Please pray

About two months ago, a rope holding one end of the hammock that was out in our front yard had broken. My best friend (who moved up north) and my younger sister were sitting on it at the time, and they both got a few bruises. Three weeks ago, we were babysitting a six-almost-seven-years-old girl from our church, and she put up the end of the rope that had broken. My dad pushed it farther up the vertical limb it was tied around so he could mow underneath. A week ago, my younger sister and I thought that because it was higher off the ground, our dad had retied it higher up. So I decided to lie down on it and swing. A few seconds after I had gotten comfortable, the same rope broke AGAIN, this time with just me on it. My entire back hit the ground at the same time. The wind got knocked out of me, and I thought that was it.

Since the end of the weekend now, my back has been painfully sore. At first, I thought it was from my shoulders, which have been a little sore from playing my violin, accordion, and piano. Then I realized that it was because of my fall. Monday night, my back hurt so much, I almost cried and I didn't have any supper. My had massaged my back, and that helped a little bit, but not for very long. I took some Advil before supper and right before bed. My back was fine for most of yesterday. But as it got later in the day, my back started to hurt again. I took some more Advil when I went to bed, and it worked through the night. But when I woke up this morning, my back was horribly sore. I took some Advil not too long ago, and it hasn't started to work yet. Nothing much is working, except for the Advil - for about five hours.

Please pray that my back stops hurting, and that I can start practicing better.

At last!

I've now officially opened my Etsy account! I don't have very much stuff in it yet, but it's finally open. So head on over here!

Where was I then?

Where was I when all this happened? How old was I? What do I remember about it?

I was at home. We were at our home in New Jersey. It was a normal September day. My five older siblings were at school in Pennsylvania. I was playing with my younger sister when my mom got a call from my dad. He was at work an hour south of us. My mom quickly got us in the car and drove to get my brothers and sisters at school. When we were there, my mom talked to a friend of hers about what was happening. Then we all left to go back home. That's where I was and what I remember. How old was I? I was three and a half years old. I don't remember much about it happening though.

I remember hearing a lot about 9/11 on the car radio for months after the attack. Before the attacks, she didn't listen much to Sean Hannity and Rush Libaugh. (I think that's how you spell his last name) After the attack, she listened to them much more often.

All I knew back then was that one day there were Twin Towers in New York. Then the next day, there were no Twin Towers, that they fell down. I didn't understand how or why they were gone. I didn't understand why people would hate America. But that was eleven years ago. I understand almost everything about it, but one thing: why do they hate us?

As former President Bush said, "They can shake the foundations of buildings, but they cannot shake the foundation of America." I don't know if that's word-for-word, but that's basically what he said that night.

My new blog design!

How do you like my new blog design? Britt did it for me. Isn't it great? I love it!

And the discounts go to . . .

The winning name for this item:

Purple Dreams (suggested by 1Lover of Wonderzone BRC)

And for this item:

Dusk Colors (suggested by 1Lover of Wonderzone BRC)

And finally, this item:

Marvelous Marble (suggested by Kara)

Thanks to all who participated. To 1Lover, she receives 50% off any two items in my etsy shop. To Kara, she receives 50% off any one item. 1Lover was the only one to suggest a name for each item. The others suggested names for only the last item. But thanks to everybody else!

Clouds and Rainbow Photo Shoot

Look at the darkness of the clouds! They brought tons of rain that we needed. Look at the corn stalks a few photos up. And this is the beginning of September? The corn shouldn't look like that until harvest time (October I think). It was so cool to see the clouds literally roll in.

On my vacation last month, here's a rainbow I saw after a downpour at my grandparents' house. It was huge! And beautiful. God was so creative to make a rainbow. What do you think? Isn't is so gorgeous?