Jocie Brooks here reporting from Hollyhill.
I know it’s been a while. You can’t believe how busy a high school girl can get. You’d think I’d have all the time in the world. At least that’s what Dad says. That at my age, I should be cherishing my days when I can do whatever I want.
I’m not sure if he hasn’t been paying attention or what, but I don’t have every day to do whatever I want. Half the time, well, more than half the time, I’m helping him out at the paper. And a lot of the other time, I’m helping Aunt Love out here at the house. Tabitha is still here too, but Stephen keeps her hopping now that he’s walking and then she got a job at the grocery store. So that means I have to help Aunt Love watch Stephen. Aunt Love loves Stephen way more than she ever loved any of the rest of us and she would never want him to get hurt or lost. But she’s getting more and more forgetful. So I have to hang around to make sure she doesn’t forget she’s watching Stephen. We don’t think she would, but just in case. As dad says, it only takes one accident to maybe change things forever.
Leigh helps with Stephen when she’s not working and when she’s not feeling too sick. She’s been sick a lot lately. Sick at her stomach. She says it must be something she has been eating. Tabitha and Aunt Love have been giving her looks like they don’t believe that. She’s gained a little weight too. You think I’m going to have a baby sister or brother? That will really have things crazy around here. So far nobody has actually come out and said that, but Dad has been acting really peculiar. Like he’s afraid Leigh might break or something. Wes says if my suspicions are right, I’ll find out soon enough. Babies on the way have a way of being pretty obvious after a while.
But meanwhile, I do have some free time now and again to ride my bike and play with Zeb and go visit Wes. I see Wes at the paper all the time, but we’re working then. So we don’t always have time to talk about the books we’re reading and what Wes hears from Jupiter and what Dad preached about last Sunday. No, it wasn’t about Hannah wanting a baby. Not yet anyway.
He preached about butterflies. Did you know that nowhere in the Bible are butterflies mentioned? You’d think when Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount that butterflies would be fluttering around everywhere. They do have butterflies over there in the Holy Land, don’t they? Dad didn’t say anything about that in his sermon. Instead he was talking about how this Greek word metamorphoo (sounds like metamorphosis, doesn’t it?) is translated as transformed in the Bible.
He read Romans 12:2. “And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Then he talked about how a butterfly is transformed from a tiny egg to a caterpillar that becomes a pupae in a chrysalis and eventually emerges as a beautiful and amazing butterfly that goes from crawling flat on its belly to flying on the breeze and drinking nectar from flowers. Other things too, but Dad says it’s better to think about the flowers than cow poo. Or maybe it was Wes who said that.
Anyway Dad said (and yes, I’m sure this was Dad saying) that when Paul talked about us being transformed we could think about it being like a butterfly as we go from our lowly existence down here to whatever lovely form we will eventually take in heaven. While we’re on our trip to our heavenly home, we are continually being transformed if we think on doing what Jesus taught. We can renew our minds with prayer and Bible study. Dad said that’s how we can figure out what’s good and acceptable and perfect according to God.
I still feel pretty much like a caterpillar most of the time, but Wes says I’ve always looked like a beautiful butterfly to him. Wes is such a great granddad to me even if he’s not really my granddad. I asked him if they had butterflies on Jupiter and he said of course they do. Big purple ones. If Wes is to be believed, a lot of things are purple on Jupiter.
Thanks for stopping by to read about whats going on here in Hollyhill. Not much, as usual, but Dad says peaceful is good. It might not stay so peaceful if Leigh is really going to have a baby. I’m not asking her or Dad. They should tell me, but until they do, I’ll use my reporter skills and sniff out the truth.
What do you think? Will I make a good big sister?
