7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 83)

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“Don’t Leave, I love you!!” was one of the cute things I remember my youngest sister shouting (with drama and sincerity) when people would get ready to head out.  That’s basically how I’m feeling about her going back to OSU after we’ve gotten to hang out together and as a family over the past couple weeks.  I guess I need to figure out when and how I can get up to OH to see her since she might not be back for a while, and she still hasn’t given me the West African dance lessons I want.  Someone gave me what I consider a really nice compliment many years ago: “For a white girl, you got rhythm.”  I really would love to learn West African dance which my sister has been studying in and out of Africa.        

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Baby Shower My sister and brother-in-law are expecting their first child this February.  My mom's best friend (aka in years past as our "other mother") threw a baby shower for her.  It was neat that she hosted it at her house, because my sister and her husband got married in the backyard at that very house by the pastor from their church.  Just as on the day of their marriage, there was a lot of love and hope for the future present.  It's also the same place where our "other mother" and another family friend threw me a bridal shower many moons ago.  

           

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Extending Family Two close family friends from Africa were at the baby shower for my sister.  Both women have been like second mothers to us.  Here's a photo of my mom, Madrine (from Kenya), Theresa, and Bouchra (from Morocco).

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Humility on the Homefront At one of our family gatherings, I made mention of needing to get home before it got too late so I could do my 7 Quick Takes and work on my audition piece.  Theresa asked what 7 Quick Takes are.  I laughed and explained the tradition I have been doing for 83 weeks now.  Truthfully, I've been super-excited to have over 26,000 people from 161 different countries visit my blog (and my husband thinks it's really cool as well), but as is so often true of bloggers and writers in general, most of my family doesn't read much of what I write.  C'est la vie, ou c'est ma vie.            

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What Goes Around There are few activities I believe that would make me more repentant and compassionate towards my younger sisters than having the challenge of encouraging the oldest child in a family to be a good, loving sibling.  When I see how insistent, forceful, and possessive toddlers can be, it makes me want to apologize especially to the sister closest to me in age for being such a brat when I was little.  Even knowing that it's quite normal for toddlers to guard their turf and toys, I bet I came across as pretty harsh since I was an intense kid as it was, which likely made the usual "it's all about me" syndrome more pronounced, especially when it came to a cute blond hair, blue-eyed baby who arrived on the scene when I was 2 and 1/2.

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Audition Piece Turned In I've mentioned in the previous two volumes of my Quick Takes that I've been working on an audition piece.  I turned it in this past weekend, and it is very likely that I'll know by the end of this coming weekend if I'm going to be the fourth writer of the young adult series in addition to helping them with copy editing future books.  Check back to find out if I made the cut or will just be making cuts (copy editing) by tuning in next week.    

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Our Parish's Seminarians We have two seminarians from our parish who started at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, MD this past fall.  John, our dearly beloved brother in Christ and best friend, you probably already know about if you’ve read this blog before.  The second young man from our parish is originally from Ghana.  He and John came by to visit me while I was nannying the girls (who are actually John’s nieces).  Henri shared some great stories with us about what it was like to grow up in Ghana.  We were all riveted.  

Head over to Conversion Diary, to read Jen Fulwiler's wonderful tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday.  Then click here to go to the 7 Quick Takes hosted by her friend Hallie this week.  (Jen's in the hospital and could use our prayers!)