Unmasked

Unmasked

I’ve always loved the film Phantom of the Opera. Yes, I know it’s cheesy and the phantom is the ultimate creeper, but you have to admit it’s also pretty epic, right? Swordfights, romance, fancy costumes, Gerard Butler. Need I say more? Such masquerades always seem to last until midnight when disguises are removed and identities magically revealed. There’s something incredibly fascinating about mysterious ball-goers dressed to perfection and hiding their true selves from the rest of the world. Carnivale in Venice (which I got to experience last year—talk about magical!) traditionally revolves around costumes and masks and being someone else. Masquerades and mystery and...misery? Place those masks in everyday society and they’re still expected yet horribly misleading. Convenient in hiding feelings but inconvenient in true relationships. Crucial in masking pain. 

Recently I’ve been thinking through the pain we all inevitably feel. We all experience pain. I guess I’ve always known that, but I guess I still hold onto the fantastic hope that someone, somewhere remains untouched by any hurt, escaping the consequences of life among sinners. Wishful thinking, I know—that someone’s perfect appearance isn’t just a mask and actually belongs to them. I suppose that wishful thinking has been spurred on by the way we’ve all learned to handle pain and, ultimately, to mask it.

Of course I’m not advocating the idea that we all simply complain more—of course not. But in a society which promotes such a heavy and relentless amount of communication, there’s much less honest talking going on, isn’t there? Now I won’t bore you with a monologue of my opinion on the dangers and distractions of many modern, pointless, just-to-talk conversations, but I think we could all agree that quantity doesn’t always override quality.

With all of this communication occurring, you’d think we’d find a way to convey our true feeling, to convey our real pain; instead, I find myself brushing over honesty to choose responses which fit more appropriately into the stereotype of modern, everyday conversations. Just this week, I paused in a couple dozen of those typical “Hey! How’re you doing?” remarks between acquaintances, between real friends even. We’re basically faced with two options with those greetings in question, and we have approximately 3.2 seconds before we’re too far away down our respective paths to hear the reply: option a) try to squeeze a summary of our entire mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being into that brief moment or b) respond with the predictable “I’m good, and you?” Frankly, I usually choose the easier one, option b. Masking the emotions, the hurt, the experiences—even the joy. With such limited space for a response that differs from the expected, we can’t share our happiness either.

As I consider all this, I realize how guilty I am, how misguided I am about the whole point of communicating. I ask how you’re doing, but, while I may want a vivid, honest reply, I’m not really expecting one. I’m not expecting truth in the short phrases my ears have already absorbed before those words have even left your lips. I say I care, but how am I showing that if I’ve already turned away, already mentally moved on?

Pain comes in so many forms—it aches and throbs and stabs and smarts and sits there dully all the freaking day. It’s in your heart and your head and your body and your mind and feelings you can’t even begin to define. It’s there, hidden, masked. It increases as it goes unnoticed, forgotten, ignored. I know you’re missing some of my pain, and I can only imagine how much I’m missing of yours. When are we going to remove those masks? Has the clock struck midnight yet? 

Letting Go

“I'm letting go, Of the life I planned for me, And my dreams, I'm losing control...It feels like I'm falling and that's what it's like to believe. So I'm letting go…”

I started to think about this as Fracesca Battistelli’s song came on the radio the other night. Then the song “Let it Go” played on spotify:

“You say let it go You say life is waiting for the one's who lose control You say You will be everything I need You say if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul You say let it go…” (Tenth Avenue North). Ok, I can take a hint. 

 And then I realized that that’s one of the reasons I’ve been struggling this year. It’s one of the reasons that it feels like things are falling apart. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve felt like things in life aren’t happening correctly. And you know what? It’s supposed to be like that. I should be able to release my plans and dreams—however amazing or well-thought or precious they are to me—to God, all the time, every day, and often. It should feel like I’m falling, completely out of control. It is out of my control. Really, I can no more control my own steps than I can control what your second cousin’s neighbor’s calico cat thinks of the fish that was just brought into the house. OK, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it’s still obvious. In the big picture of life, it’s out of my control, entirely.

Letting go—such an ordinary thing. Letting go, though, is always harder than I think it’s going to be. I can easily tell people that I’m over something, that I’ve moved on, but to actually believe that is a completely different story. Despite what I say, despite my implications that everything’s “alright” (as if that term even has any meaning now), I’m really having a hard time letting go. First impressions, desires, schedules, intentions, people, life—why can’t they all turn out how I think they will?

“I’m letting go, of the life I planned for me, and my dreams…”

Gosh, but I like my dreams. I’m actually really, really partial to the plans I’ve made. Last week, as I was thinking about all this letting go, I had plans to go to class and eat food and hang out and do homework. This weekend, I made plans to venture on a ROAD TRIP (sorry, whenever I think those words, they’re in bold font) with friends. Those plans seemed pretty sound to me. Even abstract plans—jobs after college, marriage, children, etc., all eventually but perhaps not yet specific—are significant, ingrained somehow in my mind as definites.

This isn’t to say that I shouldn’t make any plans. Of course not. But I shouldn’t count on tomorrow going according to my desires, I shouldn’t expect people to act and think they way I’ve planned for them to, I shouldn’t take hours and weeks and years for granted.

I guess I didn’t realize how hard I’ve been holding onto things until I’ve been forced to let go. That pull I’ve kept constant on people and dreams cause disappointment and heartache and frustration. I have no right to have a pull, a say, a wish, on anything. Anything. While we think we’re free to follow our own path, doesn’t the real freedom come from letting go and handing over control, completely, to God?

And, naturally, the things in this life we hold most dear will be the hardest to release, to let go. But maybe they’re the most important to release, too? Shouldn’t our biggest dreams belong especially to God? If they’re good dreams, if they’re part of God’s will for us, we’ll get them back. And dreams endorsed by God will be that much more incredible.

Let it go—impressions, expectations, dreams, goals. In some ways, I even have to let go of incredibly specific things, like personality. Of course I think of myself a certain way, I picture myself a particular person created from a combination of the intricacies of my thoughts, emotions, and dreams. But isn’t God very capable of changing my person, my personality, towards His original intention for me?  2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” God’s plans for us, for me, are bigger, they are better, they are and have been since the beginning of time while my own have no right to exist at all. And God’s plan are eternal, not the petty, temporary ones I had in mind.

Hindsight shows me how insignificant my “plans” are in the grand scheme of things. Hasn’t God already shown that His will is so, so much better than mine? History, current events, and personal experience all scream of the stupidity of clinging to personal plans in place of God’s magnificent plans.

While “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), we’remeant to change. I mean, when I became a believer, I for sure changed. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). As a believer still, I do want to continue to change. So I have to let go of things—mistakes and regrets and first impressions and “what if”s. Yesterday didn’t go precisely as I had planned, so I’m letting go of the expectations I had. Tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll have to do the same.

So I’ve got to let go.  

It’s a process—a necessary, not-often-fun-times process. But I’m working on it.

Loving Like God

“Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me…”

There’s this song by Jesus Culture called “One Thing Remains.” That line above is from the song, and it’s been on a constant replay in my mind for weeks now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about love lately—not the cheesy-romantic-comedy-type love (you know, where two gorgeous people meet at a bar or a highschool reunion, somehow have this magical collection, and go on to save the world one witty remark at a time). Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been known to read/watch my share of these. But I’m referring more to that deeper sort of love. The little kid you babysit drives you nuts with her antics but you still put her needs above your own, regardless of the paycheck. Your best friend ditches you repeatedly; repeatedly, you still wish her the best. Your brother knowingly rips your heart out and drags it through the mud, but you still give him a second chance.

Real love. Like God’s love. Unconditional love.

And, thinking about that, I realize my love is so conditional. Yeah, if you asked, of course I’d say I still love that kid or friend or brother. Of course I do. But how am I showing that? I get hurt by people, and I stew and vent and hold grudges. Grudges are so much fun, aren’t they? For a little while, at least, it’s fun, it’s easy, to stay mad, to get really angry, to play the victim, to act like I have every right to want vengeance.  Sometimes I wonder why it matters. Sometimes I’d much rather just stew on any offences, let them simmer and grow and fester until I have a full-fledged grudge.

Because it’s easy to blame it all on the other person.

Loving like God isn’t about blaming others, though. In fact, it doesn’t have anything to do with blame or whose fault what is. Loving like God is about forgiveness and selflessness and banishing the fear of trusting others again. There is no end to selflessness, best wishes, and second chances with a love like God’s. And second chances means letting go—forgetting—past offences. Forgiveness, well, sometimes sucks. It means I can’t play the victim to achieve some distorted sense of satisfaction. Darn.

So, maybe relationships are screwed up, and maybe they will be for a long time. But I don’t have to sit back, pouting, playing the victim. I can love like God, unconditionally—at least I can try to.

I can remove the plank from my own eye. I can stop blindly and conditionally blaming someone else for my messed up emotions and feelings. I am no better than anyone, so I can stop the judging. I can drop the grudges. I can forgive. I can hold out second chances like leaves in the fall, letting them blow wherever, no selectivity. Unconditionally.

I can love like God. I’ll fail, naturally, but I don’t have to give up. I don’t have to hold back.

Because God’s love never runs out on me. 

Happy Easter!!!

Dearest You,
Happy Easter! Aren't you thankful that He rose again, saving us sinners? I've always wondered why the disciples completely forgot that Jesus told them He'd be condemned and killed, but that He would rise up from the dead three days later. All of His friends were deep in grief and disbelief when Mary told them that Jesus was alive again. Even when they doubted His "realness" if you will, Jesus humored them and gave them proof. Jesus, perfect and blameless, after DYING ON A CROSS, FOR US, could have looked at His disciples incredulously for disbelieving. He could have zapped some sense into them. He could have left that upper room WHERE THEY HID and found others who would believe through faith, without seeing. But, instead, He offered proof, showing them His hands, feet, and side, where He was scarred for us. Aren't you glad to belong to a God who is SO loving, SO merciful, SO powerful that He sent His Son to take our sins and repercussions of them away from us forever?

My Easter Sunday began early. So early, in fact, that by noon I'd already gone to two church services, hunted colorful plastic eggs in wet grass, eaten a huge fattening brunch, and taken two separate naps. Now I've painted some hard-boiled eggs (painted-not dyed), consequently-yet-accidentally painting the fingernails I carefully manicured at eleven o'clock last night. 6am sunrise service this morning was good--we actually got there early, which, if you know anything about my family, is very unusual :P After that half-hour service, armed with our annual orange juice and ham biscuit snack, we rushed to the second service, at 7. I think most of us were still in a daze by the time we got home :D

I hope you're enjoying this blessed day with your family! Or friends. Or pet chick. Or chocolate candy and jellybeans.

Praise God for sending His Son, who does not get angry when our faith and trust are weak, but waits with patience and with proof.

Con amore,

Sophie

Cheesy puns, bear with me...

Dearest You,
Since this is how I started my day, I thought it'd be appropriate to begin my blog with the Do's and Don't's (do you put apostrophes there?) of allergy-season.
Do:
*Inhale.
*Take benadryl. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SUFFER! Actually, you do. At least you can convince yourself you're doing something about it.
*Let people know that you have allergies so they don't think you're rudely blowing your nose and exposing your germs to the general public. (Bonus: gain sympathy). (Double bonus: If you talk about it, people are guaranteed to get itchy skin within seconds. THEN they'll feel sorry for you.)


Don't:
*Inhale pollen.
*Take too much benadryl. People might not believe your excuses for being drowsy and completely out of it.
*Scratch your eyes. Especially wearing makeup.
*Sneeze.
*Put cucumber slices on your eyes if at all avoidable. There's a possibility that one of your eyes is allergic to something on the cucumbers. This eye might decide to swell, turn yellow, and freak your parents out so much that they take you to the ER. I'm not suggesting that this happened to me, but--OK, yes, it happened to me.
*Sit out in the grass. That's basically daring the enemy (a.k.a pollen) to open fire.
*Put fresh flowers in your room--ummm, I think this is self-explanatory.


Cheesy pun of the day: While we were in the grocery store, a bag of carrots was uncarroteristically yellow (intentionally). Get it? Hehe. I told my little sisters I would post that on Facebook, but I chickened out at the last minute. I figured anybody who knows me enough to care to read my blog will forgive the dorky jokes :P.
"of the day" may have led you to believe that this will be a daily occurrence, this reciting of puns. Not to worry, I have no intention to--But now that you mention it... :D


I'm totally making a dress out of old curtain for my little sister. She wants it for Easter, but I made no promises. My impromptu/improvised sewing doesn't always turn out beautifully...

Gen's making me listen to Disney music. No, not the "Someday My Prince Will Come", "When You Wish Upon a Star" awesomeness. We're talking about the Disney actors-suddenly-turned-singers stuff. Haha. Some of it's not so bad :P

Decisions, decisions. That free-will is great and all, but it sure is complicated.

Wind-blown hair. Hmmphm. Guess I should be thankful for it--Without it, people might think I actually looked in a mirror before leaving the house. Couldn't have that.

I wonder if one of my blog posts will ever NOT be random? 'Cause I know y'all are SO interested in all those spaghetti thoughts of mine. At least I'm blogging, right? :D

Praise God for choices! I am seriously glad we're not robots.

Con amore,
Sophie

Place Title Here

Dearest You,
I'm such a slacker. But I promise I've been busy :P Today has been lovely. It's pretty nice outside. I spent a few hours in our backyard creek this afternoon. I thought it'd be considerate of me to compose a to-do list for you in case you feel like following suit:
1. Wear a t-shirt. Rip off the bottom half of a floor-length skirt to get a nice rugged effect, and pair it with some leggings. Keep leftover fabric to make a vest at a later date.
2. Stuff a grungy-looking bag with special items. Included but not limited to a book, some cookies, a cell phone, an mp3 player, a notebook, and a pencil. Mechanical, of course.
3. Sling said bag over shoulder.
4. Pick out rain/mud boots. It is preferable that at least one of the boots has a hole in it.
5. Go outside.
6. Find a study walking stick.
7. Take a few moments to decide which is the most challenging way to enter the creek. Options can include climbing over rocks, jumping over poison ivy, maneuvering past bushes, et cetera.
8. Procede into the water.
9. Keep vocal chords healthy by shrieking once or twice once cold water seeps through said hole in said boot. This is easily accomplished if one forgets which boot contains the hole. Suprise is key.
10. Explore, careful to only tread on green algae-covered rocks, thereby increasing one's chances of slipping and falling.
11. Point out scientific findings to your companions.
12. Ignore mocking of your nerdiness.
13. Spread old towel on dry-ish rock and sit.
14. Enjoy cookies while not thinking about the germs that are on your un-sanatized hands.
15. Read book.
16. Swat away a few wasps and bees.
17. Make mini sailboats and rafts out of leaves and twigs and moss.
18. Watch said mini sailboats and rafts drown.
19. Save a catipillar from death by drowning. This occurance is of course unrelated to mini sailboats and rafts.
20. Bask in childhood memories of the days you basically lived in said creek. Then journey back to reality.

On another note...what was my other note? I can't remember. But since I've gotten you all excited, I'd better come up with something. I went to Greek class tonight. Is that interesting? It's interesting that it's all going over my head. I didn't get eaten by a tornado the other day. That's good news, isn't it? And yes, I'm pretty sure tornados can eat you. College financial aid advisors are unique. Especially when they're doing a presentation at said college's preview day in the most monotone voice possible. It really gets the kids excited about said college. Don't mind the sarcasm there.

Happy Palm Sunday!
Praise God for sending His Son, humbly riding on a donkey, ready to save the world.
Con amore,
Sophie

Crazy Novel Job

Dearest you,
Wow I haven't written in forever. Oh well, there's no time like the present to start back. I got a job this past week at Christie Cookies. It's at the Opryland hotel, which is pretty cool. Christie is a man, just in case you were assuming it was a Ms. I went through a seven-hour orientation today with Gaylord...got to learn all about the hotel, eat a nice lunch, and tour the newly-refurbished building. It's pretty spiffy. You should come see it (and me :) when the hotel opens back up on Monday (the 15th). Guess what color our uniform polo shirts are? Lime. Green. What? You couldn't come up with a color that looks worse on people? Haha, at least I like green :P
Other noteworthy point of the month: November is National Novel Writing Month. That being said, I'm challenging myself to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I'm on day eleven and only a few thousand words behind schedule :D I initially thought to post my story each day, piece by piece. But after realizing how rough, rough draft-ish it is, I've reconsidered. Maybe you'll see some of it in December, once I've had a little time to revise. :P
So now I'm going to be busy with a new job, a 100+ page novel coming straight from my imagination with no pre-planning, and my senior year in high school (which equals college applications, essays, scholarship apps, etc, as well as a pretty heavy load of school :[). Crazy.
And with all that, I must bid farewell for now, as short as this post is. Not sure if I'll blog again soon or not--as mentioned above, I do have a novel to write. Wish me luck!
Praise God for imaginations. Without them, all I'd have is a blank page.

Con amore,
Sophie

County Fair

Dearest you,
I'll blog about the rest of my summer at a later date. Figured I might as well get something on the board while I'm in the mood, to get my foot in the door, so to speak. Never mind that analogy, didn't really make sense upon editing but I'm leaving it up nonetheless.
So...Wilson County fair tonight with the family. Kind of an annual tradition. Other than the rather, shall I say, less-than-intelligent traffic cop, we had a very enjoyable time. The monkey/dog races were adorable. And my dad liked the tent he affectionately calls "Chickens and Such", aka Poultry and Rabbits.Us girls, sticking to our flip-flop-only rule in the summer, were delighted (facetiously meant, of course--by the way, before you think I'm a spelling nerd, I had no idea facetious was spelled thus) to traipse through the wet mulch which covered half the fairgrounds. Bet you had to read that sentence twice, the parenthesis-enclosed portion so long :P Anyways, foot-washing party back at the house! The free lemonade, chocolate milk, dum dum pops (for those not vain about brain cells), popcicles, ice cream coupons, dorky advertising fans, and random pieces of paper which everyone tosses into the garbage anyways were highlights of the night. Free stuff is always good, right? Anywho, if you've been to the county fair you'll know precisely what I'm talking about--it remains the exact same year after year. You know, the bluegrass singers, the elderly man making brooms, the human canon ball, the pot-bellied pig races (during which Evan won a blue ribbon--applause is appropriate here, since he went to all the trouble of volunteering to cheer the winning pig to the finish line), the little girls dragging their pageant dresses through the dirt, the petting zoo--complete with camels and porcupines (don't freak out, you couldn't actually pet the porcupines. Silly :P), et cetera and so forth. And even though we see this every year, somehow we all end up grinning like kids in a candy shop. Or something like that.

Praise God for family nights :)...and traffic cops on what-seems-like their first day on the job :P

Con amori,
Sophie

It's about time...

Dearest you,

I feel the need to apologize to those of you who have been looking for a post from me these past...few weeks. I've been too lazy to write, which sounds so odd even to myself, but considering the state of our computers, working with them can often be more of a frustration than a pleasure. At least I'm on facebook less now :P
Anyways, I guess you're wanting an overview of my life since I last blogged. Music camp lasted a week, and yes, there were music nerds there. Or music geeks. I have yet to determine the difference between nerds and geeks. Anyone care to enlighten? The camp was fun nonetheless. The food was amazing, as always. I memorized over 70 pages of music for choir and musical theatre. I practiced my violin for two and a half hours each day which is WAYYYY more than normal for me. I learned more music nerd-ish stuff during theory class. Oh, and some cool dance moves during theatre :P Fun times, fun times...

The next week was catching back up to the real world. Tough stuff out there, did you know that? No one ever told me life would be easy, but I never really considered how emotionally draining situations could be. And before these past few months I had never really felt a gazillion different emotions at once. Sorrow and anger go hand in hand sometimes, don't they?

Last week I worked the concessions stand at a Little League park with awesome co-workers Gen, Blake, and Evan. Funnel cakes don't smell so swell when they've been swarming around you for five hours every night. And nacho cheese sauce never really smells--or looks--great. And gigantic pickles aren't all that appealing. But it sure was nice to get a paycheck today :D And it was fun to be all professional-like and work a cash register. And watch the young umpires try to flirt with Gen and I--Good thing our brothers tagged along :P

Gen's deserting me next week to go to Seattle, WA. Ok, just kidding. She's not deserting me :P She IS going to Seattle, but it's her graduation/birthday present/vacation with my dad. I'll miss her though :( Today we went shopping to secure a few more memories before her departure. Old Navy, JoAnns, JC Penny, Ross, Target, and Panera were all on our itinerary. More fun times :)

And while she's off gallivanting in Seattle (with relatives), I'll be counseling at a day camp for 30 little eight to eleven-year-old music nerds :D Which should be a lot of fun. I shall tell you all about it at its conclusion :)


Praise God for His everlasting grace! And His daily reminders to extend that grace to everyone else.
Con amore,
Sophie

So long, farewell...

Dearest you,


(Tuesday)
Today I coaxed Gen into driving me to Jo-Anns in Rivergate to find several last items I needed for a sewing project...that's due the end of this week. :/ Somebody's procrastinating again... Anyways, I was designated Navigator, and with the help of Prudence, (haha, you thought I was referring to the characteristic :P Prudence is our GPS) we arrived--and left--safely. We took a couple wrong "turns", but were none worse for wear. Success!

Then we went to Cici's for lunch. Did you know that this pizza place is the most popular diner for police men? Yeaah, Gen and I were surrounded by men in blue uniforms...liiiitttle weird. But semi-comforting at the same time. You know, Gen and I could meander around the buffet without fear of our purses being stolen from the booths :P

Following our lunch with like ten cops, we went to Walmart, where this really old lady glared evilly at us (and possibly cussed--our windows were fortunately rolled up :) because we were driving in the parking lot where she wanted to walk. And then it started raining, a lot, and we had to run back to the car. I was wearing flip-flops with absolutely no whatever-those-groovy-bump-things-are on them. And so I chose the smart route--I removed my shoes and decided to run across the parking lot in the rain looking like a barefoot idiot rather than slip in a puddle and look like a bigger idiot. Smart choice? Smart choice.

As Gen was driving home on our street, she cautioned me about puddles on the road. "They may look shallow and harmless, but they're really out to get you." Ok, Gen, whatever you say :D

(Sunday)
This week I have been sewing like nuts. I had a temporary best friend for the week--Ruby. She's a bright red seam ripper. Yep. :D And then there's Miranda, a female mannequin. She was a lifesaver, particularly for Gen, who no longer had to be my model and risk injury by pins. I finally finished the prom dress for the contest, took pictures of it while I modeled, and submitted them. Now to cross my fingers until the finalists are announced :)

Tomorrow morning I leave for a week-long music camp. Yes, it sounds nerdy, but what can I say? Hours and hours of musical theatre, theory, ensemble groups, choir, concerts, and a jam-packed, deafening mess hall sounds like loads of fun, doesn't it? :P Really, it is fun :)
Oh, and by the way, all electronics are banned, including (but not limited to) cell phones, music players, and computers. So basically we have no contact with the outside world. I'll let you know how I survive next week :D

Farewell until I return!

Praise God for designs!

Con amore,
Sophie

puzzles

Dearest you,

Puzzles..........good stress relievers. There's something comforting about them--they're often challenging, but you know that no matter what, the pieces DO fit together. (Unless of course they don't go to the puzzle.) There's no complicated mystery, no unexplainable reasoning. Just jagged and abnormal pieces of cardboard shuffled together to form a picture.

Praise God for simple things--they prove life isn't composed of ONLY complex, un-logical (yes, I know 'tis "illogical"), and thoroughly-confusing matters.

Con amore,
Sophie

P.S. Of course there are MUCH deeper, more intelligently created "theories" of puzzles I could go into, but today their purpose is to relieve stress, not make life. understandable :P

A wee bit tardy. My apologies.

Dearest you,
So I haven't written in a couple weeks. My bad. One excuse being that our schedules are a bit chaotic since our home is being redone (result of flood damage). Another excuse being that the computer I generally blog on is, well, a bit under the weather. It throws tantrums at random will, causing far too many exclamation!! points! and ! not enough! periods! !! Which would have resulted in this entire post (which will be quite lengthy, I should warn you) being as annoying as the past sentence. You should thank me for sparing the tiny voice in your head from yelling every other word you are now reading :D
And while the computer has been a jerk, I've found productive ways to occupy my time. Like playing farm girl in 90 TN heat. Fun times. (house/pet-sitting for family friends). Most of my siblings and I were just shy of parent-less for nearly a week. Innnnteresting. We braided miniature hoses' manes. We renamed my friend's cats. Gen and I made up a theme song while fishing bugs from the pool. Which we all then swam in. I bruised myself on the water slide while my little siblings came away grinning and un-scarred. Ironic. I laughed my head off watching Evan being chased by three horses and five miniature horses, trying to coax them all to the barn. He succeeded, in case you were pitying him :) Then I tried to catch my first firefly of the season. I failed. (It did seem much easier when I was younger--a jar with a lid, an untouchable amount of energy, and a careless attitude to the smell that lingers on one's hands. Admit it, you've noticed it too. :P)

Several days last week Gen, Evan, and I had colds. We were driving around one day with country music blaring (we do live in Music City, so it HAS to be one of the channels we frequent). And singing at the top of our lungs. You should have heard us--actually, you probably could. You'd have to be pretty deaf to miss our hoarse, tuneless yelling. Or maybe you just mistook the din for...something else. There, I just saved you from insulting me yourself:P

Oh, and by the way, I discovered that I'm pretty much beast at reverse driving down sloping, winding driveways. Just in case that info ever comes in handy.

In the midst of all that action, it was a pretty relaxing week. Lovely. :) At the end of the week as we were leaving to come back home, the eight horses were all waiting at the gate to say/neigh goodbye--so sweet :)



A few weeks ago I was volunteering at an after-school program for elementary students. As I was walking with two little girls, they were each exclaiming how old they were (for example, "I'm 87!", "I'm 592!") At this point I interrupted, saying, "I'm infinity!"
One of them asked, "How do you write that in numbers?" To which I hurried to find an acceptable response, "Um..." Yep, that was all I came up with.
And then I was assisting with homework. Also loads of fun :) One child told another, who was acting rather crazy, I must confess, "You're a hobo!" Not really sure what that had to do with anything, but maybe it was just thrown out there as an attempted insult? The un-offended child claimed "I'm not a hobo--I'm just a wild, crazy boy!"
Well, at least he knew it too. But maybe the humor in this was only in the moment. Nevertheless, I shall resist deleting it :D

Since I've been home, I've been sewing, playing "Mechanic Sophie" in the no-longer-new coveralls my dad and brothers bought so they could work under the house, reading some lovely historical novels, debating my little siblings over brownie/ice cream points (and who qualifies for what points, and to which category :), and planning who wants to travel to which country with me when I'm rich and famous. Knowing that you are curious, I'll post the results of our discussion: Blake wants to travel to London (and England :P), Evan wants to go to Ireland (where we'll raise sheep for several weeks--one of his goals is to be a shepherd), Vivienne desires to tag along with me to New York and Paris (she loves to shop and figured they'd be good places to start:D), and Lilly wants to see Florida and California (she's satisfied with only national flights :D). Now to work on the rich and famous part...

I went to the library the other day--one of my favorite places, but you'd already know that if you know anything at all about me :) I scanned book shelves with my head turned sideways. Bad for your neck, alright. They really should stack the books vertically. Of course, that would be impractical when one attempted to remove a book. Just imagine an entire stack crashing towards you. I don't think the stereotypical librarians would appreciate that very much--doesn't promote quiet-ness very well. Obviously.

I've been thinking recently--which is not a recently acquired talent, I assure you--that all the fairy tale-type stories do go to some people's heads. I always considered the romantic, cliche books and movies (you know what I'm talking about--those happily-ever-after type stories) to be innocent, harmless. I thought everyone had enough common sense to realize they are FAIRY TALES and not REALITY, much as we wish them to be so. Not every Prince Charming is THE Prince Charming. The prince can be charming, but that doesn't mean he's yours. Make sense? Probably not. And yet I shall continue in this useless line. Have you noticed how most movies in particular portray the parents as idiots? And they ARE generally idiots, in the movies. But might they not have reasonable, realistic reasons for trying to persuade this child from falling in love with so-and-so? Or forbidding their kid from doing thus-and-whatever? Wisdom really does come from age, I've determined. And you shouldn't have to make every mistake to learn from them. Life's too short to make them all. I think there's a quote about that. Can't remember the author, though.

Random one-sentence notes--I've got three tonight:
(1)Circle analogies are fun. They're good weapons for confusing people. Oops--that was two. And now three. At least I can count.
(2)Selfish living makes life meaningless.
(3)It's a sad state of things when your little sister prays for things to be "normal."

Praise God for relatives, 'cause I've got two of them in town this weekend! I love my Aunt Angel and Grandmother Vicki! :D

Con amore,
Sophie

Nonsensicality

Dearest you,

Duuuuuuuuuuuh, dunh dunh dunh dunh dunnnnnnnh. Dunh dunh dunh dunh duuuuuuuuuuuunh, dunh dunh dunh dunh duuuuuuuuuuuunh. aka The Phantom of the Opera theme song. We've been watching the movie over the past few nights...illegally :P

The other day Gen and I took a walk in the rain. Then we jogged, and ran and danced in the rain. Did I mention we were wearing rainboots several sizes too big and weren't wearing socks? Now we each have a set of twin blisters to show off. Healing blisters = itchy skin.

FYI, add stress to my imagination, and I go super creative.

Gen's been driving us all hysterical with her impression of a hamster voice. She tells jokes in it, and sings...songs like the macarena, the hamster dance (appropriately), and the hoedown throwdown. Yeeeep.

And then a cockroach decided to appear on my bed inches from my face. Gen's a superhero with a fly swatter. Cockroach near bed = checking covers before hiding underneath them.

After Gen and I made a quick run to Walgreens this morning, she was driving no more than 7 miles on our street. And I calmly inquired, "Genny, why are you driving like a granny?"
"I'm coasting."
"Riiiiight. Because we're really going to save a lot of gas by coasting the half mile to our house." She didn't go any faster :D

I gave an impromptu Italian lesson to kindergarteners who can barely speak proper English. I was teaching them how to say, "How are you, whatever your name is?" And they each asked, "Can you put my name in it? And so-and-so's too?" Sure, whatever floats your boat. Or makes you happy.Or cures your ADD-ness for a minute.

Oh, and I've decided that my beta fish, Fitzwilliam Darcy, is a survivor. He survived being pet-sitted (or however your say that correctly) by a seven-year-old BOY for a week who swapped his clean, purified tank water with chlorinated sink water. He is also a pig. The fish, that is. He would eat a dozen floating meals a day, if I let him. But those dried worms are expensive, you know. Like three bucks a bottle. And it'll only last him for a year or two, or a dozen. So he gets two meals a day.

I had a cereal date with Blake tonight. Cereal = dessert this evening. He wouldn't let me read the newspaper, instead insisting upon sitting awkwardly at my elbow as we chatted about absolutely nothing in particular but having a wonderful time nonetheless, listening to Gen play "Moon River" on the piano. That hit the spot. Which spot I have no idea, but it must have hit one of them.

My dad just came in to wish us all a good night. He gave us each very enthusiastic high fives and thumbs up. And then we all had a group huddle, like a football team, chanting whatever it is they chant and leaning to one side then the other in a frenzied manner. Goodnights in our house = awesome.

Annnnnd if you're wondering why there are so many equal symbols in this post, it's because I finished geometry last week and have been deprived of math for a few days. I love math. NOT. But I just felt like I needed to equal something. You know, to make sure my itty bitty parallel lines stayed in shape.

Praise God for playdough! Without it, I would smell normal.

Con amore,
Sophie

P.S. OK, so now I'm listening to "Pants on the Ground" with Gen. Wieeeerrd. *shrug

P.P.S. Sometime you need to go insane for a moment, in order to rescue your sanity. Vero? Right? :)
P.P.P.S And I've been informed that my blog doesn't make sense, but it makes people laugh. Therefore, the title.

Minus. What an awkward word.

Dearest you,

Since everyone else is blogging today I thought I had best follow suit.
I have nothing humorous to share of the past few days...Well, maybe except the random lady--who I'd met once before (apparently) but didn't remember-- at a graduation party who tried to set me up with her college son (who wasn't even present) for a full five minutes. As I was looking rather confused at the sudden change of topic, her daughter turned to me and said bluntly, "She's trying to set you up with my brother."Oh, ok, that makes sense. NOT. Remind me when I've got a college-aged son not to try to play matchmaker between him and a random girl I don't know in the least. Makes no sense, if you ask me. But a lot of things don't make sense.
Annnd, that's all I can think of to make you laugh.

Have you ever wondered how, when you're unconscious (as in sleeping. Although, maybe it could happen if you're knocked out too. I wouldn't know, so don't take my word for it unless I'm filling in for LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow...which has probably been discontinued anyways, so forget that.), your mind can take bits of reality and mix it with fantasy? Like how you can dream of a problem you were thinking of before you fell asleep, and in the same scene out jumps a gargoyle or you fall off a cliff and start flying? (These examples are by no means the actual dreams of the writer and should not be associated with her. Certain terms and conditions apply. See store for details, or log on to www.whatswrongwithsophie.com)

BTW, don't actually google that site. Who knows what you'll find...


Praise God for forgiveness! God knows we all need it. Literally.

Con amore,
Sophie


P.S. And because it is the title of this post, I had to throw it in here somewhere. Minus. Yep, it's still awkward.

Brothers--Gotta love 'em

Dearest you,

Innnteresing.
It's mighty hot in the house today. The few minutes of rain today didn't help--in fact, it only served to raise the already high level of humidity. I'm not complaining :)　Buuuuut, those large droplets of water falling from the sky did give Gen a good laugh as she watched me dash out the front door--barefoot and all--to save the open windows of our car from killing the interior by drowning it in the unexpected rain. I was soaked, but grinning.

I played rook with my dad and two younger brothers the other evening. We used to pay it every night, but it's been a while, so we'd almost forgotten how to win. We knew how to play. My dad and I were on the same team and creamed the boys. They were unsore losers--good sports, the lot of them.

I was blown kisses by a boy a couple days ago. Well, OK, he WAS two-years-old, and he can't yet say my name...but he's still reaaally cute :P He's pretty much the easiest child to babysit.

This guy came yesterday to fix the water heater or some such thing. Guess what his name was? Shannon. Yeaaah, that was my reaction too. I was almost as horrified as the time I first watched Gone with the Wind and realized one of the main male characters was named Ashley. And then found out that the actor's name was Leslie.(Sorry to any guys named Shannon. Seriously--I'm REALLY sorry :)

Tuesday evening my mom and I were momentarily insane. Maybe temporarily is a better adjective. I mean, adverb. (Hmph, I had to think for a second there--not studying grammar this year has left my proficiency in it a little lax:) She was holding my hand through geometry problems that were due by midnight for an online course. Nooooo, I'm not a procrastinator. (Just in case you don't know me at all, that was written an intoxicating-ly sarcastic tone.) Anyways, we were both laughing hysterically--between that and allergies that compromise your sinuses, I just about died. But I didn't. Obviously, since I'm writing this. I mean, seriously, I couldn't be dead and still be writing this. Silly.


So Blake and Evan were quite humorous yesterday. Like they usually are, but yesterday I could transcribe their silliness into quotes. :P
Ex.
On our way home from music lessons (which took 2 hours instead of half an hour due to car tantrums), Evan informed me that he and I would be attending bartending school (there's actually one near our home). My little sister said, "Bar, and in ballet bar?"
Blake just got a haircut, and so all evening, whenever he randomly appeared in a doorway, he struck a model pose.
And then in the midst of rather mature discussions they both rambled, in a staggered order, "Can you go on amazon.com with me?" "Can you adopt me?" "Can I have your debit card number?"
And I was like, "Pardon me?" with a clearly confused expression, "Were we not just conversing like normal people? How did we end up here again? I'm lost." (And I replied "no" to all three queries, never fear).


We've been bowling in our living room. The lanes are the deformed and naked wood boards that used to support lush carpet. The pins are empty water bottles, with each of our initials on the cap.

And now Gen and I are having a drinking contest---water, that is. We're trying to see who can drink the most bottles of water. I'm really not sure when the deadline is. Maybe when we can finally drink our own water instead of that which comes in cheaply plastic containers?
And of course we're donating the empty bottles to our bowling alley. Of course.

Oh, btw, I'm winning :P


My little sister just narrated (man it took me a day and a half to figure out how to spell that) a
lengthy story to me. I nodded, and I didn't really digest any of it. Me + writing = neglected multi-tasking skills. Note that.


Praise the Lord for tears! If it weren't for them, think of all the salt water that'd be stuck in my head...


Con amore,
Sophie

P.S. Pictures are back, in case you can't see and are reading this in braille.

NEED...HOT...WATER

Dearest you,

(Friday)
My older sisters and I babysat this morning for a mother's Bible study. I had know idea I was supposed to work from 9-12 until my mother told me at 8:05. Apparently my sister had woken me a half hour earlier, asked me if I would be willing to sub for someone, and received a "yes" as an answer. I have no memory of any of that...whatsoever.
But anyways, Carmen and I played with eight three-year-olds for three and a half hours. I played dolls with the little girls. One charming, adorable, blue-eyed, blond-haired, sweet child repeatedly asked me for permission to pretend things. "Can I pretend this is a baby princess named Ariel?" (baby is pronounced beh-bee), "Can I pretend I'm the queen?" "Can I pretend this is a queen dress?" And I was thinking, yes, child, it's your imagination! You don't have to ask to pretend anything!

We pretended (with my permission, of course) that one doll was Ariel, one was Cinderella, and one was Prince Charming. The latter was a small, bald, ugly, and POSSIBLY male doll that was anything but charming. But it's your imagination, so anything goes, right?

Another little girl suddenly hopped up from where she was playing with a kitchen set, performed sporadic jumping jacks for a full minute, and then promptly announced, "Time for dinner!" She then sat at the miniature table, as if to dare someone to declare her actions were anything but normal.

And then I was asking a little lass for a "couple" of green blocks to finish a castle for another small person. She ran to the play kitchen, grabbed a cup, and proceeded to fill it with green blocks. She handed it to me saying, "Here's a cup of green blocks!" Ummhmm. :D


(Saturday)
We went to the Renaissance Festival today. So many wierdos there, but that shouldn't surprise me. I suppose I could be thrown in the "wierdos" category, considering I went OUTSIDE MY HOME in a medieval gown I made and wore it all the day long. Did I mention I did this in the 21st century?
Yep, with braided hair and jeweled belt and fake accent and all. Ok, the fake accent didn't hold up long.

Our house is now an obstacle course of fans, dehumidifiers, cords, and such laying about. We must yell in order to converse in certain rooms because of the same objects. Now we have an excuse if we "forget" to carry out a request. Not "I didn't hear you," but "I COULDN'T hear you." :P

(Monday)
So Gen and I had a dance party tonight. You should have been there. Actually, you shouldn't have :P
I babysat a two-year-old boy all day today. He's the cutest and sweetest little boy, which is a good thing, 'cause I'll be with him all day tomorrow too :D

We've finally removed all the drying paraphernalia. Now we can converse without sounding irked. We are still deprived of hot water--supposedly that will be returned on the morrow. At the moment, we're all either taking advantage of our neighbors' generosity and using their showers, or we're braving our own (my dad calls them "Indian Showers"). The latter is not an option I would recommend for the sensitive in skin. If you hear someone shrieking spontaneously, it's probably one of us girls washing our hair. Let's just say I don't think I'll be taking hot water for granted for a good long while.

People are still bringing by food and other necessities. Today someone brought by dinner and two rather large boxes loaded with odds and ends. One of my little siblings discovered several boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats and exclaimed, "It's just like Christmas!" In May, yes. :)

Praise God for food and dancing and hot water! :D


Con amore,
Sophie

P.S. In the random chance that you were curious, mugwump is dictionary.com's word of the day, meaning "a person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue." It's just a fancy word for a person straddling a fence because they're too cowardly to commit to one side. Generally...In my humble opinion which I will not force upon you by any means...except on occasion :P

P.P.S. I've been having difficulty uploading pictures this past week...or so. Which would explain why the last few posts have been void of colorful images.

Family Bonding 101

Dearest you,
(Monday)
Well, we evacuated our home this morning at about 11.
Last night water started rising again, in our garage, in our front yard, and in our back garden. When we left this morning the garage had about two feet, the yard had close to three, and our patio (raised off the garden) had about six inches (barely an inch shy of coming into our living room). And all this was rising.
We've moved into our friends' home for the moment in Mt. Juliet.
Blake and I were in charge of keeping track of the water level, in order to make an estimated guess when or if the grimy, disgusting water would reach our house. Guess who fell asleep at 1am? Blake. So I had to round up Gen to accompany to the very dark, very creepy back patio. It WAS rising about an inch every half hour, but it slowed around 2:30am, about when I drifted off to sleep :) And two gigantic fire engines pulled up at our house about 2am just to assess the situation. The called back and forth with my mother, who was on our front porch while they stood safely 15 yards away, over the growing lake in our front yard. They didn't offer many suggestions.
We had to cut our electricity around midnight because the water level was getting too high and a power line had come down--but remained attached--just a few feet from our house, caused by a tree falling. Soooo, no stove, oven, fan (for the very stuffy upstairs--where all eight of us had to camp out), and NO lights! Ohhhhh, and our mom wouldn't let us use the plumbing for fear all the pipes would overflow. Welcome to wash basins and chamber pots. Family bonding 101 for sure.
One of my brothers was up at 6:30am, and he woke up several others, including me. So I'm a little tired, as on of my friends could attest to, considering I was talking a mile a minute on the phone with her :D And that was BEFORE I had caffeine.
When we left our house we had to trudge through a 3+ of feet deep trashy swamp, just in order to get to our van. People from our neighborhood--and from others--came down to our house to take pictures because it was one of the only three houses that were still surrounded with water.
Between rapids, stubborn rain, fire trucks, a self-inflicted black out, yard sticks to measure water level increases, and walking through thigh-deep swamp water, we've had an interesting couple of days.

(Tuesday)
We began cleaning up our home. It was dirty. And smelly. Our living room had six inches of water in it overnight. It drained. Praise the Lord the rest of the first floor remained dry. Our neighbors fed us food. A swamp remained in our back yard. We went back to our friends' house. And slept.

(Wednesday)
While my mother and some of my siblings returned to our home, I remained with our friends in the hopes of getting some school done. I did. A little.
I also read a novel on their deck as chickens clucked around me and danced in a robotic way.

(Thursday)
I think that's today. I honestly have know idea what day of the week it is, much less the date.
We went back to our home this morning, hopefully to stay. My dad returned from China last night. It probably wasn't the most welcoming sight walking through our front door, considering the carpet has been torn up in the living room, along with half the walls (thanks to the help of some wonderful friends! Otherwise, we'd all smell like mold. True story.)
Today we've had very random people coming in and our of our home helping with various clean-up procedures. I mean random, as in I-haven't-seen-you-or-talked-to-you-in-years kinda random, and I-haven't-EVER-seen-you-in-my-entire-life kinda random. We've met neighbors we never knew we had. It's amazing how many strange people the Lord has brought to our door. And they've all been a HUGE help! Peoples have been blessing us with food and work and prayers left and right. And forwards and backwards. And day in and day out. And I think you get the picture.

We are all so thankful the water did not get in farther. The damage could have been soooo much worse, but it wasn't. The plumbing and electricity are back in order. And we've received so much help from people we know, and those we don't. Many people had their homes destroyed by this flood. We are SOOOO lucky and SOOOO grateful.

I've written this post in sections because I'm a perfectionist and I don't want to send anything out that hasn't been edited and I haven't had time to go back over it all and I still haven't had time or energy or interest to go back over it all and I've made up my mind and I'm going to post it anyways and get over my perfectionism and I thought the best way to do this would be to write a n extremely long and annoying run-on sentence and keep it going as long as I could keep thinking and so this is the result. Happy breathing.


Praise God for friends, neighbors, and strangers!!!

Con amore,
Sophie

I don't belong here :D

Dearest you,

Last night was indescribable. I started out the evening depressed about certain situations. I plugged up to my MP3 player. And suddenly, I clearly and completely felt the peace and love of God surround me. I felt like dancing for joy! (Actually I did on the patio in the dark). It was THE MOST incredible feeling I have experienced in a long while. And, as mentioned before, it is indescribable. So you won't understand, and that is OK :)

Even later, amidst the lightning bolting through the otherwise dark sky, the thunder shattering the quiet of a house almost entirely asleep, the rain pelting out a steady rhythm of splashes, and flash flood warnings changing every other minute, God's peace protected my soul from depression. It'll sound silly, but I just wanted to shout, "Have at it, Satan! I can take any thing you choose to throw my way because my Guide is the Lord Jesus Christ and He has sole possession of my heart!"

I don't belong here. Isn't that great?! This world is NOT my home, and all the heartache associated with it is not a burden I have to carry alone. Praise the Lord! His grace IS amazing, and His peace DOES surpass all understanding!

This doesn't mean I will never again feel lost and stressed, or that God will remove all temptations and trials and strife. But it DOES mean I can cast all my cares upon Him, and He will sustain me. I don't have to do it alone!!!! :D

As I listened to my family going slightly berserk over various things, not the least being the weather, it was OK. I have the Creator of the universe on my side, and He has plans to prosper me, and not to harm me. I cannot wait to see what HE has in store!!!!

Oh, and we found an orange box turtle underneath one of our cars. You'd never think playing with a red-eyed reptile on the kitchen tile would be so much fun! He's adorable, or creepy, or so-ugly-he's-cute, depending on who you ask. His name is also up for debate. Choices include Neptune, Molasses, Skippidy,and Awkward. Oh, annnnnd, he's training for track and field in the bi-annual turtle Olympics. He runs and jumps. Over human legs and arms.

And today, the rain is still pelting out a steady rhythm, a quick heavy, beat. There is so much water in our back yard, we could probably go white water rafting. Our garage had about two inches of water in it earlier, and a tree collapsed just three feet from our house, carrying with it a power line. We're preparing for a possible shortage of power later, gathering candles and such. We never have any flashlights with workable batteries :P

But GOD reigns supreme, even over this remarkable rain.

Praise God for His reign over His rain! :D
Con amore,
Sophie

The Bare (Bear) Necessities

Dearest you,

I made lunch with Blake a couple days ago. We had an apple fight, but not to worry,no one was bruised. Tonight I tried to throw popcorn for him to catch and, let's just say, my throwing skills could use a little improvement.
Yesterday, while waiting at our music school, I called Evan his spelling words...IN A BRITISH ACCENT. On the way home, my brothers were bragging about how much chest hair they have. I'd say neither has any to speak of.
And then at dinner they were teasing each other mercilessly and one said "Stop causing havoc!" while the other exclaimed, "What? I don't even know what that means!" During the meal I was giving them a lecture about digging yourself into a hole (which I almost spelled whole:), and I--mistakingly--mentioned some dragon flying around. Suddenly Evan was asking "Can I be a ninja?" And Blake said, "Yeah, but the dragon's fire burns your numchucks."
Yesterday morning I did an updo for work. Did I mention it was at 5:30 in the morning? Yeaaaahhh, I used like fifty gagillion bobby pins. My friend and I wore matching dresses too-- Yes, we're probably too old for that, and yes, it was still fun :D
Last night I juggled on the wii. And snow skiied. And hula hooped. And walked on a tight rope. And beat everyone in kung fu rhythm.
Oh, and I had a dream about pirate ships, dragons, and a very cute young captain. :P

My dad's out of town for the next week. I'm really going to miss our awesome talks, and joking around, and helping him with projects :)

I talked to my dad via skype. I laughed, watching him converse with his Chinese translator, Zeke. He was asking him how to say certain words in Chinese. He made a deal with me that he would learn three new words while he's half a world away :)
Now I'm watching The Jungle Book with my three little siblings, who are starting to get too old and intelligent to be amused by old school Disney movies. I've observed that the alpha male wolf has a British accent and the snake sounds drunk, though he shares his voice with the ever-loved Pooh Bear. And the head elephant mumbles about war medals. And his baby elephant son is Southern.And the vultures with the emo haircuts are European (Scottish, maybe?). I always wondered why the little indian girl at the end had a woman's voice when she was like six.
And my little sister, seated beside me, just pulled out a tooth. I remember those days... :)

Praise God for animated humor :D
Con amore,
Sophie

Stranded in Kroger/ "Friendly" Family Competitions

Dearest you,

Friday I went horseback riding with a really great friend. Afterwards we chatted about life. I guess you don't really call it chatting when it's pretty deep...
I work up yesterday to my little brother who's not so little considerately whispering, "Sophie, do you want breakfast in bed?" He had made chocolate chip pancakes :)

Gen and I got stranded in Kroger for half an hour when we went to return a movie at Redbox last night. It was just drizzling as we pulled out of the drive, but by the time we got to the store (just down the street) it was raining cats and dogs. We ran out of the car and into Kroger, but in those few yards, we got soaked. And grocery stores are liberally air conditioned. :P So we walked around Kroger, shivering, as the employees and other customers wondered at our rather bedraggled appearances. Like they didn't know it was pouring outside...

After dinner last evening our dining room hosted a competition, including multiplication/division drills, and a state's capital quiz, all in remembrance of my father's 5th grade elementary school days. Our family possesses lots of competitive genes. Even my mother was not shy challenging my nine-year-old sister :D

We visited a church this morning with some friends. I promptly fell asleep when we returned home. I think I dozed for a couple hours. Allergies really drain one's energy supply :) While napping, I dreamed about...well, about a lot of things. Including being stopped on a trail (during a family walk) by some creepers. It'll suffice to say I was glad to awake :)

Praise God for the rain!
Con amore,
Sophie