Goodbye 2015, Welcome 2016

It's almost that simple...but not quite. 

Days in the Life...

Thursday morning Mom and Chloe left for a coffee date to work on planning Chloe's school semester and doing some goal setting for her.

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil were around in the afternoon.

In the evening they, along with Nana, Grandfather, and one other guest gathered at our house for dinner in honor of Christmas- wait- no- already did that... New Year's Eve.

With Uncle Phil around I always find it difficult to eat (without dying choking). That night our other guest was also a person with a great sense of humor. I was so grateful to survive the rest of 2015. Laughing is my favorite.

I think I lost my tan...you can call me Snow White. 

After eating dinner and cleaning it up together, we gathered in the living room to watch "What If..." It was really good, the target audience is not children, but the littles had no problem seeing it. 

When the movie ended we went around the room sharing our thoughts from 2015 and what we were excited about and praying about looking at 2016. Finally Grandfather prayed over us. The Enemy hates that we love each other and want and look forward to times like that where we are open with each other. Go ahead and make him angry too. You will be blessed in the process. 

The time was nearing 11:00 pm by the time we concluded our sharing time and several of us decided a second dinner would be good. The rest found the Christmas cookies. I know, with how many times we baked it's absolutely shocking that we would still have some. Totally. 

Then we watched, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," another family favorite and at least of couple of the group had yet to see it. 

And so 2015 ended and 2016 began and we told each other "happy new year" and "see you in the morning again when the sun is up." If we had not been all together, I doubt many of us would have actually made it to midnight without falling asleep. 

Friday morning the rest of the Christmas/winter decorations disappeared and the year-round ones were put in their place.

Uncle Phil and everyone except Christian and Mom did "Cize." It was fun! Especially with Uncle Phil's commentary. Doing it the second time around was easier and we were much less sore the 48 hours following as compared to the previous week. 

After much need showers and some lunch we all took family to see the little house we will be working on.

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil ate dinner next door and then the kids watched a movie while Mom, Dad, and I went over for dessert and to visit. 

Our visit covered things from health, to raising children, to Godly influences, to our personal family favorite discussion (aside from Maui)- our next ski trip. 

The reason we love to talk about it is because we all know how unlikely it is to happen again (We went to Pagosa Springs to ski the year I was 9) and because Uncle Phil has never skied and never wants to and Mom is right there with him (although she has done it, she does not enjoy it). He comes up with all manner of reasons why not to go and what would (likely) happen if we did go and he did ski. 

Most of the adults in Mom's family really enjoy skiing, as does Dad. The littles have never done it. Christian would (probably) be a natural and therefore an expert after 30 minutes back on the slopes. Chloe is sometimes not very coordinated and would rather read a book. The one time I went skiing, I ended the day by falling at the top of the highest slope and having to ride in the emergency sled all the way down because they thought my leg was broken. 

This time the conversation got serious enough that Dad was "just for point of reference" looking up the price of lift tickets and rental equipment. They also got so far as "throwing out names" of people we know that own vacation houses up there. 

I think it would be fun! Obviously it's been a while since I was in the mountains and from pictures I've seen, it's gorgeous. I don't like the cold, at all, but I've had very limited opportunity to play in real snow. 

Skiing could be fun...maybe for a couple of hours. 

But the idea of sitting wrapped in a blanket by the fire, with the pile of books I've wanted to read for years a long while, and a mug of coffee, and a view of breathtaking, snow covered, mountains, yeah, that sounds really wonderful to me. Plus time with family in the evenings. A cherry on top would be getting to take Kate with me, however, I seriously doubt her family would be willing to part with her for so long. I really do look forward to having my own children one day, Lord willing. 

Saturday Chloe and I did baking for Sunday and most of the adults got massages next door. 

Praise report- I had almost no pain in my neck, back, and shoulders (aside from soreness from Cize) between that and my last massage a couple of weeks prior.

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil had to head back to Dallas after lunch. *Tears* 

Mom and Dad were greeters at church and the service time has been moved from 6:30 to 6:00 so we left early. 

At home we had burgers before bed. 

Sunday morning we all were downstairs ready for the day and had eaten breakfast by 8:00 ish. So it was really 8:43. We all worked together to finish preparing the house and getting food ready for our open house/church gathering in honor of the New Year. 

By 10:00 on the dot we were all ready. Then we took a nap waiting for people to arrive. 

Over the course of the day we had 53 people through. Everyone visited and ate and the kids played outside and I got to meet the sweet little boy I'll be nannying in addition to his 2 year old sister whom I have watched several times before. 

Yup! Already in love. Definitely. 

I also learned a new game (Settlers of Catan).

And accidentally won twice even though I had no idea what I was doing.

We had a time of sharing as well.

The last people left close to 4:00ish and most everything was already done being cleaned up. At that point we crashed in the living room to talk about what Speech and Debate tournaments we want to do in the coming semester. 

Dinner was whatever we found and then we got ready for bed and watched "Do You Believe?" Wow. That movie was amazing. It was powerful. The littles found it intense (and so did I), but they could handle it (I screamed). I would watch it again, hands down, and recommend it for sure. 

Monday we all were moving by 8:00 trying to get back into a good schedule. Everyone gathered at 10:00 to do Cize together. 

Every time we have done it I have had issues with my hair falling out of it's ponytail. Today I french braided it, thinking that would surely solve my problems. Some time early on (I don't know when) my elastic went flying never to be found again and pretty soon my braid fell out completely. I give up. I'll just do it with my mane down from now on. Hopefully I wouldn't lose my balance again because of it. 

Everyone is getting better and better at the routine. It really is fun and doing it all together is awesome. We like to call ourselves "the fit family." 

In the afternoon a friend came over to do some sewing with us girls. 

Chloe is so close to getting her drivers license. She and Mom went out after dinner to get an hour in and now she just has 2 left (I believe). Ava is excited that Chloe will soon be able to take her to the library whenever she wants to go. (Because Chloe is always up for a trip to the library.) 

I've been Pondering...

Identity. We struggle with it. All of us, but especially as girls and women. This struggle began in the garden with Eve and the fall. She allowed the devil to speak lies into her life about how God viewed her and His plans for her. Now each of us shares in the battle over how we view ourselves, the worry of how others view us, and doubting God's love for us. We have forgotten that the only opinion that matters is God's and so we wrestle with doubt and fear and insecurity. 

This is an area I have experienced tremendous growth in this past year. But I was not consciously trying to become more confident. No, I was simply seeking God. The more I learned about Him, the more I began to see how He views me. And as I gained a clearer understanding of His love for me, the more sure I became of my identity in Him and therefore the more confident I became as a person. 

Please don't misunderstand me, I've not "made it", I still struggle sometimes. But those times that I do struggle I realize are the times I have allowed myself to turn away from truth and open the door to the lies of the enemy. 

Sometimes it can be hard to not want to put up a front, play a part, pretend you are someone you are not, someone you wish you were or that you think others would be more drawn to. But that is not being who God created you to be. And if you cannot be who you are, share your struggles, be open and real about what is going on in your life, then no one will be able to relate to you and you will miss the opportunity to be blessed by those who can come along side of you and encourage you and walk with you through your struggles. Not to mention, acting is hard and one day you will slip, your mask will fall off, and in the end the mess you hid will be revealed as worse than you imagined because you tried to deal with it all on your own. 

Be real. Be open. Be honest. Be comfortable with who you are knowing that you bring glory and honor to God as His masterpiece. Be confident that the work Christ has begun in you will continue until you go home. 

It's not easy, but He is faithful.

Welcome 2016, although I have no idea what you hold for me, I'm excited to see what the Lord has planned. 

Last year was so different from what I envisioned, but I grew in so many ways because of the unexpected. 

Completing Challenge III (with Classical Conversations), learning to make hard life decisions, having my first big summer job, being challenged on what I believe, resting in Maui, being flexible as Mom and Dad both navigated health challenges, balancing college work and nanny jobs, and sleeping what feels like all of December, summarizes some large things. 

But this year I also got my license, became an adult, grew in the areas of flexibility and patience, learned to embrace change and navigate transition, watched my church go through a rough time and come through closer as a body and even more aware of the hand of God, and strengthened old friendships and gained new ones. 

Many of "my plans" and for the year were not realized, but I am so glad! God's plan was SO MUCH BETTER! Certainly not easier, but I would not have changed one piece. 

So I'm thrilled to embrace a new year and look forward to the plans God has, the areas He wants me to grow, the experiences He has in store for me, the relationships He is forming, and whatever else He brings into my path, because I know, without a shadow of a doubt, whatever He has is for my good and for His glory.

That Moment When...

Dad tells someone else's child to finish their water thinking he is talking to Ava. 

Your hands are so small and the orange is so big that you can't get a good grip on it to get the zest off.


The Herd: Quoted 

"Real mayonnaise, wow, I can't believe I get real mayonnaise! I've never had that before!" -Mia getting truly excited as she reads the mayonnaise package at dinner.

"Dad, if we watch anther movie can we watch something that is actually interesting?" -Mia after we watched "What If..." (It was a little above her.) 

I need a bowl of coffee

Days in the Life...

Thursday morning I left dark and early to go meet a friend for a sunrise photoshoot in a random field we found that didn't have any signs, gates, or fences (aka, we probably were okay to be there). 

The light was stunning and everything was covered in frost including the grass which was still very green. It'd been awhile since I'd seen a sunrise (because I've been asleep most mornings at that time the past few weeks...). 

Aside from it being very cold my fingers and toes were frozen for 24 hours after we finished, but then I've always had cold hands, the shoot was fun for both of us and I think she got some pretty amazing pictures. I loved being able to enjoy the sunrise and marvel at the beauty God created for us. 

Here are a few

I got home in time to tell Mom and Ava goodbye. Ava spent the weekend with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil for her birthday gift from them and Mom was going shopping with Nana for Nana's birthday gift from her. 

The rest of us had work and school to do all day. 

If you remember, my shoulder was hurting at the tournament a few weeks ago. I linked it to stress (which is accurate) and hoped that it would go away soon. It hasn't really. The pain has not ever been as bad as it was that day, but off and on my neck, back, and shoulders have been sore. 

Pretty much as soon as I sat down to do my CLEP test studying for the day, they began hurting so I took some pain killer. Of course it was when I finished two-ish hours later that I got full relief. Maybe it's just school stuff... That's when I started thinking a massage would be a good idea. 

Mom was still gone late in the afternoon so Chloe and I were recruited to make dinner. (That means it was my job to come up with the plan first.) After scouring the food supply, I went to Dad with a sort of okay plan and the idea of "Babe's" in the back but more like front of my mind.

He proposed Babe's before I had to say anything. 

So we met Mom, Nana, and our new friend from church at Babe's with Grandfather. It was a fun evening! The food was good, too. In case y'all were wondering, "white soup" is gravy (if you are eating at Babe's). 

Friday Dad had appointments to go to and Christian had school in the morning and work at the neighbor's in the afternoon. The rest of us were thinking we didn't feel like doing a full school day and that Christmas shopping in the afternoon sounded like it would be fun. 

Mom had a hair appointment in the morning and then she and Mia and Gabe left to shop.

Chloe and I went to go see the new movie "Pan" (she loved it, I thought it was okay) and to shop a little. That was the first time I ever went to Aéropostale.

We all arrived back home in time to eat together and then watch "Mall Cop." 

Saturday we had friends coming at 10:00 and all rolled out of bed in time to be dressed by the time they arrived. I had yet to eat breakfast, though.

After about a *pauses to think about how long* too long break from play practicing, we finally got back to it. I promise we will do this play some day. It was not my plan to draw it out quite this long... 

Miracle Max

Fire Swamp

Mom and Dad took Mia and Gabe to look at a little house in Ponder while we practiced. The report was fun to hear, and because Dad is an architect he was able to sit down and draw us the floor plan for visual aid. I'm so amazed by my Dad's abilities. 

We had stuff around the house to work on in the afternoon before we got ready and left for church.

The sunset was stunning during our drive. I decided a couple of months ago that I couldn't pick one favorite color, so my answer to that question is now "sunset." Heavenly displays such as that one are definitely my favorite.

At church I had volunteered to be the greeter. Mia was being baptized that night so all our local family came to join us for the service. (Ava was delivered back to us as well.) I made sure my uncle especially knew that I did not greet everyone with a big hug like I gave all of them. He was relieved. 

During the service I offered to help one of the young moms with her little girls who are two and a half years old and one month old. I'm pretty sure I was the most blessed out of the two of us. It was hard, but I did share the baby with others after the service. 

Afterwards most everyone stuck around to enjoy the cookies that everyone had brought to share in honor of the two little girls who'd been baptized. An unnamed adult covered for Mia so she could eat as many cookies as she wanted... Mom found out and kindly cut her off at 4. 

Sunday morning we enjoyed a late brunch and some rest time before heading to a church fellowship at the Peiser's home (the family with all the little boys that I've babysat for). 

We ate dinner and the kids played outside in the backyard while the rest of us played "Last Word" and "Imagine If." Mom did really good in both games. Dad and I are good sports. 

A rare moment when I was not the one holding the baby.

Ava had spent the day with a friend in honor of the friend's birthday so we picked her up on the way home. 

Monday was pretty quiet. Everyone did normal stuff. 

Mom and I had massages in the afternoon. That was painful. But it helped some. Now I'm just sore because I had a massage. Unfortunately, even after an hour of working on me, the masseuse said she had not had near enough time to work out all the tension. Mom is doing much better, though! 

That night I had small group to babysit for. I love time with little children. 

Tuesday morning Kate came! I'm not doing this on purpose, but again, I got to practice caring for a baby with not enough sleep. She took a really good nap this time, though. Praise the Lord!

Ava is a wonderful helper.

Too much cuteness. 

In the afternoon I had to get ready for our Speech and Debate Club's Christmas party in Dallas, as well as pack an overnight bag. Kate was a good helper... 

Her pajamas are so adorable!

I was sad to have to leave Kate with Mom to head out with Chloe and Christian. Walking away from her when she was crying for me about ripped my heart out.

Baby tips:

-Once your baby is old enough to sit up on their own without falling over you can sit them on the counter in front of you while you get food or do things that require two hands. Just watch them. Very. Closely. And don't walk away. 

-If you are needing to get ready for an event (so like put makeup on and curl your hair) get an easy to eat baby snack like cheerios or something and let your child eat by your feet. Talk to them to keep them interested and in one general spot. 

Chloe, Christian, and I left mid-afternoon, made a quick stop for gas (so that Christian could do it for me), and raced through Walmart to pick up salad makings. Then my GPS decided to not work, at all, so we ended up having to call our ride and meet them at Tom Thumb instead of their house. (The party was in Dallas and I did not want to drive there.)

We were supposed to be at the house early to help set up tables and such, but by the time we arrived (although we were still early) everything was already done. 

All three of us had a great time. A majority of the time we visited with friends either inside or outside. Christian played football in the backyard with some other boys after dinner. 

The party technically ended at 9:00 but some people didn't leave. Most of us that remained decided to go look at Christmas lights around Highland Park. 

This tree was impressive.

We left sometime after 10:30, I believe, and went back to get our car. Then we followed our friends to the house we were to sleep at. (It would not have been wise for me to drive us home an hour away so late at night with not enough sleep.) 

Us girls stayed up visiting with our friend and her parents until 1:00 am. Christian and the boys were up until 3:30. 

Wednesday morning we got up around 7:30 so we could leave right after breakfast and get Chloe to work by 10:00. 

It was almost 10:30 by the time Christian and I got home. We caught up with Mom and Dad about our time. They had gone to work at "Santa Cops" Tuesday evening. (They wrapped presents that the police officers could then deliver to families.) 

In the afternoon I went to get Chloe from work and Mom had a bunch of homeschooling moms over so they could ask her questions and be encouraged gleaning from her years of experience. She is such a blessing to so many people. 

Aunt Cendei had a huge fire (we could see the smoke from our house 5 miles away) in one of her pastures for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Praise the Lord that 8 firetrucks later it was put out and did not hit the gas wells on her property. We invited her to come for dinner that night and watched "The Santa Clause." 

I've been Pondering

This week past I have been focusing on Proverbs 3:5-6. Stress is an extreme part of my life right now, but I'm determined to trust in the Lord, acknowledge Him in all my ways, and walk as He leads me.

My favorite part of the day. 

I can honestly say it is true. I couldn't always. I used to wish I could, but I wasn't there yet. I enjoyed reading my Bible and praying and have been doing so since before I can remember, but I did it more out of habit for the most part. It certainly wasn't truly my favorite. 

I can not pinpoint exactly when that changed. There is no specific quiet time or prayer session that changed my entire point of view. 

Rather, God has been working in my heart, and as I drew near to Him, purposing to seek Him, He was faithful to reveal Himself to me more and more. And the more I learned about Him, the more I began to enjoy and delight in His presence. 

I share this not to boast or point to myself, but to be an encouragement. I'm not saying that every time I sit down to read God's Word I find new wonderful things that make me want to run and dance and sing. (I actually do a lot of crying.) And I'm not saying that every time you read the Bible you will be excited or interested. But what I can say is that God is faithful. 

When you draw near to Him and seek His face, He will draw near to you and reveal Himself to you. The more I know God and experience the work of His hands in my life, the more I love Him, and the more I grow to cherish my time spent purposefully resting in the presence of my Savior. 

(P.S. I know my mug of coffee looks more like a bowl of coffee, but I promise it's not that large, and it was only half filled, lest y'all be concerned that I'm not sleeping enough and thus need that much coffee. *wink*)

That Moment When...

You're really hungry until you get to the restaurant and finally have food in front of you. 

Chloe accidentally bakes 108 cookies. 

Gabe comes in the room with a 4 inch bleeding cut across his neck. 

Mia is excited about a new math book. 

You drink something that is too hot and live the next 24 hours with a sandpaper tongue. 

You realize people in the city actually lock their doors so you can't just walk in and call out "knock knock." 

The Herd: Quoted 

"That's Christian's Christmas list. It takes awhile to read so just go ahead and set it aside." -Mom to Dad. 

"Thanks for calling me an adult tonight." -Me smiling. 

"I'm trying, I really am!" -Mom 

"How come you get to sleep in?!" -Chloe 

"Because I accidentally turned off my alarm. In my sleep. Twice." -Me 

"High-five for the blonde moments!" -Me to Dad after he had one. 

"I forgot to tell Kate no naps in the car on Tuesdays." -Me  

"As soon as you left she melted into a puddle." -Ava telling me that Kate cried for me. 

"I should probably turn my lights on..." -Me as I pull on to the road at 11:00 pm and notice how dark it is. 

"That was so fun! I did a great job extroverting!" -Chloe after the party. 

"If I could, I'd marry God. Would you? Wait, no, I wouldn't because I'm not perfect." -Mia to Mom during school time. 

Personal Space

Friday-

Christmas decorating officially began! (Mom likes to save it for after Thanksgiving and none of us are really into Black Friday shopping.) Mom and Dad moved everything out of the living room to thoroughly clean everything before putting away year-round decorations and pulling out the Christmas ones. 

We have been adding to this 

little village since Mom and Dad got married. 

The kids all had to tidy and clean their rooms before they could set up any of their own little decorations in them. In the early afternoon they had all finished. I was exempted from this since my room was already clean.

Uncle Phil came over to play Poker and Life. 

I had somewhere I had to be for several hours in the afternoon. Mom and some of the other adult members of our extended family got massages while I was gone, and everyone visited, rested, and played games. 

When I returned we all worked together making pizza and then ate together (with Nana, Grandfather, Aunt Lauren, and Uncle Phil) and watched "The Christmas Candle." We all really liked the movie! 

Saturday-

Mom and Dad went to breakfast with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil while the rest of us slept in, worked on more Christmas decorating, played (blogged for me), and took showers. 

Mom and Dad had errands to run so by the time they got back it was time for some rest time and then to finish getting ready for church. 

Church was very special. I crave the time we have at church all week. Every time we go I get filled up, encouraged, and prepared to go live for Christ through the week. 

At home Nana and Grandfather came to watch a little football with Christian, and Dad worked on getting our tree lighted. Not on fire.

Sunday-

We got up a little earlier than we usually do on Sundays (so at 8:30, definitely not complaining *wink*) so we could get the house tidied up from our Christmas decorating and prepare to share brunch with a new friend from church. 

We invited this guy to come for brunch so that we could get to know him better. (He just started coming to our church in the last month.) His sweet sister was in town for Thanksgiving so we told him she was welcome to come as well. 

They ate brunch with us (primary table topics of conversation; sports and Maui) and then helped us to decorate our tree. 

Ready for ornaments

Plenty of helpers. 

Once the tree was completed (in record time, by the way) the kids asked our new friends to play "Life" the board game. I got roped into that as well and wow that was an interesting game. Lots of fun for sure. 

Then our new friend challenged me to a game of "Speed" the card game. I accidentally beat him.

Everyone was sad when they had to leave and told them that they were officially family now and had to come back as soon as possible, like, tomorrow. 

The rest of the afternoon we had rest time and then had a double feature, featuring "A Princess for Christmas" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2." Somewhere in there we ate food. 

This past week was so nice, getting to relax our sleep schedules and do less school and focus on family time and memory making. I loved it. Now back to normal work. 

The Herd: Quoted 

"Mia, Gabe, there is something called 'personal space' and you are invading your new friend's." -Mom

"Oh no, I have to be the entertainer. I am not entertaining..." -Me playing Life.
"Um, some people think so..." -Mom, as everyone else laughs.

"This is confusing." -Mia watching Pirates of the Caribbean Two.

"This makes so much more sense the third time through!" -Me watching Pirates of the Caribbean Two.

The ER

You are the light of the world, a city on a hill, a cup of coffee 

in the hands of one who is cold.

You spread light and love and warmth to those around you.

Friday after morning family prayer time I went to work at my new nanny job for a majority of the day. The moment I got home Mom and Dad were walking out the door. I didn't take it personally. They were headed to Dallas for the evening that extended to be most of the early morning too. 

I asked for a few minutes of time by myself in my room after giving a little direction. Of course at least three different children then came to my room with questions during the next five minutes, but... 

After dinner the littles set up their movie in the schoolroom, "A Cinderella Story." And, at the recommendation of a friend, the rest of us settled in the living room to view "Stardust." I love both movies, "Stardust" is probably more of a bigger kid movie, but it's really good if fantasy and crazy plots are your thing. And "A Cinderella Story" is adorable for anyone. 

Because it was storming, we live in the country, and both movies required wifi, we ended up having to pause our movie so the kids could finish theirs in time to get to bed. It was worth the wait and I got to make Trim Healthy Mama Hot Chocolate (aka, guilt free hot chocolate that is actually full of good protein). 

Mom and Dad were going to be late because of the rain and having such a long drive so everyone except me went to bed. I stayed up to wait for them, obviously. By 11:00 pm I was getting concerned. 

I was about to call and check on them when Nana knocked on the back door. Of course I immediately thought Mom and Dad had crashed or something. Thankfully they had not. They were about 1/2 a mile away, but Dad had started to feel lightheaded and pulled over. He promptly blacked out. 

Mom was able to call Grandfather to come right away and sent Nana to me. 

Mom and Dad had pulled over in front of the house of one of our neighbors who lets Chloe ride their horses. Within a few minutes those neighbors got home and had Mom and Dad and Grandfather go inside with them. The Husband called 911 and while they were waiting they were able to check Dad's blood pressure. (He was awake by the time they were going inside.)

The Ponder Chief of Police (whom I'd met the day before...) was the first one there and the ambulance arrived soon after. They checked some things and recommended that Dad go to the ER with them. 

Mom got to ride with him and Grandfather followed them. The rain made for a very slow and not fun drive. 

They were seen pretty quickly at the ER. (So, if y'all ever need to go, 3:30 am isn't very busy.) The doctor ran some tests and everything came back negative. Dad was cleared to go home and was encouraged to follow up with his own doctor on Monday. 

Saturday had been a fully booked day, but when Mom and Dad didn't get home until early in the morning we canceled our plans in favor of resting. 

Mom and Dad called a meeting in their room to tell the rest of the kids what had occurred during the night and then we all did whatever we could to let them rest. Dad was tired, but especially as the day went on he felt better and mostly normal. 

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil picked up things to make us dinner and brought it out so they could spend time with us. Uncle Phil had lots of little helpers getting dinner ready and Nana and Grandfather joined us. It almost felt like it was a holiday or birthday or something, it was fun to be together. After dinner we all watched "New in Town." 

Sunday we had our brunch with Aunt Lauren and Uncle Phil and a lady Mom and Dad had met Friday night. Uncle Phil got to learn some new games. 

Sunday was the first of November which meant that National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo began. Chloe and I had heard about it from a friend and both had been thinking about participating, though neither of us told the other until a couple of weeks ago. So that afternoon we both began our stories. 

The basic idea is that you start writing a novel and work on it until the end of November. The rules; it has to be 50,000 words long and you can do no writing until November first. Both of us had basic plot ideas and a little bit of characterization thought through. 

Essentially you have to write about 2000 words a day to complete this. 

That night we got Pizza from Papa John's (Dad's favorite) and watched "First Knight." This movie has been called "The First Knight," "Last Knight," "The Last Knight," "Last Night," etc. I was positive it was called "Last Knight." It's not. Anyways, we enjoyed it and Mia's commentary especially was humorous. All movies we watch come with extensive commentary. 

Country Sunset.

Monday Mom and Dad went to a doctor's appointment for Dad and they didn't find anything alarming. At this point they are doing a few heart tests. We are so grateful. 

Chloe had a job interview with a woman that works locally as a photographer specializing in senior and family pictures and horse photography and she got the job! We are all thrilled for her. 

I went out to run some errands thinking I'd only be gone a couple of hours. I was gone for four. But I found what I was looking for, namely, speech tournament clothing and shoes, and Blue Bell Ice Cream!! 

She is so excited that she can "finally" read her Bible! 

This is not normal for Gabe... 

When I got back Aunt Cendei was at our house. She had delivered dinner from another family in our church and we invited her to join us. Gabe wasn't feeling well, but after we all laughed with Aunt Cendei (because she brings laughter with her everywhere) and watched "Zookeeper," he was perking up.

His Fingerprints

Dad and Christian were supposed to leave for a missions trip to Haiti next week. But, they could not go because Christian's passport application process hit a snag right before our Maui trip. At the time we were upset, but trusted that God had a plan. After Dad's incident, we are so grateful they are not leaving. We were content to never know why the passport issue occurred and trust God, but knowing what we do now, we see His hand so clearly.


That Moment When...

You change out of jeans into pajama pants. 

Dad gets to meet the Chief of Ponder Police and the Ponder EMTs. 

Gabe falls asleep in the middle of the living room floor in the middle of the day. 

The Herd: Quoted 

"Hey! I have curls too!" -Mia

"You did, but they were wilted in the shower." -Gabe 

"He didn't give me a ticket, though." -Me telling my story about how I learned that turning left on red is illegal. 

"Of course he didn't!" -Dad

"He was old!" -Me

"Yeah, old, not dead. He probably felt sorry for you too, since your response was 'you can't do that?'" -Mom

"If you took out all the romance-" -Christian 

"-And all the battles, there would be no movie." -Me 

"I found my scarf! It was inside my coat like a liver." -Mia

"What?" -Me

"You know, it was inside my coat like the insides of a body." -Mia 

"How are you surviving, Lydia?!" -Christian during our cold photoshoot. 

"I'm not." -Me 

"I got some great shots!" -Chloe

"It's a good thing your model didn't freeze... All the way." -Me 

"Yeah, that's always good." -Chloe 

"So, Dad, funny story... It's not just construction workers in Maui that like me..." -Me

"Funny? Why don't you tell us about that." -Mom

"Well, I was in traffic and the truck next to me rolled down the window and looked over at me. I glanced over and someone in the backseat was violently waving. For a second I thought it was someone I knew, but then I realized the entire truck was full of guys checking me out. I looked away pretty fast..." -Me 

"We are going to have to start sending little children with you!" -Mom 

"I've been trying to think of signs I could hold up like, 'My Grandfather has a gun.' or 'My uncle just got out of jail for taking out the last guy like you.'" -Me

"Or you could make one that says 'I'm visiting my husband in jail.'" -Ava

"What?!" -Mom