Kelsey x 2

I received my second letter from my dear friend (my "little sister") Kelsey over the weekend. How wonderful to hear from her. Kelsey is currently studying to be a nun in a convent in Nashville. For those of you who know Kelsey, I wanted to take a moment to tell you that she is doing wonderfully! She speaks of seeing this through to the end (I think it takes actually 7 years before you decide to make final vows.) I constantly remind her that if she decides to leave early, she has let no one down. The Lord will tell her what he wants for her life. She seems very happy, content, and at peace with the direction her life is headed. She is the godmother for both of our boys and wrote that with all the praying she is doing, I better not be surprised when one of them becomes a priest! ;) Good ol' Kelsey. She is studying to be a teacher and seems to be enjoying that as well.

I try to write Kelsey once a week. I also send her copies of some of my blogs (she says is a more loyal reader now than she once when she had the Internet.) I also send her copies of big news stories since she gets no information there. It has actually been quite enjoyable to go back to writing letters the old fashioned way. When one comes in the mail, I get giddy with excitement and read it a few times and out loud to JB. So different from email.

I remember being pen-pals with my cousin Jason and my second-cousin Amy when I was younger. How fun that was!

Kelsey has rules regarding how often she can write non-family members. (They didn't accept her argument regarding the fact that we believe we are sisters from different mothers.) So the fact that I have gotten two letters thrills me!

Right now I am in the midst of scanning letters from JB that he sent me when I was in college (for my "operation clean sweep"). How strange to think back to a time that we could only call and write letters. No email. Not only that but every phone call would cost of a good amount of money so we were constantly trying to watch how long we talked for. No "unlimited long distance" like we have nowadays. I remember how JB would ring once and hang up so that I would know it was him and he wouldn't get charged for the answering machine picking up if I wasn't home. I'd also call him collect and say the phone number I was at for my name so he could call me back when I was on the road. Times have really changed.

I think of JB being deployed and how much easier it will be on me than it was for people ten years ago. And thirty years ago! We can use skype and email on a daily basis. Send pictures back and forth instantly. It is hard to imagine relying strictly on mail that arrived whenever it felt like it! How amazingly agonizing that would be.

Kelsey's letters have reminded me of the good-ol'-days while also making me thankful for the advantages technology has bestowed on us. Love you Kelsey!

P.S. Thank you to all of you who have entered my "I-need-help-with-dinners-contest"! Please keep your entries coming! Woah you guys are doing a GREAT job participating!