I'm still alive.

Over the past week I have bought a lot of clothes for tightwad me. Not neccesarily on purpose but there were so many sales. First, I went to Kohls with BJ just to hang out while she shopped. She got 1 pair of pants, I got a soft purple jacket, and we jointly bought a jean skirt that fits us both and is very cool looking. Next, a westren woman's store in town is closing down so all of us girls got some very nice jeans at good prices for the brand but still a killer total: to me at least. I got 3 pairs, BTW. Dad said it was a good deal and worth it. Then I went sock shopping with Mama and got 4 pairs of darling little socks. Then a couple of days later I went with Naomi to Walmart so she could get some socks. And lo, Walmart had finally gotten toe socks again. Wild rejoicing broke out! I bought 3 pairs-blue, pink, and rainbow.

Band has started back up. We've added 8 new members, 3 of them flute players! That has quadrupled the number of flutists from last semester! We also have a brand new trumpet player and one from another band. Then there's a brand new clarinet player and a brand new sax player. I love saxophones so I hope he's really good and decides to stick with it.

Pray for Caleb please. Over the last couple of days he's just been super annoying. Clingy, disruptive, demanding attention, fighting with his brothers, noisy. These might sound like normal little boy things but just amplify 200x and that's been Caleb the last 2 days. And it's not just me. He's driving everyone nuts.

While you're praying for us, pray for Mrs. Meyers and Mrs. T, professors at ORU.

I was okayed by the chiropractor today to fight at the blackbelt testing a week from Saturday. Hallelujah! Although there has been a 'Mama Amendment' that I ask for pulled head contact. I will probably be creamed because I haven't gotten to practice, but oh well. 'Twill be fun. PRAY FOR MY BREAKING! Techniques, kata, and perhaps breaking will be Monday night.

I just overheard BonnieJean just say this.

"I'm a professional guinea pig."

This was written by Uel about Miss Johnson. I liked it. It's quite true.

7-4-3space pull. It was like the password into a whole different world. Twice a week I punched in the combination for the lock on Miss Johnson's door and got to experience a place were the past and the present met together.

The walls were covered with paintings from all over the world. Sometimes after a lesson she would point an wrinkled old hand at a painting and tell you the story behind it.

Miss Johnson had amazing stories. She had traveled pre-WW2 Europe. She had heard Sousa perform in New York. She had helped her father write the paten office about his new inventions: the right-angle pump, one of the most important inventions in the history of the oil industry. She had rushed ahead of dust bowls to close the windows at her music studio. The radio program she had directed was taken off the air to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor.

To some people she was just that old lady who lived down the road. But not to me. I knew better. And every time I see an old person who everybody looks over, I wonder to myself “What amazing things did that person do?”