Disney World - Day 1

Our travel morning began very early in the morning. Like 5:00am for Blake and I. 5:40 for the kiddos. We were at the airport by 6:45am! Wow. After a whirlwind morning that involved running from one plane to another in Detroit(who would have guessed they would have such a large airport) we arrived in Florida! The air just smells better there. I promise.

We took a ton of pictures so I will let the photos do most of the talking. There was pool time, dinner eating, and monorail riding. And basically continual ooohhhing and aaahhhing from our children. If I had told them we were in heaven they would have believed me... And been thrilled about it. :) And that was only on night 1 - before we even saw a single character or visited a single park. Maybe we should have held out another trip or two on the parks. :)

They Are Coming

We came. We saw. We left exhausted.

Disney World didn't know what hit it.

There are pictures. Lots and lots and lots of pictures. They are coming. I promise.

And We're Off

We are having a few *MAGICAL* days at Disney World... There will be a few reposts about how much I love my family throughout the week!

Let The Countdown Begin

We leave on Sunday morning and will spend 4 full days filling ourselves with all of the *Disney Magic* we can handle.

*Stars In My Eyes*

Ok, so basically Andrew Peterson has one of my very favorite voices in the entire world! I don't even remember when I heard it for the first time. It's been years.  And his lyrics. Oh, his lyrics. They are real and honest. They are deep and profound. They are what I have always wanted to say, in a much more beautiful way then I could ever say them. His "Behold The Lamb" concert is absolutely my favorite concert ever. Ok, enough gushing - Blake is getting a bit jealous. :) 

Friday night Andrew Peterson did a benefit concert for Rosalynn's Hope - Ninth and O Baptist Church's adoption ministry. The Lord blessed by working out a way to bring in such a wonderful and popular artist that about filled the house. I'm smiling just thinking about the families we will be able to scholorship with the added funds.

And man, I thought I was a fan, but Ninth and O's sanctuary was filled with people that knew every Andrew Peterson song by heart. I saw one man wait in line 1.5 hours to simply shake his hand and thank him for his music. His number #1 fan? Well, I am not crazy enough to be anyone's #1 fan, I think. :) But did I sit in the back during his sound check and sneak a few grainy pictures? Ummm, yes I sure did. And have I listened to his music over and over and over again day after day after day?... Well, that I have.

*Blake fully endorses this blog post* :)

5 things vaca reminded me about my husband

Life is pretty crazy in our house now. Well, honestly it has been for several years, but the past 6 months have been very trying. We, as a family, have been working very hard to ensure that Blake graduates in December with his PhD. The past 6 months have been full of very little family time and even less husband and wife time. The trip came at what seemed liked an inoppertune time(near the end of his writing), but ended up being a much needed break for us. We just needed to spend time together! While spending one on one time with Blake 2 weeks ago I was reminded of some of the many reasons(in no particular order) that I love my husband.

1.  This man knows how to win a girls heart... My husband is a romantic at heart. Don't let him fool you into thinking he is all tough - I have letters, poems, dried flowers, gifts... and a million memories. We sure crammed in alot of hand holding, cuddling, and canoodling during those 3 days.

2. This man cracks me up... It can certainly be a humor that has to be acquired through thorough exposure, but he has me laughing constantly! :)

3. I love this man's smile. Enough said.

 4. This guy loves the Lord passionately. He is zealous. He is intense. He desires Christ. He is constantly challenging me. Pushing me. Spurring me on.

5. I love the way this guy loves his family. We had not been dating long before I we payed his family a visit and I came home blissfully happy with what I saw. Just as I had prayed, it was a window into the way he loves his children. Listening to him talk about his hopes, desires, and dreams for his son and daughters had my heart skipping a beat!

Sometimes, in the monotony of the daily I find myself taking Blake for granted... I came home grateful for these things and so many more. I bet he would have taken me on a trip years ago if he had known that was all it would take! My heart is so full for this man...

my top 10 favorites from vaca

There is so much for me to say about my little 3 day trip to Destin with Blake... I have re-written this post several times. So I decided to do several posts about it -The first is a Top 10 List...

Top 10 List

1. Laying Out In The Sun - I am a Florida girl at heart! I love to be tan(and use sunscreen). :) I love to be in the sun. It has been about 4 years since I have taken a vacation that involved several hours of laying out(before Will) and this one involved 2 days worth of it! I think that even Blake enjoyed the peacefulness of it! :)

2. Reading a book - I love to read novels and mysteries, but often find myself taking so long to finish that I have forgotten much of the book by the time I finish. Blake and I both bought a new book the day before we left and had them finished before we returned!

3. Being in Florida - I lived in Florida for 10 years and basically grew up there. I always enjoy being able to go back with Blake and tell stories and reminesce about the wonderful beach trips and friendships...

View from our hotel balcony

 4. Taking Naps - My children are precious, but there are a few things that they don't do well and napping is one of them. Since adding Riley I have seldom had all children napping at the same time, therefor napping for myself has been non-existent. Blake and I napped 2 x in 2 days... Quite the accomplishment for me!

Following dinner by the beach at The Crab Trap

5. Eating Late - I don't when it started, but our kiddos like to eat dinner early! 4.30-5.00 is their preferred time! Granted, they get up pretty early(by 7) and are in bed no later then 8... I think that Blake and I often find we aren't very hungry by dinner time and often don't really get to enjoy our food because of it. We ate at 8.00pm both nights we were gone!

6. Long Meals - I am sure that every other parent feels exactly the same way... We eat FAST! Blake and I discussed before leaving the fact that we wanted to enjoy every second alone, so when we sat down to eat we worked hard to eat slow! We chatted, ordered appetizers, tried each others food, and did everything we could think of to take the longest time possible during our meals(especially dinner). We had some incredible conversations during those times.

 

7. Late Nights - I have always been a night owl. Even now, I hate to go to bed before 10 and find myself up till 11 most nights. We didn't even find ourselves returning to our room until after 10 those 2 nights! I loved it! Then a movie followed before bed both evenings as well...

 

8. The Beach - Ok, my husband thinks I am the strangest thing, but I do not enjoy ocean water. It involves a story about a jellyfish, alcohol, and a terribly swollen leg... I seldom find myself in the water at the beach, but I ADORE to be at the beach! I love walking up and down the beach. I love listening to the waves crashing. I love watching children play in the sand. I love the smell... The beach just makes me happy. Blake rented up beach chairs and an umbrella on the Tuesday morning and we spent about 4 hours doing all of those things!

9. No Schedule - We did not have a single thing we had to do during our time in Destin! We didn't have to eat at a certain time. We didn't have to sleep at a certain time. We didn't have to worry about anyone being too hot or getting sun burned. We didn't have to check e-mails or listen to voicemails... There was NO dissertation writing for 3 entire days! :) I believe that it has been years since we have relaxed that much.

10. Alone Time With Blake -  Our 6 year anniversary was in June and for 4 of those years we have been growing our family and raising children... And we love it. We adore it. We wouldn't choose anything over it. But in the midst of ministry, PhD writing, and children we had found that we had become very lazy in our efforts to spend quality time together. We brought no computers and only watched tv when watching a movie after 10pm... We took walks, rode bikes, ate long meals - I felt like I just couldn't get enough time with him! We wouldn't trade our lives, but we definitely waited way too long to do this. I'm already brainstorming where we can go next year!

The fact that we got to go to the beach(due to a great deal) was amazing, but I will tell you that almost everything on this list can be accomplished by spending time almost anywhere. We needed to go somewhere quiet. We needed to go somewhere slow. We needed to go somewhere that we couldn't find things to do to fill up every spare minute with activities. We needed to need eachother. That's what made such a wonderful trip...

Andy Gullahorn

We were invited to a sort of intimate graduation/birthday party last night. I could go on and on about how proud we are of our friend’s graduation from medical school… How much I love his wife. But I will be honest, I spent the evening having to reign Blake in – He was totally star-struck! Ok. I was pretty insanely happy about the entertainment for the night as well… Andy Gullahorn!

Blake and I attended a Behold The Lamb concert in Nashville, TN a few years ago… Some of our favorites were performing: Andrew Peterson, Sarah Groves, Bebo Norman. And there were a few names we didn’t recognize at the time… One of those names was Andy Gullahorn. Before he finished his first song we were fans! We went home and downloaded everything we could on I-Tunes and have been listening to Andy ever since!

Our friend’s are also huge fans of Andy… Bigger then Blake and I. Apparantly, they have sort of stalked his concerts :) for several years to the point that Andy now recognizes them and knows them by name. He kindly obliged to sing at the party for his #1 fan. Those of us that knew of Andy Gullahorn begged for an invitation and those there that didn’t know of him, left fans!

He is down-to-earth. He is approachable. He is kind and chit-chatted with Blake and I several times last night. Andy Gullahorn's lyrics are silly and easy listening one song, and deep and thought provoking the next. Ok. Enough. Just go and buy his music. Please.

Welcome To Florida Will...

Mom, Will, and I traveled to Florida yesterday to visit some family before Riley makes her appearance. My extended family all lives in south Florida and have not had the chance to meet our precious little boy!

My Aunt Cathy and Cousin Jess arrived around 4:00 to spend the evening with us and have a slumber party! They live an hour away in Orlando so rather then make the drive several times, they stayed with us! Will enjoyed having them here almost as much as Mom and I did. It was so much fun to get to stay up late and hang out and watch a movie with them! It's so hard to live so far away...

Here are a few pictures from our first day here...

Will and his Great-Aunt Cathy
Grammy helping Will open a present

Second Cousin Jessica and Will playing in the kitchen

Will found new toys when we arrived, but his favorite was this box...