Saturday afternoon, I had Lily over to practice our pie making skills. Our plan for the afternoon was to make three pies – a cherry pie for Lily, a pumpkin pie for the Hills (friends of my Grandma Buecher), and a peach pie for Josh and me. We successfully completed our mission with time for two games of Othello and a couple games of Uno before Josh arrived home with our pizza dinner.

After dinner, we drove to visit the Hills. Mrs. Hill took a nasty fall last Friday and broke her shoulder, but she was in good spirits and we enjoyed our visit with them. From the Hills we drove to Lily’s grandparents (the Kahlers) to drop Lily off. Mrs. Kalher has an amazing rock collection, and she took time to show us a “few” of her rocks and fossils, and Mr. Kahler made us some very rich hot chocolate.

Sunday evening (while writing this post), the fire alarms in our apartment building went off . Apparently, there was a grease fire in one of the first floor apartments – exciting times.

For the past 3 months, many of you have been praying with us that the Lord would provide a job for me. For weeks, I spent countless hours searching for jobs and sending applications and resumes to employers, with little to no response. About a month ago I got an unexpected call from the Dallas School District, and to make a long story short, I have been hired to teach music at Cochran Elementary School. Cochran Elementary is a Title One K-6 school, primarily made up of Hispanics and African Americans (I have yet to see a Caucasian student in the school). Cochran has not had a music program, so I will be starting  and building their music program. I spent today (my first day) cleaning out the classroom, learning my way around the school, and making friends with the head custodian (something they taught me in school as being essential to the well being of my music program).

Thank you for praying for my job. The Lord has provided in unexpected ways a job that I am trained for and I will truly enjoy. To God be the glorly.

You already know that I’m past the exam, but now I can announce that I passed it, too!

I had a noon-time appointment today in the office of one of my professors: present were my former PhD advisor, my current PhD advisor, and the department chair. (Such was the arrangement for announcing the results to each test taker.) After showing me my scores, they congratulated me and shook my hand. And that was about it.

(In the photo, that’s me and one of my Korean classmates, Sok Hun, who also took the test this semester.)

For those of you who are wondering where we’ve been in the blog-world, here’s a short update on our weekend adventures. Friday night we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner (compliments of the Bixbys), and then I took Josh on a surprise adventure to UTA’s planetarium show Seven Wonders, and we enjoyed seeing the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World and the constellations of the Texas night sky. Friday night was buy one get one free, so with Josh’s student discount, we paid $2.00 for the show (and the $2 was compliments of Grandma Sutter’s change).

Saturday night we played another game of Monopoly, and I, once again, beat Josh. He now regrets “teaching” me how to play. Sunday we enjoyed fellowshipping with our NLB Church family and during the afternoon Josh finished our new church website. Sunday evening we enjoyed a time of food and games (Dutch Blitz, Taboo, and Scattergories) at Debbie and Lynnelle’s. This week is “normal” for the Jensen family – Josh is working and studying and I’m enjoying being his wife.

For our wedding, Amy’s close friend Rebekah Pringle (pictured at right with Amy’s sister, Emily, who likes to be in photos) wrote us a wonderful song text, which Brian Pinner (a close friend of mine) set to music for us. [update on 11/21: the setting was co-written by Dianne Pinner and Brian Pinner – and now that I’ve been reminded of this by Brian, I realize that I left Mrs. Pinner out of the wedding program; sorry, Mrs. Pinner!] Amy and I were thrilled with both the text and the setting. In case you didn’t hear it (or want to hear it again), you can listen to it as streaming audio here (guitar and vocal: Brian Pinner). The song starts about 5 seconds into the track.

“Song of a Covenant” is a translation of the Hebrew song title, Shir Berith.

The text of the song is below: Continue reading Song of a Covenant (Shir Berith) →

Living on-campus works out really well for our one-car family. Josh is able to walk to class and work, and usually, I’m able to walk with him to class and meet him after he’s finished for the day. I always enjoy meeting him on his way home, and sometimes I hide along the way and “surprise” during his walk. You should have seen his face the time I ran up behind him and grabbed his hand!

Fall has arrived in Texas, and I’m enjoying the cooler weather and the autumn colors.

Josh “celebrated” Election Day in a unique way (actually – it was a study break and a way to make his wife burst out with laughter).

I’ve been having fun with the Johnson girls. Last week we made cupcakes, and this week we played hide-n-go-seek. I was surprised how many good hiding places there are in our little home.

This past Saturday the PhD Diagnostic Exam was given, and 7 hours after the procedure began, I emerged, thoroughly examined. I won’t know the results for a couple weeks. I suppose that until then, I can’t say that I’ve actually been diagnosed, unless the act of taking the test is itself the diagnosis.

The test was divided into four sections: sound structure (phonology), grammatical structure (syntax), meaning and use (pragmatics & semantics), and meaning in context (sociolinguistics and historical & comparative linguistics). Each section had 2 or 3 essay questions to choose from, and for each section, there was at least one question that I felt reasonably confident answering. I thank the Lord for mental alertness and help for my hand, which sometimes cramps up badly if I write for an extended period of time.

When I came home, Amy prepared chicken fajitas, and we had a nice relaxing evening. Homework was prohibited. (A little more praise for my wife: as the exam was approaching, Amy was such a help to me in carving out time to study, relieving me from other work, and encouraging me.)

And thanks to you all for praying.

This morning we received a call from the campus police requesting that Josh come down to meet them in the apartment parking lot. Josh asked if I wanted to come along, but I decided to let him face the police on his own, while I watched (and took pictures) from the window.

Apparently, someone had a little fun last night and ripped several peoples’ sideview mirrors off, and we were one of their chosen cars. The police took down our information, but there’s little hope that the vandal will turn up. This morning I drove into Dallas and have found that driving without a sideview mirror is an interesting experience.

On a typical class day for Josh, I walk him to class and meet him on his way home from campus. He usually gives me a call, when he’s leaving campus, and I start on my way to meet him somewhere along the way. Sometimes I leave before he calls, so I can pop up unexpectedly and surprise/scare him on his way home. (You should have seen his face the time I came up behind him and grabbed his hand.)

Today when Josh called, I pretended to be well on my way to meet him, when I was actually trying to finish up some last minute things before I walked out the door. To my surprise, when I went to meet Josh, he was coming around the last bend before our apartment. He surprised me! As we walked together to check the mail (another daily ritual), Josh tied his jacket over my eyes so I could practice being blind (a remnant from Education for Exceptional Learners at BJU). As I was trying to find our mailbox with my eyes closed, my hands felt something rather different than the usual keyhole. My dear husband bought me roses for our four month anniversary. I was so surprised! After class instead of working in the lab, Josh had walked to our parking lot, taken our car (he was really worried I would notice that our car was missing), and went to buy roses and pickles (I love Claussen pickles!). I should tell you that Josh went to three grocery stores and called my mom before he found my favorite pickles. I have such a sweet husband. It was one of those “blah” days for me, and Josh’s gift of roses and pickles was simply perfect.

Being married to Josh is the most wonderful thing in the world, and every month I discover more and more what an amazing  man I have as a husband. I love you, Josh!

Last week, I told Josh that I wanted him to reserve Friday night for a secret adventure. I didn’t tell him where we were going, but throughout the week I gave him little clues on the whereabouts of our destination.

• Wear Jeans
• Bring a htfillsagh (unscramble)
• A compass you might need for something from a seed

Friday morning, Josh figured out that I was going to take him to a corn maze. We left our home that evening around 6 and arrived at our destination about 20 minutes later. The farm was packed with parents and their little children, all enjoying different aspects of the fall festivities. Josh and I had fun in the corn maze, and after we found the exit, we went back in and played hide-n-go-seek in the maze. (You’ll have to ask us about who is better at hiding.)

We ended our night by coming home and playing a game of monopoly. I was the only one who had a monopoly (Park Place and Boardwalk), and poor Josh didn’t last long once I built hotels on those properties.

In addition to making it more likely that I pass my diagnostic exam, a benefit of studying phonology is the occasional snack that my wife prepares for me.

On a completely unrelated note, after looking at this photo of my one-year-old nephew, Amy and I both wondered what he knows that he’s hiding from everyone.

Saturday afternoon, Josh and I went to visit the newest little member of our church family – Nathan Garinger. (I was excited, because it was my first time preparing and bringing a meal to a new mother.)

Nathan was born to Silas & Amy Garinger on October 17th, weighing 6lbs, 14 oz., and measuring 20 inches long. He had to stay in the hospital a week after his birth, so the excess fluid could clear out of his lungs. Thankfully, he’s doing well and enjoying being home. Nathan is an adorable baby and looks “all boy.” We’re looking forward to seeing him at New Life Bible Church soon.

Thursday night, we had Micah and Anna over for dinner and a game of Jenga. We had some intense moments, and both Micah and Anna played very well. The hand in the last picture reveals who knocked our tower over.

Wednesday night, Rachael and Selah came over to make pizza. We had a great time, making a mess and reaping the rewards of our labor. After dinner, we looked at wedding pictures, had a flute lesson, and played several games of Uno. (Emily – when are you going to come and visit us?!)

Amy got us our absentee ballots from Greenville, and we sealed them up and mailed them today. Incidentally, when I voted, I was more concerned about these guys than about these two.

Don’t forget to vote.

[update 10/21/08: For those of you who wanted to comment on this post — I turned off comments so that the blog doesn’t become a forum for political discussion.]

This past Saturday, I spent the afternoon and evening with Lily, our pastor’s 11 year-old niece. We started our afternoon adventure by going to a local park and painting at the River Legacy Living Science Center. (Yes – my painting is proudly displayed on our fridge – come by and take a look!) After painting and snake catching, we walked around and threw a frisbee.

When we left the park, we made a quick stop at Kroger and came home to attempt making an apple pie from scratch. I won’t claim to be an expert pie baker, but with a few creative adjustments the pie came out to be eat-worthy. Between baking and eating our pie, we enjoyed pizza, a few games of Jenga, and playing three-way frizbee in a near-by field.

Since moving to Texas, I’ve been on the hunt for a job. Almost everyday I search for jobs and send out applications and resumes, receiving little if any response to my inquires. We’ve been praying daily that the Lord would send me a job, but He has not seen fit to grant our request and I sometimes grow discouraged as I wait. Two weeks ago I decided to pray for something else – a pumpkin. I love pumpkins and every fall I wish I had one, but I’m too cheap to go out and actually buy one. So one day as I was driving to the store, I decided that I was going to ask God to send me a pumpkin – I just wanted a reminder that God grants His children’s requests. So I started praying and told only Josh, with strict instructions that he was not allowed to go out and be my answer to prayer.

This week, the Bixbys came to visit and as I was driving to the store to get some last minute things for supper, I asked the Lord to send me a pumpkin and thought that maybe the Bixbys would bring me one. When the Bixbys arrived, I took the kids for the afternoon, and as they were getting in my car, Miriam gave me a little pumpkin. I smiled. God answered my prayer and sent me a pumpkin. At dinner that night, I shared with Tim and Ruth about my answered prayer request. This morning, when Josh and I went out we found a large pumpkin at our front door. Last night, after the Bixbys left us for the evening, they returned and left a pumpkin on our doorstep. So, now I have two pumpkins to remind me that God answers our prayers in His time and in unexpected ways.