haphazard thoughts

I'm feeling random today, after a not so fabulous morning...so I wanted to share tidbits of my grandmother's latest email with you all.

Things You Must Know

• Many years ago, in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden"...and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
• The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...) The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
• Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
  A. One thousand
• In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase, "goodnight, sleep tight."
• It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month ... which we know today as the honeymoon.

Those are just a few of them, but I found them quite interesting - and arbitrary. Who knows if they're true, but the provide some fascinating facts.

Last night, I had the opportunity to share the truth of Christ with someone who honestly feels that Jesus can't love someone like him. It was hard, but quite an awesome event. Afer our our conversation, I was just in awe at the words I said...God had complete control of everything I said and it was amazing to experience His power like that! It was quite exhausting, but it was well worth it. I didn't change his heart, obviously, since humans can't change each other's hearts. But I do hope and pray that I planted a seed, and spurred something inside him to understand that God loves him no matter what - and that's the most amazing thing about Him!

Hope you're all doing well...and know that Jesus loves you, no matter what you do (Katie, remember our song...? :-p)!

God bless,
lv

moving forward

Saturday, after soccer games and all the normal weekend stress, my parents packed us all in the car and we went to the Bush Rally at the football stadium. Wow. It was packed...and quite interesting, actually. Billy Cerveny and Aaron Tippin sang (2 country artists that I'm not very familiar with, unfortunately) and a variety of important people attended and spoke. Sean Hannady was there - he was a favorite of the crowd's. On our way home, we drove behind him, so we weren't stuck in too much traffic :-p

Bush was wonderful. He spoke longer than we expected him to, which was fine with us. The weather was really nice; there was a soft breeze, so it wasn't too hot. The highlight of the rally though was definitely when Air Force One flew (pretty lowly) over the stadium. It was just...surreal. It's a beautiful plane, as silly as that sounds, and it was really neat to see it right above us. They videoed the President's plane landing, and then as soon as he stepped out of the plane, the whole stadium cheered. It was awesome. Apparently, there were over 50,000 people there, making it the largest political rally in history. It's kind of cool that I was part of that!


Moving America Forward ... Bush Rally at Altell Stadium

Life has been pretty routine lately...our school schedule is kind of wacked up. As Mrs. Dill puts it, "The fun and games are being placed above the academics" which of course, we don't mind one bit! :) Homecoming is coming up, and we're all really excited; it will be Providence's first football homecoming, with lights and the whole nine yards! Katie and Max are the 10th grade reps, so that will be fun seeing them, too. I wonder how long Max will be able to stand still in front of a crowd of people, not to mention, with Katie right next to him. They'll probably pull some sort of a joke :-p haha. Anyway, hope you're all doing well and that you're experiecing God's love each and every day!

God bless,
lv

am I mistaken?

There's a pivotal part in 13 Going on 30, when Jenna is talking to her mom over breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes). She aks her mom about mistakes; if she regrets the mistakes she's made and if she wishes she could go back. Her mom thinks for a moment, then looks at Jenna and tells her genuinely that no, she wouldn't go back or change them, and she didn't regret them, because she wouldn't have learned valuable lessons had it not been for mistakes she had made.

Not that mistakes are a good, fun thing that we should all go out and become acquainted with, but we can also use them to our advantage. When we make mistakes, we have two options. One, we can get upset, get frustrated, get angry and more than likely make that same mistake again. Or, two, we can get up, look around, realize what we've done wrong, decide to change it, and then emerge just a bit wiser than before we made the mistake.

When I gave my life to Christ, He in turn gave me the promise of guiding and directing my life despite the sins and mistakes I make daily. Thank goodness I have a merciful God; otherwise I would be in a lot of trouble. I fail so often. I fall short of the life I am called to by the Lord so many times each day. What a blessing that my God understands that, and loves me despite my faults.

Am I mistaken? I like to believe that I am. I make mistakes and God takes them and makes them a part of His perfect plan. Mistakes + Takes + Makes = Mistaken.

God bless,
lv

here we are; we've just begun, right here in this place where we belong

There's something bittersweet about your baby brother turning 9 years old. I mean, I remember my ninth birthday. He's not allowed to be 9! He's my baby! :( Honestly, I'm finding myself quite sad. Nine just sounds so grown up. When Leighton was born, I cried and asked if the nurses could change it; I really wanted a little sister. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember holding him, fast asleep in my arms. I remember trying to learn to spell his name properly. I remember my dad telling me when he was born that when he was 12, I would be in college. I remember when he was about 3, I dressed him up in one of my mom's old dresses and put my Raggedy Ann wig on him and made him play with Katie and me. Gosh. He's still my baby brother. :sniff: Atleast I'll always have those memories. ^_^

Just because I'm having this emotional breakdown about my little, baby brother, I think I should pay him somewhat of a tribute.


Leighton the Mighty Underwear King.

Leighton Alexander Pitman ~ October 14, 1995
6 pounds, 12 ounces

AKA: Leighton the Artist, Lawton, Lay-tay, Tater bug, Bubby (that's my pet name for him hehe)...

Likes to: Fish and hunt with Daddy, draw, paint, color, etc..., play cars, hang out with his big brothers, cuddle with his big sister, play with his best friend Jared, ocean kayak, read, go Porsche "window shopping", collect money and count it, then later spend it on toys he doesn't need, listen to his Spirit soundtrack (that I so often steal from him :-p) do things with his grandparents, do special things with Mom, cuddle with his doggy, and play with Frodo the Hoppit.

Will always be: My cuddle bunny, the little boy who taught me that life isn't about you-it's about the people you share it with, my music buddy, my brother who has a better stradle than me...My baby brother.

I have spent countless moments with Leighton, and each one I will treasure forever. It's hard to see him grow up, yet fascinating to see the changes in his life. I look at the past with a smile and look forward to our future with excitement.

Leighton, you mean the world to me. I am so glad God gave me one more brother to complete our family. Life wouldn't be the same without you. I know as your big sister I mess up sometimes, and I can be bossy and annoying. But I really do love you. One day, when you're all grown up (and you're taller than me, hehe), you'll get to boss me around. :-p I hope you have a wonderful birthday. But, don't forget that you'll always be my baby brother. I love you!
Hugs and kisses x's infinity...plus 1,
Sissy


Ocean kayaking

Sorry guys. :tear: Hope you're doing well. I love you all!

God bless,
lv


Me with the birthday boy.

'english is easy and fun'

When Mom and I were in Germany, we met up with our old exchange student who is now a mother of the cutest little German boy you'll ever see. Jeanette lived with us for a year when I was 4 or 5, so I didn't remember much about her. We had kept in touch and I had seen a couple of times over the years, but she hadn't seen my 8 year old brother yet, so it had been quite a while since our last visit. Of course, we never visited her. So, it was very exciting for Mom and I to get to see her in her own country. She was thrilled, as well. And, her having a kid made it twice as fun. She speaks English (not very well-she's quite out of practice), but her boyfriend and son do not. However, Ali (and, allow me to clarify - :coughs:Austin:coughs: No they're not Muslim. He's named after his grandmother Alexandra-his name is Ali Alexander.) has been taking English lessons. He hardly knows any-he's only 5-but his favorite phrase happened to be "English is easy and fun!" Whenever I'd ask him a question (in English of course) and he didn't know how to respond, he'd look at me with these gorgeous eyes and say "English is..." Yeah. You get the idea.



Marcus (Jeanette's boyfriend), Ali, Jeanette, Mom and me at the English Gardens.

So, I was thinking about this simple little phrase, but I how much it actually means to me. Not only am I thrilled that I have grown up in an English speaking country where I don't have to take the time to learn the incredibly complicated language, but I love the fact that more than any subject in school, English is the most fun! Easy doesn't exactly cut it, but fun-definitely. I love English. It's so fun! Okay, I apologize. I know, I'm a major nerd. But, you know, I just had to say that, because English is really awesome this year because Mrs. Sylvia is so fabulous. And, we're reading Les Mis. How much better can it get?? :runs from own nerdiness:


Me with Mrs. Sylvia (the greatest English teacher ever!) and Tiffany. :-D

Bah. I'm sorry to bore you with the dirty details of my love for English. I just couldn't help it. I've been looking at my Europe pictures a lot lately; making videos with them and continually begging my dad to take them and get them developed. But, I really want to go back. I don't know why I love it so much, but something about it makes me smile. Perhaps it's that God's glory is so evident when you go somewhere that you can't take for granted, and you see His beauty all around you. Thinking back on my trip though, it feels like a dream. It was dream, actually. A dream come true, anyway. It's amazing to me everything that my family did so I could go on that trip. My dad had to play Mom (with Jennifer's help of course :-p) for a month; it was hard on him. I remember the car ride home after they picked us up at the airport: Leighton: "I only had 4 showers while you guys were gone!" Harrison: "I only had 3!" Dad: "Be quiet!". Haha. As awesome as the trip was, it was the most rewarding to come home to the smiling faces of my little brothers, the teary eyes of my dad, and the "I missed you guys even though I don't want to admit it" look on my big brother's face. It was priceless, but definitely worth leaving them for a month. :-p It's too bad we don't get those faces every time we come home. We'd be one big happy family!

Mom and I were always close; we couldn't have gone on this trip if we hadn't been. But it definitely brought us even closer. We learned things about each other that will be valuable forever. We had to learn to work together, even when we didn't want to. Our first morning in London, Mom woke up with a terrible headache. She laid around for a few hours hoping it would go away, but she was out of her sinus pills and therefore had no medicated way to rid of it. Thank goodness she waited until London where they could actually speak English-that's all I'm going to say. I had to walk downstairs, ask the wonderful concierge (Rajick-made London that much better) where the nearest pharmacy was (to which he said he would call it, because he was friends with the owner and tell him I was coming) and walk there alone to pick up some medicine. Wow. It was actually kind of thrilling-walking in London alone. Even though it nearing the end of our trip, this was more or less a turning point. It was a sort of thing where we had to say "We're going to work together to make this the time of our lives." And, I know my mom would have done the same thing for me had it been the opposite situation.

Every day, I am grateful for the dream that my mom (and the rest of my family-including grandparents) helped turn into reality. A couple of years earlier, I had been talking to Cathy Driscoll, and we started talking about goals and dreams. I told her I hoped to go to Austria by the time I was 18. Being my second mom, she looked me in the eye and said, "Leslie, write it down. It will only be a dream until you make it more." So I went home, wrote it down, and now I'm 15 and have been to Austria, England, Switzerland, France, Germany...But that would not have been possible without my mom. She's such an amazing mom, you guys. You should all be jealous that she's mine. :-p We get frustrated with eachother; we're human. But, as many things as I want to do differently from her, I would love to know that I will make my little girl's dream come true one day too, just as she has done for me. Perhaps I would be better off just having one daughter; otherwise, that would be a lot of little girls to spoil (I'm sure glad God has all of this worked out). ^_^

Thanks, Mom. I love you!

Mom and me at the London train station.

God bless,
lv

pontificating

Hi everyone.

I know it has been eons since I've even visited here. Because of the hurricanes (For those of you who don't know, Florida had 5 or so hurricanes hit pretty hard. 2 largely affected us in Jacksonvile), I have just been so back tracked. My routine has been knocked all around, and only in the last week or so have I felt like I'm actually getting somewhere with my scheduling. :shrug: Life is crazy. But, that's what makes it exciting. :)

It is comforting to know that it's not only my life that has been crazy. I have had so many friends who are dealing with rough things right now. Death, friendships, stress, life-altering decisions, divorce, their faith...sometimes I look at other people's lives and I'm so thankful how simple mine is. As Rachel and I were saying the other day-not much exciting happens in our lives. :-p Which, we agreed, is not nescessarily a bad thing because it would be better that nothing happens than bad things. However, it does get a bit dull at times. But, that is the joy of being a Christian. God's love brings new joys every morning and gives me something to look forward to each day. I just want to encourage everyone who is going through a rough time, no matter what the circumstance, to look up toward God and know that He understands your pain. And, more than that, He will comfort you through it. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

Today during dance at school, I started thinking about something. Allow me, if you will, to briefly pontificate.

For our exam, we're required to take these corrections that other people have given us anonymously, and do our best to fix them to the best of our ability and make the dance look as clean as possible. We're being graded on how well we correct the problems addressed. Mrs. Rose, my teacher, said something to the effect of: "I'm going to grade hard, because we've been working on this dance for a while now and I really want it to look good." Something came to my mind; it's a stretch, I know, but I thought about it all the same. When our parents correct us, in love, they expect us to change that which they've corrected. Whether it's to keep our room clean or to bring up our grades, they want us to fix the problem. They don't tell us to clean our room and as a punishment we can't go out that night because they don't want us to go out. They want us to learn to be organized and neat-most likely, unlike themselves. They don't want us to deal with the same mistakes they've made. We see the moment-"I'm so mad at Mom. She won't let me go out tonight just because my room wasn't clean."-where as they see the long term-"I don't want my kid to grow up as unorganized and messy as I am." Just as Mrs. Rose wants the dance to look it's best so she's going to push us hard to get there, our parents are going to work hard to make us be the best we can be. Okay, everyone knows this, right? Right. Moving on. The next parallel I saw was that of God's correction and love toward us. He corrects us for the same reason; because He loves us and wants us to be the greatest example of His glory that we can be. But, He also expects us to change when He corrects us. And if we don't, He will continue to show us that which needs to be changed. Perhaps things in our lives happen over and over again because God is trying to show us something that we aren't responding to. Perhaps He is trying to correct our behavior and we're choosing to deny it or ignore it, with the hopes that the correction will go away. It won't. God loves us so much that He will continue to discipline us until we change our behavior. So, just some food for thought: If you're dealing with something and it doesn't seem to be going away, try asking God what He's trying to tell you. Chances are, there's something He wants to say to you. ^_^

Well, thanks for reading my ramblings. I apologize. :shrug: I just had to say it somewhere; and what better place than here? Hope you all are having an awesome week full of blessings and surprises. :D

God bless,
lv