It's official. I've gone crazy. Of course, I guess this is typical for a somewhat insane family...but still, I thought I could last a little longer.

After sitting in this lumpy chair for several hours and writing 6 essays, I am insane! It's September...not even FROST season yet, and here I am listening to Christmas music and thinking about twinkle lights (either thinking about them, or I am seeing stars from lack of sleep...)

I want Christmas! Snow...candycanes...jollyness! It just sounds so pleasant. Doesn't it? Oh right, I forgot, it's STILL September.

Sigh...A winter-loving-girl stuck in a non-winter-loving-world. (yes depressing right? So dramatic) :)

Winter will come! And hopefully along with it I will actually stop being responsible and ignore school long enough to AT LEAST write one post a weekish :) Who knows! Miracles happen right?

The stork is on its final approach

After seconds of holding our breath, minutes of jumping up and down excitedly, and nine long, terrible months of waiting....it is time.
At 3:30 this morning the phone rang. I heard my mom scrambling like only moms can, and then the ringing stopped and I heard her talking. The very second I heard it answered, I leaped out of bed, muttering to myself that it was time, hurriedly got dressed, and ran to the kitchen. As soon as I entered I couldn't help my mouth blurting out in a half-yell 'IS BETH IN LABOR!"
The answer was YES.
I of course, being inexperienced at this whole thing, expected us to only have time to brush our teeth and then rush to the hospital quicker than you can say 'The stork is here!' or 'push!' Sadly my mom calmly explained that we would leave in the morning.
I have never had more trouble falling asleep in my life.
When I DID wake up, at 7:30, it was a rush of getting changed, trying not to look like a dead zombie, shoving fruit into a blender and hoping it doesn't get clogged, and running your body with a 4-hours-of-sleep brain. It didn't go so well...but ahh, here I am in the hospital waiting for the little bundle of nephewness to be popped right out and stuck into my sisters arms.
My brother and I, of course, felt it was our aunt and uncle - ly duties to take a picture of how excited we were on the way to the hospital. First, we had to harbor our joy and do a normal smiling picture.

Do we look tired? Not at ALL right? (Play along....)

And then to our joyful hearts, we did a picture expressing our TRUE feelings. I think that the picture of our real mood will tell you what an exciting and --->
brilliantly adorable day this is going to become. :) <----Smiley face!

BUT....one question....

WHAT IS LABOR WITHOUT STUFFED PUPPY DOGS?

Exactly.....it doesn't count unless a puppy dog in involved. I must say, my dearest sister ( look at her blog here ) and I will have quite the competition going on so we can decide who is the most doting aunt. As of right now, I am winning (that's right Nadine!) Back on track...yes I did buy little Levi Ray a stuffed dog, and it is CUTE.

All in all...it will be born soon!  I can't wait! When the stork lands on the runway...there will be an aunt (or an ant...I am black and slimy (not really)) waiting anxiously to take the baby to baggage claim....yup...that makes no sense, but I have no end to this post. So...
 THE END! (Theme song!)

Christmas Shopping?

The weather has tricked my brain. It was beautifully sunny, heat beaming down like a giant flashlight...when suddenly it rained and rained and rained...for a week or more. That feels like spring...but it is SUMMER. That is when it started its backward trip. It started hailing, back-peddling to may....and then SNOW! Yes...snow in June! It had reached December, and my brain, along with it, had reached shopping for Christmas. All I can say is that I now have an entire list of what I am getting my family!

Ho Ho Ho and a Merry Juneness!

Life defined in two days...

My life has officially been defined ! I do believe I will start a tradition of starting my summers how I did this year....for they came up with the definition of my life and hometown. The word?

Dorkefiscent

Yes I am a 'tiny' bit of a dork...but that is not why I think this defines my life. It just sounds plain goofy and 'country'. This is what I did in the past two days...

Went to the 'Spud' Drive-in (yes it is named after a potato) and waited in a 'car' line for a half hour. I then got a hamburger (one of the famous 'spud' burgers) chocolate milkshake, and put on my pout face when their famous face sized (small exaggeration) bugget of sticky, fork-worthy caramel corn had JUST sold out. I then missed half of the movie waiting in lines, and froze in the back of a car with 5 blankets and my best friend

Next morning-------




I went to the famous LAWN MOWER RACES! Vroom! Filled with dirt, broken lawnmower belts, and lawn mower's racing around a dirt track at 30 MPH (yes that is actually how fast they go). It was a blast.


Afterwards....I looked at broken down pickup trucks that I might get for my 'first car'. Yes...they are covered in rust, dents, and lumps of who knows what...but hey! I live in the country ;)

Followed by....softball!

Sigh. My life. Spud Drive-in, lawn mower races (they have numbers on their lawnmowers and everything) pickup trucks, and softball. My life...so eventful and, well, frankly, amazing...not to mention blessed! I am now suffering from having to much fun with sore EVERYTHING and my arms are actually the color of cooked lobster (Aloe vera, pickle Juice, and ice cold baths....I think I may be in love with you.) but this was just the first TWO days of summer vacation! Next comes tubing, climbing huge trees, and being dorky ol' me. :)

Life's a piece of cupcake

Despite the differences, cupcakes and stories are very much the same....

They are both easy to make/write, but it takes an expert to write/make them WELL.

If written/made correctly, they will rise up, but if made/written wrong, they will collapse.

I love cupcakes, and after just now spending an hour making them for my sisters baby shower tomorrow, I have decided that I love them even MORE when someone ELSE makes them....

*cheers* for cupcakes!

An Apple A Day Keeps MY Doctor Away

Ahh, cars. Some love them and some don't. Personally I like them and think they are a great way to get around..however a few days ago I hated a particular car with a loathing that could not be lessened.
I stepped into the jail of a car, and it knew it was going to take me on an adventure I did not want to go on. When the door closed...assuring my kidnapping....the car chuckled softly to itself knowing what was coming. I, of course, as oblivious as I am, took out a book and started reading. The car couldn't have decided to start its fun in a more fabulous way than it did.

It rolled my fingers up in the window.

Between my yelling...my sister yelling...my fingers trying to wiggle out, and my mom frantically scrambling for the window roller-downer (and hopefully not rolling it UP instead of down) my stomach did a front flip and forgot to land. This wasn't the first time...so I of course, like a true pro, asked for the air conditioning to be turned up, closed my eyes, loosened my seat belt, and tried to imagine my story. My mind however, decided to be in cahoots with the car, and all it could think about was:
A. The chunky chili I had had about an hour before, and I definitely think there was something in it that my stomach did NOT agree with, and-
B. Allowing my nasty chili to once again meet the sunny air shining through the window...

When we stopped at the gas station, after about five minutes of relaxing and trying to control my frantic breathing, I knew that the future windy road would not come easy, and so..naturally, I instantly went into survivor mode. I lay down, and thought about falling asleep. As we wound around the speedy road, my stomach did a few more front flips, and I asked my mom to pull over in one of those Mom-stop-the-car-now-or-else-I-think-I-am-going-to-die voices that only comes when you really DO think you will die. She did, and we sat there for maybe 15 minutes, where I shakily walked across the road to a pleasant stream in the 'nose hair-freezing' outside air. After that I switched with my sis to the front seat....and I some how hung on to the invisible rope of life until we got to town where my mom bought my 'magic fruit'...

*Drum roll please.......*

APPLES!!!!!

I really can not explain how much I love them. After my first bite....I fell asleep until we reached the airport, where we took a plane home (another adventure in itself...)

The moral: Always carry apples in your purse.



Keep me as the APPLE of your eye; hide me in the shadow of the wings.
-Psalms 17:8

The look for the book....

The look for the book....

It was a snowy, slushy day when I arrived at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference. My sister Nadine and I rushed to the auditorium to meet up with a friend we met last year, Elizabeth, and to escape the chilly frost settling into more than one layer of our skin. We exchanged quick greetings, and then walked 'casually' up to the beautiful table that held the books.....but our eyes were searching for just one.
After waiting all year to buy 'From Darkness Won', the final book, from the trilogy 'Blood of the Kings' by Jill Williamson...we scanned the small amount on the table. Our hearts seemed to stop when we only saw the second book. Not the first, not the third...JUST the second. After a moment of staring in bewilderment....we knew the 'suspect' to question. The publisher and supplier of the stash of books.....Jeff Gerke

We decided to corner him.

After he rushed by us with a smile and a hello, we caught him. We politely asked where the book was, and when he explained that he had 'forgotten' it...the war started. Elizabeth, Nadine and I went crazy by making our displeasure known....


After several hundred pieces of ripped out notebook paper filled with tear jerking poems and sayings, and explanations of our horrible misery...it kind of became a morning and daytime ritual. Well equipped with tape, pens, notebooks, and a mind full of fun....we made the conference more than memorable.

Ahh Jeff Gerke...we thank you for putting up with our adventures. It was a blast! And as Nadine said...

'Jill Williamson, we love you, your books, your passion, and your publisher.'

Another memorable conference! Who knows what next year will bring....