Happy December!

How did it get to be December already? Sheesh, time flies when you are having fun, right? Thanksgiving in Michigan was THE. BEST. Little Beto is walking/falling all over the place, and is just the sweetest, happiest little guy - it was a joy to spend so much concentrated time with him. My favorite is his little voice saying, >"Hi"i>accompanied by a sweet wave of his hand. Oh. Dear. I am already looking forward to Christmas in MN with all 5 nieces and nephews together again (oh, and all their parents...my siblings and in-laws...not to mention my parents!) Fun times ahead. BETO's first year of life:

(thanks, Lora, for posting this on facebook and letting me use it!) During my time in Michigan, it snowed! Only a few little flurries, but still - it made my Thanksgiving holiday even more special, somehow. Good talks with my mom and dad, and with Joel and Lora, and short conversations with Beto consisting of "Hi!" :) No trip to visit family would be complete without some card playing...Dutch Blitz, anyone? SO FUN. I love that game. We also played Settlers - which I was opposed to playing, but was forced. :) When I got off the plane and landed in LA (cue Miley Cirus song here)...I listened to my voicemail and I heard this, "Hi Allison, it's Megan. Call me back!" Call her back, I did. To find out some FANTASTIC news!! Megan Zwier + Jeremy Zuidema FOREVER. :) He proposed to Megan on Saturday morning, and she said YES. BAH! So so so so so so so so happy and excited for them! :) Congrats, friends. I am so happy to be a part of your lives.

(picture from last summer....thank you for letting me borrow it, MZ!) Going back to school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday = tough. The first week back from vacation (especially FUN vacation) is always a little rough, but I made it through, by the grace of God. No, really. I had to remind myself that "His mercies are new every morning," and that sustained me throughout this week. Story that you may have read on facebook already: since I love my job, my subject, and my students, I get really excited when I teach. Which means, I speak loudly and quite enthusiastically at times. I even bust out a dance move here and there. :) By Wednesday of this week, I had little to no voice. NOT GOOD. So, during our Wednesday morning staff devotions time, I was furiously making signs in Spanish for my kiddos that say, "Hola, buenos dias. No tengo una voz. Me duele la garganta...." and such. (Which means, "Hi, good morning. I don't have a voice. My throat hurts...") When my boss said, "Does anyone have a prayer request?" my pride almost stood in the way....but I raised my hand like a child, and asked for prayers for my slowly fading voice. My 2nd period Spanish class was shocked when I showed them these signs...but they were pretty cool about it. Then we headed to chapel, where God answered my prayers - literally. I am standing in chapel, listening to the singing (obviously I do not SING during chapel, people. My voice, remember? Good thing I did not make it onto American Idol.) All of a sudden, another teacher walks up to me and says, "Hey, I got you a microphone and a speaker. It's all set up in your room." WOWZA. Talk about answered prayers, right??? The microphone is a gift from God - and I told my students that (using signs, for fun), and I am incredibly grateful to my co-worker who stepped in and helped me in a time of need. Now, this microphone is one that gets clipped to your shirt - which means it has the potential to fall off, or flop to the side, thereby not actually giving my voice the extra volume necessary at every moment. I realized this, but wasn't exactly sure what to do - so Wednesday and Thursday I did what I could with it clipped to my shirt. Friday rolls around, and I mention to one of my classes that I wish there was some way to make the microphone stay close to my mouth, so you could hear me even better, no matter what I was wearing that day. A girl says, "Why don't you tape it to your face?" and proceeds to literally get the scotch tape from my desk, walk up to me, and help me TAPE THE MICROPHONE TO MY FACE. No, I didn't get a picture of this lovely display. Too bad. I am sure I looked awesome - but I tried not to look at myself the rest of the day, and kept the tape right there. It worked like a charm! All that to say - God hears our prayers. Our silent, pleading, prayers, and our joyful, thankful prayers. He hears our prayers when we ask for help, and when we ask for forgiveness. Then He chooses when and how to answer those prayers. In this case - He chose to answer in a matter of an hour. Ironically (or not so ironically), I have been teaching my students Salmos 136:1-4 in Spanish, along with the song, "Su Amor es para Siempre," which says in verse 1, "Give thanks to the LORD for He is good, His love endures forever." The rest kind of follows that same pattern - but how appropriate that I could share this answer to prayer with my kids as we learn about the LORD. New mercies every morning. Enduring love no matter what. That's what we have in Christ. In other news.........I participated in a FLASH MOB TODAY!!!! With whom? Of course my pal Brittany and her awesome roommate Lara. There was a holiday party for foster children being hosted in a room at Long Beach Community College - so after HOURS of practicing with random strangers....we went into the room with the kids and pretended to just be volunteers. Side note: One of the official workers/volunteers at the place (dressed like a reindeer, by the way) asked me, "I saw you come in with a bunch of people. What are you here for?" and in my not-so-sly way, I mumbled, "Oh...we are city workers, just here to check things out." WHAT???? I am surprised I didn't get kicked out on the spot! CITY WORKERS? Just showing up at a children's holiday party? Come on, Allison, you gotta have something better than that! Nope. I didn't. I slowly slinked away from said reindeer-worker, and began working on a craft with a kid, until Mariah Carrey sang (as only she can), "I.....don't want a lot for Christmas....." and boom, Brittany and I somehow ended up in the front of the entire thing! "There is just one thing I need...." and we were off dancing with smiles on our faces. All for the kids, who were probably kind of confused. I wonder what that reindeer-worker was thinking of my lying self. Sheesh. I am hoping to get a recording of our dance somehow on facebook, and when I do...you will get to see me in all my Christmas dancing glory. Here is a picture of me, Brittany, and Lara after a few hours of practice. We did not wear skimpy tank tops during the actual Flash Mob...but didn't want to ruin our cute sweaters and scarves with sweat. (sorry for the visual).

Happy December to all.......now go drink some hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie.