed myself by which color I pulled out of the box. Lol! ;-) I would catch myself using lots of purples. Purple is a beautiful color... and it is my battle/struggle color. When I found myself with the purple gel bag in my hand, I would put it back and pick up green. Green is my victory/peace color. Didn't catch myself all the time, though. Donna would still call to me, "Bright colors!!"

Ok. You probably didn't want to read all that, but it's fascinating to me, so ya'll have to put up with it. Hehe.

Another interesting person: Roberto. He's an amazing worker. Very short. Has the most contagious laugh I've ever heard. Donna's daughter informed me that when we're in the same vicinity of the kitchen, I need to speak English to him because he needs to learn it better. I tried. :-P He just laughed. Shortly afterwards, the funniest thing happened. He dropped some newly cleaned trays on the floor and abruptly, there was a blue haze over the sink. Strange how they learn some English so quickly... :-P ;-)

And then, there's Garth.. Donna's hubby. The guy is hysterical. I wasn't in the most cheerful of moods today (you may have gathered that) but he walked in and in five seconds, had me giggling. He's sarcastic. And he makes fun of Fr. Banga, whom he adores. He caught a glance of a cake I had gelled a clown on (I was quite pleased with it, actually... if that says anything about the quality of artwork ;-)) and excitedly exclaimed, "Ohhh, a squirrel!" :-P

I'm still learning the names of the girls... I know there's Robin... Grace... Jane... Richele... not sure of the others. I would like to get to know them better. I am sure they would be so much fun to be around and learn from. Grace especially makes sure to give me a hug on her way past. I appreciate this. :-)

Other than work, I've been doing a lot of studying... praying... making decisions... teaching... lesson prep... Thinking about walls. Walls around our hearts. Not just walls to keep us safe from others but walls to keep us safe from ourselves. Walls that are positive. Walls that are negative. More on that later, I hope.

Off to clean a bathroom and practice the piano... and study the driver's ed. I also want to watch Ponyo this evening so I can give Jesse back his movies.. so much to do! Pray for me. :-) I need it.

Love Check: All Apply Here

All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other. 

August Wilson 

I laugh. A lot. Mostly at people.

This morning I laughed, in two separate instances, at two friends, right in their faces. What was so funny that I had to burst into uncontrollable giggles?

I felt rather guilty afterwards but then, I realized something. Do you know what the most wonderful feeling in the world is? When I laugh at myself and realize that God is laughing with me. When God laughs, I know it's because He loves me. It is the same reason I laugh at those closest to me... Love.

So the moral of this blog post is this: If I don't laugh at you, I don't love you. ;-)

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

I believe that laughter is a language of God and that we can all live happily ever laughter. 

Yakov Smirnoff