a brother shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams

"After a girl is grown, her little brothers - now her protectors - seem like big brothers."

This week, I made a discovery. Consider the following:

• James Bond
• Jason Bourne
• Justin Bieber
• Jack Black
• Jimmy Blanshan

You're a pretty big deal.

But I like you for more than your name. I like you because...

1. You make the best beef jerky east and west of the Nile River.
2. You're a good sharer.
3. You can beat me up.
4. You're down to earth which keeps me from flying off the handle.
5. You're incredibly wise and gentlemanly.

I can think of a ton more but you're...um... blushing.

February 13, 2010 - I'm not going to take winter for granted

Just because it's not Spring doesn't mean there isn't a sun
Just because it's not green doesn't mean there isn't life
Just because there isn't rain doesn't mean we can't be new
Just because the world is gray doesn't mean there isn't light
Just because it isn't warm doesn't give me reason to be cold

Feb. 9, 2010 - So much not to do

I am not...

• Sleeping


• Studying for my OT exam


• Doing chapter summaries


• Cleaning my room


• Making a sweet baby gift


• Researching for my spring break trip
  

I am...

• Blogging

Yay for me.

Feb. 6, 2010 - Bluebird

Sing sweet my very own bluebird

Sing my worries away

I may be a sparrow but you've got my hand

And trouble doesn't matter anyway

*

If you'll be the Mary, I'll be Martha

You'll sit with Jesus all you can

I'll let my ideals tear me away

But I'll learn from you once again

*

Watch for the terrible stone in the your path

I'll try and push it away

You'll brush off your tears and step over

And I'll follow you someday

*

The sun will set but rise again

Life thinks its nothing but a game

We must twirl and whirl in this crazy world

Look fast - it will never be the same

*

I don't know what it's like to be strong

But I know what it is - it's in you

It comes out in the joy of the songs that you sing

It comes from the One who makes new

Every day is Thanksgiving

Today I'm especially grateful for...

• Heart to hearts
• Sleeping in
• Asiago Cheese bagels
• Quiet libraries
• Cheerful friends
• Almost spring weather
• Grocery lists
• Finding surprises in my mailbox
• A sweet truck that makes running errands fun

Just being...

Sing sweet nightingale...

But not too loudly.

Because I am going to bed.

Today's lesson...

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.

-Martha Washington 1759

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Philippians 4:11

I'm still learning

May 20, 2009

I'm gonna skip and sing and slosh and bring

Joy to a sleepy world.

I'm gonna spin and dance and splash and prance

Because I have a red umbrella.

I'm gonna comfort and cry and hope and try

To make earth more like Heaven.

I'm gonna listen and work and grovel in dirt

Because I have a heart full of love.

I'm gonna sing and write and look a sight

Even if I have to be different.

I'm gonna create and choose and win and loose

Because I have a place in this world.

I'm gonna laugh and live and love and give

Even if I'm changing.

I'm gonna remember and let go and learn and grow

Because this world will not stop turning.

From the princess...

My niece, Cate, is 7 years old and very imaginative - her beautiful little head is full of stories. I asked her for a story during a car ride to Wisconsin last year and this is what I got.

Once upon a time there was a princess whose parents had her in a castle for a very long time. She waited and waited for someone to save her and one day a prince came riding up to the castle to save her. And not just any prince, this was Prince CHARMing. He had a sword and a gun and some food - everything a prince needed and princess needed too. He came riding up to the castle to save the princess. He threw up a rope to her and said, "Catch it!" and she did and climbed down. The princess said, "O.K., but we have to be quiet because a different person put me up there besides my parents, his name is Pete the Giant."
I interrupted - Pete the Giant?
It's kind of from Mickey Mouse but I thought it fit really well. It's not too scary right?
Right
They got away from Pete the Giant and got married and the princess got really tired so they stopped at the hospital. The princess had her babies and everyone was holding the babies until the parents got there and the princess's dad told her she had to send the babies down the river.
What? So the princess stopped at the hospital to have her babies and now she has to send them down the river?
Yes, but there is going to be a happily ever after to this story.
Okay.
And so the dad made the princess send the babies down the river but there was a girl down the river and God told her about the babies and she saved a baby.
One baby was saved and two others are in the river?
Actually there was a hundred of them and she couldn't really save all them, right?
I guess not.
And so God pointed to the baby and once the princess found the one He was pointing to and rescued him from the river. In fact, this story is kind of a Mary story.
Okay.
The girl's name was Mary and God told her to name the baby Jesus. Mary took the baby home to the husband and said, "Look at this baby." Her husband's name was Jeffrey.
Jeffrey?
Yeah, I can't really remember the name.
Joseph?
Josesph?
Yeah.
Um... I can only say that once. I'm going to call him a different name. How about James? I know it is kind of familiar but I like it.
Okay
So they took the baby, the note and money beside the basket.
Where was the basket?
It was a kinda pink basket... a blue basket.
Was it in their house?
No, they got it in the river. It to have a big bow on it but but it got washed away in a big wave.
Can we pause this story for a second?
Okay, so you can tell me something?
No, I have to write something down.
Are you going to write my story?
Yes
Because it is about Jesus?
Right
Are you writing it down for school?
No, so I can remember it.
So you can read it over and over again?
Yeah.
Okay.

After I finished writing down Cate's story, we arrived at our destination and I never got to hear the end. Someday I'll have to ask her to finish it. Mary and James and baby Jesus will probably journey to Egypt and tell the parents to let the prince and the princess go. All the babies will probably get swallowed by a big fish and be rescued by Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Yes, that would be a happy ending indeed.

January 2008 - Quirky

• I can't write poetry in a dirty room
• I hold my bangs out of my eyes with my left hand when I am writing
• I can't look you in the eye when you are giving me a compliment
• It's hard for me to sleep without the covers or my hands tucked under my chin
• I make odd faces when I am contimplating something
• I can't sit still in class - if I am not bouncing my knee, I am twiddling my pencil
• I get tired at about 11 pm but if I am up past midnight, I will probably be awake for a while.

I haven't changed much

August 2009 - It's Raining

It's raining
It's pouring in my soul
I hope You like the the pieces 'cause I broke my heart
I don't know how it feels to be whole

It's hurting
It hurts like it is dying
You can give me life - I know love never fails
But I might and I'm afraid of trying

There's hope
There's light in all this darkness
I can give - I can give it all away
Christ died for love and lives to save

August 2009 - He told me so

A daily conversation...

he said he would never leave me

I asked him if he knew what he was getting into

he said he would love me forever

I said forever is a long time

he that's ok, he has a long time

I told him I wasn't worth it

he said he made me and knew my worth

he said he loved me

I told him to prove it

he said he died for me

I asked him why

he said I was worth it

I told him I want to serve him but didn't know how

he said he would show me

I told him I wanted to surrender but I didn't know if I could learn to trust

he said he would teach me

I told him I wanted to love him but I was incapable of loving anyone more than myself

he said to quit doubting his power

I told him I was weak

he said he was strong enough for the both of us

I told him I was small

he said he was bigger than all my insecurities

I told him I was scared

he said he was always beside me

he said he had a plan for me since the beginning. he told me I was special

I told him I didn't believe him

he said he made me for his glory

I didn't have anything left to say

he asked me if I was ready

I told Him I didn't think so

he said I am

Isaiah 46:4 - carry me savior

Even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.