This is a picture of the girls trying to write with their pencils like Joni does. They didn't know I was taking this picture; they were just trying it out after re-reading about her! :)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
100th part 2 or... 101st :)
So, read my other blog first, but I had to add a second blog because this picture wouldn't fit and it's one of my favorites.
This is a picture of the girls trying to write with their pencils like Joni does. They didn't know I was taking this picture; they were just trying it out after re-reading about her! :)
This is a picture of the girls trying to write with their pencils like Joni does. They didn't know I was taking this picture; they were just trying it out after re-reading about her! :)
100th Post!!!!!!
We got mail from a famous person.
I teach from the A Beka Curriculum, and in it, there is an excerpt from a book by Joni Eareckson Tada. I did a whole unit on her, including a "Day of Disabilities" where certain kids couldn't see, or hear, or use their hands, or walk. We also watched a 15 minute clip from her movie, and we watched a bunch of interviews with Joni and people like Larry King. I found a website that told me that Joni was still very active and working in a company called Joni and Friends. So, for our final project of the unit, pairs of students wrote letters to Joni about their experience learning about her, and then I typed them up and emailed them.
Here's a sampling of the letters written by my students- we corrected the grammar, but I wanted to keep the letters as close to their voice as possible. :) [sidenote: ok, so I went to copy/paste my 'sampling' of letters and couldn't decide on the best few because they're all so precious, soooooo I'm just putting all of them enjoy the extra reading hahaha]
Dear Joni,
How are you? I hope good. We are sixth graders that have learned about your incredible story in reading class. We all watched some of your videos. So we want to ask you some questions.
How did you feel when you couldn’t move and you know that you have cancer?
How old is Chris, your friend in the hospital?
Why do you think Jesus put this accident in your life?
What are some names of your paintings and pictures? Can you send us some pictures of drawings that you have made before and after the accident?
We want to know if you have already come to Central America with your foundation. We invite you to come to Honduras and to visit our school in Gracias, Lempira. We want to listen to more about your story!
With love, Estela, Elena, and Vivian
Dear Joni,
We are in Abundant Life Christian School and we are in sixth grade. We watched your videos in Youtube, and we read the excerpt of your story and we think you’re very talented and smart. We think your paintings are cool for a woman that is paralyzed. We have some questions for you. What other talents do you have? How do you feel now about being paralyzed? Do you feel bad when people remind you about your accident?
Sincerely, Hilda, Jenny and Leonela
Hello Joni,
Our names are Marquito, Marcos, Husai, and Alex. How are you? We watched your video and we read an excerpt. You have an incredible story. Your paintings are really cool. How much time did you need to learn how to paint with your mouth? We are from Honduras. Goodbye!
Dear Joni,
Hi my name is Byron. My partners’names are Tulito, Mario, and David. How are you? How did you feel when you had your accident? Do you feel good painting? How did you feel when your broke your neck, and how do you feel now?
Dear Joni,
Hi, I have a lot of questions for you . How did you feel when you were in the hospital? I think that your story is very exciting. I think that it is a good example for more people to know more of God. Before your accident, did you know about God? Do you give thanks to God? Do you feel bad when you see people that can move all of their body. In the class, we read your story, and with Miss VP, we did a project that everyday four people had a disability. How many countries have you brought wheelchairs?
Sincerely, Carlos
Respectful Joni,
Hello, my name is Allison Lizeth Polanco. We read an excerpt about your life, and it’s an incredible story. I think that you really gave thanks to God about keeping you alive, right? Now, how do you feel in your community now? Do you feel accepted? Or do you feel that only your husband and family take care of you? Do you sometimes wish to not be paralyzed? In my class, we did an experiment having people with disabilities. Our teacher put tape on our hands. It was a great experience learning about you and your disabilities.
Good bye,
Allison
Dear Joni,
We watched your video and it was so incredible and sad the things that happened to you. Thanks to God that you are alive. I’m so impressed how you can use your mouth like painting and drawing. I have three questions for you. Was it hard to use your mouth? How did you feel when the accident happened? Did you feel like you were going to die? I think that if that is going to happen to me, I think that I will be sad, nervous, or something like that. I would be so sad, and it will be so hard to use my mouth. Thank you for listening to me.
Sincerely, Julissa
Hello Joni,
How is your summer? (It’s summer here in Honduras) Mine is good. Ok, what to say… How were you after your accident? Well, I have never had something like that. Of course, I have little accidents like jumping off the house into the pool or to put a fire in the Nintendo with perfume. Well, bye, Daniel
Dear Joni,
I’m glad that I can write you and I want to tell you that I watched your video, and it was an incredible story. Thank God that you’re alive. Your faith in God is awesome. We appreciated you sharing your story. How do you feel in your community? Do you feel accepted by others? Well, hope that God provides you health and with love,
Alvaro
Dear Joni,
This letter is from two girls that live in Honduras. We saw almost all of your videos on youtube. Can you tell us more about your accident please? How did you feel after you discovered are well and feel better! How does your family feel after they knew that you had an accident? Why did you decide to do a movie about your story?
I hope you like our letter!
Sincerely,
Nohemi and Jaaziel
Hello Joni,
My name is Elias Mauricio Alvarado Molina. I am 12 years old. Miss Vander Ploeg, our sixth grade teacher, talked and showed us videos about you, and she read the story of your accident. I thought you died, but she continued reading and the story told us about when you were in the hospital you wanted to die. I thought that was crazy and hope you are more careful now!
Sincerely, Elias
Dear Joni,
How are you feeling right now about your accident? When you went to the hospital after the accident, you wanted to die. What made you not try to kill yourself? You paint really cool. If I tried, it would be terrible! What did you feel right after the accident? I hope you feel better now. Sincerely, David
A few days later, I got an email from someone that works with Joni saying they wanted to send something to the class! I waited until it came (so like a month ;)) to tell my kids in case it didn't come, but it did and they were SOOOOO excited!
Joni sent us a letter, which I typed out below because it is just a fantastic letter, and she also sent a little card for each student that had a copy of one of her drawings. She also sent little stickers for each of my kids. I was actually nervous that the kids would think the stickers were too babyish, but they were so happy and loved them! The questions that she didn't answer in the letter were answered in a brochure that Joni and Friends produces, so I made a copy of that for each of the students as well. It was a pretty great day!!!
Dear Abundant Life Christian School 6th Graders,
What a wonderful idea! I was so surprised and happy you chose to write me, I love to hear from friends all over the world. I enjoyed reading all of your e-mails, and I am glad that Ms. Van Ploeg was able to show you some videos of what I do here at Joni and friends.
I am often asked what it's like to be in a wheelchair. Well, sometimes it is hard not being able to do a lot of the things other people can do, but God is good and has given me so many things I can do. He has given me friends to talk with, to study the Bible with, and go camping with. He helped me as I learn to draw and paint. He has made it possible for me to travel around the world and share my story of God's love. He has also let me konw of hte many people that I've touched and helped, sometimes through letters like yours.
Since you enjoyed watching my videos in class, you might be interested in hearing the things I'm doing now. Besides painting and writing, I work in a ministry whcih helps churches reach out to people with disabilities. I host a five-minute daily radio program, a one minute radio program, and a TV show! I'm also married to Ken Tada who just retired from teaching high school for over 30 years. However, he's only retired from his teaching job- he is still working at Joni and Friends as the Director of Ministry Development!
I am also excited to you that soon Joni and Friends will have a new place on our website for you to enjoy- our Kids' Corner! There will be many fun activities just for kids, and even a place where you can answer some more of your questions about me! You also be able to read about what God is doing around the world for people who live with disabilities. So, come by for a visit www.joniandfriends.org and don't forget to share it with your friends!
Thank you again for writing to me! Your letters bring me a great deal of happiness and encouragement, and I'm glad that my life has been encouraging to you.
Yours in God's love,
Joni
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Ode to my Living Companions
and by living i mean the ones that i LIVE with.
One thing about my situation here is that I spend a lot of time with the same people. I'm friends with the family at the Comedor and I talk to the teachers that work at the school with me, but for my close friends, I have my roommates (Catelin, Jennifer, and Shelly) and the marriage couple (Maggie and Tyler). We eat together, we work together, we shop together, we hang out together, we vacation together... Basically I've spent the last 10 months in a six person caccoon. While there is always potential for this to turn into a disastrous position, this year has actually turned out to be quite lovely. So, to honor the dear friends I am going to be leaving soon, I've compiled a small list of some different memories I have of each from the year. (Well, Maggie and Tyler are a joint unit for the purpose of this list:))
Jennifer
Jennifer is so great. I have been able to have so many fun teacher talks with her, and she's so easy to talk to. I think Jennifer is the one that I've walked to town with the most, and we've been able to have lots of great talks on our way down the mountain. She is always more than happy to listen and add insight with her own life experiences. I also remember one time that Catelin and Shelly were gone and Jennifer and I pulled out the mattress and watched a movie (two maybe?) together. That, for me, was when I really felt connected with her. We've also recently come up with a completely awesome way to sing Jennifer's name... which I will totally demonstrate for anyone that cares to listen-- and which she is stuck with for the rest of her life!:) I am also particularly fond of the line, "Who is Josh Groban? Kill yourself!"from Glee ... mostly because of Jennifer's influence. Also, there was this one time that we found a Feris wheel, and Jennifer had the pleasure of being my seat partner as I freaked out thinking we were going to die. :) Jennifer also courageously filmed my epic pila dive, and is always my cuddle partner for movie night. Finally, I've been able to spend lots and lots of time with Jennifer as she's been preparing for the end of the school graduation. Our school has a graduation for K5 and 6th grade, so both of our classes participate. Jennifer's class has a huge musical and dance production, and since I don't have class the last period of the day, I've been going and helping. It has been pretty awesome. :)
Catelin
OH Catelin. Catelin taught me how to enjoy cooking this year. I was not that great of a cook last year, and didn't start out that great this year, but Catelin very patiently taught me the best way to cut onions and carrots and watermelon. Now I feel confident in the kitchen!! Another Catelin+Laura Beth= moment is Sons of Anarchy. Catelin and I watched this show together and it was SO GREAT (also violent and stuff. so.... I'm not necessarily recommending it to everyone :)) Mostly, it was just a great thing to share and talk about. I am also pretty fond of the failed highlights day. Catelin asked me to help her highlight her hair (WHHHEW. alliteration) which I had never done before. For those of you who have not had the pleasure, I will explain. Catelin put a shower cap thing on her head with places to poke holes through. I poked the holes out with a crochet looking hook and pulled her hair through. Catelin's long, beautiful, thick hair was pretty tangled which caused this to be very difficult and for me to be irrationally angry at myself for not being able to pull hair through a shower cap. We finally got it all done and I put the peroxide/highlighting formula on and we waited the alloted time. Nothing. She never got highlights because the cream never took. All that work would have been for nothing except we got to spend it with one another. ;) Also, remember that one time you let Shelly get the Lempira?
Shelly
So, Shelly and I were sort of friends before this, but mostly in a way like "our parents are friends and we know about each other so she's probably cool" kind of way. Good thing our parents are great at choosing friends with awesome kids! :) Shelly is great. One of my favorite things about her is that she totally dominates our quote board. Yes, we have a house quote board, and yes, like most quote boards, if I were to write down one of the quotes she's said and explain why it's so funny, none of you will laugh. So, just trust me. They're great. :) Shelly is also really good at getting us to do things. Example: One night, we had no power. Shelly suggested we play Sardines. We all laughed at her, and then to humor her, decided to play one game. IT WAS AWESOME. One of our favorite memories in Honduras. Another great all group activity is our Saturday night movie. This was started by Shelly, and all 6 of us have enjoyed each other's favorite movies, as well as random ones after hours of voting. I'm all for tradition, so this has been a great one. One more Shelly memory is on one of our bus trips back home. We took the 1 am bus, and Shelly and I talked together ... the whole time. Everyone else took the opportunity to get some sleep, but Shelly just sat and graciously listened to me ramble. Shelly and I have also learned that we can never shop together, sit on the bus together, or be around a cute boy together because we act like middle schoolers. So, thanks Aunt Shelly, I'll be excited to share Des Moines with you soon! :)
Huizengas
Finally, the Huizengas. Maggie and Tyler. You guys are so great. The Huizengas are actually my first married couple friends. Before my married friends yell at me, let me explain. I'm friends with married people, but always with one of them before they got married, and then things change after the marriage. It's been really great getting to know Maggie and Tyler as a unit first, and then as individuals later. One of my first Huizenga memories is when they still lived down in the house by the school. I had to go pick something up that I'd left in my classroom, so I ran down there and decided to stop at their house. I ended up staying for a long time just talking about our experience- and then had to walk back up in the dark. :) Thankfully, they lent me their headlamp. That actually happens a lot where I run over to the Huizengas' to borrow some butter or something and then half an hour later remember I needed the butter for supper. I just totally lose track of time talking with them! I also have some pretty great Santa Rosa memories with Maggie and Tyler... particularly the Parkour. And the infamous Copan-nose picture. :) I have also spent a lot of time on the soccer field with Maggie (both "playing" and watching the boys). I love having Maggie on my team cuz we stick together, even when no one else wants us :) I also have had a great time sharing history podcasts with Tyler and picking his brain for answers to how guys think. :) These two have been a great example to me, and I can't wait to have a marriage like theirs!
So, thank you to my BHG family and los matrimonios. It's been such a great year, and all of you mean so much to me. Can't wait to hang out in our normal habitats! :)
Love, Love, Love,
LB
One thing about my situation here is that I spend a lot of time with the same people. I'm friends with the family at the Comedor and I talk to the teachers that work at the school with me, but for my close friends, I have my roommates (Catelin, Jennifer, and Shelly) and the marriage couple (Maggie and Tyler). We eat together, we work together, we shop together, we hang out together, we vacation together... Basically I've spent the last 10 months in a six person caccoon. While there is always potential for this to turn into a disastrous position, this year has actually turned out to be quite lovely. So, to honor the dear friends I am going to be leaving soon, I've compiled a small list of some different memories I have of each from the year. (Well, Maggie and Tyler are a joint unit for the purpose of this list:))
Jennifer
Jennifer is so great. I have been able to have so many fun teacher talks with her, and she's so easy to talk to. I think Jennifer is the one that I've walked to town with the most, and we've been able to have lots of great talks on our way down the mountain. She is always more than happy to listen and add insight with her own life experiences. I also remember one time that Catelin and Shelly were gone and Jennifer and I pulled out the mattress and watched a movie (two maybe?) together. That, for me, was when I really felt connected with her. We've also recently come up with a completely awesome way to sing Jennifer's name... which I will totally demonstrate for anyone that cares to listen-- and which she is stuck with for the rest of her life!:) I am also particularly fond of the line, "Who is Josh Groban? Kill yourself!"from Glee ... mostly because of Jennifer's influence. Also, there was this one time that we found a Feris wheel, and Jennifer had the pleasure of being my seat partner as I freaked out thinking we were going to die. :) Jennifer also courageously filmed my epic pila dive, and is always my cuddle partner for movie night. Finally, I've been able to spend lots and lots of time with Jennifer as she's been preparing for the end of the school graduation. Our school has a graduation for K5 and 6th grade, so both of our classes participate. Jennifer's class has a huge musical and dance production, and since I don't have class the last period of the day, I've been going and helping. It has been pretty awesome. :)
Catelin
OH Catelin. Catelin taught me how to enjoy cooking this year. I was not that great of a cook last year, and didn't start out that great this year, but Catelin very patiently taught me the best way to cut onions and carrots and watermelon. Now I feel confident in the kitchen!! Another Catelin+Laura Beth= moment is Sons of Anarchy. Catelin and I watched this show together and it was SO GREAT (also violent and stuff. so.... I'm not necessarily recommending it to everyone :)) Mostly, it was just a great thing to share and talk about. I am also pretty fond of the failed highlights day. Catelin asked me to help her highlight her hair (WHHHEW. alliteration) which I had never done before. For those of you who have not had the pleasure, I will explain. Catelin put a shower cap thing on her head with places to poke holes through. I poked the holes out with a crochet looking hook and pulled her hair through. Catelin's long, beautiful, thick hair was pretty tangled which caused this to be very difficult and for me to be irrationally angry at myself for not being able to pull hair through a shower cap. We finally got it all done and I put the peroxide/highlighting formula on and we waited the alloted time. Nothing. She never got highlights because the cream never took. All that work would have been for nothing except we got to spend it with one another. ;) Also, remember that one time you let Shelly get the Lempira?
Shelly
So, Shelly and I were sort of friends before this, but mostly in a way like "our parents are friends and we know about each other so she's probably cool" kind of way. Good thing our parents are great at choosing friends with awesome kids! :) Shelly is great. One of my favorite things about her is that she totally dominates our quote board. Yes, we have a house quote board, and yes, like most quote boards, if I were to write down one of the quotes she's said and explain why it's so funny, none of you will laugh. So, just trust me. They're great. :) Shelly is also really good at getting us to do things. Example: One night, we had no power. Shelly suggested we play Sardines. We all laughed at her, and then to humor her, decided to play one game. IT WAS AWESOME. One of our favorite memories in Honduras. Another great all group activity is our Saturday night movie. This was started by Shelly, and all 6 of us have enjoyed each other's favorite movies, as well as random ones after hours of voting. I'm all for tradition, so this has been a great one. One more Shelly memory is on one of our bus trips back home. We took the 1 am bus, and Shelly and I talked together ... the whole time. Everyone else took the opportunity to get some sleep, but Shelly just sat and graciously listened to me ramble. Shelly and I have also learned that we can never shop together, sit on the bus together, or be around a cute boy together because we act like middle schoolers. So, thanks Aunt Shelly, I'll be excited to share Des Moines with you soon! :)
Huizengas
Finally, the Huizengas. Maggie and Tyler. You guys are so great. The Huizengas are actually my first married couple friends. Before my married friends yell at me, let me explain. I'm friends with married people, but always with one of them before they got married, and then things change after the marriage. It's been really great getting to know Maggie and Tyler as a unit first, and then as individuals later. One of my first Huizenga memories is when they still lived down in the house by the school. I had to go pick something up that I'd left in my classroom, so I ran down there and decided to stop at their house. I ended up staying for a long time just talking about our experience- and then had to walk back up in the dark. :) Thankfully, they lent me their headlamp. That actually happens a lot where I run over to the Huizengas' to borrow some butter or something and then half an hour later remember I needed the butter for supper. I just totally lose track of time talking with them! I also have some pretty great Santa Rosa memories with Maggie and Tyler... particularly the Parkour. And the infamous Copan-nose picture. :) I have also spent a lot of time on the soccer field with Maggie (both "playing" and watching the boys). I love having Maggie on my team cuz we stick together, even when no one else wants us :) I also have had a great time sharing history podcasts with Tyler and picking his brain for answers to how guys think. :) These two have been a great example to me, and I can't wait to have a marriage like theirs!
So, thank you to my BHG family and los matrimonios. It's been such a great year, and all of you mean so much to me. Can't wait to hang out in our normal habitats! :)
Love, Love, Love,
LB
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