Be Kind to thy Sister...

Be Kind to Thy Sister...
Not many may know the depths of true sisterly love...

My sister and her son, Andrew

I don't have much to write about today from my own life, so I thought that I would occasionally dedicate a blog entry to all the members of Austin's extended family. So, today, I am going to start with the inspiration for my own blogging debut: My Sister, Jenny.

Jenny is a master story teller in both her speech and her writing. She is able to make a mundane task come to vibrant life with something as simple as a dramatic accent, a tale of something lost or found, or the description of something she saw. I few months ago, she started recording her days through a blog. As our parents daily read her blog, they started encouraging me in the same way, "Emily, you should write a blog too! Then we could keep up with Austin!"

Great Jenny, thanks so much.

Even though I am only 18 months younger than my sister, I never felt like I was compared to her. We grew up with such different interests and strengths that it was really easy to follow in her footsteps. Jenny doesn't mind a good adventure (or risk), so growing up, I was able to watch Jenny to determine which actions were "spanking worthy" and later "grounding worthy." To this day, I still call her about parenting and say, "Jenny, what would happen if I let Austin do this? Have you ever let Andrew eat that? Was he allowed to jump off ____? I still evaluate so many risks in light of my sister. Since I hate breaking rules (see earlier post), I love having an older sister to lead the way.

Jenny is the "queen of everything!" Really! If I can't track her down, I can always call my mom... "Mom, do you know where Jenny is today?"
"Mmmm.. ," She'll reply. "She is leading MOPS this morning, then driving to Brooksville to take Andrew strawberry picking. After that, she is delivering meals to sick friends while taking care of their 16 children. She has a small group meeting in her house tonight after leading her Beth Moore Bible study and then is surprising David (her husband) with a gourmet meal (she made herself) and an evening away at a luxury hotel (that she paid for making gift bags for orphaned children). So, I think if you call her between 5:00 and 5:03, you might be able to catch her."

I have never met anyone who can volunteer for everything and then do it all 100%. She lives life to the full everyday and she has this amazing fashion sense. (I know that doesn't really relate, but I just thought of it and it is something else that I admire.) Whenever I'm in town, I always ask to just walk through her closet.

I know that this blog might not be interesting to anyone besides my family, but I want to record all these thoughts somewhere. I want Austin to someday know how I felt about his family - my family. I want him to know where he got his love for shoes (Jenny and Granny) and his rich heritage.

So, Jenny, thanks for the inspiration to write this blog.