Why I need Prosac!

I really wanted this to be a funny post about how service people keep you waiting for them but basically I am just really ticked off about this and I can't think of anything funny about it right now. This will be a rant rather than a comedy essay (feel free to check out now)

RANT BEGINS

Monday while I was out, the yard guys came by and left a message on the machine that we had a water leak in the yard. Lo, and behold , they were correct. So I called our lovely plumbing service people to come fix it. They told me they would be there in an hour, then they called and said they would be there in a few hours, then they called and said they would be there the next morning.

Hubby came home took a look at it (I wasn't sticking my hand down that hole with frogs, snakes and who knows what else) and figured out that it was a crack in the pvc pipe leading to the pressure regulator, that above mentioned plumbing service installed last year. He had us take our baths and fill up the tubs with water so we could flush the toilets and then hubby turned off the water.

Plumber came next morning and starts working on part and it begins to rain. So he put a temporary patch on it and turned our water back on. He assured me that he would be back out early the next morning to fix it, as long as it was not raining. No problem, I even had him look at the leaky shower in the Master bath. He said he would bring the part and fix it when he finished the outside job.

So far, so good, everyone is happy. This morning I wait for him until about 10:30 and when he does not show I call his company office. Oh, he will not be able to come untill 4 pm. Why didn't he tell me that before instead of having me wait all morning for him?I had several errands to run and had lost the whole morning waiting on this guy. I told them that it was fine if he came at 4 but he had to finish the job by 5 :30 because I had to leave at 5 :30. They did not know if that would give him enough time, so they said he would come out between 8 and 10am on Thurs. That would be fine as long as he is here and finished by 10:30 because I have to leave to go to work(at the school) at 10:30. Oh well, then they will have the tech call me at 3 pm because that may not be enough time, I can talk to tech and work something out. Fine.

4:15, still no call from Tech. So I call company again, oh they just talked to Tech and he will come out between 8 and 10 tomorrow morning. "Well he better come at 8 because I will be leaving at 10:30". Oh they will give him the message but he should be there before 10 or will call me and tell me he is not going to make it. I thought I was the deaf person here! Did I not just say, he had to come early that I would leave at 10:30 and they are saying he will be here at 10 am.

So tomorrow for the 3rd day in a row I will be waiting for the plumber to show up, Anybody want to lay wagers as to if he will actually show up this time? I guess they just assume that since I am a stay at home mom that I just sit around and eat bon bons all day and have nothing better to do than wait on the %$#@ plumber!

END RANT

So say a little prayer for me tomorrow that I can control my temper and my tongue as I deal with my less than punctual plumber!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!

I know everyone thinks they have the best Mama in the whole world but I really do! I appreciate her more than she knows. She has always put me and everyone else before her own needs. She has been a wonderful Christian example and her grandaughter thinks she rocks!!!!! I hope she knows that I love her and I am so thankful that God made her my Mama!

Happy 70th Birthday Mama! Can't wait to see you next weekend!

It's Officially Fall!

I told my hubby that Fall had officially arrived last week, because I had my first "Pumpkin Spice Latte" from Starbucks! Yummy! It is funny that I like Fall so much because yellows, browns and oranges are not my favorite colors. However, I love the smell of apple cider, cinnamon and pumpkin bread baking. My favorite air freshener is the pumpkin spice oil from Bath and Body Works. I don't really like Halloween but love having pumpkins (prefer them uncarved) on the front porch. I love that I need a sweater when I walk out to the bus with darling daughter at 7 am. Here's hoping that you are enjoying this great Fall season where you are. Won't be long until it's "Soup and Chili Weather" but it needs to get a little colder.
Blessings!

First Interpreted Service

We had our first interpreted service for the deaf and hard of hearing yesterday. I think it went great. There are things we can do to make it better and to help it flow smoother and we are working on implementing those things this week. I think God was pleased with our work.

I was able to see some folks from A&M, who were in town for the A&M/ARMY game. It is always good to see familiar faces. The Aggies and the Cowboys won this weekend (how often does that happen?--Never!!!) So it was a good football weekend for our household.

Hope this week is filled with blessing for you and your families!

Crying Babies!

Tonight was my first night in Cradle roll at church in about 9 months. I usually help teach every other quarter but had to sit out the Spring quarter due to teaching a sign language class for the kids. Anyhow....it was good to be back.

Turns out there are only two kids in the class that were there when I left, all the others are new babies. The first one came in, a chubby little fellow about 4 months old, I think it was only his second time to be left in the nursery (Mom seemed a little nervous about leaving him) He was a cutie and it was great to be holding a baby again. Then the second baby came, a little girl about 6 months old. The third baby was a little boy, about 11 months old and then another little boy about a year old. Then all four started crying at once.

Fortunately, we had four sets of arms to hold them, but then we got two more, both about 18 months old or so. They were old pros at cradle roll and soon they were happily playing with the toys. There was actually one point in the evening where all the babies were happy and quiet. It did not last long though!!!!!

It is sweet to be with the babies again. I miss having a little one in the house. It is great to be able to give them back to Mom at the end of the hour too!

Pray for us!

Well, it is official now, there is no going back. Starting next Sunday our church will have interpreted services. This is really scary to me. I want this to happen, I want to open up these new doors but I am really scared of failing. We had a meeting after church this morning and had 6 or 7 that showed an interest and 3 people who were not able to come to the meeting. From that group, we have 4 people who are able to interprete so hopefully no one will burn out from too much work.

It is not a full blown deaf ministry yet, just an interpreted service on Sundays. It has to start somewhere though, and God will control how fast (or if) we continue to grow. Please keep us in your prayers. Most of the responsibility will fall on my husbands shoulders but I am his support team. Pray that people continue to show an interest in this ministry and that God blesses us.

Busy,Busy, Busy!

My In Laws are coming today. I am going to work in the copy room at school this morning. I need to pick up donut holes for Grandparents Day at school tomorrow. I need to mail a birthday present to my sister in law. I need to buy my Father in law a present for his birthday, because we are going to celebrate it early while they are in town. I should probably clean the house a little more. I need to fix something good for dinner, but will probably just pick up BBQ. Darling daughter has a doctor's appt this afternoon. I am still dragging from the cold that I had all weekend. I have already done all the laundry, changed the sheets on the beds, and cleaned the bathrooms! Whew, I am a little busy today but Praise the Lord I am able to do it all! I am blessed with so many good things in this life. I have a beautiful family, a lovely home, an exemplary school for my daughter to get her education at.

So why am I blogging when I have so much to do today?
Whoops! Better Get Going, Bye......

It's Raining!

It's raining, it's pouring!
I can't wait to start snoring!


Finally, we are getting some much needed rain.
Thank You Lord!

I hope it continues thru the night,
as I love to sleep during a rain storm!

Blessings everyone!

Blogger is having problems!

I apologize for the last post. I fixed it but blogger isn't correcting the post for me. In fact it will not even let me look at my post without going through someone elses blog to get here. I think it is a plot to drive us all insane!

The Computer Swallowed Grandma

The Computer swallowed Grandma,

yes, honestly it's true.

She pressed "control" and "enter"

and disappeared from view.

It devoured her completely,

The thought just makes me squirm.

She must have caught a virus,

or been eaten by a worm.

I've searched through the recycle bin,

and files of every kind;

I've even used the Internet,

But nothing did I find.

In desperation, I asked "Jeeves",

my searches to refine.

The reply from him was negative,

not a thing was found "online".

So if, inside your "inbox",

My grandma you should see.

Please "copy," "scan" and "paste" her

and send her back to me!

My Mom sent this to me, don't know the author or where she got it but thought it was funny and wanted to pass it on.

My Hearing History

Two people commented on my last post that they wanted to know more about how I lost my hearing and what got me to this point. I think I have covered it somewhat before on this blog but will try to give a synopsis of it.

I lost my hearing when I was 5 years old and caught the mumps from my brother. At the time, about one in every 200 cases of the mumps causes an infection in the inner ear. I was one of those lucky cases. I developed virus like symptoms and my Mom called the Doctor. He felt that it was just a virus and not related to the mumps so he did not have her bring me in. About two or three months later, my parents noticed that if I was not looking at them I could not hear them. Children adapt and I had learned to lipread.

My parents took me to the Speech and Hearing Center in Houston (about a 2 hour drive) every day for two weeks. My Dad would work the graveyard shift, get up and drive us to Houston, we would spend most of the day at the center. They were testing my hearing, fitting me with a hearing aid and counseling my parents regarding my hearing loss. Then they would drive us home and Daddy would go to work that night, only to do it all over the next day.

My hearing loss was such that the hair like nerves that line the cochlea looked like someone had taken a lawn mower and mowed out patches. The doctors recommended that they place me in the School for the Deaf in Austin. My parents refused. I was fitted with a hearing aid in one ear, the other was considered un-aid able because there was no speech recognition. I could (and still can) hear sound in my right ear but can't understand words.

So my parents sent me to a private Kindergarten (they had already planned to do this, as my brother had attended this school 5 years earlier) I did well in kindergarten and even skipped the 1st grade completely. I was mainstreamed into public school. I took some speech classes because of problems with the S and SH sounds, but I speak remarkably well for someone with such a profound hearing loss. I sound like I have an accent but I do not sound hollow like profoundly deaf people often do. I was a very verbal child and that helped me retain my speech.

School was hard for me, I was teased a lot for the hearing loss and because of my weight, some of which I am sure is genetic but a good portion I am sure was a coping mechanism too. I passed everything in school but only excelled in the subjects that I was really interested in. Everything changed during my Jr. year in high school.

The Aggies For Christ came to our church that Fall. I loved everything about it and decided come $#&& or high water I was going to A&M. Everyone told me it could not be done. My grades were not good enough, I would not score high enough on the SAT, my Dad even tried to bribe me into going to a local college (with a car and a phone in my room) but I was determined. In the end I was accepted into A&M University.

I did not recieve any special help while I was at A&M. I went to class just like everyone else, I tried to sit in the front so I could understand better and I made sure my professors knew that I might have to ask more questions than most students. It took me a little longer than most to graduate (I changed my major a few times and took a year or so off right in the middle)

While I was at A&M I became interested in learning Sign Language. I had never learned to sign before, but the A&M Church of Christ was developing a deaf ministry and offered classes. My husband and I both took classes while we were there.

We have been involved in deaf ministry ever since, with the Clear Lake Church of Christ in Houston and then later (after a job transfer) with the Fairfax Church of Christ in Fairfax, VA. I know sign language well now but have never relied on it for my sole communication.

Last Fall, I was at church and my hearing aid quit working(or so I thought). The next day I became really sick, virus type symptoms again. After many doctor appt with specialists, they still do not know what happened or why. But the end result was that my "good" ear(the one I wore the hearing aid in and could understand speech with) was gone.

The doctor told me that my only hope for hearing was with a cochlear implant. I had always resisted an implant because they often destroy what is left of your hearing when they put in the implant and I never wanted to give up what I had for fear it might not work. I had the surgery done on Dec. 29th and it was turned on in Jan.

You can go back in my blog and pick up the story there if you want to. The progress with the CI has been really slow but seems to be picking up recently. Maybe my brain has finally clicked on and is understanding the signals a little better. Hope this is what you wanted to know, feel free to ask questions. I might even answer them for you! :)

Implant Update

Several folks have asked me to update what is going on with the Cochlear Implant, so for those of you who care I will fill you in (for those of you who don't care, GO AWAY, why are you here anyhow?)

I have been doing Auditory Therapy for a few months now and had a session yesterday. The Therapist is quite pleased with my progress. She put me through a series of exercises (verbal, not physical!) to test how much I was hearing with the implant. I would guess that I was getting 75 to 80% correct.

She would cover her face and read things off to me or ask me questions from a prepared list. I am also quite surprised that I was able to understand so much. You have to take into consideration that this was a controlled environment, it was a quiet office and she was speaking very distinctly. She also tried reading newpaper headlines and that was harder for me, I had a much lower success rate with that.

Next week I go for remapping of the processor. I am hoping that this will help me enjoy the sound more, as it is quite distracting and irritating to me now. The sound is "echo-y" and very "tinnish". This program seems to amplify certain sounds while dropping others, so I am hoping for more success after the remapping next week.

Thank you to all of you who ask about my progress and encourage me with your support and prayers. Please keep them coming as this is still a very hard task which lays ahead of me. I commented to the Therapist yesterday, that hearing with an implant is hard work, it does not come easily or naturally, you have to focus and really work to understand. She agreed with that statement and said that is what many implant patients struggle with.

I miss having the little one home all day but am enjoying the peace and quiet of having the house to myself. I am able to get more done without hearing "Mama, I am bored, play with me" or "I'm hungry" or "Can I go to ______'s house?" ALL DAY LONG!!!!

Hope you are all having a great week!
Blessings

"Nuff Said!

Go back two post, do not pass go.....

For some reason, blogger posted my latest post behind my blue mama post. If you want to know how the Hawaii trip ended, go back two post and read all about it.

Been In A Blue Funk Lately!

I hurt my neck this past weekend and have just been in a blue funk all week due to the pain and just not feeling up to par! So I decided to change the template of my blog and make it match my mood. Do you like the blue or the rose better?

Oh well, it won't be long til my neck is all better and I am back to my happy self once again. Blessings to you all!

All Good Things Must End!

Thought I should finish up the saga of the Hawaiian vacation since we have been home for almost a month now. So here is the final installment: Our last day in Maui was pretty uneventful. We had breakfast at the hotel and then Hubby went and had a massage on the beach. (I put the censored in because he is a little shy about being topless on the blog!) They had a little cabana set up and he got an hour long massage. He was feeling pretty good for our trip home.

The plane left Maui on time, we had a little mix up with the gate number for our departure and for some reason we had to change seats after the first leg of our flight home but we made it to the plane and we did get First Class seating on the way back. We flew from Maui to Kona and had about an hour layover there. There was a cute statue of two Hawaiian children. That airport is built on top of a lava flow.The picture is hazy due to the airplane windows but the dark strips are lava.
This Lava looks like what you typically see in pictures. Black tar like rocks with deep cracks in them. The airport looks like they just poured the concrete airstrips right over the top of it. It was not tilled up or anything planted on it. The airport is open air with just pavillions to wait for your flight under.

The flight left Kona a little late and was running late getting into Chicago. The seats were okay but not the great beds that we had on the trip from LA to Oahu. I was spoiled after that ride. Some people slept on this flight but we were mostly awake, reading our books or watching the movies. I could watch them but could not understand the dialog, fortunately they were pretty simple movies. Ice Age 2 and The Shaggy Dog, so most of the gags were visual. We were late arriving in Chicago and had to run to a different terminal to catch our connecting flight back to Houston. They said that it would be a 2 1/2 hour flight but in reality it was only about 2 hours from Chicago to Houston. It was a little hopper plane but had the nicest flight attendants of all the flights we flew. That is probably due to the fact they were not United Employees!

We arrive in Houston about 9am and lo and behold one of our bags does not show up. So we hike over to the lost baggage desk and I stay with the other luggage while Hubby goes to the counter. Guess who is behind the desk--Rude Employee #1- the same lady who was at the ticket counter on the flight out 8 days earlier. There was no mistaking it was the same woman, she had a freaky half afro/half corn row hair do! She had not become any friendlier in the last week either. She practically threw a claim ticket at Hubby and said the bag should come in on a 10:30 flight and to call that number to have it delivered to us. So Hubby and I call the hotel to come pick us up (minus one bag) and take us to get the car. Then we decide to go get something to eat and call the airline to try to get the bag delivered to Hubby's brother's house (where we are going to get some sleep because we are both exhausted by this point)

Oh, I should meantion that brother and family are not home, they are already in Dallas waiting on us to get there to have family birthday party for Hubby's grandmother and for us to pick up darling daughter. So we stop to eat and call airline about lost bag. There was no one intelligent enough to even take the address down and tell us when the bag might be delivered to us. So hubby was getting a little hot under the collar (BTW--hubby is the calm one in the family!)He finally told them to just forget about it, we would return to the airport and pick up the bag ourself. So hubby drops me off and I go into the baggage claim area to get the bag. Now, I have my ID, my claim ticket, and my luggage stubs all ready because I figure it is going to be a hassle to get this bag. I walk up to the baggage carousel and Rude Employee #1 is pulling bags off the conveyor belt. I see my bag, walk up to her and say "that is my bag, may I have it?" She says "I guess" and I walked off with the bag. She did not ask me for any ID or Claim tags, nothing! I don't believe she knew who I was because I had not gone up with Hubby to the lost bag counter. She just let me walk off with the bag. Once I got the bag in my hand though, I high tailed it out of there before she could change her mind.

We went to BIL house and took a shower and crashed for about 4 hours. Then we went out to dinner and came back and crashed again. We got up at 5 am the next morning and drove 6 hours to hubby's grandparents home (on the TX/OK border) and surprised his grandmother at her birthday party! Darling Daughter was happy to see us and waited a whole 90 seconds before asking "what did you bring me"? We enjoyed spending time with hubby's extended family before heading back to the Dallas area to hubby's parents house.

The next day was Sunday, so after going to church with his family (13 of us) we had a nice lunch at his parents before returning home (5 hour drive) Boy was it good to be back home and sleep in our own beds.

On the Road to Hana.....

Day seven of our vacation in Hawaii found us up at dawn again as we wanted to drive to Hana that day but still be back in time for a Luau that evening (can't leave Maui without having tried a Luau) So off we went down(and up) the curving roads to Hana. The area is very lush and green with many waterfalls along the way. We did find that the book "Maui Revealed" was obviously written with serious hikers in mind. One of the waterfalls the book writes about is The Three Bears. It gives very detailed instructions on how to get to the waterfalls from the main road. It talks about that it is a pretty easy walk but to watch out for the first step. So we are thinking, okay that means there is a 18" drop or something like that. Nooooo!!!! They mean that it is a 15 foot drop down an almost vertical rock wall. Ok as we already pointed out, I am both vertically and horizontally challenged, so I might could have gotten down but I sure was not going to be able to get back up. So we enjoyed the three bears from afar and left the rock climbing to the experts.

These two pictures are of the black sand beach near Hana. I have forgotten the name of the park it is located in. It was a well developed area but still quite a trek up and down to get to the beach. I was surprised that the sand was not hot since it was black. It is also more like smooth little pebbles than what we think of as sand. It was quite awesome to see.

By the time we got to Hana and had a terribly overpriced hamburger, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the Luau that night. While hubby was getting ready for the Luau, I snuck down and ordered up a massage on the beach for him the next morning as a birthday present. He was quite happy with his birthday gift. The Luau was fun with good food, and decent entertainment. The Luau we attended was held near Black Rock and they had a diver climb up on Black Rock with a torch and then dive off as the Luau was about to begin. I liked the fact that they said a prayer before they began the Luau. They had singing and dancing hula girls (and boys) and a fire dancer. Good Piggy! It was a nice relaxing way to celebrate Hubby's 40th birthday and to end our vacation.

And On The Sixth Day:

we rested (sort of)!

We really did not plan anything for the sixth day because it was a holiday and we figured the traffic would be really bad. This was the closest we came to actually sleeping in, I slept till about 8 or so and I think hubby might have made it till 9. We had a late breakfast in the hotel restaurant, The Beach Club. This is the view from our breakfast table. Nice relaxing way to start the day! The next three pictures are some of the pretty flowers that we came across on the property. The smell was just amazing.

So much for resting, we ended up getting the car and going to South Maui. We went out to Wailea and drove through the lava fields. That was cool. I always thought of lava as being the black cracked stuff that looks like tar but this was what was blown out and it is porous and red colored. Some of it is black but the red fields were so cool looking because they looked like someone had spray painted little balls of syrofoam and dumped it all over the place. Again the roads were very winding and narrow and the locals would run you over if you did not get out of the way.

We ate at a place called Lulu's that was supposed to be the best hamburger in the nation--Not! but pleasant place and nice waiter. Then we walked thru these little shops that were basically open booths and got some good deals on some jewelry and things for little K.

We got back to the hotel in time to have a nice dinner looking out over the beach area and watch all the crazy people shooting off fireworks. One guy had made a huge mound of sand (about 3 feet high) and was dropping all kinds of explosive down a hole in the center. Since fireworks are illegal in our area of TX it seemed like they were all doing something they shouldn't be doing but apparently it is legal there, even Wal Mart sells fireworks in Maui! We watched them for awhile but decided a bunch of drunk people on the beach shooting fireworks might be hazardous to our health! There were two young guys throwing bottle rockets and ever so often they would get confused as to which way the ocean was, that was our cue to get the heck out of there!!!!

One more full day of vacation left. Hubby's birthday, trip to Hana and a Luau all coming up!

Day 5- Let's go Snorkeling

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the snorkeling, it was a little overcast and the underwater pictures came out dark, so I can't show you any of the pretty fish we saw. These are pictures of the boat I took off their web page and the round one is a picture of the Molokini Crater, where we snorkeled.

I don't know what it is about us but we never get to sleep in on our vacations, it always seems like we have to get up early to get somewhere. I had reserved a Snorkel Cruise on the Four Winds II and we had to be at the harbor by 7 am, so up and at 'em early on Day 5. The boat was nice and they had some fruit and bagels with cream cheese for a light breakfast waiting for us. There was a photographer onboard who went around taking everyones picture for the video they sell at the end of the trip.

It took about an hour to get out to the site at the Molokini Crater where we were to snorkel. I have snorkeled two or three times previously but am nervous about jumping into the ocean. I tend to panic and hyperventilate. My husband has repeatedly told me that it would be virtually impossible for me to drown out there as I float really easily given that I am horizontally challenged (ie fat) That may be true but my brain does not believe it and reacts by causing me to hyperventilate. I waited until almost everyone else was in the water before I dared to go in. I grabbed a boggie board and in I went.

I reacted the same way I do with MRI's and Cat Scans---I panicked! But I worked through it the same way I do with the test, I just talk myself through it and if that does not work I pray or sing and usually that will calm me down. It took a few minutes to get comfortable with the water but soon I was laying on my board with my face in the water looking at all the pretty fish. After a little while, hubby got a leak in his mask and was getting water in his sinuses, poor thing, that did not feel good I am sure.

They served us a BBQ lunch (which by the way in Hawaii--BBQ means grilled burgers, hot dogs or chicken breast--not BBQ like you get in the south with BBQ sauce) It was pretty good, although I am not sure I like the ground beef in Hawaii, it taste a bit different than what I am used to. They included beer and soft drinks (wine too I think) but we stuck to the soft drinks.

After lunch, we snorkeled a bit more! This time I just jumped right in off the side of the boat, did not even use the ladder. I was quite proud of myself for conquering my fear of the water. The fish did not seem as brightly colored as the one's we saw in Cancun on our honeymoon but they were still very pretty and facinating to watch. On the way back to the harbor, we stopped briefly in what they call "Turtle Town" and were able to see several of the big Turtles swimming around.

Hubby is suseptable to motion sickness so he had taken 2 dramamine tablets (less drowsy formula) but still was feeling rather poorly by the time we got back to the harbor. We went back to the room and hubby crashed for awhile. Later that evening, we went to the Aloha Mixed Plate (thanks for recommending it JB) I had the Coconut Shrimp (Yummy) and Hubby had a plate with several native dishes on it, I can't remember what all it had but I think it was Mahi Mahi with some type of Mango Chutney, Poi, Salmon somthing or other, and of course no plate would be right without the sticky rice and macaroni salad.

Hubby unfortunately suffered for most of the day feeling like he was still on the boat, rising and falling. We called it a early night and slept well, dreaming of beautiful blue water and pretty fishes.

Sunday in Maui-Day 4

Sunday, we wake up to wet carpet again! It is a total pain because you can't get into the bathroom without gettting your feet wet and then you slide on the tile floor. So we decide that if the carpet is still wet when we get back this afternoon we want a new room. Hubby calls the front desk and tells them the carpet is wet again.

Blogging Friend Maui Mama invited us to go to church with her and stay for a picnic afterwards. It was a 4th of July theme service with all the national hymns and patriotic songs. They had a group of men perform a song in sign language. It was very impressive, they were totally in sync with each other.

We enjoyed spending time with Maui Mama and her family. I have not asked her for permission to post the picture we took so I will not post it. The picnic was held across the street at a park. They had set up a waterslide for the kids and a pool. They had 5 young people baptized in that pool that day, it was great to be able to witness that. The congregation was very friendly, with lots of good food at the picnic. It was great to be with people who actually live on the island rather than just around the tourist spots.

Later in the day we went to IOA Valley State Park. All the pictures above were taken there. It was a beautiful area of greenery and streams. There were some beautiful pools but idiot people jumping off of the bridge into the pools from 20 or 30 feet up (in spite of signs everywhere telling you not to jump from bridge). One man was allowing his 6 or 7 yr old son to jump off the bridge. Hubby had to hold me back to keep me from slapping him silly! (Sorry, the child abuse investigator in me rears it head occasionally!) It was a little blonde headed boy so it was not like a native hawaiian who had done it all his life!

We made a stop at Wal- Mart for some supplies we needed for the snorkel boat the next day. We got off without any beach towels so we picked up some cheap ones and a couple of snorkel mask (apparently we got a cheap one of those too because mine broke the first time I tried to use it). We also picked up some groceries, whew people in Maui pay a lot for stuff. A box of wheat thins was almost $4., Milk is about $8. a gallon and gasoline is about $3.62, almost a dollar a gallon more than here.
I noticed that cars were expensive too, even used cars demanded a high price.

We got back to the hotel, and I feel the carpet--yeah, it is dry! Until we turn on the A/C! So we went down and they offered us a room on the sixth floor with not as good of a view. The first room had been on the 9th ( they called it the Penthouse floor) and it was right in the center of the hotel (hotel was shaped like a U with a courtyard in the middle with two pools, a gazebo and a restaurant.) We went and checked it out, and while the view was not as pretty, the room was much better, it was bigger, airier, had great ventalation and two windows. We could have done without the A/C in this new room but not in the old one. The first room was long and narrow, with the rooms stacked one behind the other. This one was kind of triangle shaped, with better furniture (not as good of a kitchen but we did not cook anyway!) So we moved and were much happier with the new room, which did not have any water leaks that we were aware of!

We had a lovely dinner at the hotel that night. (part of the package we bought included a credit in their dining room) then off to dream land before we departed on our Snorkel Cruise on Day 5!

Maui-Day 3

Because we did not have a car, we were at the mercy of the transfer company as to when we went to the airport for our flight to Maui. They picked us up at 7 am for a 10:30 flight. We thought, no problem they probably have several hotels to stop at before the airport so we won't be waiting at the airport that long--WRONG. We are the only stop and we are at the airport by about 7 30 or so. The Aloha Airlines have nice, efficent, polite employees. We were greeted with smiles and asked would we like to go to Maui on an earlier flight? Sure, so we were boarding a plane by 8 am. No semi-strip searches, just polite people! The flight to Maui is very short. Basically they walk down the aisle and throw little cups of guava juice at you and then turn around and want the trash before we land!

So we arrive in Maui, all our luggage arrives in Maui. We ride the little bus over to the car rental place. Nice employees again--All right-- this vacation is getting better and better! We pick up the rental car-- a blue convertable (blue is hubby's favorite color--last four cars have been blue- we own two blue ones now!) so we put the top down and head to the hotel. Life is Good in Maui!!!!!

Maui has some traffic but nothing like Oahu. There is a constant breeze blowing, sometimes it becomes quite a wind storm but most of the time it is just a good breeze going on. We are driving past mountains and beautiful shoreline, gorgeous boats on the water, parks with people surfing. Life is REAL Good in Maui!

Get to the Hotel--Kaapanali Shores- we pull up and the bell hop greets us and tells us to just leave the car there and go register and then he will help us with the bags. Alright, polite employees--looking good. The hotel was older but you could tell they put a lot of time into keeping it looking nice. We check in and the lady could have been nicer but she was okay. The room is good, it is being reneivated in stages. So it has new paint, new carpet, new furniture but the cabinets in the kitchen and appliances are a little old. (Top two pictures above are the living room of hotel room and view from the balcony. Did I mention that it has a gorgeous view from the balcony? ) Still very satisfactory--gorgeous view out the balcony! We are very happy, until I take off my shoes and walk into the bedroom and step in a huge wet spot on the carpet. The spot is right between the bedroom and the bathroom, can't get to either room without stepping in it. First thing I do is make sure it is water and not dog pee or something equally disgusting. Nope it is just water and we figure it is coming from the A/C (we are right!) So we call downstairs, they say they will take care of it right away.

We have reservations for a Magic Show at 5 pm, several hours to kill, so we decide to go drive the West side of Maui and see the shore and the blowholes and stuff that is described in "Maui Revealed" (thanks for the recommendation JB) (BTW- we highly recommend this book if you are going to Maui--very helpful) On the way out of hotel we go by the front desk because there were supposed to be tickets left for us for two of the excursions I had purchased online before we left the mainland. So we remind them at the front desk that there is a big water spot on the carpet in our room would they please try to take care of it. Sure, they would take care of it. The front desk did not have our tickets so they told us to check with Concierge Desk. Now the Concierge Desk has a big sign over it that says "EXPEDIA and Concierge" but it should just say EXPEDIA because when hubby asked about the tickets, the rude employee (I have lost count of what number she is) said to him "Did you buy it from expedia?" Hubby says "No" and before he can say anything about the front desk sending us over. She says"then we don't have it" and turned her back on him!" How Rude! Maybe in Maui Concierge means something different then it does everywhere else in the world!

We stopped for lunch in a strip mall and found a wonderful craft fair going on, so we were able to pick up a dress and some stuff for darling daughter, very cheap. Coastline is beautiful, very winding and scary at times when you meet the locals on these very narrow roads. The water was beautiful, different shades of blue depending on if there was coral present. Very windy! (Picture is of the shoreline in West Maui, it was kind of overcast so the colors are not coming thru as clear as they were in person.) We spent several hours exploring the coast line. We got back to the hotel about 3 30 or 4 00.

Guess what the carpet is still wet! So I got a bath mat from the housekeeping staff (very polite lady--who offered to call about the wet carpet) She managed to get someone up there in about 10 minutes time. In fact I was in the shower and I could hear them sucking up the water with a wet vac right outside the door--I was glad I had shut and locked the door (don't usually if it is just me and hubby!) So Now we know that housekeeping has the power in this hotel! Good info to know!

We went to see a show called Warren and Annabelle. Annabelle is a ghost who plays the piano and Warren is a magician and comedian. I don't want to say too much about it in case someone reading this decides to go but it was a great evening and if you have the chance you should go. I had emailed them that I needed to sit towards the front due to my lipreading and they reserved us the two seats right in the middle down front and I was able to get most of the show through lipreading and had a great view of the tricks. Very Funny Show and very nice employees!

We get back to the hotel and you guessed it, the carpet is wet again. So we called and let them know and went to bed with wet carpet but nice Maui dreams! Tomorrow, Church with Maui Mama!

Oahu-Day 2

Blogger is not letting me put the pictures where I want them. The beach scene above left is on Oahu. The man on the right is our tour guide, Peter.

This was the oceanview (and other hotel view) from the 17th floor of the Waikiki Beach Marriott. The room was clean and nice. The bed was very soft and comfy. As part of our package, we had a free breakfast with the room. The buffet was very good but we had to get up early (5 am) so we could catch our bus at 6:15 am.

First stop: Pearl Harbor. Our bus driver was a 72 year old native Hawaiian. His name was Peter. Pictured above in the big hat and green shirt. Peter scared me half to death right off the bat, by turning onto a one way street and in trying to compensate and get back onto the main street almost hit a street sign with the side of the bus (I was sitting next to the window!) He told us the story of eating breakfast with his family as a 7 year old, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His parents yelled for him to leave his breakfast and come with them, he said that he had a hole in the seat of his pajamas and did not want to get up and go with them. His babysitters' house burned down from fallout from the attack. Pearl Harbor was quite interesting and moving to visit. They have reflective captioning so I was able to understand the movie they show about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We were able to pick up a flag that had flown above Pearl Harbor for hubby's grandfather. He is a WWII veteran and we thought he might like to have that.

After touring Pearl Harbor, we reboarded our little bus and started on a circle tour of the island. We went to the Dole Plantation (mostly just a tourist stop now) and had some yummy pineapple ice cream! Then we made our way around the island, stopping at various places along the way. Blowholes, beaches and a Macadamia nut farm. We also spent some time in front of Peter's house where he pointed out several trees in his yard and several of his relatives houses in the neighborhood (still don't know what was up with that!) It was a long day but we were able to see a lot more of Oahu than we would have seen on our own. Traffic in Oahu is bad and I would not want to drive there.

That evening we walked along the beach and ended up having a "Cheeseburger In Paradise". It was fun for us because our Life Group had just had a Karoke night and that was one of the songs that we sang. The cheeseburger was good but the chocolate desert was better! We ended the evening with a short stroll on the beach before heading back up to the room.

Off to bed for us, for tomorrow we go to MAUI!

Trip to Hawaii- Part 1

I know that it is going to take several post to tell you all about our awesome trip to Hawaii! Let me start off by saying that my husband has been very blessed in the last few years with his company and is a Manager with a major aerospace company. We are not rich (except spiritually) but are doing okay and have no debt except for the mortgage. I say all that so you don't get the wrong idea when I tell this story.

Because this was a 15 year anniversary and a 40th birthday celebration, we decided that we would splurge and go First Class. It almost doubled the cost of the trip for us but we decided that it was worth it, not to be cramped and uncomfortable for 15 hours travel time. I have flown 1st class only one other time in my life and that was a free upgrade on a one hour trip from Dallas. So this is not a way of life for us!

We took darling daughter to my parents on June 27th and spent the night with them. (Bed #1) and then drove to Houston on the 28th and stayed in a hotel that night (Bed#2) We checked the internet and the flight to Denver was scheduled, no problems. We went to bed early and got up at 4 :30 to catch our plane to Denver.

When we arrived at Intercontiental and went to check in with United, we were told that the crew did not show up for our flight to Denver, the plane would be delayed for 3 hours and we would not be able to make the connecting flight in Denver to Honolulu. The woman (rude employee #1) behind the desk obviously did not like her job, she was totally without emotion. United put us on a Contiential flight to LA (coach- about a 4 hour flight) and when we arrived in LA we were to catch a United Flight to Honolulu (also coach because they had no room in first class) They would not refund any of our money, said we would have to work it out with the company later. I am in tears by this point, our dream vacation is crumbling right before our eyes. Not to meantion that we had spent quite a bit of money for first class seats that we were not getting.

We were high tailing it from one terminal to another when lo and behold, because they had reissued the tickets that morning, we were flagged with the dreaded quadruple S and subject to extra security messures. So I am standing in the airport bawling as they pat me down and search my luggage. Well, it is hard to lip read when you are crying. So it was terribly confusing. Finally, we get thru security and get onto the plane bound for LA. Did they put us in the back or the plane?--No they put us two seats back from 1st class so we had a perfect view of all the wonderful pleasures that first class was enjoying. Our flight attendant (rude employee #2) on this flight also apparently loved (not) her job. I was beginning to think that there were no nice people in the airline business.

Once we got to LA things began to get a little better. We found out that the plane to HNL was going to be delayed by about 1/2 an hour but they were replacing our plane with a larger one, so we were able to get the first class seats. The two flight attendants on this flight were very good. Friendly, kind and efficient. They even gave us a box of Macadamia nuts as a gift. The plane was a 747 with sleeper chairs (made into beds) with little individual monitors and movies. That was more like it. So the 5 hour flight to HNL was much, much better than the trip to LA.

We arrived in HNL about 3 pm their time, which was about 8pm our time. It had already been a long day. They crammed about 12 of us into a passanger van and took us to the hotel. Traffic in Oahu is horrible. The bus driver was cutting people off and swerving into traffic, all the while keeping up a steady commentary about the island. He punctuated everything by raising his index finger above his head! Quite a character!

It was close to 5 pm when we arrived at the Waikiki Beach Marriott. Beautiful Hotel with a beautiful courtyard! We go to register and we have two rooms, which have both been paid for in full. Will they give us a refund on one, nope! We will have to work it out with the tour company later. The room is lovely with what they call a full oceanview ( I would have called it partial because you had to be standing dead center on the balcony to see the ocean but it was nice!) We ate at the hotel and enjoyed a good buffet and some ukele playing. We were pretty pooped so went to bed a little early that night (bed #3)!

So was the 1st day of our vacation! Six more days to go! To Be Continued!

Home From Hawaii!

Aloha! We are back home from a wonderful trip to Oahu and Maui, Hawaii! It was so beautiful there! We had a great time but are totally exhausted! I promise I will write all about it soon but not tonight! My bed is calling my name. I have slept in 7 different beds over the last 12 nights and am really looking forward to my own!

This picture was taken from our hotel room in Maui! Beautiful isn't it! More to come I promise! Blessings to all! Night Night!

Peaceful Day!

Today was one of those rare peaceful days. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to accomplish today but just did not feel rush or pulled in different directions today. I like days like this.

We did errands this morning going to about 3 different places to get the things we needed and then were home by about 12:30. We had leftovers for lunch and then darling daughter went to neighbors house to play. I was able to get some laundry and cleaning done around the house. Did some reading on the blogs. Chatted with my Mom on IM. Not quite as good as hearing her voice but still great to be able to communicate with her.

What can I say, it was just a nice, peaceful day! Thank you Lord for a day to recharge my batteries and feel content. Thank you for my A/C working during this hot weather we are having too. I hope this finds you all having a blessed week!

Finally got my rug replaced!

Don't remember if I blogged about this or not but I bought a rug from a store (that shall remain nameless--it is a big ball of gas in the night sky) and after about two weeks it started to come unraveled at the edge. The lady I bought it from told me that I had an unconditional 30 day warranty on it, so I call up the customer service department to arrange an exchange.

Well, of course nothing is ever as simple as they make it sound...I could not just bring it back, they had to send out someone to see the damage. So I had to wait for someone to come out and tell me that "yep it was coming unraveled" and "yes, they would give me a new one". He said it would be a month or more because they had to make the rug at the factory. This was around the end of March or the beginning of April. He told me they would call me when it came in and bring out the new one. Really nice, professional guy--I believed him (Silly Me!)

Fast forward to June and still no rug. So hubby calls and they tell him that it is waiting for us at the warehouse and has been there for some time. So I load up the rug to go exchange it (what happened to delivering it to me?) and I get there today and of course no one knows where it is. Finally after about 20 minutes (of my 8 year old feigning death because she is "soooooo hungry!") They locate (or so we think) the rug on the showroom floor so off we go, the warehouse guy carring the old rug and me and my 8 yr old following him thru the warehouse into the back door of the store. The rug showman does not know where the rug is, so after another 10 minutes, they finally locate it. It takes 4 men, 30 minutes to find a rug that I spotted the minute we got on the showroom floor.

Oh well, All's well that ends well. I have a new rug which does not appear to have any damage or unraveling edges. Hopefully, this one will last a long time, because it was not cheap! I still like this particular furniture store but they need to work on their customer service! In this particular case, it is "All about Me" because I paid for the rug! :0)

After all, it IS all about me, RIGHT?

I just finished reading a blog in which a preacher was complaining about flying and basically said some rather unkind things about overweight people on airplanes. Being a both vertically and horizontally challenged person (i.e. short and fat!) I guess I could take offense about what he had to say but really it just got me thinking about some other things.

It is all about me, right?

Most of the things that we get upset about are things that we feel we have been inconvienced by. I get upset because the guy in the car in front of me does not merge like he is supposed to but stops in the middle of the road. The unjustness of that guy making me slow down or "gasp" even wait for him.

What about the person in the "fast" check out line with 11 items when they should only have 10! The person counting out pennies to pay their bill, when I am ready to go with my money in hand? How dare they inconvience me!

How dare that overweight person brush my shoulder as they pass by me in the airplane on the way to squeeze their 250 lb body into a restroom made for a 100 lb body! (never mind, that my shoulders extend into the aisle--it is all about me!)

Where in the world did we come up with this idea that we are the most important person in the world? That our time is more valuable than anyone elses, that our needs are more pressing!

It did not come from Jesus Christ! He stressed over and over to us through his teachings that we were to be servants.

Even the disciples had trouble with this concept. Remember James and John wanting to sit on either side of Christ in his Kingdom. The other disciples got upset over their request and this is what Jesus told them:

Mark 10:
⁴³Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

I am as guilty as anyone regarding these things. I see this characteristic in my child and I want to change it in both of us. So I pray, "Lord please help me to put others first and to teach my child to put others first!"

Mostly, I pray, "Lord help me remember...It is not about me......IT'S ABOUT YOU!"

Praise The Lord!

I survived Vacation Bible School. We even managed without our team leader today. Kuddos to Lynette for taking over as team leader. We wrapped over 900 (don't have an exact count) "pigs in a blanket" today! Every year we make these and we wrap little smokies until our fingers bleed (well almost) and then because each child only gets two of them, my daughter always wants me to make them for her at home. The last thing I want to do is make any more "Pigs In A Blanket"!!!!!!! YUCK!!!!

Oh well, it is over now and I am looking forward to the weekend. I have a date with my hubby tonight, don't know where we are going or what we are going to do but am happy to have a night out with him. So, I need to go clean up a little for the babysitter. Not too much, she knows I am not a neat freak but still need to pick up a little. Happy Father's Day Weekend! Blessings!

VBS Week

I was reading another blog about VBS and thought I would make that my topic today. VBS is in full swing at the church this week. This church goes all out for VBS and apparently it works because we always have a full house. We have reached the point that we have to limit the enrollment because we have more kids than we can keep up with and feed. I am not saying that we can't afford to feed them but just don't have the space in the kitchen to prepare for them. Also we would not have enough adult and teen helpers to adequately supervise them.

I have served in several roles during VBS since we moved her in 2000. The first summer I worked in Preschool doing a video. The second and third year, I did Crafts and the last three years I have been in the kitchen. It is hot in there but that seems to fit my personality the best. I feel like I am contributing but I am not right in the middle of 400 kids. That gets confusing when you can't hear so well.

The first three years I came down with pneumonia after VBS and I have not had it since I have been in the kitchen away from the kids (coincidence.....maybe, maybe not!) I am glad the kids have VBS, it gives them a church activity to do during the summer. Our church is blessed with a great Children's Ministry and they are great at keeping the kids busy during the summer. This is the activity that we open to the public (as much as we can) and so it is a great outreach program. There are several other programs in the summer that are pretty much limited to the kids in our congregation or sometimes in combination with another church or two.

Sometimes I think we go to too much trouble with the elaborate VBS and the kids would be just as happy with cookies and kool-aid and puppet shows. But maybe I need to get with the times, the kids today are used to state of the art stuff and old time-y VBS would probably bore them to tears.

So tomorrow morning we will jump right back into the swing of things and make another 100 or so home made ice cream sandwiches to go with the 250 or so we have already made (preschool just gets cookies). The kids will love it and the parents will love that they are having a good time. The rest of the week we will have pizza (weds), fruit (thurs), pigs in blankets (friday) and then snow cones and popcorn at the wrap party after VBS is over on Friday. And on Sat. we will rest!

Maybe tomorrow I will have a chance to walk through Bethlehem and see how the church has been transformed (did not even get a potty break today!) Hope your week holds many blessings for all of you. If my feet hold out and I don't catch pneumonia, I know that I will come away from VBS with countless blessings!

100th post- Funny Story!

This is my 100th post to this blog- I found this story thru Dee--Enjoy!

"A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door.

She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.

"I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Follow Me to Sunday- School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian Fish emblem on the trunk.

Naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car."

Enjoy your Saturday! Blessings!

Bronchitis!

After being sick since last wednesday, I finally went to the doctor yesterday. I have bronchitis secondary to an infection, so now I am on some good drugs and hopefully on my way to recovering soon. I can already tell a difference as I am not coughing near as much or as hard.

Today was my therapy day for the cochlear implant and Lo and Behold, my therapist has either quit or been sacked. I had a totally different therapist today who obviously had not been given any information about my case. So it was like starting over from scratch. I like the new therapist well enough (I liked the old one too!) and she seems to want to help me. She is going to prepare some material for me so that I can do most of the work from home, that will work well for me as it is hard to find babysitters during the summer.

I took lil K to buy a new dress today for a wedding she will attend with my parents while her Dad and I are in Hawaii! What is the deal with the brown stuff? Everything was either brown or white! I am not crazy about her in brown and white for a wedding was not a good thing. I ended up getting her an aqua and white striped dress but may try to find something else before the wedding or maybe she will wear something she already has (easter dress maybe!) I think I overdid it with the shopping and the therapy today, so I am ready to hit the hay! Have a good evening everybody!

The Shrine of The Mouse!

Let's face it Walt Disney was a genius! How else can you explain why rational, sane people would want to spend tons of money, to go on vacation and run themselves to death. We had a great time but seriously need a vacation to get over our vacation.

We took lil K out of school early on the last day of school solely because it saved us over $500. in airfare to leave a day early! She got straight A's on her report card, I think she will be okay! We flew into Orlando on SW, it was cheap and it was a direct flight, can't get much better than that! We followed the white Mickey glove to our ride on the Magical Express (bus service) to the beautiful Port Orleans Riverside hotel. After checking in and getting some dinner at the food court (food was expensive and okay, nothing to write home about!) we returned to our room to find our luggage had been delivered safe and sound (always a good start to a vacation, when your luggage arrives in one piece.) Lil K and big K took a dip in the pool while I unpacked.

The first day was spent at Animal Kingdom, where lil K got her hair wrapped (something she had been planning for several weeks) and we rode some rides, saw some shows. Then the bottom dropped out of the sky and we got very, very wet!
Luckily it was close to closing time so we just headed back to the hotel. It cleared up and we all went swimming again after dinner.

Day two was spent at MGM, where we learned lil K is our roller coaster loving baby. She would not ride Tower of Terror but loved the roller coasters. It was at MGM that I ran into my good friend David G. who I grew up with and had not seen in several years. Talk about small worlds! Unfortunately, we did not get to visit long because we both had places to be, we had Beauty and the Beast to see and then a Hoop Dee Doo Review reservation that evening. Hoop Review was great, the food was pretty good and the show was corny but very entertaining.

Day three was spent at Magic Kingdom in the morning, a break for swimming and a short rain storm in the afternoon and then dinner at Cinderella's castle in the evening. We had a good dinner and were able to watch the fireworks from the castle windows. Lil K enjoyed the characters and big K enjoyed the fireworks and the castle. Me, I enjoyed making my people so happy. Magic Kingdom had late hours that night so we were able to enjoy the park in the cooler night air and with much shorter lines after our dinner.

Day four and five were spent at Epcot, which is my husband favorite park. It was there we ran into a second friend from college. It is really odd when you are far from home and you run into people you know. We had reservations for Rose and Crown for dinner at Epcot. It was great, we ate on the patio and had front row seats for the Illuminations show that night. Soaring at Epcot is a great ride, be sure and go early and get a fast pass to ride it (it is so popular that the fast passes run out by about 2 pm) It is a stimulator ride and you feel like you are in a glider going over all these different places, mountains, water, fields, Disney World...too cool!

The last day we were at Disney, we went to the Grand Floridian and had a character breakfast with Mary Poppins, Alice, The Mad Hatter, Tigger and Pooh. The food was pretty good and the hotel is lovely.

The first time we went to Disney in 2004, I did not get any dinner reservations or character meals. This time we did and it was well worth it. If you are going and you have younger children, it is worth it to book the reservations. The kids really get a kick out of getting the characters autographs and talking to them.

Like I said before Walt Disney is a genius. He got this notoriously stingy, cheap person to shell out big bucks to wait in long lines, get pushed around by sweaty people, eat horribly expensive so-so food and be seriously sleep deprived all week. Yet I had a great time and can't wait to go back and do it all again! Maybe there is something in the water?

We actually did not do that much damage. We limited lil K on what she could buy, so we did not end up with a bunch of cheap junk. She got her hair wrapped and her face painted and bought a couple of things with money from her grandparents but we did not buy a lot of stuff in the parks. I had bought a few things for her at the dollar store before we went, like the glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces that are so expensive in the parks, I got them for $1 and gave them to her before we went out at night. We stayed in a moderate resort but only because the cheaper ones were all booked up. You can do Disney on a budget if you try really hard. It is a really cool place to go if you can manage it. The attention to detail is just incredible. If you are not familiar with Disney theme parks and the things I have been writing about, just go to disney.com and you can find pictures of everything there.

Other than the long lines and hot weather. the only negative things that happen were that big K lost his favorite hat and I caught this awful cold! We are still hoping someone will find his hat and I am slowly getting over this cold.

Sorry for the long post but that was our trip to Disney! If I ever figure out how to post pictures maybe I can show you some of our fun times. I think I will try to make that my goal to figure out how to post pictures by the time we get back from Hawaii, because I know you will want to see those pictures!

Home From Disney!

We survived our trip to Disney World and made it home safely! I started to feel bad yesterday and today have a sore throat and stuffy head. Yep, made flying lots of fun! I will fill you in on all our fun in a few days, once I recover from my vacation! One interesting thing, we ran into not one but two old friends while we were there, no telling how many people we knew were there but our paths never crossed!

It certainly is "A small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world" Come on sing it with me......



Note to Dee-actually ran into David G. while at Disney World, what are the chances of that happening! Unfortunately, I did not get to see Becky or Daniel, they had already left the park that day. I was so surprised to see him, that I really did not get to catch up with him much but it was sure good to see him and get a hug from him!

The Lion King!

Hubby and I were able to enjoy a wonderful night out last Friday. We had tickets for the Broadway production of The Lion King. We made dinner reservations at a little place close to the theatre and were told we were given the best table in the house (not sure why but it was nice!) The show was great! The sets were just incredible. I of course could not understand a lot of the dialog but thanks to my darling daughter I have pretty much memorized the story of The Lion King, so I was able to keep up with no problem. It was nice to hear the audience laugh and enjoy the show so much.

If this show comes to your town, be sure and go, it is awesome. This is the second broadway production of a Disney classic we have seen. The other was Beauty and the Beast, we saw that at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. It was magnificant too! Can't wait to see what they adapt next!

Hope you are all having a good week, it is the last week of school here so we are all busy, busy, busy! Blessings!

Watch Out World!

My passport arrived this week! My daughter has also picked this week to try my patience sorely. The A/C is not working (not acceptable in TX in May--got up to 100 here yesterday!) So far hubby is still in my good graces! But they better watch out, the only thing standing between me and a hammock on some island is my conscience!!! I guess one could argue that my hubby could threaten the same escape (except that he doesn't know where I hid his passport-tee hee!) (Hey someone has to stay home with the child!)

I am only joking, I am not going to dessert my family! It would be more fun to take hubby with me (jury is still out on darling stinker, I mean daughter!) No , I would never leave them here alone with the non working A/C, the mountains of laundry, the bills to pay, the house to clean! No , I would NEVER do that!




or would I?

Lovely Mother's Day

My Mother's day started out with breakfast in bed. The two K's brought me a tray with a cheese and bacon scone and coffee. Then I got to open my mother's day gift of a James Avery Charm. I have a charm bracelet but whenever I get a new charm I wear it on a chain around my neck for awhile before I have it sautered (I am sure I did not spell that correctly) to the bracelet. My husband gave me a cute card complete with two cotton balls (it had a snoring joke referrence!)

We enjoyed a great day of worship at church today. It was sad too because it was The Beasley's last Sunday with us, they are moving to MS to be with their grandkids. The church here always gives Mom's flowers on Mother's Day and my daughter made me a pen with a silkflower attached to it (Maybe I won't lose it so easily with the big purple iris attached, which is my favorite flower!)

We had a good meal out and a quick visit to the Christian bookstore, then home for phone calls to the grandmothers and a wonderful nap! Darling Hubby took darling daughter swimming while I napped! Later, DH figured out how to use the audio portion of Instant Messenger so that I could talk to my Mom and she could type back to me. I think that was her best Mother's Day present, she said she really missed the sound of my voice (since I can't hear her on the phone anymore!) That is one thing that I really miss too is hearing my Mother's voice! Now, I am going to stop writing about it because it is making me cry.

It was a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope that yours was as well! I have said it before but it bears repeating, "Oh what a blessed woman I am!"

Story of my Rings!

I was reading a post by malia about Engagement Rings and a show about them she had seen on Oprah. This is the comment I left for her and I thought it would make a good post for my blog too!

"I think engagement rings are very important. They are an outward symbol of an inward commitment. My engagement ring and wedding band have a great story behind them.
My husband and I had been looking at rings for a long time and we had found a set in a jewelry store in Plano, TX (where the in laws live) that I just loved. However, my hubby(to be at that time) was dragging his feet a bit. So we did not buy the ring and went back to Houston and continued to do the "we are getting married but don't know when dance" Long story short, he finally asked me to marry him two days before Thanksgiving and one day before we left to go to his parents house for Thanksgiving. We went back to the jewelry store the day after Thanksgiving, just knowing the ring would be gone. It was there, sweet hubby told the clerk "that is the ring we want" The clerk said "don't you even want a price for it" and hubby said "no, that is our ring, it was meant to be" The clerk gave him the biggest smile and said "Well, that ring is half off today! The ring is beautiful and everytime I have a jeweler look at it they remark on the quality of the diamonds and the beauty of the settings. But it is special to me because Hubby wanted me to have it with no thoughts to the cost!"

That my friends, is the true story of my engagement and wedding rings! I guess I could have them upgraded to bigger diamonds or a flashier setting but why would I want to. They are the perfect symbol of K's love and committment to me. He loves me completely with no thought to the cost!

Oh what a blessed woman I am!

Busy Monday!

It was an overcast, dreary Monday morning but there were errands that needed to be run! I must have hit 10 different stores (or businesses) today but I managed to get most of my jobs accomplished. I guess it is good to combine them into one days worth since that saves time and gas. I will be glad when the trip to Disney gets here, all this planning is wearing me out (I will need a vacation from my vacation!) Nothing too exciting going on around here, just wading through these last three weeks of school. It is good to have Hubby back home again and things feeling more normal.

Blessings to all of you, hope you have a good week.

Home Alone but Not Really!

Darling daughter and myself have been on our own for the past 4 nights as darling hubby has been in Salt Lake City at a conference. He will be coming home tonight and it will be so good to have him back home where he belongs.

We have been doing fine here all week, nothing traumatic has happened but things just don't feel right. I miss his presence. I miss the security of knowing if something happened that he would be there for me in a matter of minutes (not hours). I miss adult conversation. It is harder than usual these days because I can't hear him on the phone and have to rely on emails, text messages and my daughter translating his phone calls. I miss his voice! It is really like a piece of me is missing when he is away, I just don't feel complete.

I wonder if this is how God feels when we wander away from him or fail to include him in our daily lives. I would imagine He longs to hear our voice when we fail to pray. One thing that has really helped us this week is that every night as I say prayers with my 8 year old, we ask God to surround us with his presence and to keep us safe. I have felt His presence this week, watching over us and keeping us safe.

I usually have a hard time when hubby is away because of my hearing. I think I hear things and I wander around the house at 2 am checking doors and my child. This is the first time that I slept soundly all night (except for the two occassions when darling daughter climbed into bed with me at 3 am, but we both went right back to sleep). I know this is because I made a conscious decision to ask God to be with us and he did not fail me. What a comfort to know that all I have to do is ask and he will be right there beside me. That is not to say that I don't believe bad things can happen, I know for a fact that they do happen (even to good, God loving people) but it is easier to bear when you are surrounded with love.

Thank you Lord for surrounding us with your presence and thank you in advance for bringing my sweetie home safely to us. There is a little girl here who really misses her Daddy and a big girl who really misses her husband. Thank you for the blessings you have given us, may we always be grateful. I pray that each of you who read this will feel the loving presence of God in your lives and if for some reason you don't feel it, just say a little prayer and ask for it!

Back From The Beach!

We are back from our short(2 night) trip to the beach. Althought time on the beach itself was short, only a couple of hours, we still had a lot of fun. The place we stayed was very nice, it had recently been updated and was very clean. We were in a one bedroom condo at Port Royal at Port Aransas. It was definitely not cheap but very nice. They were doing construction on one of the pool areas so we did not get to used the water slides and had to make do with only three pool areas (I know, I know, poor us!) The condo had a full kitchen, nicely stocked and a full size washer and dryer (so I did not have to haul home a bunch of sandy stuff)

I wish our condo had been a little further away from the elevators, it was right outside our bedroom window so it got a little noisy. The weather did not totally cooperate, it rained some and was very, very windy. Darling Daughter got to swim quite a bit in the pools and play on the beach for a few hours, so she is a happy camper. Hubby cut his foot while we were there but fortunately it did not turn out to be as bad as we originally thought and he still had a good time too! The place was very pretty. The pool area was nicely landscaped with lots of hybiscus and other tropical plants and flowers. Everyone was pleasant and helpful. Even the 4 bus loads of high schoolers were reasonably well behaved. Most of the other guest were like us, parents with kids. We would definitely go back, it was great!

Back to work and school now. We have about 4 more weeks of school, it sure has flown by as I am sure the summer will too. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a wonderful week too!

It's Official

The deposit has been paid, the plans are made: Hubby and I are going to Hawaii! Our plans have changed a little since the other post but not much. The hotel in Maui is going to be the Kaanapali Shores instead of Kaanapali Beach. We will still spend two nights in Oahu and then 5 days in Maui. Darling Daughter has her nose bent out of shape because she is not going. Too Bad, So Sad! I don't even remember going on a vacation until I was 10 or 12 and that was just to Six Flags. We usually did not have the money for big vacations. She will have more fun if she stays with her Granny and Papa (and so will her parents)! I can't even imagine what it is going to be like to have 7 days of just the two of us. We will miss the little princess but it is going to be great to reconnect with Hubby. What better place to reconnect than Hawaii!

Hawaii, Watch Out Here We Come! (okay, so you have a few months to prepare for our arrival!!!!)

Saturday

I wasn't at all sure what type of day it was going to be. I did not get much sleep last night, I had trouble going to sleep (too much Disney planning) and then toss and turned and had lots of dreams. So I was not a terribly "happy camper" when my daughter woke me up this morning in a rather obnoxious way! However, I did get up and get a shower which helped my mood tremendously and off we went to drive some elementary school kids to a Kids For Christ Rally, they said they did not need us to stay, just to drive and pick up, so that meant 4 glorious hours alone with my hubby!

It was great! We went to Starbucks and had coffee (Toffee Nut Latte for me!, plain Latte for him!) and a blueberry muffin. We met with a travel agent and got some info about Hawaii. We are considering two nights in Oahu ( go see Pearl Harbor) at the Wakiki Beach Marriott and then five nights in Maui at the Kannapali Beach Hotel. (Anybody have any opinions about those places they want to share?) We went to Costco and picked up a beach umbrella and cooler for our trip to the beach. We had a most romantic (well maybe not!) lunch at Sonic and then on to the bookstore. I could not believe we got so much done in just 4 hours and were still early to pick up the kids.

Darling daughter went to play with a friend and I got a lovely hour long nap while hubby got to play a computer game (heaven for him!) Later, hubby and daughter went to the pool while I read and fixed a good dinner. Now hubby and daughter have gone to the store to pick up a few things and I am reading and posting on the blog! I know I am boring but this has been a Good Day!

I need Good Days like this every now and then to keep me charged up for the not so good days. Thanks be to God the Father for all the days that we have together! I pray that I will continue to be thankful for my many blessing including my sweet blogger friends who encourage me when I am down and rejoice with me when good things happen. What a blessed woman I am! May you all enjoy your weekend and may your Sunday be spent worshipping the Almighty, the giver of all things!

Just Call A Travel Agent Already!

I feel like I am a travel agent as I am trying to work out everyone's schedules for work travel, school vacation, stays with grandparents this summer and the 4 solid weeks of church activities that darling daughter (DD) has this summer.

It started out that we would take a weekend and go to the beach just about DD's favorite thing to do, once that was scheduled we moved on to a business trip for darling hubby (DH) and then we progressed to family vacation this summer and a special trip for hubby's 40th birthday! I think we have just about got it worked out and while I have no hope that everyone will be thrilled with ALL the plans, I think the majority will be happy with most of them.

It looks like we will go to Port Aransas and have a nice weekend on the beach, then hubby will make a business trip to Salt Lake City. Whole family will make a 6 day trip to Disney ( got super great airfare)(BTW Disney is DD FAVORITE thing to do!) and then DD will have two weeks of church activities before going to grandparents for a week or so. While DD is with said grandparents, DH and Moi will be flying off to Hawaii for some long overdue alone time. We will get back just in time for DD to start second two weeks of church activities.

This leaves us with about 3 unplanned weeks for the summer. I am sure that the other set of grandparents will either want us all to come for a few days or at least DD to spend a few days with them. Then there is school stuff to buy and get ready for a new year. I am tired already but excited too.

It seems like a lot to do in one summer and a lot of money to spend (although it is really only costing us our IRS refund) which I tend to think of as our play money anyway (Brett, we give our contribution to church based on before tax income! :o) ) We tend to go months and years without any type of vacation and then we go big, so I guess this is our big year!

All that said, that is the plan! Still need to double check a couple of things and finalize the plans for Hawaii! Jettybetty, I still may not be able to hear the waves in Hawaii but I bet we have a great time anyway. I really want DH's birthday to be special and this is what he wants to do, more fun for me and less work than planning a big party!!!!

If nothing else maybe we will escape some of this Southern heat. Yes I know we are going to hot places but it can't be any worse than it is here. It is supposed to be 101 today (Hello, it's only April!) Hope all your summer plans are shapping up nicely. Enjoy yourselves, your family and the beauty that God has surrounded us with!

HOPPY EGGSTER!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!

When Mommy's Sick

When Mommy's Sick (Children)

Mommy's sick in bed today. Doctor says she has the flu. Sissy's got a stuffy nose and she might get it, too. When Mommy's sick it makes us sad she doesn't feel so good. She's having juice and medicine like the doctor said she should. It's not the same when Mommy's sick, our hugs are all sick, too, and kisses for our boo-boo's also have the flu. Our sads are even sadder so our happy's aren't as glad and when we're being naughty, that even feels more bad. Let's get her better, Sissy! Get some more juice in her 'cause I remember something else, ewwww... Daddy's cooking dinner... C.J. Heck I was looking for something funny to post today about being sick. This seem to fit the bill. Darling daughter has tomorrow off, so let's pray that Mommy gets to feeling better!

Any Old Ags Out There?

I am finding more and more bloggers with ties to A&M, so if you are an "Old Ag" or have a child who is either a student at A&M or a former student at A&M, please leave me a comment below! If you are a former student at A&M and a former member of the "Aggies For Christ" please leave a comment also! Lastly, if you know someone who was in the AFC's or at A&M tell them about my blog and have them post a comment. I would love to hear from some of my old friends if they are out in blogsville! I was at A&M during the 80's but don't let that limit you in responding. Whoop! GIG 'EM AGGIES!

PS> I don't want any posting from "Jim Shorts" Almost every year at church when the new semester started and the several hundred college students placed membership someone would sneak in a card by "Jim Shorts" and Bob D. (campus minister at that time) would read the name out and wait for this guy to stand up. Everybody would laugh including Bob and he'd say "I can't believe you got me again!" AHH, Memories!!!!

Hello God? Is it really you?

We have been studying a book in our Life Group called Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. (I tried to underline it but blogger won't let me, sorry!) I confess that I am having a hard time getting into this book. It may be my conservative COC background but often when someone tells me they have been "called by God" to do something, my first reaction is often "are you sure it was God doing the calling?" and my second reaction is "have you talked to someone (psychiatrist) about this?"

I am trying to read this book and keep an open mind about it but it is difficult. A friend of mine recently told me she had been dreaming about Africa alot and wondered (jokingly) if that meant she should move to Africa and be a missionary. I (jokingly) told her "No, it means that you need to go buy that animal print purse and the matching shoes!"

I don't know if I am just not strong enough in my faith for this study yet or what. I definitely believe that God can and does put things in my life to help me make decisions but am just not sure that he "calls" me in a tangible way. I am not confident in my ability to sort through, what is God's will and my want. Also, I worry that it is not God speaking but Satan who puts the thoughts and ideas in my head.

I think I will have a lot of questions for God once I get to Heaven. (or maybe once I get there it will either not matter anymore or suddenly all be crystal clear) For now I guess I will read the chapter for Sunday night and try to participate as much as I can. Even if I don't totally agree with everything in the book, it is a good opportunity to study and ponder God's word.

Anyone have any thoughts on God calling us to do things or go places?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bummer Day for Little K!

My 8 year old is having a total bummer day! First thing this morning, I squashed all her joy by refusing to let her wear her new flip flops to school. I insist on following the tennis shoes at school rule and that makes me a "mean mama"! She was already in a bad mood because she did not get to go swimming on Sunday and it was the first day the community pool was open. She had planned all winter to go to the pool on the first day it was open but because we had out of town company, she did not get to go (so sad!)

She planned to go to the pool today and her Dad took off work so he could take her. She called her friend to go with her and the little friend could not go until after 5. No problem, they decided to wait and go after 5 instead of at 4 like they had planned. At approximately 4 :45 I looked out the window and it was dark and beginning to rain! So no swimming today! There is a dark cloud hanging over this house and I don't mean the rain clouds!