This post is dedicated to Rachel, who reminded us that on Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. Anyone dressed like a cow got free food. Kaelyn and I gladly met Rachel for lunch there.

So here's the fun Kaelyn had with the outing. She already had the boots that happened to fit the occasion! (And she picked those out herself, by the way.) And the look on her face below was CRACKING me up in this pic, so I had to share. What kind of fashionista pose is that, anyway? She did get LOTS of compliments and smiles on her foot attire.

Steve wins Daddy of the Year award as he decided to buy tickets for Kaelyn to see Dora Live! Kaelyn's cousin Jaxon was able to come along with us. Great fun! (Aren't they cute in the pic above? They look like siblings!)

Both kids had a blast. They were enthralled with the action onstage, not wanting to blink. They were so well-behaved. And they were really pumped when I told them that Dora and Diego were cousins just like they were cousins.

The excitement was palpable as Jax and Kaelyn prepped for the show in the lobby of the Aranoff! (Hanging at the Aranoff on a Friday night—such cultured kids!!)

Steve and I laughed that the show ended with the characters singing Gloria Estefan's song "Get On Your Feet." Now THAT will be in my head for a while. Not sure if it's better or worse than having the Dora theme song in my head.

I want to say thank you to all of you who read my blog. It's because of you that I'm top of the list.

Tonight I was looking at Stat Counter that gives me fun info on who reads my blog. I check it occasionally out of curiosity. I discovered that someone had Googled the words "blue ink medium point" and found me. Apparently when they Googled that phrase, I came up #1 out of a million hits on Google. Wow! #1! Steve did a quick check and told me that I also appear #1 when Googling "medium point blue ink" or even just "medium point."

So right now I'd like to thank all the little people that made my rise to fame possible. I promise I won't forget you when I'm a celebrity, signing autographs, accepting awards, being stalked by paparazzi, fielding requests to be on reality TV shows, etc.

:)

Last week my dear friend Emily kicked off her online business: Stop Traffick Fashion.

Please click and find a great place to purchase items for the special lady in your life (especially if that special lady is YOU!). All items have been made by survivors of trafficking. Purchases support the organizations who care for victims of modern-day slavery and give them hope and skills to have a better future (or have a future at all).

Most importantly, click to learn more about what goes on in our world today. It will break your heart and open your eyes. I pray that God uses anyone and everyone to rescue precious souls He has created.

My dad: I've been wanting to blog about this story for a while. I figured Father's Day was the best time. The picture below is a victory pose. On Easter weekend, while visiting Lexington, my brother and I FINALLY beat my dad at something—cornhole. Sure, it took both of us teaming up against him (and his teammate, Steve). But you don't understand how victorious an occasion this was for Scott and I. We NEVER beat him.

You see, my dad didn't approach teaching his kids with the attitude of "I'll let them win and feel good about themselves." It was more like, "I'll show them what real competition looks like to prepare them for the disappointments in life now. They'll struggle, but it will make them stronger." He always made us earn victory in the area of sports or any competition. We finally beat you, Dad. Admit it! :)

I tease, but Dad is so much fun. Struggling to beat him in sports was the only struggle I can ever recall! I love you, Dad, as a father and seeing you as Baba to Kaelyn. Thanks for being wonderful to anyone who has ever met you!

Steve: I cannot say enough good things about his daddy skills. Kaelyn loves her special "Daddy and Kaelyn Day" each week when I go into the office. I arrive home to see two smiling faces and hear fun stories every Wednesday. Steve has taught Kaelyn so many things, from the alphabet to cheering for the Reds to strumming a guitar to loving her city, its people, our church, and our God. What more could I ask for?

Ken, my father-in-law: His compassion for people shows itself in ways that are tough, touching, entertaining, and also often unseen by many eyes. He never seeks the glory, always saying it's done for his Father in Heaven. That speaks volumes. Steve says that who his dad was and is molded Steve into the man he became. That's praise enough for me!

It's real now. I have been in a bit of denial. But . . . they're gone.

Veena and Bala moved out Sunday night. And still this week as we've walked by, Kaelyn and I still look over at their door, half imagining we might still see their faces in the window.

We met as neighbors and parted as friends. And they'll remain in my heart forever.

For almost a year, Kaelyn and I spent several nights a week, visiting with Veena in her house. We fed fish, Kaelyn sang the Birdie Song in order to get cookies, we shopped for groceries together. Our nights won't be the same now.

I want to honor Veena in this post especially. She's become one of my closest friends. We come from such different backgrounds, yet we found so much in common. I learned a lot about India, and I tried to persuade her to like my favorite American things: Diet Coke, cheese, etc. (Not sure that I was very persuasive!)

Thanks, Veena, for being one of the kindest, most generous people I know. Thanks for spoiling Kaelyn! Thanks for sharing life with me . . . I want that to continue, even long distance! :)

If you see me in the next couple of days, I am not wearing purple eyeshadow. That's a bruise over my eye. Kaelyn enthusiastically jumped into my bed this morning and dove in for a hug. Her forehead cracked against the bone over my eye. Good thing I didn't cuss out loud! She wasn't phased, but it was killing me! But how can I complain when I have a daughter that is that excited over morning hugs?! Worth the pain every time! :)

On Tuesday, ten minutes in to a phone meeting I was a part of, my computer freezes up. It wasn't restarting correctly, so I spent the rest of the meeting trying to mentally imagine the book cover designs we were discussing. Steve takes a look, Googles some things (trying to determine why my screen was flashing blue, green, and red), and we find out the logic board on my computer died. I'm not sure what it does exactly, but it appears to be key to making the computer functional! And it would cost half the price of a new computer to replace that part.

Steve had been thinking that we'd need to replace my laptop at some point because it's had a few issues lately and has been running daily, all day every day, for over five years now. It's been good. I can't complain. All that work took its toll. Which we knew it would. But still, when it suddenly happens, all I can think about is the files I hope not to lose, both work and personal.

I had backed up files last week for work but not in a while for home, which bummed me out since I had some things I'd written lately. Steve goes to the Apple store, thinking if we buy a computer right then, maybe they could figure out how to transfer contents of my hard drive to the new one. The store was closed all week because the big Apple unveiling convention is going on. Are you kidding me?!

Next step, Steve Googles again (oh yay, the power of the internet!) and finds some people's hacks for getting a computer with a dead logic board to turn back on. Steve tries a couple of things and here's what helped: inserting quarters under the keyboard to apply pressure enough in the right spots to get it to boot up again. Seriously! But any little movement made it shut back down. It would come up for five minutes, and he would pull over some of my files onto a Flash drive. Then it would die again. He'd reboot, same process. Piece by piece he got all my files for me, work and personal. Praise the Lord!! Steve is my hero.

So we've had some savings built up and decided we'd just use some to buy a new computer. We ordered a new laptop online and my new 13-inch MacBook came to our door yesterday. (This is the version that replaced my no-longer-being-made iBook.) It's very nice with features I've never had before! Plus I like how the keyboard feels when I type. (It's the little things in life!) I have all my files, and I can work and write and function again. Funny, I never thought I'd be so dependent on technology.

Some quotes by Kaelyn that have made me smile recently:

“I’m just thinking about chinchillas.” Lots of Go, Diego, Go watching has at least helped Kaelyn learn about some exotic animals. Her favorite at the zoo is the sloth.

“I can hear the music in my head!” Kaelyn wanted to hear the song "Single Ladies" (yes, she occasionally wants to put a ring on it), so I let her listen to my iPod. She's done that before, but this time she was fascinated with how the ear buds made it feel like the music was in her brain. She yelled this phrase loudly to Steve and I while she was jamming to the song.

“I’m calling you. Press 5 now. Please leave a message.” So Steve has taught Kaelyn his cell phone number, and she likes to call it. Apparently she's heard the voicemail computer lady a few times because she stated the previous sentences while playing with her toys the other day.

“Coach Mike said my name and gave me this!” Kaelyn successfully completed an 8-week stint playing soccer with some neighborhood kids. It was really casual, but she still found a way to be intimidated and tearful at least every week. Yet she was so proud that, on the last night, her name was called and she got to go up in front of everyone and receive a team picture.

And finally, Kaelyn wanders around the house with her little guitar that my parents gave her and attempts to sing “In the Highways” off the O, Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. I thought she might like that song because it's sung by three little girls. (These are the Peasall sisters who, by the way, we interviewed for ENCOUNTER when they became teenagers.) This song is her new fave (besides "Single Ladies") that we have to listen to each time we're in my car. I had to teach her what a hedge was!

And here is "business casual Kaelyn." Aunt Liz gave Kaelyn this shirt, and I thought she looked like she was so old and headed to work when I put it on her. So I put on black pants and her hair in a bun. She looks so beyond 3 here! She is contemplating her little penguin toys in this photo Steve snapped.

Another belated book review for you: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs.

A.J. is Jewish by heritage but is agnostic rather than practicing. In his words: "I am officially Jewish, but I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant. Which is to say: not very." And that's a snippet of the humor in his writing that caused me to enjoy the book more than I thought.

So what made this agnostic delve into the Bible? He wondered why religion isn't dead, why so many people live with and because of faith everyday. He started with the Old Testament first, interesting since there are so many more rules there. He devoted about 8 months of his year to the Old Testament, and that part of the book was the most interesting, captivating, thought-provoking. He grew out his hair and beard for a year, wore white the whole time, tried to figure out how to make a sacrifice and stone someone, and wouldn't even touch his wife's hand during her time of the month. (Her reaction to that was hilarious.)

When he got to the New Testament, things started to drop off in interest to me. Probably because he realized that to truly live according to the New Testament, you needed to fully believe and trust that Jesus Christ is Savior, Lord, and God. Since he didn't believe that, he found it less compelling, and his writing seemed to convey that as well.

Besides striving to live according to the Bible, A.J. also used his year to visit with different people who were radically devoted to the Lord, from rabbis to people we'd label as "evangelical quacks" living out in the middle of nowhere and doing some strange practices. What was neat was that he gained something from each relationship and learned something from each person's devotion.

I read this book last fall, and now I can say that I don't recall everything he wrote. But I recall that it really got me to delve into practices of the Old Testament. I kept thinking, "Is that really in the Bible?" and then I'd look it up and read a section of Scripture I hadn't read before or hadn't in a while. Surprisingly, the book became a Bible study of sorts for me. Also it caused me to appreciate the daily rituals people did for God and it made me appreciate that I'm not required to live according to so many rules now. But it also convicted me that I could use some more discipline when it comes to my spiritual life.

Overall, it was a good read. It caused me to think. I recommend it. Let me know if you'd like to borrow my copy. And I enjoyed his style of writing so much that I am now reading another book of his that he wrote before this one: The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. I'll let you know how that goes.