Hi all,
I hope everyone is doing well!
Thankfully, I am feeling a lot less overwhelmed than last
time. My family's puppy, Rosie, turns out to have been
born with a liver shunt. The week before last, my mom
and I traveled to Ames, Iowa so Rosie could have surgery to
repair it. Thankfully, the surgery went really
well! But it had kinda been weighing on me in the
lead-up. Hopefully now Rosie is on the mend and things
can go back to normal. And, hey, discovered that Ames is
a pretty great town. So much good food!
Anyway, here's hoping for a relaxing beginning to autumn!
God bless,
Jenni
So in honor of the Ames trip, I did
something I haven't done in a good while. I made
Andrew-themed laptop wallpapers. The photos are from
Reiman Gardens in Ames. Enjoy! I have a couple
more in the works.
And now... I finally started something I've wanted to do for a
long time which is compile some of JABB's recurring features
into one document so I don't repeat myself. I'd already
done it some time ago with the tropes but over the weekend I did
it for "Ask a JABB Co-Founder" and "Ask Andrew." I can't
guarantee I got them all because I had to use file search which
has flaws... but no way could I scroll through 700+ newsletters
myself. However, I'm sure I got most so that should help
curb my propensity to answer the same question multiple
times. To celebrate, I thought it would be good to do an
"Ask Andrew" cause it's been a good while. If you have a
question for the "Ask Andrew" segment, please reply to the
newsletter email. To be clear, I write these from the
perspective of the Andrew from the Dyeland/Asteriana
stories. But you can still ask about TBAA stuff since most
of that woulda been stuff he experienced. And asking for
advice is fine, too, so long as you remember it's just me
answering. :-) Anyway, there are spoilers for "Shooting
Star" so if you didn't read that but want to, maybe come
back to this later.
Ask Andrew: The Just Checking In Edition
Question: So... how are you doing lately?
Answer: I'm doing great, actually! I'm feeling much more
like my old self for which I'm very grateful. I'm really
loving getting back into caseworking, especially when I have
JenniAnn and Violeta at my side along with the occasional assist
from the Friends. And my sessions with Lailah have been
very helpful. So, all in all, I'm in a good place.
I'm still troubled by things going on in the world, of
course. But I'm going to focus on what I can do to help,
not what I can't.
Question: Is it difficult for you to accept
advice/guidance from people who are a lot younger than you?
Answer: No, not at all. For one, they may be younger but
they could also have experience with something that I have no
experience with. Just ask the kids. Every time my
phone updates, I have to ask them for help. But also
wisdom isn't always aligned with age. Lately, I've found
Vincent to be a really good person to go to for advice about
parenting and keeping up with my mental health. And, of course,
JenniAnn is a constant source of sound, much-needed
advice. Next to God, she knows me better than
anyone. She knows my tendency to want to be a fixer and
lets me do that but is more apt to speak up when she sees I need
to rest than I would be to speak up for myself.
Also, the wisdom of kids is something we should never
ignore. Angels and human both, sometimes we feel pressured
to conform or to do things a certain way just because we've
always done them that way. A kid's "But why?" can really
be an invitation to think about whether there are better ways to
do something. For example, JenniAnn really wanted to put
up Halloween decorations. I felt like it was too
early. Belle was very much team Halloween decorations and
when I told her it was too early, she shot back with "But
why? It's our house. Don't we get to make the
rules?" And you know what... she's right. So we put
up the Halloween decorations and seeing them so happy with their
light-up spiders and bats made me really happy.
Question: Are you sad about the kids going back to school?
Answer: It's definitely bittersweet, especially now that Amelia
has started preschool. That means all our kids and
grandkids are either in school or post-school. But it does
make things a little easier on the assignment front. And
I'm so excited for them to learn more, read more, and do
more. I love that they're all getting educated in the
Tunnels. I will say that JenniAnn and I are very much in
denial about Belle being a middle-schooler now. And our
baby is in first grade! It seems like just yesterday Laja
and I were headed back from Ireland with our Avi. Now I'm
all teary-eyed... But it's good. It's really good.
Question: What's your favorite thing about autumn?
Answer: I love seeing the leaves change. Sometimes when we
go for a walk and a little wind stirs up, the leaves fall around
us like confetti. It's a beautiful experience.
Heavenly even. And I love all the scents: bonfires,
baking, crisp air, and, yes, pumpkin spice. And I do
really enjoy seeing the kids... and JenniAnn... get excited for
Halloween. I don't love it on its own. But I love
that they love it and it makes them happy.
Question: What's on your playlist these days?
Answer: I've still been listening to a lot of the songs that
helped get me through my recent rough patch. So some 90s
love songs like "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion and "Fade
Into You" by Mazzy Star. Also some Simon and
Garfunkel. JenniAnn also started listening to some Ozzy
Osbourne after he went Home and I'll admit I've been playing
"Dreamer" in pretty heavy rotation. I really feel that
one.
I better end this here. The littles start back to school
on Wednesday so we're deep into preparations for that!
Remember: God loves you.
This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye
for giving me the chance to feel a little sense of
accomplishment and normalcy every time I send one of these!
JABB
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(Photo Credits: The photographs
used on this page are from Touched by an Angel
and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline
Productions, and Moon Water Productions.
They are not being used to seek profit.)
