"Friday, May 8, 1998
My toads died, but not too long until my birthday!
I'll tell you how many days...8 days is how many.
I can't wait!! I'll have cake and ice cream. I'll
get presents. I'm sure they'll be fun. Oh... how
I can't wait! I'm so excited!

I watched my first hockey game today. It was
on tv. The Sabres won. That's who I was
rooting for. I felt so happy that I had to jump up and down.

In only two days it is Mother's Day. Rachel asked
me what I should make. She said I could use
her Highlights.

Sat. May 9 Tonight Daddy found a FROG. It is very
small. I've found toads this small. This frog
has sticky feet. Mommy thinks he's a tree frog.
Daddy found the frog in the basement.
I found a Box turtle today! It was pretty.
he had yellow and red stripes on his head. He
has long toenails and fingernails. Daddy filled
the pool for the Box turtle with a little bit of water.
Daddy also put a big, flat rock in the pool.
My birthday is in only a week."

I loved those toads. I was so sad that I accidentally squeezed them to death. Whenever I think about that, I feel guilty. I was only six, and didn't know any better, but I feel bad all the same. I loved them a little too much, I guess.
I remember that turtle. We've found many a read-eared box turtle since then. I recall, Mom had just called us to come in and get ready for bed. We all came running to the house. As I was running, I ran past what turned out to be a large turtle, just sitting on our lawn!
We leave for vacation tomorrow night. I really hate the day we leave on vacation. I just have to keep thinking about getting there, and having a jolly good time, wot?
Sorry. I do that too much. :)
I ran out of yarn for my current crochet project. It's really worrying me that I won't be able to finish it before we leave. It really is almost done, but I wanted it to be all finished before we left so's I could impress Grandma Sue with how nice it looks.
Please pray for the people of Greensburg, KS. I know you all have been hearing about it a lot on the news. When we lived in Larned, KS, Dad served a vacancy in Greensburg. We made some wonderful friends there. I spent my 10th birthday with those great people. So far as we know at the moment, no one we knew died, but many of them lost everything. It is still hard to believe that the church, the park next door, the water tower, everything is gone!