~~Haven’t done one of these puppies in awhile. Since it’s almost 1:00 a.m. and all my thoughts are just one big swirl anyway, it will be perfect.

~~Thank you SO much for praying for me today. My problems haven’t disappeared, but my outlook on them is MUCH better.

~~I can’t wait to tell you about my Great-Grandpa Figley. He died many years ago, but he was one of my favorite people when I was little. And he did something that will AMAZE you.

–I also can’t wait to share a poem Gabe’s Grandma Marilyn wrote me when I graduated from Cedarville. As luck would have it, I even inherited my love of reading and writing from Gabe’s side of the family. (teehee)

–Speaking of poetry, do you like to write it? Ever wished you could get a poem published? Well, this might be your lucky year. I’ll give details soon, but I’m going to need some original poems–limerick, haiku, free verse, whatever other kinds of poems there are (I’m essentially poetry-illiterate). Hint: they’ll be about animals. And if I like your poem, it will go in a book. Woot!

~~Speaking of books, the Zoo Book is coming along swimmingly. Praising Jesus for a couple breakthroughs!

~~Speaking of zoos, I still have 10-ish zoos to tell you about (and show you pictures of). How fun!

~~If you couldn’t tell, this post is actually just a To-Blog list for me for the next week or two. Going to print it out when I’m done writing.

~~I did a phone interview Thursday night with May Chen, a reporter in Beijing, China. I wish so badly I could’ve recorded it and played it for you. She was a million kinds of adorable. The first thing she asked me to do was “speak slowly” so she could take notes. If you know me, you know how good I am at speaking slowly. I was proud of myself, but man, I sounded like an imbecile. (I think I exaggerated the slowness a bit much.) Anyway, May’s English was wonderful, and I just wanted to hop on a plane to China and give her a hug.

~~She was shocked by so many things. For one, that kids in America have time to “play.” Kids in China, she said, are in school or taking lessons ALL the time. Boo.

~~ The girls’ entire room is one big tent and has been for a couple days now. They sleep under it and everything. I’m making them take it down tomorrow though, because we have no access to their dressers or closet, and they’re running out of clothes fresh from the dryer.

~~God is good. All the time.

~~Enjoy your weekend, friends! Any thrilling plans?