Plans, Links, and Photos

I just love random posts like this. :)

Plans:
Today: We're going to a concert... um... somewhere... at 7:30 :) Knut has FLL this afternoon. We're doing school. That's about it.
Tomorrow (Saturday): Knut and I get to go to the Bill Jack worldview conference!!! I'm really looking forward to it. In addition to the actual 'conference' part, I'll get to see Kalei and play Ninja!!! (Have you noticed yet that I looove Ninja?)
Sunday: May Day. CCC has a tradition of putting May baskets with candy, flowers, and a gospel message at various doors in our neighborhood. The Claytons won't be here, so Knut, Cecily, and Thor will probably be the ones to do it. :) And of course, we have church in the morning.
Next week is pretty empty so far! National Day of prayer on Thursday... a LITES meeting on Saturday... the Travis Petersons arrive on Saturday... and then life becomes hectic. :)

Links:
http://familychrysalis.blogspot.com/ This is my aunt's blog. She, my uncle Travis, and their four kids (Camryn, Ethan, Sloan, and Isaac) will be coming out here for a week! They're arriving on May 7th.
http://weekinfemininedress.blogspot.com/ Week In Feminine Dress is happening this week, but I decided not to participate. You can go look at the other girls' posts, though! I am not doing WIFD this time because: #1, I've been helping Papa over at Shady Oaks this week, and that means wearing work clothes. (work clothes = pants when you're painting a ceiling) :) #2, this week has been really busy! I would not have been able to post on Wednesday, and I probably won't be able to post on Saturday.
http://brightlightsofallon.blogspot.com/2011/04/humility-42611.html Our latest Bright Lights meeting. We had group photos taken... my smile is somewhat strained because I was standing on my toes trying to be tall. :D (all short people will understand) You'll notice that I am much shorter in the 3rd picture than in the 1st and 2nd pictures. :D
Another thing that this post mentions is the birthday cards/flowers for Allison. There is an interesting story behind that! I was on the WIFD blog on Monday, looking at Allison's post when I noticed that she mentioned that her birthday was sometime this week. Hmmm!!! I was going to comment and ask her when it was, but conveniently, someone else had already done so. Allison responded to that comment and said that it was on Thursday. A-ha! I looked through my contact list and found that I had the email addresses of 3 other girls in Bright Lights. I emailed them to ask if they had any ideas. Rachel suggested that we have a card for everyone to sign. She also talked to Jessica, whose email address I did not have, and Jessica offered to bring flowers. Kalei contributed permanent markers (ours are all out of ink) to sign with as well as some ideas as to how we could get signatures without Allison's knowing. So: the plan was to have Cecily and me bring the giant cards, Jessica bring flowers, and Kalei bring permanent markers. I emailed Karen (Allison's sister) to get her help so that we could have the card on the table by the door for girls to sign as they came in. Karen usually opens the door for everyone while Allison is down in the basement getting ready for the meeting. Well, Karen didn't get my email. I didn't send it until Tuesday morning. If this was just a regular meeting, it probably would have been fine... Karen would have opened the door for everyone as usual, Allison would have been conveniently out of the way in the basement. :D :D However: Karen was busy setting up her video equipment upstairs in her room (she's making a slideshow of this semester of Bright Lights, including some interviews) and wasn't opening the door... Allison was. So Cecily and I were trying to stand in front of these HUGE cards (about 3' long) and not let Allison see them. We couldn't go downstairs without her seeing them. She did see me lugging these big pieces of cardboard/posterboard, and I think she was about to ask what they were when her mom called her. We raced downstairs and hid the cards (with Mrs. Whisler's help). Cecily posted herself on the stairs to warn us if Allison was coming downstairs, and as the girls came downstairs we had them sign the card. Allison didn't come down until it was about time for the meeting to begin, so I think we got all of the girls' signatures except for a few latecomers (which included Kalei, so we used some other markers and pens that we managed to find) :) before the meeting started. We got the rest while Allison was pouring tea. When she finished, McKensie stood on a chair to wish Allison a happy birthday, tell us to bring out the cards and flowers, and start us singing the Bright Lights birthday song. :)
http://hanniesthoughts.blogspot.com/ This is the blog of my great friend Hanna. She moved away awhile ago, but we still keep in touch through blogging and emailing. I really appreciate her sweetness, consideration, and heart for the Lord. She has encouraged me and upheld our family in prayer several times in the past few years when we were going through difficult times with job/church/health situations, and I am very blessed to have her as a friend!

Photos:

 I always love seeing all the glasses lined up on the counter and not being able to fit completely in one row. :)

 The couple pictures I actually got from Cherry Pie Day... we're waiting for the representatives to get to the auditorium to make their speeches.

 From SB136... we are still sooo amazed about what God did there! Kalei and Shelby Swogger, with whom I got to go to Cherry Pie Day, actually got to be in the room where the hearing was, so they were telling me about it while we were touring the capitol.