The Destiny Manifest

Happy

I know, I know, I promise updates and then fail to follow through.Life has been busy, but happy.

My three favorite people in the world.

Welcome to the world Abigail Cora!

My second niece, Abigail Cora, was born a couple of days ago to my brother Colin and his wife Stephanie! She is a beautiful little sweetheart and we were so excited to meet her today!

It's always ourselves we find at the sea...

We were fortunate enough to win $100 on a $2 scratch-off lottery ticket this weekend so we drove to the beach for an impromptu mini vacation. We ended up at the Isle of Palms in Charleston, SC. We spent hours on the beach... we all had a blast and not having bathing suits didn't stop the girls for even a second.

Addah and Lakin enjoy a tide pool!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year! We got all dressed up and went trick-or-treating with our friends Mandy & Jared & their kids, Avery, Riley & Mia. Andy came over and went with us, which the girls loved.

I was Little Red Riding Hood and David was my Big Bad Wolf. Aroo!

Lakin was a "Teenage Snow Fairy" (as she kept saying) and Addah was a scary Spider Queen. Andy was a Steampunk Time Traveler and probably had the most technical outfit of us all (most expensive too).

Mandy was a monk (which is pretty ironic, if you know her like I do) and Jared was a fairly disturbing rendition of a clown. Avery was a skeleton, Riley was a karate kid & little Mia was a witch.

Mandy ended up hurting her knee so she handed our candy at home while the rest of us made the neighborhood treat rounds. Lots of fun!

Gone Fishin'

David & I decided to take the girls fishing today after school and we had so much fun! We drove out to Lake Robinson near Greer and David showed the girls how to bait a hook, cast and reel 'em in. Lakin is squeamish, so we had to hook her worms for her, but Addah had a grand ol' time piercing and playing with worms. I caught our only two fish of the day... two tiny breams, but still, I was proud. David caught our mystery "fish" -- we decided that it must be a long soaked plastic lure of some sort, because it really looked and felt like a giant sea slug. Ick.

Joshua Alva Kirkman

My oldest cousin Joshua Alva Kirkman died yesterday in Beijing, China. He was a writer and a business student, studying abroad. I had been out of touch with him for years and had just reconnected with him last year at my sister's wedding. I don't know the circumstances of his death yet... I don't know if his parents intend to have an autopsy done or not. He was only 32, only 2 years older than I am. I'm not entirely sure how I feel... incredibly sad, incredibly mortal.

His obituary can be seen in full here.

Cori Aletta

I'm an aunt! My little sister Hilary gave birth to a beautiful baby girl today. Cori Aletta Swinyer was born this morning in Daegu, South Korea. She weighs 7 lbs, 10 ounces and is just under 20 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair and is just gorgeous! I can't wait to meet my little niece. :)

Safe and Sound

My father came home from the hospital today, after being in the Cardiac Intensive Care unit for a week. It was a scary time for all of us, and I had a lot of difficulty coping with the thought that my father, who is only 56 years old, could die. It's a sobering thought, and one I had never spent much time on, but seeing the crash cart jerked into a room as you are pushed out of that room is a fairly terrifying thing. I'm very grateful that he's home, safe and sound, back where he belongs.

Papa & Lakin on her 8th birthday 7-16-09

This week 7/19 - 7/26

This week…

• My dad has been in the hospital since Thursday, after going into shock IN MY CAR. He’s been touch-and-go all week, with very low blood pressure & a super high heart rate, kidneys failing, intestinal bleeding… but he seems to be doing better now. Hoping he gets out of CCU and into a regular room in the morning.
• I finished the back & left front of my Hey, Teach cardigan. I’m so pleased with it!
• My daughters were very excited to find their 2nd long-missing Nintendo DS (it was down beside the refrigerator, go figure) and are now happily battling each other in Mario vs. Luigi.
• Spent some quality time with Chris for a couple days.
• Did a metric ton of laundry that’s been piling up.
• Re-learned how to graph algebraic equations for school… woohoo. :P

Now to upload the many pictures on my camera from Lakin's birthday and our other summer adventures.

Perga-lovely!

My brother built my mother a pergola over her porch on the upper deck this past month. He had my dad there for direction and guidance but did the bulk of the work himself, by virtue of my dad having injured his hand in a circular saw mishap a few weeks before. The pergola is beautiful and keeps the incredibly intense sun off of the porch very well... it's tolerable to sit out there now and it definitely was not a place you wanted to hang out before.

From the porch you have a beautiful view of my mother's garden... and the gorgeous hollyhocks in full bloom. So lovely!