Thursday, December 27, 2007

No Violent Poking, Please

I just nearly got my eye poked out by my brother, and here he is, wounded because he thinks I don't trust him just because I tried to evade his unruly harrassment! Well, what would YOU do if your great hulking brother was jumping up and down lunging at you like a giant golden retriever from across the table, yelling at you to be still while he picked something off your face? I honestly thought he was going to pinch my nose. I would think that would be an undesirable situation for anyone, and that any normal person would do everything possible to escape it. As any sane person might, I escaped and took refuge in the bathroom. He chased me. "Just be still! You have something on you face! Just...Cassie! You don't TRUST me?!"

Trust him? TRUST him? Of course I trust him, in general life or death matters, that is. But to pick things off my face? We're talking about the kid who once put a pinch of grated cheese in his mouth, slobbered all over it, took it out of his mouth, and shoved it violently into mine! I reminded him of that.

"Cassie!" he wailed, "That was FIVE YEARS AGO! Talk about bearing a grudge!" I'm not bearing a grudge. To think. I don't hold grudges; I've forgiven him. But who wouldn't be a little skiddish about violent facial attacks after an atrocity like that?

Now my whole family thinks I'm some kind of paranoid freak, just because I don't like getting poked in the face. I feel like an alien in my own house! I said, "Well, what would YOU do if somebody were jumping around in your face and you thought they were going to pinch your nose while the whole time they kept insisting they just wanted to pick something off your face?" (And to fully understand the situation you really have to know my prankster brother) Dad said, "I'd say thank you." Ok, well, he's bigger than I am. And bigger than Connor. And bigger than most people would want to pick lint off his face, therefore quite able to defend himself from unwarranted nose-pinching. But, then, Mom and Mattie agreed! Ack!

Connor was crushed in spirit, and kept insisting that I didn't trust him, which I didn't think was true. He's a great brother. If I didn't trust him, I wouldn't be willing to get in the car with him when he drives. (But I am.) And really, the touchy-feely stuff is wonderful...but do we have to get violent about it? A little warning is all I ask. Maybe slow motion would be good. :)

P.S. For the record, Connor has never pinched my nose, or attempted to do so, to my memory (which, as you may have noticed, is uncommonly keen when it comes to such aggrievances).

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Let it be to Me as You Have Said

Well, Christmas has come and gone. I woke this morning to a white sky full of rain and was happy. The traffic will subside and the parties will cease. I enjoyed giving and recieving gifts, but I'll admit, I'm glad that the stress of it is over. In a way, it seems that it all went so fast, and there wasn't enough time for candle light in the sanctuary and pondering "Oh Holy Night."

"Long lay the world, in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope..."

I know there's no reason why we can't adore Him all year long, but there's just something sacred about this time of year. The stars are clearer, the lights are warmer...

Yesterday was a pleaasant Christmas day (which began at 7 am with a great clatter down the stairs), At one, we went up to Grammie and Paw Paw's for other festivities, including a long lunch, a long visit, a long dessert, a longer visit, and several roudns of coffee. Even though my cousins live next door, I rarely spend time with them, and hadn't realized how I'd missed them! So it was a nice visit.

Around suppertime we came home and watched The Nativity Story. I hadn't seen it before. The movie was really thought provoking, and really brought the characters of Joseph and Mary to life. It makes you look at things from a new angle, of how it possibly could have been.

It both scares and amazes me that God requires so much out of His children. He chose Mary for a task that demanded her reputation, her body, her hope for the future, her willingness to be put to shame and pain, everything...and with one quiet assent she abandoned herself completely and recklessly to God. Without knowing what she was in for. Crazy. Am I brave enough for that? At the rate I'm going, I think I'll be willing to be killed for Christ's sake before I can come to terms with enduring embarressment for Him. It's those little things...the speaking out, making a phone call, walking across a room.

Well, I know somewhere inside that He's called me to a life of "hardship and blessing" as Pastor Bud so aptly put it when he prayed for me a few weeks ago. It could turn nastier than meeting new people at church. I don't know what it looks like exactly (at all). I guess God is God enough that He can demand everything from us, yet Man enough to bear every weakness and danger with us. I love the Person-ness of who He is. When I think of the possiblities of pain in my life, I want to shrink back in fear, but his love is so irrisistible and tantalizing that I'm powerless to escape. He's so cunning to create this wall around me, to hem me in so that in the end I'm flung back in desperation...on Him. It's almost like He's tricked me, and yet, I have to admit, I'm glad. Very Glad.

In the end, what can I say? He is God. I am His creation. So, it's like David said, in Psalm 116...

"Precious in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His godly ones

Oh Lord, truly I am your servant
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant
You have freed me from my chains."


Let it be to me as you have said.

Monday, December 24, 2007

My Brother Wants to Upgrade Me

Well, I keep thinking of things I want to say, so I just keep posting. Hanging around my family is sometimes just...funny. Once I finally realized I could laugh at my siblings instead of gripe at them, life got a lot better :)

Last night, while I was playing Rummy with Mom and Connor, we got into a thought provoking conversation (no, we really did!). Consequently, I wasn't paying much attention to the game. I just kept staring at the cards saying, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking," which may or may not have been a lie; I'm still deciding. Finally Connor just said, "You're so slow. We need to upgrade you." !

A few evenings ago Ethan woke up from a nap and Connor got a nice flannel shirt for him to wear, because we were going somewhere. But Ethan insisted that he didn't want to wear it. "Why don't you want to wear it?" Connor asked, bewildered. "Why can't you pick out something decent?" Ethan asked back.

Also, one of Ethan's recent favorite movies is "The Princess Bride," so later, when Connor and Ethan were sword fighting, he parried Connor's blows and cried, "There is something you don't know about me- I am not hand-lefted!!" Talk about intimidation tactics.

Fictionary Answers

Well, I forgot to post the answers to the "Fictionary" questions. If you haven't read them yet, skip this post and read that one first. (It's two before this one)

Haruspex: b (the diviner)

Tradescantia: c (any of a genus of American herbs)

Varuna: d (a god who supposedly maintains natural and moral order in the cosmos)

Julia, you guessed the exact ones I guessed! (Except that I didn't guess "haruspex", I picked it out of the dictionary.) That is a really fun game.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all!

The Battle of the Bee

Danger lurks in unlikely places, at inopportune times, in unwelcome sources. This afternoon, while I was rinsing the dishes my Mom had washed, we both noticed a bee floundering in the suds at the bottom of the sink where she'd stacked the dishes.

"That bee picked a bad place to hang out," Mom said. In a bout of foolish compassion, I just flicked the struggling insect out of the sink with a spoon and went on my merry way, humming "What Child is This" festively, albeit mindlessly, and forgetting all about the wet bee.

After finishing the rinsing, I left the kitchen to start something else. Not fifteen minutes later I heard shrieks coming from the kitchen. I thought Mom had burned herself, but it wasn't just one yell; she kept up the repeated cries of distress that finally merged into one long wail of misery. When we poked our heads around the corner to see what the commotion was all about, we saw Mom jumping aroudn in the kitchen accompanied by her own chorus of indian war whoops. On reaching the kitchen, we found her sitting on the floor- crying- slathering both feet in globs of baking soda paste that oozed onto the floor in snowy puddles.

"That bee!" she wailed. "That bee had the nerve to sting me twice. Bees aren't supposed to sting people in December!!!"

The stripey culprit was waddling around on the floor, so I grabbed Ethan's plastic sword and brandished it, dealing the bee several mortal blows. When its guts were satisfactorily smooshed out, I cleaned it up with a paper towel and we (Mattie, Ethan, and I) stood around looking at our mother awkwardly. We aren't used to seeing her cry like that. (She saves her tears for worthier causes, generally.) She was just mad, mostly. And the stings were extremely painful. After a while, the tears turned to laughter, and she sat there laughing about it. Then, not knowing what else to do, Ethan and Mattie got a Christmas pillow off the couch and she layed back right there in the middle of the kitchen floor, apron on, feet caked in baking soda. Mattie and Ethan promtly fetched pillows for themselves and layed down on either side of her. Yes, it was funny looking. And yes, I did join them after a few minutes, only, the wood floor didn't prove to be very comfortable.

We're all just glad that the injury occurred after the pies were finished :) Mom's feeling somewhat better now, although it hurts to walk, since the bee stung her on the bottoms of her feet. Ouch. You never know what a day holds, huh? That incident may be the last of my Mindless Compassion for Dangerous Insects.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Boffo Bluffing Balderdash

Well, Grandma left this morning, and it was sad to see her go. I miss her hugs. She gives the best hugs in this hemisphere, or the other one, presumably (so warm and safe and tight, like she isn't planning to let go any time soon), and I realized this week that it's probably because she doesn't get to give them often enough.

While she was here, we did get to spend some special time together. Last night we played "Fictionary", the homemade version of Balderdash. (You look up words in the dictionary and players have to make up their own definitions, and then guess which definition is correct). I love this game. I think last time we played (back in June) I posted some defintions, and I thought I'd do it again. So, put your thinking caps (er, guessing caps?) on, and be ready for a few laughs...

What is the true meaning of "Haruspex"?

a) the genus of which the long-eared hare belongs to

b) a diviner in ancient Rome basing his predictions on inspections of the entrails of sacrificial animals

c) one of the lower mountain ranges

d) the shade or covering for a gas lamp

e) dust and other small objects that make up the ring or rings surrounding a planet

f) a type of chickenpox that comes with hairs on the spots.


What about "Tradescantia"?

a) a law of motion

b) the name of a planet yet to be found

c) any of a genus of American herbs

d) term used for trade routes during the 14th century

e) items eligible for marketing

f) the lack of substantial trade in a country


And last of all, "Varuna." Mattie is very proud of her entry...I bet you can't guess which is hers :)

a) a machine that simulates tornados within a controlled environment

b) an African mammal

c) a type of prism

d) a god responsible for natural and moral order in the cosmos

e) an atoll able to sustain plant life

f) Rachel Ray's best friend


Truth to be revealed in the next post...

The Sewing Bug Bites

I'm happy to report that I have finished Ethan's knight costume! After the glich with the lining, I feared it was never to be. Actually, no, I never feared that exactly, but it was a headache trying to get that figured out. I now know that it is impossible to turn the lining of a garment inside out through only the arm hole. I know this is true, and I have witnesses.

The costume is by no means perfect, but I was very happy with the turnout, considering the Major Problem and my very meager sewing skills. I'm so thrilled to start being able to sew on my own, and to complete a project! I feel like I'm so lazy and undisciplined that I never accomplish any of the things I want to do, but right now I CAN SEW, so I AM GOING TO SEW.

The sewing bug has certainly bit me. We "happened to stop by" Hancock's while running errands with Grandma, and I impulsively bought five yards of pink and purple (but not obnoxious) flannel to make matching pj pants for Mattie and I. The pattern looks easy, and there is no lining, mercifully. The fabric was 50% off too, so what can I say?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Cream Cheese Cookie Day

Today we made Cream Cheese Cookies. Making Cream Cheese Cookies is a Christmastide tradition at our house, started by Grandma, who used to make them when Dad was a kid. So, naturally, it was best to make them while she was here! We don't make them every single year, but we do it often enough that we have a collection of photos from various Cookie-baking sessions.

We have the picture of Dad and I making them soon after we moved into our just- finished house when I was nearly three- I'm sitting on the counter in training pants holding the beaters. Then there are pictures from the year that Ethan was born and Grandma was here to make them with us. Other pictures feature Grandma, Mom, Cousin Kimmy, and me with powdered sugar all over Grandma's kitchen table. Last time we made them, Connor covered his whole face in powdered sugar and looked...well, like his usual hilarious self! (I apologize for the illegal usage of "his" and "self" there, but...I can't help it.)

This time Mom wasn't here, but Grandma was, so all of us (Grandma, Dad, Connor, Mattie, Ethan, and I) jumped in and did it. The process certainly requires several sets of hands, unless you just really relish time with your rolling pin. As in, several DAYS. Actually, with all of us helping, (or "un-helping" in Ethan's case) it only took a few hours. Maybe three or so. By the end, there was a coat of powedered sugar-snow over the whole vicinity, a number of ghostly powdered sugar handprints on certain peoples' clothing (I'm not just talking about Ethan!), and a tupperware tub full of delicious cookies.

First, Grandma chopped nuts and I mixed dough, and then we made up the filling. That was the easy part. Then it was time for the assembly line. Dad and Ethan made "golfballs" (balls of dough) and I rolled them into 6 inch circles in powdered sugar, while Connor and Mattie sliced the circles into 6 parts, dabbed filling into the middles of the 6 triangles, and folded in the corners to make darling little cookies. Grandma hovered between the dabbing station and the oven, switching trayful after trayful.

The recipe is as follows, in case you want to make them too:

~Cream Cheese Cookies~

Dough:

1 lb. butter
1 lb. cream cheese
4 C flour

Cream butter and cheese together. Stir in flour. Form balls about the size of a golf ball with dough. Roll out to a circle less than 1/8 inch thick, using powdered sugar rather than flour. Cut circle of dough into sixths. Put a very small amount of filling* (about the size of a pea or lima bean) in the center of each wedge and fold the points into the center of each wedge (the points should overlap).

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 F for 10 min. or until bottoms of cookies are golden brown. Cool completely. Dip in powdered sugar and serve.

*Filling:

2 egg whites
1 C sugar
1 C finely chopped walnuts (we use pecans)

Beat egg whites until very stiff. Beat in sugar, then fold in the nuts.

Enjoy!

The cookies end up being sort of like tiny three-cornered hats about an inch and a half in diameter. The pastry is flaky and melts delicately in your mouth with a sweet propriety I never would have expected in a cookie. They politely invite you back for more, so that it's quite possible to eat a dozen of the dainty little things without even beginning to feel like a pig. Well. Now you see why they've become a traditon. Cream Cheese Cookies delight the palate, bring the family together for some fun, and make a perfect Christmas party snack (although we rarely sacrifice them to the public.) Now you'll have to make them to see what I mean!

Have a merry Week-Before-Christmas!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

In Which People Graduate and I Reflect on the Violence of Change

After a flurry of cleaning, cooking, and other craziness, grandma arrived on Friday (from Tennessee) to spend a week with us. I'm so glad. Last time she was here was for my graduation in May, when, due to constant nervous headaches and lots of excitement, I didn't really get to spend memorable "quality" time with her.

Today we all went to the Letu. graduation, where we saw a lot of people we knew, sort of knew, and didn't know at all. I like living in a town with a college and going to a church with a lot of college students. There's something "alive" about it. Nothing gets stagnant, although, I'll admit that sometimes the changes are alarming to me, the way people go off and leave...Yesterday was Jeff and Cheri's 5th anniversary, and thinking about it, I really miss them all the way up there in Oregon with their little red headed girls. It's funny to think about the days when they were both single Letu. students at our church...and how different things are now. Of course, change is good.

Mainly we were going to the graduation ceremony to see Flic graduate. She is one of our Recently Adopted College Students (along with Cheryl...we just met them this semester). Cameron is our Unrecently Adopted College Student, whom we met over three years ago and is graduating in May. So, two bereavements in too short of a time. But of course, just like Jeff and Cheri, it's a GOOD thing. We couldn't keep all the smart, amazing people clustered up in Longview when the command is so clearly to "Go." I'm glad Flic is sticking around a bit before she Heads Off To The Wilds :)

It was my first time to be at a December grad. and the first time anyone at all had ever been to one in the Impressive, Imposing S.E. Belcher center. (I am forever being tempted to call it the Big Burpy Building, but have yet to succumb audibly!) The curtains are thrilling. All that sheeny, shimmery crimson velvet. So elegant! The whole building is pretty classy.

The ceremony was a bit long, and when the speaker sat down to give way to diploma handing-out, Ethan asked, "ARE WE LEAVING NOW?," to the audible amusement of some of the surrounding attendees. In spite of the length, I still was glad I went. There's something nice about a ceremony. It reminds you of all the sameness in this chaotic world of ours, even when mingled with most violent change (don't tell me that setting off into the world with that little piece of paper is not a violent act of courage.) The Pomp and Circumstance, the half-comical outfits and the tassels, sashes, and various wrappings, the rhythmic calling of names and delivering of diplomas...I viewed them all with a certain satisfaction, and, I regret to say, tittered shamelessly at the Alma Mater song. Couldn't help myself. It's nothing against Letourneau-- I just think that school songs in general are corny. Anyone who's offended, please forgive me!

After the last tasseled heads disappeared down the aisles, we fought our way outside to talk with Flic and her cluster, to take pictures, have hugs, etc. I'm very proud of her...she's been a sweet friend, and she's going to be a great teacher. So fun and motherly :)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A Day in the Life of...

Today I...

Woke up way too early and grumbled my way through showering and shivered into the car (I forgot to expect it to be cold!) with Mom to go to her dentist's appointment with her, and from there to run errands and have a special one on one breakfast time at McDonalds. It was certainly worth getting up early :)

It was raining deliciously. We sipped our piping-hot Mickey D's coffee and talked about how great Jesus is (it's nice to constantly remind each other!) At Wal-mart I happened on two of the Christmas presents I hunted unsuccessfully for yesterday...yay! My Christmas shopping is mercifully simple and nearly done :) I'm just so thankful that I found that one item that I couldn't find in the places I expected it...good ol' Walmart!

Mom dropped me off at the Crowe's and we had a mathy morning, which also involved drawing monsters with a certain (abnormal) amount of body parts. Very exciting. I drove home in the still-wet-and-cold to have lunch and then set off for Mrs. Burklin's for tea. All would have been well, excpect that I got lured into the library again (You'd think twice in one week would be enough) and, for the first time in my 15 months of driving, locked the keys in the car. I'm sure it won't be the last time. I phoned Dad and he heroically came for me...a little grin lurking around in his beard. It was sweet of him just to grin, considering he had to drive half and hour across town to reach me.

So, after that little wrinkle in the schedule, I arrived at Mrs. Burklin's safe and sound. The tea table was a cozy glow of red and gold...golden tea pot, crimson Christmas balls, candles, red and gold brocade cloth. It was nice to visit, and Mrs. Burklin also gave me some advice on Ethan's knight costume, which was at a dead halt over some mysterious problem. I think I can go on with the sewing now.

When I got home, the kitchen was a-bustle with meal preparations, and Dad was leaving to deliver the meals Mom had made...the business was a-buzzing. It's interesting adjusting to the new happenings around suppertime. I always wondered what home businesses were like, where the whole family participates. This is only part time, but it still creates a new...dynamic, I guess.

Mattie and I made pancakes and sausage for supper, and...now it comes to blogging...

I guess that's about it today.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Fat Tuesday?

No matter what a girl's size, there are days when she feels impossibly fat, and no amount of logical arguement will convince her otherwise. The safest, most tactful, helpful, and loving to do in such a circumstance would be to look her in the eyes and say, "I think you're beautiful and I'll love you forever and ever," because that's what she's really wondering about anyway.

(It hasn't been one of those particular kinds of days...I just thought it might have been for SOMEBODY out there.)

Mom read this before I titled it, and suggested I put "Fat Tuesday" for the title...she was joking, but I took her seriously, kind of.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Gone Crazy

Sometimes it feels like the world has gone crazy. It probably feels like that because, in fact, that's exactly what it's done. I'm not sure what I mean by that comment...just bear with me.

I've been thinking a lot about the "brethren throughout the world" that 1 Peter talks about. Yesterday during worship time we sang "Give Me Jesus", which is an utterly beautiful song...

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus

-Fernando Ortega

So, maybe it sounds repetitive just written down, but if you know the song, you can sing it and know what I mean. Anyhow, while we were singing I had my eyes closed and suddenly, like a digital slideshow, these pictures started coming into my mind of the believers in other countries being persecuted and killed because they love Jesus. In the morning, every morning...the fears and griefs of young widows, the possessions confiscated and homes destroyed, the long darks hours of prison cells, the tortures and beatings...but then there is Jesus. That is all they want. And that is what they get.

I'm just hoping for the courage to make that my prayer. It's not that I mean to be morbid...I guess it would be easy to take this that way. But it isn't morbid at all. The world is a dangerous place, (just yesterday we heard about the shootings in Colorado) and for so long I've thought that life's objective was to keep safe, happy and comfortable. But now I'm discovering that the safety is empty, and I find myself longing to say "You can have all this world, but give me Jesus."

A few days ago I read the Voice of the Martyrs magazine, which pictured a prayer meeting on the front cover. There were six people kneeling in a circle in the forest, holding their hands out, praying. And I thought, "I want to be part of that prayer meeting." And I keep longing for that kind of desperate fellowship and even danger...yet I'm such a weak and fragile child! I tremble at the thought of going to a nursing home to reach out...I battle every morning just to get out of bed. Just an overload of phone calls to make can cause me to crumple into tears. Is this the girl who wants to brave the wilds and risk hatred, gun threats, and tortures? Sounds crazy. Sounds a little niave. Sounds impossible!

Just in the little sufferings that I go through, I've tasted a bittersweet tang that left me thristy for more. It's a funny thing to say, because when the day is done I'd never ask to go through it again. But later, when things get "better", I start missing those days I spent running to Jesus at every turn, nights of crying myself to sleep knowing that I'm in His arms. I've started to understand how those believers have the joy they have, and I'm just praying for the courage to love and hang on and risk my life in his name, here or overseas.

On this website I think you can find some of the amazing Voice of the Martyrs stories that really spur me on in my faith...(when I can bring myself to read them!)

http://www.persecution.com/

Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Little Raja has a Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Ethan's birthday (which is actually on the 9th) by having the Fritzes over for home made pizza and chocolate cake.

Since Mom and Dad were busy yesterday shopping and working on things for a small sort of business (where Mom will make meals to deliver out of our home three days per week) Mattie and I did a lot of birthday prep. Mattie is the one-woman decorating committee. I ended up being the cook, although Mom and Mattie graciously took over the pixxa near supper time. Due to some goofy mistakes, I had to remake both the cake and the pizza dough...and wasted at least a bag of flour! It was horrible! The first cake came out looking like mountains on Mars, only a little burnt around the edges, and the pizza dough, due to a slip of the pen as I was writing down the recipe, ended up looking like...well, boogers, honestly. In the end it all got straightened out. The pizza dough turned out great the second time...thanks, Mrs. Connie, for the recipe!!

I think Ethan enjoyed his party. Mrs. Michelle had made him a REALLY COOL cloak (not a cape!!!) with sleeves (very impressive) and what with dollar store swords and a yellow plastic tool belt, he was really "fixed up." Every time he opened a gift, he fact of factly announced. "Huh, just what I wanted."

I still hold the theory that if every kid were brought up getting just one birthday gift per birthday, they would be perfectly content. Every time Ethan opened a gift, he wanted to stop right there and play with it, forgetting the other unopened boxes. (Between Grammie, the Fritzes, and the rest of us, he had a lot more to open than I would have thought.) In fact, he finally delegated the opening job to his newly appointed agent, Sarah.

This morning, Mom and Dad were relegated to some form of forced labor to put together the new lego set. (Connor is working, and Mattie and I...well, somehow we got out of it.) Dad's making a lot of progress. I sat for a while eating breakfast in the vicinity for moral support, but the closest involvement I had with the legos was trying to read the warnings in 15+ languages on the plastic packages. I like just trying to figure out what the languages are...even if I can't understand any of the words, or even pronounce them. There were warnings in what I guessed to be Spanish, English, Portugese, Italian, Dutch, German, several Scandinavian tongues (surely Danish), Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, three languages with the Cyrillic aphabet, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. And there were one of two that looked like African languages...but I have no clue about that. I get a big kick out of the ones with all the little accent marks and dots and dips and doodles...God was so creative to make words!

Well, I don't have much else to say about Ethan's birthday, other than that it was exhausting, but fun. I never did understand why parents put themselves out for their kid's birthdays, but now, with Ethan, even though he's my brother, I kind of see...they aren't little forever. It doesn't have to be expensive to be special, either. A little love goes a long way :)


P.S. Christmas devotions can be very thought provoking-- especially when you have a five year old brother! Yesterday morning, while Mom was sharing the story of Jacob's ladder with us, and she asked Ethan what the names of Jacob and Rachel's two sons were. His reply? "Joseph and Frodo." !!!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Blogging My Head Out...

Well, here I am, a week after I said I could get back to blogging... :) I just don't know how to dive back in, but I think they call that procrastination.

Today was a rather busy day...after I was initially able to drag myself up off the couch and into the shower. I got up immediately when my alarm went off (only because I put it on my book shelf where I'm forced to get up to turn it off!), but after a cup of tea, two pieces of toast, and a smidgin of leftover meatloaf, I went straight to the couch and lay flat under a thick blanket for a long time until I could possibly consider coming out again. Everyone else was either gone or still a-snooze.

When I had showered and perked up a little, I hurriedly stuffed my huge book bag full of everything I might possibly need for the day or forevermore and set off in the Crowe's Silver Bullet (I think that's what Rodgey called it once...or am I mistaken?) A few days ago, when I was going to take the kids to the park, we were looking for the van keys at their house, and Rodgey kept asking me, "Why don't you just drive the truck?"(the nickname for the Much Nicer vehicle) There were several good reasons, but I didn't have a chance to explain them all to him. As we climbed into the somewhat Aged and Used van, he shook his head at me and said, "I still don't understand why you passed up a great opportunity to drive something that's worth more than 200 dollars!"

So...it was on to the Crowes, where Bruce and Deb had just gotten back from a short jaunt to Ukraine to make plans and scout out a house they found, which they will probably buy. So Deb made hot drinks for us and we sat looking at pictures of snow-patched Rzchichiv while she explained details of our future home (for a year or more, in my case.) It was pretty exciting. I was excited to hear that there are a lot of Ukrainian girls my age who hang around there, who I'll surely get to learn Russian from and build relationships with. The prospect of being there for an extended period of time where I can grow some roots is encouraging to me. Five week missions trips where you are constantly on the move just become emotionally exhausting after awhile, because you have to reach out to person after person without having a lasting connection. So, if God works it out so, I'll be moving to Ukraine in May or June 08, shortly after the Crowes.

At 11:15, Mom picked me up for a birthday lunch for our friend Miss Brenda. There were a lot of other ladies there, and I was the only girl, but I didn't mind, since Miss Brenda is one of my dear friends, and so is my Mom, and for the most part I like listening to my Mom's friends talk :) It was a pleasant time, and I hope a blessing for the birthday girl. The waitress was exceptionally nice and brought Mom and I loads of food we couldn't eat. (We split a plate, but still ended up taking half of it home as leftovers for siblings to have for supper.)

When we left, I had a raging headache, which may in part be due, as my Mom pointed out, to a light caffeine addiction...nooooooo!!!! I said I would never be dependent on coffee! I'm still hoping that's not it. But I went yesterday and most of today without the "drug," and had major headaches. I realize that I have been drinking steadily more and more coffee as it gets cooler out...but I didn't think it was that much. I usually have it in a teacup and make it "blonde" (half-coffee, half-milk, with a teaspoon of sugar) so I can't believe I could really be addicted. But I have been having either coffee or tea once or twice a day...I just hate the idea of being dependent on a drink. Oh well.

After some ibuprofen, I just felt sort of swampy and fuzzy all over, and thought another moment of horizontalness might be really nice...but there was english class with the girls, which I hadn't prepared for at all. So I thought, well, Mrs. Burklin is always teaching classes when she's sick--much sicker than I am--and she teaches the classes with much more...you know...know how, preparation, and General Wholehearted Wonderfulness, that surely I can just pluck up for a few hours and do this thing! So I gave in to Mom's recommended cup of coffee (just feeding the flames!). Sure enough, it perked me up pretty decently and I began to feel a general Competance and Happiness over the commas and semicolons and the funny sentences we kept making up and scrawling across the tremendous marker board. At the beginning of the class I was feeling down and wondering if anything I was doing was doing any good or if I was working for nothing...but then I remembered how Chance, (my once-apon-a-time big brother and English tutor of approximately two months), drove the wonderful ways of commas, conjunctions, and semicolons into me
over and over with all the force of a sledgehammer, and how it STUCK, to my great benefit. I'm still benefitting from it today. And nobody tell me that commas aren't important! I know I don't get all of my punctuation right all of the time, but it's still amazing what a tiny sliver of confidence about something the size of a comma can do for you! I actually really got to enjoying myself with the whole comma thing. And the girls are so good in class...they didn't make fun of me or anything ;) Now at home, it could be a different story!

After that, I read to Ethan, as promised. It's one of my favorite things to do, and I'm just pleasantly amazed at his persistent begging for a story. Of course, he wants only "knight books," which we seem to have exhausted at the library, and I'm not ready for another three weeks of St. George just yet. After all, we have two other versions at home that I've read to him too. I did find a long picture book divided into chapters that I started reading to him this afternoon, about Robin Hood. That also qualified, I guess. It's amazing. He'll just sit there for an hour, listening, cuddled in a blanket, occasionally asking, "Are those the bad guys or the good guys?" Even when I don't get to read to him, Mom does it regularly. He's definitely going to get some idea of chivalry, anyway!

And now I'm blogging my head out. Wait...that's not what I meant to say...head off...heart out...whatever. It feels good to write out the events of the day. It's time to go now, though.

So, The End

P.S. The amount of labels I have are ridiculous. Mybe I'm being hyper-sensitive about them and should discontinue the system.