leavin' on a jetplane

okay, maybe i'm just leavin' in a toyota corolla. the point here is that i'm leaving. or that i have left. i drove from nc to pa today. what a looooong day! my 2nd youngest sister, jb, (i'm the oldest of 10) graduated in june and she decided she wanted to spend some of her first 'adult' summer with us. my family lives in pa so i drove her home today.

jb has been with us for about 3 weeks and i really hate that today was the day to take her home. it has been so nice to have her around. i really love spending my days with bug, but she doesn't offer much in the way of conversation. we usually talk about dadadadadadad and babamababamamaba. so having jb here was really nice - she can form complete words. =)

i think what was really great about jb being with us was that i really hadn't spent much time with her for the past 9 years. i left pa to go to college in sc in 2000 and i ended up staying south after graduation. jb was only 9 when i left. you can imagine that at 18 she isn't exactly the same person i remember. sure, i've been home for various holidays, but 2 weeks here and 3 days there is hardly enough time to really know someone. so this past couple of weeks has been a sort of get to know you for us sisters. we are absolutely and completely different! no doubt about it. but let me share with you some of the really wonderful things about my second little sister that i discovered the past couple of weeks:

• she is stinkin' hilarious


• she doesn't care what anyone thinks about her - totally comfortable with who she is


• she is so shy! i had no idea. it is funny to me because she will talk my ear off.


• she has the absolute sweetest spirit of anyone i know - so kind, always ready to do whatever is best for the other person, always in a pleasant mood (really, not one time in 3 weeks did i see her in a funk, not once)


• she so sincerely and genuinely loves Jesus - her only desire is to do what is pleasing to Him- she was a real example and rebuke to me

i just wish you all had a chance to get to know her! i am so looking forward to the next time she decides she wants to visit.

and now, bug and i are in pa visiting with my family until sunday. honey bear is flying in on thursday morning (YIPEEEE!!! i miss him terribly and it has only been 14 hours). i plan to do some blogging while i'm here. with a house full of kids (my 7 month old bug, and sisters 18, 16, 12, 10, 8, 5, and 1 and a brother who is 2 and my 1st younger sister 25 visiting with her 3 and 2 year old girls) and my parents i should have some stories to tell....

*picture is jb and me on my wedding day in 2006*