corny jokes and hampton

“We’ve got our dog trained: ‘Sit down- or whatever‘. We tell him to sit down and he does whatever!” -Grampa.

The corny jokes fly when we’re at Gramp’s house. It seems like every time we come, Dad and Grampa both pull out all their silly puns. They’re smart (or should I say witty?), so it’s not hard for them to have half a dozen jokes in just a few sentences. And with the rest of us hearing that all the time, it’s no wonder we come up with some of our own once in a while.

I love being at Grampa’s. Grampa and I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie this morning. It's going to be delicious!

Zoe and I have been sleeping on the best air mattress ever for the last couple of nights. It’s about 2.5 feet thick, and it doesn’t lose a ton of air when you sleep on it. We blow it up at night and suck the air out of it in the mornings.

As I was writing, I remembered the pie crust cookies I made out of the left over bits of crust and stuck in the oven a few minutes ago. I remembered too late. The best way to eat them is to break off the burnt bottom layer and have a glass of water/milk handy- they’re dry.

Grampa made us a HUGE breakfast this morning. We had eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Yummy :).

I forgot to mention why we’re here at Grampa’s.

Dad is being voted on as pastor at First Baptist Church of Hampton in New Hampshire. The vote is on Sunday, October 3rd. He’s preached there three times so far, and we’re hoping he’ll preach there many, many more times. The church has a wide age range. There’s a 6-year-old, and there’s a 92-year-old. There are representatives from most of the generations currently alive, I think. But there aren’t many of them. A regular service probably has about 30. We really like the people. They’re a family, and that’s what we want in a church.

As for where we’ll live if this goes through, the church has a parsonage. It’s a tiny little house with funnily shaped rooms. You have to go through one of the bedrooms upstairs to get to the bathroom. There are ways to avoid that, but it’ll take some work. But I like the house overall. With a lot of paint and a few other small improvements, it’ll be beautiful. It just needs somebody to love it :). There are plenty of windows, which is a must, and even though the front yard=the parking lot of the church, there’s a little space out back for James.





And I have to say. Hampton is on the coast (the church is 2 miles from the beach), and you can walk pretty much everywhere- grocery store, pharmacy, Dunkin's. Yup :)
I have to go check my pie, but hopefully I’ll be writing more soon.

i must have been desperate to sew.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of clutter-purging lately, getting ready to move. A couple weeks ago, Mom and I both went through our fabric scraps, and we both found some of my handiwork from when I was little.
When I was little (as in possible as young as 4), Mom would cut fabric squares for me to make little nine-patch “quilts” with. Several times, she paired the squares with other matching squares for me to sew in a little pattern. The ones she paired are very decent, respectable-looking little quilts. Here are some of the ones she helped with:

But sometimes, I cut and/or paired my own. These are fearfully and wonderfully contrived, I assure you! If you need a laugh, here it is:

Aren’t they original? But wait, there’s more! I also started a “quilt”- a real, big quilt, not just a baby-doll one.

This one was actually a large piece of fabric that Mom cut up and I sewed back together!

the whole quilt.

This one is actually decent-looking! :)

Suffice it to say that that’s coming apart. Maybe eventually I really will make one, though :).
Note: all the pictures say they were taken on 1/13/2007. Well, they weren't. I need to both fix the date on my camera and take that ugly date stamp off...

Photoshoot 2

Today, Zoe and I had a little photoshoot. She likes to take pictures, and I like to model for her, so we make a good team ;).

Here are a few of the best:

Love is Not Against the Law

Politics or love
Can make you blind or make you see
Make you a slave or make you free
But only one does it all.

And that’s giving up your life
For the ones you hate the most
It’s giving them your gown
When they’ve taken your coat

It’s learning to admit
When you’ve had a hand
In setting them up
And tearing them down

Because love is not against the law
Love is not against the law
Love, love, love, love

Are we defending life
When we just pick and choose
Lives acceptable to lose
And which ones to defend

Cause you cannot choose your friends
But you choose your enemies
And what if they were one
One and the same

Could you find a way
To love them the same
To give them your name

Because love is not against the law
Love is not against the law
Love, love, love, love

That amazing song, titled Love is Not Against the Law, is by Derek Webb.
I’ve played that on the piano several times in the last few days, and the lyrics are now permanently imprinted on my brain. So I’ve been thinking about the words a lot, and realizing that he says a lot of things in this song that I hope will be true of me soon (if that makes any sense).
I want God’s love to make me see. I want to be a slave to God, which would make me free. I always want to remember the amazing sacrifice that Jesus made fore me. I want to be willing to turn the other cheek. I want to be generous. I want to spread God’s love all around with my actions and words and thoughts.
I need to learn to admit when I’m wrong, and to apologize for things in a way that glorifies God.
Without love, nothing means anything (there’s a really great Charlie Dodrill song on that subject). Even the law is nothing without love.
My enemies usually start out as my friends. But I let myself forget the good thing that first made me want to know them, and soon all I see in them is their bad qualities. And that’s one of my bad qualities. I need to let go- to stop letting certain things irritate me in people. And I need to be loving to all people. To stop picking and choosing my friends.
Jesus loved us all, and He knew all of our bad qualities. But He chose to love us and even like us anyway. He even gave us His life, and lets us use His name. His actions have made all the difference in my life, and I want to share them, so He can make all the difference in the lives of other people.
If I obey all the law all my life and don’t love, it is meaningless. I don’t want to be meaningless. I want to love. I want to be brave, and let myself be vulnerable by being open, honest, and loving with even the people I don’t like so much.
By the grace of God, I hope to become more loving.

gingersnaps and canada mints

My Grampa bought me some gingersnaps while we were in Maine. I think gingersnaps are awesome. They’re probably my favorite cookie.
My Grammy loved gingersnaps, and we always had them in Maine. Never at home, although all of us like them.
Not even home-made gingersnaps. Just regular, store-bought ones.
I hadn’t had one since Grammy died, back in January 2006. But they were just as good as ever.
I guess maybe I associate them with happiness or something, because being in Maine has almost always been happy for me.
Anyway, I missed them. I'm glad they were as good as I remember them being.

I also had Canada mints while I was up there. I brought some home. I just got them because I remembered Hannah getting them a lot and liking them when she shared. So, I decided to get some.
My Aunt Gail told me when she saw I'd gotten some that my Grammy always liked Canada mints. Which is something I had not realized.
I miss my Grammy. Maine is different without her.
Sometimes, it seems like things can never be as good as they once were (which, by the way, is not true. And I know that. But, still).

vacation in new england

Today has been a good day. But long. One of those nights on which you think back to the morning and ask, “Was that really today?”

This vacation has really been phenomenal. It just seems better than last trip, somehow. This time there hasn’t been as much running around, and we haven’t had to cram visiting everyone into 10 days :).

We arrived at Grampa’s last Wednesday around lunch time, and it was odd. It was odd because Lydia was the only one at Grampa’s house! Grampa had gone to the dump or something and Aunt Gail was making lunch at the Community Center in Bridgton, something she does once a week. So we had a few minutes alone with Lydia at first, full of unpacking the car and giving/getting some lovely elongated hugs :). We’ve done a lot of things since we got here, but it hasn’t been too crazily busy. We went to Freeport yesterday. It was the first time Zoe and I had ever been to an L.L. Bean. That was fun. They have a trout pond with several trout swimming around in the fishing and boating store. And we found a couple good bargains in the seconds outlet, too :). The L.L. Bean in Freeport is divided between 3 buildings!

We also went to Crabtree and Evelyn, The Beadin’ Path, The Cosmetics Company Store, and The Banana Republic Outlet. Such fun! The excursion was made by Mom, Aunt Gail, Zoe and I. I got some free lotion from CT&E. Smells wonderful! And ooh, we topped off our morning out with lunch at the Bridgton House of Pizza, which has some of the BEST pizza ever. They make their own crust at the shop every day. The food was SO yummy!!

When we got home, Zoe and I went swimming at Naples Town Beach on Long Lake (10 minutes from Grampa’s house) with our 9-year-old second cousin Caleb. We hadn’t seen Caleb in about 3 years, but we had a lot of fun with him that day :).

But I found out something freaky this morning. About the same time Zoe and I were swimming with Caleb in Long Lake, a man drowned in Brandy Pond. Brandy Pond is essentially right across a bridge from where we were swimming in Long Lake…

One day, we went over to Malia’s. Malia is the daughter of Grampa’s pastor, and she is my age and her birthday is the same day as Zoe’s [just two years earlier :)]. We have done something with her every year when we come up for as long as I can remember. We have mainly gone swimming the last few years, and this year was no different :). Brandy Pond was nice and warm that day :).

Jared and Becky came to Grampa’s last weekend, and stayed from Thursday night to Saturday night. It was awesome :). We all love to see Addie in the mornings, because she is simply a morning person. She’s so talkative and happy when she first wakes up, she’s a blast :). And we celebrated Aunt Gail’s birthday on Saturday. A couple of my aunts and uncles and a few cousins came over, which was fun :). We always find something to celebrate when we’re up here, mainly so we can get everyone together ;).

So, I mentioned that all my cousins came over. I really enjoy seeing my cousins, but we don’t often spend a lot of time together. Because both my parents are the youngest children in their families, and because there is such a gap of years between Lydia and I, Zoe and I are the only grandchildren or great-grandchildren of both our sets of grandparents who are between 10 and 20. Caleb is 9 and Leah is 21.

Ooh, there was a first on this trip. This was the first time we’ve ever been at Grampa’s when Grampa has left for an extended trip while we were there. He left a few days ago for Arkansas, to see my cousin graduate from college.

We left Grampa’s and came to Jared and Becky’s today. We stopped at Patternworks (A "wicked good" [in the vernacular] yarn store) on the way! I really, really enjoyed it. There was a lot of sale yarn, and when I got up to the register Mom told me that all the sale items were an extra 20% off! So I got 4 skeins of yarn for $12. Really nice yarn- bamboo, wool, cotton, and soybean, and all of it soft. I wanted to stay longer! But I was just really glad we went :). I hope to go back some time soon. I’ll probably post some pictures of the yarn later.

Like I said, it’s been a long day. And this has been a long post. And this long post is now over.

i'm going to maine.

Ramona and Beezus was cute :). There were some parts that weren’t true to the book, which I disliked, but they worked some of the best moments from the book into it- and added some cute ones of their own.

I came home and stayed outside for a few minutes. There are these really pretty purple flowers that just come up in our yard every year in late July. We didn’t plant them, they just come up. But all in a row right in front of our house. So I decided to take some pictures of them :).

I love these. I think they’re some kind of lilies.

Today, I need to pack. We’re going to Maine tomorrow! Yay :). I’ve always kind of enjoyed the trip to Maine. I liked it best when we were all together. I remember being in the huge van. I even remember a trip from when I was so young I was still in my car seat. I had a cooler under my feet and Jared sat next to me.

Another trip, Hannah, Zoe and I were in the back seat of the Chevy Conversion Van. Jared and Lydia were in the captain’s chairs, and Mom and Dad, of course, were in the front. Dad was really tired, we were almost there, and we were dancing. Sitting down, of course. But we were playing music and laughing and just having fun. Then we got pulled over. Hannah whispered to Zoe and I: “Pretend you’re asleep.” So we, of course, laid down on the backseat bed (you could push a button and the seat would flatten out and be a bed. And it was awesome) and pretended to be asleep. We listened quietly as the officer talked to Dad. Dad, as I mentioned, was exhausted. The officer had really pulled us over because we were unbuckled on the bed in the back. He said something along the lines of “Why are your kids pretending to be asleep?”

“Stop pretending to be asleep, kids!” Mom called from the front.

The officer wanted us to buckle up, so we had to. THAT was uncomfortable.

The officer told Dad he was weaving and asked him how old his kids were. Dad almost couldn’t tell him, and Mom had to rescue him a couple times.

The officer made Dad get out and walk the line on the road. Dad could just barely do it, but the officer had to let us go.

But we laugh about that a lot now. I remember Hannah saying something after the guy let us go about us not having been buckled up because in order to be buckled we would have to have straps conveniently situated across our necks and ankles.

I remember the year we had to stop at a hotel because the weather was too bad to keep going that night. Mom, Dad, Hannah and Lydia got the two beds, and Jared had to sleep on the floor. Zoe and I were on a rollaway bed, my head at one end with her feet right next to it and her head on the other end kept company by my feet. It was uncomfortable, but now that I think about it I’m glad I didn’t have to sleep on the floor like Jared :).

It might have been that same year that we tied some soda Dad had gotten from the Mission on top of the van to keep it cold. We got a lot of funny looks, and the woman at the McDonald’s drive-through was laughing as she took our order. But we had very cold sodas that day. In fact, they were more like slushies! :)

I remember singing in the car. We sang rounds of “Row Your Boat” and “Frere Jacques.” (I have no idea how to spell ‘brother’ in French. Sorry.) We made up two new verses to “Do Your Ears Hang Low.” No, seriously, we did.

I miss my siblings most at Christmas and in Maine.

I remember staying in the pink room upstairs at Grampa’s with Hannah, Lydia, and Zoe. We would be awake “late” telling blond jokes and knock-knock jokes at least one night per trip. And we would talk about all sorts of things. And I loved every minute of it. I’m always a little sad that we can’t do it again when we go.

But as we’ve gotten older we’ve had good memories too. Last year, Lydia was sleeping in Aunt Gail’s room and Zoe and I were downstairs on the air mattress. Lydia went to bed at the same time as Aunt Gail, knowing that she would be awake for hours because it was too early for her to go to bed. Well, Zoe and I wound up going to her room and calling her downstairs to watch Good Eats with us, and we watched it (it was about lemon meringue pie). Lydia just never went upstairs. She stayed between us on the air mattress, and we talked for about 2 hours before we fell asleep. That was definitely the most fun night of that trip.

So, anyway. I’m looking forward to being at Grampa’s house :).