Laughter is honey for the soul

 

Be forewarned: this is a rambling post of some length....

This weekend was about as busy as a weekend can get....

Friday began as an average Friday does. In the wee hours of the morning, dragging myself out of a warm bed, to get dressed and ready to spend the day at choir and orchastra, where I am now a teacher instead of a student. (Pretend that wasn't a fragment sentence, please.)

Thadden and I drove a different car in the hopes that we would bowl that evening, so we got to leave earlier than everyone else, which is nice. We got there much earlier than normal.

I hung out with friends all day and was in a rather hyper mood. I found out a VERY dear friend of mine is going to Kenya for two weeks in late December for a missions trip!!!!! And that Noni had to go home early, so I didn't get to see her..... :(

We did go bowling....but I ended up being the only girl (good thing I LIKE my brother and his friends...) All my gal friends either had to go home and bake delicious pies for the families, go to work, were too tired to come, or went to their sister-in-laws homes. (NOT that I'm mentioning anyone specific. ;) That is one of those moments when I'm glad I'm not an awkward girl or boy-crazy. Cause in either case, one or the other of us all would have been up a creek. Without an canoe. BLAH.

So, anway, bowling was a fail. I am NOT a good bowler (is that a word), even though I like it. Guess I better stick to the sports where the ball bounces.... But I still had fun, cause getting a good score is not what counts, and I had fun laughing at how I got a strike one bowl and a gutter ball the next.... (I did. Three times.)

 



Saturday rolled around with typical work in the morning. Then my sisters and I helped Daddy get wood.

 

Unfortunately, it was wood that someone had already tried to burn.

 

Ahem, unfortunately for us, that is....

 

 

 



Did I ever mention that ash does something to your mind?

 

 

 

Oh, I didn't. Well, now you know.

 

And just because I HAVE to point it out....that is my bookshelf there behind us in the first picture... :D

 

I screwed up my neck though, because I alone hauled at least thirty logs that weigh more than I do.... that's what comes of having a brother who works all day.

 

So anyway, it was a happy moment when I got to take a nice, scalding hot shower.

 

Sunday started out warm. Wonderfully warm. Church was incredible and convicting. The paster reminded me of things I had been holding back in my life and I gave them to Jesus. Always a wonderful feeling, that. Blessed relief and glorious bliss!!!!! (Sorry, I just had to say that. I'm not even sure why...)

 

Then I am helping direct the Christmass paegent at our church. We have about fifteen kids ~ over half of whom are under 6. Let's just say..........we have a long way to go.

 

But some of them did surprisingly well!!! There is a 5-year-old that delivered his line better than almost all of the others. He is a cutie too!!!!!! I love little kids. A lot.

 

That was an understatement, fyi.

 

Thadden and I left church and went to friend's house. THEN came the greatest part of my weekend.

Tons and tons of people! Volley ball. Word games. Soups and conversations. Making new friends. Catch Phrase. Hot apple cider. Fall air and crisp breezes. Good friends made better.

Wow. It was amazing. I think I laughed all night long. There was probably around 80 people there. I think I knew about 20 of them. And it was awesome.

I have at least two new friends. And an old friend of mine (he helped us move into our house when we came to Missouri from Oregon when I was only 13) became good friends with me again. (We haven't seen each other in over a year...)

I like being with people. Especially fun people who make it easy to be around them and get your jokes and laugh at your goofiness... People who don't laugh are never easy to be around. But I manage. It is so interesting seeing the contrast in people. There are some who are sooooooooo quiet. And then there are others who are NEVER quiet. (I'm afraid I tend to drift toward the latter...)

But even being talkative myself, it is easier to be around people who like to talk back and laugh and share jokes than making them all myself and being the only one who speaks. So, that night was just pure bliss.

We had lots of fun coming home, Thadden and I, too, because we sang all the way (almost an hour of driving) and we did all sorts of funny things: random harmony, silly voices, and crazy throw-ins, which are always fun. We recorded it and then transformed it into crazy voices on our iphones. Oh, the laughter we got out of that. It went on and on. And we sang for real too...loverly.

Monday night our family started what is beginning to be a tradition by watching the first section of the extended edition of Lord of the Rings. I CANNOT wait for The Hobbit to come out. I am going opening night if I can help it, with a ton of friends "for my birthday", which is 4 days after it comes out.

Well, I had better wrap this up before it is a novel in itself. Except it has no point or moral, except, perhaps, enjoy life to it's fullest measure.

I'm looking forward to this week too. Thanksgiving is, of course, Thursday, for all of us....er....who are we? United States residents.... (it really is awful not having a "name" to call yourselves. American doesn't cut it for me, because I am half Canadian, and they DO NOT celebrate Thanksgiving the same way, and Mexicans are American, and they DO NOT celebrate it at all!!!!!! SO, I wish there was such a thing as United Statians....or something, that I can call us.)

Well, anyhow, forgiving my ranting. That will be Thursday. Then Friday ~ BLACK Friday ~ (which has nothing to do with pirates, in case anyone was confused) we are going with a BUNCH of friends all around town to check out all the stores and sales. I'm super excited cause it will be my first time (since last year I was stuck in the National Forest with my Daddy reading a rather boring book all day. Oh wait, I didn't say that ~ no books are boring. Reading a rather dry book all day. Phew, better. Needless to say, I wasn't there.).

And I AM finishing now, really and truly.

How is your family celebrating the holiday (be you living in the US...)? What kinds of plans do you have? Are you going out for Black Friday?