You've Got Mail

Hi Missy,
Thank you for your email.

I'm so pleased you and Amelia are enjoying my books! There are lots more on the way!




Best wishes
Caroline.


HA! :-)

HOLLA -

Caroline Jayne Church

Amelia has two books that have the SWEETEST illustrations: I Love You Through and Through and You Are My Sunshine. They are so bright and crisp and colorful...which makes them two of my favorite books to choose (since I am the one choosing the books right now. Sorry, Amelia.)

Anyway, I looked up the illustrator, and her name is Caroline Jayne Church. She is from Surrey, and she is quite the experienced illustrator! I thought it would be fun to email her and tell her how much Amelia and I are enjoying her illustrations, so I did.

Hopefully I will hear back from her - I will keep you posted! Until then, check out her site:

Caroline Jayne Church

I'm sure you will enjoy her lovely art as much as we do!

HOLLA -

Fall Tradition

For weeks now, Ben has been preparing for our 2nd annual fall tradition - a hike at a park in Weston, about 45 minutes north of where we live. It's a beautiful hike along a river bluff, and in the fall, the colors are spectacular. We hiked it last year, and he couldn't wait to get back on the trail, this time with Amelia.

There was only one problem.

I didn't want to go.

Amelia had been sick with a terrible runny nose, and I had been sick with a runny nose, sore throat, cough, etc. etc. We were completely run down, and needed a restful weekend. The 2nd annual fall hike was not fitting into the schedule.

I was also tired of doing stuff I didn't want to do. At work all day, I do stuff I have to do. Then I come home and do more stuff I have to do. I just wanted a day of doing stuff I WANTED to do - like watching a movie or catching up with friends over the phone or vegging out to a mindless t.v. show. Maybe I could even fit in a nap! Not only were all of these things on my priority list, I also needed to go to the grocery store and make a Target run for school.

Again, hiking on a river bluff was not on my radar.

I also have this weird phobia about going too far from home. I don't know why, but the older I get, the weirder I am about this. I like being close to home. During the day, at night....whenever...being far from home (especially for something I don't like to do) makes me anxious and puts me in a bad mood.

And in a bad mood I was on that Sunday. As I packed some sandwiches, I vented to Ben about what a lousy idea going on this hike was. "A family tradition should be something everyone wants to do," I whined. "We should take a vote on family traditions." "Fine," Ben said. "I'll just take Amelia and the two of us will go on a hike and you can stay here."

But of course, I couldn't just stay home while they went on a hike. I would just sit and home and feel guilty the whole time.

So, I went. We drove the 45 minutes across and up town, and hiked. And...

It was beautiful.



And Amelia loved it.



And so did Ben.



And so did I.



And then we stopped at an apple orchard on the way home...



And it was amazing.



And the animals were so fun.




And the sun was shining.



And the rolling hills were awe-inspiring.



And it put me in the perfect fall mood.

And...

I ate my words, like I always do. Once Ben drags me out into nature, I always love it and have the most amazing time. I just have to whine and stomp and drag my feet before he gets me in the car and then we go and it's so awesome.

So, I apologize to God and Ben for throwing a fit about nature. Oh, and I apologize to Amelia too. Hopefully one day she will grow up and learn NOT to be a fit-thrower like her mother.



Lesson learned.

(Until next fall.)

(I'm just being honest.)

HOLLA -

The Dark Corner

A wise friend recently told me that I see life like a picture. The majority of the picture is bright and beautiful, with crisp scenery of multiple blessings. A warm home, clothes on our backs. A beautiful daughter, a loving husband. A wonderful, supportive family, a great job. Too many friends to count, a graceful God.

But then there's the corner of the picture. Right there, in the top left, is the dark corner. That's the place where the bad stuff collects.

Amelia is sick again. There's too much to do at work. I'm not happy with my performance at school. Friends are struggling. The government is a mess. Ben and I had a fight. Lazy people are winning; hard workers are overlooked. I don't have time for the things I used to love that filled up my spirit.

If you look quick enough, you might miss it. But most of the time, my eye leads me right to it. It's so small, yet so powerful. It sucks me in when I am weak and low, pulling me away from all things beautiful. It's not necessarily something I choose; I think I was partly born this way. I have a five year-old niece who was born with a dark corner, too. She and I will be having many chats as she grows up, I'm sure.

I hate the dark corner.

But God reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

The picture is still mostly clear; life is good. Joy comes from holding on to the blessings and the grace that greet us each morning as we open up our eyes.

Tonight is dinner out with friends to celebrate a birthday. A filling up of the spirit, for sure.

Amelia is taking a much-needed nap, and I just had a fight with a dirty bathtub and won.

I took this picture at a park a few weeks ago.

See the dark corner?



Me neither.

HOLLA -

To Fall In Love

What does it mean to fall in love
To be sent an angel from above
The stuff of dreams she was made of...
That's what it means to fall in love.



What does it mean to see a smile
Full of grace and full of style
Think I'll just sit and stare a while...
At that beautiful girl with the dimpled smile.



What does it mean to hear a laugh
through soapy bubbles in the bath
How blessed am I to walk this path...
Along which I hear the sweetest laugh.



What does it mean to hold a hand
Through the pale lamplight upon the stand
And dream of days ahead so grand...
Oh, how my heart melts when I hold her hand.



What does it mean to watch her sleep
As soft, as quiet as a sheep
The safest place for her we'll keep...
As peacefully she drifts to sleep.



What does it mean to have a child
A dream fulfilled, a life so wild
A baby's face so meek and mild...
that's what it means to have a child.



How I love you, God only knows
Straight from your head down to your toes
Each day my heart just grows and grows...
for you, my love... Amelia Rose.

Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a condition where pathways are crossed in the brain, creating temporary, or sometimes permanent, colored numbers, letters, or days of the week. It can also create visuals with music or sound; one hears something and automatically conjures up an image to go along with that sound, or vice versa. Crazy, huh?

I am thrilled to tell you that I have this. I have always had it, I just didn't know what it was or how to label it. A few years ago, my friend Lindsey, who is a reading teacher, told me about synesthesia, and I instantly knew what she was talking about. Here's how mine works:

Every number has a color. It's always the same color. Every time I look at a number, I see colors, whether it's in black type or not. When a person looks and sees this:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I see this:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Every time. It doesn't matter how old I am or what time of the day it is or what I am looking at, these numbers always have a color. The numbers on my alarm clock are lit by a red light. But if it's 2:11, to me, it looks like this:

2:11

If it's 3:53, it looks like this:

3:53

Isn't that crazy?

So now my secret is out. I've decided that I'd somehow like to turn this into some kind of superhero superpower, but I'm not sure how yet. Any suggestions are welcome.

HOLLA -

Tess and Taylor

Last weekend, I took my niece Tess to the Taylor Swift concert. She just recently turned ten, and I thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate! We made a day out of it - Tess came over in the morning, and we hung out before the big show. On our to-do list:

Compare sock collections



(mine is clearly an embarrassment, comparatively).



Watch The Sound of Music. This only lasted about 45 minutes, by the way. "I don't like old, long movies, Mimi."

Get stuff to make muffins for breakfast the next morning.



Figure out mean ways to torture Uncle Ben in his sleep.

Read The Dork Diaries aloud, taking turns at each chapter. Great read, by the way.


GET TO THE SHOW...



...which was phenomenal. Not only do I LOVE Taylor Swift's music (because it's personal, written by her, and is instrumentally and lyrically interesting), I realize now that she also puts on a killer show. Lighting, staging, orchestration, props, dancers, fireworks....im-pressive. Yes, we about froze to death. And no, we did not get to stand up and scream and yell and jump up and down because we were about 1,000 rows up in the nosebleeds. But it was glorious. And magical. And I am STILL thinking about it. And playing her cd nonstop in the car.



It was great fun, and I hope my lovely, talented, smart, mature, interesting, beautiful niece loved it too. (I think she did. Even when it took us 30 minutes to find my car afterwards because we were in the wrong lot.)

Taylor Swift and a weekend with Tess = TWO THUMBS UP.




HOLLA -