Getting away...and gators.

A few days after Christmas we headed farther South with some friends.

They have connections to a free place to stay outside Orlando...who can say no to that?!? :)

We spent most days lazying around...

sleeping in-ish...

swimming.

swimming.

and more swimming.

there were water slides and lazy rivers.

and Gatorland.

Where there were gators. Lots and lots of gators.

Thank you, Dawn and Mike for a great time away!

You let us know when you need another family to travel with...

We are so. there!

All Smiles...

You had a good first day!

You were all smiles when we picked you up.

Turns out you DO get to play outside for recess...AND

you get to play with ALL the other first grade classes!

So that means you and your BFF, Ella, still get to see each other and play!

YAY!!!

We stopped by Corner Drug for ice cream with the Moore's.

This is pretty much expected on any special kind of day.
And leave it to the Williams kids to be goof balls for the picture. :)

You were hammin' it up...

So thankful for a great first day of first grade!!

Friends

It is such a blessing to have friends on the other side of the country...we wish we could see all the special people over there...so if you are reading this and we didn't get to see you...please know that we would have loved to.

We found ourselves juggling quite a bit this trip...so the times we were actually at the beach, we found ourselves somewhat reclusive...the beach is one of the only places we really unwind and completely veg out...we needed a lot of that this summer.

We did get to see a few of you and we are so grateful.

Jody

is a new friend that I met in cyberspace...she and her family moved out to Olympia this year and it was serendipitous for us to meet in real life. She has been a gift from God to me this past year. I will never be able to express how the Lord has used her in my life.

(dang self portrait...the chins! mine, Jody, not yours...how don't you have chins?!?)

The Nelsons.

Where to even start with them. We are life friends. We have been a part of each others ups and downs for the past 10 + years. We were at AIM together another life time ago...and have shared much of life since then...

It was fun for the boys to be reunited...

they picked up pretty quickly...

Oh how I hope you have a lifetime of pictures like this...

Scott's face is my favorite in this picture. Laugh out loud funny.

Sisa, fer realz, I can not imagine life without your friendship.

The way you love Jesus and others teaches me every time I talk to you.

He fills you with wisdom, encouragement and Truth.

I have gleaned all of these things from you and being friends with you makes me a better person. You are so dear to me.

I am so glad we could pick up where we left off...

wish there weren't so many states between us.

Carrie, I am not sure you even read my ramblings on here...

which is totally fine by the way. ;)

But if you do...I want you to know...

I am forever thankful that the Lord allowed us to find each other again after college

and that you have been a consistent godly influence in my life.

I love your sure and steadiness...you bring calm to many storms.

I admire you so.

Friends, Forever Family and the Frosted Orange

Saturday was a BIG day for some friend's of ours. They welcomed home their daughter from Ethiopia...they had been waiting for her for over 14 months and Saturday was THE DAY she was welcomed into the arms of her forever family. It was too precious for words, really, and unfortunately I do not have one picture to show for it as I was snapping pictures with their camera as they all met for the first time at the airport...but take my word for it...MOVING.

So moving, that I cried tears of joy and sadness for the majority of the evening. Joy, for God's miraculous ways of placing a little girl from another part of the world in a family that loves her and will protect her and provide for her. Sadness for the orphan crisis...and all the loss that is necessary for the happy moments of being placed in a family. And this little girl...so. precious. So open to love. So willing to embark on her 'new life.' Tears well up just thinking about it.

It happened very quickly, and before you know it, the family was loading the Marta to head home. My friend, Steph and I had piled 5 kids in the van to drive to the airport for the welcoming and we were going to capitalize on the effort invested if you know what I mean!

We decided on a stop at The Varsity. An Atlanta establishment that claims to be the largest drive-in in the world...We got a little lost...sat in A LOT of traffic...and praised ourselves over and over for being awesome Moms attempting this downtown driving ALL BY OURSELVES! Needless to say, there are not too many mini-vans weaving through traffic in the BIG CITY. :) But we were there and we were making it happen!

After a few 'WHAT'LL YA HAVEs?!?!?!', we ordered a naked dog, a slaw dog, onion rings, and a Frosted Orange. (and a sure case of heartburn...)
The Frosted Orange is our favorite, it is kinda like an orange-cicle all blended up...YUM!

Eli enjoying the ONLY thing he would EVER eat at The Varsity,

The Frosted Orange

The Girls in front of a small portion of the HUGE restaurant.
(Look how cute Chloe and Abi's legs are!)

Half the fun is the 'getting there.'

Only this time it was the 'getting OUT of there!'

Fun Friend

This morning I got to have a spontaneous field trip with my friend Amie...

She's the one in the knee pads. She is a fun lady.

Michael's just opened a new store in G'ville and neither of us had been to it yet...so we headed over.
Sans. Kids.
Wooo. Hooo.

Angelic choirs started singing (in Amie's head) as soon as we walked in the door...the BEADS!!! She is going to make some beautiful jewelry with her finds.

We laughed and chatted it up while we oooh-ed and aaahh-ed over all of it...

So much so that another lady in the aisle asked us (jokingly, I think.) what we were smoking...
(REALLY...do people need to smoke something to have as much fun as we were?)

Even the music was fun.
Soooo Jr. High school dance music.
We sang along and at one point Amie did a little shimmy between aisles.
(the 70-something lady behind me may not have laughed as hard as I did...but then again, they were not HER Jr. High dance songs...)

It lasted about an hour...but what a filling-up hour it was.

Love Amie. Love spending time her.