These are the nieces and nephews on Christmas. Their cuteness astounds me.

Ick...I'm sick.

So, the mono kind of subsided for a while, which was so nice. Unfortunately, when my bro and his fam came for Christmas, they were all sick with the flu (the California flu??) and got everyone in my house, including me, sick.....again. So here's round two, which will make this Christmas break just a barrel of fun and excitement. All in all, Christmas was great. The entire 18 person, soon to be 19 with my sister having another one (yeayyy!!), family all gathered around the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, sick, coughing, crying, throwing up. It was a glorious adventure let, me tell you.
I got a visit from Miss Liana before the flu came on which was wonderful to see her. I wanted to go see Ally, Josh, Liana, and Rob for a reunion, but that was no longer an option.
It thundered and lighteninged (past tense verb for lightening??) last night. I sat curled in a blanket on my back porch listening to the rain, and counting the seconds between thunder and lightening to decipher how far away it was, watching the black, silhouetted trees swaying in the wind.

My Life Lately

I haven't posted in a while because I've had mono for the past few weeks. It stinks, let me tell you. But, I'm mostly over it now. That's nice. Tomorrow, my brother Mike and his family are moving into our house.(out of their disgusting apartment). A funny story that goes with my brother. Today, after they had finished moving all of their stuff into storage to be moved after Christmas, they checked into a hotel in San Diego. (mission valley for anyone who's been there). they were really close to the mall there, even walking distance. So Mike decides to walk to the mall to get some cheap food. They had heard on the radio that there was a convict loose and police were looking for the man in that same mall, so he took caution as he left the hotel. As he walked to go to the mall, he noticed some police looking very sternly at him. There was quite a few of them. Struck by this, he smiled and kept walking. More police show up, he just smiles. Until they all get out of their vehicles with guns and shotguns pointed at him and yelling at him to put his hands up and then put his hands on the police vehicle. He does so and smiles to reassure them that he is NOT armed and dangerous, and sweetly tries to explain to them that he is not whom they seek as they begin to cuff him. The man responsible for identifying whoever the perpetrator was came to see if Mike was the one. "That's not the guy!!!" the man said, and the police sheepishly let him go. "What were you doing here?" the police asked. He explained that he and his family were moving to South Carolina the next day, and that they were just staying in the hotel for the night, and that he was just going to get some food for his family. An officer speaks up. "Where in South Carolina are you moving??" He explained it was the Columbia area, Lexington to be exact. The Officer perked up. "I'm from Lexington!!! My aunt lives in Irmo!!" So they let him go with an apology and a hearty welcome out of San Diego and into the South. I swear, this is a true story that happened today.

What do you remember?

What do you remember about this poem? It's actually a song, but they gave it out in chapel today, and I almost cried.

Brother-sister,, let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace to
Let you be my servant too.

We are pilgrims on a journey
and companions on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

There's more, but that's the part that sparked my memory. I want to see if anyone remembers.

Aaah, Christmas

It's finally cold out....and cold in. It seems my new house doesn't warm well, but that's ok, I've become used to the feeling. We've been decorating my house over the past few days, which has posed a challenge--figuring out where everything goes. New house. New spots to put things. We have a little garland of greens draped down our tiny little banister. Flash backs to garlands down the big staircase. You guys want to know something so sad?? All of my pictures from about the beginning of December to the end of Christmas break got completely deleted on my computer. Rage!!! But they're in my mind, and that's what counts. Last year I had a little more money to buy Christmas presents for my family. This year, I'm a whole lot poorer, i. e. I have no money at all, and there's more family members. Hope they like knit scarves, because that's what they're ALL getting!! HA HA. Another thing I forgot to add to my list of things I miss...this might go on the top five. THE CARNFORTH BOOKSTORE!!!