Mountain Paradise

Last week as I was driving a certain memory came to mind. I thought of a place we almost lived. A place that was almost home. Our almost paradise.

No, it wasn't Belize. It was up in the mountains. The mountains of South Carolina.

Imagine a beautiful log cabin built out of ceder. Our feet knocked on strong ceder trunks, hewn down out of the mountain to make a home. Almost our home. Wooden floors, wooden walls, all hand made in my young mind at the time, by a man and his family back in the pioneer days; although now I see it wasn't quite that old. Dad showed me the ladder that came down out of the ceiling. He climbed up to opened the trap door then let me in. Gingerly I climbed the steep steps and popped into a room as large as the entire cabin below. Dad told me how he would build a wall and make a bedroom for the boys and a bedroom for the girls. The room was just like out of a story. It was dusty, you could see the particles wafting through the air when they floated into the sunbeam that lit up the room. You could smell the scent of wood. A sturdy deck came out from the dining room and over looked the river that flowed swiftly by. I remember looking at the water fall and soaking up the beauty. It was exhilarating. Also I squealed to Daddy about where I could put my play kitchen.

Toe Ring - Bartok - Epiphany - Frog

My mother came into my bedroom with her pink and black pajamas on. "Get up! We're going to be late, we have to leave in thirty minutes." Now that my friend, is not the kind of thing a teenage girl wants to hear when she has any place to go besides the kitchen or livingroom.

I rolled out of my bed and fetched my clothes out of the backpack I had not yet unpacked from the day before when I was baby sitting my pastors three young children. A yellow skirt and my blue T-shirt from Wall Mart with an owl and the caption, "It's owl good", exactly not what I was feeling this morning. I had just got out my razor when I was told to get Jubal up.
        I came to his bed and bent down and patted his back. "Jubal, it's time to get up. Good morning." I smiled.
        He was up instantly and the first thing out of his mouth as he stumbled around the room was "Play, play" He rubbed his tummy and almost fell over.
        "No, it's not time to play now. It's time to go potty."
He groggily followed me to the bathroom. Groggy toddlers are so cute. With him sitting on the potty I finished shaving. I gave myself razor burn and missed an entire two and a half inch patch of stubby hair. Ack! So embarrassing.. and here I am telling you all about it.
       Well anyways, all this time Savannah had been making french toast and scrambled eggs. I sent Jubal to Savannah to get something to eat. Savannah was already dressed, had her hair braided, and had her bag packed for later today. How did she do that? I continued my mad rush; scarfed down a couple of bites of toast; spent three minutes looking for my deodorant which should have been on my dresser but was of course in my backpack; found my-toe ring.

Hello There

Hello friends and family, it has been quite a while since we chatted hasn't it? I think three months is the longest I've ever been absent on my blog before. Sorry about that, I sort of have been avoiding this talk. Because you see, I fear I may have grown boring. Well I don't know, it's just a different feeling this new life it really is still new to me. Ordinary things happen to me now, and I don't really know how to deal with ordinary. It is taking some getting used to. But I will try to spare you my wandering thoughts and will give you a recap of what has been going on here in Florida. (Golly, that still sounds strange to me. Florida. Hmm.)

A Savoury Day

Today is Wednesday and thank goodness it has been an ordinary day. It was not long ago when my days were filled with adventures - marvelous things to read about but being the actual character in the story is uncomfortable to say the least. The Took part of me is quite worn out and the Baggins side is gaining strength. Therefore, though I run the risk of being somewhat of a bore, I will gladly tell you about something ordinary.

Louis Lamore

Yesterday Mom, Savannah, and I went to the library. Made a special trip just for it and did not accomplish a drop more with our trip to town. There we searched for violin books for Jubal of which he has taken a great fancy to of late. A tall thin wrinkly tanned man with glasses and a hat overheard our discussion with the librarian concerning the instrument. He told us he made violins and he and Mom comfortably went off in a little dialogue. The librarian told me where to find the book and I retrieved it with some little trouble. It is called Mole Music and is a neat little book.

Back in Missouri

After Presbytery family camp was over our family took a quick jog to Missouri and stayed there for three Lord's Days. (Not three weeks mind you but three Sunday's)

You can imagine what we did while we were there. Laughed, gave obnoxious hugs, smiled, ran, jumped, poked... all in all we pretty much revived all of our old traditions. It was great seeing everyone. Also this was not a purely social call we retrieved many of our belongings, specifically our furniture. Belongings that we were not able to take with us to Belize, and had no thought of seeing again for many years, were hauled out and packed onto a moving truck.

No my arm has not been amputated.... just a little low quality photo editing. ;)

I played piano those three Sunday's for church just like I always did before. Three friends played their violins and flute. It was a welcoming throwback and had me reminiscing throughout the songs so that sometimes I would forget where I was in the music. At least my fingers knew and there really weren't any problems.  The following photos are not necessarily in chronological order.

Alaska

I know y'all have been waiting for a while, do you remember that big news I told you about?
Well now, the time has come to tell it all.

Levi is in Alaska!

My little brother is off on a big adventure.

It all started earlier this year. My older brother is doing so well in Arizona with our cousin doing construction work that I guess word got around in the family. Now I am a little fuzzy on the following details so don't quote me but I believe it was that our other cousin in Alaska had heard what a great worker Zachary was. Someone mentioned that Zach had a brother and bam there you go, with a little more collaboration Levi was hired. So June ninth my little brother hopped on a plane headed for Anchorage to do commercial salmon fishing in Alaska.

Presbytery 2013

Early in the morning, a few hours before it was even grey out, I and my family excepting the baby, woke up and rushed around the house like chickens with their heads cut off. We had to leave the house by six o'clock in order to get to Presbytery in time on Wednesday morning. Every year the Covenant Presbyterian Church denomination has two big business meetings. One strictly for the elders over the phone or on Skype and the other combined with a family camp. The family camp one is usually held in May and we try to be there every year.

Savannah and Lauren

Well, all went as planned on Tuesday morning and we managed to get out the door at 6:15 am. Pretty good I'd say. We drove all day long. I slept a lot, did four math problems, and patted myself on the back because of it. We talked with Jubal, gave him animal crackers, walked him around the gas stations, and just overall kept him happy as much as we could. Tuesday night about six o'clock we arrived at the J-----'s family's house.