Day 235

Dear Tucson, how are you? Today, started out pretty boring. We tried to practice some music for church today, but our voices were too scratchy to sing. So we opted for no special music today. :) Everyone was ready for church on time, (a miracle, especially on a Sunday morning. You'll know what I mean soon enough.) so we pull in to the Library, and all the staff are standing around outside. At first we thought, did everyone forget time changed today? The head librarian, which is the only one with the key, was sick, so they had to find another person with a key, and we had to wait about 15 minutes or so. By the time the person arrived with the key pretty much the whole church was there, so everyone pitched in and helped set up, so we only started 5 or 10 minted late. One of the visitors from last week came back, and she brought a new person with her. So praise the Lord. :)  
After church we came home and ate a quick dinner. (yes, we are still surviving without meat.) I made veggie chilli, I think that was our best vegitarian meal yet, minus the bean burittos Alexa made. I didn't say that because I made it, some of the other stuff was just kind of okay. We all love frito pie, so that's probably why. After dinner we went to the mall, your brothers got paid on Friday and they wanted to get some stuff. We went to Coldstones, but when we were almost there we realized no one had brought the coupons. That place is so exspensive, so there was no way we would go without them. So, I called our dad, (God bless his soul:) and he came and brought them, and then had ice cream with us. :) Plus, he gave us a ride home so that was nice. I can't wait till I can get my next license so I can drive by myself. Lord-willing and hopefully I pass, I will get it in Jan. :) 
I can't think of anything else to tell you, I love you bunches!!!  

Your Sister, 
Larra

  

Day 234

Hey Little Person, how are you doing? My mind is functioning, but my body is very tired. There were so many papers today! I think there was 360+ papers. We're going to take pictures, because we will probably never do that many again. I guess the memory will remain inside of us. It was actually kind of fun, of course everything is funny at 2:30 in the morning. Since there were so many all three of us went. (Papa, Alexa, and I.) One person to deliver on each side of the street and one person stuffing. When I look around at the time it seems like we'll never finish, so I work in hours. I know by the time it's 4:30 I can be back in bed in 3 hours, by the time is 5:30, I can be in bed in 2 hours... It makes it easier that way.
I've been reading this book by Karen Kingsbury. I really like a lot of her stuff, the book I was reading wasn't exactly my favorite, but it had a lot of good truths in it. I think one of the biggest thought lines in the book was the power of prayer. I've been really trying to implement it in my devotions. I've realize it's something I've been drastically missing. Of course I'll say a prayer with my devotions, but I wouldn't exactly call it praying. I've been amazed at the difference. I'm learning (yes, I know I'm slow.)prayer is a vital part in your relationship with God, it really does make a difference. Don't forget it, it's very important, okay?! I love you!!!

Your Sister,
Larra

Day 233

Dear Little One, today Micah and I went to the library. They were playing Toy Story 3. I saw Toy Story 1 and 2 when I was a kid, so even though I'm older I still wanted to see it. :) I guess what they say is true, you're still a kid at heart. The library even supplied chips and licorice, which I thought was super nice. We have the best librarians! You'll love them. Every library we've ever gone to, we've always had our favorite librarian who we deemed the "nice lady." At this library there are 3 who we really love, (they're all the main workers) we actually know their names. :)
We've made it through another day as vegitarians. You would think it gets easier, but I really want a piece of bacon. It's weird I haven't had bacon in probably 2 or 3 months, but I still want some. I'm guessing it's more of a head thing, I don't know. It was so cute and funny, we were talking today about how we missed meat, and Micah starts chanting, "we want meat, we want meat." lol I just started cracking up. He so funny sometimes. :) One good that's come out of this vegitarian trial, (I'm going to call it a trial, because it's not permanent, at least as far as I know. haha jk Don't get scared) is how much our bodies crave pleasure. Ever since we started, all of us have been craving sweets. At first I didn't think anything of it, we all enjoy our desserts, and sometimes we just go through a period where we want somethig sweet. This was happening every day, and during the day. I was talking to our dad about it, and he said, he thinks our bodies crave pleasure, and meat satisfies it. Since we don't have meat, then we're using the next best thing-sweets. I thought it was rather insightful. I don't know if it's true or not, but it seemed quite possible. I'll have to ask our Aunt Yolanda, she was a vegitarian for a while. So for the rest of this time, I'm going to do my not to indulge on sweets.

Well, I think I'm going to hit the sack early tonight, we have a LOT of papers to deliver in the morning. I love you!! 

Your Sister, 
Larra 
     

Day 232

Hey you! Today, was a very mundane boring day. It was pretty much the norm. I did go upstairs and tutor some kids, which was fun. Generally, tutoring is not that exciting, but they're some of my brothers friends, and they're funny.
Samuel had to go to the physio therapist for his ankle. He's going tomorrow for an ultrasound, but they said it will be 4 weeks before he can play basketball. It is well enough he can walk on it with a brace, which is an improvement. Although, it will take a while to heal, we're very grateful it's not broken. 
I'm sorry this post is so short, but I have a killer headache, and I need to get up in a couple of hours to do the route. I love you!!! 

Your Sister, 
Larra

Ps Today, is your Aunt (I think I told you, but make sure you don't pronounce it ant, but say aunt, she is not a little insect crawling on 6 legs. She's a beautiful human being with 2 legs) Yolanda's birthday. I do not know how old she is, but she looks good no matter what her age is. :)  

Day 231

Dear Little Person, I'm getting so excited, because it's so close till you get here. :) Only 48 days left. I can remember when you weren't even that old. :) 
Today, was Wednesday so Micah and I went to the Library. He found a Flat Stanely book, so he was very excited. It was a new one, we had read most of the ones at our branch. 
I wanted to share something with you from tonight's Bible Study. We were in the bonus time, and our dad was talking about the love of God. He said, you will never find any verse in the Bible that says God's love is unconditional. God's love doesn't come with conditions. (read 1 Cor. 13) That love has no conditions, to have a "love" with conditions isn't love at all. Many times we say we love people, but we really don't, because our "love" has conditions with it. It's so easy to only "love" certain people because they meet our "conditions" instead of loving like God loves us. It was a real eye opener for me. Be careful not to pick and choose who you want to love, because that's loving with conditions. Love everyone like Jesus. I love you dear little one. 

Your Sister, 
Larra 

     

Day 230

Dear Little One, I can barely keep my eyes open, it's been a full day. I started with the paper route, then came home and slept for two hours, and I was on my way to go volunteer. Next, I came home for a bit and now I'm going to teach my last piano lesson for the day. :)
So today is Day 2 for us to be vegitarians, and we're almost done. So far we've had good meals that everyone likes. I'm realizing we can be vegitarians and not eat all that crazy, scary, weird food. :) I'm super picky, so that's probably why I've always feared it. I have to say, I had my biggest temptations today and it was only Day 2! I've really been craving chicken nuggets (I know, I'm crazy) so last Friday I had some, they were soooo delicious! Then today at the place where I volunteer guess what we had???? Chicken nuggets! I wanted one soooo bad, I withheld, and I didn't eat meat. Everyone knows where I'll be come December 1st! McDonalds getting chicken nuggets. lol ;) 
I've been thinking a lot (you're probably thinking oh, boy! Here she goes!) about decisions we make, big or small, and the affect they have on eternity. For example, salvation is a big decision, and it will determine where we spend our eternity  while one the other hand the decision of what we're going to think about is small, but what if the day you decide to fill your mind with wicked thoughts, is the day you needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so you can witness to your neighbor, your friend, or the stranger on the street. That was your (or mine) one chance, and we blew it. The person could die and go to hell, we'll never know till heaven. They're both decisions, one's big and one's small, yet they both have a huge affect on eternity. So those are my thoughts today, how important every decision we make in life is. I love you, dear little one!

Your Sister, 
Larra


Ps. On a side note, it's less than 50 days till you get here!!!! :)

Day 229

Hey little one! Winter has finally come! It was so cold today! We should be able to go ice skating here in a couple of weeks. :) 
Last month your sister asked everyone at the table if we thought we could make it as a vegitarian for a month. We said we thought we could, (your father is being one till the end of the year) so we said yes. So then a couple of days later, our mommy decided we would all try it and see if we could to it, and we we would do it to support Papa. So for the month of November, we are vegitarians! So far we've made it through day one, and I haven't died yet, so that's a good sign. :) lol Seriously, I don't think it should be that bad. As long as I get my protien, I won't have a problem. We are not vegan though, we eat cheese, milk, butter, and eggs. I think it would be VERY hard if we were vegan. We all love cheese! :) It's just a Harper thing. 
On Monday nights, we've been going to the gym and playing volleyball. I really like it, I've always loved volleyball, but I've never really had the chance to play or get better, because I've only played about 3 or 4 times when I went to family camp. The players are all super nice and they're teaching me and Alexa to play. They play with professional rules, which is taking some getting used to, but we're slowly learning. :) Hopefully, but the time winter's over I'll know what I'm doing. :) 
Well, kiddo, I'm going to call it a night, I've got to get up in a couple of hours to go work on the paper route. I love you kiddo!!!! 

Your Sister, 
Larra