Hello from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida! We are having a great time . . . wish you were here (really!). Doug and Leanne are the wonderful hosts that they always are, opening their home to us and making us feel very welcomed and comfortable. They are as close as family to us, and Daniel even calls them PUD and PAL (Pseudo Uncle Doug and Pseudo Aunt Leanne, which goes back to when he was six years old.)
On Sunday, we hung around the condo and went to the pool. Daniel kind of had a stomach bug. It wasn't too bad, but enough to keep him indoors most of the day--or maybe it was the access to ESPN that he doesn't normally have at home! ;-) Daniel was celebrating his Louisville Cardinals winning the Big East Conference title and securing a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, Doug's team, UT-Knoxville, didn't pull out a win in the SEC tourney, but did get a spot in the NCAA brackets.
Today, we drove up to Jupiter, Florida (about an hour north), to go to a Spring Training baseball game. We saw the Washington Nationals vs. the Florida Marlins. It was a beautiful day, with a slight breeze, and we sat out in the bleacher seats right behind the Marlins' bull pen. We had great access to the players, although Daniel didn't ask for any autographs. One of the pitching coaches tossed Daniel a baseball that had been used to warm up pitchers, so Daniel got a souvenir from the game. After the game was over, we drove to a nearby mall to visit Leanne's niece, Laura, who works there, and then drove back to Ft. Lauderdale via Highway A1A, which goes along the coast. We got to see the sunset, sort of, and stopped at the Hillsboro Lighthouse for some photo ops (I'll have to post them later).
Tonight, Daniel got to have the pool to himself and had fun swimming the length of the pool and diving for diving sticks that Leanne and I took turns throwing into the pool. It was a nice, relaxing evening and a great ending to a fun day.
I'll try to post some more again soon, and definitely will share pics when I get a chance. Well, now I'm off to go shower and wash off the sunscreen so I can start again tomorrow!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
A week from today . . .
. . . this is where I'll be!
Daniel and I are going to go visit our friends, Leanne and Doug, in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, for part of his Spring Break. I think I can make it through one more week of work, knowing I have THAT to look forward to on Saturday!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Look what we found in our yard this week!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Moses and I had a Monday
In yesterday's sermon, our pastor taught from Exodus 18, about how right after a wonderful time of reuniting with family and telling what God had done to deliver the Isrealites from the Egyptians, Moses had to deal with the everyday crises of leading a large group of people. Scott compared it to a Monday morning after having spent a great time worshiping and being with fellow Believers on Sunday.
Well, today, I could really relate to good 'ol Moses. It started on Sunday night (as it often does) when I started thinking about having to go back to work. Hallmark's Hoops & YoYo characters call it "Spastic Colon Sunday" (look that e-card up sometime on hallmark.com). I don't have those types of symptoms, but I often have the Sunday night "dreads," which today, turned into the Monday Morning (and lasted all day) Blues. Of course, it didn't help any that it was a holiday for some people (Daniel included), so I felt slighted that I wasn't getting a three-day weekend. Then at work, I got to deal with a fax machine move (and subsequent connectivity problem, which I solved), a jammed printer (which I unjammed), and numerous other mundane, Monday-ish things. And I stayed in a funk most of the day.
God used Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, to help him deal with the crisis he faced and gave him a lesson on wisdom in the process. Today, I did a lot of praying and asking for wisdom to help me get through my day. In some ways, it was comforting to realize that the very same God who spoke to Moses in the wilderness also cared about what was happening in my life today.
Thank you, Lord, for being a God who sees and cares!
Well, today, I could really relate to good 'ol Moses. It started on Sunday night (as it often does) when I started thinking about having to go back to work. Hallmark's Hoops & YoYo characters call it "Spastic Colon Sunday" (look that e-card up sometime on hallmark.com). I don't have those types of symptoms, but I often have the Sunday night "dreads," which today, turned into the Monday Morning (and lasted all day) Blues. Of course, it didn't help any that it was a holiday for some people (Daniel included), so I felt slighted that I wasn't getting a three-day weekend. Then at work, I got to deal with a fax machine move (and subsequent connectivity problem, which I solved), a jammed printer (which I unjammed), and numerous other mundane, Monday-ish things. And I stayed in a funk most of the day.
God used Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, to help him deal with the crisis he faced and gave him a lesson on wisdom in the process. Today, I did a lot of praying and asking for wisdom to help me get through my day. In some ways, it was comforting to realize that the very same God who spoke to Moses in the wilderness also cared about what was happening in my life today.
Thank you, Lord, for being a God who sees and cares!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
It's my first blogiversary!
Yay! I've done this blogging thing for a whole year! At first, I felt kind of shy about posting and sharing my thoughts with you, but it didn't take me long to feel more comfortable and to come out of my shell. I know I haven't gone real deep most of the time and I haven't posted many negative posts, but I think that's OK. After all, it's my blog, right?
Some of my favorite posts have been about Daniel or Erica. I love these kids in different ways and am an unashamed proud mom and aunt! :-) It was also fun to blog about the Advent Jesse Tree ornaments in December. I received as much or more blessing from doing that, and was able to bless others in the process (from comments that were made).
Thanks to all of you who continue to read and comment and encourage me in this process. It's been fun to get to know others better through blogging and being a part of the blogging community. I think I'll keep going. Goodness knows I'm not journaling in longhand these days, so at least I'll have something to look back on to recount this time of my life!
Some of my favorite posts have been about Daniel or Erica. I love these kids in different ways and am an unashamed proud mom and aunt! :-) It was also fun to blog about the Advent Jesse Tree ornaments in December. I received as much or more blessing from doing that, and was able to bless others in the process (from comments that were made).
Thanks to all of you who continue to read and comment and encourage me in this process. It's been fun to get to know others better through blogging and being a part of the blogging community. I think I'll keep going. Goodness knows I'm not journaling in longhand these days, so at least I'll have something to look back on to recount this time of my life!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
25 Random Things About Me
On the occasion of my 25th birthday (no snickering!), I thought I'd share these random things about me (if you've read them on Facebook, you might find some things have been added/changed!). So, here goes:
1. I only applied to two colleges: Wake Forest University and Belmont College.
2. I love being a mom and an aunt (that's an understatement, really).
3. I have disliked bananas ever since I was a baby, but last year I tried a banana dish at a Brazilian restaurant and liked it.
4. I don’t like scary movies or anything really suspenseful.
5. My favorite color is RED and I have a red Honda CRV.
6. I have lived in four states: Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee and Hawaii.
7. I have a life-time goal to visit all 50 states and have currently been to 34 of them. I need to go out West!
8. I have visited nine different countries: Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Poland.
10. Someday I would like to go to Australia, England, Alaska and California.
11. I have lived in Nashville longer than I lived anyplace else (23.5 years).
12. My original family was all girls, except for my dad (we even had a girl dog), and then when I grew up, I had a baby boy!
13. My favorite dessert is apple pie a la mode (and nobody makes apple pie as good as my Maw-Maw did!). When I was five years old, my birthday “cake” was an apple pie (thanks to Maw-Maw).
14. I also love my mom’s apple cake and she’s made it for my birthday for many years.
15. I was a Girl Scout from “Brownie” on up to “Cadet”, but I hated selling Girl Scout cookies and usually fell into some body of water when I went camping.
16. I am very close to my family, both in relationship and in location. We all live within two miles of each other and actually like it that way!
17. I love that my sister and I are finally Sister Mommies together!
18. I always wanted an older brother, but realized that wasn't going to happen, since I was already born and didn't have one.
19. When I was sixteen, my friends and I had a co-ed slumber party (not what you’re thinking . . . the boys and girls slept apart) when we got snowed in at a birthday party in February.
20. When I was growing up, the jobs I thought I wanted to have were: stewardess (before it was called flight attendant), lawyer, and newscaster.
21. My dream job would be working on a team that plans enrichment ministry events.
22. When Daniel graduates from college, I’ll only be 50 years young and can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of my life.
23. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about Jesus and his love for me (thank you to my parents and grandparents).
24. I have a teen-age son and we have an awesome relationship. I have truly enjoyed all the stages of his life (OK, maybe not the pre-talking toddler years as much as others, but we got through it).
25. I like to sing, but have a little bit of stage fright, so I don’t sing solos (when anyone else is listening).
1. I only applied to two colleges: Wake Forest University and Belmont College.
2. I love being a mom and an aunt (that's an understatement, really).
3. I have disliked bananas ever since I was a baby, but last year I tried a banana dish at a Brazilian restaurant and liked it.
4. I don’t like scary movies or anything really suspenseful.
5. My favorite color is RED and I have a red Honda CRV.
6. I have lived in four states: Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee and Hawaii.
7. I have a life-time goal to visit all 50 states and have currently been to 34 of them. I need to go out West!
8. I have visited nine different countries: Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Poland.
10. Someday I would like to go to Australia, England, Alaska and California.
11. I have lived in Nashville longer than I lived anyplace else (23.5 years).
12. My original family was all girls, except for my dad (we even had a girl dog), and then when I grew up, I had a baby boy!
13. My favorite dessert is apple pie a la mode (and nobody makes apple pie as good as my Maw-Maw did!). When I was five years old, my birthday “cake” was an apple pie (thanks to Maw-Maw).
14. I also love my mom’s apple cake and she’s made it for my birthday for many years.
15. I was a Girl Scout from “Brownie” on up to “Cadet”, but I hated selling Girl Scout cookies and usually fell into some body of water when I went camping.
16. I am very close to my family, both in relationship and in location. We all live within two miles of each other and actually like it that way!
17. I love that my sister and I are finally Sister Mommies together!
18. I always wanted an older brother, but realized that wasn't going to happen, since I was already born and didn't have one.
19. When I was sixteen, my friends and I had a co-ed slumber party (not what you’re thinking . . . the boys and girls slept apart) when we got snowed in at a birthday party in February.
20. When I was growing up, the jobs I thought I wanted to have were: stewardess (before it was called flight attendant), lawyer, and newscaster.
21. My dream job would be working on a team that plans enrichment ministry events.
22. When Daniel graduates from college, I’ll only be 50 years young and can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of my life.
23. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about Jesus and his love for me (thank you to my parents and grandparents).
24. I have a teen-age son and we have an awesome relationship. I have truly enjoyed all the stages of his life (OK, maybe not the pre-talking toddler years as much as others, but we got through it).
25. I like to sing, but have a little bit of stage fright, so I don’t sing solos (when anyone else is listening).
Monday, February 2, 2009
I made it a whole year . . .
. . . since I got my ears pierced for the third time in my life (see this)!!! I have faithfully worn non-allergenic earrings and have not let a drop of isoprophyl alcohol touch my ears and it seems to have done the trick!
I know it sounds trivial, but it's a big deal to me! :-)
I know it sounds trivial, but it's a big deal to me! :-)
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