Illinois Invasion

(Two of the crew plus Sabian enjoying a Sunday afternoon nap)

The house is quiet, there are no towels hanging outside on our porch rail, no shoes piled at the front door. What's wrong?

Last week four friends from Illinois made the trip to spend a few days in Wewa. Becky, Stacy, Jacob and Ross spent their time with us frolicking in the waves, shopping and lounging. They also had a chance to spend some time with some of our kids from church. We attempted to achieve all of the goals on their Wewa list although Stacy did not have a chance to meet everyone in Wewa. We tried to come up with ways to make that happen but alas, it did not.

It looked as though we would not be able to fulfill one goal - the purchase of Wewa tshirts - when it appeared that all available outlets in Wewa were out of Wewa shirts. Way to be, Wewa. However, upon hearing of their dilemma on their last night in Wewa, Allison and Chelsey, two of our girls from church, mysteriously disappeared after youth service only to return about half an hour later with hot off the press Wewa tees for the group. They saved the day!

It was really nice to have people from home here and Addie loved the constant company. We miss them, but we're so glad they were here for those few days.

I am thankful our IL crew made it here and back safely.

Say cheese

In my Mother's Day post I mentioned that we'd had some family photos taken and that I would share them when they were ready. I realized the other day, when we received one of our prints in the mail, that I had failed to post some of the photos on here. If you're friends with me on Facebook you may have already seen some of these. I'll share a few of our favorites.

Thanks to Michael Newman, our photographer that day. Michael is friend to a couple we met in our lamaze class and made our photo shoot incredibly comfortable and easy. Addie was happy, cooperative and a lot of fun. We are very happy with the photos (save for my nit picking!) and hope future photo ops are as easy as this one was.












I'm thankful this all came together!

Oh me, oh my

I have a mountain of laundry to wash, dry and fold, a dirty house to clean and sleep to try and catch up on while chasing Addie - rather, retrieve items from her hands/mouth, keep her from throwing these items and generally holding her when she's bored of her toys, sleepy, or just needs some mom time.

All of this comes after a week that consisted of a visit from four Illinois friends backed by a trip to Atlanta for a conference with 19 teenagers and adults from church. We said goodbye to our friends last Thursday morning as we departed that same morning to Atlanta.

I'll post soon about both adventures but for now I am wrapping up the day with a piece of cake, a glass of milk and this sweet picture.


I am thankful we had time to visit with our friends and that we had a great time in Atlanta with our youth kids. I'm also thankful that Addie did so well with both!

SOS!

I need help!

We have visitors arriving tomorrow for a few days and then a trip with our youth group next week for a conference and Addie woke up this morning with the beginning signs of a cold (I'm feeling it, too).

What can I do to prevent it from becoming full blown? Is there anything I can do? Timing is everything, isn't it? Right now her spirits are still high but the sneezing is in place and a little runny nose is making an appearance.

Ideas, thoughts?

Happy (early) Father's Day!

We are looking forward to welcoming some Illinois visitors to Wewa this weekend. Last Saturday we decided to preempt Father's Day and did a little celebrating. We started out with some time on the (oil-free) beach.


Then we explored some parts unknown to us. We drove out to Indian Pass, which has totally secluded, people-less beaches, but that's about it.




Then we headed to dinner in Port St. Joe.


We're saving Sabian's gifts for Sunday, but had fun celebrating on a beautiful Saturday.

I am thankful for Sabian and what a great example he is to Addie, even though she may not be able to recognize all he does for her right now.

The calm before the oil

Yesterday was one of those beach days you wish for when you're on vacation. Full sunshine, slight breeze, calm, clear water - it was the kind of day you could spend all day at the beach. Alas, I did need to get back home to my husband and daughter but I spent a good, sanity-inducing couple of hours enjoying it.

So far we've seen no oil but there was quite a bit of activity on the beach when I got there. There were many people walking around in "street clothes" wearing official looking badges around their necks. There were a few riding around in go carts and a helicopter or two whirring overhead. I also got a glimpse of this:



It is strange seeing the boom floating in the water. It definitely breaks up the view.

Later on in the day Addie enjoyed some dress up time in one of my t-shirts. She loves running around in our tees.



I'm thankful the oil hasn't hit us...yet.

Wedding bells in Cape Girardeau

Last weekend we took a whirlwind of a trip to Cape Girardeau, MO to marry off one of Sabian's friends. In fact, this friend, Mark, was Sabian's best man in our wedding. So, it was a can't miss event. The caveat was that we would be leaving Wednesday night and then driving back to Florida Saturday after the wedding so that Sabian could preach Sunday morning. Sheesh.

When I first found out the trip would have such a quick turnaround I immediately declared that Addie and I would be staying home, that it would be too much for her and, quite frankly, too crazy for us. But, as time went on, I felt a little sad that we wouldn't see Mark married and that Sabian wouldn't get to introduce his friends to Addie. After all, we seem to only get together about every two years when someone gets married.

So, just a few days before take off I started making plans to get us ready to go. My main concern was, now that Addie is older and even less content in her car seat, how the heck would we keep her entertained? It turned out not to be such a problem. She did end up being awake a few of the wee hours of the trip up there, but she was fairly complacent. Not totally, but fairly. And, on the ride back, she did really well while she was awake. So well, in fact, that we've talked about how now, on future trips, we just may nix the driving all night deal and opt for leaving later in the day and driving half daylight, half night hours. That seemed to work pretty well.

As for the wedding, Mark and Jenna's ceremony was at SEMO's River Campus overlooking the Mississippi River and the cool bridge that is in Cape Girardeau. We were very happy to be part of their day.

While we were there we enjoyed at least one full day of relaxing and catching up.










I'm thankful that the trip went so well and that we had a quick getaway before the summer really gets away from us!

Oil, oil go away

I'm posting from a hotel room in Cape Girardeau, MO while Addie takes her afternoon nap. We're here for a wedding - one of Sabian's friends. I'll post more on that later.

For now, I was going to give a quick recap of our Memorial Day and now it seems appropriate as it may be in memory of our pristine beaches here. Seems the oil is on its way.

Memorial Day was a lazy day. We didn't leave the house until almost five. When we left we headed for the beach, hoping to skip the crowds and the heat of the day. We were able to do both. As evidenced by my many photos we have been to the beach numerous times and Addie has accompanied us many times as well. Before now she was pretty little, probably really too little to appreciate it. The last time we went we weren't able to stay too long because it was chilly and the wind was whipping the sand into our legs. But, Addie was enjoying playing in the sand. I knew the next time we could make it she would have a lot of fun.

And fun she did. Sabian took her swimming and she seemed at ease among the waves. Even when walking along the beach she would charge ahead into the water, which makes for lots of fun for mom and dad, right?! She liked playing in the sand with her shovel and bucket and she loved it when the seagulls were all around. It appears she possesses her dad's bird whisperer tendencies. She especially liked working out her little long legs by walk, walk, walking. She offered a friendly wave and a, "hi" to anyone and everyone we passed and if there was a baby or anyone close to her size she had to stop and watch them.

It was the perfect time to be out at the beach and it was fun seeing Addie do so much exploring. I'm afraid that next time we try to go we may run into oily beaches, which makes me sad.






I'm thankful for living close to the beach so that we are able to enjoy it as often as we can.

Wipeout is back!

Tomorrow night Wipeout returns! Some of you may remember my confession last year and I am proud to say that I anxiously await tomorrow night's episode. Not only is it the return of Wipeout, but it is blind date Wipeout!

I still believe it is wrong of them to only accept contestants who reside in California but I will still be watching.

Today I am thankful for a fun time at the beach with Addie and Sabian. Addie had a blast and we had so much fun watching her.