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Aaaah, thanks for the blessings, sis! X'D
I'm also glad to hear things are working out with your mom! 

As for the side characters... you mean the picture next to the text box? o.o
For that one you gotta go to the screen.rpy and set quite a few things. Mine is also blinking so it's a little complicated:

image maya1side_idle = LiveComposite(
    (207, 304),
    (0, 0), "char/Maya Side/Maya_base_side1.png",
    (0, 0), "maya_side_idle_eyes",
    xalign= -0.03, yalign= 1.0  )

image maya_side_idle_eyes:
    "char/Maya Side/Maya_side_idle3.png"
    .1
    "char/Maya Side/Maya_side_idle2.png"
    .1
    "char/Maya Side/Maya_side_idle1.png"
    choice:
        4.5
    choice:
        3.5
    choice:
        1.5
    repeat

- (207, 304) is the size of the side image

- Maya_side_idle1 is opened eyes, idle2 is half opened eyes, idle3 is closed eyes. 4.5, 3.5, and 1.5 are used so she'd blink after 4.5 seconds, 3.5 seconds, or 1.5 seconds picked at random. 

And yep, to make a character blink you gotta separate the eyes and the face lol. Maya_base_side1.png is a face without eyes x'D kinda creepy. I sometimes even separated the eyebrows to make more expression variety or just combine the eyebrows with the eyes and make (maya_side_sad_eyes, maya_side_angry_eyes, etc...)

- xalign and yalign is to set the position (Where do you want to put the side image), fiddle with these until you're satisfied lol

Then once you're done with these, the code to make a shortcut would be this:

define u_idle = Character('[player_name]',ctc="ctc1", color="#ff81b6", ctc_position="fixed" ,show_side_image="maya1side_idle")

- player_name is a variable so people can re-name the main character. If you want to also do that, put this is script.rpy. I put this code in the scene where the Goddess asked for Maya's name:

$ player_name = renpy.input("What is your name?", "Maya", length=20)

$ player_name = player_name.strip()

if player_name == "":

    $ player_name="Maya"

- "Maya" is the default name if players chose not to rename her.

- So later, when Maya is thinking of something with an idle/smiling expression without opening her mouth, the code in script.rpy would be:

u_idle "(I wonder what's for dinner?)"

If you don't want your character to blink, it'll be much simpler. Just use these two:

image maya1side_idle = LiveComposite(     
   (207, 304),    
   (0, 0), "char/Maya Side/Maya_base_side1.png",    
   xalign= -0.03, yalign= 1.0  )

define u_idle = Character('[player_name]',ctc="ctc1", color="#ff81b6", ctc_position="fixed" ,show_side_image="maya1side_idle")

If I want Maya to laugh I'd have to make more codes, like u_laugh, u_sad, u_sadtalk, etc... you get the picture x_x this is why preparation often takes a loooong time lol but I hope I answered your question OuO)/

And yes! I'm taking a break now x'D
Take your time with programming, once you figure it out, you'll always be able to do it again! It's like riding a bike, even if you forgot how to, just re-open your old script and copy paste rofl