Well, it’s that time again. Swim team started up again. I’m so excited for this year. It’s my last year, and we look forward to a good season.

The past several months have been swamped by house renovations.

We have started in the living room:

-Painted the walls

-Painting the ceiling

-Ripped up the carpet

-Scraped up the hateful glue on the concrete (currently in the process)

And also worked on the kitchen:

-Painted the walls

-Got new baseboards

-Painted the baseboards

-Got new cabinets

-Painted the cabinets

-Bought and installed a microwave/oven vent

-Bought and installed a dishwasher

-Bought and will install a stove/oven

I must say, this is a tedious, crowding, life-threatening process… *sigh*

The week is coming to it’s end and our group of fellow classmates prepare to depart from our abode on the LSU campus. The month has been an incredible opportunity, learning a new language, meeting friends, and experiencing culture. I think that everyone who came will leave with something more – not less. Whether or not we see each other again, we will continue to hold on to the memories of our time together.

Startalk has provided an experience that combines enjoyment and education to a degree that I (sadly) am hard pressed to find. I would like to, once again, thank them for this opportunity. Though there were various complications along the way, Dr. Hotard and the R.A.s worked diligently to get things straitened out and keep the program running smoothly. They have done an incredible job. I look forward to next year and further Arabic training.

المعرفة قوة (knowledge is power)

May God bless you!
-Jacob

As the last week of Startalk begins, I think back in my mind over the language learned, friendships forged and memories made. Though the routine is rigorous, the end result easily justifies the hard work and expended effort.
Every day we spend approximately eight hours in class and one to two hours studying at night. Listening to Arabic for this long tends to solidify the knowledge acquired. In a mere three weeks our group has learned over 750 words/phrases, opening the door to Middle Eastern travel, shopping in Baghdad, and general conversations with others versed in the Arabic language.
Aside from the verbal aspect of Arabic, we have also been taught the visual side of the language. We can now read and write in Arabic! An array of sentences constructed from our knowledge base of words have already found themselves appearing on chalkboards, the back of our hands, page margins, and Church bulletins as we continue to practice our skill.
During the remaining six hours, not claimed by study or sleep, we are either eating at the 459 or hanging out in the Aquarium. The food, though often repetitive, is very good and most definitely filling! We will NOT go hungry. After classes and before studying each night we may find ourselves caught up in an intense game of capture the flag, Ultimate [Frisbee], or killer!
Before I conclude I must mention something good about the R.A.s as they did give me $50. I’m joking – in all seriousness, the R.A.s really are incredible! Aside from their leadership roles they provide entertaining conversations, games and hugs. They truly are a much appreciated part of this program.
It has been an incredible experience for me in more ways than one; I would recommend it to anyone. As a reminder to anyone reading this though, a lot of effort is put forth to provide us with this opportunity and keep everything running smoothly. I would like to thank Dr. Hotard, Startalk, all of the R.A.s, LSU, and anyone else involved in this experience.

شكرا لك

P.S. – Kim told me to say something about Louisiana: crawfish, Tony Chachere’s, gumbo, jambalaya, Tobasco, pelicans, southern hospitality, alligators, and wonderfulness =)

miniMAP – 2008-2009…. what a long awaited event… It takes a long time to just write out what happened so I’m going to post pictures and tell the story that goes with them. Hopefully that will cover all of my bases. =)

Janee, Ashley, and Katie

My wonderful friends Jenna and Camille who happen to be cousins. =D

Lyndal shooting some hoops!

Lyndal! ‘Peace’

The application for the following photo: the chains are 100 lbs. of sins and burdens. Poor Timmy. D=

But it’s all ok now! He threw off his burdens that hindered him and ran with endurance, the race that was set before him! (Our text for that week was Hebrews 12)

Mr. Bill caught something in his shop the other day… he was going to place it in one of their hands… 

Alec

Jenna

Camille or Lyndal

*sigh* Luckily it was just a snicker bar that his wife threw at him and he caught in the shop. Whew! The guys small group was awesome! We talked about violence!

Yes! Violence! Woohoo!

I’m pretty sure these guys didn’t catch the memo that we were supposed to sit up and listen…

What a gentleman. Helping Lyndal down. =)

Lyndal and Lindsey!

“I’ve got the perfect one!”

Dance! Hallelu Halllu Hallelu Hallelujah – Praise ye the Lord!

Let’s not get grumpy now…

See? Jericho knows how to be happy. =D

Interview Session! Time to meet new people!

All in all, miniMAP was a success, spiritual candy, and I loved it!

Wow! What a lot to catch up on! I apologize for the delay in a new post. Well…. what are we waiting for? Let’s begin shall we?

To start, let me say Merry Christmas to you. Here are some photos of my Christmas:

Drake

Molly

Drake (the fierce hunter with his Nerf gun!)

Fireworks were fun! Dad spelled his name with a sparkler… the first is Todd and the second is Jolibois.

KaBoooM!

Skeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww!

So here is the story. SOMEONE (I’m not going to name names) shot off a bottle rocket and it hit one of the electric wires. Somehow it got the whole thing blazing which caught the field on fire, firemen had to come and put out the fire, and Mawmaw and Pawpaw were out of power! We had to take showers in the dark that night… ugh.

Just kidding Fooooooooooooooosssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (Roman Candle)

Here in Louisiana it truly is a ‘Winter Wonderland’. It HAS to be, for a couple days ago it was bright and sunny… now it’s SNOWING! I know you northerners have no concept of our feelings right now, but believe me… that white stuff is awesome! We even get up at 5 in the morning to see it!

That is Frosty’s little cousin, Not-so-frosty.

Snow on a palm tree? Am I drunk?

Dad and I did a couple donuts in the vacant parking lot! =)

“Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland”

Well, it has finally arrived to the dissapointment of many. Swim team is over for the year. Before I start sounding dreary and bla I’m going to say that we went out with a splash! State meet was absolutely amazing! As you may know from my last post about the City championships, I qualified to state with no time to spare (at all!). Anyways, we left Central High on Friday…

…in the big yellow bus. The bus ride wasn’t exactly as quiet as some would have hoped…

… but others just joined in the chorus of noise!

It was a very enjoyable ride altogether though. =D

Surprisingly, Courtney did manage to sleep for a while.

We had a couple arm wrestling competitions…

(Bob & Kristin)

Kristin won!

That night we made it to our hotel, settled in, and went out to eat at Olive Garden!

Bob and I had a little chat with the waitress… Happy Birthday to Tony and Kristin!

The next morning was swim time! Inspirational music was a must!

For lunch we all went out to Mr. Gatties!

After lunch, we had some time to kill before warm-ups for finals began.

We found a nice sunny spot in the field and laid out to rest! Actually we didn’t rest… we made human pyramids!

Punched each other!

Played foot ball!

Stared at people with awkward expressions on our faces!

Directed our own imaginary orchistra!

Meditated!

And took funny pictures in the mirrors on the bus!

Then some of us who swam in finals went inside to begin warm-ups!

This is the guys 200 yard medley relay which made it to finals!  Nick = Breaststroke, Tony = Backstroke, Jacob = Butterfly, Bob = Freestyle!

The day ended, as did the season, with everyone feeling tired and satisfied.

We had a wonderful year!

As you may know, I am on the Central High School Swim Team. Our season started back in late September and every 10 days or so we have a swim meet. I’ve been swimming two events all year for my individuals and two relays as well. My individual events are the 100 yard. Breaststroke and the 200 yard. IM. (For those who don’t know, IM stands for individual medley which means I swim 50 yards of every stroke) My relays consist of the 200 medley relay (of which I swim the butterfly leg) and the 400 or 200 freestyle relay.

Two days ago marked the start of City Championships. All of the teams come together for a humungo meet. The preliminary races were on Saturday. The top 16 of all of the swimmers in each event made it to City finals the next day. I ended up making it to the finals in both of my individuals! For my Breaststroke event I ended up placing 11th in the top 16 and in my IM I placed 16th, barely squeezing in there by .3 seconds. Wheeww!

The next day brought some excitement for sure! Finals were held at the Natatorium (The LSU swimming pool). My 200 medley relay was first, bringing with it, chaos! Luckily, it was all soon resolved and the judges accepted our time which happened to be a school record! Also, a personal record for myself. I was swimming the butterfly leg of the relay and swam 50 yards (which is across the pool and back) in 29.7 seconds!

Not quite a Michael Phelps race, but hey, I’m getting there.

Race #2 for me was my IM, which I ended up dropping 2 more seconds, putting my time at 2 minutes and 25 seconds; another personal record. =) My last relay was my third race which was the 200 freestyle relay. I swam 50 yards in 26.2 seconds. This was quite an improvement from last years time which was 27.7 seconds. Finally we come to my last race: 100 yard Breaststroke. This was my most exciting race, seeing as how I was stuck at a 1:15 all season (4 meets in a row) until Saturday (prelims) when I dropped it down to a 1:11 which was approximately 1 second away from the state qualifying time. At finals I dropped some more time, making my record a 1:10.13; this time just happened to be the exact time of the state cut! Talk about a stroke of faith! I couldn’t have made that time without God’s strength! I am so excited!

After the meet, the team drove a couple blocks down to Walk Ons where we visited and ate to our stomachs content. *sigh* what a wonderful day that the Lord has made. =)

P.S. – just in case I haven’t told you… I LOVE MY TEAM-MATES! theyprettymuchrock.

Last Friday, my sister, Josie, happily announced that she wanted a garden. Now, previous gardens suggested were ones planted in old canoos , toilets, bathtubs… you know… the stuff you find in people’s garbage. My dad quickly vetoed those pieces of legislation and Saturday, he went out and got some lumber. He built a small bed for Josie, and delegated the duties of picking up cow ‘presents’ for compost. I, along with Daniel, went out and started to pick up the biodegradable chips. This soon turned into a war of… who can dodge the  best. Anyway, skipping forward a bit to today, I found Josie outside, contently working in her garden.

It seems as though she wasn’t the only one diggin in the dirt. As a turned to go inside, I was confronted by my dog…

When I took a closer look…

I found that she was eating dirt…

“Argnm, argnm, argnm…

WOOWEEE this is some good dirt!

Argnm, argnm…

Jacob you gotta come try come of this stuff, I think I hit the jackpot!

Forget dirty rice, I’ve got some of the real stuff here!

Argnm, argnm, argnm…”