Florida: Let's Keep Working! Part 2

T and I door-knocking the first day! It was so windy, yet gorgeous outside!

This fountain: so awesome!

 My sweet room-mate, KH!

Door-knocking the second day! In addition to being super sweet and fun, this gal has THE most amazing hair...

Wish I had taken more pictures of the different neighborhoods! This was one of the more middle-class ones, but still so beautiful!

 Yay!

JB (navigator) was awesome enough to spot this coconut and stop so I could take a picture!

 Weird duck/turkey birds.

One of the fancier houses. About five minutes later we drove by some more houses that were even more incredible.

On a totally random side-note, I learned that it is now acceptable to end sentences on a preposition, unless you're writing a very professional business letter or are old-fashioned. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm just going to start with the generic, "Happy Thanksgiving, folks!" and go from there. So, Happy Thanksgiving, folks! 

Some things I am especially thankful for this year are:

• My relationship with Jesus Christ, who will never leave me or forsake me, Who shows boundless grace and mercy to His children, Who will, by grace, save anyone who will call upon His name in repentance and faith.
• Freedom to worship freely without fear of persecution.
• Family members who love one another, flawed as we all are. Especially thankful for how much care they are showing to me while I'm recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out.
• My amazing sister-in-law and darling niece, who is growing up way too quickly.
• My wonderful girl friends who are like sisters is so many ways. All my other friends who are a huge blessing, and bring so much encouragement. 
• God keeping my siblings and mom safe in the accident earlier this year and for keeping everyone safe from harm.
• The opportunities I have to study at college and the various work opportunities. So many people are jobless and I have been blessed with more than one job opportunity. 

We had our Thanksgiving Dinner last Sunday, which I was able to enjoy as well, and today Munchette made a delicious-smelling breakfast which I am not able to have, but she was so kind to go to the store yesterday and buy me a bunch of mushy food that isn't just applesauce and pudding. As Americans, we aren't nearly as thankful as we should be for the little things such as food variety. 

And, before I conclude, here are some pictures:

Sweet-Pea and I taking a selfie on Munchette's phone last Sunday.

 Clari and I accidentally matching.

 WWII era swing dance at a historic air museum hanger.

The dance!

HB and I ready to head out. Unfortunately, we don't have good pictures yet, but I am so thankful we are able to document these special memories at all. 

So thankful for a healthy, happy, and adorable niece! She's already learning to walk!

Colossians 3:15-17, " Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Florida: Let's Keep Working! Part 1

When I first heard I was stationed in Florida, I was a bit disappointed because Florida is supposedly so hot, humid, and muggy.

Friday morning, October 31st, 8 a.m., found my parents and I at the airport, me excited to fly across the country and have new experiences, them excited as well but also a bit nervous about letting their daughter go so far away. Thankfully, I was able to fly there with a friend from my home state. 

We went through security, boarded the plane, traveled all day, and arrived in Ft. Myers, Florida at 8 p.m., tired but happy to be there. 

Stepping out of the airport, the first thing I noticed was that it smelled like coconuts. Secondly, I noticed it wasn't nearly as hot or humid as I was expecting. 
Okay, I shan't bore you with any more detailed descriptions until the end.

I met my roommate and we got along very well, which was such a blessing. We never got to sleep until after 12:30, despite the fact that breakfast was at 7:30 the next morning. She is awesome, and her tolerance of my weird quirks was incredible. 

Next morning we were assigned to our van teams. My team was in Cape Coral the bulk of the time, and if you've ever been to Cape Coral, you understand me when I say it was confusing. For example, we had a 43rd Street, 43rd Place and 43rd Terrace all in a row, and then we had quite a few streets that were separated divided by canals, so you could only do one part of the street before having to be driven to the next section of it, which was across the canal.

After the first day and a half with our driver attempting to navigate and drive, I was so excited when, the next morning, he announced he  had a dedicated navigator. 

Then he said, "it's you," and the expression on my face drooped a bit for a minute. It turned out to be a huge stretch and growing experience. I also learned that not looking down on curves reduces car-sickness by about 61.3%. 

If you haven't ready my post about Virginia last year, I will remind you that we door-knock from 9 a.m. to dark, around 6:15 p.m., and the van transports groups of two to different streets, where they blitz through the doors, we pick them up and drop them to the next street. Keeping track of who was on what street and where each street was proved confusing. Thankfully, our driver was able to keep track of where the streets were most of the time, and when he wasn't, I could usually figure it out.

Buddies in the back seat! 

 Tallying up our results...Fun stuff. ;)

 Phone-banking with this sweet gal!

This was what I had for navigation...Being slightly directionally challenged, I learned a lot. 

Other random adventure: I got to pump the gas. Call me weird, but something about pumping gas in a car you've never driven and in a state you've never been in is pretty cool. I also had to ask a random old guy what the zip code was because it was required to pump gas. Weird. 

After door-knocking/driving/navigating all day, all teams arrived at the Rick Scott for Governor Campaign office and phone-banked until 9 p.m. SS (part of our van), JB (our driver) and I spent the first half of the evening tallying up our voter contacts and doors knocked, which was time-consuming, but so gratifying after reading the figures we had accumulated. Our record voter contact attempt rate was 894 for the day, and our record doors knocked on was 656! That's pretty good for when taking into consideration that we were in Cape Coral, if I do say so myself. 

This concludes part 1 of my Florida experience. Coming posts will have more more pictures and less text. Oh, and just to explain, "Let's keep working!" was Rick Scott's slogan for his campaign. 

Another Update on Life And Introduction of One of My Most Favorite People

I have a feeling my posts are beginning to be very redundant. But since I don't have a problem with it and it since it's nice to take a break from homework to write a blog post, any readers will have to live with it. ;)

First, contrary to the order in the title of this post, I would like to introduce you to my niece, The Squish. She is my favorite. I don't have time to upload pictures, but here's a recent one:

Isn't she she the most precious? It's amazing how much love one can feel toward someone so small...She is dearly loved by all her grandparents, aunts, uncles, other relatives, and friends. She knows she has us wrapped around her pinky finger. 

So, once again, school and work have been keeping me very busy! It's creepy how much math and business English are on my mind. I keep analyzing sentences and thinking of subject-verb agreement scenarios in my head. According to Clari (too old to mention), I've also been sleep-talking about math. 

Seriously, keeping Christ and His Word as a priority is so important during this time, and I confess it's easy to become sidetracked. I have to keep reminding myself that Christ comes first, family comes second, etc. etc. 

Forgive the sloppiness, but this is probably the only kind of math I don't mind doing. Graphs.  ;)

 Beautiful weather the beginning of the quarter! Today was quite the opposite: cold, wet, windy...

 Dear HB and I before an event at the historic site where we volunteer! Don't you just love the flattering hairstyles?

Annnd, a selfie because...Well, just because I felt like it and this post needed more pictures...

Oh, and I should probably mention that I'm going to Florida this Friday. Super excited and a little nervous. Haven't done a ton of flying, and never flown by myself, so this will be an adventure! 

I was rather shocked about being stationed in FL (going to campaign with the same group as last year when I went to VA), and was thinking out loud about it, kind of sarcastically saying I was concerned about alligators, and Mini-man (8), very seriously said, "Don't worry, Sonia, only a few hundred people are eaten by alligators." So comforting. 

Finding time to pack has been tricky with work, school, homework, Bible Study, college group, family time, sign-waiving, voting, and getting sidetracked on Facebook. But God is good so I shan't freak out if I can help it.

Okay, I'm done talking now. 

Hold fast to Jesus!

Today Is a Gift

I really should be doing homework right now, but felt I had to post something about a recent event.

"Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift."

Yesterday evening while driving home from Bible Study, two of my sisters and my mom were hit by a car running a red light. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, but just from looking at the car, one can see that it's nothing short of a miracle. 

If the back passenger seat had had an occupant, someone would likely still be in the hospital. 
That almost happened. I was driving home in my car, received a call from a different sister saying that mom didn't have room in her car after all and I had to turn around and get her. After picking her up (with some grumbling), we realized that there would, in fact, have been room. Coincidence? I don't think so.

When I first heard about the accident, the feelings that came over me were overwhelming; fear, shock, anger, longing to make everything better, and the realization that life without family would be a nightmare. 

Even after hearing they were okay, I was jolted back to the reality that life is precious and can end at any time. When it's least expected. Literally in the blink of an eye.

I cannot help but thank Jesus that they're okay, that I have another day with my family. 

Lesson I (re)learned: Take time to appreciate family. Stuff has no value in the long-run. Homework and high grades are not important. People, on the other hand, are priceless. Treasure your family and friends, and don't ever, ever, let anything but Christ come before them. 

...And so, with little grief, we say farewell to our earthly possession, Auto-cado, thanking God for protecting what's truly important.

Update on...Life?

So, life has been so crazy lately.

The end of August found me coming to the end of my job at the law firm. It was such a wonderful learning experience, and the people were so friendly. 

The selfie below is from my last day there; you can't see it clearly, but it is such a beautiful office. Loved the atmosphere. And seriously enjoyed filling in for the legal assistant whose desk I am sitting at in the picture...Felt so official answering the phone, placing calls, scheduling appointments, seating clients, etc. :) The cluttery desk was a downside though, I suppose. The joys of being literally "overloaded" with work. So admire the legal assistants. Maybe someday I'll join their ranks.

I keep asking myself why I left, but it seems like God has different plans for me right now.

The beginning of September found us hunting again. As of yet, Mozzerella (15), Clari (to old to mention), and Munchette (too old to mention), have bagged deer. Pollywog and I have been super busy with school and such, and haven't been blessed with deer...Although it's unlikely, we still have hope that we will give a deer the shaft... 

In other news, today marked my first day as an extern at an orthopedic and neurosurgery facility in the hospital. I'm excited to see where it will take me...So far it isn't quite what I'm hoping for, but it's a foot in the door toward my goal, which is to be a receptionist of some sort, or at least working with/helping people. :) I am fully confident this will be an incredible learning experience even if it isn't doesn't lead to an official job. 

Tomorrow morning classes start at the local community college. Math at 8 a.m. So. Excited. Have a strong feeling this quarter is really going to teach me to rely on Christ more. :)

Pollywog and I familiarizing ourselves with the college! Pollywog is taking a class as part of her high school curriculum.

I'm rambling...

Here's a picture of Sweet Pea (13) and I about to embark on a shopping adventure. 

I shall conclude with this wonderful verse:

Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

In Christ,
Sonia

1920s Croquet Game

Wow, I wrote this post in mid-August, and was so busy I didn't review and click "submit."

Last Saturday evening was a splendid game of croquet, 1920's style! The National Historic Site I volunteer at puts on various events from different time periods, and the fantastic costume department dresses its volunteers in the appropriate costumes. So. Much. Fun.

Since last night was 1920s, adopting the attitude of our dresses was great fun. We became a tad stuffy, very sophisticated, and fully lady-like with a touch of sass.

I love how our appearances are all so different, yet from the same time period.

RB's hat (far right) was fantastic.

Spectating as we wait for our turns to swing the mallet.

  I may or may not post more pictures, although I have a sneaking suspicion these are getting rather old...

On the 26th of July, we also enjoyed dressing up for an 1867 Vintage Base Ball (yes, two words) Game. Hoopskirts, hats with feathers, etc. etc.  Unfortunately, as of yet I have failed to find adequate photo documentation. 

Since writing this, I have in fact found adequate photo documentation...More to come. Unless it doesn't.