What I did this Week: It was the Forth of July

  This past week has been busy and beautiful and broken. Here at its end I am having trouble remembering exactly how it started. One of the consequences of not journaling.

  Sunday morning found my family and I in Oklahoma. For the first time this year, all the cousins on my Dad's side were together. We had a lot of fun.

 

  Sunday afternoon found my family back in God's country with all my cousin's on my Mom's side of the family, also for the first time this year.

 

  Monday was the 4th of July. Shopping and picnicking happened.

 

   It is hard to say no to books.

 

  In the afternoon, some of us cousins decorated my oldest cousin's house. Because among family members, small acts of vandalism are tokens of affection.

 

   Tuesday I came home to find this masterpiece had come in the mail.

 

  Wednesday, I bought some patterns.

 

  Thursday, I tried out a new muffin recipe, and the results were pretty good.

 

  Yesterday, I got the lamest fortune with my takeout.

 

  Personally, this past week was good. It was really good. I got to spend time with people I love as well as get things accomplished. Nationally though, this past week has been horrible. It seems that every morning I woke to some new brokenness. I keep wanting the world to be better, and yet I live under the shadow of knowing it never really will be. This darkness may be a small and passing thing, but people are a part of this darkness, and it hurts to know that. This is going to sound silly, I needed to get that Switchfoot album when I did. It reminded pain is a part of life. It always will be. And yet pain is where God's goodness is the brightest. Its where His love is the loudest. The wound is where the light shines through.







What I did this Week: Spring Break

  This past week was spring break. At least it was for my little brothers who are still in school.

  To celebrate we had a Mario Cart marathon on Sunday night.

 

   Monday night, I tried my hand at  deep-dish pizza and it turned out pretty good.

 

  Tuesday night, my little brothers all got haircuts.

 

  Wednesday, we did a super nerdy thing for spring break and went to Half-Price Books and Barnes and Nobles.

 

  Thursday, my Dad and I took pictures of chemical plants on our photo safari and they actually turned out being pretty cool.

 

  Friday, we drove up to Big Sandy to drop one of my brothers off for basic training at ALERT. On the way up there, we stopped a really cool timber museum in Lufkin, TX.

 

 

  After dropping my brother off, the rest of my family and I set off for Denton to see our cousins for a short while. Today, us older cousins took the younger cousins to the park for a picnic.

 

   Close to the park was this really cool empty lot full of chairs bearing the title "Chairy Orchard." And as so many things end up being in my life, it was a great photo op.

 

 

  And finally, us older cousins went out for yogurt before my family went back home at the end of our spring break.

 

And so went my week!





 

What I did this Week: Cousin Weekend

  This week started with Valentine's Day, and I got a Valentine from a special someone.

 

   I made French toast casserole for lunch because why not.

 

  And I finished a baby outfit.

 

  Then, Friday morning, a couple of my brothers and I set out to visit our cousins for the weekend. And I have a sad lack of pictures for this trip. So here are all the pictures from this trip worth showing.

 

  We got there around lunch time so we had a picnic in the park with pizza.

 

  In the evening, we watched the play my cousin Abby directed. Since my flash ran out of batteries, there are no pictures of the play. I did manage, though, to take one picture of my little cousin who I realize is not so little any more.

 



  The Saturday, we went shopping and had lunch and Ben and Jerry's.

 

All and all, it was a really great weekend. And now I leave you with this wonderful lip-sync video we made, that will only be funny to those who participated.

Adventures in Pearland

  During and after Christmas, I had the great joy of hanging out with all of my cousins. And as always, it was fun. Today some of us went to the mall and while we were there we decided to have a scavenger hunt (and to my cousins who did not go, we are doing this next time we see y'all). Here now the evidence of our adventure, and possibly our immaturity.

  And while I am thinking about it, here is the list of things we were supposed to do on our scavenger hunt:

• Find a book written by a Youtuber
• Find a holiday candle
• Find Star Wars merch that was not in Barnes and Nobles
• Take a picture of our team wearing hats
• Take a creepy picture of an old man
• Find a weird purse
• Try on some clothes
• Try out some make-up samples
• Sit at a furniture display

  Naturally, I do not have pictures of each item each team found, but as it is, this is a picture heavy post, so enjoy (and photo credit to my cousins Deborah and Abigail).

Here's my beautiful team :)

 

Both teams ended up picking the same book.

And different candles

The guy in the background was the subject of my team's creepy-old-man picture.

 

 

 

 



 

Once we were through with our scavenger hunt, we decided that this should become an annual tradition. So hopefully, there will be more of these posts in the future. Who knows?