My Obsession

When I lived in Phoenix, I had a ritual. Every Sunday on the way home from church, I would get off at the Litchfield exit, park my car in a treeless lot and walk into Barnes and Noble. Sometimes I would stay for 30 minutes. Other times I would be there for hours. For a while, I ordered their turkey chipotle panini melt and would sit in the cafe reading various travel books or planning the next week of lessons. Most times, I would wander the store, find something fun and interesting, sit in a big comfy chair and read.

I love bookstores. I love all the books in a row. I love the colorful displays and the nooks where you can curl up and read. Barnes and Noble was the location of my first almost real date (more on my sad dating life later...).

I'm a bit of a bookstore snob too. Each one has a different function for me. Barnes and Noble is my favorite curl up and read spot, mostly because of the comfy chairs. Borders is more of a research spot, with firm leather chairs or tables and chairs. I planned my entire Italy trip from Borders.

So now that I'm no longer teaching frantically, I've been able to slip back into old habits. Summertime is when I try to read a book a day, even if it means staying up to 1 or 2 AM. Earlier this year, I found the web site Shelfari, which is a great way to keep track of the books you're reading and want to read.

So this summer, if you are lucky enough to have some free time on your hands, check out my Shelf and send me some book recommendations!

A good reminder

Oswald Chambers has always been hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes the language is so convoluted I have trouble understanding his insight. Other times, it comes at the right time and the right place. This wasn't today's reading, but one that my eyes fell on and it is a good reminder:

By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain . . . —1 Corinthians 15:10

The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, "Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint." But to say that before God means, "No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible." That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, "Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified," is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.

There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.

The Real You

I received an email from a former student (former as in one whole week former) asking if she could be my friend on facebook. I had a pretty strict rule against being friends with current students (especially since many of them are close to my age and that opens a whole can O' worms), but I had phrased it jokingly like, I'm dorky and you'd be embarrassed by most of my antics.

So my student wrote this:

I remembered that you told us you have many funny pictures on facebook, but probably nobody want to see them, but I want to know what Miss Ernst looks like in her real life. (-:

I was struck by the thought that she thought I had a "fake" and a "real" life. Then I looked at my facebook page to see was I really all that different? Like Top Gear. Check, showed a clip in class. Love Jesus, check, talked about it often and did my best to imitate His life. Encourage others, check, got that. Look like a dork in 99% of my pictures, check, half my students during the last week of school said at one time, "Uh...Miss Ernst we need to take picture again. Your eyes are not open."

For me, you see what you get. This was after years of trying to fit in with "cool" teacher friends. Happy hour, Mill Ave (some of the most boring hours of my life) and other activities that weren't necessarily sinning(most of the time), but just not who I am. I finally realized, hey, I'm not having fun, I'm doing this for people who really don't care about me or what's important to me. Hmmm...

So here I am. Me. I'm still trying to root out the junk left over from years of compromising, but I'm happy to say that I think my student will be somewhat disappointed to discover that my real life, is well, my real life.

Ultimatum

Ever give God an ultimatum before?

God, if this is really you, then do x, y or z.

Today, I gave God an ultimatum. "God, I do not have my plane ticket yet to the East Coast or Germany. I've been waiting. But today God, I'm going to book my flight to the East Coast because I can. So if it isn't what you want, then do something catastrophic and I'll listen."

So I went on the airline web site, plugged in the date and time just as I had done two days earlier and...the flight was $150 more expensive. What?!?!?!

I checked out websites, frantically manipulating times and dates, but still same price. The day before it, $150 cheaper. The day after it, $150 cheaper. The day I needed, $150 more expensive.

It took 30 minutes for me to stop and realize: I gave God an ultimatum. And He answered. The answer was "no".

Whoa.

So, I'm waiting on that plane ticket. Waiting and listening. Because when you give God an ultimatum, there is a good chance, He'll give you one too...

My School!

Today I turned in my high school keys and faculty badge. I'm officially free to be an elementary teacher in Augsburg!

To help give you an idea of my school, here is an informational video they just produced this month.

Pictures from Disneyland

Check out my pictures from my great birthday at Disneyland on Facebook here.

Birthday at Disneyland

This year Disneyland is letting you in free on the day of your birthday if you register with them online. It just so happened that this year my birthday was on a Sunday!

I convinced my brother to join me, got an awesome, cheap hotel nearby and voila! Instant vacation!

It had been 8 years since I had been to Disneyland and almost 20 years since my brother and I had been there together. So early Sunday morning we drove up to Anaheim and started our 11 hour adventure! Here's a list of best/worst of Disneyland!

1. Best time to come: As soon as it opened. We got there 20 minutes after it opened and we got through the ticket line in 5 minutes, walked onto our first few rides with no wait time and had great morning Southern California weather(overcast and cool).
2. Plan of action: Do what you really want first. Otherwise, you will wait in line forever.
3. Best ride to get a Fast Pass for: Tie between Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. We had FP for Indiana Jones and still had to wait 20+ minutes because it is so popular. At 2PM at Space Mountain, they were giving out FPs for 9-10PM. Wait time for both rides without a FP was 70-90 minutes.
4. Ride with fastest normal line: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We rode this 4 times. Three times without FP and we only had to wait maybe 20-30 minutes. FP was especially good at night. We got on in 10 minutes.
   
5. Ride you should probably get a Fast Pass for just because the line is so mind-numbing: Roger Rabbit. Ugh. I can never have those 35 minutes back.
6. Best food in the park: Corn dog from the Corn dog truck on Main Street. It is $6, but it the best corn dog you will ever have. The ice cream was good too and was the same price you would pay at Coldstone.
   
7. Worst place to walk through due to traffic issues: Adventureland into New Orleans. If the amount of people didn't crush you, the hundreds of strollers outside of Pirates of the Caribbean will.
   
8. Ride that seems entirely inappropriate for children: Haunted Mansion. Seriously, I don't remember it being that bad. It was horrible. My brother, who watches horror movies and laughs at them, about halfway through went, "I'm super creeped out right now. Like, I'm really creeped out." We were in a funk for a good 15 minutes after that one.
9. Best ride for physical exercise: Davy Crockett Canoes. Man, that gets your blood pumping, especially when the steamboat was right behind us and all the tourists in front of us got tired and stopped paddling.
   
10. Most disappointing updated ride: I know you're thinking I'm going to say Pirates of the Caribbean, but no, it's a small world was sad. There was Disney product placement everywhere. When you went to the cute hula girl part, Lilo and Stitch were in front, blocking most of it. Underwater room, almost entirely taken over by Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo. The strangest was in Spain, Cinderella showed up. Seriously? And they don't even look like the rest of the animatronics. It looks cheesy and added on(can it's a small world be even more cheesy than it was? Yes. Yes, it can).
    
11. Weirdest people that you never knew were at Disneyland: So there are these people who collect Disney pins (like the kind you wear) and sit outside a cafe on Main Street for hours at a time, selling, bartering and trading pins. It's like a little Mafia. There's one dude who looks like a cross between Dom DeLuise and Marlon Brando. Seriously strange to watch.
12. Funniest thing my brother said: At the end of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (where you end up in Hell, seriously, not very kid friendly), my brother says casually, "Hey, I'm not supposed to be here!"
13. Best thing we did that my brother thought would be super cheesy: Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Super fun show. Lots of talent, lots of laughs and just good old fashion fun.
    
14. Best place to be for fireworks: In front of the Magic Kingdom, but not behind Walt Disney's statue(2 hours before these seats are filled) or right at the intersection between Tomorrowland, Main Street, Adventureland and the lane leading up to the Magic Kingdom(we were here an hour early and it was great).
    

Pictures to come...