3 little fairies

so around a month ago i had a little conversation with my 7 year-old niece, paige.  it went something like this:


p: this year for halloween i want to be a rainbow fairy
me: that sounds cool
p: do you dress up for halloween?
me: i did last year... you want to know what i dressed up as?
p: what?
me: the burning bush
p: (uncertain grunt)
me: you know what that's from?
p: yeah, the Bible story... how'd you do that?
me: well i made it out of stuff.
p: you MADE it?  could you make mine?
me: (uuuuhhhh...) sure
p: (voice getting more excited) okay, so i want a LOT of colors, because it can't be plain, otherwise it wouldn't be a RAINBOW fairy and i WANT it to be REALLY colorful.
me: i think i can do that.
p's mom: you want to make them for her sisters' too?
me: (evil glare) sure


now, before my sister comes and slaps me with the truth stick, i have to admit... there was no evil glaring.  i was actually pretty excited... but no story is complete without a little conflict, right?  gotta love that artistic license.


anyway, a week goes by and i received this little number in the mail (fyi: my name is not spelled like that)

funny girl.  so, knowing the expectations where high i slaved and i sewed and i sewed and i slaved and i turned my nice clean upstairs into, well, a...

not so clean upstairs.


but the end result turned out to be worth the energy... plus raely kept saying "your the BEST, aunt leslie!" which is almost enough to get me to do it again.  



i love how the pictures totally show their personalities

the youngest fairy was sleeping during the other two's debut, but i was able to get this quick shot as she was awaiting the arrival of her cousins...

i am in love with a man...

...a man named, dan computer-fix-it-man (i don't know his last name, so "computer-fix-it-man" will have to suffice)


oh we had a rough start... our relationship was broken and fragile (at least my computer was)


for weeks he left me hanging... waiting by the phone with not so much as a "hello" to ease my mind.


but now... oh now things are good!  things are divine!


issues have been resolved, the brokenness is mended (plus he gave me FREE updates!!!)


oh dan, fear not.  all has been forgiven and restored.  it's time to look to the future, not dwell on the past...


(and hopefully that means i won't be gracing your doors for a very, very long time.)


here's to you, dan.

was it worth it?

who would have thought this:

could turn into this:

i still can't believe it.  i can't believe that i drew that many pictures!  i can't believe i'm still sane(kind of).   i can't believe i still have friends after a month of absence.

but here's what i can believe:

i believe in what lifesong is doing in the lives of thousands of children worldwide.  i believe that their "adopt an orphanage" program can be a valuable addition to any church.  that's why i also believe all the frustration, late hours, multiple do-overs, and loss of any kind of social life where worth it.

i know most of you have seen this video, but if not, enjoy!

if you want to know more about how your church can participate in this program click here

welcoming myself back to blog world with a somewhat random post...

when i was in jr. high i wanted to be a doctor.  not sure why, but i had it in my head that this was what i was destined to be.  


i knew it would require work... lots of work.  


i knew it would require good grades in math and science... no problem because these happened to be two of my favorite subjects (some of you aren't believing me right now, but it's true... really it is!)


so i decided to prepare myself for the years of dedication and studying that lay ahead, and committed to reading through the entire... (wait for it) ... family medical guide.


that's right, starting on page one of this little beaut...

i began to read... and take notes, for that matter.


never was i so diligent... never was i so faithful...
then it came time to start chapter 2.  and it was even longer than chapter 1!  ugh...


ah, well.  some dreams are better left on the shelf... right next to that big ol' family medical guide with a sheet of note paper tucked into chapter 1 by an ambitious (albeit easily distracted) 11 year old.

welcome to peru

here are some long overdue pics of the sights around iquitos, peru.

pics of the kids still to come.

this last one is a picture of the only piece of wallpaper in my hotel room... perfection.

facing my fears

this year, for fathers day, i decided to treat my dad to a date night... a little tennis and dinner at one of his favorite restaurants that i kind of hate. aren't i a good daughter?

... ahem, until you consider that i missed father's day cause i wanted to visit friends out of town. but we won't talk about that.

anyway, i thought it sounded like a nice gift... and so did he... until he came up with a "better" idea.

dad: how about instead of tennis and dinner you come over and help me redo our deck

*insert sarcasm*
yeah-ha! what fun!

but, what the hey. it's for father's day... which i missed.

plus i like myself some hard core construction (really, i do) so bring it on!

one problemo.

it was covered in thick, nasty spider webs!!!!!

oh goodness. we kept ripping up boards to reveal thicker and bigger webs. gag!

thankfully there were only a few spiders, and not terribly huge ones. but just knowing they had been there and were probably coming back made me want to cry.

did i mention i'm slightly afraid of spiders?

but did i do it? yes i did! even after dark!!!

and did i scream?

the whole way.*

nothing like facing your fears with style.


*that's an exaggeration... still, the amount of screaming/whimpering was considerable

news alert!

i found my keys... in my PURSE!!!!!!

oh woe is me and my overloaded brain. i think i need a vacation.

am i alone here?

does anyone else, like me, "go a little [crazy] sometimes"*?

if so, please share... misery loves company.

*psycho quote... fyi

what happens when you have too much going on?

you lose your keys, that's what.
well maybe you don't, but i do.

and then after you've missed a dr appointment because you're running around your house looking for little shiny things that magically get you places you need to go you call your sister, who happens to be meeting a friend who brought her starbucks and when she comes to take you to work she shares her blessed drink and even gives you the rest to take with you!

*let's stop and let that last part sink in a bit*

then you find the key your employee so generously drove to work earilier to drop off so you could actually get into the building since your key is...well... lost... and then you continue your day in the normal fashion. no craziness here. just an average day. move along. move along.


big shout out thanks to jami lynn, you dear thing, you, and nicole for buying the coffee that would eventually make its way to me.

how i'm feeling today...

my kind of multitasking

today i took a walk while reading a book.

there's something terribly poetical about simultaneously wandering through paths in this world and the imagination.

and then

it rained

on both my person and my* book.

delightful.

did i mention i love rain?

* actually, it's my sister's. don't worry, mego. your book is no worse for the wear. i hunched over while i walked to shield it as much as possible.

peru in a (really big) nutshell

saturday

1. flew into iquitos
2. went to visit a little village by the river, got some interviews and pictures
3. saw the church/kid's club/rachel and josue's(the directors) home (it's all in the same building)
4. ate dinner at "texas" (this place is awesome... it's run by a true texas man who apparently likes to decorate with marti gras and sports themes... oh yeah)

sunday

1. helped out with kid's club in the morning
2. went to the invasion in the afternoon (the invasion is basically the projects and a lot of their kids live there)
3. watched the kids play soccer... they have a little "field" in the back of the church.
4. went to church in the evening where instead of a service they made dad and me give a 30 minute concert... hmmm. the funny thing is, of all the songs we sang the ones we forgot the words to were the only two we sing together regularly. ironic. oh the joy of standing in front of a room of strangers in awkward silence when beautiful melodies are supposed to be flowing off your tongue... yeah it was an interesting night, but fun. after the service the kids thought it would be fun to dog pile me... twice.
5. went out for icecream with josue's family... it was his brother's birthday (fyi, his whole family is involved in ministry... his dad is their pastor and his mom and brothers and their wives help with kid's club)

monday

1. went across the river (yeah, i was on the amazon...) to visit another village where we ate really good fish they had caught earlier that day and yummy hot soup... in 90 degree weather... and then played frisbee.
2. said goodbye to dad and jon.
3. helped put together bunkbeds (i ended up not sleeping on the floor after all... no complaining, here)
4. watched peruvian futbol
5. stayed up way too late talking with rachel... josue couldn't figure out what we could talk about for so long. he obviously doesn't understand women.

tuesday

1. had wonderfully yummy homemade cappacinoee drink for breakfast... not sure why it tasted so good... but it did
2. went shopping with rachel for supplies and groceries
3. taught a group of the kids how to paper mache animals.
4. interviewed 3 sisters who are in kid's club... the oldest commited her life to Christ just that sunday!
5. got a guitar lesson from josue's brother jonathan.
6. watched "blind side" ...which i'd never seen and it's pretty darn good

wednesday

1. hehe... so i can't seem to remember what we did until evening, but i'll update it when i do... hehe... awkward
2. interviewed mama luc and shirley... who mama luc took in a year ago because she was being abused and now (in her late 50s) is raising this 13 year old as her own daughter... amazing.
3. watched the fantastic mr. fox... which was... fantastic

thursday

1. went to a butterfly farm across the river where they also have a jaguar and monkeys that steel your stuff and cool things like that.
2. ate a semi raw fish "salad" for lunch... a well loved peruvian dish... good thing i love sushi!
3. went back to the invasion to interview a brother and sister in kid's club
4. taught second class where we painted the animals we made... the kids did absolutely awesome.
5. it finally rained! which was divine because the heat was getting a little... well... hot
6. went out to eat at a really cool pizza place... yummy!
7. gave jonathan a singing lesson(payment for the guitar lesson) ... no i do not know how to give voice lessons... yes i did fake my way through the whole thing... but he seemed happy.

friday

1. spent the morning chillin with my Bible... bliss.
2. ate lunch at a tiny cafe where i ate my third truly authentic peruvian meal of the week... it was my fav
3. rachel treated me to a pedicure. something i never get in the states and i must say, i feel a little strange having flowers painted on my toenails.
4. said many goodbyes... got globbered by a group of my new little friends.
5. met mama luc and papa jorje(i don't know how to spell names in spanish) at the airport where they prayed over me for safe travels home.
6. met a peace corps volunteer at the airport in lima who was heading home. we didn't sit together on the plane but spent the hours between our flights hanging out. long layovers when your traveling solo can be well... long, so it was such a God send to have her to talk to. if you're reading this, heather(which you're probably not)... thanks!

sorry this got kind of long. if you're still reading... i commend you.
there will be pictures... sometime soon.

peru, here i come!

*note* the following post is in rainbow... consider yourself warned


well folks, it looks like i will be happily spending a blessed week in peru...

... playing with some kids

... making some movies

... meeting people who get to be Jesus' hands and feet to the locals

... experiencing some south american culture

... and then getting left there by myself for an extra 3 days...

yey!

... just thought you'd like to know.


*another note* okay, so technically i won't be "by myself" but i will be left by my fellowtravel mates to stay with the couple down there upon who's floor i will be sleeping... HOLYgoodness i'm so excited! (i just squeeled a little bit there)

i did it!!!

well kind of...

eh, not really...

i mean, i finished my book... 2 days late.

... although a friend did say i could technically give myself 2 extra days since the conference left me virtually timeless... (and i'm not talking timeless as in "not affected by time"... i'm talking about the "less" as in strictly lacking)

yeah, we'll go with that excuse.

see this?

this is my determined face...

why so determined?

i started this book in january on my way to zambia, and let me tell you, i really like this book...

however...

i have this habit of starting multiple books at the same time and so i never finished it... shocker.

well, folks, the time has come.

a while back i gave you all a run down of my new years resolutions (see here) one of which being to read 1 book a month. not hard, right? well for this chica... yes. yes it is.

but...

at the beginning of this month i got a little fire in me to read like a crazy lady, thanks to the book "crazy love" (see here)

i also turned 26 and i'm thinking that must be the age that i officially became an adult because suddenly i'm super disciplined and hard working! (don't laugh, family! i'm not comparing myself to YOU... i'm comparing myself to ME... ahh, see? now you understand)

anyway...

just a month ago i was 0 for 3 books for the year...

and now?

3 for 4!!!

now i just have to finish this blessed and brightly colored (which makes it way more fun) book within the next couple days and i will be 4 for 4!

wow! it's been quite a month...

i also have a 7 hour drive to a conference that will take up the remainder of this month as well...

i might just have to risk car sickness and read on the journey... though i'm guessing my travel mates would not be terribly thrilled with me...

we'll see!

what happens when leslie tries to get organized...

yeah... i think i started this project... 2 weeks ago?

ridiculous.

long over due

this was supposed to get posted a little closer to easter, but here it is anyway...

... dum-du-dum!

my first attempt at an easter egg cake (don't think this is easy on my pride... cause it's not)

and don't let the clever camera angle trick you. here's a more accurate shot...

yes, yes... we won't mention what this really looks like... though my family didn't seem to mind mentioning it... repeatedly.

farewell pride... for now.

breaking the pattern

okay, so we all know i'm a really slow reader, right?

well, let me tell you right now that this weekend i found a book worthy of finishing with some fury. that's right, i finished the book crazy love by francis chan in (what?) 4 days! whoop whoop! can you believe it? this testimony on it's own should prove that this is a book worth reading.

... plus i like the cover (see below)

granted this book is under 200 pages, but still! and it's the first non-fiction book that i can ever remember finishing at all! in high school i remember reading no compromise about keith green (really cool book) but i had to do a book report and was running out of time so i stopped with only 2 chapters left... you know, once he dies there not much more to tell, right? oh brother.

let me also say that reading this book over Easter weekend was one of the best things i've done to remind of the unbelievable truth behind the holiday. hmmm... it was soo good.

my sister told me i should write a book review but that sounded to much like a book report and well, that felt really hard. so instead i bring you this book endorsement.

read crazy love! you'll love it! and trust me if i can read it... anyone can.

cool...

i just broke my guitar pick while playing a song.

does that make me a bona fide rocker?

... i hope so

lovely rita, rita mae...

guess what i did tuesday...

i jump started my car... twice

thankfully, now she is running (semi) smoothly.

big thanks to callie and clint for the use of their cars and to clint for those handy dandy jumper cables... glad i didn't burn down your house in my attempt to be self sufficient.

bad poetry anyone?

it is a beautiful day today.
i am at work with the door open.
the kiln is running in the back producing great amounts of heat.
that door is closed... which helps.
i turn on the air so it will not get too hot.
the front door is still open.
but now it is too cold.
i turn off the air.
already i can feel the heat creeping in like an unwelcome friend.
dare i close the door?
no, that would just be sad.
dare i turn the air back on?
not unless i want to freeze.
oh the trials of a beautiful spring day.


just thought i'd share some negative perspective on an otherwise positive day with a non rythmic, non rhyming, non poetic peom.

the time has come... really

sorry to those of you who tried to open this post at any point last week. after a frustrating battle with blogspot... which i lost... i ended up deleting the whole post and opted to start over with less pictures and MOOORRRRREEEEE words. aren't you so glad.

anywho, here's the great info of my life for the past month...

paneling... painting... puttying... nailing... more painting... pulling out really annoying carpet staples... more painting... and all in the name of finishing a room with a fireplace so i could enjoy it this... spring? oh well, i got a couple good uses out of the fireplace last week thanks to a very slow moving winter (thanks, pal) and now i can reveal the fruits of my labor.

are you ready?

you sure????

ahem...

before: (notice the 2 varying carpet colors... mmhmm... and around the corner in the great unseen room lies another shade of bright red... which was actually kind of cool because it felt like walking on a cloud of happy crimson dreams... (sigh)

as cool as all that was we parted ways, many tears were shed... because of all the dust from tearing down walls and rank carpet... yes, this was the beginning of a new era)

after!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

before: (ugh... why yes that is a banister made of crudely nailed 2x4s, funny you should notice... see the red carpet! see it! i really kind of miss that old friend)

after!!!!

before:

after!!

before:

after!!!

the end...

now i just need to steal back my table from lifesong's waiting area... yes it was mine first... i even made it... uhuh... so i think i have ownership rights...

and then maybe clean that tile around my fireplace... for those of you who didn't notice, God bless you... and for those of you who did, well you're most likely mothers so i suppose we'll let it slide.

will they stay or will they go?

every year i love to make a plethora of new years resolutions. i start planning in advance and get so excited about the prospect of challenging myself to either give up an bad habit or try something new.

and then it hits, sometimes as early as march... sometimes as late as october... that overwhelming desire to put away this trying of new things and giving up bad habits... i mean where's the fun in that!

well, since it is the beginning of my window of resolution-giving-up-opportunity, i thought i'd inform all of you on where i stand with each resolution... i know, doesn't the thought of it just excite you to the bone! (i'm sorry, but i'm hard pressed for good blogging material, so this is what you get)

ahem...

#1 resolution: no candy for 2010!
this one was inspired by my dear friend who gave up chocolate all of last year! i thought, well, that sounds fun, except chocolate wouldn't be a challenge because i don't really care about it (yes, shocking i know) so i'll give up something i can't live without, but must if i don't want to be become diabetic by the age of 30... candy! and folks, i'm still going strong.

#2 resolution: learn to play the guitar...well.
so i have been taking lessons as of the beginning of february and i will tell you i have improved greatly (not hard to do considering where i started) and i love it and i think that means that so far i can consider this resolution a success!

#3 resolution: read a book every month.
okay so for you bookworms out there don't judge me too harshly that i consider this a challenge, because 1. i have add (this is not confirmed but i'm pretty sure if they diagnosed things when i was a child like they do now i would definitely qualify) and cannot sit still very long... unless, i'm sad to say, i'm in front of a television. but that's a whole other story... 2. as history can testify (see here) i am very slow. not joking here people. this is serious. 3. i have lots of other things i've been working on... like a house, room makeovers, scripture memory, (church class for kids i've started helping out with... so much fun!) and let's not forget work where i write my much loved blog posts. there you have it not much time. however, while i have not technically finished a book this year i am currently in the middle of three... if i finish them by the end of march (which i won't) does that count?

#4 resolution: no computer games for 2010!
whooiee! this is a tough one, considering it is how i am able to waste the most time... but let me just say, i have stood firm on my conviction to give this time waster up!

#5 resolution: read the bible in 1 year
okay so technically this was a resolution for 2009, but i have officially decided that if i finish before a year and a half passes i will round down and count myself successful... ooh, i can feel the disapproving looks from here!

#6 resolution: write a song
i used to do this and i've been wanting to do it again, but have been inspiration less. so i'm giving myself a good year to muster up as much song-writing-inspiration as i can! we'll see...

#7 resolution: learn to golf well enough that it's not embarrassing
golf is something i absolutely love to play, but have never been good at, which i'm convinced is only because i don't play often enough. so i want to take lessons this summer so i can play with my brothers-in-law and make them jealous of my awesome skills... this i'm pretty sure won't happen, but i'll settle for not making them wait for me at every hole.

so, i would say that my success rate for this year is better than any other, which is good, but we'll see as the year goes on! oh can you bear the anticipation... yeah, so can i.