letters

Gertrude & Bertha

by oh amanda on August 21, 2007

in Bible,blogging,faith,family,friends,God,history,internet,Jesus,letters,life,love,me,memories,moms,people

Everything is all right with the world. My dishwasher is ready to run. My microwave is humming along with lunch. Lydia is asleep. My new Vera Bradley wallet is filled (not with money, but with my stuff). I’ve cleaned the bathrooms and picked up Lydia’s toys. I walked this morning. I gave Lydia a bath.

And the internet has brought me two new friends!

Well, one of them isn’t new exactly. Remember when I found all the stuff in my parent’s attic? One box was full of High School memorabilia. It was mainly report cards and student IDs. But there were a few notes in there. You know, the ones folded with a million folds like origami? They were mainly from my friend Stephanie. She and I were good friends in Middle School and we’d write the craziest notes to each other. We drew pictures of our band class and of each other. We had made up nicknames for each other and were just basically silly. When we got into High School we weren’t in the same classes or circles (I can’t even remember now) and we just didn’t hang out anymore. There wasn’t any animosity there…it was just one of those things.

I remember I had Chemistry with her boyfriend. I mean, we had the class Chemistry together! Ha! We talked about how she and I were good friends before and didn’t really even say hi now. He would always tell me, I wish you guys would get together again! Well, when I found those old notes, I knew I had to find her. So, I tried the usual mysapce & facebook. And sure enough found her boyfriend, who turns out to be her hubby. So, he did get us together again!

OK, this is getting to be a longer post than I intended. Anyway, we’ve emailed, she’s got a blog, 2 kids and we’re going to try to get together for a playdate! How fun is that?!

Now, my second friend. Well, I say she’s my friend. I think we’re destined to be great friends! She emailed me to let me know she’s been reading my blog for the past few months and feels like we’re kindred spirits. (My first fan mail!) She’s in children’s ministry, 30 and the daughter of pastors. So, yeah, I think we might click!

She said, “I hope you don’t find this weird.” Oh my goodness, no! One of the first blogs I ever read was Joy‘s. She was a friend of Candace’s. And I fell in love with her. I felt like we were kindred spirits. And I emailed her to let her know I was following her life online. So, I know what it’s like to be a stalker! I’m great at it. I just can’t believe someone would want to stalk me!

Earlier I said it was the internet that delivered them to me, but what I really mean is that I think it’s God. I believe there is purpose in everything. I don’t believe God moves us like pawns and we have no say. I’m not talking about destiny. I just know that God has plans for us.

Psalm 139 (my favorite chapter in the Bible) says, “every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed…” That used to upset me. I didn’t like thinking about God writing my days and too-bad-for-you if you don’t like it. But now, I see it differently. I think that God has planned the biggest and best life for me. I think He planned my friends in middle school. I believe he planned my husband. I believe he planned my jobs. Of course, the world, my will, other people, the devil and my choices can make my life deviate from this plan. But when I decide to and work hard at following Him, I’m blessed.

I think He blesses me even in the little things–finding an old friend, making a new one, getting a compliment from a mom at the park, having exact change when you need it, getting a deal on a purchase or just that undeniable sense of peace and joy on the inside.

And for some reason God has brought me this blog (and yes, the internet at large) to bless me. We’ve traveled a lot since we’ve been married. We’ve been uprooted from our friends too many times to count. We’ve even closed our hearts to new relationships. And now, we’re in a season of being able to reconnect with friends, deepen relationships with family and receive from Him.

I’m feeling very happy and loved today!

{ 9 comments }

Vintage is best

by oh amanda on August 9, 2007

in family,history,letters,me

Remember I told you about the trek into my parent’s attic? Well, ever since then, Mama has been wanting to get up into that attic and clean it out. My parents have lived in their house for 30 years, so even if they weren’t scavengers and pack-rats, they’d have lots of stuff. But I still love the attic. I feel like there is just a big treasure up there waiting to be discovered! Well, minus the unidentified animal carcasses.

Last week Mama and Daddy were redoing some wiring in their house. (They are so talented!) And stumbled upon the mother-lode of memories. I came home with a giant box of stuff after looking through tons of bags, boxes and envelopes. It was mostly papers from us when we were kids–our test scores, our cursive handwriting practice sheets, the usual. My adoption doll was in there. A pile of notes to rival Staci’s. Even a letter or two from an old boyfriend. gag.

A few of my favorite things:

Mama kept a scattered journal when we were kids. It was really more of a logbook. One of those skinny calendars men keep in their front pocket. And mainly, she only wrote in it when she was waiting for someone to pick her up (oh, the days of 1 car!) or when she was cleaning out her purse. But it was so cool because some of the entries were around 1978 when I was the same age as Lydia is now! So, Mama is describing me putting things in and out of containers. She writes that I loved to throw myself into the pillows on their bed and then peek up to make sure they were watching. It’s just so sweet! A little glimpse into what it was like then. Lydia will be overloaded with her childhood, I take so many pictures, she’ll have every milestone from here on out. It won’t make her tangible memories as special as mine, I think.

An Easter story/coloring sheet my brother made. You can tell his teacher had them color a picture of an easter basket, then cut it out. There are lines on the basket to write their story. Jason’s story was something like this: I like Easter because you get lots of candy. We also get eggs and have an easter egg hunt. I also get easter clothes and a basket. But the most important thing is that Jesus rose. All those other things are great, but Jesus coming back to life is the best! He was like in 2nd grade! Isn’t that awesome? He was always a little witness like that. I remember in about 4th or 5th grade he invited all the neighborhood boys over to our house to watch a skateboard McGee & Me vidoe so he could tell them about Jesus!

A letter from my great-grandfather to my grandmother. Grandmama had written, “For Amanda’s baby book” on the outside of it. We wondered why and then read this,

“Darrell & Cindy came by for a while Sunday pm and picked up the baby clothes. The baby sure is growing up. She looked at me with an expression on her face that was saying, “I don’t know you. Where did you come from?” She knew I was a stranger then smiled. She is a pretty baby. Cindy said she was teething and sometimes gets a little fretful…”

Isn’t that cool? He died before I could remember him. But it must have been a big deal that they went to visit him. Mama said he used to call them every day and she’d have to think of something to talk to him about. He was so lonely before he died.

My Strawberry Shortcake house. I love this thing. I can still remember placing these little figurines perfectly in the house. I remember how they smelled. I thought they were beautiful–like little jeweled candy! Even with a layer of dust and a little musty scent, I think they’re beautiful. So, it was so fun when Lydia played with it non-stop this morning!

strawberry shortcake

Don’t you love finding out more about your history? Even the not-so-distant past?

{ 11 comments }

Notes & Letters

by oh amanda on July 14, 2007

in friends,letters,me,memories,sisterchicks,writing

Staci came over yesterday. She had been cleaning out her house and found all her old letters and notes from camps, missions trips and various strange things we’d done in middle and high school. She didn’t want to just throw them away, so she brought them over and we read ~~all~~ some of them. It is the funniest thing I’ve done in awhile.

My favorite way to send a note is with stickers. I have to admit, I still do this today. Grab a few stickers and make up a pun or something stupid about each one. Here’s one from oh, about 1991.

Another thing we’d do is make up pretend names and addres our notes as an envelope with these pretend names. For example, if I was in love with oh, say Juan Otero, I might write the return address as Mrs. Amanda Otero. If we detested Nate Waters, I’d address it to Mrs. Staci Waters. You get the idea. Here’s an “envelope” that has something to do with the nickname “cuss”. I honestly don’t remember where we got the “cuss” term from, but we used it for a long time. (Any sisterchicks know where that came from?)

And the inside:

Now, here is the best one. Becky, are you paying attention? In all of our notes, there were lots of references to boys. I know, shocking for middle and high schoolers. We found notes about guys we liked, guys we met and famous guys. But this…this might be the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Becky wrote this (I’m sure tongue in cheek…at least I hope!) about her then boyfriend, Wes.

(Beck, if this is too embarassing, let me know. I ~~might~~ will take it down.)

Speaking of guys, here’s Staci’s Membership Card to the Dave Privett Fan Club. (If anyone from OWS is reading this, please know that I’m blushing. And don’t forward this to Dave.)

It’s funny to think that all the time, emotion and energy we spent on those cards and letters are now in the trash can. Try telling that to a High Schooler now! Here’s Staci with her memories before we trashed them!