Florida, post 3 - the Dolphins!

Days 5 and 6

On Thursday, we met up with Kelley's friend, Melanie, and her four kiddos and rented a pontoon boat for a few hours. Here's what we saw about 20 minutes into our excursion:

They were amazing! And so pretty and fun! And...and....wow!

Melanie was a great boat driver and we stayed right with them for a long time. so cool.

Then we went to a large area of shallow water. It was like a massive sandbar about a quarter of a mile off shore. There were probably 10-15 boats all anchored there and everyone just piled out of the boat into knee to thigh deep water. It was freezing cold, but had to be done! After that we headed to "Crab Island" which had no crabs (thank goodness - that would have spelled more terror for Evyn!) but did have a bird sanctuary and a nice beach. We anchored the boat again and let the kids have fun going back and forth to the boat until it was time for us to return it. By then it was pretty late and we were all tired so we headed home for dinner.

Oh! And I forgot to tell you about the date nights!! On Tuesday night, Kevin and Kelley watched Evy for us while we went out to dinner. I'd seen this neat looking place called Cafe Provence and knowing that I love all things French, Reed agreed to take me there. Oh, man, was it good! I mean, good isn't even the word! Then on Wednesday, K and K went out and we kept their three. I had brought some paint and brushes so we cleaned off all of our collected shells and painted them:

Then I taught them Bunco! :-)


They loved Bunco and asked again and again if they could play!

On Friday, Reed and Evy and I decided we'd go to "The Donut Hole" for a hearty breakfast. It was quite the joint! Delicious! After a quick stop at the post office to mail post cards, we went to a great, fun consignment shop called Scavengers and I scored a perfect, beautiful mirror for $30! But the beach and sand beckoned!

More sand castle building with Melanie's kiddos, our new friends!

Meanwhile, a mean girls against guys volleyball game was raging! Peyton and her best friend, Lauren

The trash talkin' guys.

Peyton and her Dad cooling off after the game.

One last photo before we left!


We had a little photo shoot with Evy on Thursday evening as the sun set.

Goodbye, sunny Florida!

And a big thank you to Kevin and Kelley and the Nicholsons!

We had an absolute blast that we'll never forget!

Florida, post 2

Days 3 and 4

On Monday it was still rainy but we took ourselves to Zoo World in Panama City. Not exactly a "world" per se, but interesting. We saw bears, wolves, lions, tamarin monkeys, parrots and a giraffe pretty up close. There was just a chain link fence, not a big moat like at our zoo. I felt a little sorry for the animals there, though, because the space was a bit smaller and less interesting than at a zoo. But anyway... Evy got to pet a wolf and get pretty close up to a baby bear (2 months old). However the peacocks which they allowed to roam freely scared her and she'd scream, I mean a real blood curdling, break your eardrum scream, whenever she saw them. Oh, and then there would be the hysterical crying. Yeah, that was fun. Um, she had an equally disturbed reaction to the ostrich, though it was behind a fence. The fence still allowed it to poke it's head over the rail and ravage any food you might have. I'm sure she'll never forgive us for making her walk past it!

Bailey and Evy at Zoo World. Taking a break from the terror!

By the time we got to the petting zoo full of miniature ponies, goats and such, she wouldn't have anything to do with it. The giraffe with a deck built up high enough to pet the big guy is in this same area but she will not go near it, either.

This is what made her happy. sigh.

After that, a little playing in the rain was in order.

Finally, we woke up Tuesday and the clouds were still there but Kelley, my beach-loving sister-in-law, would not be deterred. We ate breakfast and loaded up what we needed for the beach. It was a mere walk across the street and down the walkway. It was still a little cold, actually, but miraculously within about 30 minutes or an hour, the sun broke through, the clouds disappeared and it was absolutely stunningly gorgeous and warm! Well, the weather was, anyway. The water was still pretty icy!

The most beautiful beach I've ever seen!
(that little girl is pretty cute, too!)

It's sand castle building time!

Such a good architect!

Kyle, in a rare, still moment!

My sweet, beautiful neice, Bailey, playing in the sand with Kyle.

My fair-skinned brother pretty much stayed under the umbrella, though he did venture out a bit.

Fun-loving drama queen and volleyball champ, Peyton.

And Kelley's favorite beach pasttime!

MaryEvyn, the mermaid!

Evy, Reed, and I were kind of "done" after a while, so we headed back to the house. We cleaned up and then drove about 5 minutes up the road to Rosemary Beach (a very upscale beach community) to find postcards. We didn't find what we were looking for and had to go a bit further to the grocery store for the post cards and supplies but not before we got this shot in the square of Rosemary Beach.

FLORIDA!! (a.k.a. "Are we still in gulf water?")

Days 1 and 2

Oh, friends. I wish you all could have been with me. Really. Have you seen this Florida beach thing they got goin' on? It's really just not fair! But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

First, you must try this private chartered plane thing. Whoa. I pulled my car right up along side our little ol' jet, the guys unload my luggage from my car and put it in cargo, I hand them my keys and they drive it away to park for the week.

Our plane, my brother, Kevin, and the pilot.

That's Kevin's car there next to the pilot!

We climb on up to our cushy leather seats (seven of them) grabbing a coke on the way. We had prepared chicken fingers with sauce, fresh fruit, cookies and brownies and all the drinks you could stand. Never mind the fact that we left whenever us and the pilots were ready! Up and away. An hour and a half later we arrived dead in the middle of Panama Beach and our rental suburban was parked next to the terminal. We piled in and drove about 30 minutes and found our little rented beach house.

Evyn sat across the aisle from me, coloring, playing, singing and watching "Maisy".

That's Bailey and Kyle in the back and Peyton across from me. See the cool table that pulls out?!

And this is my brother, Kevin, and the pilot and co-pilot beyond him.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't so great when we arrived, nor did it improve until Tuesday (we arrived on Saturday). So we settled in our house and soon had to get dinner and go on a major grocery store run for the week's meals.

Bailey and Evy playing Polly Pocket at the house. Neither one was ever bored!

On Sunday we went to a church service (for a mobile church, nonetheless! haha!) and then home for lunch. After that, since it was still rainy outside, we headed to a big outlet mall-type area. Evy and Reed hung in for about as much of that as they could, but then we headed back to the house for dinner and bed!

Church Love

So I just love the little part of the church body that is mine and I just gotta write about it. First off, there's Chuck and Kathleen. He's our pastor, she's his wife. They are amazing. God is so very evident in their lives and in their home. They have been such an inspiration and such great friends for Reed and me. We feel humbled and privileged to be able to call them our friends. We've been a part of Crossbridge for all of it's, what...6 years? We started attending Access when Chuck was leading that at Sugar Creek and he married us there. Then we followed Chuck as he began CB. That was an exciting time.
Now it seems so long ago! Now here we are in a real building that is ours! And it's so cool!! Thanks to Tim and Casey and Justin and others. It looks so awesome. It's warm, inviting, and you have no idea that you are in what used to be a grocery store! I never realized what I was missing until our first service yesterday. Oh, those comfy, cushioned chairs! And carpet is so much nicer than linoleum for kneeling to pray! And the sound! It was like you and Chuck were just sitting at Starbucks having a chat. No rattling metal doors, clicking of shoes, crying babies. wow. The lighting! The kids rooms - well, even if they have a little work left to be done, it was so great!! The coffee bar area with it's leather seats and little tables... it's all just terrific! And so exciting. I just worshipped my little heart out! Chuck's message yesterday (he's talking about the parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15) was so real. God was really speaking to all of us. Yes, He can do that anywhere, as the last 6 years can testify, but there, in this new place He's brought us to, I was so aware of His faithfulness to His church and His blessing on us and the staff for seeking Him and teaching truth. May we continue to do just that and may all see how beautiful and enjoyable He is through our little place on Eldridge!

A Hard Season

I've noticed in raising Evy that there seem to be behavior "cycles". I know from talking to mom friends that I am not alone. It goes like this: for 4-6 weeks my daughter is in coasting mode. She's mostly obedient, compliant and pleasant. Not perfect, but our discipline usually consists of a couple of time-outs per week. But then it cycles downward and she begins testing limits. It begins somewhat innocently, but before you know it you're at the bottom of that circle and she is whining, complaining, refusing, sassy. The time-outs seem ineffective and we go to spanking. This phase seems to last so very long, but in actuality maybe it doesn't...it's hard to say when you're in the middle of it, y'know? Anyway, I have begun to notice as well that as these cycles come and go, new behaviors begin to be tested. It started with disobedience - difficult, yes, but pretty clear cut. Then we added in some disrespect. There was lying, the stealing incident, and the fit-throwing. This recent phase, though, is really disturbing me.

It feels like all of our communication these days is of the correcting sort. I mean, does she even hear me anymore? If all she hears is the constant beat of the "we don't talk that way" drum and "is that a pleasant voice?" or "I don't understand whinese" does it even register after a while? Ugh...there have been a few days where I went to bed thinking that I didn't even enjoy her today. yuck. I've been praying, talking to friends, talking to Reed and we've tried a few things, but it's still just hard! I know, Mom, I know... no one said parenting is easy, but we're just sharing here, right? Anyway, Monique had this thought, this suggestion that she started with A of simply touching her nose to just give a nonverbal cue that she needs to change her words or tone. I started trying that yesterday and it seems to help somewhat in the smaller matters because I'm not giving the speech and she's not having to listen to the speech. It also makes her think about how to correct her words or tone on her own - an important skill for a budding preschooler!
Then just yesterday after I picked Evy up from her Kids Crossing class at church we were waiting for Reed to finish when a full on tantrum began. It was spanking time. I really don't spank often, maybe once every 3 weeks or so, but, y'know what? Even as it was happening (as embarassing as it was because she was literally on the floor kicking and yelling "NOOOOO!!!" in the middle of the brand new atrium of our church building) but I had this sense that this episode, this spanking was going to do it. This was going to break her and bring her back to us...or at least begin to. It seems to be the only thing, and I mean EVERY TIME, that breaks the downward cycle and shows her once again that she is made for submission - to us as her parents, to teachers, and, ultimately, to God. So after all the lectures, the talks, the memory verses... at least for my little Evyn, it isn't until it gets to the all out rebellion and that climax of the spanking (even if it's right there in the church office copy room) that she finally bends and the light begins to shine from the end of this tunnel.
Don't worry, by the time we left the offices she was hugging, apologizing, telling us she loved us and all was well. This doesn't mean it's over, but at least there was genuine, unsolicited "I love you's" last night as we left her room. And I went to bed thinking that I did enjoy her a bit more today. ;-)

From this weekend:

I left for the Crossbridge Ladies' Retreat this past Thursday with a baked ziti casserole and pie in the fridge for Reed and Evy, and Monique in my passenger seat. Here are some things of note from the weekend:
1. This retreat, of the previous 4 or so I've attended, was different. I don't know why or quite how to describe it to you, but God really moved. Granted, I was a little hormonal and cried easily anyway, but it was really moving. I don't know what it was, but the speaker, Laura Siefert, was truly inspired and God used her to really speak to us each where we are. Not only that, but I had a fantastic time bonding with Monique on our 3+ hour journey, and with the girls on an antique jaunt into Gruene. So much fun!
2. Something Laura said: "Not just better like broccoli". She was referring to the erroneous thinking that the things God has for us are not "better like broccoli", like, how it doesn't really taste that great (at least not without a bunch of cheese!) but we eat it b/c it's good for us. No, no. God's best is best and it is good. Good goin' down and good for you, too.
3. In the car Monique was talking about her discovery of how loving someone should mean that we give our all to keep the ones we love from sin. Meaning asking yourself, "What can I do that will keep this person from sinning?" And whatever it is, because I love them, I'll do it! It stuck with me.
4. When I came home, MaryEvyn led me excitedly to our bedroom, through the bathroom and into my closet where I discovered it freshly covered in white paint! When we first moved into our house, the closet got painted, yes, but maybe not with quite the attention to detail that one might desire. (Is that PC enough?) Anyway, no longer! It is fantastic! Not only that, but my loving hubby who knows me so well, had cleaned up every speck! I mean, there was no sign that it had been painted except that the fan was on and a window opened to air it out. The next day I was able to replace all of my neatly stacked clothes and clean it out in the process. I love this man o' mine!
So, that's kind of it. Just thought I'd share. And thanks, Ladies, for a great time with you and with God.