my baby brother turned 18!

On Saturday, the last of the Daniel kids reached legal adulthood. Growing up in a big family, it seems like there's always been a baby in the house. So, it's kind of traumatic to think that all 5 of us are all growed up and responsible now. Jesse and I decided to give him a birthday he'd remember.

First, we invited a posse of our friends to assault the house and kidnap Jonathan. He already knew what we were planning to do that day, so the kidnap part was really a ploy to keep Mom from asking too many questions. Plus, it's always fun to throw a black bag over your brother's head, tie his hands up with duct tape, and throw him in the back of a car. Due to the craziness of the assault, and massive amounts of running and screaming involved, there aren't really any good pictures. You'll just have to see the video. Once we captured Jonathan, we all went to Denny's for brunch. I was in a separate car and got there a little late, so I missed out on them leading him in with the black bag still over his head and hands still taped up, but I heard it generated stares from everyone in the restaurant. After loading up on bacon, eggs, and pancakes, we all drove out to Waller to GO SKYDIVING!!! We've always wanted to jump out of an airplane, and have been planning to do it for years. But we had to wait til we were all over 18.

Jonathan was pretty excited.

So were Jesse and Janna.

Sarah Beth was nervous for Jonathan.

Anticipation!

I jumped first. Going against every survival instinct in your body feels weird. My instructor had to give me a little push.

Jesse was next.

We got the best pictures of Jonathan.

Doesn't he look happy?

His face pretty much turned into fabric. It looked like this for the majority of the video.

Coming in for a landing. I think that's me.

"I'm alive!"

Our friends are alive too!

The Daniel "triplets." We just fell out of the sky!

learning to breathe

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

i've always loved these verses, but always found them challenging. i mean, think about it: "always," "without ceasing," "in everything." seems a little extreme and unattainable. the devo i read yesterday gave me a little different perspective on it. still challenging, but makes a little more sense.

"Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues "without ceasing"; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is." ~Oswald Chambers

so this is what mom feels like...

so, my 20-yr old little brother is living with me this summer while he does film internships here in austin. i love having him here, but i just had a taste of what my mother has gone through for the past 33 years. he's working on a film shoot down in smithville, which is over an hour away, so he gets home pretty late at night. i knew he would be home extra late last night, so i didn't wait up for him. but then i woke up at 3:45 and couldn't remember hearing him come in. i couldn't get back to sleep until i knew if he was here or not, so i went to investigate. my first clue was that the toilet seat was still down. then, that his car wasn't out front where it usually is. so i checked his room. not there. enter panic: "aaahhh! my little brother is out there smeared on the highway somewhere and i've just been sleeping away without a care in the world!" (well, i wasn't really panicked, just a little worried). so i called him, found out he was ok, and went back to bed. and couldn't get back to sleep. which is why i'm blogging at 4:15 AM. *sigh* i love you Jesse.

the project that killed my sewing machine...but was totally worth it

Once upon a time, in a corner of The Green Forest, there lived a certain wood-nymph.

She was generally a happy sort of creature,

though she was rather lonely. You see, there weren't very many of the faerie folk in that part of the Forest, and the little dryad didn't have any friends.

But one day, a pixie spied her from behind a tree, and wanted to get acquainted.

The wood nymph was shy at first, not being used to strangers.

But she politely agreed to shake hands, and they went walking down the lane.

Feeling rather dancey, they twirled their way through the woods.

Then they played hide and seek...

picked wild flowers...

and had a tea party.

They decided to be friends.

The end.

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=302934.0

Agent 1

i was reading some of my old facebook notes the other day, and found this "script" that Bailey wrote as a sequel to Agent 1, the first Compound Productions movie she starred in. she wrote this when she was 9. it made me chuckle, so i thought i'd share it with the world once more.

"In the flames at the begining it will say: (you thought she was dead) but she wasn't.
Bailey - There it is
boss - Now remember focus on trying to find what there hideing
Bailey - (got it) over and out
Jesse will be playing the piano with a jiant smile then Bailey will kill him (almost) then very desperitly he will say into the walkie talkie bring in the clones then he will die
Then Bailey will become surounded with clones and start killing them all sorts of ways. Only then the last one will tie her up only he will forget to tie a note so when he walks away I will ecape. Then I will hide under the computer desk and Ruths brother Jonathan will walk by only I will shoot him and then Ruth will come crying on him saying the person who did this will regrate what theve done. And then she will run away crying only I will captur her and tie her up and let her sufactate because the rope will be around her neck and then I will find the stolen mony and laugh and then the screen will go black."

needless to say, Jesse and Jonathan did not produce her film. but they did come up with this.

yeah, she likes to think she's hard core.