Happy Birthday! Yes, I sent you a text today a day early, but I blame the foggy mindset I had on Sunday during church when I thought I overheard someone say "Monday the 18th...." I've never messed up your birthday like that before. I've probably been late, but definitely not early. I guess you needed extra birthday wishes.
Dear Everyone Else,
For those who don't know my sister (aside from the 'About Us' page on this blog), let me tell you more about her, because she's pretty awesome. She's not perfect, but she's pretty close to it. I want to share with you more about her, because she's taught me some amazing things in her 29 years!
I don't remember not having Rachael in my life. She and I are only 16 months apart, and I was too little to hold on to memories of me being the baby. I don't remember it being just her and I either, because Matt was born a little more than a year after that. So, since forever, we have been sisters.
We lived in a little duplex with our family and we played together all the time. Our backyard was soo awesome and big and had this really cool swing set to play on. (Actually it's really tiny now that I'm a grown up.) We wore a lot of matching dresses, especially at Easter. There's this one picture of Rachael and she's in an Easter dress with a cute bonnet. If you saw the photo, you'd see she had the best smiley face on it ever! She was a natural for the camera. Looking back at photos, Rachael has always had a smile for the camera. You can see in her eyes and grin the confidence she has always had about life.
Rachael has always been considered the "creative one." When we were in elementary school, she was ALWAYS writing a story or poem or ideas. I remember that I was convinced she was going to be an author and artist when we grew up.
We fought lots. Sometimes more than others. We got along pretty good too. We loved to play with our barbie dolls--thankfully we had plenty to share. Wherever I went, Rachael was probably close to follow.
In junior high school, I listened to the 'boring' radio station. Rachael introduced me to country music. To this day I love it. She however moved on. Rap music was a favorite of hers for a while.
During high school we were opposite ends of the spectrum as far as our interests and activities, but make no mistake, no one could mess with my sister and get away with it. Just as those who tried to get away with it-hahahaha.
Then we went to college. Rachael is a brilliant genius. She works hard for goals. She's a bit "OCD" when it comes to organization and taking notes. She has been known to recopy her notes more than once because of slight mistakes on the pages. Me, I just scratch it out and move on; I don't keep notes with consistency despite my best efforts. But Rachael's notes and memory are super impressive.
One of the best times we had together in college is when I lived in Crestview and Rachael lived in Snow Hall at the campus we were at. I needed a break from whatever it was, and Rachael's place was great space to do that in, despite extreme numbers of freshmen everywhere I turned. Once we hung out and watched some random movie that I thought was lame. That night I let her pluck my eyebrows while I tried to ice them with ice cubes. Lesson learned here: just do it yourself, it's less painful! We stayed up really late and fell asleep on the couches and a futon chair-terrible idea! About 30 minutes into our sleep, some random dummy pulled the fire alarm. Oh the sarcasm that followed! Rachael is good for laughs and someone I'd want by me when stuff like that happens.
Eventually I met my husband. She endured, ever so patiently, my stories and tales of love. She even had us over to her place for dinner once because she wanted us to hang out together. After Randy and I got married she said "There's engaged people, then then there's married people and then there's you guys" or something like that. She moved her hand higher with each 'people type' but her tone was "oh please!" the entire time. She loves me anyway.
Rachael met her sweetheart, Jared in grade 1 or 2 or kindergarten? But they didn't start dating until 2009. I think I need a recap of how it all came to be, but pretty much they were in love right away. They were perfect for each other and anyone who knew either of them could tell. Rachael and Jared got married in the San Diego Temple in 2010. It was an amazing ceremony. Important moments like that stay strong in our minds. Liberty was born to Rachael and Jared this last July. Libby is just sooooo cute! They are a beautiful family.
Now, here's where some of my story is sad. You may have been wondering what happened to all our posts. We did so good up until the New Year. Well, I think it's amazing what the Lord knows we need. We talked about our plans for the year and the different days we want to have different kinds of posts. However, it just wasn't coming together like we thought it would. Mostly because Rachael and her family all got sick and it took a lot to recover.
Jared's recovery was the worst. He just couldn't kick whatever was making him sick. I'm not going to share all the details in this post, but Divine Works were occurring in Rachael's life. We had a family fast for Jared to get better. Jared had to go to the hospital. The doctors tried to figure out what was going on. On February 1st, Jared passed away and returned home to our Heavenly Father. We were and still are in shock. But, this we know, that God is in charge of our lives and has a plan for each of us.
Rachael always thinks of others. She uses her creativity to bless others too. When I don't know how to decorate my own home, I video with her so that she can give me good ideas. She is a Big Sister to me when it comes to Living the words of Jesus Christ.
So, it may be some time before we both get back into things with this here blog. We have some ideas, but the pace isn't picking up starting tomorrow, fyi. I know that our little story will take on an entire new level for us though. Sisters Becoming is more than it was before. We are becoming who God intends us to be in ways we didn't know He had planned for us. We are learning what true faith is. We are learning what true love is. We are learning what it really means to say "Thy will be done." We are becoming who God intends us to be.
Rachael, I am so happy that I get to share this journey with you. So happy birthday! I love you lots and lots. And even though when we were little I felt like giving you a hug and a kiss was a punishment, I don't feel that way now.
Love,
Sarah
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