Somebody's Getting Marrrrrrriiiiieeeeeeed

Sister B is getting married a week from tomorrow.  This is her man:

He is fabulous.  We love him.

These are all the new sisters-in-law he's getting a week from tomorrow. 

(sans Sister B, the little one in the middle.)

This is one of my favorite pictures of them.  

This is the picture of them that makes my heart the most happy.
Look at the way he makes her smile :)

"To the outside world we all grow old.  But not to brothers and sisters.  We know each other as we always were.  We know each other's hearts.  We share private family jokes.  We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  We live outside the touch of time."  ~Clara Ortega

Finished

I finished listening to Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years today.  I was moved to tears many, many times.  I highly recommend it.  I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate it into my Intro to Literature course; I think my college students would love it, too.

"Here’s the truth about telling stories with your life.  It’s going to sound like a great idea, and you are going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you’re not going to want to do it.  It’s like that with writing books, and it’s like that with life.  People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen...


...We have to get up off the couch and turn the television off, we have to blow up the inner-tubes and head to the river. We have to write the poem and deliver it in person. We have to pull the car off the road and hike to the top of the hill. We have to put on our suits, we have to dance at weddings."

Snapshots of My Summer

 Afternoon Starbucks brownie with my niece...

 Yogurt Mountain with the whole family (Fourth of July Weekend)

 We take up two tables -- at least. 

 Midnight swimming!

 Delicious after-church lunch fun at Papa's and Beer...

 Late afternoon sidewalk view from Trio's Cafe downtown...

 Baking cookies :)

 Helping Mom prep peaches for preserves and pie!

 Taking my niece to breakfast at -- where else? -- the Awful Waffle.  Haha -- except that it was nice and not awful at all...

 Enjoying baseball at a Greenville Drive game!

 On the way to the beach...

 The Sisters.  One week.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

 Our view :)

 Prepping for B's bridal shower!

 Scones and sisters -- a perfect bridal shower combo :)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled school year... 

Pumpkin Season

It's the first week of September, but we're not quite autumnal yet.

So today, to eagerly welcome the approaching fall, I ordered a pumpkin spice latte.  Iced.

I've gotta admit -- the iced version isn't quite as fall-ish as the hot one.  Sigh.  Come quickly, cooler weather.

"Oh how we love pumpkin season.  You did know this gourd-ish squash has its own season, right?  Winter, Spring, Summer, Pumpkin.... We anxiously anticipate it every year."  Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, October 2010

String Cheese and Pet Peeves

I love string cheese. Random but true.

I do NOT love:

* angsty facebook status updates.
* not being able to remember how to knit, even though sister B has shown me THREE different times.
* eating a bagel and having the cream cheese smoosh out onto my shirt.  Sigh.
* losing my dining room table to piles of student papers.  Haha.

Sister B's bridal shower is tomorrow.  Perhaps pics will follow :)

Thankful

"A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad."  ~Arnold H. Glasgow

"The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you."  ~Elbert Hubbard

Lately, I've been immensely blessed by the friendships God has granted my life.  It seems that every day is another encounter with someone who encourages me, lifts me up, laughs with me, sympathizes with my piddly disappointments and rejoices in my silly small victories (like going to the gym when I say I'm going to go, haha).

Sometimes, singleness is a lonely place -- but recently, I've been overwhelmed by an avalanche of wonderful friends.   I have been reminded that I have a God who knows my needs before they're even spoken and meets those needs in extravagant ways I can't begin to anticipate.  I use the word "extravagant" because the people who are doing life with me right now are ... they're just amazing.

Sometimes amazing is defined by text messages and hilarious emails and inside jokes and not allowing miles to mean distance.  Sometimes amazing looks like coffee dates and steak cookouts and jewelry parties and sister shopping.  Sometimes amazing is hearing the yucky-ness of my life, thoughts, and heart, and still loving me unreservedly because you believe that I am, deep down, completely worthy of that love.

Last Sunday, the message was centered around the "Restoration" component of the Gospel.  One of my favorite concepts was that God is not eventually going to restore the world to Himself; He is, in fact, doing that already.  It's already begun.  He's been writing The Story (this totally reminds me of Miller's book) and I am already a part of it.  The speaker challenged us to consider beautiful, breath-catching moments in nature  -- and if they're that beautiful now, how much more so will they be when the Restoration is complete?  If you have friendships that remind you of grace and truth already -- how much more will they do so when they are completely unhindered by human selfishness and the trappings of sin?  Jim Thompson's message is linked here, if you'd like to hear more.  I can't really do it justice in a paragraph :)

I was reminded of the sermon because, in all honesty, the past week has been so full of friend-encouragement that I feel like I've tasted a little of the future Hope I've been promised in Revelation 21 and 22.  I feel more-than-thankful.  Much more.

Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend.  ~Plautus