Day 258

Dear Tucson, how are things in your world? Today was my last day at volunteering at the women's shelter. I'm going to miss it, but at the same time I know I did the right thing. I'll probably pop in every once in a while to see how everyone's doing. :)
The tree is finally almost done. It took me forever to get the lights on, I always think I have more lights than I do, so I end up having to start all over. After I messed up the first time I had the bright idea to start from the bottom since that's where the bulk of the tree is anyways. :) I got it right, we just now finished putting the ornaments on it and everything. All we have left is the star, our parents went to bed. So we're going to do that in the morning. It's always been the family tradition to put the star on and then plug the lights in all together. Hopefully, I can post a picture tomorrow.
You need to come soon, we got our last slushies today, so it's no more slushies till the baby as Micah would say.  I love you, and I can't wait to meet you!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 257

Dear Little One, the route this morning took forever! We get coffee every morning when we go, and today's was burnt, and we'd already driven away before I started drinking it. So I didn't drink it therefore I was very miserable. Then towards the end of the route, guess what I did? I decided to follow my own advice, I started thinking of things I could be thankful for. It worked, it gave me the strength to keep going and it changed my whole perspective on the route. :)
I came home and crashed for two hours and then we embarked on a MAJOR house clean. You can come any day now, so the house has to be spotless. I didn't really understand why, because it's not like you will remember. lol The other reason we cleaned was so we could set the Christmas tree up. We want to have everything ready before you get here, apparently our lights from last year don't work any more. So Papa, Micah, and I went to three different stores trying to find lights. We came home with some, but they weren't the right kind. By the time we figured it out the store was closed, so we have a tree covered with a fourth of lights. :) For the past I can't even remember how long I've put the lights on the tree and every one helps put the ornaments on, so tomorrow when I get back from volunteering I'll put them on. :)
Well, kiddo, I'm shot. I love you!!!!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 256

Dear Tucson, today has been a long day. It was a very good day though. It seemed to drag on though. :) I'm super tired. Church was very good, I wanted to share this one thing with you. It was from Isaiah 47:10, "....no mane seeth me...." The pastor talked about how so many things we do in life is to be seen of others, because we believe no one sees us. People will dress a certain way to be seen, they will do things to be seen, they may not do things to be seen, there are many things people will do to be seen. I've done it myself. The thing is God sees everything, and we should only do things that would please Him. If we're doing things or not doing things for other people and not for God, then we're showing we fear man more than God.
Tonight the four of us older kids went to McDonalds. Today was the last of the free coffees, so we of course all got one. The coffee hasn't been good this time. They do it every 6 months, but this time it wasn't that good. Last time we went everyday sometimes more than once, but not this time. I think we maybe went 3 times. It's so much better at Tims. :) We just went for the fun of it tonight.
I'm going to go, we have a route to do tomorrow and I still have to clean the kitchen. I love you!!!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 255

Hey little person, how are things in your world? Today was a crazy day! It started bright and early at 2:30 for me. Papa and I did a paper route, there were only supposed to be 240 papers. (which is a LOT!) Alexa was sick so we had to leave her at home, and we get there and our manager has our routes for us and the total number of papers was 287! I was like WHAT???!!! You've got to be kidding me, unfortunately he wasn't. It took us a long time because it was new, and the houses were so far apart it was crazy. I have a blister on my hand from the way I had to put the rubber bands on the newspapers. Finally, around 9 we got home. (we generally get home around 7!) I'm so thankful that day is over.
Tonight I went and did a catering job with on the chefs at the place where I volunteer. It went pretty well. I didn't cook a lot this time, I mostly just helped plate the food, and I washed all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. :)
Sorry, to end this post I know I didn't say much, but I'm super tired and I need to get this posted before the next day. I love you!!!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 254

Hey you!!!! I just got back from Christmas shopping with your sister. It was sooo much fun!!! I love Christmas shopping, it's so worth it to spend hours at the mall looking for something that you know the person wants or that they will love. I love giving people gifts, it's so nice to see people's faces light up when they open their gifts. Sometimes I get really impatient while waiting for it to come, I just want to give the person their gift already. lol Generally, we don't go shopping this early, but the past couple of years everything has been so picked over and it's so hard to find sizes, we wanted to do it early so we could have the cream of the crop so to speak. Christmas is the best time of the year, I do hope you love it as much as I do. I know Christmas isn't all about gifts, but it is a great time to give gifts and to reflect on the gift that changed the world forever-Jesus Christ. Christmas is also a great time to witness to people, because they are more open to the Gospel. This year we will have a new person to share it with. :) I should get you one of those shirts or at least a bib that says, my first Christmas. :) I love you little one!!!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 253

Dear Little One, Today is Thanksgiving in the States. We don't exactly go all out and celebrate, but we have a mini celebration. We always at least make Mawzie cookies, of course we use any holiday as an excuse to make them. They're our favorite. We should be thankful every day for God's goodness, but it's nice to see everyone thankful even those who aren't Christians. It's a great time to slow down and spend time with family or friends. We're still doing our vegetarian trial, so we didn't really make a big meal, but we had cheese dip (yummy!) which is one of our family favorites, but we only have it every once in a while because we can only by the cheese in the States. One of the bonuses we've had this month, is that we have saved money on food. Papa didn't calculate exactly how much, but he did say it was a noticeable amount. I guess if worse came to worse, one of the ways to cut back would be to take out meat, or at least only eat occasionally. lol :)
I'm going to go ice the cookies. Soon we're going to all go play volleyball together at the gym. Happy Thanksgiving!!! I love you!!!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 252

Hey you! How are things in your world? Everything is good here. Today, Alexa made cinnamon rolls. (yummy!) They were her best ever. :)  You will love them, everyone that has ever tried them does. I hope you don't have any weird allergies. So far no one has had any severe allergies. Alexa is allergic to shrimp, but she isn't in danger of dying or anything. If there's something I don't like, I say I'm allergic to it, so I don't have to eat it. lol I've never really tried that before, but I've often thought about it. ;)

During church tonight one of the members asked during prayer request time that we pray that every member be filled with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. I was meditating on that, and I thought about how I don't really pray for that. The Holy Spirit gave me this thought. Many people change to fit whatever type of people they're spending time with. For example if one group is wild, they will act like they're wild. If a different group is more conservative, they will appear to be conservative. The Holy Spirit showed me when I'm around Christ I should change to be exactly like Him. I should do what He does, talk about the things He talks about, dress the way He does, listen to the kind of music He should, and etc. You're probably reading this and it doesn't seem like much, but it was like my eyes were opened. It made sense. I can't really describe how it feels, but it is good, very good. 

I love you!!

Your Sister, 

Larra