Where I've Been

 Whew, where did April go? It's May, my big Two-O birthday is coming up and summer is coming on full-blast!

Since April has flown past without a chance for me to write, let's take a moment to revisit.

1) April was sprinkled with my younger  brother's (can't call him my "little" brother any more) baseball games. Micah has been playing in a homeschool league for the past three years. I always enjoy watching him play.

2) I teach piano to three students and had a co-recital in April with my good friend, Bethany. My students made me so proud!

Bethany and I

My students and I

3) My sister, brother-in-law and three nieces moved here for a little while. My days have been richly filled with colored picture-gifts, searches for shoes, hair-ties, hugs and kisses, no-no's, walks outside and tickling fights. :)

The Birthday girl

The Almost-Five-Year-Old

The Baby

3) My big brother was ordained to go on the mission field with his wife, Sarah!! On the spur of the moment, Caleb and I re-learned The Lord's Prayer in three days and played a violin-piano duet at his ordination service. That was crazy fun!

4) Last but not least, at the end of April/beginning of May my family traveled down to Florida to see Micah in the Homeschool World Series. It was great to see him play and wonderful to have a mini-vacation. This was my first trip to FL and I enjoyed it immensely!

Marvelous sunset

My first view of the Gulf!

Stunning ocean-life

April was full of fast-paced fun but now I'm looking forward to some slow summer May days. :)

What did you do this past April?

Trip to D.C.

I'm back from D.C.! It was an amazing trip and I enjoyed every single moment of it. Here are a few of the highlights:

The D.C. Metro: It reminded me of being in Moscow. :)

The Library of Congress: The detail in the architecture was astounding.

The Holocaust Museum: Very well done, terribly sad.

Ford's Theatre: The box Lincoln was shot in. ( I was terribly disappointed however to learn that the building had been completely gutted and turned into an office building at one point; this means that the whole interior of the theater is a mere replication.)

The Jefferson Memorial

The cherry blossoms were in!!!! Cherry blossoms are my absolute favorite so I was very excited to see those.

I took quite a few pictures of these! :)

Our hotel room balcony had a fantastic view!

There were so many amazing things we saw but weren't able to take pictures of (or I didn't have room to post about):
 ~The Magna Carta
~The Declaration of Independence
~The Constitution
~Abraham Lincoln's top hat
~Stradivarii violins
~The Star Spangled Banner
~Charles Ingalls' request for a land grant
~A fragment from the Wright brothers' original hangar
~John Adams' chess set
~An original Da Vinci painting
~$1,000,000 in ten dollar bills
~The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
~A Gutenburg Bible
~Shoes from Holocaust victims
~A piece of the moon. . .
Like I said, so many amazing things!

Campaign

Christmas is nearly upon us! These past few weeks have been a flurry of activity..though not necessarily with Christmas preparations.

For the last week or two I've been involved in a local campaign. I had an amazing time hanging out with my hometown friends and making new friends from as far away as South Dakota!

 I am very happy to announce our victory! Mike Crane was elected to the Georgia state senate on December 6th.

 I was very impressed with the integrity and passion for Jesus I found in the young adults I worked with during this campaign. They inspired me and challenged me to be more intentional in how I live out my faith in Jesus. And even though most of the out-of-town people were long-time friends, they accepted us newcomers and made us part of their group.

All the memories I have made, in just a few days! Hanging around a campfire swapping stories and singing. Walking in the parade. Laughter. Hugs. Singing praise after the victory announcement! Sad goodbyes...Promises to stay in touch. Memories I will treasure forever.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

(Pssst, if you poke around Mike Crane's website you'll find some pictures and videos of us.)

Our game of Ultimate Frisbee...in the rain.

After a while, not being dressed to play in the rain, I appointed myself official photographer...from the car. :)

Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 106:1

Havin' Me A Think

Well, you will be happy to know I have NOT dropped off the face of the earth!....You ARE glad, right? *wink*

Nope, I am still alive and well! I have just been taking some time off to have me a think. (That's Southern talk in case you didn't know and are completely shocked at my terrible grammar.) I didn't actually know that's why I was taking time off, because at first I just didn't have any inspiration or will to write, except in my good 'ole journal of course. (Okay maybe I'm a terrible Southerner but now even I am sick of my fake accent.) But after a week or two I realized God had some things to teach me and it was time for me to be quiet for a while.

Now my itch to write has returned and I have never been so happy to "scratch" it. I was beginning to think it was gone for good!

With this fresh start you may have noticed my new look. I was appalled when I returned to see how limp my blog looked. I think this look is much more fun and represents my personality better. To be honest, I think the reason I had to take a break was because it was getting waaaay too stuffy on here! Or maybe I was trying to force myself to fit a stuffy personality. (Maybe it was just all in my head *smile* That's probably closer to the truth.)

To sum up, I had a very good break but I am very happy to be back!

Surprise!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Sometimes I have a hard time finding something to write about and sometimes when I find a subject I can't find the right words to express it. But then, that's what this blog is for isn't it? Practice, practice practice! :)

I have big news for you in this post! I am writing it from Russia!!!! I don't know if I mentioned before that I have a sister in Russia or that I have made three previous trips to visit her and her family, but I do and I have. :)

I can't remember when exactly, but a week or two ago I was suddenly taken with an overwhelming desire to go back to Russia. It might have had something to do with my fast-growing 9-month-old niece, or it might have been the restless feeling I've been struggling with lately or it could have been both plus a few other things! At any rate, that's what happened. I almost couldn't stand the thought that I had a Russian visa that was still valid (last year my sister and brother-in-law bought me a year-long visa) but no way to get there.

On previous trips I was able to fly to Moscow for free. My dad retired from an airline so, until I turned 19, I could fly anywhere for free. But my free flights expired a few months ago...or so I thought. Last Wednesday we found out I can still fly for free, but only for a few more weeks.

My previous trips were planned well before-hand; I had plenty of time to pack and prepare myself for spending time in a strange country. This time was different....

Long story short, the only flight I could take was on Friday. I found that out on Thursday so I had one day to shop for my sister's list of items she can't get in Russia and pack my suitcase! It was crazy but somehow I made it and found myself in Moscow on Saturday morning.

(more to follow)

My Most Memorable Independence Day

So how was your Independence Day? Mine was fantabulous!

It started out with our church picnic. Actually, I guess it started before that, at 7AM, when I got up to make two apple pies to take to the church picnic. I didn't feel like rolling out of bed at 7AM, especially since I went to bed at 11-something PM, but it was worth it!

YUM!

At the picnic we had lots of yummy food and plenty of good friends to share it with! Before we ate, some of the men in our church read the Declaration of Independence. I had read it for school before, but I got a whole new perspective hearing it read by men. I thought of the men who wrote it and the risks they took, the courage they had, the absolute certainty they possessed that what they were doing was right. Amazing.

After lunch our church has a tradition of playing softball. I love it! I used to play baseball when I was younger and I really enjoyed it, so playing softball brings a little of it back to me. Plus, I love spending time with my church family. :)

After the picnic my family headed back home for a quick change of clothes, then to a friend's house for swimming and burgers. The pool felt marvelous after getting all sweaty and tired at the picnic. The burgers were amazing. Our friend guaranteed these would be the best burgers we'd ever tasted and he was right!

After dinner we left right from our friend's house to another friend's house to watch the fireworks with a lot of friends! It was great; we played Knot >,

there was ice-cream and we all just hung out! I haven't been together with so many of my friends all at once for a while. It felt really good.

Finally it got dark and we settled down to watch the show.

THEN....the deluge began. It started with some far off rumblings...then some lightening...then more lightening. Finally we felt a few drops. Then I heard a roar from behind and I knew some serious rain was here. All of us girls jumped up shouting and dashed for shelter. I ran for the car where I met my brother and two sisters. Unfortunately I didn't realize until too late that all my friends had taken shelter in the house and I got cut off from them. Still, it was really cool to watch the lightening/fireworks show. It seemed like God was pitching in to say "I'll give you a REAL show!" It was awesome.

Update

Sorry about the smattering of posts lately...May has been the absolute busiest month of the year so far. In the last month or so we

1) painted our kitchen cabinets (I told you about that)

2) my oldest sister and her family came for a good, long visit 

3) we had the last AWANA night at our church for the year

4) we went camping with my whole family down near Savannah (that's      15 people in case you were wondering)

5) I took the SAT (finally)

6) we had three guests in the house (along with the 8 other people living in the house)

7) we packed my brother and SIL's container for their move to Africa, 

8) three of my friends graduated, 

9) one friend got married (Hurray!)

10) oh, and I had a birthday. :D 

(That's only the big stuff by the way!)

So, now maybe you understand why I haven't been around much lately! Life still is busy, (when is it not?), but it has slowed a bit, enough for us to catch our breath, take a small break and fold the laundry! (Just kidding.) Here are some picture-memories from this last month:

Feels like The Waltons!

My niece by the lake

Camping!

The salt marsh by our campground. The vastness of it awed me, especially when I remembered that God's love for me is even bigger!!

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

 Just as a father has compassion on his children,

So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

 For He Himself knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are but dust.

 As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,

And its place acknowledges it no longer.

But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children’s children,

To those who keep His covenant

And remember His precepts to do them.

Psalm 103:11-18

Coffee Party

My sister and I threw together a spur-of-the-moment espresso party today! Spring time seems to be a good time for spur-of-the-moment ideas. My sister-in-law and my mom joined us.

Our theme was "Old-fashioned," hence the red lantern as the centerpiece.

Fruit salad in a cup

 The picture is blurry but you can see the antique hat I am wearing. It was my great-aunt's.

Grapes, peanuts and animal crackers.

(We also had Ritz crackers with extra-sharp cheddar cheese! YUM!)

My older brother gave us their old espresso machine a few months ago. I never bothered to figure out how it works but my younger sister did. She makes a mean cup of espresso, let me tell you!