Thank God for sunshine!  And cool breezes.  Gracie likes it, too.  It’s cute to see her turn her little face towards the breeze and to watch it tease the wispy hair on top of her head.  I can only imagine how cute she’ll be later, this summer, running along the beach.  (If we’ve got her running by then.)  She’ll love the beach…I know she will.  Because she likes things that I like.  I sing her one of my favorite Frank Sinatra songs, and Mom teases me that she won’t know what “no, no” means because it’s part of the song.  *grin*  I know I spoil her, but how often does someone that special come along?  I love how much she loves me.  She always smiles at me, trying to get me to come pick her up off the floor.  And when I walk past her and sit somewhere off to the side or behind her, she turns really fast and tries to get in my lap.  Earlier today, while Stace and I were talking, she was making little popping noises with her lips…I swear she was trying to figure out kisses!  What an angel.  God really knew what He was doing when He created her the way He did and gave her to our family.  She is constantly my reminder that I don’t really have it all that bad (how can anyone complain with those chubby arms around your neck?), and that God is so completely in control.

posting a poem I wrote about her a while ago…quite by accident, too, which is how anything poetic comes out of me—

baby arms around my neck,

baby fingers in my hair

playing…

drooling.

all I want to do is watch her face, to see

the wonder and delight of God’s world in her eyes

chubby grin, dimples…

she’s so cute I want to eat her.

when she fusses

or throws her little fit

I roll my eyes and make things better, knowing

that she will have to change

because life will always have it’s issues.

I would do anything for her

my love for her could never die

I would give my life for her…

 

edit 

 

Tonight on our way to the drugstore, my sister and I saw the full moon covered by a large, thin cloud.  The cloud had just enough ripples and the moon cast just the right shadows as it shone through to give the illusion of sand…it looked exactly like a freshly combed beach.  It looked like you could walk out over the sand and get to the moon.  I thought of you instantly, Jonathan, and Stacy tried to call you until, nearly dancing in frustration, I realized ya’ll were probably still at the wedding.  Oh, well…maybe you saw it anyway.

 

It’s very late…nearly 3 o’clock in the morning.  94% humidity…not bad for a nearly foggy evening.  I know it was lower during the day.  Hurray!  Normally, we live with something like 98%, on good days.

The night is very quiet, though I can’t figure out why that seems so unusual.  The moon shining down in the backyard creates such an ethereal light, almost like snow, turning the view out my window into a sort of wonderland.  Did you know that the birds start waking up around this time?  You rarely hear any birds after dark until about three AM.  Talk about getting the worm early.  But I never noticed until I was actually up that late (early?) and noticed that I suddenly heard birds singing.  At night?  It was almost depressing that first time, realizing that, just as I was about to go to sleep, part of the world around me was waking up.  Smart birds.  I suddenly felt foolish for my sleep habits.  But they sang me to sleep nicely, so I haven’t minded them since.

 

Laying upside down on my bed, so that I can see out my window, I feel the cool night air come in, almost in waves, even though there’s no breeze.  This is the kind of fresh air that makes you glad to be alive, and grateful for each breath.

 

I am not merely a sinner covered in the blood of Jesus.  I am a completely new creature, in Christ—my sin died on that cross.  My sin nature was incapacitated on Calvary.  When Jesus died on that cross, He died as a sinner.  He became our sin and died in that state.  But when He conquered death, and busted Hell wide open, He arose our Savior, the sin completely gone from Him.  If I was crucified with Christ, and then raised with Him, the sin is also gone from me.  He has already won.  The battle is over.

 

Read Romans 6 with that in mind. 

 

This morning, I learned how to flush out a hot-water heater.  I’m not big on heights in certain circumstances–I don’t mind being up high…I just want to be strapped in–and as I balanced there in a squatting position, I could picture myself tipping over and crashing through layers of insulation and plaster on to someone’s bed below.  Funny thing is, as soon as I imagined it (horrors!), I had the most wretched urge to do it…just so see what it’d be like.  I’ve never had something like that happen to me, and it seemed like an interesting experiment (kind of like hiking through the mud in my good clothes last week).  But common sense ruled–not only would I have microscopic pieces of fiber glass all over me, Dad would have to spend more money on home repairs.  I imagined he would not be thrilled to learn I’d done it on purpose, so I restrained myself.  By the time we were done (flushing it for 30 minutes and then draining it), I’d become pretty adept at scrambling up that narrow ladder and crawling through the beams (avoiding the roofing nails that stuck down nearly 2″ in places).  And I’m no longer afraid of the dark or of someone/something hiding in the attic.  Who’d want to stay up there?  In our next house, we should have a finished attic, with no nails to puncture your skull if you stand up too fast and no insulation billowing up and putting itchy fiberglass particles into the air.  I think my younger sister Shelly liked helping me and telling everyone else, later, how I reacted to it all.  I always enjoy working with her.  She’s cool.

And then, this evening we had a Valentine’s party with the children.  They all had colds on Valentine’s Day so we put it off so they could have all the special treats.  It’s become a tradition now for Sisters and I to make a bunch of food (their job) and decorate the dinning area (my job) with anything pink and red we can find.  Then we eat heart-shaped sandwiches, fruit salad, iced lemon cookies (also heart-shaped), and candy, of course, and delicious punch.  Steph usually buys some raspberries, which are very expensive, and puts them in a pretty little china teacup.  Everyone gets a few, but not too many.  (By the way, pink, white, and red M&M’s are great for decorating.)  We put on the soundtrack to The Parent Trap, which starts with N.K. Cole’s L-O-V-E.  And of course we wait until dark and eat by candle light–red, pink, purple and white, of course.  A very romantic dinner, but then we add us.  J  Last year we told them to be prim and proper, which made for a lot of laughs.  I think this year, Steph had given up…and they were not prim and proper.  We did get a very exciting video of something in a candle catching on fire, and everyone (meaning Stephanie) was screaming and yelling and running around.  sigh Such memories we’re building with our siblings.

I decided now that I don’t have to feel guilty for not being so “homey” as my sister.  I told everyone, “See, Steph and I have different strengths.  I may not be the house-keeper-cook type, but I can fix a hot-water heater!”  As Mom put it, I am now their attic-rat and party decorator, all rolled into one. 

 

“Life is like a big goose-chase, without the goose.”  For some people, maybe,  but not for me.  No, not for me.

 

re: The Passion of the Christ (which I have yet to see)

Did you hear that in one of the scenes of Jesus being nailed to the cross, the hand that is holding the nail is Mel Gibson’s?  What does that tell you about who he think killed Jesus?

 

Eunice: Now, tell me how you are going to introduce yourself
Howard: What? Oh well, I’ll probably say something like “Hello there Mr Larabee. I’m Howard.”
Eunice: You are not.
Howard: I am not Howard.
Eunice: You are not going to say “Hi, my name’s Howard” Anyone could say that! Anyone.
Howard: Anyone named Howard.

Eunice: Don’t be nervous, just remember, everything depends on this.

 

_______________________________________________________

 

Judy: Well, this last time was not my fault.
Howard: What happened?

Judy: Nothing, nothing, really. It was just a little classroom, it sort of burned down.

Howard: burned down?
Judy: well blew up actually.
Howard: Political activism?
Judy: Chemistry major.
Howard: I see.

 

____________________________________________

 

Eunice: Oh, I’m not looking for romance, Howard. As the years go by romance fades and something else takes its place. Do you know what that is?

Howard: Senility?
Eunice: Trust!

 

___________________________________________________

 

Judy: I know I’m different, but from now on I’m going to try and be the same.

Howard: The same as what?
Judy: The same as people who aren’t different.

 

Happy Birthday, Diane!  (late, sorry.) 

The weirdest thing happened to me today…for the first time in my single adult life someone actually tried to set me up with somebody!  No details, but it was pretty funny.  I know that it could happen that way, and has for a lot of people, I just never imagined that it actually would for me! 

Off to Austin to visit grandparents this weekend.  Pray for us…the whole family is going, and some of us are still recovering from colds.  Shame on the Hiltons for coming to Houston while we drive up there! 

Yesterday, I visited a park I’d not been to in over 10 years. 

I didn’t mean to visit it, actually.  I was supposed to be picking up the key to the civic center in that neighborhood for our party last night, but I was early.  This park is fairly big, with lots of trees, a pond, and it backs right up to Clear Creek in Frwd.  Since I grew up playing at that park, I decided to see what had changed over the last decade.  So I grabbed my French book, thinking I could sit on the swings and study (yeah, right), and set off to explore. 

And I did explore.  I suppose traipsing through the “woods” in your best gray slacks and plain heels in a notoriously damp (read: muddy) park deserves some consequences.  But I did not expect mud in the cuff of my pants, not even after several nearly ankle-deep puddles.  (Hurray for L.O.C. wipes!)  But I had a blast.  I’d never dreamed of exploring in my good clothes before!  It’s cool to do something new and crazy once in a while.

In a way I was disappointed by the park.  I always remember things bigger than they are, because I was smaller then, but some things actually seemed bigger and more spread out.  I remember more trees…and places to run and hide where no one could see you.  Dad used to take us there to play while he “hit shags” (golfer’s slang for chipping golf balls across the grass to practice your swing).  There was a little drainage ditch, lined with concrete stones that ran from a pump (overflow?) down towards the little pond which had spread out of itself along one side of the park.  We would walk along the rocks there, pretending whatever was the latest play, and in the summer we’d take off our sandals and step in the clear-running water.  Sometimes we’d “hike” all the way across the park to the “big creek” and try to get as close to the water as we could without falling in.  And once we heard a noise that, to us, sounded like a helicopter across the creek.  In our play, we decided it was the bad guys looking for us (could have been the people from the orphanage we’d escaped from) and ran terrified back towards the other end where Daddy was.  I think we really freaked ourselves out…I remember refusing to stop running until we were out of the trees and could see Dad across the grassy area.  And I remember being exhausted. 

The trees are more sparse now, and the little drainage ditch (our “little creek”) seems longer…I think they moved it when they shortened the pond—and there are no bushes to hide in around the little creek.  Oh, and there are no ducks in the pond.  Maybe they died…I think that pond would kill me, too.  The houses in the neighborhood behind the park (or actually, alongside it), still have short fences—some of them the twenty year old chain-link that we had when I lived there—and since they are on a sort of hill that slopes down towards the park (and the pond) you can see straight into their yards and homes no matter how tall the fence is.

Someday I want to take the special people in my life to that park and point out to them all the things we saw and did.  Somehow, I hope I find someone who understands what I’m seeing…

 

three little girls

pretending

their little hearts out

in a magical world of sun and shade

water and trees…

trees that hide

the rest of the world

from view…

 

I learned about how moss grows on trees at that park.  It doesn’t exactly stay on the north side in Houston.

I didn’t remember the traffic noise being so disrupting, either…and that was before that special wall was put up…

 

Enough nostalgia for today…and this is a very long post as it is.

 

P.S. The birthday party was fabulous!  Mystery Dinner Theatre, where all the guest played a character.  Brilliant thought on Darra’s part.

 

Oh, glorious sunshine!  This morning I sat on our back deck and let my hair dry in the sun (I read somewhere that it’s healthy to do that once in a while).  It felt so good to get warm!  And there is no prettier color than the blue of a clear sky.

 

 

Pink.  Just for today.  Usually I like to go out and do fun stuff with the girls, but we’ve all been sick lately.  Instead I worked at the florist’s until 1:30.  I like seeing all the flowers and writing out messages to put on cards.  Some people write the craziest stuff!  And some write the sweetest.  I told Donna it made me almost want to get a boyfriend just so I could get flowers like that.  They all said, “Send yourself some.”  No way!  I’m sending myself to England instead. Of course then I helped bring out some wedding bouquets for someone and whined, “Now I want to get married.”  *laughing*  Okay, flowers are silly reasons to get a man.

Valentine’s for me means either girls-night-out or family time.  I’m curious if it will be come a major holiday if I get married.  Does Mother’s Day seem like a big deal to moms?  Isn’t it funny how some holidays are national/religious and everybody celebrates–obviously some people don’t celebrate Easter or the Fourth of July (wonder what the British think of that one); but some holidays you celebrate only after a certain time in your life, like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day.  hmmm….

My French teacher, one of my closest friends, is turning 25 in a couple of days.  (She keeps trying to catch up with me.)  We were talking about how this is a “big” birthday for her, and it occurred to me that this year will be a big one for me, too.  No longer “young twenties”, I will be entering the beginning of my late twenties.  Stacy laughed.  A wicked laugh that said “I’m younger than you,” and then it occurred to her that she is not far behind and she suddenly stopped laughing.  HA! 

I wonder how long I can be in my mid-twenties…

“London society if full of women who, of their own free will, have remained thirty-five for years.”  -Lady Bracknel, The Importance of Being Earnest