YouWho it's Thursday!

In just under 48 hours the plane will touch down with our guests for a week, we are so excited to finally be having guests. I know, I know, it is HOT here in the summer and no one wanted to come, but the truth is there was a big blue/green/gray/brown/silver ocean to cool you; it was awesome to be at the ocean on those sweltering days. I know we will get some ocean time in next week as well!!

It's been steady this week, just enough things in the day to keep me out of the house for at least a few hours everyday, which made it somewhat challenging preparing for our visitors. But there are no worries, I have most of the cobweb downs and rearranged the dust so it is all good! We have a lot more room in this house and it is not uncommon for me to not even go upstairs for several days at a time. Really, before I went up to clean I cannot even remember the last time I went up there...hmmm, I bet it was when I ran up there to retrieve something off the printer; that is really all I go up there for! That's bad...I hope to start spending some more time up there as that is where I have located all my scrap booking supplies. Anyway, when I did go up there this week to spiff things up I was not thrilled to find several dead bugs...yeah, one dead wasp, two dead flies and several dead earwigs I think that is what they are called and one very alive silverfish, YUCK, I am not one who I would consider afraid of bugs but I still don't like them, especially in my house!

So on Saturday night we will be dining at Cheesecake Factory, yuuuuuummmmy! I cannot believe mySherry has never been. This I found unbelievable and made it my mission to be take her while she is here! Then on to our hotel for a relaxing/restful evening with some pool time I imagine and then Sunday, it is "SEAWORLD, here we come"!

Then we will head back to Cocoa Beach and spend the week beachin' it, shopping, long lunches out, late night conversations and games I am sure it will be mucho funo! Looking forward to it! I am sooooo excited! Of course, we will do some touristy things in the area as well but mainly just hang out and relax.

Thursday Thoughts!

• I love my MIB
• It's raining and I love it!
• I miss my family most this time of year.
• It's hard to be so far away from family...
• I got a $2.49 pumpkin at Aldi this week!!

Ahhh Thursday!

Since it's Thursday, that means tomorrow is F R I D A Y :)

I mean who doesn't like the weekend, right? MiB has been gone this week to "the Hill" and returned today, yeah!!! It was a good visit from the emails I got and I am sure I will hear more about it when we get to sit down and have dinner or lunch or coffee on the beach together this weekend. However, I just returned home and found MiB laid out in the bed...not good, he is feeling crummy, he is nauseous, severely nauseous, along with a headache. He doesn't have a temp to the touch but he says he is having episodes of sweating, then feeling chilled. Lord, please don't let it be the flu, especially the pig kind...while I don't want him to be ill at all, I pray that it is just a gastrointestinal viral bug that bit him and nothing more and it will pass on by quickly, very quickly. In Jesus name, AMEN. And really, I do not think at all it is the swine flu, but everyone seems to think that is what someone has the minute they hear anyone is sick. His symptoms at this point would lead one to believe it is a classic stomach virus.

I have many thoughts swirling around in my head this afternoon...this morning I joined others from the community to pay respect to a fallen soldier from Satellite Beach. It was a humbling, sobering experience. We held out our flags as the breeze made them wave while the black hearse made it's way down South Patrick Drive. They were waving goodbye. While the southbound lanes were closed, northbound lane drivers immediately pulled over and came to a stop when they realized what was happening. Some drivers even exited their vehicles to stand in silence as the family cars along with the Patriot Guard made their way to the funeral home. There was a long procession of vehicles, it was painfully silent as the cars continued to file by.



This makes me sad, he was so young. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country. I am so proud to be an AMERICAN, I am proud to be a military wife. I think about the fact that this time last year my own MiB was serving in the same country that this young soldier died in. It seems to get more dangerous by the day, I am thankful, I am grateful for those who continue to fight to keep our country free and to help others seek freedom for their countries as well, we are a great nation and today many were reminded we are a nation at war, a war that is deadly, a war that is costly in human lives. I am sad that many people in our country do not seem to realize we are at war. We live our lives with such careless disregard to this fact, it is not like the other wars we have been in, it is a feeling I find hard to describe.

On a different note here are my Thursday thoughts:

• Tomorrow is F R I D A Y :) TGIF


• I ordered more blueberry coffee :0)


• The youth group pumpkins arrive tonight :p


• I like dried cranberries, walnuts and raisins!


• There is a pink flamingo party this weekend!

Hope you have a fantabulous weekend! I plan to!

A walk down engagement lane...

It was 25 years ago today that I said "YES" when MiB asked me to marry him...I knew he was the one for me and I wanted to keep him so when he asked I was definitely saying yes!!! We picked out the ring together at the local jewelry store and then he went to ask my dad if he could marry me before he would let me have it. That was a memorable evening for us, my dad didn't just give a "sure" or even "yes" it was a nearly 2 hour speech which MiB still vividly recalls to this day :) He often recalls bits and pieces to LilBlue and other young ones we encounter. I would say there are no secrets in our marriage, no magic potions, just a lot of honesty that has gotten us through the years. Our life is not a fairytale no matter what Ms Vada says/thinks but it is often magical because we still work very hard to make it that way. We have, fortunately, been blessed with good Godly examples of marriages. I was the product of the big "D" and wanted no part of that, who would, and in reality I don't think anyone plans for that; however, it is something that happens. I do not think anyone is immune from that possibility and if you do feel that way, IMO you are already at a disadvantage, all marriages are vulnurable, period.

So what has sustained us? Like I said there is no magic potion that I am aware of...but there is a lot of patience, lots of unconditional love, laughter and a love of God, not in that order... We try to honor each other every day, we try to keep it fresh and new, we try to not fall into ruts, (I had my first surfing lesson yesterday, I wouldn't try that for just anyone!), we keep God first and balance all the other demands in our life. We are pulled in many directions with MiB's job, we make the choice to do those things we can do together before we choose those things we do separately, some people think we are joined at the hip, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing :) and we really aren't, we each have some different interests that we keep up with but we do try to make sure we aren't consumed by them. We try to heed that advice given to us from those who have succeeded, such as

• NEVER, ever, ever go to bed mad
• Treat each other as you are still dating
• Do not speak poorly of your mate to anyone

Don't kid yourself, we have had our own set of ups and downs...we have not always kept to the solid advice give but we have tried. We have also done marriage retreats, couples weekends and rented ears...all to make sure we stayed on solid ground. We have worked through some deep issues, we have had "moments", we are human, life is not always a cake walk and far from perfect but we try to continue to grow together in our marriage and we continually give God the glory for our life. It's worked for us and we have thankfully avoided a marriage on the rocks. I pray daily for MiB and I know he does the same for me, we pray together, we worship together, we do life together, we do not live separate lives and live under the same roof, we do it together, ALL of it, the good, the better and the best~

I am so glad I said, YES" all those years ago!

143 MiB :)

Thursday Thoughts...

Another week, another blog entry...maybe I should do more...maybe I should do less. There is so much more I could do...but so much less I get done...

Fall has officially arrived everywhere but here, we are still quite warm; however, they say we will be getting a cold front from the midwest soon. We'll see, but I am not thinking there will be any frost on the pumpkin, mold maybe but not frost!

Our traveling adventures will begin again now that cooler weather is around the corner. In fact, we start off with having company in a couple weeks and will do some local things in O and here around our area with them. Then MiB and I head to the Panama City area for a few days where I am just the tagalong but will enjoy the surroundings! After that we have a few days at home before we head out to California for two weeks. I am really excited to get to go back to Cali where we will spend a week exploring the southern part of the state before heading up to L.A. for our conference. I wanted to go across the border but there are restrictions on MiB preventing us from doing that so we will be skipping it this time. There will be plenty of other things to do so no worries!

This week has been busy, but good, with lots of sand between my toes time so life is good!

Thoughts:

• Pumpkins make me smile!
• Pumpkin coffee is a great treat.
• Pumpkin pie is a favorite of mine.
• Pumpkins just scream F A L L in my book.
• Pumpkins are orange (couldn't resist the obvious)

Until I write again...