Hey, guys. I think it's time for me to take a Blogger break. I might be gone a week or two. I'll let you know. Sorry, I just need some time off. 

Blessings!

~Ella

Well, I suppose I'd best stop being lazy and tell you guys something about VBS and how it's going. Me, Joy, and Micah had sixteen last night, nineteen anticipated for tonight. We've been told that our group is the largest, and the best behaved, out of all of them. I'm so proud of my little kids. Last night we had seven girls and nine boys. They're awesome. Absolutely awesome.

It's been a really fun week so far. I think that all of us volunteers are having about as much fun as the kids. Everybody's been doing a fantastic job.

I think me and Joy have been having the best time out of anybody. We've been corresponding during the day to coordinate our outfits for the night. Sunday night we wore yellow, Monday was blue, last night was red, and tonight is orange. It's so much fun. 

So, even though she and I usually keep up a steady stream of chatter while we're together, there's always a lull in the conversation just in time for us to hear the weirdest comments. We'll both tune in to somebody else's conversation at the worst moment, and not having any idea what they're talking about, we just have to laugh. Like last night, we'd been talking, and then we both got quiet for a minute just in time to year our youth pastor say to pastor Jon, "I knew it was you all along, honey." 

Yeah, like I said, weird. So last night we decided to just never stop talking again, and then we'd be the ones having the weird conversations that other people would have to listen to. 

The very first of which happened last night while our kids were at games. You see, all of the volunteers have matching baseball caps, but not everybody wears them on their head. A few people wear them clipped to their belt-loop. Stephen happens to be one of those people. He told me that it's because he just can't wear that kind of hat, his head is too oddly shaped. 

Last night I was trying to wear my hat kind of sideways, just to be silly, but it kept on straightening by itself. I complained about this to Joy, and commented, "Maybe my head is oddly shaped too." Weird-comment-that-wouldn't-make-sense-to-anyone-else number 1.

Well, we both laughed at that, and she said, "Great, let's find all the similarities between you and Stephen."

So I said, "Oh, no, let's not go there. You see, my mom has always said that if she finds a guy who blows his nose as loudly as I do, it's meant to be. The very first time she heard him blow his nose, she was convinced." Weird comment number 2.

Then began the portion of the conversation that I'm glad nobody heard, especially considering the fact that Stephen's mom was standing very nearby. 

I told Joy that my little sister Anne thought that he and I were meant to be too, so everybody's just against me. Then she says, "Don't worry about it. Everybody's been through that. The you're-supposed-to-be-with-Stephen phase. Even before he was in the youth group, everybody wanted him to get a girl." Now that would've been an awkward comment for anybody to overhear.

Shortly after this, one of our kids started having really bad stomach pain. Which means that every single one of our kids is going to be sick by the end of the week. Not looking forward to that. Wish me luck.

Well, dears, I had better be going. Everybody's bugging me to get off the computer, and my precious O'Malley needs a bath. Oh, wait, I didn't tell you about him, did I? We got a kitty!!! A precious little black and white kitten, whom we've dubbed O'Malley. I'll post a pic. 

Aaaaanyway, have a great day! 

A Change

Hey. If you noticed, which you probably didn't, I recently went through and changed all 'Dan' to 'Stephen'. You've probably guessed by now that I don't use people's real names, and Stephen suits my friend better than Dan. Dan was something I thought up spur-of-the-moment, and I just decided that I don't like it. I may change others, we'll just have to see. Thanks for your patience!

Hi! I hope you're having a wonderful Saturday. I know I am! I spent the e-n-t-i-r-e day at the church decorating for Camp Edge, a.k.a VBS. The church looks absolutely fantastic. There are tents and camping stuff, a waterfall, mountains, animals, forests, and all kinds of stuff. It's going to be the most amazing week. We had a blast today. Me, Joy, Brandon, Stephen, and Josh were all working together hanging posters and decorating. Hey, funny little story for ya. You know what a carabiner is, right? No? Look to your right, I posted a pic of one. Well, I had a whole bunch of them, all different sizes and colors. I walked up to one of the several campsite scenes (all complete with real tent) where Stephen and Josh were standing. I asked them what I should do with them. The tent had this little hookie-thingy on the door. Stephen looks at it, looks at the carabiners in my hand, and starts giggling. Like, insanely. He takes the carabiners from my hand, still giggling, takes the biggest one off the plastic thing that was holding them, and hooks it to the hook on the door of the tent. Then he stopped giggling, handed me the rest of the carabiners, and said, "Here ya go.", like nothing had happened. It was hi-larious.

Me and Joy tortured Brandon. We had these posters to hang in the hallway, three of them, and middle one had to be perfectly centered. We made him hold the poster on the wall, about a foot above his head, while we counted steps from him to the posters on either side. He was a trooper though. And the posters still aren't perfect. Oh well. 

It's going to be quite a week. I'm going to have so much fun. I'll try and post some pics. 

Have a nice evening!

Hello, all. Ten thousand apologies, I know it's been waaaay too long since I sat down and blogged. Things have been kinda nutty. I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day, I know I did.

If you think about it too hard, though, it's kind of melancholy. It feels like there isn't much to celebrate anymore......or maybe it's just me. I don't know.

My pastor's two oldest sons stayed the night with my little brother Wednesday night. Fortunately, Anne was also staying the night away, with Brandon's little sister. If she had been home, things would've been considerably more chaotic. Let's just say that she doesn't get along with the pastor's boys very well. (Not yet anyway. I'm convinced that one of them is my future brother-in-law. Don't tell Anne I said that.) Aaaanyway, they stayed the night Wednesday night, which means that I got about six hours of sleep that night, since they stayed up super-late and got up super-early. Put those boys with my brothers, and nobody gets a moment's peace and quiet. On Thursday my friend and neighbor Marie hung out all day (which severely interrupted the work I needed to be doing, but it was fun). It was quite a day, especially seeing as how Marie is on about the same maturity level as the boys. It was fun. 

Then last night we had dinner over at a friend's house. They're a great family. Brandice and Jay, and their two little ones, Nathaniel (who's six) and Bri (who's almost one). Precious. The food was great, the fellowship was better. It was an awesome night.

Unfortunately, playing all day yesterday means I have work to do today. Which means making popsicle stick boxes. Lots and lots of popsicle stick boxes. They're for vacation Bible school, I have about 53 to do, and Joy has the other half. It's been quite a project already, and I'm not anywhere near done. So wish me luck. 

Looking to the future a little bit, Tomorrow I'll be at the church all day, helping decorate for VBS, which is next week. It's going to an awesome week. Me, Joy, and a guy named Micah are working together as 'camp counselors' for the first- and second-graders. It's going to be amazing.

Well, I had best be going. Too much to do, too little time. Blessings!