Pictures from our visit with Mom & Dad

All of these pictures were taken at the Naples Zoo on the Monkey Cruise attraction. They have pontoon boats that take you around some Islands on a man made lake. The monkeys do not like to swim so they stay on their own island without the need for bars, cages, ect.

John & Michaela

A lovely picture of Mom & I.

Grandpa & The kiddos at the beach. We packed a picnic lunch for this fun day. I thought we had quite a few more pictures of the kids standing on Grandpa's shoulders and diving in but they may have inadvertantly been erased. We all had fun that day at the beach and the last out of the water was Grandpa.

Here is a picture of the beach we were at. It is a very pretty place called Marcos Island where only Doctors and Lawyers can afford to live, but the beaches are public property and less crowded! We know to only go to the beach on week days, so we don't run into too many natives & foreigners that think clothing is optional! UGH!

It was such a nice time to get to visit with my folks. We all thought it went by way too quickly. We had a lovely mothers day celebration and just a nice time showing them all the sites. It was also very refreshing to get to chat with folks that keep you somewhat grounded to what is familiar, and who are bold enough to be transparent!

They did get to meet Sarah while they were here as well. Being the characters that they are John & Sarah put on quite a hysterical show of their wit and sarcasm! My mom said she hadn't laughed like that in a very long time! Once I find the missing picture I will share more!

Pictures/story of the accident

For all of you's who wanted to know about the

accident, it was pretty amazing just how much the Lord protected us! I was driving the kids home Thursday from Ben's Karate lesson at about 5:20pm. It was raining really hard so this makes the streets really slick. Hydroplaning on streets are a reality to be aware of during the rainy season. I was stopped at a red light with about 15 cars in front of me when I heard/felt a big thud from behind. I didn't see it comeing, which is a small blessing since there would have been nothing I could have done to stop the impact and if I would have inched any closer to the car in fron this would have been bad too! The impact was very sudden as the lady in a small Ford focus hydro-planed into my back end. When I realized what happened I realized my foot wasn't pressed hard on the brake as it was when I had first stopped and I was slowly moving forward toward the car in front of me. THANKS TO MY DADDY, who taught me to never get so close to the car in front of you that you CAN'T see their back tires (gotta love those things that actually stick!)....... anyway, by the grace of God and maybe an invisable angel that worked as a sponge between the car in front and me, I stayed far enough away from the next car up to prevent a huge bumper to bumper mess on one of the busyest streets in town! The lady who hit me, her car was very damaged and didn't appear to be repairable while ours is still drivable. The back bumper will need replaced and the back door, while it still opens and closes just fine, will need to be popped back into the right shape. OTHERWISE, there is no other damage! No broken glass from the back OR side windows that could have shattered on top of the kids and there doesn't seem to be alignment damage! The girls parents walked in the pouring rain to the scene where they profusely apologized. I felt such sympathy for this poor 18 year old girl & her family. Probably because at the age of 18 I had 2 accidents that were my fault and where I totalled vehicles all because I was being too reckless...... Her family had to walk to the accident scene as it seemed that she was driving the only car. Can you please be praying for this girl as she recovers and heals from this traumatic experience. Being 18 and knowing that she put the family in a pretty hard predicament must be a lot of pressure so please pray that their insurance company would speed up its usual red tape battle for them to recieve compensation soon!The kids pretty much escaped without any harm done except for the trauma of being in an accident. Abby's first response as I dialed 911 was to ask "Mommy, can we pray". She is always my tender-hearted one! As I talked with the 911 officer her big sister prayed with her, however, shortly after this and after assessing the damage to the car behind us, Abby broke down. She started sobbing "I WANT MY DADDY" over and over, so I cut my 911 operator short to comfort Abby and let her know everything will be OK. Shortly after that the kids were on to a much happier subject..... "Mommy does this mean we will get to buy a new car?" Yeah, from that statement I KNEW they were fine as they shared their extravagant wishlist of what a new car will have (A TV for every passenger in the back). They were a tad bummed when their bubble was burst and they found out the car was fixable! :o) The fire, police and ambulance showed up which also provided the kids with the needed distraction and people asking if they were OK or felt any pain. Here is another so cool God~thing...... John gets off everyday at 5, but on Thursdays he usually goes straight to the church for Men's prayer to wait for others to arrive at 6. On this day in particular he took an alternate route to kill time and not get there early. It would just so happen that his alternate route was right beside the accident scene. Once he saw our van he was able to stop and come see if everyone was OK. This was so cool that God heard Abby's prayer for her daddy. It was also very neat that he got to witness the scene so that he knew about it before returning home at 7:30 & extremely exhausted from his full day. After finding that we were all OK and Abby was calm he was able to get to the church in time!Last night & today I was feeling the results of whiplash & the light-headedness never left so I went in to the ER to make sure everything was Ok. Somehow during the chaos of the accident I lost my liscense. I remember the police officer handing it back to me but after that where I put it I am not sure. After looking for a while with limited range of motion, I had to take a detour to the DMV before being scene...... Hospitals are kinda funny about not wanting to see people without ID? Anywho, I got in to the room......... after my spine was X-rayed & head CT, the Dr said that I had no new injuries that she could see! With the fact that I have osteoporosis in my spine this was a huge relief to know that there was no further injury! My CT was OK as well, which is another big praise for someone who needs to keep what I have left on my brain!! I am still pretty sore and probably will be for another couple weeks as my muscles heal. Thank you for all your concerns and prayers!I just ask if you would please pray for a couple other things besides the girl and her family..... Could you please pray that the insurance would be expediant at doing their jobs on our side as well and that we find a good shop that will charge within reason of what the insurance estimated it will pay for repairs. Florida has some weird insurance laws so this will be a learning experience but I am sure God has a reason for everything and that maybe we will have opportunities through this to be a witness of Him. I am going to go to bed now but tomorrow I will post this on my blog along with pictures of the damage! I have my blog set up with a widget on the side that allows you to sign up to recieve any new entries, via e-mail. That way you can keep up without having to constantly check. If you already get them sent to your e-mail address you don't need to sign up again! Thank you for all your prayers! Here was the song that was playing in my head soon after the accident was over, and the realization of how much God protected us was understood:

The Lord is gracious and Compassionate, slow to anger and rich in Love (2X)

And the Lord is good to all, He has compassion In all that He has made;

As far as the East is from the West,

Thats how far He has removed our transgressions from us (2X)

Praise the Lord, Oh my Soul, Praise the Lord (2X)

HUGS all!

Here is the lovely rainbow that appeared after the rainstorm!

Some Pictures

I told them to make their mean faces but Abby couldn't do it without giggling terribly! Ben and Michaela are barely holding it together since Abby is cracking up so bad!

Since arriving here in Florida we have wanted the kids to get involved in some kind of activities.

The kids were doing drama with just a couple other children from the homeschool group. This was great fun and they even got to perform at an old folks home around Christmas time. However, when it came time to memorize lines and doing plays they seemed to lose interest pretty quick. This meant it was more work for mom to remind them to memorize lines and such. Once something extra-curricular becomes a chore it is no longer something fun.

Next, we tried the girls in a Christian dance class for an 8 week intro course of ballet/lyrical. They liked it OK but not enough to LOVE it. When it came time to sign them up again they asked not to. When they started their dance class, we told Ben we would find a Karate class but never really inquired about many.

As I began looking around I had rather high standards knowing what the Takata's taught back home so this made my search a bit overwhelming. However, God lead me to just the right place! The atmosphere was not too intense or over-indulgent in the mysticism behind martial arts but it is not all fun and games either. There is a high standard to begin with and a good amount of respect required of them. I am hoping that Ben will be able to keep up with the older kids so that I can keep them all in one class. They are in a 'trial period' for 8 weeks that was very affordable to see if they would take to it. The first lesson was a private one with just the teacher and the 3 of them in order to get the basic positions down. It was fun for them to get that one on one time to meet the person that is teaching them and be able to not feel totally out of sorts on their first class. Today was their first lesson in the class with other students. At the end on the class they made a pretty big deal about getting their first belt. I was actually very surprised that they are smiling ear to ear and enjoying it so far. I am very shocked that Michaela seems to be picking it up pretty well without too much effort. Their teacher has a teenage girl that is a black belt and has been in his classes since she was about 5 years old. I would say that the girls are slightly in awe of the fact that she has acheived such a high rank which makes them a bit more motivated to get there as well!!

FREE Dave Ramsey Crash course!

Hey there,

I posted yesterday how inspiring Dave's 'Town Hall for Hope' meeting was! Today I found out that he is offering a FREE condensed version of his "Extreme Money Makeover" series at this link:
http://www.lifechurch.tv/message-archive/watch/life-money-hope
If there is any part of you that sees that you might be able to spend wiser and could utilize someone who has 'been there done that' to come alongside, I couldn't think of a better person than Dave Ramsey! He is awesome!
If you missed his Town Hall for Hope meeting, DON'T miss this one!

Stinkin~Thinkin begets hopelessness

I attended the Dave Ramsey Town Hall for Hope the other evening at a local church. There were many great points he made that evening but the most beneficial point was very cool! It kind of falls under the premise of "duh-huh", or "I should already know this", but the world being what it is right now, WE ALL needed the reminder of this simplistic basic concept. In the news now-days you can’t turn on any channel that isn’t EXTREMELY pessimistic about the economy. NOTHING is pointing us in any direction besides doom and gloom and due to this over-exposure, we may forget that it is our responsibility to go against the flow! We are suppose to renew our minds in order to fulfill this scripture in Phil 4: 8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
The media is doing everything in its power to keep our minds in a frenzy of paranoia & panic. Desperate people will act according to their emotions, rather than that of their own biblical foundations! If our heads are spinning so much with the current crisis, is there an abscence of clarity to see the dangerous path we are being lead on? Chances are we are so blinded by our own insecurity, we can’t even begin to understand how our leaders are putting us in an even more dangerous position than where we were at previously. I have my theories on why this is happening but the sad thing about it is, we are ALL falling for it hook, line and sinker. Our hope is suppose to be based on the Lord, but lately, due to the frenzy all around me, it is hard to chose not to buy into the chaos & hype of the doom and gloom. Instead of being controlled by the peace that surpasses all understanding, I have bought into the spirit of fear. Just because I am surrounded by forclosed homes and jobless people does not give me the excuse to FORGET that no matter what, God is on control! It is easier to complain, makes excuses for the way things are and join the downtrodden crowd, rather than actively living out the hope that has been entrusted to us by God! To be prepared financially using Godly wisdom and frugal living so that when hard times come we are not lacking anything!
I saw a special on 60 minutes a while back about the newest generation. They are calling them ‘Millennials’ or Gen Y. If you missed out on this report you can get a good handle on it by going to these segments that were posted on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5IfsNqJcmA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOAHHExq8ig&feature=related
No longer is hard work worthy of reward but just showing up to work should get as much a reward and praise than those that work twice as hard! Might this be a good portion of the reason why the economy is in the state that it’s in is, due to this false sense of entitlement and un-earned accomplishment? This author and his friend are making TONS of money going around the country as ‘life coaches’ to 20-something whiners. To add insult to injury these sly dogs are training the older generations how to keep these SPOILED BRATS from quitting on them. In light of knowing these are the times we are living in, I think it is quit fitting for there to be a evolutionary downfall of economic proportions. While I do not believe in evolution per say, I believe that this economy will separate the sheep from the goats. Do you think in this economy you will have many employers splurging to satisfy the egos of the ‘Gen Y’ with fancy gifts when he or she is already losing tons of money due to a decrease in spending. The best part about Dave’s speech last night was that he mentioned that people that had a vested interest in serving their bosses or customers in the same way they serve the Lord will survive & thrive in the most depressed markets! Those that are more interested in self-indulgence and getting more money than they deserve will lose out! SO if you are one of those hard working folks that work daily as unto the Lord, God will take care of you!
Needless to say, it was amazingly refreshing to hear Dave speak of personal responsibility, serving/treating others the way you would want to be treated & using wisdom with your finances. You can actively participate in this little thing called HOPE by also choosing NOT to participate in the doom & gloom of the recession and instead fixing our eyes on our Savior!

Not the sharpest crayon in the box

This blog is going to be more of a praise today! I am just so thankful that God covers us in ALL THINGS. Even the things that we are unaware of. Although I try my darndest to use all the marbles I have left up in my brain, sometimes I forget that I am not the sharpest crayon in the box. Here was the situation where God totally covered me and filled in for my absent brain cells to which I am so grateful!
You see, last night I realized that my pharmacy made a mistake. While trying to save me & my insurance company some money they sent me the generic drug after I specifically requested over the phone and then sent in a payment for the brand name. Now please understand, I am not a brand name drug snob, but when it comes to maintaining a seizure disorder, the rule of thumb is you don’t mess with what is working! Especially when the consequences of learning that the generic prescription DOESN’T work like the name brand, comes at a pretty steep price. If I were to have a breakthrough seizure, even a mild one, I could injure my kids, myself, crash the car while driving and possible injure whoever was inside my car or whoever I hit with the car, or just plain scare my kids to death! The results of a seizure also means my driving privileges would be legally suspended (on my driving record) for 3 YEARS. As you can guess this means a break in insurance coverage which is spendy. In WA you are not legally suspended and it is more a system of ‘scouts honor’ to not drive for 6 months following a seizure. Not saying that I don’t see the validity in this law, but it just makes those of us who are honest and for the most part very controlled with our seizures punished with those that are not.
After ordering the drug I miraculously found another supply of my meds that I didn’t see before ordering. It was a pretty sizable amount too (1 ½ month supply). So when the new bottle arrived I just put it up and didn’t think twice about it. Didn’t even inspect it, quite honestly. A couple weeks later we ordered some more prescriptions that we didn’t have to pay for since there was a $50 credit on my account? I called and they didn’t really give me a definitive reason why there was a credit. I told myself that I would need to check on it soon but with all the things on my plate, I just forgot. I mentioned to my Dr about the insurance wanting me to try the generic and he explained that it was taking a risk. Although chemically it is the same, the bonding agents can be different which affect absorption, chemical reaction, effectiveness of the delicate balance (I know maybe too much info). I sent in my new script and looked up my account on-line where I spotted the differences between the new prescriptions and the last one filled on my account. I then looked at the bottles and sure enough was the generic name and the the pills were a little but different. However, not different enough to spot when I am half awake taking my meds so PRAISE GOD!. I am just so thankful that God let me in on the secret stash in the back of the cabinet and provided me ample time to figure out this mistake so I didn’t have to figure it out after having a seizure! God is so good!

Conversion/confessions of a pessimist

Isn't it fascinating, the differences in personalities and how the Lord fits all of us imperfect folks together. Usually, when 2 people marry, one will be the person with a huge world-view…... A person who has no trouble seeing God as limitless and therefore has amazing vision and plans for what the Lord can do. Sometimes this also includes the amazing ability to sit at the Lords feet long enough to hear HOW He wants these plans to unfold! Fortunately this personality also must include a filter. Folks like this are usually paired up with someone that is more of a down to earth type who sees things on a smaller scale in a ‘realistic’ but limited perspective. Praise God for the filter that takes the limited ‘world-view advice’ and brings this perspective to the Lord’s feet. Not to limit the Lord, but to figure out IF there is any wisdom to be found or if it is just a device that the enemy is utilizing in order to steal from God’s limitless abilities to work through us!
Most of you who really know John and I can pretty much figure out 'who is who' in this scenario. If you don’t well then just keep reading!
Although I would love to be the one who has the limitless world view, I am not one of those folks and usually play things pretty safe. It is a blast to ‘live vicariously’ through the dreamers, contribute to the dream and get that amazing awestruck glimpse of what the Lord can do with ‘no inhibitions’. When the rubber meets the road though, and when it is time to act of those limitless plans………. When my ‘faith in theory’ is put to the test to see if it is real or just a façade……… My flesh likes to play the role of a, for lack of a better term, party~pooper!
I know in my head, that a plan so huge could only be of the Lord, BUT yet it is so easy, to allow ME to creep in and spoil the whole thing! To slip into my flesh and put on the brakes to thwart something awesome God might have planned! I am the first person to bring limitations back into the picture. Somehow, in my flesh, I feel the need to inform the Lord, that there might be things He has not yet considered that may stand in the way of these ‘grandiose, bigger than life itself’ plans.
This realization made me contemplate how many times I have missed out on something pretty amazing due to the fact that I was too short sighted. In doing so, I settled for what is ordinary rather than the extr-ordinary! How many occasions, due to pride, selfishness, comfort or just a narrow world view, God’s plans just really didn’t fit into my personal reality. Instead of turning to the Lord, and pleading with Him to mold me, by broadening my world-view to fit His plan, instead I have cheapened His plan in order to force it to fit my reality/comfort. Meaning, that there were many times my comfort level & lack of obedience, put God’s plans in a box! However, the cool thing is that through this whole move, I have seen the Lord bigger than I have ever seen Him before. I watched Him ‘move mountains’ to get us here which in turn, makes me more open to broadening my world view to whatever He wants to do next. Without our pre-conceived boundaries, we have no need to limited God to fit Him into our circumstances.
Many times we don’t want God to be limitless because it may cost us something.
Romans 12: 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Phil 2: 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
I am sure you are all a bit curious about what got me into pondering all this and it was something totally simplistic. It was almost like God gave me a glimpse of a before and after scenario. I was listening to our pastor’s wife the other day share a pretty amazing event that God had placed on her heart. How she wasn’t certain on the particulars of where, when and how but that, in His timing, she was suppose to put it together. She was talking about some pretty awesome limitless possibilities that God could use to reach out to the community, which is always very exciting, since this is what we came here to do! For once in my life, the Lord allowed me to see HIS limitlessness in the concept, where as so often my flesh would take over and run amuck. Usually the flesh gets precedence first to run amuck and THEN I turn to the Lord and allow Him to change my heart. Must have been the Holy Spirit to help me put on the mind of Christ! I found that instead of thinking about why they could never work it made me think of how awesome if at the Lord’s leading we could put those plans into action! Just a small victory for the Lord that was pretty neat to give Him the Glory for!