HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET LITTLE BROTHER!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH, MY LITTLE PRECIOUS BROTHER!!!

…who shot me with rubber band guns, argued over who got to be “1st” controller on twisted metal and tony hawk pro-skater, caught buckets of canadian frogs, aimed bb guns at cans, roller-bladed around the block, shot hoops in the drive way. who stunk up the van with hockey gear, sang along to blink 182, bare naked ladies, and p.o.d., scared me with his skeleton “scream” halloween mask all year round, blasted tunes in the shower, consumed endless boxes of macaroni and cheese and candy cigarettes. who banged on drums and made “jack-ass” videos and built skateboard ramps…who broke my arm–still can’t let go of that one. who can’t get enough of pamela’ diner or jesus…that’s my brother.

Keith has always been my enemy and my friend. We grew up together, 2 years apart, and went through everything together. we have traveled all over together–London, Cancun, various cities in Portugal & Spain, Rome, Morocco, California, New York, Canada. keith & i packed up our back-packs and went to my dad’s apartment(s) on weekends together most of our childhood; finally moving into a house for “every-other-night and weekends”, down the street from our “real” home. we tried our best to help each other feel at home there. we raised dogs, cats, and mice together. we seemed to go through awkward stages at the same time, sporting embarrassing hair-dos and buck teeth, lime-green braces and glasses the size of my entire face. good times, keith.

we were loved together by parents that were crazy about us—who gave us all we could ever have wanted. we have an older, cooler, brother that taught us all his wisdom through the years. we share two of the sweetest grandmas god ever made—perfectly opposite, one bakes the best chocolate chip cookies around and has never said a bad word in her life, while the other makes us laugh harder than we ever have, speaking in a british accent and wearing a tattoo she got at the age of 70! Keith and I understand each other, admire each other, and love each other in a “no one has lived this same life but you” kind of way. it’s awesome.

speaking of little keefers,… Ryland, Oakley, Rick (my big brother), Trailer Gram and I packed into our minivan to make a 13 hour road trip at the beginning of may. Oh wait–let’s not forget, Tyson, our 85 lb dog, was also enduring the trip. Consequently, he turned out to be the most popular choice for “person in the room” madlibs requirements.

Arriving in Lexington, Kentucky, we enthusiastically fell out of the van and into our hotel parking lot; ready to show some love to Keith, who was graduating from University of Kentucky with an accounting degree–who knew our family had any mathematical talent? Personally, I think he will be a writer—or maybe he can just write more interesting math textbooks. Either way, he graduated with much more than a degree…I’ll let him say it in his own words…

“An Outgoing Senior’s Advice to Incoming Freshman.

I graduated from High School four years ago. I had a lot of plans for when I got to college…

Playing for the hockey team was not one of them.
Proudly wearing the color purple was not one of them.
Starting a long-distance relationship was not one of them.Transferring schools was not one of them.Breaking someone’s heart was not one of them.Breaking my own heart was not one of them.Admitting to an addiction was not one of them.

Forgiving my Dad was not one of them.Realizing there was an actual way to follow Jesus was not one of them.
Accepting him as my Lord and Savior.
Being baptized was not one of them.
Continuing to struggle with sin was not one of them.Quitting drinking was not one of them.Quitting smoking weed was not one of them.
Burying my Dad was not one of them.Burying my cousin was not one of them.Praying for my Uncle to recover from a heart attack was not one of them.
Battling depression was not one of them.
Praying for strength to give grace to people who have hurt me was not one of them.Praying for grace from people who I’ve hurt was not one of them.
Welcoming my nephew in to the world was not one of them.
Becoming best friends with computer nerds was not one of them.Mentoring at an elementary school kid was not one of them.
Developing a heart for the homeless was not one of them.Donating my car was not one of them.Attaining a high paying accounting job and saying “no thanks” was not one of them.
Graduating and then working for a Campus Ministry was not one of them.
Establishing my residency in Kentucky was not one of them.
Wondering where the heck the last four years went was not one of them.
Praying that my heart be in the right place while I write this was not one of them.

My hope for incoming freshman and current underclassman:

That you’ll learn more from experiences than your textbooks.
That these won’t be your “last few years to have fun” but rather your last few years to prepare yourself to be the man or woman your future family deserves.
That alcohol or drugs won’t be the commonality between you and your friends.
That you continuously remind yourself to put others first.
That when you graduate and write what you think is a wisdom-filled letter to incoming freshman and undergraduates, you realize you still have a lot of room to learn and grow.”

so proud of you keith! i look up to you in height and in morality. you are such a great example to me even though you are younger. i look forward to watching you grow and seeing your dreams come true. thanks for looking like dad and laughing like him—you remind me of him in a very heart-warming way. you make me laugh and you’re a great listener. i love you!

check out some pictures from our amazing trip! {my older, cooler, brother.}

{british gram, whom we affectionately call “trailer gram”}{one of our favorite kentucky moments. my whole family was so excited to go see a horse-race. i had never been to one before and was looking forward to some cool action shots of the horses and their riders. we paid $5 to get in, which we thought was a very very reasonable price, found our seats and got ready to see some dirt-thumping. as we are sitting there, and the time-clock is descending {but nothing is actually happening on the track}, we realize that we are all just sitting there waiting to watch the kentucky derby on a big tv screen. haha! we felt so stupid and ended up leaving. keith claimed he tried to tell us all along that it would be a tv screen. he was lying. he never told us. anyway, a good funny memory from our trip and we can still look forward to the day that we can see a live horse race..}We stopped in one of our favorite towns on the way back to Florida, Black Mountain, NC where i took these… if you like camping and small towns—put this one on your list!