Gentle Years

LB turns 18 tomorrow, so we celebrated her birthday this evening, and what a beautiful one it turned out to be.  People ate, visited outside, twirled the twirly things I bought, and then twirled sparklers.  She had two girlfriends over who are also spending the night, and other company came later.

This week LB got a letter from the mayor of the city where her school is, both congratulating her on her acceptance, and saying that he hoped when her years at college were over that she would still return to the city as a visitor.  What a great idea that letter is!  One more thing to make her feel special and feel that this is the right place for her.

LB got her second letter of acceptance-this one from the college she wants to go to.  So, needless to say, she is excited!

It is winter carnival week at school and today is the day when kids at LB's school dress up as their favorite character.  So she wanted to be Alice in Wonderland (she actually prefers Alice through the Looking Glass).  I couldn't get material and a pattern until this past weekend, and then the new sewing machine that GB and PB bought me for Christmas kept unthreading itself.  I finally ignored the directions and threaded it in the opposite direction from what they said to do and it worked fine.  That was after a wasted night of struggling with it.  So last night I worked until almost 4:00 a.m. just to get something wearable that resembled the costume (no apron skirt, no hem, no sewing down the bodice lining).  Unfortunately, I had checked the bodice and it fit LB, but she went to bed before I started on the sleeves.  This costume has yards of cloth and gathering!  Here is the result and, although it looks like Alice, it isn't flattering to LB so she didn't end up wearing it to school.

Yesterday LB got a very thin letter from the college in Vermont.  She was very shaken by the size of it and took it to her room to read.  It was one of those, "Thanks for your application.  We have all of your materials and it is currently under review."  She came back downstairs saying they shouldn't send letters like that unless they want to give students heart attacks!

LB has certain criteria for colleges:

* That the school be small
* That the school have separate accomodations for men and women
* That the school have a Christian affiliation
* That the school have a strong English program and also have a business program
* That the school be within a few hours of a major city

She has found schools meeting her criteria and has been accepted to one in Georgia.  G and I think that is too far away for holidays, vacations, etc., and she has just agreed with that.  She says she doesn't want to be away from Aidan that much.  So she now has to finish her essay for a school in Vermont that was actually her first choice, anyway.  Hopefully she gets in there and will be closer to home.  If she does, all three of our big kids will have gone to the surrounding states:
GB went to Bates in Maine
PB went to Wheaton in Massachusetts
and LB will be in Vermont

When our younger daughter was born, it was after I spent three weeks in the hospital and she was still five weeks early, so she really was a tiny thing.  Twice as big as my niece, though, at 4 lbs. 4 ozs., but tiny just the same.

As a child she had a little pixie face, big gray eyes, and a love of quiet places.  This page is dedicated to her.