THE #1 MIXED NUTS BESTSELLER

THE

PURPOSEPURPOSE DRIVENDRIVENBREAKBREAK

What on Earth Am I Going to Do During Break?

Mixed Nuts,

T h l MAX OUTTo help MAX OUT your break, here are

some daily things you can do in order to be faithful with your time.

F ll i iFollow up is important, so be sure to bring the book back after break.

December20

o Make a List of 5 Things you Want to Accomplish During Break

o Read Zosette’s Reflection

o Sing Any Christmas Carol Out Loud to Get Ready for the Holidays

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22.

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December21

o Show Your Family That You Appreciate Them by Doing the Blessing Assignment

o Read Susie’s Reflection

o Be Joyful and Eat a Piece of Delicious Candy

Y ’ fi ll h f t d d i d f

Blessing

You’re finally home for an extended period of time and it’s been a while since you’ve

probably been back. So do something nice for your family. When I go home, I try to vacuum the house, take out the garbage, and do the g gdishes. Just anything I can do to serve my

family, so spend not only today, but throughout your break, find ways to serve

your family by doing chores that you used to do or do something that will surprise themdo, or do something that will surprise them,

and bless them!

December22

o Read Sarah’s Reflection

o Do the Online Assignment

o Listen to A Christmas Carol on the Radio

While you’re online…

We’re sure during break you’ll be online chatting with friends or checking and updating your facebook and probably checking how your grades were p g y p y g y gfor the past semester, but maybe you can spend 10-15 minutes visiting this website and taking a test about your knowledge of AIDS.http://www.worldvision.org/resources.nsf/main/AidsTest.html/$FILE/AidsTest.html

We’re hoping that this upcoming year, we can get more educated about AIDS b t l i h t ll d b t it H f ll thiAIDS, but also seeing what our small group can do about it. Hopefully this exam will open our eyes to the needs to be praying and doing something about this epidemic.

December23

o Color the Picture of Snoopy

o Read Rebi’s Reflection

o Double Check your Christmas Shopping List & Make Sure You Bought Everything

December24

o Draw a Picture of Your Favorite Christmas Gift of All Time

o Read Rachael’s Reflection

o Watch A Christmas Special on TV

December25

My Favorite ChristmasMERRY CHRISTMAS!

o Do Christmas Assignment

o Send an Email to the Small Group wishing them a Merry Christmas

We hope and pray that you’re having a great Christmas! I think for today, it’d be good to d ti fl ti th bi th f Ch i t b t ’ i t d it bit diff tl

My Favorite Christmas Hymn

spend some time reflecting on the birth of Christ, but we’re going to do it a bit differently. Take some time to find your favorite Christmas hymn and listen to it, read the lyrics, and write down why you choose that song.

I will post below, my favorite song’s lyrics, ‘Little Drummer Boy’. The reason I love this song is because I feel like having that kind of heart to serve God is all that God wants. That he doesn’t want us to give some extravagant gift or anything, but He just wants us and our best, and that’s what I see from this song.

The little boy didn’t have any crazy gift to bring, but he played, played his best for baby Jesus and that was enough to make the baby smile and that helps me to realize what God wants from me. I hope as you reflect that you’ll be able to get blessed this day as we think about Jesus’ birth!

Little Drummer Boy: Lyrics

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pumA new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pumOur finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pumTo lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,When we comeWhen we come.Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pumI am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pumI have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pumThat's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,On my drum?Mary nodded pa rum pum pum pumMary nodded, pa rum pum pum pumThe ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pumI played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pumI played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pumMe and my drum.

December26

o Take Some Time to Pick a Good Book To Read

o Read Julie’s Reflection

o Learn A Word In Another Language

NYTimes: The 10 Best Books of 2007

FictionFiction

• MAN GONE DOWNBy Michael Thomas. Black Cat/Grove/Atlantic, paper, $14. This first novel explores the fragmented personal histories behind four desperate days in a black writer’s life.

• OUT STEALING HORSESBy Per Petterson. Translated by Anne Born. Graywolf Press, $22. In this short yet spacious Norwegian novel, an Oslo professional hopes to cure his loneliness with a plunge into solitude.

•THE SAVAGE DETECTIVESBy Roberto Bolaño. Translated by Natasha Wimmer. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27. A craftily autobiographical novel about a band of literary guerrillas.

•THEN WE CAME TO THE ENDBy Joshua Ferris. Little, Brown & Company, $23.99. Layoff notices fly in Ferris’s acidly funny first novel, set in a white-collar office in the wake of the dot-com debacle.

•TREE OF SMOKEBy Denis Johnson. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27. The author of “Jesus’ Son” offers a soulful novel about the travails of a large cast of characters during the Vietnam War.

Nonfiction

• IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY: Inside Iraq's Green Zone.By Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Alfred A. Knopf, $25.95; Vintage, paper, $14.95. The author, a Washington Post journalist, catalogs the arrogance and ineptitude that marked America’s governance of Iraq.

• LITTLE HEATHENS: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression.By Mildred Armstrong Kalish. Bantam Books, $22. Kalish’s soaring love for her childhood memories saturates this memoir, which coaxes the reader into joy, wonder and even envy.

•THE NINE: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.By Jeffrey Toobin. Doubleday, $27.95. An erudite outsider’s account of the cloistered court’s inner workings.

• THE ORDEAL OF ELIZABETH MARSH: A Woman in World History.By Linda Colley. Pantheon Books, $27.50. Colley tracks the “compulsively itinerant” Marsh across the 18th century and several continents.

• THE REST IS NOISE: Listening to the Twentieth Century.By Alex Ross. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $30. In his own feat of orchestration, The New Yorker’s music critic presents a history of the last century as refracted through its classical music.

December27

o Enjoy a Good Sudoku

o Read Paul’s Reflection

o Give Somebody a High Five

December28

1) What were some major lessons you felt you learned over this past semester?

Although I had been less focused on God and I was spiritually weak pastsemester, God replied me with even greater love and blessing. This

o Do Movie Assignment

o Read Helen’s Reflection

o Do Bible Reading Plan (BRP) Assignment

really made me to realize that how I am thankful to know God and to beloved by God. I really was reminded again that God is always with me,looking after me. God has everything planned out for me and he willnever give up on me even if I might forget about him. So, I think Ihave learned that I am so blessed to be loved by God and I need to lovehim more. :-)MOVIE ASSIGNMENT

Christmas break is a great time to watch movies Whether you catch-up and2) What are a few things you want to improve on next semesteracademically, spiritually, and/or personally.I want to grow more spiritually, really cross the line and be a realChristian, thinking and acting like what Christians should. Also Iwould want to enjoy more of the last semester at college!! Because itwill never come back!

Christmas break is a great time to watch movies. Whether you catch up and watch all the rentals available at your local Blockbuster, or you head over to

your local movie theatre and watch the latest releases. This time around, invite a friend to watch the movie with you, or watch a movie with your siblings or

your parents. Let’s use our time at home to be purposeful, because we know U of M has such a short break and time is precious! Here’s a list of the top

movies, but don’t watch Superbad with your parents!

3) Finally, what are some personal prayer requests you have as you lookforward to the year 2008?As I said above, to grow more spiritually and enjoy life. I pray for myfamily too, and I want all of them to really grow spiritually. Finally,I pray that everything in upcoming new year will go well under God'sblessing and I hope to love neighbors more : )

1. Superbad

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Film Title

1 The Golden Compass

Top RentalsTop Movies in the Theaters

blessing and I hope to love neighbors more. :-)

-Helen-

BRP Assignment

Read Psalm 94; Mark 12:28-44 and write down some of

3. Live Free or Die Hard

4. The Nanny Diaries

5. Waitress

2 Enchanted

3 This Christmas

4 Fred Claus ;

your thoughts on these passages.6. Shrek the Third

7. Hairspray

8. Rescue Dawn

5 Beowulf

6 No Country for Old Men

7 August Rush

9. Ocean's Thirteen

10. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

8 Hitman

9 Awake

10 The Mist

December29

Starbucks Blessingo Read Carl’s Reflection

o Do Starbucks Blessing Assignment

Take this gift card and bless a friend or family

Starbucks Blessing

member you haven’t talked with in awhile with a drink! Make an effort to share what God has

done in your life this past semester

December30

o Read Erica’s & Grace Holliday’s Reflection

o Do Nuts Assignment

D b 12th l t ll

I Miss My Nuts!!!!

December 12th was our last small group meeting so it’s been a while since we’ve seen or talked to one another. Catch-up with your small group, by giving your LCG and/or other people in the small group a call to see how their breaks are going.going.

December31

Wedne sd ay, Dec. 1 2, 20 07

In light of our past small group that focused on how to be a “global citizen”, read this article to become more informed on

where Obama stands!

o Read Eunice’s Reflection

o Do Global Citizen Assignment

Wedne sd ay, Dec. 1 2, 20 07

Ins ide Obam a's Io wa Gro und G ame By Jay Newto n-Smal l/De s Moi nes

At just 25 ye ars o ld, Mic ha el B lake ma y ha ve mo re to do w ith Bara ck Ob ama's ch anc es of becomin g Presiden t than anyo ne be side s the can didate hims el f. Tha t ma y sou nd like a str etch, but Blake ha s the a ll-impo rtant job of b ringing i n new Iow a vo ters to caucus for the Illinois Senator . And w hile some campai gns ma y focus mo st of their efforts on one or two consti tue nc ies Ń the wa y Joh n Ke rry so succ ess fully courted m ili tary vete rans in 2 004 Ń O bama is spen ding an unprecede nted amount of m one y and effort to tu rn ou t a wi de c ro ss secti on of new caucus -goers.

"This is t he most e tensi e effor t to reach o t to ne co ns tit e nc ies in the Io a ca c s es I think e er " sa s Blake ho"This is t he most extensi ve effor t to reach out to new co ns titue nc ies in the Iow a caucus es, I think, ever," says Blake, who come s from the Bronx an d w as in the first class of "Ye s, We Can!" a program O bama started soon after he w as ele cted to the Senate to train m ino rities to more effectively us e the pol itica l system . "C ampaigns he re ha ve trad itionally go tten attention for g oing afte r one or two groups. We're applying that princi ple and hope full y w ill enjoy simi la r succ ess with multiple groups."

Over the last eigh t months , B lake , with the hel p of h is staff o f abo ut 25, h as b een de velop ing w hat he calls pe er-to-peer contacts. Vetera ns call vete rans, h igh sc ho ol students call high sch ool studen ts and so forth. Se ven staffers reac h out to black vo ters, for e xa mple , an d three handle La tino vote rs Ń even though Lat ino s make up only 3% of Iow a's p opulation of three million and there a re only 67,000 b lacks in the whole st ate, acco rding to t he 2006 census. "[This ] is exactl y why it's a problem for the C linton cam paign to br ing in 100 new s ta ffers in the la st month," said Tommy Vie tor, O bama's sp okesma n in Iow a. "W e've be en w orki ng an d d eve loping pe rsonal relations hips an d a ne tw ork of Iowans for m onths."

While the re su lts ha ve ye t to be proven, most obs ervers agree O bama ha s m ade the bigge st be t on reach in g out to differe nt grou ps of vote rs. "I do think he 's go t a mo re legitimate c lai m t o br inging in n ew pe ople: yo unger vote rs, college voters, br inging in a new audienc es," said Iow a State Senate major ity leade r Mi chael Gro ns ta l, a Democra t w ho isn't en dors ing a can didate this cycle. "If he brings in enou gh , that 's the advan tage; if no t, t hen Senator Cl inton 's o ld line o f establishmen t Demo crats b ecome s te lling." In p ast ele ct ion years, ma ny candidate s tha t b et the farm on ge tting n ew faces to sacr ifice an hou r and a ha lf o f the ir time to argue po litics with their neig hbo rs ha ve mo re o ften seen t he ir cam paign hopes stay home . While J im my Car ter an d Ga ry Har t b oth br ought i n sig nificant numbers of new faces, m any more candidate s, such as Howar d De an, have fa iled in spe ctacular fas hion.

The forme r Ver mont go verno r b et that more college and high sch ool stu de nts , inspired b y his insu rgent candida cy, would t t t f h i I t d h d d i i thi d i 2 004 b hi d K d f N th C l i S tturn out to ca ucus for h im. Ins tead, he ended up coming in third in 2 004 b ehind Kerry and forme r No rth Carol ina Senato r John Ed w ar ds. And w hile O bama could cer tainly suffer as surp rising a de feat as De an, his sup porters bel ieve his ope ration is very different. Tom Harrington su ppor ted Howar d De an in 2004. This go -around he is Obama 's co-chairman for S tory Cou nty. "Wha t's t he d ifferenc e? Organization!" sa id Har rington w ith a lau gh at an Ames h ous e party last m onth for a doz en undecided friends an d n eighbo rs. Ha rrington spen t ne arly two hours cajol ing the grou p over w ine and chee se to suppo rt O bama . "De an never asked me to do anyth ing bu t sh ow up and caucus. This is m y fourth one o f the se for Ob ama," Harrington said wi th a w ave of his hand arou nd the coz y living room . "A nd I've got anothe r two this we eken d."

To a cer tain d egree O bama 's ow n ethnic ba ckground hel ps hi m: h e ca n speak convinci ngly to black voters, and his ha lf sist er M aya Soeto ro-Ng , who is h alf w hite an d h alf Indonesian , ha s cam paigned for h im amongst Asi an Ame ric ans. His rock st ar status has h elped recr uit h igh sch ool an d college ki ds, though it's anyone 's gue ss if they w ill actually turn out. Harrington's daughter , Ca itlin, a freshman at the Universit y o f Iow a, organized 47 of he r classm ate s to caucus at home Ń g g y gsig ning them up th rough "R ock the Caucus" on Fa cebook Ń an d is working to find them al l h ome precincts t o go to dur ing vacation. Th ough all of Harrington 's class mate s are Iow ans, Obama's cam paign h as got ten into some trou ble in their zeal to ra lly the college vote : cam paign w orke rs p ass ed out some 50,000 fli ers enco urag ing stude nts from ou t of state to return to campus ear ly to pa rtic ipa te in the ca ucu se s. W hile st r ictl y legal Ń sinc e they are tech nical ly residents of Iow a Ń it g oes agai nst the spir it of the caucus es, and Obama has b een roundly cr itic ize d i n Iow a papers for the move.

While O bama pur sues his comp rehensi ve caucus st ra tegy, his chief rivals, w ho bene fit f rom the vast m ajor ity of union en dorsemen ts, ha ve taken a more tar geted approac h. Edwards, the o nly Democra t w ho ha s be en to all 99 of Iow a's counties, is focus ing on turning out rura l ca ucus -goers, said D an Le is tikow , Ed w ards ' Iowa spokes man. C linton is foc usi ng her efforts on wome n, a natural cons titue nc y for t he for mer First La dy tha t is ripe for t he pic king. In 2 004, just 66 ,6 90 of 340,241 female reg ist ered Democra ts in Iow a caucused , or just 20 %, com pared to the 281,049, or 8 3%, who voted in the genera l ele ct iongenera l ele ct ion .

As evide nce d b y his highly public ized campai gn swin g wi th O prah Winfrey last weeken d, O bama isn't exactly ced ing the female vote to C linton . In fact a rece nt Des M oine s Register poll showe d O bama overtak ing Clinton amon g wo men vote rs for the first time in the race Ń 31% t o C linton 's 26% .

Ob ama is also doing his b est to ap peal across p arty lines. H e has b een reach ing out to Rep ublican an d independe nt voters w ho ca n change their reg istr ation at ca ucus si tes by s im ply s ig ning a let ter of intent. Said M ille r: "H e is probab ly the only can didate tha t could really do tha t [br idge the pa rty gap]. It's impo rtant to him , he know s it's central to w hat he w an ts to a cc om plish." The ho stess of the Ames h ous e par ty, And i Smi th, w as a former independe nt who tw ice vo ted for

January1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

o Write Down a New Year’s Resolution

o Read Grace Liu’s Reflection

o Watch the Capital One Bowl at 1PM on ABC (Michigan vs. Florida)

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION…

January2

o Read Deb’s & BJ’s Reflection

o Get Ready for a new Semester! Hooray!