Return to Hearts at Home

I haven't been to the Hearts at Home Conference for a couple years and it was good to get back! I met my long-time high school friends there and we had a blast.

Are those some hip moms or what? Let me just pause for a moment and explain something. Yes, if you look close you will see that is the same outfit I am wearing in the previous post. I actually considered not posting one of the pictures when I realized this. However, it is just an indication of the minimalist I am. I have one winter outfit that I feel great in, so I wear it a lot. Rather than omit the picture I decided to be authentic instead!

Now, on to the good stuff. Hearts at Home is always one of those conferences where before I go I don't really think I need to go. Then when I go I realize how VERY much I needed to go.

There wasn't a whole of lot of earth-shattering, new material for me this year. But the reminders I received that I am God's child; He made me and designed me especially to be W and L's mommy; and that His love covers all my inadequacies brought Revolution to my life.

Some specifics I intend to be more diligent about attacking are:

1. My tendency to speculate about what others think. Jennifer Rothschild...


was one of the main speakers. She is a firecracker speaker who lost her sight at age 15 and now teaches women across the country how to walk by faith, not by sight. She reminded me that speculating only leads to allowing yourself to entertain thoughts based on feeling, not fact. Being a natural born "feeler" makes me really bad about this sometimes. See above paragraph about my speculation that you would care or even notice that I am wearing the same outfit in both photos. Sheesh...sometimes my neurotic tendencies are JUST. TOO. MUCH. for even me. Anyhoo...

2. Patience, patience, patience. I'm also a natural born "fixer." So when my kids are struggling, I swoop in to do it for them rather than let them struggle things out. I need to get better about this.

3. Intentionally cultivate independence in my children by being patient, patient, patient. See number 2. Can you tell I need some help in the patience area?

The rest of the weekend was just bonus. A's hubby brought us my fave...


so we could avoid the dinner rush. Ingenious.


This Southern Belle was the comedian for Girls Night Out and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. Such an unassuming entertainer.

Then we stayed at A's house and the next day spent it eating, shopping and catching up on life as mommy's. (How do you spell mommy's? Mommies? Mommys? Is that even a word??)

And really, how better to top off a girl's weekend than some breakfast here...


and lunch here?!!...

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Iowa Baby Shower

I had the great opportunity to take a weekend trip in February to visit a close friend of mine for her baby shower. Thankfully another friend of mine went with me so we had the chance to catch up on the five hour drive which made the time pass so much more quickly.

We had dinner at the Sugar Shack, a 50's style diner with a great Patty Melt and yummy chocolate malt. I'm a sucker for a good malt. Mmmm....


We then headed back to our hotel...


and had a chance to catch up more with the mom-to-be.

The next morning we went to the shower, thrown by the mom-to-be's sister in law. I have to say I'm not sure I've ever been to a baby shower with that much attention to detail! It was so well done and an awesome celebration of this new little life that God created.


C was opening presents for and hour and a half! Can you tell they are stocked and ready for this precious one?! (And this is just a glimpse...)


Yes, this is the gift hubby and I got her. And yes that is a duplicate you see in the background of the EXACT. SAME. THING. Why do registries not really work? Anyway, is she cute or what?


It was a great weekend and I was so glad I got to spend some time with my friend before her life changes forever. It is almost certain that life changes forever when a baby enters the picture. But their story is unique.

Halfway through their pregnancy they discovered that their baby has a rare chromosomal disorder that will affect his health and development in some possibly significant ways. I have been absolutely amazed at the grace with which they received this news. Grieving certainly, but moving forward towards acceptance, determined to prepare themselves for whatever this new journey may bring.

That is love.

Here's a sneak peek at their precious little peanut...

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10 Year Trip-Part 7

OK, It is officially time to wrap up this post series. I had no idea it would take me this long to write a few silly posts. I guess when you add in Christmas and moving to the equation I can't be too hard on myself!

Our final day at sea was spent relaxing and planning mentally for the whirlwind of packing/closing/Christmas/moving that would await us when we returned home. Have I mentioned how serene the sunsets were?


The comedians on board were great and we spent our last evening enjoying some laughter in this lounge:


Dinner was delicious as always:



And of course a final farewell to our little friend:

Already looking forward to what we'll plan for celebrating Fifteen!

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10 Year Trip-Part 6

The next day was a stop at Cozumel so we had an early breakfast and headed onshore. We usually ate breakfast at the buffets because there was so much to choose from and the lines weren't that long. Here's Stacy below in one of the dining rooms enjoying his daily double dose of chocolate milk. Who says adults can't have chocolate milk, right?



Stacy had a work connection that gave us all kinds of tips and instructions for doing a cruise right. He ended up being more like a private tour guide and recommended a private day beach club in Cozumel called Nachi Cocom. There were probably never more than about 50 people there so it really felt like we got to enjoy our own private section of the beach and ocean.



The water was beautiful and while I was content to lay on the beach, Stacy did some exploring. He saw plenty of fish and even a little stingray which was enough to send me back up to the beach. The food was great, I finally got my Mexican fix, and I think I could have stayed there another couple days.



Any relaxation that was achieved that day, though, was pretty well erased when we were on our way back to the ship and our realtor texted us to tell us we had gotten an offer on our house that we were trying to sell. The rest of the evening was spent communicating with her and negotiating a contract on our house. Communication on board the ship was tricky but we managed to pull it off and by noon the next day had sold our house from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico! Not a bad way to end a vacation!

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10 Year Trip-Part 5

We stopped at Progreso, Mexico for the second full day on board. The Carnival Ecstasy docked for the day as well so here's a shot of the two ships side by side. The Pier was a five mile bus ride away from the city, on which our bus got a flat tire. When he just kept driving on the flat we realized why the buses look in the condition they do!



We took a bus tour when we got to the city. Not a super impressive city but shopping and bargaining in the market was fun. Below is one of the "nicest" homes in the city. They call it the "Wedding Cake House" because of it's tiers and latticework.



There were lots of places along the beach to stop for drinks or food so we stopped at this little beach side restaurant for a drink before heading back to the boat.




Back on the boat, every night the dining staff does a different song and dance about halfway through the meal. If they aren't enjoying themselves, they do a very good job faking it! The cruise staff was mostly from different countries, Indonesia, Philippines, Latvia, Ireland, England. We asked our steward a little about his role on the ship and life back home. It seems that most of the workers sign on for 6-9 month commitments, leaving their family at home. Much like the military service, and although they don't get paid much by American standards, their earnings are often enough to care for their entire extended family back home.



Every night there was plenty of entertainment to choose from: musicians, comedians, magicians, dancers, etc... The Theatre shown below was where most of the main events happened. It was a beautiful three story theatre complete with a super swanky chandelier. We certainly didn't feel like we were on a boat when we were in this room. We snuck in at one point to snap the picture below and were quickly told to leave--apparently they were practicing the magic tricks for that night's entertainment so we were seeing too much of the illusion! Ooops!



And of course, as always, waiting for us that night...

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10 Year Trip-Part 4

The first full day of our cruise was spent on the ship en route to Progreso, Mexico. We spent most of it lounging in the sun and reading. Our room looked out the very front of the ship onto a deck that often felt like our own private deck.



There are tons of things to do on the ship, one of which being a nine-hole mini golf course. Nothing extravagant but it was a fun break in the day.



Dinner that night was more formal and I was surprised by the amount of women wearing formal evening gowns. Guess I missed the memo on how to pack a formal evening gown in a suitcase. I overheard one woman in the bathroom say she brought an entire suitcase full of just shoes. Sheesh!



There were several things that surprised us about our cruise including how much is not included in the "all-inclusive" deal (alcoholic drinks, soda, wasabi sauce for your sushi, etc...) The other surprise was that despite how many times we heard previous cruise-goers say, "Oh, you don't feel the ship move at all," we definitely felt the ship move. There was a rainstorm after dark the formal night and we both felt woozy enough that we were glad we brought Dramamine. We went to one comedy show and called it a night early because apparently "less-drowsy Dramamine" is not all that much less drowsy.



We had a new little friend waiting for us this time.

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10 Year Trip-Part 3

After boarding the ship we were quite awestruck by the size of such a vessel so we took some time to explore a little before having lunch. The view below was the main Lido deck where most of the action took place during the week. Parties, games, contests, movies, etc. There was almost always something happening here.




We never did venture down the water slide. We tried out the hot tub which was nice but while the ship was moving it was breezy enough that you didn't really get hot enough to need to cool off in the pool or slide. Several people did of course, but we were content to just lay in the sun and enjoy the sea breeze.



After lunch our room was ready so we took a few minutes to check it out before the ship disembarked. Tight quarters, but we had a window that looked out onto the balcony at the very front of the ship so that was nice. We didn't really spend a lot of time in our room because of all the entertainment they had on the ship.



The view of the New Orleans skyline from the ship as we sailed off.



We thought we were going to be able to watch the coastline disappear into the distance the first night but were surprised to discover that we had about a six hour journey down the Mississippi before even reaching the Gulf. Needless to say, we only watched the sun set and then headed in for dinner.




This little guy awaited us when we headed to bed later that night!

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10 Year Trip-Part 2

Monday morning we walked down towards the French Market. The streets along the way were so pretty with lots of gorgeous balconies and stately buildings. We overheard a tour guide say that apartments in the French Quarter run about $1200/mo. and have a 5-7 year waiting period.



We walked past Jackson Square on the way, a park dedicated to General Andrew Jackson, the commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans. Beautiful lush vegetation in the middle of a "tight quarters" area.



We stopped for beignets (french doughnuts) and chicory coffee at the insanely popular Cafe DuMonde. Apparently chicory is a root added to coffee as a substitute. It is a long standing New Orleans tradition which developed when the port (the second largest importer of coffee in the 1840's) was blockaded off during the Civil War. It tasted fabulous to me and the beignets were the perfect complement!



After breakfast we walked up the levy and took a gander at the Mississippi on the Moonwalk, a scenic boardwalk named after the mayor who created it. Below is a view of Jackson Square and the Saint Louis Cathedral in the background.


The Saint Louis Cathedral is the oldest continually operating Cathedral in the United States and it. was. Beautiful. So much of the culture in New Orleans centers around beauty, the arts, I've never seen so many talented musicians and artists on the street. There is a sense of awe and appreciation that makes one just swell with joy that talent and giftedness like that even exists.



After walking down the Moonwalk we stopped into the French Market, a giant open air market with everything from fresh produce to a flea market.



Unfortunately, many of the vendors weren't yet open but there was booth after booth of people setting up for the day like this one. I can't imagine the well-oiled machine it must take to set this up day in and day out.


We stopped by the Casino on our way to the Boat for a burger from Fudrucker's and headed to the River Walk to get to our ship. The River Walk had a great Mardi Gras party feel to it as evidenced by this statue and tour boat.



Next stop: Carnival Triumph!

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10 Year Trip-Part 1

A friend of mine suggested a while back that I blog about some of the trips we've taken and places we've been. We are hardly world travelers or anything but we do try to be intentional about getting away together. We made a goal when we got married that we would try to visit all fifty states together during the course of our marriage. (And as long as we're dreaming I'd love to visit 50 other countries as well!) Our belief is that traveling together creates a bond whether the travel is good or full of mishaps (as long as you can have a sense of humor about it).

Our belief was backed by some recent research as read about on CNN.com:
"Psychological research suggests that, in the long run, experiences make people happier than possessions.

The study looked at 154 people enrolled at San Francisco State University, with an average age of about 25. Participants answered questions about a recent purchase -- either material or experiential -- they personally made in the last three months with the intention of making themselves happy.

While most people were generally happy with the purchase regardless of what it was, those who wrote about experiences tended to show a higher satisfaction at the time and after the experience had passed.

A sense of relatedness to others -- getting closer to friends and family -- may be one of the reasons why experiences generate more happiness."

So, last week we celebrated our 10 year Anniversary by taking a Cruise through the Gulf of Mexico. It was our first cruise, my first time being in Mexico and we had a fabulous time.

We cruised out of New Orleans so we drove down the day before to be able to experience life in the French Quarter.


Bourbon Street at night was certainly scary interesting and something I can say I did and won't plan to do again.


We did love this sign, though, for one of the shops along the strip. One of W's "baby" terms for "yesterday" was "yesteryear" up until about a year ago. This sight just brought back a little fond nostalgia and we thought we'd capture it to validate W's originality.


We found a classic New Orleans Jazz performer and sat to listen while sharing our first New Orleans fare: Classic Royal Croissant Sandwich from Cafe Beignet. Steamboat Willie set the tone for a great week ahead and after a long day of driving we headed back to the hotel before our big bon voyage the next day!

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