So as most of you know by now, in two weeks my cousin will be getting married, and I will be standing with him as groomsman. I am pretty excited. I'll be updating this with pictures (which will be on Facebook too, for those of you who are there!) as soon as I get back. It'll be a great time to see my aunts and uncles, my grandmother, great aunts, great uncle, and about half of my cousins (including the groom). I've been interested in weddings my whole life, since I was four years old and attended my first. I leave next Wednesday morning.

In the meantime, life has been pretty good. I'm with my grandmother about three days a week, just spending time visiting with her, playing cards (I've gotten quite good at Canasta), and doing various things with her. I've also been busy going to school once a week and helping there. The new high school that is starting at the school has drawn quite a few new students, and it's always nice for me to meet new people.

So, like virtually every fan of Narnia, I've been bitten by the anticipation bug for the next movie, Prince Caspian. As you should know (if you're worthy of my friendship-j/k), the movie opens in theaters in May of 2008. The anticipation is heightening as monthly blog reports from the set (sometimes they are video!!) are published. Conversation is percolating on Narniaweb, so if you haven't checked it out, you should!! (I'm preaching to the choir here though, I think!)  We're also starting to get excited about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is coming in May, 2010, and the Silver Chair, which should be coming in '11 or '12.

So that's all my news (and why I haven't written since June).

So it's June! No school, vacations, freedom, family time (oodles and oodles of it). And I'm posting on Xanga. The past few weeks have been fun. The week before last (the last full week of May), my mom and dad went on a much needed vacation to the mountains of North Carolina. Freshly off of school, my mom especially enjoyed the break. The kids all stayed home with Natalie and I. Well, for about three days the Jacksons went to a friend's house, which was rather nice for the five of us to be alone. I'm sure they had fun too! When Mother and Dad got back, Dad went off again to a conference in Harrisburg, PA. He had a great time there.

My siblings and I survived the week without Mother and Dad. Natalie and I had a fun time together watching ER every morning. Most afternoons we would go to the YMCA and work out. Natalie is big into fitness right now and can really hold her own in the workout room. I've been doing pretty well myself. I even did an hour on the cardiovascular machine one day! I've been getting more and more stable on my feet, and I'm very thankful to the Lord for how far he's brought me. I realized again this morning as my dad was reading Psalm 23 how the Lord has sustained my life, particularly in the past 2 years or so. His sustaining grace in my life has been amazing. Whatever your situation today, or any day for that matter, be assured and encouraged that He who called you is faithful and will complete His work in you. The place you are at now is not the place that God will leave you. He promises to be faithful to you, that His love will never leave nor forsake you.

I suppose I should go now. My aunt and her family are in from Pensacola, and our cousins are staying with my family for the few days that they are here. It's been fun so far, although they have only been here since last night.

Stand back and smell the roses, guys. And remember that if God cares for the smallest of these, how much more will he take care of you and love you?

I was thinking about calling this post simply "History" because of the emphasis on history that will permeate this entry, but I realized that History makes sense and is interconnected only through Christ and because God is the author of it. It is perhaps the most meaningful spin I can put on the events that come to mind on this day, that all the things that April 29th has come to mean to me and to my family at this particular moment in our lives, is only meaningful and special because God is the author of yesterday, today, and tomorrow- and it is His will that shapes every day, and His plan that is being worked out through time, creating a coherent history that will make perfect sense to us one day as we stand before Him who gives meaning to every created thing, from human beings to time itself.

The last weekend of April has traditionally been remembered in our family as the weekend in which God gave to us a reminder of His love and His providence in the short life of my sister, little Hope Bernadette, who had a chromosomal disorder and lived only 12 short hours. The grief is still somewhat raw, even 12 years later. But God has put a new song into our hearts, and it is our prayer daily that He will cause the song to be heard over the chaos of life by the new reminders of His love whom he has put into our lives: Cedric, Montrel, and Princess. Cedric is only a few weeks older than Hope, which is assuredly no accident. Princess, at 9 years old, is younger, but Mother has been given an opportunity to raise another daughter, who by no means replaces Hope in her mother's heart and mind, but is nevertheless a tangible blessing who has been given to Mother. At no time is the blessing that Princess continues to be so much in mind as on her birthday, which just happens to fall on the very weekend of Hope's birth and death. Again, I doubt this was a coincidence.

But yes, today is Princess's 9th birthday. We had a special birthday party for her in which we strove to show her both our love and the love of her heavenly father for her. Although no doubt she got tired of listening to the sermon this morning (from a guest speaker), had she been more attentive, she would have heard more directly of her heavenly father's love for her. I pray that He speaks to her soul of His love, and that we as her "everyday" family (so as not to take the place of the family that is spiritually and biologically hers) will be empowered to show her that love so that she may know Him.

The final touch of history on my mind today is a new one. A pastor friend of my dad's in our area communicated to him that his church was going to hold some sort of a patriotic ceremony on the beach today. Apparently, today is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown colony (or at least the first landing of the English on the shores of Virginia). So Dad, Natalie, and I went down and participated in the small gathering, which was quite interesting.

Finally, I just want to remind all my readers that it is God who has written History, and even more specifically your stories. When you don't know what tomorrow will bring, don't worry-- He not only has written it, but has promised you that He will bring you through it. Nothing that happens to you goes beyond His control or is a surprise to Him.

 We can take comfort in that.