1.27.2014

I'm Back! (An Update)

Hello Everyone!

   Man, it feels like it has been so long since I posted.  It has been a long time since I have done anything online, really.  First off I want to apologize to everyone that has commented on my blog, sent me emails, messaged me over Facebook, etc, that I have not gotten back to yet.  I have a good reason, which you will see in a moment.  Thank you for your patience and willingness to allow me a break; this week was crazy.

    First off, last Saturday my grandmother on my dad's side passed away.  She was 91, and was living in an assisted living facility.  She had a hard life, and so by the time I was old enough to get to know her, she had already given up living.  So even though I didn't really have a personal relationship with her, it was still hard. 

   She had gotten married pretty young and had given birth to three girls in pretty quick succession.  At some point during that time her husband went off to fight in World War Two.  His submarine was hit and he alone survived; floating in the ocean for over three days, until he was discovered and brought back home.  Because of this tragic incident, he had many physical and mental problems.  They then had my dad, at the same time their oldest daughter was having her first child.  When my dad was a little older, but still young, his father left suddenly and was never heard from again.  To this day he is still missing, and there is almost no doubt he has passed away.  My grandmother then continued to work and pay the bills to supply for her family while my dad grew up.  As my dad became a young teenager my grandmother had a serious relationship with a man whom she was planning on marrying.  They had decided to marry once my dad was out of high school and living on his own.  When my dad was one year away from graduating high school, my grandmother's boyfriend/fiancĂ© died suddenly.  After that she really just gave up.  While her life was hard and full of tragedy, it wasn't all bad.  My aunts say that she loved to play jokes.  She was stubborn, and even in her old age she made us laugh.  She loved all sorts of chocolate.  And she was a Christian.  She was also a very beautiful woman.  She always made sure that her outfits matched and her yard, when she lived alone, was always taken care of.  She loved to do up her hair.  With her passing has come a lot of grief and sorrow, particularity on my father's part.  She will be missed.

   After that long overview, I will now get into my full excuse ;) hehe.  On Saturday night, we received a call from the nursing home/assisted living that she had passed away.  This was at about 10:15 pm.  We all climbed into the car and started on the 45 minute drive to where she was staying.  We saw her and made arrangements for meetings to happen later.  While we where there, it struck midnight, making it my birthday.  My grandmother missed my 15th birthday by about an hour and forty-five minutes.  After we got home we hurried off to bed, and barely made it to church the next morning, which is also about a 45 minute drive.  After we got home I cleaned my room while my mom made my birthday dinner, lasagna. (My favorite!)  We ate and I opened presents, although my dad had so many calls to make that he was hardly there. 

  The week went by super quick.  We where busy/out of the house every single day, I think.  I can't even remember what we did each day specifically.  Although, on Tuesday, my mom and I went to get my driving permit, something I have been waiting for over 9 months.  Well, because of the stress and my not getting enough sleep, I failed it...By one question.  I was so angry at myself.  I cried all the way home; also because of my lack of sleep.  A few days later my mom took me again, after I had gotten a few nights of sleep.  I practically aced it.  Out of 30 questions, I only got 1 wrong. 

   On Friday we went to the funeral.  Our church provided a lunch for us.  It was wonderful.  Everything tasted so good and it was all ready when we got there.  They provided lunch for 15 people, and we all left full.  They even had dessert!  At the funeral I tried not to cry but I did.  It was really good though.  Our pastor preached and the Gospel was presented.  The music was beautiful.  Afterwards my three aunts and one of my cousins (He is about 27) came over.  We ate and talked and then they all left.  I finally got to bed at a decent time.

   On Saturday we had to get up early and go to a teen event at my church.  There is a young couple that has two young children, and they are moving.  Which is very sad because they are such a sweet family.  But we had a teen event to help them clean out their apartment and help pack.  There are about ten teens, including my sister and I, but at the event there was only 8.  We had a lot of fun.  Even cleaning is fun when you have workers.  I have a friend who is the age of Julia, my little sister, but we are pretty good friends anyway.  We started out by cleaning the bathrooms.  Total, all of the teens together washed windows, cleaned the kitchen, including the stove, swept and mopped the dining room and kitchen, carried boxes down the living room from upstairs, emptied the attic, babysat the 2 year old, changed diapers (Guess who got that job. *wink wink*) rocked the baby to sleep (yes, also me) cleaned a deck, tidied the living room, cleaned bathrooms, boxed up baby clothes, and made trips to the dumpster.  We got quite a bit done.  We also ate pizza, which makes the work worth it! ;) haha

  I also drove a couple of miles on the way to and from the teen event.  I drove our big conversan van, which is huge.  On Sunday I drove about 2/3 of the way to church, but I was driving my dad's little 4-door car.  Much easier to handle! Haha!

  And, of course, today is Monday.  A lot more happened this week, and frankly, I don't remember much of it.  Once again I am sorry for all of you that I didn't email back, I will do it in the next couple of days, I assure you!

So, how was your week?  Hopefully a lot less stressful than mine!  But overall, God is good.  It is so wonderful to know that we can go to Him with our struggles.

More coming soon!  Sorry for all the words and the lack of pictures!  I probably made some grammar error in here, too, so I'm sorry for those!

  In Christ,
~Jessica.

ps. This is my 50th post.  Can you believe it!?

1.21.2014

Tacit Tuesdays: Pro-Life ~Part 2~ (6)

Well, this is the part two that you have all been waiting for!  =)  Sorry that is so late!



This one hits me hard. 
ONE SECOND per child and we would be silent for 100 YEARS.....





The one applies to everything...


This logic almost makes me laugh! 

Who would they be??
LORD, have mercy on us....
Oh, please have mercy.....


Haha!  Yup!

<3


~J.

1.17.2014

Christmas Collage!

Hi!

I know that this is my second post of the day, but I finally got around to finishing my collage of my December Photo Challenge pictures.  I'm sorry it took so long! But here it is anyway.  I think it turned out okay. =)



Happy January, Everyone!  =)

ps. My birthday is the day after tomorrow!!!!

Sunshine Award

Well, It happened that I got nominated for the same award twice in one week!  Which happened to be enough motivation for me to sit down and fulfill my nominations!

I was first nominated by EB, and then by S.  Which was really awesome.  Thanks guys!  (um, I mean Ya'll) ;)

The rules, apparently for the Sunshine Award, are not set in stone.  One says to share 11 facts about yourself, and then answer 11 questions.  But another skips the facts part and just does the questions.  So...sense I already have a "Fact About Me" link, I decided that I'm going to go with the rules that say to skip it.  But, you can always visit my "Random Facts About Me" link and indulge in a bunch of random facts that you probably didn't need to know! Also, you have to nominate 10-11 other blogs for the award.  So, here are the rules that I am following, laid out:

1.) You have to answer 11 questions asked by your nomination blogger
2.) You have to nominate 11 other blogs
3.) You have to set (or ask) 11 questions for your nominees to answer


So, after that very long introduction, I give to the Sunshine Award. =)

'For bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere'

*ps. These are Eb's questions.  But I'm pretty much following your rules, S, so I think it's even. =)*


Q1: How Long Have You Been Blogging:

      Well, the easy answer is since October.  That's how long I have been on this blog, (Almost) Perfectly Pink.  I have had others blogs on different sites over the years, but this is the only one that now exists.  =)

Q2: Why Did You Choose Your Blog Title:
      
      This one is rather funny, actually.  Those who have been with me since October know that my title changed quite a bit at first.  I think it had at least 4 or 5 names.  I have never been good at naming anything.  I have whole books (no joke) sitting on my hard drive and the poor things just have no title.  Anyway, how I finally came up with the name (Almost) Perfectly Pink is because a new clothing store came to our town called Almost Pink. And it got me thinking about how, first off, I love pink, but then also even though some peoples lives online, or even in person may seem "perfect" they never are.  It can be good, but not perfect.  =)  That is my very long answer.

Q3: What Is Your Favorite Color:

       This one is kinda self explanatory if you have laid eyes on my blog, and I mentioned it in my last answer, but pink! =)  I also like reds, violets, and light blues and greens.  =)

Q4: Do You Play An Instrument?  If So, What:

        I wish I could answer yes, but I can't.  I took piano lessons when I was younger, but that was when I was about 6 or 7.  I can play Mary Had A Little Lamb on the keyboard, and that is about it.. =(

Q5: What Color (American spelling, Eb!  ;) Haha!) Socks Are You Wearing:

        Um, white.  Besides fuzzy slipper socks, all I own is white socks.  My sister has all these crazy colored ones. =P  Haha

Q6: What Are Your Hobbies:

         Wow, a hard one!  Haha.  Um, writing and reading at the very top of the list.  Blogging.  Being outside is awesome.  Waking my dog/riding my bike down the road it one of my favorite things to do.  My sister and I visit and elderly lady down the road...She is super sweet...School....Um...Day dreaming? LOL

Q7: Write One Word, Any Word.

        Fictitious!  (Sorry, this makes this answer more than one word, but I love the word fictitious.  A book of fiction is fictitious!  I love that word! =D)

Q8: What's Your Favorite (Another British/American spelling difference!  Haha! =D) Book:
  
       Oh, Eb, how could you do this to me?  Oh, my, I can't even BEGIN to imagine choosing one...But as far as non-fiction, thee Bible, and a dictionary!  My dictionary is my best friend!  =D

Q9: How Many Books Do You Own:

       Oh, yikes...Me personally, like I bought them, or my family as a whole?  A room full, I suppose!

Q10: What Is Your Favorite Film:

      Yes, an easy one!  Haha   Beauty and the Beast =D

Q11: How Many Elephants Are Ther Underground:

      I think I can safely assume zero.  Living, at least.  Now, if your talking buried, that's completely different! Haha

Whew!  I did it!  Haha =D  Fun questions, Eb!  Now, onto the nominations:

 (I don't know if you can do this, but I'm re-nominating S. and Eb. I figured that I was nominated twice, so you could be too!  Haha.  Of course, you don't have to do the whole question/answer/nominate thing again.)

(Two Different Julias! Haha)
Joshua // http://jlcblogshere.blogspot.com/ (This is my brother)

And that's eleven!  =)   Now for the 11 questions! =D

1. What is your dream job?
2. If you could visit any foreign country, where would you visit and why?
3. What is you favorite food?
4. Do you like salsa and chips?
5. If you could travel back to any time period, what period would it be and why?
6. How many languages do you speak and what are they?
7. How many different countries/states have you been to?
8. How many siblings (includes even those moved out or adopted) do you have?
9. How long have you been blogging?
10. What's your favorite word?
11. How did you choose your blog title?



(Sorry, I forgot to add the questions when I first published the post!)
I hope you liked this post. 
 And if you want to be nominated and I didn't nominate you, let me know! =)


~J.

















1.14.2014

Tacit Tuesdays: Pro-Life ~Part 1~ (5)

Hi!  Once again I'm posting Tuesdays post at the very end of Tuesday.  Oh, well.  Next week will be more on time, I promise! =)  And I guess when I said that "not all of the (Tacit Tuesdays) will have a theme..." I guess I was wrong.  Now I should say "There will be a Tacit Tuesday every once in a while that does not have a theme!" Haha

Being pro-life is something that I hold very dear to me.  It is one thing that makes my heart just ache.  So, I have collected from my Pinterest page a total of 31 pro-life pins, which is too many for one post, so next Tuesday I will continue this same theme.  Please pray with me, first off for the mothers that are making or have made decisions that they will probably regret their entire lives.  But pray also for God's patience and mercy.  His anger is long-suffering, but as a nation we are sinning SO much, that eventually his patience will run out.  And finally, pray for the many people in our nation that need Christ.

That said, here is Part One:

















<3 =')