nineteen days.

and i get married. two weeks until josiah comes. how i miss my dearest brother. 

road-trip.

even though i've been home over a week, i kept forgetting to post some pictures of my roadtrip. here's to that loverly trip that began almost two weeks ago.

one of my dearest friends in kansas city. can't wait to see benita again.

caleb being caleb.

josiah's family was also in town, so we got to see all of them.

duncaaaaannnnn.

chicken run

you remember watching that movie as a kid, but never imagined that you'd become one of those "evil" humans who keeps chickens for their eggs. well...it's been a while since i updated my blog, so i figured that i might as well write about the latest up-comings in the family.
we bought a farm.
it's taken a lot of work so far, and i can't even say that we are probably a tenth of the way done with fixing up the houses, but it'll be simply lovely when it gets finished. not only do we have wonderful property, but we also inherited an old horsie, whom we dubbed the name "methuselah" because of his old age. you can't forget the chickens..all nineteen of them. there was an annoying and loud rooster, but nobody knows what happened to him.
i told dad that we need an alpaca..just for kicks [chuckle chuckle..literally] and because they're cute and fluffy. honestly, though, we'll probably stick to more decent animals that don't require de-fluffing. maybe we'll get honeybees or something of the sort.
i've been working on cleaning out the house i am living in for the past two days. my boyfriend, caleb, took me to the gym with him on monday, and i thought i was going to die when i was fixing up the house yesterday [tuesday]. tomorrow, mom and i are going to start the inside painting process for the smaller house so that can be finished before we put the new carpet in.
the lady who lived in the small house before us was a "master gardener" and also knew basically everything about birds...she left lots of little bird houses in the yard and told us how to keep the plethora of birds in our area eating at our bird feeders. it literally always sounds like morning outside the house because birds are always chirping and flirting with each other. perhaps this sounds annoying to you, but actually it is delightful to have nature right at your fingertips. my dove, piper, is going to be thrilled with all of her new bird friends that live right outside of the porch.
that's another thing...we have porches on the house..three screened-in porches. piper is going to live on one of them in the spring and summer and beginning of fall so she can enjoy the scenery and bird noises...unless she gets stressed out, then she'll live back inside the living room.
i want to post more as the farm progresses, and i would love to post pictures...i just need to bring my camera there sometime while we are there.

let me just say...

[three-way skype today.] mom + dad = me!

my visit.

this was me, playing mexican train with caleb m. and my mom yesterday. what a stellar day.

welcome home, chris!

life is beautiful.

recently, the weather has been phenomenal here! cheyenne and i have made it a habit of carrying a blanket to different random places around the house and chilling outside, listening to music. today we chose the front yard, and listened to some instrumental. absolutely lovely.
oh my goodness! my brother is finally back in the united states. i'm supposed to skype my family sometime today and see his bright and shining face. so excited. you have no idea! my favourite redhead on earth.
i bought a really cute skirt and a pair of shoes today at the thrift store for a total of $5. i'll have to post a picture sometime. maybe i'll wear them tomorrow if i go swing dancing with benita and chey.

life is beautiful.

one of my friends works at the university. she asked me to help with one of her music classes while i was off during lunch. i was delighted to, considering how much i have been dreaming of doing music again. anyhow, i got to sing with some of her students for something they were working on. what a blast! that was the highlight of my day at school for sure.
i am sitting here, hoping that my brother skypes me...but it appears that our time difference is-well-quite different. hopefully his travels back to the States were alright. our communication since i moved out almost a year ago have been scarce since we aren't usually in the same place at the same time. it's been at least six months since i last saw the guy. not like i don't think about him frequently. i'm actually not a skilled communicator yet in the first place. i get awkward on in-person contact, and over phone i sit and listen more than talk-whether you were planning on doing all the talking or not, and over skype, i smile too big and nervously touch my hair. oh well. *shrugs*. you're probably thinking i'm an extremely awkward person by the sound of things, perhaps i am. i just don't always feel the need to talk, and i quite enjoy listening.
oh boy, do i have homework. it looks like i'll be spending the majourity of my evening doing so...but before i do, i wanted to tell a quick story.

imagine me...sitting in class, minding my own business. get the picture in your head? perfect. this guy who sits next to me every week is korean. you see-for this class, they check us in by if we are sitting in our assigned seating, which is done alphabetically. he's the loudest talking guy you'll probably ever meet, by the way, and perfectly outgoing. either way. i'm sitting in class, minding my own business, and all of a sudden, a bubble lands on the floor next to my feet. i look over to my right, and this kid is sitting there, looking semi-guilty. i lean over and whisper to him, "hey, jimmy? did you see that bubble?" he shakes his head no, and i shake off the feeling that i was just seeing things. yikes! there was another one. this time, i noticed that it was coming from by jimmy's head. right before another one flies through the air and onto my leg, i see how it was produced: asian spit. why...thank you. i don't know how he does it, but he somehow forms spit-bubbles in his mouth, and sends them soaring. trying not to laugh, because other students were noticing and pointing, i motion for him to stop. when he finally stops, class gets let out, and i'm stuck pondering how he does it.


haha. okay...so it doesn't make for much of a story, but i thought it was silly enough to blog about.

mommy-kins.

i always adore it when my mom sends me letters. if i can say so, notes and the like are one of the most expressive ways to show love from afar. she is so thoughtful, sometimes i can't even believe it! she included lots of love and a little pass-down letter from a friend. she told me to go and buy some cute spring/summer clothes. yes ma'am!! i'm so excited to see mi familia again. i love and miss them all so much. this just made my day. thank you, mom!

chris

can i just say how much i love my brother, chris? i stole this picture off of his facebook, but i couldn't help it. i think life would have bee so different if i had grown up without him. he's in cambodia for a few more months with ywam. if i get to see him over summer break, it would have almost been a year since i last saw him! so crazy, that as you grow up, your siblings disperse all over the world. i think he's enjoying himself over there, and it's totally up his alley to travel and go places. it's kind of funny, because on his trip there, he's one of the only guys ( aka: he is surrounded by girls! ). personally, that cracks me up because i was the only girl in the house - other than mom - growing up, so i wonder if he's getting used to being around so many of our - ahem - species? missing him lots, and sending a quick shout - out to the "man with chops". miss you, chris! 

( in case you can't tell, he's the first person on the right - with a white shirt on, almost sitting indian -style. )

the wonderful thing about camping.

every summer, my family had an annual camping trip. here are just a few snapshots of my favourite memories from the last one we took in 2011. 

almost walking off the dock.

our walks into helen.

going swimming in random creeks we'd find. 

walking to the lake ( at day or at night ).

caleb's fluffy hair ( of course ).

my parents always helping us pack up.




i really wish that i had taken some pictures from when michaela, peter, josh, and i had hiked 13 plus miles in the appalachian mountains. that was an absolutely phenomenal walk. ( where was my camera?! *grumble grumble* ). oh well. we'll have to do it again someday, and then i'll bring my camera.

thank you, josiah.

ran across this image on my laptop today. thank you, josiah, for taking pictures during our walks this summer.

my daddy

one of my best childhood memories was camping. oh goodness! every summer, my family would plan the "annual k-gang camping trip". this was dad's idea of "good family bonding time". a few days ahead, i would go to the grocery store with my mom. with saucer-wide eyes, little rachel would walk down the aisles of food and take it all in: the slimy hot dogs, all wrapped up in the packages, the marshmallows resting in the shelves. she would usually bypass these items until she came to the cheese section, and tried to convince her mom that they needed cheese on the trip. typically, this got shot down, and the shopping would continue on. when finally the list of items needed came to an end, the little girl would help her mom put all the items in the car, and the two drove home. rach waited until the day came for the packing and stuffing things into the cars.
she'd usually put up a fight because she didn't like cars - they made her sick. when finally the hour came for her to get in the car, tears would form until her daddy coaxed her into the car with a water bottle - her favourite drink - and she'd sit contentedly until the car started moving. for most of the ride, her brothers poked her or touched her or messed with her by telling gross stories. she'd call to her mother, "mommmmmmm! the boys are being mean. make it stop!", and the boys would stop for a few minutes.
when the car ride was over, everybody would pile out of the cars and start unpacking. a few hours later, the campsite was all set up, and a lovely, warm fire was flickering in the darkness, illuminating the family's smiling faces. after eating their share of hot dogs and s'mores, the kids would gather around their father and beg him to sing. he'd pull out his guitar and sing, all the little voices joining him, and shortly after, also their mother's sweet voice. right before bed time, their daddy would bring out "the chronicles of narnia" and read for a few chapters. rachel would close her eyes and get wrapped up in the story, often forgetting that she wasn't queen suzan or queen lucy herself. with swords clanging, and the Lion's roar, and her daddy's voice...she felt as if she could fly.