This diary entry is part 21 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Guess what!  Liz is going to Japan with me!!!

I asked Emiko if I could take her, and she said yes, but she had to pay for her own tickets.  Which is fair.  Liz has been to China lots of times but never Japan, and I was thinking that since she and her family took me to Orlando, and maybe I could return the favor.  I asked Liz if she wanted to go, and… I’ve never been actually pounced before.  Girl jumped on me and knocked me onto the bed, then jumped up and danced around!  I’ve never seen anything like it!!!  Since her father flies a lot, he has miles that she can use!!!

Beth is a bit jealous, but I told her that Liz is paying her own way (well, her father is), and she will get her chance soon enough.

Aika and Mika are coming too!!!

Liz and I practiced a bit but she was really distracted, she was thinking about all of the stuff she needs to do.  I told her to calm down, she still has a recital to practice for.  She pouted but “business-Liz” was back soon enough.

I wish I could take Jack, but honestly, I think it’s better that I spend time getting to know my birth family, and I’d spend all of my time with Jack, and that’s not fair to Emiko.  Liz is different, I’m not in love with her!!!

We’re going to Tokyo Narita airport, and we’ll take the train to Saitama!!!  It’ll be fun!!!

After I get back from Japan, Jack and I are making plans to spend a week together (with some adult supervision of course, but not too much) and Sabby’s got her eye on a couple of private schools to tour.  It’s already a busy summer!

Anyway, Marie needs walked.

Love you all!!! ❤

(but not as much as chocolate!!!)

This diary entry is part 22 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Your favorite Lily!  Unless you know another Lily.  Then, I hope I’m still your favorite Lily!  But I understand if I’m not.  There are other great Lilies out there.  Lily von Schtupp!  But… she’s tired, so maybe she’s not so great after all.

Haha!  I remember Blazing Saddles!  I didn’t get it, but Lily von Schtupp had my name!!!

Let’s see.  There’s Lily von Schtupp…  hmm.  I can’t think of any other Lilies!  I know there are some.  I looked it up, there are lots!  But not many really famous ones.  So I can still be your favorite Lily!!!

Lily Smith (2005 – ) Blogger and sixteen year old girl

Hahaha!!!

Anyway…  Liz is bouncing around.  I’ve never seen her so excited!!  We went to her lesson tonight and she was absolutely burbling!!!  But we got it done – her recital is in a couple of weeks and we have to prepare.  Probably every night next week.  Aww.  But it’s fun.  I like playing piano.

She wants me to teach her some basic Japanese.  It’s hard!  I mean, she knows a very little from her anime, but I know a lot more.  So I taught her how to say hello, and goodbye, and “go away”.  haha.  Well, a lot ruder way of saying go away.  There’s not much I can teach her in two weeks, but I think I can do something.  And what she’s learned from her anime is… well… a little rude.  After she said “kisama” I told her to never, ever use that word.  haha!!!

David comes home next weekend too!  Not this weekend… next weekend.  He’s having a blast!  I guess a couple of girls started fighting over him.  He tried the “there’s enough of me for both of you”…. and…. it worked.  OMG I just know he’s going to be insufferable when he comes home.  Sigh.  Ten year old girls.  Watching too much twilight.  Grr.

I still haven’t decided what fun thing to do for my one year diary anniversary.  But I’ll do something!!!  And it’ll be fun!!! Not just fun – LILY-fun!!!  Hahah!!!  There’s only one thing for sure:  no maid outfit.  Aww.  but you’ll just have to deal.

Anyway, Marie needs walked.  She’s tired and so am I.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 23 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And it’s FRIDAY again!!!

All the girls are here, except Allison.  She had to go on a trip to Mexico and is tired, so she’s staying home and catching up on Allison stuff.  But Crystal, Diana, and Liz are here,, and it’s a PARTY!!!  Dave grilled, and then Diana took the grilling and turned it into tacos, and we had a feast!!!  Then we watched a movie, and now all of us are having a pretty chill night.  We’re talking about Japan!!!  Diana and Crystal don’t know much about it, and Liz and I are telling all about it!!!  Beth only seems a little interested, but she’s letting everyone have their fun.

I showed Diana and Crystal Babymetal!  Gimme Chocolate!!!  OMG the look on their face!!!  Diana said “let me get this straight…  three cute Japanese girls singing metal about chocolate?”  Yep, that’s about it.  But then I showed them “Road of Resistance” and they really liked it.  Not as much a fan of BxMxC, though.  Then we showed them some J-Pop idol music and they…  didn’t really know what to make of it.  When I told them how many girls are in the AKB48 group, Crystal’s mouth dropped open.

But we also talked about other stuff.  Beth’s not too interested in Japan, but I’m trying to figure out what she is interested in.  She likes those British panel shows, like Taskmaster and Would I Lie To You.  It’s not really my humor but she thinks it’s hilarious.  So we watched an episode of that, too.  I’ve seen Taskmaster before with Dave.  It is kinda funny.

Oh, and today, there was some kind of Supreme Court ruling, and people were kind of upset this morning.  I guess I really don’t have too much of an opinion.  But if Emiko had, well, chosen, I wouldn’t be here.  Some choices are very selfish, I think.  But I don’t understand the actual ruling, so…  Sabby does, though, and she was actually pretty happy about it.  I guess it’s another one of those things that adults have very strong opinions about that I don’t understand.  I asked Sabby about it, and all she’d say is “You know how you’re alive because your birth mother chose to keep you?  Well…  what if she hadn’t?”

Something to think about, anyway.  If I were in that position?  I guess…  I wouldn’t make that decision lightly.  I can’t imagine why someone would.

Anyway, it’s just a fun Friday.  We’re going to make a girl-pile soon.  And we get to sleep in tomorrow!  A little, anyway.  Sabby doesn’t let us sleep in too much.  Sigh.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 24 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

It’s still hot outside!!!

But tomorrow night and Monday is supposed to be better!!!  We might even get a little rain!!!

Would be nice.  Even the grackles are panting.

After all the girls left this morning, it was a cleaning day.  Sabby got a bug up about cleaning, which happens every now and then, so we all had to help her clean.  I guess I don’t mind too much.  I had to clean my room and do a few other chores.  Thankfully, I don’t mess my room up too bad, so I just had to pick up some clothes and sweep up.  After I did that and my chores, I just stayed out of Sabby’s way because when she gets like this, no one is safe.

She’s usually pretty good about that – I do have a few chores I have to do every now and then, but her attitude is that my job is learning, so she’d rather I be doing that or something else useful than worrying about doing laundry, etc.  That’s nice of her.  But that doesn’t mean we get off without doing anything.  Our rooms are our responsibility.

I also had to clean Marie’s kennel.  It’s not too bad.  Biggest problem is fur.  She sheds like crazy.  Dog hair everywhere.  Cat does that too.

Oh, did I mention, Cat and Marie are getting along really well now.  They chase each other everywhere!  Dog runs by chasing cat… then cat runs by chasing dog…  then a few minutes later we catch them cuddling together on the couch.  It’s cute!  And hairy!  So much cat and dog hair on the couch!!!

Well, I’m talking about Cat and Marie cuddling, so I guess I don’t have too much to talk about.  Sabby did promise me chocolate pancakes tomorrow!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 25 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

I’m not sure how well this church thing is going to work.

So, today, I went, as Sabby asked.  I was a good girl.  But I could tell Sabby was still embarrassed, because I had my phone and was playing on my phone.  Problem is, I have this little “waifu” game I play – it’s kind of an RPG game but with lots of, well…  women wearing some very elaborate and revealing costumes.  I just like it for the gameplay, but…  I kinda forgot.  So I had my headphones in listening to Babymetal and was playing the game, when Sabby jabbed me with her elbow.  I looked at her, and she whispered at me “play something else.”  I looked around, and the people behind me were smirking.  So I changed to a different game.

Sabby was annoyed.  After church she went all Claire Huxtable on me.  Told me that I embarrassed her, playing a game like that in God’s house, blah blah.  When she finally stopped, I told her that while I didn’t think of the fact that I was in church when I was playing that game, she forced me to go, and if she was going to keep telling her I was embarrassing her or whatever, the easiest thing would be to… well, not force me to go.  Then I wouldn’t embarrass her.

She said the reason she wants me to go to church is because she wants me to learn about God, not play stupid games on my phone.

I retorted that religion is a thing you’re raised with, and I wasn’t raised with it, or more like I don’t know if I was raised with it, so I don’t have any positive or negative memories about it… it’s just a place she drags me for some reason I don’t understand.

She growled and went to her room.

I didn’t get my chocolate pancakes.

I was kind of crying and told Dave I didn’t understand why she was dragging me to church and why she was so mad because I didn’t really want to go.

Dave sighed.

“Lily,” he said, “Remember that Sabby was an orphan.  She told you about her childhood.  Her faith is very important to her because that’s all she had.  She wants to share that with you.  She’s…  not handling this well, I’ll grant that, but you’re not respecting her either.”

“So what am I supposed to do?  Pretend to be interested?  I’m not!  I only go because she makes me.”

Dave grinned.  “Wanna know a secret?”

“What?”

“Me too.”

My mouth dropped open.

“If you tell her I said that, I’ll deny it.  But if she didn’t insist on it, I probably wouldn’t go.  I prefer to be tinkering on the car or grilling or something.”

“So why do you go?”

He sighed.  “Because even if church is a waste of time, spending time with her isn’t.  And besides, she doesn’t like everything we do together either.  But that’s what it’s about, right?”  He frowned.  “You can fight this if you want.  You’ll probably even win.  But is it worth damaging your relationship with her because you don’t want to spend a morning with the family?”

Sigh.  He had a point.  That’s the thing about Dave.  He’s so easygoing that sometimes you forget that he’s really smart.

“Okay,” I said, “So her faith’s important to her.  Maybe I’m being a jerk.  But I don’t like it.  I don’t like it because I don’t have my memories.  Something happened to me and now I have to build everything all over again.  The pastor’s always talking about how God loves me.  Is that how he shows it?”

He frowned.  “Lily…  is that why you don’t like church?”

“One reason.  I guess.”

He patted my shoulder.  “Let me go talk to Sabby.  You’re going to have to work this out with her.  But…  I’ll see what I can do.”

He went upstairs and the yelling started.  I went and played on my computer.  Sigh.

A half hour later, she knocked on my door and sat down on my bed.

“I’m still upset with you,” she said without preamble.  “You’re being disrespectful.  But…  I didn’t stop to think about why.”

I was quiet.  At least she wasn’t channeling Claire Huxtable anymore.

“God was there for me when no one else was.  I just want to share that with you.”  She was silent for a moment.  “Did you do that today on purpose?”

“Never even occurred to me that it would embarrass you.  Honest.”

She sighed.  “That’s its own problem,” she grumbled.  “You don’t even know why that embarrassed me, do you?”

“Not really, no.”

She deflated.  “I didn’t think so.”

“I was just…  being myself, Sabby.”

“Church isn’t a place where you can be yourself!”, she said, her voice raised, then her eyes widened.  “Oh no.”

“What?”

She got up and gave me a big hug.  “I have to think,” she said, and left my room without saying another word.

We haven’t talked about it since.  Though Dave did finally take me for chocolate pancakes.  I told him what Sabby said and he patted my hand.  “Lily, Sabby can fly off the handle sometimes, but she always does the right thing.  Just let it play out.”

I couldn’t really answer because my mouth was full of chocolate pancake.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 26 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

After I got home from work today Sabby wanted to talk to me.

She told me I didn’t have to go to church anymore if I didn’t want to.

Of course I asked her why.  It seemed important to her.

It is, she said.  But when she said that church wasn’t a place to be yourself, she remembered how her foster parents also made her behave a certain way in church – and then she remembered how she behaved when she wasn’t in church.  She didn’t want me to get the idea that church is full of hypocrites, who just go because they have to, and behave a certain way because they have to.

She did ask me to start praying though.  I don’t know.  It feels silly.  She said I don’t have to pray for anything or anyone… just say something to God.  I…  guess?  Can’t hurt, I guess.

So I guess I “won” this one, without damaging our relationship too much.  Dave was right, though.  She always does the right thing, just, sometimes, it takes a while.

Anyway, Liz came over, and we practiced some more.  Her recital is two weeks from now.  It’s starting to sound really good!!!

After, I taught her a little more Japanese.  Like how to say the cardinal directions, or left and right, etc.  She’s a quick study!

It thundered a bit tonight too!!!  Lots of booms, but not much rain.  Aww.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 27 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me!  Lily!

So many boomies last night!  Boom!  Flash!  Boom!  hahah!!!!  But we needed any rain we could get, so yay.  Maybe more rain later in the week.

And it was cooler today!  Not cool, but cooler!  I ran this morning and didn’t have to wring out my clothes!

Not a whole lot to talk about today.  Liz came over, we practiced, and then I taught her some Japanese.  We’re both really looking forward to going to Japan!  Liz wants to see Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Akihabara!  I’m kind of curious about Akihabara myself!  I want to play gacha!  Maybe Liz and I can use a Purikura!!!  Those sound like fun!  Japan has so many fun things to see and do!!!  Maybe we can see Mount Fuji, but I don’t know what Emiko has planned!!!

Chinese people and Japanese people look a little different, but maybe close enough that people will think Liz is a hafu too!!

My Japanese teacher has been teaching me a lot of stuff, especially since she found out we’re going to Japan.  Did I ever tell you about her?  She’s a nice lady, from Saitama too!!!  She teaches community college and middle school Japanese.  I don’t know how Sabby found her, but she’s really good!!!

Anyway, Marie needs walked, and since it’s cooler, she gets a little more of a walk.  She loves it!

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 28 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

It’s Wednesday!  Hump day!  I guess they call it that because you’re over the hump and then it’s downhill to the weekend.  Something doesn’t make sense to me, though.  If people don’t like work so much that they are looking forward to not doing it… why don’t they find something else to do where they want to do it?

I guess I’m one to talk.  My job is okay but I guess, all things being equal, I’d rather not.  But at least I have a decent bank account to show for it.

Liz and I have been really practicing.  The recital’s coming up quickly, and it’s all coming together.  Yay!  Liz is becoming more comfortable with me and is loosening up a bit.  But we’re still getting along fine.  Business-Liz just took a bit to get used to.

The trust administrator got his tin of cookies.  It was rather funny.  He called me up, and I could hear him still munching on the cookies, and said “These are incredible, if she can manage to get me an even half sensible business plan, I’m inclined to say yes.”  So I told him about how Sabby and I want to start the business together, and how I’d get shares in the business, etc.  He thought it made a lot of sense.  I told him about my other idea too, and I swear he told me he wanted in, too.  haha!!  Well, Sabby and I will talk that over, but we’ll need some assurances from him as well.  I guess the tables are turned, but all’s fair in business.

We’re not opposed to investors, but I think we prefer silent ones.

Unfortunately, I might not be able to invest the full amount I wanted to, though.  My trust took a hit, with this recession.  Sigh.  Still doing fine, but not as much as I started out with.  Oh well.  Easy come, easy go?

I have a couple of ideas for what I want to do for Lily Day!!!  But It’ll be a surprise.  Unfortunately, I think I’m going to be in Japan for Lily Day, but Sabby promised we could celebrate it when I get back.

Okay.  Marie needs walked, and I needs sleeped.

Love you all!!! ❤

This diary entry is part 29 of 29 in Lily's diary dated 12 - June 2022

HI! It’s me! Lily!

It’s Thursday!  That means I went to Liz’s lesson with her and we did lessony stuff!  We’re coming along really well!  The teacher is happy!  Next weekend is Liz’s recital!  We’ll have a dress rehearsal and then the recital!  You know the drill!

Otherwise, it’s a pretty quiet night.  It’s been a little cooler this week, but next week it’ll get hot again!!

Marie’s still a puppy but she’s starting to get older now!  She’s growing like a weed!  Like Allison!  Hahaha!!!

Oh, speaking of Allison, she was sick.  Aww.  I hope she’s feeling better.  Maybe something she picked up in Mexico.  Sometimes you just need a bit of ice cream and chicken soup!

We’re going to Japan in two weeks!!!  I’m nervous but excited!!!  Liz is still bouncing off the wall!!  She wants to get some manga and anime from the source!!!  I don’t think AKB48’s theater is open anymore.  I know the cafe closed.  Awww.  Oh well, I’ll have to look it up.  If it’s open I want to see a concert!!!  Maybe!!!  Daisuki da kimi ga daisuki da hahaah!!!!

But the virus is still around, so have to be careful.  Maybe not, after all.  Aww.

I like some Japanese idol music…  but I like Babymetal better.  There are some other Japanese bands I need to check out.  Like Lovebites!  Or Atarashii Gakkou!  Or Band-Maid!  I’ve heard good things about Band-Maid!!!  They wear maid outfits and do metal!!! For some reason!!!

Anyway, that’s going to be sooo much fun!!!

Jack’s still a bit jealous but I promised I’d bring him back something fun from Japan.  He’s happy for me, though.  I told him he can come when we’re together together.  But that won’t be for a while.

Oh… that reminds me, I think I’m keeping the lawyer in business, what with all the business stuff and adoption stuff…  he pointed me at some resources for college, but doesn’t really think I’m going to be able to get into any good schools because of my lack of academic record.  But he says community college is an option, and maybe I can start going now!!!  I guess it’s something to look into when I get back from Japan.

Anyway…. enough of that.  Marie needs walked.

Love you all!!! ❤