Dakota Christian

I am once again a new face, learning tons of new names, being talked about by students, trying fit in with faculty, and trying to not to look like an idiot in front of all these people. So far it has been pretty successful..minus the little incident yesterday where I walked in the wrong classroom, looked around, students all gave me a very strange look, and I walked back out to the sounds of hysterical laughter in the background.

It is getting a bit difficult to stay "Sharp" when I sit and observe for most of the day. Its way to easy to glaze over (I suppose that is why high school students are not always thrilled about it either).

I really like South Dakota. I feel a lot closer to nature. People are very personable and kids don't seem to be so stuck on themselves (not that LC kids are). I haven't taught yet, but I am looking forward to it. Classes are a lot smaller...which is kinda nice.

I love living with the Ruters. Its great to have friends so close! I feel a lot less independent. This is a good thing. I hope to post a few pictures soon.

Victoria, BC

-This is in Lynden on Saturday morning


-me and dave (he's a mountee)


-We rented scooters and drove along the water...the weather was beautiful!


-the view from our hotel


-capital building by night.


-By the famous Empress Hotel


-capital building.


-Me and Laura on the island.

OUTSide the Walls.

This past Wednesday teachers and students at Lynden Christian broke the monotony of the regular schedule and spent a day learning outside of school. Activities included tours of Victoria, Vancouver, Boeing Airplane plant, golfing, surfing, and many more. (Outside the walls happens once every four years). I was fortunate enough to be able to go hiking with 15 students and my supervising teacher Jon Van Hulzen. We headed to the base of Mount Baker and hiked Heliotrope Ridge which leads to one of the biggest glaciers that comes off of the mountain. Unfortunately it rained most of the time. I had rain gear so I was ok. The students on the other hand were drenched from head to toe for 4 hours...so they were not as excited about hanging out by the glacier as I was. Pretty cool school day though, no one disagreed with that.


-Jon Van Hulzen (my supervising teacher w/ his dad) teaches the students about the valley below.


-Nels likes the waterfall!


-Waterfall on the trail.


-Matt and David...notice the carhart...they grew up in Sutton, Nebraska.


-You can tell they are a bit colder than I am in this picture :)

Regent/Vancouver/Whistler

Beautiful British Columbia. Yup. Its true. I don't have my own pictures to prove it because I was trying to stay on the road (there was a lot of road construction..probably getting the roads ready for the 2010 Olympics).

Well, to start out I headed to Regent College in Vancouver on Thursday morning and caught the end of a class on Christian Education which was pretty cool. Then I hung around the Vancouver area for a while (lost, most of the time...which helped me to see more of the city I guess) and eventually went to my host families on Thursday evening. They had a small group over and I met a bunch of people from Regent. The Regent Community is Phenomenal!

I went to a Church history/Philosophy class on Friday morning which was awesome. The class just read The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis which I just read this summer, so I could sorta participate. After a few hours of that I drove up to Whistler and hung out in the Village for a while. I got board(probably because I got there late and I couldn't do a whole lot without spending the night/my life savings) so I drove around and picked up hitch hikers. I met some interesting folks...like two dudes from France who are spending a year in Canada traveling around and Snowboarding.

I got back in the States on friday night after waiting at the border for an hour and a half. Good Weekend...I miss friends though. :)


-unfortunately this is how I look now.


-Regent Picture.


-I was being unsafe and taking crappy pictures while driving. Vancouver downtown..from a distance.


-My Vancouver lodging (an apt on Oak/Prince Edward)


-Regent (on the campus of the University of British Columbia)


-Lion's Gate Bridge to West Vancouver.


-My Car has now been to Canada.


-Squamish, B.C. Visitor Center!

I like to mess with photos.

Apologetics--- ahhhhpologetics.

Hello again. Sorry it has been a while since I have posted. You know how it is...

So, I am teaching a unit on Apologetics to seniors at Lynden Christian and I am finding it very difficult, but not for the usual reasons. My complication is that Apologetics is kinda hard to teach if I don't know what the students faith life is like. I want to challenge these students to STAND UP FOR THEIR FAITH, to be passionate, to want to know more, but it seems like I need to slow it down in order for it to settle in. I lectured on Tuesday about our need to know what we believe and why, and care about it if we indeed are Christians, and it really did not seem like they cared all that much what I was talking about.

so...I have decided to get to know the students better instead of dropping the "ARE YOU REALLY WHO YOU CLAIM TO BE, OR ARE YOU A MINIATURE OF YOUR PARENT (minus the rationale)!!!" line on them to soon.

Lesson Learned of high school students: Being able/and willing to think for yourself takes time.

I hope to see you all soon (17-18 more days or so).

My Biggest Fear

Normally during the girls soccer games at LC I stand or crouch by the sideline to watch the game. Today, I sat on the bench. Cassie, the manager due to injury, told me it was a quark of hers to know peoples biggest fear. I thought of a few things...but nothing really convinced me at the time.

Well, I let it roll around in my head for a bit and it came to me.

My biggest fear is that I am not really a child of God.

It seems to be the deepest insecurity issue of all time, though not all the time. Because it really isn't my biggest fear everyday, where I think about it and dread it 24/7. Its the times I am low or off balance that I am really struck. Sometimes it starts with being disconnected from something Christian, like a worship service/Bible reading/conversation/or something where people are really on fire...and I am just not there with them. or sometimes it is when I have made a mistake that seems like it could not possible be forgivable. I also think a part of it is the other lie that Satan whispers in my ear that says I am unlovable.

This may sound a little nuts on the surface because I know I am a child of God and I know that he loves me no matter what.

yet, these times when I start to believe this...are the scariest times of my life...my biggest fears.

Its one thing to fear the pain and unknown of dying, because as a child of God its only temporary pain. The real glory awaits. But if there is no expectation of future glory...if there is no hope.....then all there is suffering beyond my wildest imagination, forever. Hell.

So I guess my biggest fear (or in reality, the biggest pain in the a** lie that Satan tells me) is of separation from God, forever.

By the way...I don't think I am the only one who hears this lie in their ear. If you hear it, call it out for what it is. It is a lie from Satan.

O how he loves you and me. O how he loves you and me. He gave his life. What more could he give? O how he loves you and me.

:)

The Patriot

Well, I have officially begun my teaching career! It has been a good week of U.S. History and assistant coaching soccer. In fact I even got a mocha from the goalkeeper because I have been helping out with her training! That made me feel good. We have a game tonight at 430, it should be a good one.

Anywho, then reason I am posting is because of my history class today. We played a quiz game then watched the movie The Patriot. So, I had the students get into groups/make quiz games/then pass the quiz game to the next group.

While I was walking around to make sure the students were actually playing the game I noticed a question that looked a little peculiar. It read:
Who is the greatest patriot of all time? on the front of the card.

and on the back: Mel Gibson.

dang...I could not help but bust up laughing. It was great.

Picnik

Lori, thanks for directing me to a online editing site. I was hoping on getting a program for my computer, but it never happened. Here are some edits from the morning. You like?

My name is now Mr. N

Well, I tried to have kids call me Mr. Nibbelink, but it didn't work. Everyone kept asking me how to say it, so finally I decided to have them call me Mr. N.

I start teaching U.S. History on Monday. I'm doing more planning than I will later, but I want to make sure I am not a junkie teacher to begin.

:)

Yellow Aster Butte Trail

Today I was invited to go hiking with the band teacher of LCHS Greg van sickle. So, we took off to Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and hit the trail. Apparently hiking is still very good until the end of October, then snowshoeing is in. The trail had many great views of mount baker and mount shuksan which made the hike a lot easier. I had a very good time getting out into the mountains and seeing some new scenery. Through out the hike I was reminded of Alaska because of the vegetation as well as the lack of dangerous elevation/afternoon showers and lightning. I suppose I am not that far off though. Sweet. Have a good day.


-Mount Baker


-Mount Shuksan


-notice that I am wearing more clothes than usual. It was nice and cold.






-We went off the trail for a while and saw some great views.


-Pond and Mount Shuksan(9,131ft) on the way back down.

Cup O' Tea Saturday.

First of all, it feels a lot like fall today. It hit me when I woke up went outside and it was cool and crisp. Then I turned on the tube and college football was on! The basement was cool so I made a cup of coffee to warm up and wake up. For the first time I felt a bit nostalgic about Dordt(even though technically I still go there). I remember getting ready for soccer games and having a nice breakfast with some of my soccer buddies. However, right in the middle of my happy memories I remembered how Mike Oppeneer used to get mad because his missed college football almost every Saturday due to soccer. It made me happy to be sitting around. So happy in fact, that I got up and biked over to the basketball courts and blew off some energy.

I love the changing of seasons. It seems to make me think about things on a different level. I am either thinking about past times I have had during that time of the year, reflecting on my life as a whole, or thinking about adventures I want to be a part of. It seems like I am never in a rhythm when the seasons change. New seasons always seem to be a new chapter, I suppose this time its especially apparent given that I am in a new place, with people new to me, and doing something new. I guess its no wonder. Well, whatever. It still feels funny when the seasons change.

(by the way I started drinking Green Tea during the summer and I absolutely love it)

Seattle with the Fabers.

Friday night I drove down to Seattle from Lynden (about 2 hours with traffic) to visit with the newest Faber family, Aaron and Jessica. They live in Bellevue, Washington, right across from Microsoft headquarters. There are a large amount of Microsoft buildings in the area also and they say that the company pretty much dominates the culture. That night we had a nice meal at a Mexican restaurant and went to Jessica's sisters place to hang out. On Saturday Aaron, Jess, and I, went to downtown Seattle (just across the Washington lake/river) and did some sight seeing, these are the pictures that came out of it.


-Me and Aaron by Pike's Place.


-Walking in the park by the needle.


-Walkin around by the water/downtown.


-The Farmers Market.


-The place where the dudes sing and throw the fish.


-Jessica and Aaron as Farmers Market Products.


-The space needle.

Some interesting facts about Seattle:

-Called "The Emerald City", Seattle is one of the most livable cities in the world. It actually receives less annual rainfall (36 inches) than New York City and Atlanta. Surrounded by lakes, rivers, Puget Sound, and mountains, Seattle is a recreation enthusiast's dream.

The greater Seattle area is home to 2.8 million people. Microsoft, Nordstrom and Starbucks are based here. Seattle is also known as the birthplace of the crazes for grunge rock and espresso coffee.

Lynden, WA, and Mr. Nibbelink : The new pad and title.

-THe front of the Van Andel's home.


-The side of the house.


-The bathroom is connected to my bedroom! This is entirely handy... except when I eat mexican food.


-Where I am right now...man it feels weird to have the internet again. Oh, there is much much more to their house, but this is all I felt like documenting.

Also, I think I took a trip to Heaven today.

The Lynden Christian teachers retreat was held at Cedar Springs Christian retreat center in Sumas, WA. This place had two ponds, beautiful trees everywhere, and flowers like you wouldn't believe. The temperature was 73 degrees with a light breeze and the sun was shining off the water like a dream. On top of that, the people were in good spirits, all chit chatting like old friends(whom I am sure many of them were), and the retreat speaker, Cliff Bajema, spoke about Solitude, Silence, and Reflection, using wonderfully crafted poems, stories, and music to share his knowledge and wisdom.

In the midst of the day I had some time to think about how amazing the experience really was,

word...

Thank Him.