Please read this, even though there aren't any pictures!

 This entry was written in my art journal less than a week ago:

"It has been rather a sunny, hot, lazy sort of day in which I have felt neither productive nor energetic. The former I have unfortunately not felt in a while, whereas the latter has only recently been escaping me. Perhaps the secret to the qualities I lack lies in a few well-written to-do lists? They never helped in the past, however I shall try again and make the best of the results..."

Truly, these feelings are still with me at this present date. Why they do not cease to exist is beyond my feeble imaginings, but I have not yet tried the merits of that reputable thing known as the to-do list. Perhaps that will help. Have any of you tried it yet? And what thing do you use to get rid of the well-known unproductive blahs?

Anyhow, you're prob`ly wondering what provoked the peculiar language up there. Well, you wouldn't if you knew how many classics we've been reading for school: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Oliver Twist, etc. It was quite unavoidable, and plus I love talking that way. :) School for us is still in full swing, but when you're home schooled it's easy to take a small, teensy break to go outside and breath in the hot, muggy air. Ah, the smell of ambrosia and nectar that is Summer! Do you realize that in all my sixteen years of summer, I have never once had a bee sting, or even a wasp one? They are quite abundant in this realm, but Providence has shielded me. Whew. :)
A girl I know got stung by a bee once, and she went ahead and did a whole swim meet after the fact. Some persons have a hardy constitution.
We are planning a baby shower for my aunt. She's having a girl, and I can't wait to see her! It will be my only girl cousin on my mother's side, the side on which I already have five boy cousins. Family reunions are always fun, do not you agree? The theme for the shower is pink and yellow, with lots of pinwheels. It's adorable!! I dare not post pictures, just in case my aunt looks at my blog. (that's a nice phrase. 'Dare not'. Heh heh.)
What are your summer plans? You know, summer only started three days ago (tho' mentally, 'twas two months back). I have not many plans for the summer, except to finish school, a worthy goal, agreed? After I graduate, I believe that I will be a hairdresser. It sounds fun, and I can do it from home. I can cut my children's hair, or get my own salon and go to people's houses to cut their hair, or do it for a favor, etc., etc., the possibilities are endless! You have to be seventeen to get into the school I'm interested in, so it'll still take a while. What is your career choice? Actually, my first one is to be a mother, but I sort of consider that mandatory. I think adopted children are also mandatory. :) I just LOVE children. :)
So if you haven't noticed, I've been talking to you sort of conversationally. What do you think of that style?

Our church is doing a mission trip to Honduras, and the team leaves today. Please pray that they'll have safe travel and that they'll reach as many people as is God's will. Thanks!

Have a wonderful week!

Grace be with you,
Abby :D

Thoughts {the boringest title}

 













 ..."Because, my young friends," the man muttered sourly, "what could be more important than doing unimportant things? If you stopped to do enough of them, you'll never get to where you're going." He punctuated his last remark with a villainous laugh. "Then you must-" gasped Milo. 
"Quite correct!" he shrieked triumphantly. "I am the Terrible Trivium, demon of petty tasks and worthless jobs, ogre of wasted effort, and monster of habit." The Humbug dropped his needle and stared in disbelief while Milo and Tock began to back away slowly. "Don't try to leave," he ordered, with a menacing sweep of his arm, "for there's so very much to do, and you still have over eight hundred years to go on the first job."

"But why do only unimportant things?" asked Milo, who suddenly remembered how much time he spent each day doing them. "Think of all the trouble it saves," the man explained, and his face looked as if he'd be grinning an evil grin- if he could grin at all. "If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You just won't have the time. For there's always something to do to keep you from what you really should be doing..."
~The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster

 Norton Juster sure got it right there. I think we all have trouble with this very topic: doing only the easy and useless jobs. 
"Well, as soon as I get finished looking at Facebook, I'll go read those 50 pages of Latin." 
It's very easy to get stuck in a treadmill of the easy, pointless jobs, like going on every website on the computer or lying lazily on the couch (guilty am I) instead of the harder, important ones, such as spending time in the Word or helping with dinner. Just a thought.

So, it's June...
Today was a perfect day for drinking pink lemonade (which tastes a lot better than normal lemonade, by the way) and just being outside in the beautiful sun. What is your summer break looking like? We're still deep in the clutches of school. I'm doing personal finance and business math. Fun stuff, right? I haven't gone swimming as of yet this season, because we have no pool.  We ate a watermelon, and I made a bracelet out of the seeds. It was hard, on account o' having to poke holes in all those seeds. What have you been doing this season? Swimming, biking, running, eating? Tell me, I want to know. :)


Grace be with you,

Abby :D

Summer! How nice to see you!

{taken by my sister, Leah}

The season's thoughts turn to summer. The sun gets hotter and clouds of mosquitoes appear. The nice spring flowers shrivel up and die, followed by delicious vegetables. School books are closed for months. Lemonade, ice cream, and popsicles can be found in the fridge, and t-shirts and shorts in the closet. Swim suits come out for an outing in the pool. 

{I love the summer season.}

Even though it gets hot and sunny, and my face gets pink with sunburn, my legs covered with itchy bites, I love everything that spells summer. Catching lightning bugs and eating out on the porch, having water balloon fights and spraying each other with the hose, sweet and fruity treats like popsicles or smoothies, smearing on bug repellent and sunscreen, going to the park and the pool, it's all been a part of summer in Georgia. It's practically the biggest part of the year here. Summer is getting hot and cooling off. Summer is eating watermelon. Summer is a million different things. What is summer to you?