A Florida Alphabet

Since we have been here in Florida for almost 9 months, I thought I'd have a little fun with my blog and list 26 things I have discovered or enjoy about Florida, following the alphabet...

A is for Alligator Farm in St. Augustine.
B is for Borillo's Pizza - the owner has Steelers paraphernalia all over the walls of the restaurant.
C is for Cocoa - the name of our puppy we got in September.
D is for Disney World - only two hours away!!!!!!!!!!
E is for EverBank Field - where the Jaguars play.
F is for First Lego League - Jake's team made it to Regionals.
G is for Go Fish - the store where I work in downtown St. Augustine.
H is for hurricanes - never really had to worry about them before moving down here.
I is for I-95 - the main highway that runs North and South through Florida.
J is for Jacksonville - the city where John works.
K is for Kilwin's - a local ice cream shop.
L is for Lions - the Bridge of Lions - connects St Augustine to Anastasia Island over a beautiful bay.
M is for Mandarin Christian Homeschoolers - the co-op we attend on Friday mornings.
N is for Navarre Beach Sand Sculpting Competition - drove 6 hours to camp with friends and see sand.
O is for Outlets - there are two different outlet malls just five miles away.
P is for Publix - the closest grocery store - they have the best spinach artichoke dip.  :-)
Q is for Quaint Old St. Augustine - I love the stores, the forts, the history, the tourist traps, all of it.
R is for Ribault Club - an destination of the rich and famous in the early 1900s, now part of a state park.
S is for St. George Street - the pedestrian-only street full of shops in Old St. Augustine.
T is for Turning Point Christmas Lights.
U is for UCF - where Jake had his Lego League competition.
V is for Virtual Charter School - Jake is taking his driver's ed course through FVCS.
W is for Winn-Dixie - the grocery store that closely resembles Giant Eagle and gives $ off gas.
X is for Ximenez-Fatio House - historic attraction in Old St. Augustine - never visited but filled the "x" spot.
Y is for Yogurt Co. - the first self-serve yogurt shop we'd ever been to.
Z is for Zebra Longwing - Florida's state butterfly - it'd be a good one for Steelers Country.

I hope you enjoyed a little taste of our adventures.

Unfolding a Scatterbrain, a Cauldron, and an Ant

The first known use of the word scatterbrained was in 1747.  I had been using this word to describe what my brain has been like the last few weeks, but I've learned it's not really a word I would want to use to describe myself.  Merriam-Webster defines scatterbrained as "having the characteristics of a scatterbrain."  That makes it very clear, doesn't it?  Okay, so what is a scatterbrain?  It is defined as a "giddy, heedless person."  The definition becomes increasingly more clear with every word I look up.  NOT!!  The dictionary says the first known use of scatterbrain was in 1659.  Was it really almost 100 years before describing a person as a scatterbrain and saying they are scatterbrained?  Hmmm.  Must just be first time in print.

Anyway, we probably all know what a giddy person is like.  A heedless person is one who lacks direction or thought.  My mind isn't like this lately.  It is more like a cauldron full of thoughts all mixing together.  I can multitask to an extent but, when there are two or more urgent matters swimming around in my mind, I have difficulty.  I am starting to think about Jake going to college and what needs to be done here in the next 3-1/2 years to be sure he can get into the college he wants and study the major he is interested in.  I also have to consider what is best for Nate and Paige for their future and my sanity as a homeschooling mom.  I am having to work with an attorney to be sure my medical bills are paid from an accident I was in last year.  I always have our finances on my mind and being sure we are not overspending.  (The $10 late fee charge I just got hit with for being late on Paige's dance class payment doesn't help that.  Utilities don't even charge that much for a late payment.)  I am taking a class online that will hopefully allow me to begin doing medical transcription again.  I have friends with cancer.  The list goes on and on.

I would rather let life just happen but, at some point, I need to be proactive so that things are done and done well.  If I do nothing, there will be consequences.  If I don't do right by my kids, they may not get where they want to be in life when they get older.  I know they have to play their part in the process, but finding their curriculum and teaching them is my responsibility.  Dealing with the attorney needs to be done so that my bills are paid.  Going through this class is something I have to do if I want to be able to work at home and be there for my kids as opposed to having to work outside of the home.  Good things in life are worth working for.

I am reminded of Proverbs 6:6 which says, "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise."  A sluggard is a habitually lazy person.  I do not want to be a sluggard.  I'd rather be like an ant.  The female worker ant takes care of the queen, the young, and the ant nest.  They search for food.  They store the food.  They build the nest.  Some worker ants are soldiers, guarding the nest.  Worker ants are born for a life of service, and they live on average 1-5 years.  Why should I, being made in the image of God, choose to be lazy when a small ant, not made in the image of God but created by God, works from the time it is born until the time it dies?  God is always at work but does rest.  He is always creating and is always involved in our lives, but he takes time for rest.  I should do the same - expect to work and work hard but take time for rest.  It shouldn't be the other way around - lounge around all day every day and then do a little bit of work from time to time.  I need to just get busy and get stuff done.

Unfolding A Weekend Excursion

Want to know another reason why I love living in Florida?  Disney World is only two hours away (if you don't count Orlando traffic on a Friday afternoon during rush hour).  We made our second trip to WDW this past weekend since we moved here.  Our main purpose for heading to Orlando was for Jacob's Regional First Lego League competition.  They were competing for a bid to the state level, which they didn't win unfortunately.  Since we had to be there at 7:30 a.m., we decided it would just be easier to spend the night in Orlando on Friday.  Of course, then, we just had to make it a Disney weekend.

My original plan was to leave at 2 p.m.. on Friday, but I found out that Cocoa was due for a booster shot on Saturday.  Fearing the kennel would not let her stay the weekend, I made an appointment for her to have that booster at 2:00 on Friday.  That meant I had to leave our co-op as quickly as possible, but that didn't happen because I needed to talk to one of the teachers before heading home.  Instead of being able to wash the dishes in the sink before I left, I just threw them in the dishwasher and closed the DW door.  I don't recommend doing this.  It took quite a while for the stench to go away with a Scentsy burning after I came home and opened the DW door.  Ew!

Cocoa ate food right before we left for the vet, but I didn't have the wherewithal to pick up her food before she ate.  So, she threw up in the car on the way to the vet.  That was just lovely.  She didn't have a fever, so I just chalked it up to having just eaten and my crazy driving so we wouldn't be late for her appointment.  The vet appointment took 15 minutes, but then I had to go to the post office to mail something to my mom.  Nothing ever gets done quickly in St. Augustine.  The traffic was horrible, and the line was long so I used the machine to print out my own postage and pay for it.  I also had to get gas.  By the time I was on I-95, it was 3:00.  We reached Orlando in time for rush hour.  That was not fun.  Cocoa also threw up two more times in the car.  Of course we knew this was from a Nylabone I had given her.  I bought two bones for her a few weeks ago expecting to hold onto the bacon-flavored one for our trip.  This would be a special treat.  I didn't know the bacon-flavored bone was edible, unlike every other Nylabone she had ever had.  She ate half of it and was car sick the whole way there.  I was sure the kennel would be calling us to get her in the middle of the night because she was sick.  Thankfully, she didn't have any other issues all weekend.

After Cocoa was settled and we checked into our room, we had dinner at the counter service restaurant at our resort.  We stayed at Old Key West.  It is the oldest Vacation Club Villa.  It doesn't have amenities as nice as some of the other deluxe resorts, but it is okay for a weekend in January.  There is a pool, but it was too cold for us (Floridians) to use.  :-)

After dinner, we went to Epcot and purchased Disney passes.  This is something I had wanted to do since before we moved down, so I was thrilled to finally have them in my possession.  Our first ride that night was Mission Space.  The kids all rode the more intense version, and John and I rode the less intense one.  We got into the capsule and had a delay which turned into a second delay.  If you know anything about Mission Space, they put you into make-believe hypersleep for your trip to Mars.  I told John I was putting myself into hypersleep and that he could press the buttons in front of me when it was my turn to press them.  Our next ride was Test Track.  They have refurbished it, so it doesn't have the large room when you enter where you see all of the car parts and crash-test dummy areas.  It is a hallway you follow that shows various elements of car design.  There is an area where you can design a car, which then can be in a commercial you create after the ride is over.  Nate's computer crashed, so he couldn't design a car.  The next morning, the computer crashed on John.

We rode Soarin' which worked just fine, but three kids tried to jump almost the entire line while we played games on the large screens in front of us while we waited to get on the ride.  We caught them and stopped them, making it impossible to jump the line any further.  Some people's kids.  :-(    Our last ride that night was Battleship Power Nap...I mean Spaceship Earth.  I cannot ever remember the name of this ride.  It always comes out Battlefield Earth or Battleship Earth.  John calls it Spaceship Power Nap.  So, we have affectionately named it Battleship Power Nap, or is it Battlefield Power Nap.  I may never get that one right.

The next day Jake and I were up at 5:45.  We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast on the way to UCF.  Jake likes French Toast sticks, and I remembered that McD's had them.  I was a bit surprised when his French toast had ham and cheese between the bread slices.  Really?  That doesn't even sound good.  Jake just picked at the bread.  He hates cheese.  My maple and fruit oatmeal was good though.  I highly recommend it.

We all had fun at the Lego competition, but it was sad when they didn't get a bid.  It all worked out the way it should have though.  The coach found out two weeks ago that she has breast cancer, and she starts chemotherapy on Friday.  Please pray for her.  Her name is Karyn.  Thanks!!

That night we went to the Magic Kingdom.  I was eager to see the new Fantasyland.  I am not impressed yet.  They aren't finished.  Right now, there is a very expensive restaurant, a counter service restaurant, a character greeting spot and a ride with a very long wait time.  I looked at the menu for the restaurant.  We peeked our heads in the counter service restaurant, Gaston's Tavern, and saw Gaston's great big chair, and then decided Ariel's water ride wasn't worth the 40-minute wait at 9 p.m.  Nate wanted to ride Space Mountain, but the wait was too long.  When we went back later, it was shut down for "technical difficulties." (I'd be avoiding this even if it was rideable.) There was definitely a theme running through the weekend.

Sunday was great.  I woke up around 7:30 and went to the gift shop to buy cereal.  We had breakfast in our room and then went to visit Cocoa.  We did this twice a day, so it made it a bit easier for all of us having her in a kennel.  Best Friends Kennel is right on Disney property.  I recommend this kennel if you are looking to board a pet while you visit WDW.  The prices are pretty reasonable, especially if you are staying on property.  They really take care of the animals there, and the facilities are great!  You can pop in any time you want to see your pet.

In the dog park - Cocoa and Jake

Cocoa mid run

Playing with Nate

Hulk at the Lego store

Jake wanted to eat lunch to celebrate his birthday at T-Rex in Downtown Disney.  We had just enough time to get to Hollywood Studios and maybe ride one ride and get Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania.  We got the FPs and then went to lunch.  John and the kids wanted to ride Rock 'n Roller Coaster, but the wait was 40 minutes or 60; I can't remember.  I myself have been advised to avoid the harder, more intense rides at Disney because of issues with my neck, so I have to forego most of the roller coasters from now on.  The other ride we could have gone on was the Tower of Terror, but the wait for that was 30 minutes; either one would have made us late for lunch.  Even though we were early for our reservation, they seated us.  The kids played at the Lego store while we waited for our food.  We ate in the Ice Cave where there were meteor showers every 20-30 minutes.  The walls of the cave turned from blue to red and back to blue.  It is very, very loud in this restaurant, but it is a lot of fun as well.

T-Rex skeleton in the Ice Cave

 After lunch, we headed back to Hollywood Studios to use our Toy Story Mania fast passes.  Totally worth it!!  John and the kids headed to Rock 'n Roller Coaster while I rode the Tower of Terror by myself.  This is my all-time favorite ride.  The wait was only 10 minutes.  So that was a bonus!

John and Paige in the back/Nate and Jake in the front totally enjoying their ride

Jake in a silly hat.  Doesn't everybody have a least one family-member-in-a-silly-hat picture?

Jake, Paige, and I rode this.  We enjoy this every time, especially when they open a new line right when we get there.

Once we finished up at Hollywood Studios, we spent the rest of Sunday at Epcot.  We spent some time in Club Cool.  Why not spend time drinking free Coke from around the world?  We've been there enough to know the two flavors that are worth drinking.  Half of the experience of Club Cool is sticking to the floor because of all of the Coke that gets spilled throughout the day.  ;-)

I forced the family to head to World Showcase.  All I kept hearing was, "Why are we here?  What is there to do here?"  I can't explain it, but I just loving walking around back there.  The theming here is excellent.  There is so much to see and hear and smell.  We ate dinner in Paris and had dessert in Paris, America, and Germany.  

Hand-carved $8,000 elephant.  Nate said it didn't look like it was worth more than $7,000.

A Corner of Paris taken from our outdoor table during dinner.

John and the boys rode Test Track again.  I think this time it worked out for everyone.  Paige and I stayed off and bought jackets at Mouse Gear.  It was downright chilly, and we were not dressed for cold weather.  Once we finished riding and eating and shopping, it was off to pick up Cocoa.  She was so happy to see us and finally get to leave via the front door.  She made it the whole way home without any issues at all.  We arrived safely home around 11:00 and slept until almost 11 the next day.  It was totally worth it!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my weekend getaway journal.  Thanks for reading.

Unfolding Breath

I have no idea why this word, "breath," was brought to mind the other day in relation to Scripture, so I decided to dig a little deeper.  Using the NIV, we first see the word breath in Genesis 1:30.  God has just created the entire world, culminating with Adam and Eve.  He then gives them a command:

"Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.  And there was evening, and there was morning -- the sixth day."  (Genesis 1:29-31)

In this command is the phrase "everything that has the breath of life in it."  Everything that has lived, lives, or will live does so because God breathed life into it.  If you live, God chose you to live.  He breathed life into you.  You have a purpose.  Don't waste it.

The next time we see this word is in Genesis 2:7.

"The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

It is only because God breathed into man that he became alive.  Without that breath, he would have just been a body lying in the dirt.  I love how this verse says "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life."  This comes from God.  God is life.  This helps me understand how God is able to bring people back from the dead.  He is LIFE!  He has always had victory over death.  He is LIFE!  Do you feel dead?  Turn to God.  He has the breath of life.  He can resurrect you and make you alive!!

Job says it well - "The Spirit of God has made me, the breath of the Almighty gives me life." (Job 33:4)

Psalm 150:6 gives the living a directive: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."  Why?  He gave us life.  We should praise Him.

Ezekiel 37 tells the story of Ezekiel being in a valley full of dry bones.  God tells him to speak to the bones, to tell them that the breath will enter them and they will come to life.  The bones start to rattle, and tendons and flesh are attached; but they will not be alive until breath is breathed into them.  He prophesies in God's name that the breath will enter them.  It does, and dry bones become living beings once more.

Fast forward to the New Testament, and we see in John 20 Jesus speaking to his disciples.  He says, "'Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.'  And with that he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit!  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'"  Jesus' life-giving breath.  The disciples are made alive spiritually.  They are given the Holy Spirit, who is part of the Trinity.  So, He is life!  When you become a follower of Christ, you are given the Holy Spirit.  You are given life!  This life will never end.  Even when we die, this life continues in us.  We will live for eternity in Heaven...really live.  There will be no more suffering.  We will praise God always and live in peace.

There are many verses that talk about breath.  There are verses about the breath of life.  There are verses about how the breath of God destroys those things that are evil.  One of the greatest is II Timothy 3:16-17:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

The Word of God, the Living Word, is literally the breath of God, the breath of life.  God's Word gives life.  It teaches and corrects.  It helps us live.  It helps us avoid the road that leads to destruction.

Won't you let God breathe on you so you can live?

Unfolding Perspective

I had a hard day with one of my children.  As I was out this afternoon, I reflected on the events that unfolded and was made to realize that we each have our own perspective.  This child of mine was having difficulty with math.  I had been trying to explain it, but the explanation wasn't clear enough to pass along any understanding.  Of course the topic was somewhat beyond my comprehension because I never fully understood it when I was in school.  How can I expect my child to grasp a concept I never did?  Anyhow, I thought about how God "gets it."  He knows each and every one of us personally, from the inside out.  He knows how we think, how we tick, what aggravates us, and what things we have trouble understanding.  He can see our perspective; He understands.

People often feel guilty when they share a difficulty in their lives when that difficulty isn't as bad as that of their neighbor.  Maybe a job was lost or you are having a hard time with your kids and you have a friend who just found out they have cancer or a parent of theirs died.  There will always be someone with a situation worse than ours.  A day may come when ours is the more difficult situation, but it is perspective.  No matter what we are dealing with we are being tested.  How will you handle your difficulty?  Who can you turn to and trust to comfort you and help you through the difficulty?  God gets it.  He doesn't give us what we can't handle.  Difficulties come into all of our lives.  It is perspective.

Think about when you are driving somewhere, and a car is tailing you.  Obviously it isn't safe, but try to have a different perspective instead of getting angry.  (I'm speaking to myself as well.)  Maybe the person behind you is rushing home from work to take care of their sick child.  Maybe they are late for work.  Again, I am not excusing tailgating, but maybe if we are able to pull over and let them pass we will gain a new perspective and be a little less irritated.

When listening to the news and hearing about all the evil in this world, instead of getting depressed, try to have God's perspective.  This world is only temporary.  It will eventually cease to exist.  God will create a new heaven and a new earth where all will be perfect.  He already knows what will happen in life, when, and how.  The better we know Him, the easier it is to face life's difficulties.  The more we have his perspective on things, the more joy we will have in trials (not because of trials).

Next time I have a hard time with one of my children, I hope I change my perspective to that of God.  My children are gifts He has given to me.  They have a purpose which God has instilled in their lives.  I hope I can also change my perspective to that of my children as well.  What are they dealing with?  What is going on in their hearts and minds that makes the situation seem so difficult?  If I try to change my perspective, I will hopefully be a lot more understanding and empathetic to everybody around me.

Life With a Puppy

Eight years ago, we gave away our second dog.  A few years before that we had to have our first dog put to sleep.  So, we had been dogless for eight years.  Even though we liked dogs, we were pretty sure we'd never have another one because it was convenient being able to go where we wanted when we wanted without having to worry about somebody watching the dog while we were gone.  It was also nice to not have to clean up the backyard.

Once we moved to Florida, John got the dog-owning bug.  He spent time watching videos of dogs online which were at a nearby Humane Society.  I'd go back and forth about owning a dog again and finally decided it was time.  We went to the HS and found a dog we liked.  She was almost a year old and about 60 pounds.  She was too much puppy for the rental we were in, so we took her back after two days.  We fostered her for that reason - if it didn't work out we'd be able to take her back.  She has since been adopted so I trust she is with a great family.

At the end of September, we went camping with some friends who told us that their dog had gotten pregnant by a neighbor's dog.  John spoke right up and said we'd take the runt of the litter.  That weekend, while we were all camping, the puppies were born.  For the next ten weeks, our friends sent us pictures of the puppy which they called "Cocoa," and we watched her on Skype.

Two weeks

Probably 7 weeks

We made plans to meet halfway between Jacksonville and our friends' house to pick up Cocoa.  It was the second Saturday in December.  We drove four hours and spent 1-1/2 hours with them.  Cocoa cried most of the way home.  It was so sad.

Pick-up Day 

Pick-up Day

 
We weren't going to keep the name, Cocoa, but after much deliberating and not being able to agree on something witty, we decided to keep the name she was given.

The first week and a half, she woke up three times a night.  It brought back memories of being up with a brand-new baby.  When she finally was awake for the day, it was 6:30 in the morning.  I am not a morning person, so 6:30 was too early for me.  Not for Cocoa, she wanted to play.  I, however, just wanted to go back to bed.  It has been five weeks now, and she is sleeping through the night.  I, however, still do not like getting up at 6:30.  The thing is when John gets ready for work, she wakes up.  This last Saturday, we all slept in until 8:00.  No one was up to wake her, so she just kept sleeping.  That was nice.

She is a shy puppy, not excited to meet new people and terrified of big dogs.  She didn't particularly care for the vet the first time we took her until she gave Cocoa some treats.  When the vet left the room, Cocoa remembered where the treats came from and tried to jump three feet in the air to reach them.  She didn't succeed, but I started wondering if she is part Mexican Jumping Dog.  We don't know what her father is.  Her mom is a chocolate lab.  Her sister looks like a shepherd.  Who knows?  All we know is that she is adorable.

She was born with a very short tail.  When she gets excited, her entire bum wiggles, so she has been given the nickname "Poopy Wigglebutt."  Poopy for obvious reasons.  She is a lot of fun to play with.  Nate likes to chase her around the furniture while she has a toy in her mouth.  It's like a game of Keep Away.  I think she actually pulls one over on him instead of the other way around.  One day she was sitting in front of the couch and Jacob was talking to her by his bedroom door behind the couch.  She stared at him and then jumped over the couch to get to him.  It took about a nanosecond for her to be on the other side, much too fast for us to react.  John gets her to chase him around the couch.  She ran around the other day about 5 times.  When they took a break and started up again, she didn't chase him around the couch but realized it'd be quicker to catch him if she just jumped over the couch, which she tried to do.  She is too smart for our own good.

New Year's Eve

Cocoa is 3-1/2 months old only and a ball of energy.  Thankfully she sleeps all night even when falling asleep at 9:30 or 10:00 p.m.  She is house-trained and whines or barks when needing to be let out.  She is a puppy and still bites when she plays.  I think she loves me best because she jumps all over me and bites me most.  When I get home from working, she jumps for five minutes (despite my reprimands that she stop).  

It had been eight years since we had a dog.  The kids are old enough now to take responsibility for her care when John and I aren't home.  It is much easier now, although it is still hard work.  This will probably be our last dog.  I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be able to find another one like her.  John says she is the easiest puppy he's ever tried to train.  

A Few Words to Make You Smarter

I used to post a Word of the Day when I first started blogging.  I got out of that habit but decided I'd find some new words for you.  In my search, I ran across a list of the "100 Funniest Words in English."   I will list the ones (or variations) I am also able to find in the dictionary.  I'll bet some of you will try to use them on a regular basis.

Our first word is argle-bargle, which is a variation on the frequently used argy-bargy.  These words mean a lively discussion or dispute.  I remember being at work one night when two groups came out of the bar across the street and had an argle-bargle.  This is of Scottish and English descent.

Have you ever used the word blunderbuss?  This is either a muzzle-loading firearm with a flaring muzzle or a blundering person.  I can see definitely using this word to describe the latter in many instances.

I know you'll use this next word as often as you can - borborygmus.  Say it like bore-bore-rig-mis.  It is the rumbling of your intestines caused by moving gas.  Next time you're in a crowded room and hear something coming from your belly, be sure to throw people off by letting them know it was just borborygmus. They won't ask you what that means because they won't want to admit they know less than you do.

Have you ever written lines on a piece of paper from left to right and then right to left?  If not, do it now.  You are producing a boustrophedon.  Again, makes you sound so knowledgeable.  I can hear the conversations now.  "What did you do today, honey?"  "I created boustrophedons.  You?"

Have you ever noticed a callipygian person?  What does it mean?  It means having shapely buttocks.  It is used as an adjective so make sure if you say it you make the g sound like a j and not a hard g or you might get slapped either way if you tell someone they are a callipygian person.

I'll end with this one for tonight.  Have you ever had collywobbles?  I'll bet you have.  Have you ever been nervous before speaking in front of people or before you got married or before a date?  If you had butterflies in your stomach, then you had the collywobbles.

Now you have six new words you can use - argle-bargle, blunderbuss, borborygmus, boustrophedon, callipygian, and collywobbles.  Which one do you think you'll use the most?  In a house with three teens/pre-teens, I'm going to guess I'll use argle-bargle the most.  Too many argle-bargles, and I'll be sitting at the table making boustrophedons.  :-)   Enjoy!!

Unfolding Resolution

People balk at the idea of New Year's resolutions.  Most are broken within the first month of the new year.  Perhaps people don't really want to change.  Perhaps the resolutions aren't attainable.  The whole idea has gotten a bad rap lately.  I was going to title this post something like, "Goals...Not Resolutions," but, you know what, a resolution isn't a bad thing.  The dictionary defines resolution as a firm decision to do or not to do something.  I have made some New Year's resolutions.  I have made a firm decision to do five things this year.

Our family sat down New Year's Eve, and each person came up with five goals for the new year based on an idea of a friend.  (Thank you, Linda!)  The categories for our goals were personal, family, spiritual, friends, and school/work.

I want to share my resolutions with you.  If you so choose, you can hold me accountable.  This may be part of the problem with resolutions.  It is certainly easier to remain true to your decisions if  others know of them and are given permission to ask you how they are going.

Therefore, I resolve in the personal category to eat better, exercise more, and lose 10 pounds.  My family resolution is to have more dates with my family.  I want to have more date nights with John for sure, but also to go out with my children and get to know them as they grow older.  We used to take them out individually when they were younger and do something special with them, but we got out of that habit.  It is time to get back to it.  My spiritual resolution is to have better devotional times with God.  I have been very lax in doing so and need to give God more of my time.  I resolve to communicate more and better with my friends this year and, finally, I resolve to figure out what it is I love to do and use it to help our family, in the area of work.

Our move south and out of my comfort zone has me out of my comfort zone personally.  I have been trying to evaluate my life, and this is how I have come to these resolutions.  I look forward to the changes that God can bring about through them and look forward to sharing my progress with you.  Again, feel free to hold me accountable.

2012: A Year in Review

2012

I love New Year's Eve.  It is my favorite time of the year because I love endings and new beginnings.  A new year is full of hope, 365 days to come that are not known to us.

I think 2012 has been our most eventful year ever.  We started this year with a desire to move to Florida.  We spent quite a bit of time painting and fixing up our Canonsburg house before we put it on the market in April.

The kids cleaned the brush off the hillside behind the house.

The kitchen before the remodel

The kitchen after the remodel

Our house was on the market for four days before we signed a contract with the first people who looked at it.  We saw this as a confirmation from God that we were definitely following God's direction.

While we waited to move, we finished out our school year at our co-op in Washington, PA.  I taught on the Civil War to the 6th through 8th grade class, so in April our family went to Gettysburg, PA.  The kids had never been there before, and I wanted them to experience it before we moved.  We bought an audio tour of the battlefield and followed it along to all of the sites.  I was very pleased to learn that my kids enjoyed Gettysburg and learning about the history.

Peace Light Memorial

Little Round Top

Nate's depiction of death after Pickett's Charge

We went to Destination Unknown with the junior high youth group from our church in McMurray, PA - The Bible Chapel.

Performing in a skit in which I rubbed peanut butter in another leader's hair. Sorry it is blurry.

Students playing games on the court.

Finding M&Ms in whipped cream in the rain with only their mouths.

Jacob turned 14 in January.  Nate turned 12 in March, and Paige turned 11 in November. Paige performed in her dance recital on June 1st, and she found a new dance school in Jacksonville.  She, however, is sure she will never find a dance instructor quite like Miss Bethany.

Jake found a Lego Robotics League when we moved.  His team came in 2nd or 3rd in his first competition and gets to move on to Regionals in February.

Nate took part in a Lego Movie-Making camp this summer and took a video production class at co-op.  He is as much into his Legos as he ever was and received three sets for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, my brother and his family and my parents came to our new house for Christmas week.  It seemed very strange to not have any snow or cold weather for Christmas Day.  My mom is having a hard time remembering it is New Year's Eve today because the weather is so nice.  :-)

On Halloween, we moved into a house we had built.  Before that, we spent five months in a rental just down the road.  

Our house in the final stages before closing.

Since being here, we have found a new co-op.  We are working on making new friends.  I know it'll take some time to make the kind of friends like we had in PA, but we're off to a good start.  We have found a wonderful church and joined a small group.

We have gone on field trips to local forts, an alligator farm, Disney, St. Augustine Old Jail, many different beaches, camping in the panhandle of Florida with friends, among other things.

We got a puppy 3-1/2 weeks ago.  She is a chocolate lab mix named Cocoa.  She is precious, and we are thankful to our friends, the Konrads, for giving her to us.

So, as eventful as 2012 was and how evident it was to us that God was at work in everything we did, I look forward to 2013.  It'll be a year with new goals and new adventures, and God will still be at work in our lives doing immeasurably more for us than we could ever imagine or deserve.

May you have a blessed new year as well!!!

Arthur Christmas: A Movie Review

The husband/dad was going out, so I was left to figure out what to do with the kids.  I had a Redbox code, so I told them we could get a movie.  Before venturing out, we looked online but didn't see anything.  Our next plan of attack was to view the available movies on demand on Directv.  Jacob saw Arthur Christmas and asked if we could watch that.  I mistakenly thought Arthur was Ernest from the "Ernest Goes To..." movies.  There was no way I was going to waste my time watching one of those movies.  When I explained to Jacob that I didn't like Arthur, he helped me to realize that it was Ernest I didn't like and should hold nothing against Arthur.  I told him that I did see that movie online at Redbox, so we went to pick it up.

I didn't hold out much hope for it beyond a goofy kid movie, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It is an animated film whose main character is Arthur Christmas.  He comes from a long line of Santa Clauses, though he was not in line himself since he was the younger brother.  After delivering all the packages on Christmas Eve and going to bed, the elves cleaned up the wrapping from their own Christmas party and found a toy that had not been delivered.  Since it didn't seem important to anybody that one child would be left without a toy, Arthur took it upon himself to enlist the aid of his GrandSanta to deliver the toy before sunrise Christmas morning.

I laughed throughout this movie.  It was very cute and had some very funny lines in it.  I was not bored once and did not feel it was a goofy kids' movie.  I even told my kids that we should buy it and watch it every Christmas.  I didn't watch it for any deep meaning, just the entertainment value.  It has a lot.

Perhaps there was an underlying message somewhere about how technology does or doesn't make things better as Santa is seen traveling in the S-1 at 45,000 miles per hour, but GrandSanta was able to save Christmas by traveling in his good old-fashioned sleigh with only one metal reindeer left at the end.  If there was, I missed it.  Perhaps there was some bizarre twist with aliens like in every movie Hollywood seems to ruin these days, but it was funny (there weren't really any aliens in this movie).  Perhaps there was some anti-aging sentiment since GrandSanta was seen as a relic like his sleigh, but I missed it.  There really wasn't.  It was all just funny.

I highly recommend this movie.  It is fun, and it is lighthearted.  Come on, if you can watch Elf over and over again every year at Christmas, there is no reason why Arthur Christmas can't be enjoyed in the same way.

What Were They Thinking?

I was at work yesterday when two college-age girls came into the store where I work.  They seemed just like any other customer who comes into the store to browse.  They spent some time looking at some silver necklaces we have and seemed to really like one that had a tree within a circle dangling from the chain.  They moved across the room to the wall on which a hundred other necklaces hung and continued to talk about the tree necklace.  Another customer came in asking for directions while these girls were at the necklace wall.  I noticed them leave a few minutes later.  I turned around to the display where the silver necklaces were and noticed that the tree necklace was not hanging there anymore.  There is no guarantee that these girls took the necklace since I did not see them do it, but I was not able to find it anywhere in the store.  (The rest of this post assumes culpability.)

I have not worked in retail before so have never had to experience being the victim of shoplifting.  It wasn't my necklace that was taken, but I felt violated somehow.  I was taken advantage of.  In an instant when I was helping someone else, a thief very quickly swiped something that caught their eye.  What is it that possesses someone to do such a thing?  Is there anything so completely necessary that a person feels they have to resort to such low measures?  I get the person who steals something to eat if they are starving, but I don't understand stealing a $24 necklace.  I suppose it is a sickness.  I know that they have sin in their hearts because we all do, but is there a gene missing in their DNA?  How are people born without a conscience?

It took me quite a while to get over the fact that this happened.  Now I am just angry and saddened that someone has to live with the sickness that afflicts them.  Thankfully I am a positive person for the most part and will continue to see the good in people before the bad.  To assume the worst of people would depress me.  I suppose I can pray for them and hope that they will somehow be convicted of what they have done and seek to make amends or at least to never do it again to someone else.  

It's All Fun and Games...

I was on thin ice on pay day when I set a mouse trap in my kitchen.  I was taking a risk with my life but did not have a clue.  I was the mastermind who thought it would be perfection to connect four traps together to catch the mouse, but I was sorry and needed an operation because in the dark I had to scrabble for the cheese that fell off and only found trouble when the traps snapped down on my fingers.

What's the common factor?

Christmas Songs Aren't Written by Floridians

My title is probably a sweeping generalization.  I haven't done the research to know for sure, but I don't think anybody who has ever lived in Florida has written a Christmas song, at least not a popular one they play on the radio 80,000 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.  I have been waiting for this time of the year since I moved here in June.  I wondered what it would feel like to not see snow during the winter.  I wondered what it would be like to not have 30-degree days on a regular basis.  Now that we are here and there is no snow and every other day is in the 70s, it seems a bit strange to be listening to Christmas music on the radio even though I know in my head that it really is the Christmas season.

Let's think about some of the Christmas songs we hear.  The obvious one would be "Let it Snow."  The song is about wanting the snow to fall so the two lovebirds would have an excuse to not have to go home.  If it were written in Florida the title might be something like, "Guess We Have to go Home Since it's Never Going to Snow."

How about "Frosty the Snowman?"  The closest we'll ever get to a snowman here is if we make a whole lot of shaved ice and roll it into a ball, but then "Frosty the Shaved Ice Man" doesn't really have the same ring to it.  "Sleigh Ride" has a line that reads "We're riding in a wonderland of snow."  It would be a wonder to see that much snow here to need a sleigh.

I suppose there is one song that could have been written by a Floridian - "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas."  It would have to be a dream.  Since the Christmas songs started on the radio the day after Thanksgiving, I have thought about how many songs talk about snow and how foreign a concept that is to those who live in warm climates.  Kids who have never seen snow really have no idea what it is like to be in that "wonderland."

I will agree that snow is pretty...if I'm inside and warm and don't have to go out in it.  I have decided I'd like snow more if it came when it was 70 degrees.  I won't miss having to scrape my windows.  I won't miss weeks on end of subfreezing temperatures.  I'll have to admit, though, that I'll miss the feeling of the Christmas season that snow brings, since that is what I grew up knowing.  It'll take some time to get used to Christmas lights on the palm trees and wearing shorts for family photos around the tree.

Here are some memories of a recent Pittsburgh winter...