Blessed

I have been blessed to grow up in a family of four girls--yep, I have three younger sisters. We are all two years apart. Right now, our ages are 27, 25, 23, and 21. I sometimes get an inkling of how stressful that must have been on my parents' hearts--good thing two of my sisters are getting equipped to handle any future medical issues that may result from said stress.

My sisters and I have had our ups and downs, but I think it's safe to say that we have always gotten along eerily well, especially for growing up together in a three bedroom, two bathroom house with no basement. Essentially, the thing I now know to be privacy did not exist at my house. I always shared a bedroom. And a bathroom (which was by far the more difficult). Not that it was a bad thing, in hindsight. I love my family and realize now how much we learned and how close a relationship was bonded through my time under the same roof as them.

I didn't realize then how close we were or were becoming. Which is funny, particularly because we didn't fight as much as you might think. Definitely not the screaming, hair pulling, door slamming kind of fighting. I mean, I'm sure that must have happened on rare occassions, but what I remember more of is the playing outside together; or playing "house" (for some reason I have this image of my youngest sister Jessica panting while playing her traditional role of "pet dog." I don't know if this was traditional for her or if she just played it once and my memory remembers differently); or making calendars for my parents (a tradition that started upwards of twelve years ago and is still going--watch out, Energizer bunny); or going hiking in Colorado, or a million other things we did growing up.

The best part is that all of the growing up wasn't the best part. Each year of my life, I continue to grow closer and closer to my sisters, despite the increasing physical distance between our houses. They have become my best friends.

Today was a reminder of just how much I love my sisters and how grateful I am to have them in my life. Last year, at about this time, Melissa, my 25 year old sister, became a Christian. Despite growing up in a Christian home, she struggled to accept the idea of Christianity for years and years. Through many prayers from myself, my family, and others, and most of all through God's continual pursuit of her heart, Melissa accepted Jesus as her personal Savior on August 25, 2009.

What joy! I have been brought to tears time and again since I first read her letter to us, where her humility and awe and desire to follow Christ were so evident that I could do nothing but praise our mighty, mighty God for his good work. I still haven't quite found the words to express this experience, but on some level, I am reminded of the story of the prodigal son. I can almost taste the joy of the father as his son returns home.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I admire and respect my sister. Her faith is astounding. I love to hear her talk about Jesus so intimately, and to know that now we all share this common ground together.

I wept again today, tears of joy, as Melissa was baptized into her new faith. With family and friends as witnesses, she publicly proclaimed her love for the Lord and her new found purpose in glorifying Him. It was wonderful to celebrate, knowing that the angels in heaven are joining with us.

Another Day

Since I started this blog almost a month ago, at various times of the day, I will think to myself, Oh, I should write in my blog. But usually the thought that follows is something along the lines of, but what will I write about? I have rarely encountered writer's block, especially when writing in a journal, which is mostly how I associate blogging. But while journaling, I've never had an audience other than myself. I never accounted for how different that would make the concept of writing. All of a sudden I find myself worrying way more about whether or not others will find my blog interesting than about what I have to say. Yes, I know, I need to get over myself.

And then I remember that the reason I started a blog in the first place is because I so much enjoy following the day-to-day lives of my far away friends, and I thought I would give them the same opportunity. Nothing like cyberspace to make you feel closer to people than you are in reality. Although I say that somewhat sarcastically, and I often feel that the internet, especially social networks like Facebook and Twitter, will be the death of authentic relationships, it finally occurred to me that maybe online relationships are not always superficial or lazy (thoughts, I confess, I have had in the past). Thus, I began my own blog, in hopes that my friends afar will be able to connect to my daily world, be it eventful, or just another day. After all, it's not as though all the conversations I have with the friends I do see are terribly deep and enlightening. Most of the time, well, we just talk about our days.

So here's today---another day.

I'm off to Lindbergh for a Link Crew presentation. After that, I have an appointment to get new front tires. Probably something I would have kept putting off indefinitely, if my wonderful husband hadn't pointed out the flat tire on my car this morning. In an of itself, probably not a reason to get new tires, but they have been looking quite bald (I finally did the Lincoln's head test this morning--it's time!), and on Sunday, I mentioned to Casey that my tire was looking low. Apparently, it was low, and I should have taken the time to put some air in it then, rather than waiting until it went completely flat, then causing my husband to be late to work because he had to get out his compressor and fill it up for me.

I love my husband.

Happy Rainy Tuesday.

Plum Tuckered Out

Over the weekend, Casey and I began the arduous process of bending metal around the fascia of our house. We figured that this weekend was a good time because Casey had Monday off for the 4th of July. He also planned to take off on Friday the 2nd, giving us a four day stretch to complete the project (that didn't work out, so we ended up having to cram the project into 3 days). It is one of the biggest projects still left on the house, and one we were much looking forward to finishing for more than one reason. Aside from the fact that having metal around the fasia will keep us from having to paint the fascia over and over again, it will also allow us to finally get new gutters. Our current/former gutters had a a leak---right over our front steps!

We began with a 10 hour day on Saturday that included removing the gutters and rotting front fascia boards.

Casey removed several years worth of bird's nests from one corner of the house, and multiple bee and wasp nests throughout. I can't say I'm disappointed that we won't be providing housing for wildlife in the future.

It was quite a warm day for such a project. I had to wear sunglasses, not because of the brightness of the sun, but because the coil stock was so bright, the glare hurt my eyes.

Newly covered fascia, still no gutters.

After 10 hours on Saturday, we continued bending metal on Sunday afternoon, not as early as we'd have liked, but still hoping to finish by Monday. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we had to quit early. On the bright side, we cleaned up and had dinner at Olive Garden instead.

Monday, we finished bending all the metal and returned the break. Or rather, Casey finished.

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the yard. I trimmed our out-of-control-bush.

And weeded my flower garden.

We still have lots of work left to finish it, but we are well on our way. And after three days of hot work, Casey and I both spent most of today in bed. He came home early from work with a fever. And I didn't feel much better. Still, we had a nice weekend of working together at home, something we both enjoy. Here's looking forward to new gutters and cooler weather, both of which are just around the corner---hopefully!

Trying to figure out blogger

Mostly, I am playing on picasa right now, and I wanted to figure out the process of posting pictures in my blog. I always appreciate those who include visual aids in their blogs. The selected picture is one of Casey and me drinking the some good ol' Boone's Farm (of the blue hawaiian variety). It's quite tasty and will remind any partakers of a fizzy kool-aid. Not any sort of kool-aid I drank growing up. But it's a fun summer treat for an evening with your husband (and goes quite well with a game of Settlers of Catan, in case you are looking for a nice complement to your board game night).