grum*chum

so, unlike my typical, type A - follow-the-rules self, I skipped an extra week of school this semester.

yes, I’m in college. yes, I skipped. played hooky, took a vaca, left this work-a-holic world for a while.

and it was awesome!

me, dad, mom, brother #2, and brother #3 + mini van + 9 hour drive

left campus: saturday afternoon | return to campus: friday morning

itinerary: 

sunday | drive all day, not drive each other nuts, eat lots of food, and burn zero calories. when we finally arrived, brothers #2 and #3 took a brief dip in the pool (they could not resist!), then we checked out RV (featuring Robin Williams) and stayed in. bedding arrangements: mom and dad - king bed #1, andrew - couch, tony - other couch, queen allea - king bed #2. (I get the “only girl” card)

monday | did a little homework in the morning. then shopping. all day, mom and I shopped the historic branson district. the boys went to bass pro shop. it was glorious. I bought lots of sunglasses, a watch, and a ring that looks like Kate Middleton’s. we then checked out marley & me. I bawled, then slept like a baby.

tuesday | meeting in the morning with owner investment people. I took the liberty of sunbathing beside the pool while multi-taskingly making sure brothers #2 and #3 behaved themselves and didn’t bother the other pool-dwellers. I read 7 chapters of Pride and Prejudice. mom and I scheduled a massage and facial for the next day. we checked out the curious case of benjamin button. I cried like an 80-year-old baby, then couldn’t sleep because I was utterly disturbed and felt guilty for being born normal.

wednesday | mom / facial. allea / deep tissue massage. best 60 minutes my back has ever felt. it - was - awesome. then we dropped dad and the boys off at laser tag - the place looked creepy, but I let them out and drove away in minor fear. but obviously not enough to keep us from the task at hand: more shopping. then…dad rented a pontoon. seriously, the guy went crazy - I couldn’t feel my face he was going so fast, but he loved his first time driving on the water. we spent 2 hours on the water, and no brothers ended up in the water. I’d say that’s pretty successful. then we went to eat on the resort - buzzard’s bar. the food was incredible (mine was a huge cheeseburger), and the entertainment was hilaaarious! this guy had been an evening entertainer at the bar for 20 years - a country dude with a guitar, a microphone, and lots of humor. in short: he got my dad singing songs from decades before my birth. I’ve never seen anything like this. I owe this guy - we all had so much fun! and he had a 13 year-old son who played the fiddle. the 12 year-old girl in me freaked out like some girls at a bieber concert. I then added “fiddle” to the icing list for my future husband.

thursday | wake up. quiet time while the family slept. head out on the road. one thing notable happened: after we stopped at osceola cheese (it served as our lunch), mom found it fitting for me to cut myself a slice of cheese while dad drove. slice in finger. blood gushed. no worries, I’m a mom-in-training and I had band-aids in my purse. though, my pride suffered. meanwhile, I wrote a paper during the ride home. scholarly success! I drove the last leg home, and as luck would have it, kansas suffered tornado warnings, and I suffered from dad-take-the-wheel-or-we’re-going-to-die! syndrome. we switched. we all survived.

friday | drove back to lincoln and resumed life as normal.

kudos for reading all that nonsense. and welcome to my thought process.

with love,

allea

682 days since

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah 49:14-16

we believe the lie that we are insignificant.

God’s word tells us differently.

He died because we are worth his life to him.

though the world may forget us - he knows us to our core, our very depth.

Jesus’ scarred hands prove his sacrifice and God’s ultimate vow of unconditional love and true acceptance.