Blueberries, Ice cream and Memories

This evening, someone had the idea that since dad was bringing home fruit we should get a gallon of ice cream to go with it. So we each paid a little and Lizzy drove a couple of us in to Jackstop (the gas station near us). Then dad came home with peaches and blueberries, the peaches weren't ripe so we had blueberries and ice cream, after dishing it, we all sat around the living room, children and adults both, mom not reminding the kids to 'eat in the kitchen' and dad told us animatedly about his day and how he had been blessed and how God had worked for him, turning his not so good day better. I sat listening to dad recount his day and looking around at each of my wonderful siblings and my parents and I thought,  there are days I just want to get away, but when it comes down to it, when I leave, I'm going to miss this. Talking around the table after meals, sitting around the living room, going into town and everyone riding along, just to be together, sitting in the kitchen and talking about deep things and just goofing off while someone's doing dishes, or the 'bedroom parties that start out with mom coming to talk and pretty soon half the family is all there discussing something. And our family isn't anywhere near perfect, and sometimes it's hard to feel like loving and caring about each other, but it's memories made on nights like these that help to hold on through the rough spots in life.
I am very thankful for my wonderful family! Thank you for putting up with me and for all the fun times and the memories! I love you guys!

Happiness

This evening I was reading the blog,  A Holy Experience by Ann Voskamp and below her blog entry she had listed some of the things she was thankful for. One of them was a link to this story.
I thought it was really neat and thought I'd share it.
I've never thought of happiness as being 'something you decide on ahead of time.' If we all decided to be happy like this, life would be so much better!

The Story: http://www.familycaregiversonline.com/docs/BankAccountMemories.pdf

So I don't even remember the last time I posted on here! It's been a long time! Sunday night started off Youth Camp which I wasn't planning to attend but decided to when my friend said she'd pay half my way. I'm glad now that I did, the speaker was Dan Shrock and he had some really good things to say. I liked his style too, he held your attention and was interesting and funny. This week has been kinda discouraging, I've been trying to help a friend out, and spending part of the week with her was fun, but she's really not doing okay so it was hard too. She's not quite 18 and she's been away from home for about a year now because she couldn't follow her parent's rules. Whenever anything happens she always calls me up and tells me about her problems, and that's really okay 'cause I don't mind listening, but this week was especially discouraging because on Wednesday we were trying to figure out where she would go from Youth Camp and we were talking about Heaven and Hell and  being saved. I asked her if she thought that Jesus still would have died for her if she was the last person on earth and she didn't hesitate to say no, so I asked her if she thought he would have died for me and she quickly said yes, when I asked why she said 'cause I was nicer. To her, Heaven is a place where this high up guy sits on a throne and everyone has to worship and praise Him and He's the only thing that matters and in Hell, it's pretty much the same as earth is. She believes there is a God but He doesn't have anything to do with her or her life, He doesn't love her, and the thought of having a relationship with Him is too hard, it's hard enough to maintain the one relationship she does have with me, and he would just expect her to pray to Him and read the bible. That conversation is one of the hardest ones we've had yet. I've said everything I can and I feel like giving up, but I know that God never gives up on anyone, He doesn't give up on me and I've made a million mistakes, so I'm just hoping praying that her heart will be softened and she'll be able to accept Him.
But anyways, yesterday I was sitting outside writing when Aaron came and asked me if I wanted to go driving so we drove around town and back roads and talked for like an hour, that was awesome! I'm so thankful for my wonderful brothers! We also had cell groups and Lizzy and I had to clean at the Chiropractors. We left Youth Camp came home for about 10 minutes then headed for work. Then today we celebrated Mary's 10th birthday (two days late), had Grandma Barb and Mary's friend, Laura Dehn for supper. So this week has been very full and I'm very ready for the weekend! Maybe I'll try doing something with the acrylic paints mom gave me for my birthday... we'll see. But I should probably end this because it's long and it's time for me to go to bed. :) so good night people!