and the world stops....

due to this....

my classes have been cancelled today.

(this is the first snow i have seen here!  they say the front came all the way from siberia...)

b still had to go to work...booo.

i had forgotten how quiet snow makes the world. 

excuse me while i cuddle up with a blanket and read.

List of good things that happened today

1. I ate a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
2. I gave Amanda her very own Krispy Kreme doughnut.
3. Amanda finished her 4th and final paper this semester. I'm not sure who is more relieved.
4. Dinner was just about ready when I got home.
5. I was accepted to Columbia Law School while on the phone with the in-laws. It was ironic because I was secretly hoping that they were calling because the acceptance had come in the mail. Then, the long-anticipated email spontaneously arrived in the middle of our conversation.
6. Amanda plucked my eyebrows. No, wait, that belongs on another list.
7. I worked out on our home gym.

I think I can see Columbia down there.....

That's us getting our celebration on, 10 months in advance.
(We are at the Empire State Building where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan celebrated too).

THE END OF GOOD THINGS TODAY

do i cry? or shake my fist? maybe a high five?

I just turned in 3 of my 4 papers. The last one is due next week.

I am struggling to know which I should do...cry out of relief or dance on the table. I have never so fully engaged myself in my academic pursuits as I just did in writing those papers. During college, after I turned in papers, I usually forgot about it. It was like a paperweight (think the size of one of those 2 pound weights you can strap onto your ankles) was lifted off my shoulders and I went on my merry way. Don't get me wrong, it was always nice to get the corrections, but I never worried about it. I never felt a deep connection to what I had written. Bad grades weren't a reflection of my intelligence. They were simply a reflection of the time I spent on the paper. And in college, no paper took that much time. It couldn't. There were too many other things to do. Like go to Smart Cookie. And football games. And dates with cute boys. And dances.

But this time is different.

I feel like I just turned in my soul. Dissected my intellect and put it onto a plate for my professors and external examiner to devour. What if it's not good enough? What if I failed?

I don't know. That was the best that I could put onto paper. It was the best research I have done in my life. And if that's not good enough...well, maybe I'm just not cut out for this. But I finished them. And for now, I guess that will have to be enough.

remembering

This was my favorite place in France.

Normandy Beaches. Where D-Day happened.

They were our age. They were just beginning their lives.

But then World War II began and nothing was ever the same.

I wondered, "what would I do if B was drafted?"
"How would I help him live again after seeing so much death?"
There were so many who gave so much.
Countless wives and mothers received letters that their boys would never come home.
I asked as I saw pictures of the destruction and endless fighting for hope and victory,
"How would we fare if we were asked to grow our own food
and to give our all for the war effort?"

I am in awe of the young men and women who made my freedom possible.

This peaceful beach is what was code-named Omaha beach. The beginning of the invasion. and the beginning of the annihilation of a generation of young men.

This is the museum and memorial that the American government
has created to remember them by.

"If ever proof were needed that we fought for a cause and not for conquest it could be found in these cemeteries. Here was our only conquest. All we asked.. was enough soil in which to bury our gallant dead."

I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to remember.

just let it be.

after reading the news and being slightly discouraged, I feel a little like giving up.

there are children starving.  mad men murdering. and a whole lot of bombs going off in the Middle East.

let's just let it all tank.

"FIRST, though," i thought,  "i need to go to costco and get my year's supply."

"but then we can let it melt."

however, a little song on the radio reminded me of something important....

Don't get me wrong, the song was depressing, Broken Strings, by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado.  

Oh it tears me up

I tried to hold but it hurts too much

I tried to forgive but it's not enough

to make it all okay

You can't play on broken strings

You can't feel anything

That your heart don't want to feel

I can't tell you something that ain't real

it's the line-I tried to forgive but it's not enough- that really caught my attention and snapped me back into reality.  

because it's wrong.  so completely and utterly wrong.  and all the economy is dead, there is no such thing as goodness, peace is hopeless, and your life will never matter naysayers want you and me to believe that.  

I refuse to believe it.

every one of us has been promised endless treasure, gifts, blessings, and more happiness than we know how to receive by one simple act.

the atonement.

when the world seems to spin out of control, we can be grounded.  when the world seems full of hate, we can see the love.  when the world seems full of trials, we can feel the blessings.  and when loved ones hurt us, we can forgive and love again.  because with God, all things are possible.

So buck up my friends!  put our shoulders to the wheel!  

and remember the incredible love and support we have in a Father in a Heaven, and the sacrifice that has already been made to assure our eternal happiness and joy, 

on this earth and beyond.

dear uber liberal french teacher

dearest lecturer,

first, let's not start on the wrong foot.  so i shall put this forward-i think you are a wonderful person.  i appreciate your ramblings into Mr. Holland's Opus and how it is a case study of education, your endearing french accent, and how you have encouraged all your students to find a christian church like you have to fulfill our need to worship.

however, your socialist ideals are beginning to encroach far too much into your teaching.  i understand that you think education is above the market/business model.  and i know that you think that the invisible hand has failed to regulate the markets.  but i really don't want to hear only one side of the political spectrum-all the time.  i would appreciate an unbiased or at least even opinion of the topic at hand...in this case, today was accountability in educational administration.  a simple list of pros and cons would have done nicely.

i propose the following-

1) please stop bashing on marketisation of schools unless you find a better model than markets to govern the competing interests of stakeholders in the educational system.   you keep saying that education is dealing with the molding of young minds, not simply products of a machine. i agree with you.  however, is business simply working with products?  don't businesses have to work with and develop their employees as well?  aren't those employees...gasp...people?  i don't see how private and public organizations are that different.  both are run by people, just vying for continuation of existence.

2) please learn more about economics before you propose the markets have failed.  the fact that these banks are failing is a sign that the market is working.  it is weeding out those businesses that have made poor investments (and have all this corruption that you are complaining about).  the government is only failing to allow the market to work (yes, i agree with you that the governments should NOT be bailing out these businesses).

that's about it.  i would appreciate a good grade as well.  even if we disagree.  i hope the external examiner will be open-minded.

your sole conservative student,

amanda 

this week

significant events of the week----

1) started classes (one per day. 3 hours per class. no friday classes. 3-5 students in each class.)
2) loved classes (could have stayed all day.. would totally go on friday if i had a class to go to.)
3) bought skippy.
4) spent time (and loved every minute) with hilarious husband who wrote previous posts-no, every moment wasn't significant, but it was with my significant other. so it counts.
5) got sick. still sick.
6) saw an entire British men's soccer team standing next to the sidewalk on my way home... in nothing but jock straps. eew.

a good first week, bar a few mishaps, don't you think?

home

Yesterday we went walking into town centre. It was a beautiful day and we ventured into the historical part of town. And when I say historical, I mean into the abbey that was built by an english king in 1121. Anyway, it hit me, that Reading has become our home. We aren't a bunch of tourists (well, we basically are if it was measured by the amount of pictures we take). Reading is now ours. And it felt good.

Here are a few pictures of our town.

the view from our window

the local monument to the soldiers who died in the afghan war....not the one on right now...

parts of the abbey

the gateway into the city (and where the abbot was hung, drawn and quartered by Henry VIII)

blessings

i'm not going to lie- the last couple days have been rough. The combination of jet-lag and the to-do list of an american family moved to britain is deadly to happiness and bliss. banks, money, tuition, food, buses, and just being dead tired..well you get the idea. but britain has its old world charm. and so, rather than bore you with the details of how impossible it is to open a bank account with HSBC in the UK, I will share some lovely sights of our new home.

the local comfort inn-this picture is for branden's mum

the middle of campus- looks like a forest right? well-it is. the campus is HUGE and has a lake on it. with ducks and swans and everything. the campus used to be an earl's estate.

the church on christchurch rd. a short walk from our place and on the way to towncentre (where the bane of our day HSBC is located). it's called christchurch. it's old and beautiful.

it was actually sunny. AMAZING. and there was a pretty sunset behind the church.

On another note- The members have been INCREDIBLE. We have been visited two nights this week by someone in the ward and it seems that they have found us a bed- FOR FREE. I wish there was some way we could let them know how much we appreciate and needed that little pick-me-up last night.

love you all, thank you for the wonderful comments on the last post :) they provided much needed love last night.

xoxo
amanda

P.S. those wonderful members have also loaned us a blow-up mattress. it's like sleep heaven :)