Inherited

My daughter, Sunshine, is not your typical kid. She's different.

Eccentric, even. In a good way. She doesn't try to be like anyone else. She's comfortable with her own unique herself.

Case in point: her new favorite spot to nap.

Occasionally, her quirks bug me - probably because they hit a little too close to home. At those times, I'd like to deny that she inherited any eccentric traits from me. Instead, I'd blame her dad or just about anyone else in the family.

After all, I'm perfectly normal.

But something happened today that proves our genetic link (you know, aside from the fact that I carried her in my body for nine months). Before I get to that, though, here's a refresher on Sunshine's individuality.

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A couple days ago, I gave her a slice of extra sharp cheddar. Like her mother, Sunshine thinks that the nastier a cheese is, the better it tastes. Anyway, she asked me why it's called "sharp" and I explained that it's aged longer than mild cheddar to give it more flavor.

Minutes later, I noticed Sunshine just staring at that same slice of cheese, lonely and untouched on her plate.

"Um...honey?" I ventured. "Why aren't you eating your cheese?"

"I'm letting it age," she answered and took a bite. "Now it tastes much better."

Indeed.

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Now for the proof that my daughter inherited at least some of her interesting-ness from me.

This morning, Sunshine was seated at our kitchen island, deep in concentration while she drew letters on her magnadoodle. Every now and then, she'd glance up and ask me how to spell a word. Finally, she set aside the toy and started eating breakfast.

I sat next to her and was halfway through my bowl of cereal before I looked at the magnadoodle. Here's what I saw:

(I love her smile.) In case you can't read a 4-year-old's fabulous handwriting, she wrote:

bowls
milk and
cereal
devotions
movie
party at (sideways)
school (sideways)

Yep, it's a list. A list of the things she plans to do today...with the items she's already completed carefully crossed off. As much as I hate to admit that she got some of her weirdness from me, it's a proud moment when I see that I've passed along my fascination with lists to the future generation.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this kid?!

Thank you, Lord, for my hilarious, one-of-a-kind, sweet girl.

Worship

Harvest

Friendship

Have you ever met someone that you just "clicked" with almost immediately? It's happened to me a handful of times and almost always leads to a great friendship.

Funny thing is, I never expected to click (or double-click, as the case may be) with someone online.

Actually, I assumed that those relationships only happened to people who were ultra-shy or socially awkward. The types I met during graduate school at a very tech-savvy university, where the most popular programs were computer science, software engineering, and robotics. The male students greatly outnumbered the female ones. But I don't think it did those poor guys any good, especially since most of them were too afraid to look a girl in the eye, let alone talk to her. Meanwhile, the girls liked to say that:

"The odds are good, but the goods are odd."

That pretty much sums up what I thought about people who met online - romantically or platonically - they're odd.

Now I'm forced admit that my assumption was wrong. Or...possibly that I'm the odd, socially awkward one.

Either way, I made a new friend and it started online. We met through our blogs. Then we became Facebook friends and started texting.

Last weekend, C.R. and I stayed with her family and we had a blast together. Even our guys seemed to hit it off, in a manly sort of way.

I've known since the first time I read Betty's blog last year that we "clicked." And the weekend just confirmed it. Now, we're officially bloggy-turned-real-life friends, or BTRLFs.

Check out her adorable family.

No, the hay bales weren't at their place and her husband isn't a farmer. He's a police officer (which explains why he'd barely crack a smile in pictures). We took the kids to a pumpkin patch.

Check out our girls playing together in the bounce house.

They rode the swings too. Even Little Miss enjoyed it - surprising considering that she came down with a stomach bug later that evening. Isn't she sweet? She's saucy too, let me tell you!

That poor girl spent the night puking. I'm hoping that we didn't bring her bug home with us.

Still, I can't wait to hang out with this family again.

Anyone else want to share a story about a bloggy-turned-real-life friend?

Peace

This week's entry for Scripture and a Snapshot: