On a Bible study front, I love Skip Heitzig's teaching style, so I'm restarting The Bible from 30,000 Feet series. Again.

On an American front, happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! If you get to enjoy some delicious BBQ, know that I am jealous, LOL.  For all of you who are suffering with the nasty heat on the east coast, I hope you have A/C (or power for that matter).

On a big bang front, I still have those four scenes left.  Eek. But, I've got my Captain America cup full of Sharpie pens (the best pens ever) and some blank paper--it will soon be time to write.

On a geeky front, I couldn't get the Farscape episode "Out of Their Minds" out of my head. Dude, Claudia Black is epic in that episode. I die from laughter every time I see that episode. LOL

Now, it's time to write.

Babe is texting me random lines from Tangled.

♥ ♥ ♥

First of all...all I have to say with Fringe is 0.o  Seriously?  I'm about this close to making the Fringe hour my "finding some kind of craft to do" time.  Even Babe is ready to play some Black Ops on Friday night.

I'm finally making progress on my au_bigbang  story.  I just about hit the 3k (or 4k, if I include the prologue) mark which means I'm at the 20% mark of the necessary word count.  I should be able to finish it by the end of the month. Maybe.

Still can't stop thinking about the people in Japan.  I keep thinking about the foreign exchange students that stayed with my in laws (before they were my in laws) about eleven years ago. (A funny story concerning the group of foreign exchange students...they had two guys stay with them for a few weeks the first time and they brought presents for each person in the family.  Well because I lived so far away, I would stay on the weekends over at Mike's--and his parents'-- house.  When they realized that I was staying, they were very apologetic that they didn't bring me anything.  I was like "It's ok. Really."  Fast forward about six months and they had a couple of young women came to stay with them. I, sure enough, they had a present waiting for me. Apparently, the guys went back and told the agency that I stayed there and they put a note in their records. It was really thoughtful.)

I am grateful to know that k_writerly  is safe.  I did a happy dance when I heard back from her.  I hope, bearit  that you hear from your family soon. I am totally keeping the country in my prayers...totally scary stuff there.  I am totally grateful at how prepared Japan is for these earthquakes...though the damage is terrible, it could have been a LOT worse. 

I'm still fighting this cold of mine.  At about five in the evening, my voice is pretty much shot which makes the girls pretty happy ("What? She can't yell at us to pick up our toys? AWESOME!") I had my surge of valley girl pride when I heard Keira say "Dude!" in disbelief.  I think I might have shed a tear. Or ten.

And look at my awesome Tangle mood theme!! Whee! Thanks to blencathra and sanadafaye for the head's up! And of course, I had to change my header back to Tangled! 'Cuz it's awesome. :D :D

I know, this is absolutely unbelievable, but starting tomorrow, I won't be on LJ. For a whole week.  *curls in the fetal position*

Mike is on vacation and I know we're going to be working on a super secret project, taking the youngest to the doctor (and possibly the dentist), and general stuff that we've been putting off (cleaning the backyard, meeting up with the in laws, Spring cleaning--ick).  And I am determined to get this blanket top finished for Soldier's Angels. It will get done.

If I miss anything absolutely important, drop me a PM or email because I don't know when I'll be able to wade through the f-list (I'll be dealing with the last minute author sign-ups for scifibigbang when I get back) or drop me a FB post, for those who know my Facebook page.

Don't have too much fangirl fun without me, LOL.

Another glimpse into the Jess household:

Me: Look what my friend Cazz sent me. *holds up Patrick Stewart pic while flailing*
Mike: That's too cool. How do you know all these people anyway?
Me: I told you, the internet. You do remember talking with people through that, don't you?
Mike: Ha ha...And you know people from...
Me: Outside the US? Well, the ones I talk to the most are from Scotland, England, Japan, The Netherlands, and Croatia.
Mike: So you guys are like the International Fangirl League.
Me: You've got it.

I love my husband.

Nine years ago, Mike and I were finishing up our one year anniversary vacation at Walt Disney World.  We were set to fly out of Orlando International Airport at 10:00am on 9/11/01.  For some reason, before we were ready to check out of the hotel, Mike turned on the TV at about 8:50ish in the morning (we hadn't watched any TV all week long.)  It was on NBC (it's weird the details we remember, isn't it?) and the sight of the first tower, with smoke gushing out of it, greeted us.  

We watched, in shock, for a few minutes until we watched as the second plane crashed into the second tower.  It was like watching a movie, it seemed so surreal.  I remember Katie Couric saying something about what a terrible accident that two planes would crash into the towers and Mike and I turning to each other saying "there's no way that was an accident."  I called my mom after that, waking her up, and told her to turn on the news.  Then, the FAA said that all planes were grounded.  I remember going to the lobby at the hotel and telling the clerk what had happened, in a quiet tone, and told her we would have to extend our stay.  I think I was the first person to talk to her about it.  She went in the back and talked to her lead and came out and said things would be taken care of.

They closed down the parks...everyone was so scared.  But I will say this, Disney did do their best to make sure that the children weren't frightened.  They had music and food and characters in the lobby and pool area.  In that time of absolute horror, there was something calming about the fact that the children, even though they weren't ours, around us could be at ease.

I will never forget the images of the people on the TV, frantically looking around for their loved ones. Or they shell-shocked looks as they wandered around the streets.  Or the sight of the towers collapsing.  Or the numerous (false) stories that were coming out that day. Or the hours we spent in front of the TV, desperately wanting to know what was really going on. 

We, as Americans, were helpless and scared...but we would not let that break our spirit.  The Bush bullhorn speech on 9/14 encapsulates that spirit. And it is that attitude that makes me proud to be an American.  We have differences, but we love and respect the rights and freedoms that we have.  After 9/11, there was a time where it didn't matter if you were Republican or Democrat, gay or straight, man or woman.  We were Americans and we were united. 

Our 9/11 story is so not tragic compared to those who were in New York that day.  We were on one of the first planes that left Orlando...the flight was so eerily silent.  Lots of people hitting up the liquor.  But, we got home and were safe.  But, I'll tell you, thinking about that day, the sheer panic of the people, still causes me to tear up (and for logical girl like me, that's saying a lot) and get goosebumps.

I, for one, will never forget.