Building a Tree

Making a tree is not as easy as God makes it out to be. Now I'm not trying to compare myself to God by any means but still, it's hard.

For my "new" today I decided to make a tree on my wall. I just love trees! There is just something about them that is just so strong and beautiful! And my favorite story is The Giving Tree! A big beautiful tree in my room would just make it perfect.

Now my plan emerged from a magazine picture. It was in a "Modern Salon" magazine and the article was about the salon of the month. It was a very earthy and organic looking salon, and on the wall was this tree on the wall made from splintered boards and such. It was so neat! I needed to do that on my wall.

I ripped the page out and when I went back to my house, I showed my dad to see if knew where I could get some wood.

"I don't know where you could find that kind of wood Jenny," he said.

Well I look over next to the garage and there's  a huge pile of wood no one is using and it was pretty much what I needed.

"Well can't I use that wood over there?" says I

"Yeah if you want."

I do want! It was exactly what I needed! He is so silly.

A lot of the wood was nailed together, so I spent most of the time pulling it all apart. I felt like such a man! It was so fun. I put all the wood in a trash can thing and did my best to carry it inside without falling. It was a lot of wood!

The best spot for the tree I found was behind my door and it'll cover a lot of that wall and the branches will kind of hang over my bed. I picked out the first piece I would drill into the wall, it was really exciting! Haha it's pretty sad I got so excited about drilling wood into the wall. I was just waiting to hurt myself the whole time too.

I was getting pretty far into it, I had to pull a lot of the boards apart to give it a more splintered look. Then I had a minor set back when the bit fell out of the drill and I could figure out to get it back in. So while I waited for my dad to call me back, I ate some food(I went grocery shopping at my parents house earlier so I finally had food in the house) and I watched Malcolm in the Middle. I love that show so much, it's so hilarious.

When my dad finally called me back it was about 10:45, but I decided to keep going. I worked until about 1 in the A.M. It wasn't continuous work though, my roommate was talking to me and I had to deal with Jack Jack a little, but I got pretty far, but I didn't get to finish:( It looks really awesome though!

I will post a picture of it as soon as I get done with it. And if you like it, I will totally be willing to build a tree on your wall too! All you have to do is feed me:)

1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Moon Pie

Oh children! I think the reason I love kids the most is because I can tell them anything and they'll believe me! I love that power. It must be really nice to be Obama:) Haha just joshing.

So Sunday, my "new" was very entertaining. I teach a kindergarten class on Sunday nights and I had a lot of kids come, more than usual. It was Palm Sunday, so they had colored leaves and I had bought some plastic ones we could play with (which I cut myself with pretty bad on my finger). We went outside because it was so lovely out, and we danced around with our leaves and praised Jesus! It was really very fun.

When we went inside, it was time for our snack! I went into the kitchen and for some reason, I thought Moon Pies would be a good idea. I really forgot how messy they are. But I thought it would be a nice treat for them. It took me a while to get back to the classroom, so I decided to tell them the true story as to where moon pies come from, the moon!

"Why else would they be called moon pies? Hhmm? Anyone? And why do you think astronauts go up there all the time? For fun? No! That would be silly! Now I'm not going to lie to you, the whole moon isn't made up of these pies. Now what you see at night time is the cheese part of the moon. It covers the whole entire surface. The pies are in the middle of the moon, and there drill that is used to get to them."

"And it sucks them out, right?" Landon says.

"Exactly!" says I. "You see? There's a smart guy over there!" And I point to Landon.

They all got really excited about it. I don't think all of them believed me, but I'm pretty sure I got about half of them. When Landon left I heard him start explaining about the moon pies to his mom. That kid is going places! And if he decides to become an astronaut, I am taking full credit.


Psalm 72:7
In his days may the righteous flourish,and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

Being Made of Honor

I have been so busy these pass couple of days! My sister's wedding has consumed my life! But now that it's over, it's pretty depressing. I will catch you up on the two "news" that I have done on Friday and Saturday.

Well, as most of the general audience knows, the day before the wedding is always the rehearsal night. I always forget about the rehearsal part and just think about the dinner. The rehearsing at the church went really well, AND I was the first person to get there! Who knows, maybe I am changing my ways:)

For the rehearsal dinner, we went to Neighbor’s Place and Mr. Pavel was taking care of the bill:) Oh, I was not going to miss this opportunity. I got the fabulous skirt steak that was amazing and I also ordered Pina Colada to drink which I had never done before! Now, I'm pretty sure I've tasted a pina colada before, but I've never ordered one, let alone two. I shared, I shared don't worry, but  like I said, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. Justin, my brother, certainly wasn't going to miss this opportunity either, he ordered two entrees and cleared them both away! He is still a growing boy apparently.

But seriously, I need to get pina coladas more often! They are fabulous! I told my roommate I drank a lot of colada and I think she thought I was serious, as in they weren't virgin, and I didn't care to correct her either. She's silly.

The next day was the big day! We had a lovely bridal brunch in, provided by my lovely mother. I ate a lot. There was monkey bread, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit, tea biscuits, scones, coffee, tea, and I am sure I'm forgetting something else. But after the brunch, my mother and I went to go get umbrellas because it was raining terrible outside and if we had to take the pictures outside, we needed cute umbrellas. Heather was nervous about the rain, but she kept repeating over and over, "Don't stress, it's okay, It'll turn out great." I don't remember how many times she said it. And little did she know it would turn out great! It turned out to be a beautiful day at the most perfect time! God was certainly smiling down on her wedding.

We went with Heather to get her hair done and when we got to the church, I did makeup! Heather's makeup looked so good! And it stayed on all night as well! The eye makeup primer at Victoria's Secret is fabulous! It makes your makeup last ten times longer. I hardly do any touch ups at all when I use it. Anyways, I'm getting off topic, after Heather got her spanks on(if you don't know what that is, don't even worry about it) she put her dress on. She looked absolutely beautiful. Like from the cover of a magazine! I couldn't believe it.

Before we went out to take picture, we realized something. There were no bouquets for us. We had someone doing flower arrangements and boutonnieres, but I guess there was a miscommunication and we had nothing. Well, I don’t know who thought of it, I think it might have been me, but we had a bouquet of lavender flowers to represent my Nana so we all decided to each walk down with a stem from the bouquet and Sue(who did all of the other flower arrangements) had to run and go get flowers for a bouquet for Heather. She saved the day! So now the flowers we walked down with represented Nana, which turned out even better then before.

They also decided to take pictures before the wedding as well, which I thought was a dumb idea at first but then I was really glad they did! That way people didn’t have to wait around while pictures are being taken, plus it was dark by the time the ceremony was over anyways.

As soon as the ceremony started, everything went so smoothly. I successfully walked down the aisle without falling in the most uncomfortable shoes in the whole world, no joke. My dad’s little speech to them was really very good, he did a great job. When the pastor starting talking, I didn’t hear much of it at all. I tried to listen, but all I could concentrate on was my feet slowly going numb, and then I would do a little shift, and then I had a huge itch on my leg but I didn’t want to scratch it because I might fall over. It was a battle from beginning to end. My favorite part of the whole thing was the vows. They were so beautiful! They both wrote their own, and I decided that’s the way it should always be! I could see his face and he had tears just rollin! It was so beautiful.

The reception was at the top floor of this building and it was overlooking all of Lynchburg, and I’ll say it again, it was beautiful! There were just light appetizers for the food which was really good. There were a lot of dessertsJ My escort said he had given up desserts for lint, poor thing, but I tried my best to get him to eat a chocolate candy. It’s not a dessert, it’s like a little snack! It’s like a mint or gum or something. But he wouldn’t do it. Whatever, people are crazy.

Then it was time for my Made of Honor toast! I hadn’t actually written anything down, but I had thought about what I was going to say, so I wasn’t totally unprepared. I talked about how I met Pavel which is actually a weird story. It was Sunday lunch time and we were about to eat, when there was a knock on the door. I go to answer it and there was a guy standing there with a watermelon in his hands.

“Hello,” says I.

“Hello,” says him.

And then he walks on right past me up the stairs. I had never seen this guy before in my life, it was really weird. And then I went on to talk about how wonderful Heather was and how I followed her in high school and all my teachers were always a little disappointed I wasn’t like Heather. I’m telling you! No one can beat this girl! She is nothing but loved by all! Pavel doesn’t know how lucky he is!

And that was basically my speech in a nutshell, I thought it went well.

The rest of the night I was dancing! It was basically the same people on the floor the whole time but it was fun! I dragged my dad out there at one point and it was hilarious. Words cannot express.

At the end of the night we sent them away through a crowd of sparklers and “as they held each other’s hand, they stepped into a beautiful forever.” Haha that’s what my card said that I gave to themJ

Being Made of Honor? Piece of cake.

1 Corinthians 7:38
So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
Haha just kidding:) But really this makes me smile.

Mani

I still can't believe I have lived this long on this earth and I have only just had a manicure today.

I don't know why I've never had one before, I've gotten pedicures and things. I love having my nails all nice and painted, I guess I'm just a cheap person.

The original pan for today's new was to get a manicure with my grandmom. She's in town for my sister's wedding and I really wanted to do something with her! She is hilarious, she cracks me up all the time. I told her we should go get our nails done and she said no way! There was no convincing her.

"Come on grandmom, it'll be so fun! We never get to do anything together! Please?!" says I.

"I just don't do that sort of thing anymore," she says, "I am old, we don't do that."

Well I was just going to bring her anyways and force her. She will like it and she is going to have fun! So the plan was to meet back at the house after I got off of work and we would all drive over there together, me, my mom and grandmom. Well my mom calls and says we can just meet there instead and so when I get there it's just my mom and no grandmom! She tricked me. Well played grandmother, well played. But I'll get her one day!

Anyways the manicure itself was very good! My nails look fantastic! I got a french manicure. And the people that worked there were very friendly. Not your average quiet Chinese workers. So I highly suggest going to visit Joys Nails in Wyndhurst, VA.

Next up, pedicure.

2 Timothy 1:5
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

Duties of a Maid of Honor

My sister's wedding is on Saturday, and I am in charge of doing all of the programs and I am going INSANE! The printing is taking forever, and she isn't looking over what I am doing so I'm scared she isn't going to like them or complain.

I have been working on this for the pass two days. I hate it so much. For some reason, Microsoft Word is not wanting to print out part of the program, for no reason at all. and I still haven't even put it all together. I am going to be up late tomorrow night! Oh the sacrifices of a maid of honor!

I never want to make wedding programs ever again.

But if you ask nicely I might...

So this is going to be the shortest post yet because I'm tired and all I want to do is go to bed.

Psalm 6:6
I am weary with my moaning;every night I flood my bed with tears;I drench my couch with my weeping.

Russian Invasion

Oh Monday, Monday. Such a hated day. So far away from Friday! Never a very exciting day this Monday, but I ate a little something new to spice it up!

I went over to my parent's house for dinner, and there were about three Russians there. My sister's fiancée was there along with his mother and some other lady that I never did figure out her relation. They couldn't speak very good English. Neither can I apparently. Anyways, they brought over some homemade raviolis. Well I have certainly never had homemade raviolis before! Let alone Russian ones.

They didn't have any sauce with them, but they made a little Russian sauce for them; it was just mayonnaise and ketchup. Well I wish I had had tomato sauce, but it was certainly very good! There was yummy meat inside with a good flavor. I've made an observation about Russian food over the past couple of experiences, it’s usually good, but a little plain and I'm always still hungry afterwards.

My mom also made some strawberry pie which she had never made before and I had never eaten before! The two Russian women had little slivers plain, my sister and her fiancée shared a plain piece, and I had a big piece with two scoops of ice cream and whip cream:) And I still fit into my size 4 dress for the wedding. Now that's what I call amazing.

We need some Italians in our family next, they’ll eat and appreciate our food better!

Isaiah 55:2
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Day at the Beach

Well as you all know from me missing a lot of daily postings, I have been very tired. "How shall I cure such a dreadful thing?" I asked myself. And the natural response that I came up with is sleep. I need to take a good nap! But not just any old nap, the BEST nap! And there is only one place in the whole world to take the best nap, the beach.

So my New for Sunday was to drive to Virginia Beach just so I could take a nap. And hopefully get some color. Along for the ride came Justin, my brother and Luke, my longtime fellow classmate. We set off at six in the A.M. Luke was prepared with seven mix cds! Oh goodness me Luke, I would expect nothing less:)

Our drive there went well, after playing the celebrity game for about two hours. We made it there about ten o'clock and set up camp. But before we could pass out for a while, I had to go get some tanning oil, the best stuff in the whole world. They didn't have the kind I like, Banana Boat, oh my goodness it smells so good! So I had to settle for Panama Jack SPF 4.

We went back to our stuff and the sun was shining, it was getting warm, I was in heaven. I was out for about 1 to 2 hours.

Justin was getting darker by the second! And Luke's white skin was illuminating in the sun haha he wore a shirt the whole time so he wouldn't get burnt to death. When we got up, Luke and I decided to get in the frigid water.
"Ready, set, go!"
And we sprinted in, and we sprinted out. It felt like little needles everywhere. But after we got out it did feel warmer. Then after a little while we decided to go for a little run, only about 1 to 2 miles, I could've gone farther:)

I got into the water again when we got back, and this time I stayed out there for a while. After about being in the water for about 30 seconds, I went numb and I was just fine. Neither of the boys could stand it, so they both got out, and I just stayed floating along... so peaceful. When I got out I felt like I was on fire, it was really weird! After I dried off a bit, we went and got some pizza to eat.

When we went back to the beach, Justin and I decided to go on the traditional beach stroll. There's just something about walking down the beach that is just so wonderful.

After our stroll, we decided to head back to the Burg. Virginia Beach gets super scary at night! Everyone starts rolling out of bed and gets up for the night to begin and we book it outta there.

If you ever just need a break, a nice nap, just go to the beach. It solves all of life's problems:)

Acts 21:5 

"...And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed"