Florida, Part I

Christmas break for me was topped off by a quick trip to the Florida Keys with my mom to see my beautiful cousing get married.  Mom has not flown before and was slightly nervous...

She actually was really calm the whole time and just followed my lead. Things went so smoothly driving to the airport, getting through security, the flights...rental car...everything just went so nicely. I was worried about finding where we were going in a rental car after dark, but the people were so helpful and we only had one wrong turn...which was really a mis-labeled street, so it doesn't count, right? We found our first hotel and were pleasantly surprised.  The theme for the trip was "get it as cheap as possible"...so I wasn't sure what we would find with the hotels I booked.  The room was very spacious and was so nice.  We arrived on New Year's Eve and were a little concerned about partying and such. When we checked in we found out that it was a Christian-run hotel that had a no alcohol policy within the hotel.  Pleasant surprise to know God was watching out for us, and the desk clerk even threw in a bag of microwave popcorn to celebrate the New Year!  (We didn't make it til the ball dropped if you are wondering...long day of travel meant that we made it til about 11:20ish and that's all I remember)!

We spent that first night in Fort Lauderdale and then had to drive down to the Keys the next morning.  This was our room in the Keys...not NEARLY as nice. Very small, note the window airconditioner...teeny-tiny tv...no alarm clock, phone or even a real light in the room...but all we did was sleep here and it WAS on the beach!!

The view from our room, along with our rental car parked there...Hyundai that I really enjoyed driving!

After we got up on Sunday (day after the wedding), we checked out of our rooms, but spent some time hanging out on the beach at the hotel and enjoying the warmth, sunshine and flowers that we knew we wouldn't see in Indiana for months.

Palm trees...ahhhhh....makes me feel warm just looking at this picture!

More pictures and story to follow...this is going to be a 3 part post...just too many pics to share at once...I narrowed it down, but had over 100 from the weekend in Florida! Stay tuned...

Circus

I went to the circus....I was PAID to do it!  If you re-read it...yep, it's true.  Our 3rd grade at my school goes to the circus every year (paid for by the Shriner's and area business sponsors for transportation).  I was not lined up to go, but when an adult that was going got sick, my principal invited me to go along and chaperone a group of 8 girls.  What fun this was...for the kids, but also for me!

I have to tell the story of getting there.  My family was in disbelief over this and until I saw it with my own eyes, didn't really get it either.  We were escorted by police from my school to Ft. Wayne to the circus (with lights and even sirens at times).  PLUS, they had cops to stop crossing traffic for us the entire way...we had no stops the entire way and everyone waited for us...We felt like celebrities and the students thought it was THE coolest thing ever!   I took my old camera as I didn't know what to expect and was worried about taking my good camera, so these pictures are horrible. Didn't realize how spoiled I was with my newer camera.  This is the tigers jumping through hoops of fire...lots of oohs and ahhs over this!

A group on tall unicylces doing a variety of tricks...some of my girls were AMAZED!

This one was my favorite...there was a guy in the "wheel" doing tricks, juggling, flipping as the entire things went in circles.  I haven't been to a circus since I was little, so I felt like one of the kids watching!

Really can't see this, but these were the trapeeze performers at the start of the circus.  Made my stomach lurch!

My group of girls was a great group. Very well behaved and dying to spend their money on any "junk" they were selling there.  Other than a little snow-cone spilled down my leg and multiple trips to the bathroom...they did awesome!  I have pictures of them too but legally shouldn't put them up here, so trust me that they were an adorable group and their eyes lit up at the fun!

On the way back, the police only escorted us out of Ft. Wayne and then we were on our own...but what an exciting adventure....and again...I got paid to do it! HA!

Forgetfulness

Pain...it is always there...this morning as I lay in bed, hurting and tired of the tossing and turning, i realized there are a few things that i forget...and a few i would like to forget.
I forget what it feels like...
to not wake up in pain.
to not have any pain at all.
to have a full night of sleep without restlessness due to pain.
to NOT start my day with tylenol.
to NOT have pain dictate my movements.
to do my hair based on what I want to do instead of if it hurts too much to move.
to exercise without concern for how I am 'feeling'.
to completely be myself and not "faking it" with people.

When I am thinking those things above, I am also reminded of things that I should be reminded of...
God does not leave us nor forsake us. Hebrews 13:5
God knows HIS plan for this pain and my life (Jeremiah 29:11)
My pain is to make me better, not bitter. (James 1:2-4)
He will work this for good (in His timing ) Romans 8:28
Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you... (Isaiah 41:10)

I wish it was easier to remember the things I should, and forget those that I need to forget.  It's a daily battle, but I do know that God is good and He will see me through this.  I simply MUST have that faith.

Cousin Time

It's always good to go to Pennsylvania so all of the cousins have some time together.  I think they all had a countdown going until we arrived and they could see each other...well, not the youngest two, but the older 4! Here are 3 out of the 5 cousins...Brock and Grant snuggled up with Jackson!

Kiara was never too far away from Jackson.  She could leave him to play for awhile, but odds are she wasn't too far away! I think she liked being bigger than someone!

Aunt Heidi brought a soft pretzel mix over one day and the boys made it up, let it rise, and then formed pretzels for everyone to eat.  They had a blast and they tasted great too!

Christmas Eve dinner...the four oldest had their very own table!

Overall a great time in visiting family!

Early Christmas with Cousins

I'm finally getting around to Christmas pictures.  It's only been a month since these next pictures!  We had an early Christmas this year with Tricia's side of the family since we went to Pennsylvania for the holidays. Here are all the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa!  You can't see any ornery in their eyes, can you? :)

Cailey with her cute princess umbrella!

Brock cuddling up with his new camo blanket.  The boys got matching ones and they LOVE them. 

Grant with one of his new shirts...orange and blue, of course!

Kiara had to try out Cailey's new umbrella too.  She thought she was big stuff carrying it around.

The cousins had a great time playing together all afternoon/evening.  After eating a nice meal together and opening presents, the kids were off to play and be wild together...what else could happen with 4 boys when they get together!  Cailey and Kiara had a good time playing together too with some of their new toys. By the end of the evening, Cailey was a bit exhausted and this is what we found when we went back to the bedroom to check on the kids. Awwwww

If you know Kiara at all, you know that she loves her "Unc Bent"...she prays for him every night and although she acts bashful around him, she always wants to know where he is!  Look at that grin because she is sitting with him! :)

Washed White as Snow

Today's prayer group at school was a culmination of thoughts/scripture over the last week.  At church last week, the sermon series topic was the creation story.  There were lots of great insights for me, but I'll only delve into that which is relevant here with the prayer group.   The main thing I pulled away from the sermon was that ALL of creation was created to give HIM all the glory.  It's purpose was simply for God to be glorified. Our pastor challenged us to choose from a short list something that we wanted to focus on this week in our spiritual walk.  I chose to focus my prayer time on praising God for His creation and seeking to glorify Him in that.  Fast forward to Tuesday when the snow began.  During my prayer time on my drive to school, I was praising God for the beauty of the snow as it was falling all around me...The scripture from Isaiah 1:18a popped in my head. '"Come now, let's settle this," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow."'  This snow was an awesome reminder to me of God's grace pouring over me and cleansing my ugly sin white as snow. Ahhhh...what a feeling and image in my mind.  Then this morning on my drive, as I'm contemplating this scripture again in preparation for prayer time with my teacher friends, it occurred to me how ugly the road snow was...it was dirty, dingy, slushy and gross looking...Hmmmm...so God took my mind on a little tangent from my original message of being cleansed like snow...We are cleansed each time we ask forgiveness and God starts over with us with a pure white slate...then what happens?  We yucky it up with more sins, more slip-ups, more attention away from Him...essentially we become dirty, dingy, and gross-looking on the inside again just like that snow on the road.  But what is so awesome is that it was snowing again on my drive.  You guessed it, covering up the dirty-ness and making it white again.  Isn't that what He does with us?  He continually replenishes the forgiveness to turn us white as snow.  This image has been such a blessing to me this week...I've had to be "snowed upon" many times.  Thank you Jesus for being cleansed and for the creation that smacked me with this revelation!

A Visit to Joe Pa

If you don't know, we are Penn State fans in our household!  Since Phil is from Pennsylvania and his brother went to Penn State, we are dedicated to cheering them on.  And if you know anything about Penn State, you know who Joe Pa is...Joe Paterno...loooooonnnngggg-time coach of their football team.  We decided on our trip home at Christmas that we would go a different way, up through the mountains for the kids to see, which took us nearby the campus of Penn State.  Even though Phil REALLY doesn't like to stop on our trips and is focused on getting home as quickly as possible, he detoured off the path to stop by Penn State.  Here is our view as we are turning onto the campus to see the stadium.  AWESOME!

JOE PA!!!!!  There is a whole area in front of the stadium that was pretty amazing to see, so we definitely had to stop and get some pictures of it.

And with it...probably as close as we'll ever get to meeting the legend...

It was so cold and we were trying to get pictures and get back in the truck as quickly as possible!

Below is a Joe Paterno quote that I really liked...a bit hard to read though on here, it says: "They ask me what I'd like written about me whn I'm gone.  I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach."

Yep...at Christmas we went to visit Joe Paterno...well, sort of! HA!  We hope to go back for a game...maybe as soon as this fall.  There's nothing like "Happy Valley" during football season we hear.