mixtape jane

Well, it’s an exciting day for my sister, Hannah, who is now 22. Not only is her name a palindrome, but now her name will traipse along side that fantastic little tidbit for the next year, until it recommences on birthday 33.

Hannah also left for Africa 2.0 to go work with Sky Ranch in Kenya for a month. I say 2.0 because she went last summer as well. I am thoroughly convinced that my sister was born to live there and I wouldn’t be surprised if after graduation (this December) she packed up and just moved. She is incredibly passionate and children and missions, so knowing her and her gifts, this makes perfect sense.

Other things that add to this making sense:

She can go days without showering
She can go even longer without shaving her legs
She’ll always up for an adventure, and try just about anything once
She’s really athletic
She’s an amazing communicator, extremely funny and and extremely candid

Now Hannah and I have not always gotten along, and still have a very different M.O. My first memory of her is when my Karen and my Dad were dating, probably engaged. Hannah was two and I was five. Thus far in my life I had been an only child, and quite frankly, a brat. I had never had to share and my soon-to-be stepsister had picked up a fake plastic lipstick that had fallen out of my dress-up purse. Outraged, I grabbed the first thing within my reach - my Dad’s baseball. Raring to hit her, I wound my arm back to throw it - or at least to fake her out with the threat of an ended life. Lucky for her I didn’t show any signs of athletic coordination until some eighteen years later. My only defense being a proficiency at hair pulling.

So we definitely started out on the right foot, and I think this illustrates my knack for leaving wonderful first impressions.

Hannah is beautiful. Her laugh is infectious and her compassion permeates all that she does. She is lovely, and worthwhile, and to be fought for. She is doing wonderful things for the Kingdom and I am proud of her.

After a long, hard, week, Katie and I decided last night was a night to go out.

We decide that we were going to eat dinner and Life’s a Beach. Our waiter was nice enough. My favorite part was while he took our order, he was looking 18 inches below our eyes and asking if we wanted a dinner salad with our coconut shrimp. Katie was quite disgusted and so I told her that next time you notice it’s happening to make the gesture about them and say “Like ‘em?”. This action is humiliating to the perpetrator and ultimately makes them a little more gun shy. Just think of it as one less.

After demonstrating, another male waiter comments on his seeing it.

I start laughing.

Katie is now mortified and bright red.

Later on when we are reliving the moment on the way home, I remind her that I have no shame.

She says “I know.”

I hesitantly pressed the submit button when I submitted my grad school application today.

Now granted, this isn’t life and death here.  I am applying to retake a class that I didn’t do so hot in during undergrad the summer before I student taught.  I have absolutely no excuses outside of the fact that the senioritis was almost unbearable.

So I applied, and so that’s one step closer to getting ready to do what I really want to do - teach art.

Some other things that happened recently:

• I got my ears lowered - mixed feelings about it still, so maybe when I get a chance I’ll post a picture.
• I started and am nearly finished reading the manuscript to a friend’s book that I am really excited about.
• I visited the art museum with J.  I did not get in trouble for getting too close to the art this time.
• Zip blew up a balloon.
• The Midlo fireworks rivaled that of the Civil War.
• Saturday was like Super Summer reunion day.