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Thursday, 01 November 2007
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It's almost Friday!
There's such a sense of relief reaching another Friday. I survived another week! And God's blessings are still manifold, not the least of which being the rest and worship I will soon enjoy on the Lord's Day. And in the meantime, I get to have food, fun and fellowship around God's word Friday night with our New Hope family.
God has possibly supplied me with an assistant - you prayer warriors can pray for her that she learns quickly and can stand the insanity of our business. Most days I really like what I do, but when the paperwork looms large, I want to change jobs! So hopefully, this gal can save me and free me up to do what I do best - NOT paperwork!
The young 'uns are counting the days until Thanksgiving and some annual family traditions that we all enjoy. It's incredible to me that it's already November. Where did 2007 go???
Cornerstone's Ladies Tea and Auction is Saturday. It's a lot of fun, even if I'm not a big spender. The auctioneer always does a great job and there's always something affordable in the silent auction. It is fun to watch the outrageous bids in the live auction, too. If you have never gone to this event, be sure to put it on your calendar for next year. It's worth it!
Monday, 15 October 2007
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Post Disney Stress Disorder
Well, this update is long overdue...
We spent our week in Florida and came home tired, but happy. We were able to visit my father-in-law's cousin who was like an aunt to my husband when he was growing up (confused yet? My kids were!) She thinks of the kids almost like her grandkids (she was never able to have children). She is a sweet widow living as best she can in Miami. She's very dedicated to the seniors she spends time assisting every day, although she's a senior herself. She plays the piano for them and sings and they just love her. She's also very involved with her church. All of which is why no one in the family can persuade her to move in with them, in spite of her being alone in Miami and with tight finances. We enjoyed visiting her, but could have kicked ourselves for forgetting to pack some piano music for the two big kids to play for her. She would have loved that. Of course, they went brain dead, too, and couldn't remember anything by heart...
That night we drove up the coast and stayed in a wonderful Comfort Inn located in a town called Jupiter. So, yes. We went to Jupiter on our vacation.
The next morning was rainy 
, so we gave up our plans of trying to go five minutes up the street to the beach and continued our drive to Orlando instead. It was greatly encouraging to drive OUT of the rain and not INTO it. (Overall, rain did play a part in our plans as we dodged rain and lightning leaving both Epcot and Disney-MGM Studios.) We got into our house and, after a little cleaning up, went out to get some groceries and meet up with D's aunt and uncle. It's the first time we've visited since before our oldest was born, at least 15 years. We had dinner together and then went back to settle better into our digs for the week.
Uncle G. knew all the ins and outs of Disney, being not only a resident, but a huge Disney fan. Aunt M. also works for one of the resorts there. So they both took turns, based on their availability, showing us around for the week and helping us find the best attractions, the you-don't-want-to-miss-it ones. They enjoy going on the rides, too.
After a night's rest, we got up and tackled the Magic Kingdom. It was just as I remembered... mostly. The little one took awhile to understand all the waiting. We learned quickly how to minimize the waiting with the FastPass sytem, though. We started out with the Jungle Cruise and worked our way through all the lands to Tomorrow Land, trying to see and do as much as possible. The little one really enjoyed just playing in the playground area, although he was bold enough to ride with me on the Astro Orbiter (but I don't think I'll be on it again!). So we ran ourselves all over the park until near closing. Everyone was so beat by the end, we walked out alongside the Electric Light Parade and half watched it while we walked out. We grabbed dinner then collapsed into bed.
The next morning, we had determine to get the Animal Kingdom early to catch the safari going out while the animals were out eating breakfast, as recommended by my dear friend, M. Well, we did get there by 10:00! It was vacation, after all. The safari turned out to be the most memorable attraction to the littlest one. I guess it was all the exotic animals. We enjoyed the rapids and D. and the big kids rode some interesting rides while the little guy waited for me to get off the phone. Work "emergency" - hard to believe such a thing exists in our business, but it does. (When one of your biggest clients needs something in a hurry, you get it!) Meanwhile, there were some acrobats putting on a very impressive show, dressed as painters, using ladders and poles and more. They were really terrific. I wish we had been able to watch them more. However, it was off to the rapids! Which turned out to be a pleasantly wetting experience, not quite the thrill ride I think we all expected. It was still fun and I would ride it again. We enjoyed watching the dancing and music by different cultures, too. We all liked our day here. And it closed at 5:00, which meant we didn't have a late night. Yay!
The next day we were off to Epcot. There's so much to do there! It really takes two days. We had only allowed ourselves one, so we got through Future World as quickly as we could but finished late in the day. Next time I would tour using their Kidcot Fun Stop system, which really engages the littles ones. But we all enjoyed Mission Space, Soaring' (even the little one thought that was great when he got off), Nemo in the Living Seas, Figment, Imageworks, etc. And let's not forget Test Track. Awesome!!!
Except when you get off the ride and face your tearful little one who had "waited and waited for me because he wanted me" with his MomMom (we were delayed by a heavy downpour and had to sit right at the gate, literally next in line, for about 20 minutes before the rain passed and they let us ride). That was one cool ride! I would like to see Innoventions next time - we had to bypass them this time. As we headed back to the World Showcase, a good-size thunderstorm blew up and drove us into shelter in Canada. No one minded the rest, but we decided to give up on fitting more into the day and just head home as soon as the lightning and thunder quit.
The next day, we attended River of Life PCA in Orlando and the pastor was a friend of our pastor's from childhood. Who would have known? We chose the church because of it's proximity to us and the denomination! God works in such interesting ways! We enjoyed the friendly folks and good service.
Later we tried out Typhoon Lagoon where we didn't have near enough time. Of course, talking to D and the older kids, I understand that after their FIVE-STORY DROP down a water slide (they didn't know that's what it was until they were on it!), it was a good day anyway. The wave pool was serious - out in almost shoulder-deep water when the first wave hit, I was knocked off my feet. I had just seconds to realize how big the wave was and grabbed my middle kid so he wouldn't get washed away. (The oldest loves that kind of rough wave action and body-surfed it. The youngest wasn't out that far.) But it was fun to play in the waves. The little one had fun in the area reserved for little tykes. Again, closing at 5:00 meant we bailed out early enough to get some sleep.
Our last full day we spent at Disney-MGM Studios, my personal favorite. We went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular first. Loved it (love all the IJ movies). Then we headed over to catch a new attraction - Lights, Motor, Action! This is an import from France. They do car chases and stunts right on the stage and "film" the sequences. It's like watching them film a movie, or at least the car chase parts. It was fantastic!!! Then we basically tried to get to everything in the park that we could do with the little guy. Occasionally we split up to allow the big kids to do more of the thrill rides with their dad. We found out next summer the next book in Chronicles of Narnia will be released so now we are all going to read the book again. Also, a new exhibit opens next summer featuring Toy Story. That should be really good - the idea has tremendous potential. We finished up in the rain, coming out of the animation studio (a lot different from when D and I visited it 15 years ago!) and finding another thunderstorm. So we headed home in the pouring rain to pack and get the house cleaned up before leaving the next morning for home.
We flew Southwest and got great rates. I do recommend them, now that I've been on a couple of their flights. Several folks I've spoken to since agree. It's good airline. The kids did great flying. No one sick. No one complaining (except Mom!). I'm the worst of the bunch - I feel too much of the movement and coming home, it did make me feel sick. I was really glad to get back on the ground. They tell me it was the tail wind pushing us back to Phila. I really don't care what it was - I just wanted it to end!
So overall, a good trip. And Uncle G. is asking us to come back at Christmas time so we can see all the decorations... sigh. Wish we could... It's hard to get back home and get into the work/school groove again. One week was not long enough. But I'm thankful we took the time to do it. Everyone had a good time and would do it again.
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
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Orlando
OK - so I'm watching the news and weather this morning and what do I see? More pictures of flooding. Seem to be more common these days. Wonder why? Then it hits me - it's from central Florida! Now my attention is caught!
Seems Florida has had eight straight days of measurable rainfall with at least five more days to go - not typical for them. Showers, quick thunderstorms daily, yes. INCHES of rain daily, no. Yikes! We fly into FL next Tuesday! We would appreciate you prayer warriors joining us in a plea for the Lord to move that rain out before we get there for our long-awaited vacation. And that it would stay away (no hurricanes or tropical storms either) until we get home. TIA!
Friday, 07 September 2007
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Friday at Last!
I made it through another week!
God is good. This week was crazy busy, starting with a last-minute trip to the beach last Saturday to Tuesday, staying with my MIA. Kids had a great time. I love the beach.... (sigh). Then we got home and kids jumped back into school and I jumped back into work and the rest of the week was pretty much a blur. Work coming in all over the place, lots of new customers (yeah!) and good jobs (thank you, Lord!). We always just hold on for the ride in September because that's when it gets crazy.
Next week I get to meet my new baby niece - can't wait! One more day at the beach.
Thursday, 06 September 2007
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September already?
I'm having a tough time remembering to write 9 for the month. I can't believe it's already September! Disney in 19 days!!! My littlest, J, is tearing off a loop each night from a paper chain his sister made to help him count down the days until we leave. And in the middle of the chain is the date of the arrival of his newest cousin who is flying in for a visit with her mom, so there's lots of anticipation around here.
School continues with week 4 getting haphazardly completed. Better some than none. The pressure will get put back on in October when all the excitement dies down. Can't blame them for their lack of concentration right now.
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