"Congratulations, It's a girl!"

A lot of you have probably heard, but in case you haven't...

in August last year, after a series of classes, my parents drove down to Florida to become the new foster parents of a little girl name Ashlei, bringing her back to become one of the family. We were so excited to have her. She pretty much instantly became one of the family. She's helped Joel come out of his shell (before she came he hardly talked at all) and they're practically best friends. :)

well, long story short, Yesterday, June 27th, she became, legally, a member of the family. We called it her 'adoption day.' My parents decided to change her name to Sarah. At the end of the court session, the judge promptly stated, "congratulations, it's a girl!" :)

after it was all complete, we went on a family trip to botanical gardens to celebrate. And, well, see for yourself :) (i decided to take some photos of the fam along the way :D)

Sarah and Joel :)

my super tan amazing bro, phil

Stephen :)

Alexandra

Playing in the water

Simeon

Mom, Phil, Alexandra, and Dad

Natasha

Mom and Dad

Caleb :)

 Sarah is so bright and outgoing. I'm so excited to see what future God has charted out for her :)

Peculiar Places: Libraries.

the automatic glass door groans as it opens and I proceed to enter. I take a deep breath and sigh. The sweet scent of paper, glue, and newspaper permeates the air. There is a respectful hush that fills the space. People talk in low, monotonous voices. It's so perfect. The sun shines through the windows as i browse the long bookshelves, my fingers gliding along the plastic-encased and paper covers, searching for an intriguing title.

I don't know about you, but going to the library is one of the best things about summer. I know, it makes me sound like a bookworm, but it's true :) I just don't have time to read during the school semesters. (i think that's a little ironic...don't you?) I mean, I'm not a great reader (you won't find me sitting in the house on a lovely summer day reading Old Man and the Sea or Moby Dick or anything like that) But i do love a good book. By the way...Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is pretty amazing :D

my dream library would either be like the one in Beauty and the Beast, or the one in Sense and Sensibility which is filled with old books and atlases.

I love this library :)

Libraries are peculiar places. You can have a HUGE library like the one above, or you can have a small, dusty library like the one in Sense and Sensibility. And you never know what sort of books you'll find there. Sort of like going to a bazaar. I've never been to one, but i can imagine they can be pretty strange. Just like libraries. :)

Williamsburg, monkeys, mustaches...summer so far

I know. I know. I haven't been posting very much. But that happens to everybody, right? Anyway,  I thought I'd catch everybody up on what's been going on since that final exam on May something-or-other. 

After my final final exam, i accompanied Laura and Rebekah to Colonial Williamsburg where we strolled along the near-empty pathways and soaked up the colonial culture. For dinner we ate at the Cheese Shop in the merchant's square part of Williamsburg. Never been there? I highly recommend it.

Bekah ♥

I love the colors in these hats

Friday i went to Busch Gardens for the first time this summer. It was great! among riding the rides, eating pretzels, and other things, we babysat a monkey, almost drowned in all the rain, and had lots of good laughs. Fun times :)

However, after all this, my summer didn't really feel like summer. I mean, I was only going places on the weekends. But yesterday that changed when Cat came over and made my day :)We went to target and browsed the aisles. Tried on a few pairs of sunglasses (so i exaggerate a little...) etc, etc, etc. Then, we had a surge of creativeness. and, well, see for yourself.

Don't judge...^_^

She's so pretty :)

cat took this and the four above by the way :)

So it's been a pretty great summer...so far :) hopefully there are many more posts to come.

Nonsense.

I'm sitting here in the middle of the driveway in the evening twilight.

Brushing away pesky mosquitoes

The sky is a deepening, mottled mixture of powder pink and blue

The eerie glow of a lamp illuminates the maple tree in the front yard.

The breeze rattles leaves and whips my hair from my face.

I can hear the distant hum of the AC unit over the sound of my iPod

I glimpse the last of the sunset through the forest across the lane and observe the glow of a TV in my neighbor’s window
a bird flies by and then crashes through a tree, emerging on the opposite side.

A first few fireflies shine their light, and then disappear.

The trees are dancing in the wind.
and here I am, in the midst of it all, writing away in my notebook.

What I would love to do someday is go to a cliff somewhere that overlooks the ocean. A cliff that is low enough that when the waves crash against its side, the spray soars to the peak. But not too low. Here I would build a great swing. Then I would sit and swing, watching the magnificent sea and listening to it as it thunders and roars.

But such is just a fancy. A creation of whim. It will probably never exist.So I'll just sit here, and continue my writing.

I have a dream....

lately, i've been thinking about bucket lists. What is a bucket list? It's a list of things you wish to do before you die. I have decided to create one :) There are different reasons to write a bucket list. They help to keep you from burying yourself in the flurry of life and to keep your eye on more important matters. It also sets a goal for yourself. If you don't have a goal, chances are you're not going to get there.

I mean, obviously, because if you don't have a goal then that goal doesn't  exist and you can't even BEGIN to head towards something that doesn't exist because you don't even know that it exists so how can you possibly ever get there if it isn't there in the first place.

whew.

this whole thing reminds me of the movie Tangled when they're all singing about their dreams. Love that movie.

Anyway. Back to my bucket list.

some things that i would like to do, but probably will never do (but NOTHING is impossible)
-Travel to every country in the world (not all at once of course...)
- see all the wonders of the world
-run a marathon
-go skydiving/ bungee jumping

-fly a hot air balloon

of course there are a bunch of others but i don't really have time to write them all out and i highly doubt that you would enjoy reading a list of things i would like to do but probably never will.

here's a list of things that are more likely to happen.
-run an 8k- i actually am thinking about running one this august for the ECSC...fun :)
-travel to at least 1 country. i mean, i'd rather go to two countries...or multiple countries. but one would be better than none. or perhaps not.
- learn a third language. i'm thinking about learning German in college.
-learn how to longboard/surf. It's so. much. fun.

- climb a mountain. i love mountains. i think, if i had the choice, i'd rather go to Tennessee than Hawaii.

the list goes on and on.

well, i shan't bore you any longer. These are some of my ideas. Hope i get around to completing them someday :)

Strawberries in the Sun

Today's adventure: Strawberry Picking. Yup, it's that time of year again.

This morning, mom decided spur of the moment to go strawberry picking. So we piled everyone in the Big Blue Van and drove off to Brookdale Farm. Let's just say that, with two two year olds, it's easier said than done. But it was fun and we had a great time.

:)

Yum :)

perfect..... ;)

So, all in all, it was pretty great. :)