Embarkation is in 5 days!!

About 4 years ago, Shawn and I went on our first cruise. I have to stress the word "first" because we instantly knew there would at least be another in the near future. Technically we went during our 11th anniversary, but we didn't care. We had a fabulous time. What with all the food you can imagine, dessert upon dessert, activities planned throughout each day, excursions that involve adventure and sightseeing,  getting to dress up in a formal gown or two, etc, etc, we couldn't dream of only doing it once. It was more than we expected and we wondered often what the kids would think of such a monstrous ship with everything they could dream of all in one place. I suppose it will not have as many romantic moments for us, but it will be worth the awe and wonder on their sweet faces.  As all of our recent travels have been a great blessing to us, this one is huge!

 When we moved to England, I don't think we even came close to imagining all the great places we would be able to see. In thinking of all the reasons why we should make a ginormous move like this across the pond with 5 kids in tow, we realized over and over again that it would give us the opportunity to travel. An opportunity, we reasoned, that just couldn't be passed up. So here we are... traveling and enjoying it immensely.

Our plan is to fly into Rome and stay there for 2 days to see as much as our eyes can see. We will then take a taxi to a town called Civitavecchia to board the ship, called "Navigator of the Seas". Our kids have absolutely no idea how awesome this will be. We have tried to describe it, but I don't think they quite grasp it. 

We go from the town I mentioned, to Messina, Sicily, then to Athens, followed by Ephesus, then to Crete, and back to Civitavecchia, near Rome. 

Your prayers for safe travel for our family will be coveted. 

Blessings to you!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

I tried posting this on Saturday, but the photo mosaic I put up didn't last. It ended up having that funny little question mark in place of my collage. So here it is a couple of days late.

The happy couple.

The lovely Leona

My dashingly handsome Father-in-law, Paul

And, finally, our kids with Grandma and Grandpa in their most special, happiest place in the entire world!... Indiana (last summer 8/08)

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Saturday was a special day. It was my in-laws' 54th wedding anniversary. 

What a great day to celebrate. They are definitely great role models to us. We wish we could have been back home to honor them, but we'll have to settle for a blog post and a phone call. 

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. We love you!!

You're Gonna Miss This Moment- Mini Golf in Majorca, Spain

Pam over at "You're Gonna Miss This Moment" has come up with what I think is a brilliant, and I am not overstating that, weekly blog carnival. It's about posting the moments you will miss that your kids do, or say, or are involved in that you will simply miss one day. Try posting one of your own and link it up to her blog over here. You will not regret it. 

Okay, so anyway, about two weeks ago we went to Majorca, Spain, which I have not posted about yet, but here is a small chunk of it. We did all the usual stuff like swim at the pool, go to the beach and swim, swim some more and then we played mini golf. Oh, we played ping pong, spent lots of coinage on crazy teeth, we shopped for souvenirs, and, of course, we played mini golf. Austin is the king of mini golf and just had to play it.  

I'm pretty sure we will play miniature golf through the years, but what I will miss most is the age they are right now as we play together. The age where they still think it's fun or cool to hang out with us and just have fun. I guess it's our older children that might find it awkward to do all these things in the future. I hope not, but it's probably inevitable. 

Anyway, we had so much fun!!

Look at that serious face.

Daddy-o

Braaten

Moi

I threw in a few pictures of their local flowers.

Melanie

And my silly guys, Grant and Cooper.

So what is it that you will miss? Go over to Pam's and link up a post about it. 

In the meantime, I'll be trying to post more Majorca pictures in the very near future. 

Blessings to you!

Wordless Wednesday!- Vacation Wackiness

I thought those gumball machines had things like gum

 and super balls, but teeth?...

Umm, Honey... you need to re-adjust that mask or... 

Nice feet, Braaten :-)

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, visit 5 Minutes For Mom right over here.

The "S" Word

I was just having an "Instant Message" conversation with my nephew, Trent. I have always been close to him. He's getting ready to graduate from Bellmont on Sunday. Wish we could be there, but it's a bit far from the U.K. 

Anyway, his mom, Jill, and I are very close. In fact, she is my first cousin, my sister in Christ, and my sister-in-law. Oh, and she is one of my very best friends. You can't get much closer than that with all of those bonds! She has 6 children whom I love dearly. But Trent is her firstborn, was our ring bearer, and somehow God gave us a special bond. 

So here I was today checking out my Facebook and I saw him on there. I clicked on it as a prompting of the Holy Spirit I am convinced. I started out with, "Are you all graduated" kind of thing and the conversation went on from there. It was the first time he and I chatted through that medium and I am overjoyed that we did. He and I have had some frank conversations in the past about future career choices, girlfriends, sports, life, etc. At one point in time he thought he wanted to be a chiropractor like me, but has recently felt lead to do something else. And that's okay. 

I asked him if his mom was going crazy preparing for his open house and his reply was, "She is officially crazy". I asked him to bless her by helping her. I boldly asked if he was staying pure. Yes, I did. If someone doesn't ask, and help to keep him accountable besides his mom, who will? That's the kind of relationship we have and I am ever grateful for it. As we typed our responses back and forth, I also added that I would be proud of whatever he did, as long as it didn't involve "drugs, drinking, or smoking". And then I quickly added, or "the *s* word" code for the three letter word that I didn't want my children to walk in on and read on my blog post. He then replied that he is not perfect and does some stupid *s* things. I was at a loss, disappointed for him. And so I had to ask. Do you mean you are having *s*? I sat there waiting for his slowly-typed response anticipating that it might have been a misunderstanding. Hoping that it would be.

He said, "No, Aunt Carol, I'm waiting for marriage". 

Could I have any more joy on this day? The Holy Spirit, who brings glory to Jesus, led me on this day to have that conversation with my dear nephew. And I am thrilled by his commitment to God, his future wife, his mom and dad, and to himself. He is going to knock someone's socks off one day and the blessings he will receive are more than he can ask or imagine.

Thank you, Lord, for guiding us and teaching us. Thank you for this generation that needs more kids who are wanting to follow Your commandments. Kids that want to please You. Kids who will boldly follow You.

It's something to think about, isn't it? I wish that when I was growing up I had that kind of guidance. I believe it is why I have such a heart for purity. And all the honor and glory goes to my savior, Jesus Christ.