It's Not a Party 'Til Someone Calls 911

"Charli, are you coming to church with us?" Alyx whispered, pressing her face close to the safety bar of the loft bed.
"Yeah," Charli mumbled. Then she tried to sit up. The nausea hit her like a heatwave. "No."

Yesterday we celebrated my sister's Sweet Sixteen with a 40's swing dance party. The event itself was fantastic. I pumped myself full of nose-spray and tylenol and set up the party with my family while Alyx and a few friends got ready at a house nearby. The party started at five. The first guest arrived at five-oh-three. We finally finished decorating around twenty after.

Despite only three of the forty-some-odd people there knowing how to swing dance, we had a blast stepping on each other's toes and twirling around. Alyx looked adorable. The rest of us looked okay, too. ;)

Out of the blue - or not really, considering DJ Josh had a special announcement for the birthday girl - instead of a 40's song, there came a favorite hip-hop song. The floor was vacated as we could barely swing dance, much less break dance. Alyx and a few friends eventually made their way back to dance in a little circle.

It was then that the party came to an abrupt halt - around quarter to eight - when our dear friend Katie collapsed with a dislocated knee. Since she's double-jointed pretty much everywhere, I honestly didn't see anything out of the ordinary until the paramedics arrived and stretched her out on her back. I have never seen a leg turned completely sideways at the knee.

She's not in much pain now (unless she's lying, which is possible, 'cause she's a trooper). She's got her brace and ice packs and crutches and her sister's wedding to walk down the aisle at on Saturday. I'd volunteer to carry her if I didn't think that would look funny. Oops.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Christmas in Florida

Here's some carols that we sing around the house for fun. It's not very festive, and a bit of my dislike for Florida is tossed in there, but they're fun. Try 'em out and see. ;)


I'm Dreaming Of A Warm Christmas

I'm dreaming of a warm Christmas
Just like the ones I've always known
Where the treetops are green and children will sing
About how it's really not that cold
How I wish this wasn't the norm!
But alas, our Christmases are warm


Salt Water (to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Dashing through the waves on an old foam boogie board
Surfers point and laugh, but it's all I could afford
A big one's coming in, my friends yell "Here we go!"
I'm paddling out, what a big mistake! now there's water up my nose!

Oh, salt water, salt water, ruining my day
A gallon just went up my nose, why's the shore so far away? Hey!
Salt water, salt water, the sting won't go away
Whose bright idea was it to go to the beach on Christmas day?


All I Want For Christmas (chubby girl version)

I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree
I just want to fill my plate, so much food I can hardly wait
Make my wish come true! All I want for Christmas is food
Fo-od, baby!


Hope you enjoyed the carols and had a very merry Christmas. :)

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

30 Superficial Things I'm Thankful For

I didn't post at all in November. Not once. Yet I still have the same average amount of page views, which lets me know you guys still checked and probably muttered a bit when there was nothing new. I'm sorry.

Here's a random, thrown-together, totally superficial list of things I'm thankful for on a day-to-day basis:

1. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (okay, this one's not at all superficial, just straight-forward) | 2. family & friends (also not superficial) | 3. cuddly overgrown puppies | 4. pencil stubs | 5. picture frames | 6. guitars | 7. firelogs & coffee mugs | 8. comfy clothes | 9. spiral-bound notebooks | 10. roadtrips | 11. scrivener | 12. sweet smells | 13. cowgirl boots | 14. medieval dresses | 15. cellphones & email | 16. country music | 17. rainstorms | 18. cold weather | 19. blue jeans | 20. sketchbooks | 21. marshmallows (because sugar) | 22. happy memories | 23. celtic music | 24. flipflops | 25. buttons | 26. conversations | 27. fleece blankets | 28. stained-glass windows | 29. clean sheets | 30. blog followers who keep reading despite long absences.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
{ps - thanksgiving was weird without ben}
{pps - ben's coming home on friday!!!}
{ppps - frozen was a great movie}
{pppps - i dressed up as poison ivy for a youth group thing. boy, was that embarrassing.}

He Is Risen

He was betrayed by a kiss. He was disowned by His closest friend. He was mocked for Who He was, beaten because He wouldn't defend Himself. He was found innocent, yet condemned to die. He underwent excruciating pain while people watched.

Then God turned away.

He was made to be one of us. He grew in a woman's womb, was raised by a simple man, limited by His flesh, and - though He was sinless - He took my sin, and was separated from God.

{via}

Jesus did not come to make my life perfect. Through this life, I will be betrayed, disowned, mocked, beaten, condemned, and finally, I will die. But because of His sacrifice, I am no longer separated from God - He will never turn away from me.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Happy New Year!

My mom, Danielle, and I spent the last week (Saturday-Saturday) in Panama City while Alyx was at a CAP Encampment. After--

* a whole lot of driving

* climbing up poles on a beach (at my insistence; Danni didn't wanna get her feet sandy ;P)

* playing on the coolest playground ever (amid odd looks from parents of littles)

* lounging about in pajama pants

* wearing blankets as capes ;)

* about forty games of sudoku

* a bajillion movies (some great and some lousy)

* and one "Do you have any Neo-whatsits?" - "Neo-what-nows?" - "Exactly."

--later... we survived. :)



~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
(PS - it's Alyx's birthday tomorrow. :D)

Merry Christmas!

Waking up and immediately getting sick is a horrid way to start the day. Even worse when you remember that day is Christmas.

But I won't bother you with details. Instead, enjoy this video.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Leona Danielle "Danni" Splitter

{betcha didn't know i had this, huh? ;P}

--is literately one of the best friends I could ever hope to have.

--loves to annoy me, expecially by pronouncing words wrong. ;)

--is the Weird to my Wacky

--the one I play sudoku with

--gets drunk on capri sun with me

--watches epidsodes of our favorite anime when we can't think of anything else to do

--always the first to say "I love you"

--quick to offer (and sometimes demand) hugs

--turns seventeen today. Happy birthday, Danni!!! :)

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Treeee...

Christmas isn't sneaking up on me this year. We've got carols blasting at every opportunity, the many sets of mismatched decorations are in their own special places, I don't have a great head start on getting presents together but I've got a decent plan, the tree's up and almost decorated...

Wait, the tree?! The Swanson's don't get trees. They only have the fake ones with pathetic plastic boughs and spattering of lights that don't come on half the time.

But here I am, breathing in the piney goodness. It's the best smell in the world after maple-frosted donuts.

Sorry the picture's dark, but that's the best my camera could get. It's a little lopsided. The star bumps the ceiling. The lights aren't symmetrical. All in all, it's not a tree you'll find in the magazines anytime soon. But it's a beautiful tree. :') Soon it'll be covered in all sorts of popsicle-stick/felt/foam ornaments we made a decade ago and should have thrown out then. Ah, memories.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
(PS - On the topic of NaNo... I finished with a grand total of not-even-close. Ahem.)

Crybaby

This was my first Thanksgiving away from home in a long, long time. In fact... I'm not sure if I've ever spent Thanksgiving away from home. Huh. Thankful for new experiences!

Anyway, if not at home, where does one spend Thanksgiving? Most of our extended family is three thousand miles away. A bit far to travel for only a few days. So we settled for three hundred miles. Pensacola. Pensacola Christian College, to be exact.

Some Pros and Cons of Thanksgiving at PCC -

+ We got to see the place where my brother is going to be spending the next four/five years of his life. It's an extremely structured yet extremely friendly faith-centered college that'll suit Ben well. Good food. Neat sports center. Nice teachers. Do-able study programs. Good food. Nuff said?

- We got to see the place where my brother is going to be spending the next four/five years of his life. Without me there, reminding him to act like a civilized person. I'm starting to panic.

+ Good food! I know I mentioned it - I'm not that spacey - but they truly do have good food. Ben's gonna get chubby. That doesn't really belong next to a +sign, but with good food, ya can't complain.

- At the alumni basketball game, their mascot, the Eagle, threw candy while I was zoned out. I cried 'cause I got hit in the eye with, ironically, a crybaby (sour gum). Alyx cried* because she didn't get any candy and didn't find any in my hair**.

+ The environment was incredible. Awkward eye-contact was made less awkward because everyone smiled. Getting lost wasn't a problem because there was always someone there to start to give directions, realize I wasn't understanding a word, and offer to go out of their way to walk with me. 

- Skirts. For three days I had to wear skirts. Blech.

...Holy cow, Thanksgiving is gone already? *goes to turn on radio*...

Christmas music.

Okay, I'm done now. How was your Thanksgiving?

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
*Alyx would like me to say that 'crying' in this case means less tears and more whining.
**I tend to lose things in my hair. Breanna once found a lollipop (with a wrapper, of course).

{surprising lack of} April Fools!

Not much went on yesterday in the embarrassment department. I didn't pull anything myself, trigger (or see, for that matter) any physical pranks, and only got hit by a couple "I'm going to tell you something and snicker while you take forever to decide if it's true or just an April Fools!". And then, you know, there were a couple horrendous tragedies and pregnancy hints on facebook, but nothing over the top.

Huh.

On a non-look-out-for-pranking-everywhere aspect, yesterday was a great day. Went to church and heard a fantastic sermon, after which I kidnapped my best friend and took her to the Sun n' Fun airshow in Lakeland. Despite the heat and overwhelmingly-bright sun, it was awesome.

(All these pictures are actually from Saturday--I didn't end up taking any pictures yesterday.)


My sister is the coolest. Just have to brag. She endured the *cough* torture of watching the Thunderbirds zoom overhead in their deafeningly loud planes, performing the most jaw-dropping stunts. Only the thought that one day she will be able to do this kept her holding on to sanity. I can't wait to see it.

Although, after watching the airshow, my mom thinks it should be illegal to have that much fun. ;)

My Oh-So-Lovable Sister

Today was a very special day. Clean-the-house-and-have-friends-over kind. Why? 'Cause it's Alyx's birthday.

[Alyx on 'It's a Small World']

I woke up this morning, gave her a big hug, and said, "Happy Birthday! You're fourteen now!"

"No I'm not," was the response.

She can't be thirteen 'cause she's already been thirteen and she can't be fifteen 'cause I'm fifteen...

It turns out, she had this crazy logic that went something like, "I was born at 9:00pm on the 7th in Seattle, so here I wasn't actually born 'till 12:00am on the 8th..."

Psh. Go and make me feel like a jerk for no good reason...

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

New Year's... Not!

Ug! I'm always so behind! I'll have to do my New Year's post tomorrow (which means I won't get to it until Wednesday, at least), and then it'll be on to 11th grade and who knows how often I'll manage to remember this blog?!

Sorry. I'll calm down now. I have someone I want you to meet.

Isn't she beautiful? She doesn't have the smooth lines of my mom's, or the fancy stitches that my gramma's has, but she's the first one I can call all my own. And she's fast. Really fast. 

Not to mention I won't have to worry about running out of bobbin thread in the middle of a project.

And, speaking of projects...

With my new sewing machine (who currently does not have a name) I am embarking on Project Bucket List 12: Sew a Medieval-Style Dress.

Prepared with yards and yards of gorgeous velvety-green fabric, intricate ribbon, and a pattern I have no clue how to read...

...I might finally be able to check something off my bucket list besides going places.

~Charli Rae 

|Job 39:19-25|

Usually I'm counting down the days 'till Christmas from 364, but, somehow, Christmas managed to sneak up on me this year. After singing carols and drinking hot cocoa with my friend on an 80+ degree night, it finally hit me around eleven thirty last night... "Omigosh, Katie! TOMORROW'S CHRISTMAS EVE!"

And that 'tomorrow' is today. It's Christmas Eve. We've been cooking all day, it seems, and in a few hours we'll head off to church for the Christmas Eve Service. Then we'll come back, watch Polar Express while normal people watch It's a Wonderful Life, then we'll open a gift or two and go to bed.

In our old house, where we lived for six-years-and-four-months, I hated sleeping on the night before Christmas. Not when my presents were taunting me just around the door! But now I like it. It might just be that I'm older. It could also very well be that, in this house, we have a fireplace, and from my bed I can see the fire. But it's probably just that I'm an insomniac and, for some reason, it's been easier the past few years to sleep on Christmas Eve. (Though last night I slept pretty good, too...)

Anyway, to end this babbling post (actually, only three paragraphs, now that I look), would you like to read a story that Alyx came up with and I wrote down years ago? If so, feel free to keep reading. If not, go ahead and ex-out of your browser - it is pretty goofy.

*Ahem*

Hello, my name is Sandy Livingston. My family and I moved to Orlando, Florida into a small neighborhood called Lake Bosse. While I was exploring the house, I tripped over a loose floorboard. A hidden staircase fell from the ceiling. I, being adventurous, climbed up slowly. There was nothing in the attic but a couple of boxes and some sort of machine in the corner. I walked over to the machine and saw a blue crystal. I picked up the crystal, realizing that it was a time machine.

“Where would you like to go?” the time machine asked.

After thinking for a moment, I answered, “The birth of Christ.”

“When you wish to come back, hold the crystal in your right hand and say ‘Take me home’.”

There was a bright flash of light and by the time I could see again, I was in the dessert. On my left there were two pal trees, and on my right was a small pool. In the distance I could see black specks. As they drew nearer, I made out a couple camels, and on them, three kings. Or they looked like kings.

They stopped in from on me. One of them said, “Who are you?”

“I’m… Sandy Livingston.”

“Where are you going?”

“Um… Bethlehem?”

“We are heading that way also. Would you like to join us?”

“Sure.”

I mounted a camel. After riding for about an hour, it had grown really dark, and the star we were following stopped above a barn.

“We are here,” the first king announced.

 We walked in and the kings gave gold, frankincense, and myrrh to a baby in a feed box.

“Um… I don’t have a gift,” I whispered to the first king. The king touched the bandana that was tied around my neck.

“This will be your gift,” he said.

I untied it and laid it across Jesus. I looked up and Mary smiled at me. I hitched a ride with the kings back to the spot I came from and watched them disappear into the distance. Then I took out the blue crystal and whispered, “Take me home.”

Another bright flash and I was back in the attic. Not a second had passed. I returned the crystal just in time to hear my mom call, “Sandy, time for dinner!”

“Coming, Mom!”

I smiled as I climbed down the stairs, pulling out a piece of straw I had taken from the barn.

~Charli Rae 

|Job 39:19-25|

*Your Dreams...Come...True...*

Yesterday we spent the whole afternoon at Magic Kingdom and the evening at Epcot. Hence the matching shirts, Cinderella's castle in the background, and very messy hair (thank you, roller-coasters.)

We went on Thunder Mountain (of course), then tried something that I haven't done since... well, long before I could actually drive. Needless to say I did much better this time.

I got a picture of my dad, too - he had been looking around for me and his expression was fantastic when he found me... but the picture looks a lot less blurry on the camera screen.

We actually did the Haunted Mansion first (it was a bit of a letdown; it didn't make me jump once!). On this one, very strange, occasion, going through the line was actually more entertaining than the ride itself.

First there was a ghost horse...

Then there was a piano...

And though many of the tombstones were laugh-worthy, this one hit me hard. I never got the chance to apologize to the people behind us in line, though...

Then we went off to Epcot, where it was dark and, quite frankly, I forgot to take pictures. But it was fun. Now, thanks to the ride Soarin', I really want to go hang-gliding over a mountain. Or the ocean. Or the desert, it really doesn't matter.

Anyway, to conclude I'd just like to say that I enjoy random vacations so much more than vacations with reasons.

~Charli Rae 

|Job 39:19-25|

PS{and better yet, i beat ben to this post! ;)}

Happy Thanksgiving!

"What if you woke up tomorrow...

...with only the things you thanked God for today?"

~Unknown

I am thankful for~

{jesus}

Especially entering the season in which we celebrate His birth. If He hadn't have been born, He wouldn't have died, and my sin would still be mine. Because of Him I can be truly thankful!

{family}

Oh, they have to deal with so much. My dad has a job outside of the house for the first time in nearly a year (which none of us like, but are thankful for) so that we can celebrate this Thanksgiving. Mom has two more weeks of hard studying left before she's ALL OURS for Christmas break (mua-ha-ha-ha). Ben started writing a new story idea yesterday (which I am very thankful for because now he's too busy to pester me about Cheruthedra, the book that we're writing together). And Alyx... well, she has to deal with my snoring all night long. :P

{friends}

Each one of 'em has a funny story that starts off the friendship. Danielle (16 in 24 days!) has been one of my best friends since we were 5yrs, when I came as close to spraining my ankle as a 5year-old can and she helped me back to our campsite. Breanna (16) I met a few days after I was born - her family came up to visit ours in Georgia - and I don't actually remember meeting Noah (13). Ellie (15) and I corresponded through over 5000 emails (yes, we counted) and exactly one letter over three years before I finally met her this past June. Katie (14) used to be so quiet before we moved into the neighborhood... now she's just as crazy as we are. :) Ashley (17) is probably the sweetest girl on the planet, and I have no idea how we started hanging out, but she's been a great role model and manages to (sometimes) keep me out of trouble. Kennedy (15) was a chance meeting - my mom embarrassed me in front of her on a cruise, then we kept bumping into each other, and now we started a habit of visiting each other every so often (they live in PA). And Josh (16) had to undergo three long years of verbal and physical abuse before I finally accepted him as a friend.

There. That was probably more than you wanted to know.

{food}

Always a good one! In fact, I'm sure the next post will be one completely devoted to it!

{travel}

I am so blessed in this area - our family has traveled more in the past five years than most people get to travel in their entire lives! We've been across the country up to Seattle, WA several times by plane, twice by car, and once up the east coast. I love road trips. Planes are okay - good if you wanna get there fast, but you don't see much. Boats... no.

I'm also thankful for a lot more - horses, books, tea, mechanical pencils, scented candles, clean kitchens, sewing machines, music, bandannas - but I could go on forever. And I will, but not on this blog. Instead, I want to hear from you. What things are you most thankful for?

~Charli Rae 

|Job 39:19-25|

All Hallows Eve

[Alyx in her witch's costume]

Halloween. An annual holiday celebrated on October 31st. Activities of the day include carving faces into pumpkins, donning creative and elaborate costumes, wandering from house to house in search of candy, hanging out with friends, pulling pranks, telling frightening stories, watching horror films, lighting huge bonfires….

Many Christians get the willies come the 31st. Maybe it’s because, even if it’s not known, the history of Halloween is, in fact, a horrifying story.

All Hallows Eve. An annual holiday signifying the end of the harvest, the start of winter, the season of death. It also came just before All Saints Day, the day when souls worthy of heaven would ascend... therefore All Hallows Eve was their last chance to reap revenge on those who harmed them during life. Ghoulish faces were originally carved into turnips or potatoes (us lazy Americans found pumpkins much easier to carve). Costumes were not for fun - they were to disguise yourself from the spirits haunting you. The 'trick-or-treat' tradition was, rather than children, the poor begging for bread in return for praying for the giver's dead relatives (spirits with more prayers found easier passage into heaven). 'Sacred' bonfires were lit and embers were carried in the carved vegetables to light sacred fires of their own, which, of course, scared the spirits away. 

Yeah, all that said, Halloween kinda scares me. But I still dressed up. But didn't get any pictures. I plan on wearing the costume again, though, so...

Beach!

We went to the beach on Monday; sort of a Memorial Day tradition.

It wasn't the best trip. There was some weird jellyfish epidemic and they were washed up everywhere, I was the only kid who didn't get stung, the water was green for some reason... and there was a storm.

Well, the storm was actually the fun part. We saw the black line of rain on the horizon and packed up, and the rain reached us just as we were heading back to the cars. Poor tourists... should've watched us natives. One canopy went flying among yelps and shrieks.

So. Sunburns, jellyfish stings, shell cuts, and sand in places it should never have made its way to... pretty much sums up the beach.

Bye! I might get another post in before the road trip, but during, they'll be few and far between.

~Charli Rae