The Chronicles of Blake – Volume XCV

Hello Everybody Once Again!

I am reporting back for writing this thing after a brief break at home. Well, maybe it wasn’t so brief, what with all the pertussis scares and such. But it seemed brief. In some ways it is wonderful to be back, with great advantages (like Erika). In other ways… not so wonderful (like classes). Well… maybe those aren’t too bad. Let me explain. No, that takes too long. Let me sum up. No… maybe later. FIRST, let me tell you all about my totally awesome Christmas BREAK!!!

As y’all know, we came home a week early. That was cool in itself. Then, in doing so, Erika was able to have one extra day at my house!


I must admit that I was praying for snow, so she could experience it when she came. AND DID WE GET SNOW!!!

I’m Dreaming… - So this break was WONDERFUL! We came home as soon as we could after all our final exams were all done. This time, I had an added bonus that made the ride home better. I had Erika with me, and had the opportunity to show her around where I live. She thought that the 15 hour drive home was ridiculous. She was also kind of in a culture shock seeing the flat land for MILES around interspersed with farms here and there. She has grown up almost all her life in the city in Southern Alabama, and doesn’t quite know why anyone would live in such a little tiny community where the nearest Wal-Mart is 35 minutes away. Also, as we went North, the temperature kept declining at a rapid pace, until it was eventually around 14 degrees or so. We could almost hear her wince as the meter dropped every degree. This was a mere 12 hours after leaving lovely Greenville Spring weather.

Of A White… - And there was LOTS of snow!!! ALREADY!

Erika’s Accomplishments – This will be a great section. Erika was able to do a lot of “firsts” over break, and had a wonderful time. She was there for about 6 days, and we sure packed everything in. We wanted her to get the complete experience.

-Christmas Tree Hunt- The first day back, we slept in (because we got home around 5AM) then went Christmas Tree Shopping!!! This is an annual family tradition that they saved especially for us when we were home. So we got all bundled up (Erika more than others) and headed out. We passed a bank on the way that showed the temperature: 11 DEGREES!!! (Fahrenheit) Erika was thrilled. Nice and crisp. Then, when we got out, it started snowing! Eventually, we found a tree and Dad got showered by snow as he cut it down, got some hot cider, and left.

-“I’m never drinking that stuff again”- One of our “field trips” to show Erika some of our culture was to the barn where Dad works. She LOVED it! Well… maybe not. We started out by feeding the calves. She got to feed one of those cute little things. Then we went inside and gave her and Clayton a tour of the barn. We went into the parlor and let her “milk” a cow. Well… a few squirts of milk anyhow. She was a quick learner. Then we went to the Milk House where we opened the huge bulk tank and took turns looking down at the many gallons inside. When we left she exclaimed, “I’m never drinking milk again.” She liked it. :)

-One day we decided to go out and try sledding. It was an extremely foggy day, but we didn’t care. It was also getting to be dark. So we bundled up Kaylee, Nikki, Brady, Clayton, and Erika and headed out to Lake Le-Aqua-Na around sunset. Erika has never been sledding before, but let me tell you… she was a pro! She was doing tricks that baffled us all! One time she was sledding down the hill very quickly with a severe right slant. We were all afraid that she was going to hit a picnic table, then she disappeared behind it and I started running down to help her out when I saw her sliding down sharply to the LEFT! I was very confused. I don’t know how she did a 215-degree turn, but apparently she did without getting off the sled or re-directing it. She just held on for dear life. It was a scary hill!
One other time she went down and just started spinning about halfway down. Everything that happened was shrouded in a big cloud of snow. I hopped on a sled and went down to the rescue. I found quite the sight: she was pathetically sitting on the sled facing backwards toward me, one boot was missing, her gloves were off, she was missing her scarf, her hood was down and her hat was off. It was something to behold! I laughed as I asked, “What in the world happened.” She was just as confused as I was and replied, “I have no idea.”
But in the end, she had to agree that it was a wonderful activity that she would love to do again.

-While she was there, we experienced about every type of winter weather from fog to ice to snow to sleet to freezing rain. We saw it all. People were beginning to blame me for praying for all this so Erika could enjoy it.

-The last day she was at our place was quite the eventful day. We just hung out most of the day, then we went to Freeport, where she got a pretty drastic haircut. But I really like it! She looks very cute with it. A trip to Illinois is not complete unless you visit Culver’s, the greatest fast food chain in the world. So… we visited Culver’s. We ordered Butterburgers, Cheese Curds (a first for her), and a turtle frozen custard sundae (a very healthy meal). She was very impressed and vowed never to visit a Chic-fil-A ever again (yeah right). After that, I drove her down to Milledgeville, where I grew up, and showed her my old famous creepy house (which was abandoned and for sale), my old school, the neighborhood Christmas lights, etc. It was a wonderful time for me. I haven’t been there for over 10 years, so it was a warm-fuzzy nostalgic trip back to my childhood. Then we went to church that evening and went back home.

-As we were driving all around the place that evening, she said to me (in so many words), “I really was skeptical about coming up here to this tundra, with the snow and small towns and everything, but I’m really beginning to like it.” I just smiled. I really like it too.

Not-So-Pleasant Trip - The next day she had to leave. I really didn’t want her to, but she had to. She was rather nervous, because she has never really flown commercial before. She had when she was like 2 months old, but definitely not by herself, and many things have changed from what she remembers :). SO I was going to be there to help her out. We drove to O’Hare, and I helped her get her bag checked (where the FIRST time we were very rudely treated by the employees, followed by many others). Then I stood in line with her to go through security and help her find her gate. We got to the end of the line and the security guard told me that I couldn’t go through yet, but that I simply had to go get a gate pass to go through, and he would let me skip the line and go right through once I got the pass. “Easy schmeasy.” So, I simply told Erika to go ahead and go through, and I would be there shortly. So I went back to the rude lady and asked her where to get one. She snapped at me that it was not allowed. So I asked the lady next to her. This lady snapped that she was not able to do that, and told me to go to the main service desk. So I talked to a guy there, and he snapped that I couldn’t. So I talked to another security lady. She snapped that it just depended on who I talked to. So I went over to the main desk one more time to explain that I just wanted to help my girlfriend, who has never flown before, and say goodbye to her. Mean lady #1 saw me, went to the mean guy #1, and together they chewed me out. I was very gracious during this whole time (otherwise they would have called security), but they weren’t. They didn’t apologize or anything for the other guy misleading me. So after a good lashing, they walked off, all the while talking very loudly about me to each other. I called Erika and explained that we could not say goodbye. It was a very sad call. But she had found an area where we could see each other through a window. So we said goodbye while talking to each other looking through a window, about 75 feet apart (and another lady snapped at me for standing there too). Then I had to guide her via cell phone while standing at a map in the lobby, because they had switched her gate without changing the info on her ticket (in which she got snapped at for not knowing). So, needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience for either of us, and it has scarred us for life. Erika was nervous to start out with, but her imagination was not nearly as bad as reality. Eventually, she got on the plane and left. (and we got lost trying to get out of O’Hare) I guess they don’t know that some people don’t fly very much. Well, I did learn a lesson: Never to fly again… at least not with American Airlines.

Well… maybe we will have to at some point. Only THAT time, I will say goodbye before security and not trust anyone if they make anything sound easy. And maybe I will give the grumpy people flowers or something.

I’m glad to finally vent about this. Thank you for listening.

After Erika – After that it kinda slowed down a bit. I was not able to find a job that would keep me for only a few weeks. However, I was able to shovel some walks (as it snowed, like every day and accumulated about 5 feet of snow), babysit Kaylee (even when she was sick) and work at the church for a little over a week. This break was different in the fact that I did not have to worry too much about my school bill. I paid what I could, but I got an email that the Lord had provided $3000 to my school bill and that that added to my loan would get me back! That was a definite answer to prayer. I give God all the glory for somehow getting me through 4 years of college and not having to sit out AT ALL! I figured I would have to at some point, but God had other plans.

I was able to do some preaching and teaching while I was home. I love it whenever I got an opportunity to do so. I still have a long way to go in message delivery skills, but I love doing it. I was able to preach my sermon on Romans 3, which is a very difficult sermon in the sense that it is very deep and above my head theologically, but it has had such an impact on my life!

Christmas Day – We had a wonderful semi-traditional Christmas day, with Kaylee waking us all up at the earliest possible time (something like 5:30-6), all of us going downstairs to watch her bounce off the walls as the rest of us collapsed into heaps on the floor. A few hours later, when we woke up, we opened presents as a family. Among my favorites were: An mp3 player from Mom and Dad, the “Amazing Grace” movie from Brady, a squealing piggy-bank from Nikki, a tangle-thing from Erika, and a toothbrush from Kaylee (in which she was ECSTATIC to give to us). Later, we got everything cleaned up, and Mom’s side of the family all came. It was a crazy fun-filled food-filled day.

Kaylee never ceases to be cute, even though she is more grown-up every time I see her. Right now, she gets very excited about Kindergarten and her assigned jobs in class. She loves to just sit and talk, play with Chippy, and she LOVES to play games. Especially Hide and Seek and her Snoopy game. Yup… still cute. I even got the opportunity to read her some bedtime stories a few times.

Chippy – I think it is only appropriate that if I am going to have a completely random Newsletter that I mention our completely random cat, Chippy. I must admit that he is actually a cat that I like. Here is the reason: instead of looking down on us, he actually looks up to us and is grateful that we saved his life. Mom originally found him sick and huddled in the middle of the road during a rainstorm. She brought him home and nursed him back to health. Since then, he has been extremely grateful to us. He has also grown to be the lion he is today, but he still remains very meek and grateful. He snores. He doesn’t meow (only an occasional squeak). He loves boxes. He forgets everything in 0.36 seconds. But his biggest talent is being able to sleep anywhere. He will crawl up on ANY surface, find a comfortable position, and fall fast asleep in less than 3 seconds. It is quite amazing. Anywhere… in a shoebox, under a Christmas tree, on someone’s foot, upside down, on a sleeping person, on someone’s head, etc… Truly amazing. So he was a bit of entertainment over break.

Eventually I Had to Leave – So… we were going to leave. That day was very rainy and all the snow melted. I might note that the snow only remained while I was at home. When I left, it left. Just coincidence. Anyhow, we were slated to leave on midnight on the 8th. However, it was extremely foggy (with 0.00 visibility) and Dora the Explorer was in the shop. In the process of routine maintenance our mechanic found more engine problems, and we were delayed until 6PM the following evening. It was OK, Clayton and Trevor were at our house, so we had fun with them watching movies and playing games until it was time to leave. We finally left. We drove through the night without incident, and got to school at about 10 AM. It was a good trip and I even got a few hours of sleep (which is rare for me in vehicles). We were supposed to be there by 10 the evening before, but the University worked with us. I was just happy to be able to see Erika again. We did not have much time time to catch up right away, but we made up for it by going to Tim and Ashley’s and relaxing for a few hours on Saturday.

New Roommate – I found out upon arrival that Woody was gone, but we got another roommate to take his place. Well, in fact he only takes up about half of Woody’s place in terms of stuff. Anyhow, his name is Jacob. He is a new freshman. He likes funny quotes, trivia, practical knowledge, any knowledge, studying, military, organization, and long walks on the beach (for any of you eligible girls out there). We get along quite well.

Now, all we have to do is get rid of Woody’s stuff so we can unpack.

Pictures!!!


1) Here are the 3 beings that sleep the most in our house. Kade (the evil grey one), Brady (the larger of the three), and Chippy (showing that he can sleep ANYWHERE, and I mean ANYWHERE!) And yes, this is a real picture. None of them are posed or have any idea it is being taken.


2) This was taken at that right moment when Dad cut down our Christmas tree, it thumped down, and he got a shower of snow. He didn’t like that too much.


3) This is one that Erika and I took on Wednesday night, the night right before she left. See? Cute haircut.


4) Erika and me night sledding. I was a bit more of a fierce sledder.

Prayer Request – As many of you know, who have even made it this far in the letter, that this is my last semester. After this I really don’t know what I’m going to do. I think it would be wisest for me to stay here in Greenville and get a good job to pay off my debt. So far I have a lot of options, including jobs and housing and such, including a possible GA-ship painting sets and Living Gallery pieces. Please pray for wisdom. I have a lot of very big choices to make, and I want to do God’s will.

Blake’s Contribution - Hehe. I’m sitting next to Erika here in the Riley room on a loveseat, and she has to put her feet on some books so that her feet can touch. :) It’s really cute.

Erika’s Contribution- (So, this is Erika’s side of the story. My feet really can touch, if I slouch very slightly on the couch. But, after about two hours of that, my back started hurting. So, I had to get a book to rest my feet on so I can sit up straight. I’m sure all of you other short people understand. And, to all those people who have been waiting to hear from me, well, you just did. This is the first time that I have actually typed something in the newsletter. My thanks to Blake for allowing me to steal his computer for a moment. He is a terrific boyfriend!!! ER

-Blake