so this is christmas...

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

-- John 3:16 (NIV)
(an oldie but a goodie :oD)

may this Christmas bring you nothing but His love, His peace, and His joy to you and your loved ones ;o)

happy holidays!

they are indeed precious in His sight.

during class, 6-year-old jayden seemed to get caught up in the moment as he was telling 11-year-old eric and me a rather elaborate story about how he had witnessed a physically violent brawl between a few teenagers the other day; expressing genuine concern/fear and confusion as to why they acted the way they did.

taken from our conversation earlier tonight:

jayden: ...i've never been so scared in my life! it was crazy! like, you never really see younger kids act like that.
eric: fighting's so dumb.
jayden: but why do teenagers act like that?
eric: (while continuing to work on his long and short vowel worksheet) ...because they're going through puberty.
jayden: what's puberty?!
eric: ...i dunno. it's something that everyone goes through.
jayden: well, i hope i never go through puberty. puberty makes people stupid.

i sat there the entire time admiring jayden's childish innocence and naiveté to the situation. the longer the conversation progressed, the more i wished i had all of the answers to jayden's many yet valid questions about violence and why people are so prone to seeking it as a solution to their problems.

after he went home, i couldn't help but feel a little sad in knowing that same innocence and naiveté would eventually harden as he continues to grow up. at the same time, i realized that not all hope for him was lost; as it was still very much evident in his simple desire to be set apart from the rest.

only my family...

'twas an *interesting* drive back home from michigan, indeed.

an excerpt of our in-car conversation while approaching canadian customs:

mom: oh look, we're going to the bilingual customs booth.
customs officer: hello! bonjour!
dad: (completely out of the blue) bonjour! ça va bien? parlez-vous français?
customs officer: oh, ça va bien, merci.... (trailing off into more french as my dad's smile began to slowly fade into a blank expression; coming to the realization that the extent of his fluency in the french language was restricted to the few phrases that had already exited his lips)
dad: (pauses for a few seconds at first, not really knowing how to respond, and then eventually brings himself to look the customs officer right in the eye) indi ako ka balo mag sugpon. (which is ilongo for "i don't know how to follow that")
customs officer: (rather confused and still in french mode) pardon?
dad: anglais?
customs officer: parlez-vous anglais?
dad: français.
customs officer: français?
all of us in the backseat: ANGLAIS!
dad: english.
customs officer: (with one eyebrow raised) ...okay. (and then goes through everything a second time in english with much more success)
mom: (as we're driving away) ...why did you do that?
dad: because she said, "bonjour!"
mom: but you're not bilingual, daddy.
dad: (smiling calm and contentedly) well, i wanted to be trilingual.

*sigh* i love my family - ruckus and all! :oD

doh. i've been tagged...

in random blog-browse, i found myself on rudy's blog.

...ooops.

five random bits about myself:

1. in the song "cater 2 u" by destiny's child, the words "help you put your do-rag on" make me laugh.


2. i actually enjoy working retail. :oP


3. i miss being in school.


4. whenever i watch the "bridget jones" movies, i always have to watch both of them consecutively in the same sitting.


5. if i could have a pet giraffe, i would name him "neck-neck".

and now, you've now been tagged by reading my blog too! :oP

...

currently listening to: "the blower's daughter" by damien rice

with every haunting strum of the cello, certain episodes of my life are vulnerably rehashed...

i am a walking contradiction.

for the one thing i genuinely desire to eventually share with someone one day could quite possibly the exact same thing that i'm so unbelievably terrified to let go of.

nothing brings in december cheer better than a quality family christmas interior decor-fest and the sniffles.

7 days into the month, and the cold and flu viruses have already taken down more than half of my students.

the thing about teaching kids of all shapes and sizes is that you're easily exposed to germs of all shapes and sizes. and when the kids get sick, they have the tendency to prey on their teacher.

... an excerpt from a conversation between me and 9 year-old dave this past tuesday:

dave: i missed last week because my brother and i had the flu.
me: oh really? that's too bad.
dave: not as bad as me getting you sick (followed by an evil grin and rubbing his hands together similar to that of mr. burns from the simpsons)
me: well, that's not going to happen, dave.
dave: why not?
me: because i'm not going to get sick...

famous last words. my now-sultry-man-voice and stuffy nose hint to me that this may only be just the beginning of a long and germ-infested winter teaching at oxford learning center. *sigh* at least i'll have the holidays to be able to recuperate and stock up on the echinacea.

but on a much brighter note, the house is looking quite lovely. the tree is up, the lights are beaming, and the house is full of wonderful christmas clutter and soon to be filled with wholesome family goodness... next weekend, it's going to be a roadtrip to michigan to fetch the brother and bring him back home for the holidays; which will then be immediately followed by a myriad of good times all around. :o)

hard to believe that in only a matter of weeks will be the end of yet another month, and the dawn of a new year.

where does time run off to in such a hurry?

edit: travis, how 'bout you count *them* sentences? :oP