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Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts

Monday

Sunday.

We gathered.
We chatted.
We volleyed the ball.
We laughed hard.
We were breathless.
We lay on the grass and made shapes out of the clouds.
We played on the swings.
We tossed the football.
We roasted acorns.
We ultimated the frisbe.
We claimed we had it.
We dropped it.
We made good saves.
We chuckled.
We put our shoes on.
We panted and drank water.
We promised next week.
We decided every sunday, this must happen.
We left happy.

Sunday

Run(-)On Praise

When I sat down at my desk, I just wanted to see how long I could make a sentence. Like a challenge. This is where it led me.


It’s not a normal day but I treat it like any other and lie there and watch the effects of the sunrise on my eyelids and listen to my family doing morning things; they’re nice morning things, like getting ready for Easter and feeding our dogs and going in to church early to help the kitchen crew get ready for the fundraiser breakfast which is between the ambitious-bird service and the head-screwed-on-straight service, which are identical, and I take up the wish I wished the night before that our family would screw their heads on straight but no, enough of us are ambitious that my vote doesn’t count, and “besides, the family is coming for lunch, and they’ll be here before we’d get home from the late service,” and so my vote really doesn’t count, and I decide that I probably never had a vote to cast anyway, so I put my wishing aside and go back to telling myself to get up and telling myself I’ll get up in just a few minutes, but I’m so comfortable right now, I can’t and so it will be ok if I get up in a minute – it is, but those minutes must have counted against me, because now we have to “really hurry” to get the dressing ready for the family who are coming and I don’t have much time to do any make-up or anything, but then I do it anyway, as fast as I can because if I’m going to be late to church, I at least want to look good, and it makes very little difference in minutes because I move quickly; and there is my brother telling us all we’ll be late, and then that we are late, and then that he can’t wait to live on his own because we’re always late and he never would be except for us, and he doesn’t ever seem to stop, so for the longest time on the way to our Easter morning service, it is so hard to think of the peace and the joy that are just waiting to be taken up and taken advantage of, and then we walk in and I didn’t see any heads turn, and then my heart turns and everything stops, because nothing matters except what we are singing about, and the glorious way God has loved us and chosen us and suffered for us, and purchased us, and given us to Christ, that – unless my heart were deaf – I cannot avoid falling on my heart’s knees and raising my hands and shouting that my God is alive and he loves me, and he is reigning so everything will be ok! and I just want to look at his face and know, and then I do know, and I want to keep looking in his face; and after church each moment seems holy and beautiful, as if I can do no wrong, and we all file slowly and talking into a huge herd pretending to be in line and talk our way through heaven-sent sausage and French toast and sanctifying syrup gluing your silverware to your fingers and your fingers to each other, and your hair to your forehead, and for breakfast the pastor has included grace in his benediction so the only words spoken are conversations about what they did last night and how that worked out, and how much she got done, and what was he working on again? and did it turn out and is it worth trying for myself? and then I call Happy Easter and suddenly the sun and the wind and the blue sky and the green grass are infinitely more beautiful than they were  when I walked from my house to my car before church and I know the afternoon ahead is going to be wonderful, even though something inside me knows it’s not and I can’t really pretend it will be much longer, so when we come home I am less happy, and I do not try to cheer up but I do wish I could be the same person all of the time and how much nicer I would be if that were the case, because if I just got stuck being the right person of the many who are inside of me, I know I could be perfect – but the perfect one is Christ Jesus, and he is not the only one living in me, because I am like every other human on this planet in one way, and that is that I’m human, and it means that even though Christ has the victory over sin, my sin still fights to often, so even though I side with Christ as much as I … can? I lose so often and then I know I’ve failed and I go on failing because failing has made me moody and I think that winning is impossible, even though I’m failing with the very people who gathered to celebrate that Christ won, so there is no more failure, and I become meditative and unhappy in my meditation, so I write it so that I can understand it, and when I write it I find that I can’t understand it so I give up and make an excuse for writing, and say that I was just trying writing to see how much I can cram into one sentence, and it turns out that a lot fits, even if not a lot should, and I wonder where my writing has taken me, and I find that I’m happy again; writing has taken me to a place where I feel the joy of creation and the satisfaction of having achieved something I’ve never done before – perhaps even that I’ve done it well for it being a first time around – and I decide to contemplate, but this time I’m contemplating cheerily and it takes me back to praise; praise for that glorious morning when Christ stopped the people’s contemplating his death and did something about it…basically reverse it so that they’d have something new to contemplate – the indescribable glory of the God who raised him, and unfathomable love which inspired the planning of this action before the planning of the people that necessitated this action, and the inescapable beauty that surrounds this entire day and it’s glorious celebration.




 (I tried reading this out loud. Now each short sentence feels like a needed revival. Gives me time to breathe.)

Tuesday

Introducing Mariah

I went on a trip once. I went with four others to a small town called Ponemah. I still remember the swirling mosaic of emotions that surrounded that trip. Fear. I was afraid of what I would find. Going into this, I had no idea of what the children we were working with would be like. There was no way of knowing who was helping us with the VBS or what they would be like. We had no clue how God was going to work in us and through us, and that thought was intimidating. Security. I was aware that I was going with an Almighty, all-loving Father at my side. Also, I went with the knowledge that our church was supporting our team in prayer every day that we were gone. I knew that I was a part of the body of Christ, and they weren't about to let me fall. 
Anticipation. I was eager to see what my amazing Father was going to do and how.

Now I'm home. Now it is my turn to watch as a special friend reaches out and experiences life "as a fingertip". She'll be living by the financial support of the church, and living by our prayer support. And I know that she is experiencing all of these emotions and more as she prepares to go.That is why my next blog post will be a guest post by Mariah. I've asked her to share the story of her heart with you as she prepares to go to Australia.

There is a special bond that grows when friends share faith in common. There is little more beautiful than to sit and listen to somebody close to you revealing how our Savior has been working in their heart and life. There is little more beautiful than when a friend becomes transparent and allows the precious light of Jesus to shine through each angle of their lives.

Mariah, you have given me a gift and I am grateful that I can support you by giving you a post on my blog.


Thursday

Title Here

Did it ever occur to you how many things there are to remember? (Did it ever occur to you how many of those things your mother has reminded you of? Jk.) It's a long list, no?

"Remember to pack your socks. You'll need them, and I'm not sharing." "You always say that, and you always do."

"Remember to drive safe!" "Why not 'Remember to use your road rage?' It's more memorable."

We even get pegged for remembering things for other people! "Remind me to remember that Susy has to remember her..." "Um, no."

I forgot my driver's license today, which is a long story. I didn't need it to drive, I needed to buy a deer tag. I ended up driving home, too.

"Remember that you have a dentist appointment." "I don't like the dentist."

"Remember to get some sleep!" We all know the one and only person whose name goes down in history for saying that. (Don't get me wrong. I love my mother. Just gotta poke some fun. :D )

"Remember your manners." "I do remember them. Do I have to use them too?"

 You are probably wondering why exactly I am posting this.

Several reasons: I am me, duh. It is late at night, the family is asleep, the fire is blazing, and there is something strangely alert in my upper story. It can be quite unfortunate, believe me. Because my sister had a hilarious brain fart that put me in mind of this post.

My sister got to her piano lesson today, sat down on the bench to play her scales and happened to glance at the theory book in her teacher's hands. "Oh!" my sister exclaimed, "I forgot my eyes!" ...uncomfortable silence..."Aaaand...where did you leave them?" the teacher replied. "Oh, no, I meant my I's. I didn't label the root chords the way I should have in my theory book..." *Lightbulb*

"Remember that Northern Indian (India in South Aisa) music style is called Hindustani."

"Remember that one guy we met? You know, the guy with the - " "Yeah! And when we were at the um...the um...that place we went to for the thinger. You know, where that guy was and - " "Uh-huh. And we ate that one kind of food there, that stuff that was like, really good? And there was this inside joke we were laughing about, you know, about that one thing we were doing there...well anyway, you remember the guy?" "Not a clue."

Which above hypothetical reminds me of a conversation I had about two weeks ago with a friend...

But I won't remind you of the details.

Good night!


Tuesday

This is a Secret.

So don't tell my dad please.

Aren't I a good child?

My dad loves the song Music Box Dancer. At first, it threw me for a loop. I heard him playing it on the computer one night, and my train of thought was, Dad? What up? You runnin a fever? You like hunting, dogs, orange and camouflage, you like farting for crying out loud!!! What are you doing? He was listening to Music Box Dancer.


And enjoying himself. Something I hadn't known was possible. I mean, my dad doesn't like classical, even contemporary piano music. He comes to every one of my recitals, but that's 'cause he loves me, not the music. I showed him my Rachmaninoff piece...he was impressed but he doesn't like it, really.

Anyway, after that night years ago, I pulled out my copy of the music and learned it. Occasionally if I ended up practicing piano when Dad came home, I'd play through it without saying anything. He'd come over and sit by me and just listen. I still found it comical, though! I mean, Really Dad?

So I asked him.

"Well," he trailed off. I was confused. It was just a song...right? It felt like something serious - talking about it with him. "You know how my dad was," he said slowly. "I guess this song was always something peaceful that I could listen to. I always liked hearing it." He looked back up at me with something vulnerable in his eyes that I'd never seen before. "Oh." I had nothing to say.

After that, I started playing the song more, and I'd purposely practice when I knew when Dad was coming home. It gave both of us something special to look forward to, I think. He appreciated the music and every time I played, he'd thank me for learning it.

After last year, I kind of forgot to do that for him. A few weeks ago, I got tired of playing all the pieces I'm working on for my Piano recital and again, I pulled out Music Box Dancer. And I had a really random idea. I remembered how much Dad had liked the song before, so why not add it to my recital? It was something beautiful I could do for my dad. Something that would make him appreciate the recital, and would let him know that I loved when he came, and that I love him.

So I texted my piano teacher and added the piece to my repertoire.

*Tear*

I love you Daddy.


Friday

Gratitudinal Finale

Don't ask if that's a work, because the answer's yes. It is now.

Guess what.

I DID IT!!!  I met my own gratitude challenge! I challenged myself to find 10 things every day that I was grateful for, and I made it. I missed a few days, but I've made them all up! I finished the race! Just a note: it's not too late for you fellow bloggers to join...you can do this too!

And now for my final list.

*An easy test. It was a career, vocation, aptitude testy thingy. I didn't want to take it, but I am glad for two things. 1) it was easy. 2) it doesn't matter. The scores won't count for anything, so no biggy.

*Spaghetti with no sauce, just tons of Parmesan cheese.

*Playing Baloney with my sisters, brother and friend.

*Winning Baloney.

*Being cold. Makes you appreciate the warmth more.

*Hot chocolate. It took a bit of improvisation, but it was good!

*Puppies. The same puppies that I blogged about a week or so ago are now over a week old, and I haven't had to stay up one night with them!

*Watching funny videos on youtube.

*Enjoying the whole afternoon with my bestie (blog) who's finally back from the Land of Scarce Internet.

*Flying kites.

*Getting references sent in for college applications.

*Being accepted to the first school! At least, it is to be hoped it is the first. It's not the school I think I want to go to, so hopefully it's not the only school I'm accepted to...

*Seeing a new blog, designed by a good friend of mine. I respect her, and I wish her well in her sojourning!

*Relaxing in a cozy room in front of a cheerfully comforting fire. And feeling like going to sleep.

Tuesday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 19

Today was good. Really good. I think I still have permafrost in my backside from the bleachers at the football game though. :-\

*Hearing about renowned "DNA" bobby pins. They are reputed to equal roughly 80 regular pins, which is wonderful given my thick hair.

*Eating chili with crackers for lunch. And enjoying my sister's company simultaneous.

*My sister will be in advanced skating with my other sister! She just got an email saying they think she's good enough to skip the last to basic levels and move up to advanced! Woot! Go Little Sister!

*Finishing several assignments.

*Playing Music Box Dancer - again and again and again.

*Trying to overcome writers block.

*Looking at other people's blogs.

*When really amazing gentlemen bring silly girls coats at football games because the silly girls were to silly to bring their own. (Erm...Ahem. Thank you Sir!)

*Knowing that somebody prays for you.

*Having quiet time to just talk to God.

Monday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 18

Oh dear. I only have three days left and I shall be done. What shall I blog about then?! P'raps I can find something. I'll be starting a creative writing class (as a student) next semester. That may provide some amusement for ya'll.

Oh right. I'm blogging about today. Right-o.

*Chile. It's the soup kind.

*Watching my sisters ice-skate. They are so graceful! Way to go girls!

*Being told "Come back!" because somebody is excited to see me, rather than being in trouble. (Not like I'm in trouble a lot, you know, but it's just nice.)

*Random crazy people who hide behind banana stands in grocery stores because they are weird like me.

*Hanging with friends.

*Watching puppies sleep.

*Watching a volleyball game. Parts of it were really intense - the ball went back and forth so quickly and the teams played so flawlessly sometimes!

*Tapping the glass screen of my old computer monitor..."Tic tic tic tic tic tic...tic tic. 7 down, three to go!" I'm easily amused.

*Singing about wanting things in Choir. The song was Wanna Baraka. It's beautiful, and you need to come to our choir concert. Period. (Ahem. This only pertains to some of you. You know who you are.)

*Goofing off.

*And going to bed.

Friday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 16

I knew it was going to happen.

Today was a challenge. I'm feeling a bit discouraged right now. *Sigh* Literally. And I can't think of any reason to be discouraged either. That's the worst part. Agreed? But I am still grateful for some of the things that happened today.

*I wrote an essay and turned it in - within an hour. That is always a good feeling.

*I got some time with Mom.

*My cleaning job went quickly.

*It wasn't cold outside.

*The puppies are beautiful and I haven't had to bottle feed them yet.

*Mom and I laughed hysterically about Hoover. Story: One gloomy midnight last winter, Older Brother and Younger Sister got up to bottle feed puppies. One puppy gulped so much milk that he was 3 OUNCES heaver after the feeding than before! The poor pup was so chubby and full we thought he just might burst, so we didn't dare put him back on the heating pad. We left him on the cement floor for a few minutes to help him in his agony. Mom and I were weighing pups tonight and one of them gained a whole 2.3 ounces, which reminded us of the story from last year. It felt good to laugh so hard again!

*I played a game of Blockus with my sisters and mother.

*I can play Away in a Manger on the hammer dulcimer.

*I only need to think of one more thing.

*Tonight is family night.

Thursday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 15

Today was a good day, a really really good day. I can sleep well.

*Piano. I love making music. The Easy Winners by Scott Joplin - ragtime. Prelude in G Minor by Rachmaninoff - clllllassical? No. Romantic. I think. Ahhhh. I need to build stamina though. My left arm/hand gets so tired playing my prelude - which I need to work on in case I end up applying for a specific music scholarship...

*Acing a test. Need I say more?

*Sunshine.

*Running across the yard - barefoot - in the frost.

*Finishing up my first college application for-reals. (I know, I know. I put that yesterday. Um, I forgot to stamp the envelope though...)

*Having two more applications ready to go. Almost. I need $20 for the application fee for MSUM and an academic reference for NWC. (Any takers? All you have to verify is that I'm really brilliant - a second Einstein of sorts. Not difficult. *Coughcough*)

*Playing the hammer dulcimer. Yep! It's been hiding under my bed forever. Mom bought it years ago, rather more wishfully than needfully. But I like it! Now that I've got some piano under my belt, I have the "tools" to play it. I figured out how to tune the thing and picked out a few melodies on it. I don't think I really want to put it back either.

*Changing my profile picture. You should look at it. The pooch? Yeah. S'my dog, Rusty (female!!!) Her and I is best of friends.

*My soccer coach. I've played under him for 3 years, ever since he started coaching our team. I didn't play this year though. At the end of the season, it's tradition to get the team together for a potluck. We watch a slide-show of pics from the games, make the coaches give speeches, give them a little gift, and give the seniors medallions. I wasn't expecting to receive a medallion during the ceremony. In fact, I had stuff to do, so I stayed home. My coach talked to mom and said "I can't give out the medallions if all the seniors aren't here! Can't she come? Doesn't she get a medallion?" Mom admitted that she'd ordered one for me and just hadn't felt right honoring me with the others. But for him, she called me and asked me to come. It was so special! And I quote my coach: "When I started coaching, there wasn't much of a team. It was these seniors - they were younger then - that I relied on for a majority of the hard work. They played hard and well and they were the players I depended on."

*Baby puppies.

*Good night.

Wednesday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 14

*I am so grateful for my Daddy. Honestly, with what I have been going through in the last week, that counts as a list of 10 in itself.

But just for you, I'll include some more.

*Amazing friends who explain the rules of swim meets and help make my evenings so awesome.

*Finally having a comment on my last post. :D Thanks Inna!

*Having time to play Prelude in G minor by Rachmaninoff. *Ahem* I played as much as I know, which is roughly 4 measures more than 1/6th of the total.

*Finishing my first complete college app. Sent it in the mail today!

*Taking word quizzes: you select (from a list of four) the meaning of 10 words and I made it through the post-college level "Dynamo". It is estimated that I know some 53,000 words. (Hint: try to find a root word and guess from there. It works well - fooled the website!)

*Blogging. It's been a long day of school.

*Finally having my bedroom back (from bags of clothing that were necessarily stored in here.)

*Watching my friend dive exceptionally well at a diving meet. She received the highest scores!!!

*Eating spaghetti.

Monday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 13

I am noticing a trend. I make a noble resolution (such as 21 days of posting about gratitude) and then, on the weekends, I get busy with family night and friends night and Sunday night - typically another friends night - and I end up with four posts a week.

I can still do 21 posts, it'll just take longer. Oh well. I'll be thankful for more days that way. :D

*Listening to other people getting up and knowing I got to sleep in. Weeeeeell, I guess I shouldn't call it sleeping in exactly, I got up at 7:30. They just had to get up and be out of the house by 7.

*Playing Battleship with my favorite little brother. (It's ok. I only have one.)

*Winning my favorite little brother in Battleship!

*Sipping delicious, cold water out of my favorite mug.

*Seeing that my mother brought home a Dragon Fruit. There can hardly be a more thrilling name for a beautiful fruit with a uniquely spiked, peeling rind than Dragon Fruit. Doesn't it just sound like it should tast magical? (See next comment.)

*Eating Kiwi to get Dragon Fruit taste out of my mouth. Turns out Dragon Fruit doesn't tast as appealing as it sounds. We peeled off the rind and there was an imaginive - if not particularly tasty looking - white juicy fruit with seeds that looked like Kiwi seeds scattered evenly throughout. It tasted like a gross, slimy lot of nothing. I was glad to eat the Kiwi.

*Talking to my brother. He's not really living at home anymore, so I enjoy talking to him some evenings and hanging with him when he is home. *Sigh* Miss you Bro!

*Getting two chapters read, one assigment turned in, and realizing I have one less assignment than I thought! It was a good day of school.

*Talking about my senior recital with my piano teacher. I've got special plans!

*Actually being able to remember all 7824 notes of my 24 Major and minor arpeggios and 24 Major and harmonic minor scales. The average number of notes I played in a minute was 306...but when I was playing my fastest (sixteenth notes at 100 bpm) it was more like 400. Not to brag or anything.

*That soon, we'll have a roaring fire in the fireplace downstairs and I can sit there to blog! Yay!

Thursday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 12

What a beautiful day. A bit cold, p'raps. But still good.

*I followed a rabbit home. He was a good Christian rabbit. Even under the heavy pressure of headlights and and a Saturn bearing down on his furry behind, he would not stray to the right or to the left. He swerved in both directions a couple of times, but his faith held fast and he always ended up running straight down the center of the road. Ridiculous bunny. I didn't hit him, for those of you who were wondering (or had young children reading over your shoulder.)

*I'm so grateful for older women in the church kitchen (my daily lunch accommodations) who ask "What are you having for lunch?" and are horrified to hear "Oh, just toast." I quote: "Oh! You can't have just toast! Here, would you like some of my corn chowder? It's nice and steamy hot. Toast isn't enough for a good lunch." Mmmm. Corn chowder is absolutely amazing, especially when you were expecting toast with jam and ramens.

*Texting friends who have senses of humor.

*A hilarious choir teacher. She's so adorable. :D

*Singing "La, Pensiero" in choir. It's a famous opera piece from Nebucco (Nebuchadnezzar) about the Israelites longing for their homeland. It's a beautiful song, and completely in a major key. So cantabile! (Singable)

*Flash mob discussions. Here's what was discussed: "We should do a senior flash mob instead of a senior prank!" "We should do a flash mob as a choir when we're in New York! Right in Times Square!!!" Etc. etc. I. Cannot. Wait.

*I finished my midterm. And I don't even know what I got on it! It had short answer questions though. Argh.

*Our choir sectional was slightly hilarious. Reese said she had exciting news for us, but she couldn't tell us what it was. We simply told her we wouldn't sing unless she told us. We won!

*Seeing the moon through my bedroom window.

*Driving a different way home.

*And singing with the radio the whole way.

*Teasing my dad.

*Getting tucked in by me daddy.

Good night.

Wednesday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 11

Wow. I'm blessed. I just keep coming back to that. There are just so many little things.

*I got to wash my hair.

*My sister let me shower first.

*I get to play an amazing song for my senior recital. Prelude in G Minor by Rachmaninoff. In case you were wondering. You probably weren't. Now you know anyway.

*There are so many other people who are grateful for little things too! It's amazing!

*I have a dog, and she loves me as much as I love her. Just watch her follow me around and tell me otherwise.

*I have a test tomorrow. And you're thinking "Now she's gone off the deep end." Nope. That happened ages ago. Better swimming down here.

Actually, it's a chance for me to prove that I'm learning something - to myself and to my professor. And tests are kind of exciting things, don't you think? Probably not. *Sigh*

*I have six things to be grateful for. That's a lot. Cool.

*It is amazingly beautiful outside. I just can't get enough of fall! Every time I think about it I get that runny-cartwheely-jump-up-and-downy feeling an' I wanna go jump in a pile of leaves and play with me pooch and ride me horse and Ooooooooooh! Fall is just so amazing.

*Praying for people. There is something indescribable about going into the presence of a holy and loving God and saying "I'm not here for me. Please, please be with this friend/family member and bless them.Carry them close to your heart God, and carry their heart in your hands. Bind up their wounds. Be with them and give them the faith and the peace they need." I want those people to know that their cause is being petitioned at the foot of their heavenly Father's throne, and that the cause will not be dropped until an answer is received. And then to say, "Thank you, God, that you have answered me already."

*I don't have to get up at 5 tomorrow. (Others in my family do. Touche.)

*I got to go into the 5th and 6th grade AWANA T&T room tonight and help listen to verses during handbook time. I. Love. Those. Girls. About five of them gave me hugs right off the bat. They're all so energetic and wonderful! I can't wait for next Wednesday evening.

Gratefully yours,
Miz Fingers

Tuesday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 10

I had a full day. Good day to be grateful. And an easy day to be grateful. For just about everything.

*Sunshine.

*Friends.

*Horses. Galloping with my brother riding behind me, trotting while riding behind my friend, such joy. Ahhh.

*Reading crazy books about children falling off giant chess boards and flipping coins as to whether the sun will rise or set.

*Flipping to the next chapter of a fairy tale and reading the chapter title: Enter the Pea. Is that not fabulous?

*Eating potato cheese soup. My absolutely favoritest soup ever. And our first soup this fall. Mmmmm. So cheesy. So good. *Dies of amazing soup.

*Playing with puppies in the light of the full moon. With sisters and brother and friend.

*Loving people. (In response to the comment about No. 5 on yesterday's list.)

*Leaving my Bible open in my bedroom all day long. Whenever I went in there, it was just encouraging to look at it.

*Eating Chocolate cake. Always a plus.

*Playing games on the trampoline in the sunshine. I didn't win, but it was a blast playing anyway. (Of course it was, it was a word game!)

*Attempting to do handstands. They kinda failed.

It was a good day.

Monday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 9

At least, it's sort of day 9. It's supposed to be day 11. Oops. I'll make it a longer list, ok? Ok.

*Crazy friends who watch crazy movies with me at crazy hours of the night. And aren't afraid to do it again.

*The game Scattergories. We played this on Friday night as a family. Then on Saturday, we played it again and ended up rolling the same letter for some of the same lists as the night before, which gave some of us an unfair advantage, I'll admit.

*Eating breakfast burritos, sour oranges, crisp grapes and caramel rolls for supper. Without having to do the dishes. (Thank you Debbie. You rock.)

*Watching my sister research cameras in search of the perfect, (affordable) first (professional) camera. She's been waiting forever for this!

*Knowing that people love me.

*Knowing that some few people trust my brain. Sometimes. I need the reminder that I can trust the organ too. :D

*Realizing that I didn't have to study as much as I thought I did.

*Talking to my friend on the phone on Sunday afternoon. A long time.

*Being in suspense. (I haven't seen my senior pics yet, and it's driving me crazy. A good kind of crazy.)

*Thanking God for the full moon.

*Looking at the full moon some more.

*And some more.

*And thanking God some more.

*Knowing that I have one WHOLE SONG memorized for my senior recital. (Piano, fyi.) It's a ragtime two-step by Joplin. Called The Easy Winners. Nice cocky title, that. Just my style.

*Believing that tomorrow will be a good day.

Happy Late-Monday-night-and-Tuesday, folks!

Friday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 8

Mmmm. I am just the right kind of hungry. It's complicated...I've worked hard (scholastically - which still counts) and it's a late supper, and the wind is blowing and leaves are raining while the sky keeps breaking promises to follow suit. My little brother is wrestling with my dad (still convinced he can win) and my sisters are content (as in, not talking to me. Maybe I'm the content one.)

All this with the knowledge that home-made pizza will be ready any minute.

*I love home-made pizza. It's never normal. Dough so sweet, you could eat it alone.Put your normal sauce back in the cupboard and take that can of chunky vegetable. Pepperoni? Try hamburger. Replace Mozzarella cheese with Colby Jack, finely shredded. Color (in the lines) with random pepper chunks. Throw on a bit of mushroom. Apply garlic (lightly) oregano (with a delicate hand) and onion bits (rather heavily because the flavor is less obvious.)

*Eating more than I should. And not really caring. Just this once.

*Family nights.

*Scatergories. One of the bestest games ever.

*Late nights.

*Blogging anyway.

*Rolling up my pant legs.

*Wearing really random, cool hats. One at a time, of course.

*Reading super cool books that keep me...I don't know, cuz I never really sit in a seat. It's always on the floor or on my bed or in the car. Hmm. Well, really super cool books anyway.

*Trying to fit 5 people into the bathroom to brush their teeth and laughing and spitting and getting grossed out. In case you haven't noticed, I have a big family, and we're all really weird. We like it that way. If you know us personally, you probably like it that way too, or you wouldn't know us this personally.

Cheers to really big, really weird families! Or ever families that are less big and more weird, or more big and less weird and still like us. I like ya'll too. :D

Thursday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 7

Life. Is. Good.

And it's entirely due to God's grace. A couple of reasons I know that's true:

*I have sisters who love me.

*I have hilarious friends.

*We have hilarious conversations.

*That I can talk dead-seriously about things like majoring in chickens and yard work to perturbing images of hippos in pink wetsuits.

*That I can sit up late at night and hear the music of silence. It sounds somewhat like the wind blowing and the fridge running and typing on me laptop and absolutely nothing else.

*That when I randomly looked at a model in an advertisement, she had the same haircut as me. (I am not paranoid about weight and name brand clothing etc., but it's encouraging to see a model showing off the same style and color hair as you have.)

*That I had cheese and broccoli for supper.

*For goosebumps. Because they necessitate blankets and cocoa and fires in fireplaces and good books and no homework.

*For a mumsy who likes to play with my hair.

*For sleep.

Goodnight.

Wednesday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 6

Today in youth group, we talked about life not being fair. Mom asked what I thought about it. *Ponders* I don't know. I guess I enjoy life. I mean, it's good. I immediately thought of my challenge. Does that have anything to do with my outlook? Or is it the other way around? Whatever it was, I realized...once again...that I am more blessed than I even understand. Thus these posts, I suppose!

*I am more blessed than I know, and my heavenly Father likes it that way. Especially when I run up and thank him!

*For a choir teacher who understands what dog days are all about. We didn't sing today, which she is usually a drill sergeant about. We went outside and sat in the sunshine. Well, some of us sat. Mostly the cute girls watched the football boys playing with a big, rubber bungee strap. They were trying to catapult the littler fellas into the football practice mat.


*For the knowledge that the flies plaguing my life out will die tomorrow at the mercy of the black hole. Its Latin name is Vacumeous.

*For Friday nights. I know, it's Wednesday. Duh. But Friday cometh, ye scholars! Rejoice! Unless you have homework. Then still rejoice, because there's Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

*For being grateful for so many things, I can't remember all of them.

*For my World Music class. Some of the stuff I hear...I tell ya. "When the dance is over, Sweetheart, I will take you ho-ome in my one-eyed Ford. Way-ah ah-ah oh ay..." I cracked up just listening to this! It's a love song, and you just read the one and only line. :D

*For text messages. For LY's and JK's and LOL's and ROFL's and dude-speak.

"Dude." [Greetings, friend.]
"Dude." [Greetings.]
"Dude?" [What do you think of the media's take of Michele Bachmann's run for Republican nominee for President?"
"Dude." [I think they're biased and should take into consideration Bachmann's background and campaign thus far.] (This is not a political opinion - just an example of Dude-speak.)

You get the drift? Redicuhlous, wot? Pardon....*ahem*..."Dude?"

*For parents that understand me, and encourage me, and support me, and tell me how much they love me.

*That I can still remember the fingering c sharp harmonic minor scale.

*And the a flat harmonic minor scale, which is harder.

*And the f minor harmonic scale, which is harder yet.

I don't think those should really count as three, but hey! It's my blog. I make the rules.

It only counts as two.

*For sending in my first college application. It's a good feeling.

*For friends of my mother's that like me enough to say "You can't graduate," when what I know they're saying is "I don't want you to go off to school!" I offered to one friend that I could go to school in the town she lives in. Unfortunately, the population there is prolly under 100. The nearest legit public school is 10 miles away. Heh. Heh.

*That my friend is doing this with me. I'm not alone! Yay!

*For having more than 10 things that I can actually remember to be grateful for.


Tuesday

Gratitude Challenge: Day 5

*Reading in bed.

*Dancing around like a child and trying to catch leaves as they fall off of the trees. Even the dog was giving me a funny look.

*Realizing that I might just have enough money to go on a choir trip!

*Knowing that I have friends.

*Eating a midnight snack at 11:21.

*Entertaining my parents. Primary mode of entertainment was teasing. They were trying to go to sleep and I was wide awake, so it was highly amusing for me to tease them while they were helplessly wishing I would leave. (They were laughing also, just so you know. I'm not usually as cruel as I sound.)

*Reading aloud as a family and talking and laughing about it the whole time. The book is Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo. You oughta read it too. Srsly.

*Seeing the moon.

*Howling at the moon. It's an inside joke and an old tradition with a particular friend. Sorry. *Turns and raises hands to mouth* "Aahhhooooooo!"

*Knowing that you are giving your computer a really funny look right after reading that last statement. You should see your face.

*Giving a piano student her first lesson (with me) and knowing that she's more advanced than any of my others. Woot!

*Going to sleep. I am going there shortly, and I hope it is not a long journey. Sometimes it is farther and more ardorous than otherwise. Hopefully not tonight - I'm not up for a long trek.