Freeport / Port Lucaya

Okee Dokee, seems I haven't blogged about our two port days on the most recent cruise.

We went to Freeport first. Freeport is an industrial port, nothing to look at for sure. I remember when we went there on our first cruise and it was Andy's first view of the Bahamas. (I had been before) He wasn't impressed. There is nothing to do or see when you step off, you must go somewhere!

Thankfully, I have very reliable friends @ Cruise Critic that hook me up on fantastic information. (Did I just say "hook me up"??) They've always steered me in the right direction!

We hopped off a little while after docking and breakfast, let the ones in a hurry move along. We hopped off and asked the super nice gentleman right off from the ship where we should wait on a taxi to Lucaya. There was a large grassy area right there beside the paved turn around for the taxis and buses. Buses for excursions to the right, taxis to the left. We waited about 5 minutes for the next taxi/van.

I get motion sick, BIG time in cars or vans!! So I asked the super sweet driver if I could sit in the front, of course "no problem 'mon". He didn't say that, but let me of course. It's $5 per person, one way to Lucaya. Not so bad! We were off... The ride is about 15 minutes, nothing scary or crazy either. (Unlike the St. Thomas mountain drives or Nassau crazy people) They do drive on the left and when turning it does tend to shock me each time.

They drop you off directly in front of the Isle of Capri Casino, which is very nice. (looking through the door anyway) You can walk directly across the street and there is the market place. It's a very pretty, clean, nice little area for eating or shopping. They have everything from t-shirts to jewelry, knick knacks to cameras. There are all sorts of places to eat from Quiznos & Subway, to local cafe's. You can eat burgers, hot dogs, chicken, sandwiches, salads, seafood, you name it. Inside or out, all up to you.


The market place area, not a fantastic picture. It is very nice! Of course I see yellow tape in my picture , I would get the only spot where they were working. They were working on patching part of the pavement & roof though, upkeep is important there.



There is a straw market there as well, you've seen one and you've seen them all though. We have been "over" them for quite some time. At the back there is a great marina, it looks like you're in Florida. There are beautiful boats galore. You can also take snorkel, sight seeing, fishing trips back there... like from a pier in Florida or something. Very pretty!!


The marina area, the resort way behind us is a place where they offer dolphin excursions: swim with and just experiences with. Such a pretty area!!



Then we decided to hit the beach. Back across the road, right beside the casino is a resort called "Our Lucaya". It's one resort, made up of two hotels. The Westin & the Sheraton. (You can google either hotel or Our Lucaya resort) It's wide open, you just walk through down a sort of board walk area. You walk straight back to the beach. You can pay $15 a day per person and use all of their facilities. You get a beach chair, chairs by the pool (with big ole comfy cushions) use of the pools and restroom facilities. They give you an armband. So we spend $40 for the day total and it was fantastic!!! Oh and right back in front of the casino to catch a taxi back, waited 5 minutes and had a really funny lady driver, she was a hoot!! She was talking about sharks and why she wont go in the water, cracking me up.

The view from my chair!



This is the Westin, looking up from the beach. It's kind of cloudy already that day, not a great picture. You can see the pool a little bit.



We came home to immediately look online and look into flying down and staying right there. It is such a great place. Andy said the entire day "I can NOT believe how nice this is" He didn't expect it to be so pretty, it is! (MUCH nicer, neater, than Nassau. And we love Nassau don't get me wrong!) We are also looking at taking this same exact cruise again and doing the same things! Both of us would recommend it to anyone, anytime of any age!!

It did end up raining on us that afternoon and we had to cut our day a little short, but it was fantastic just the same!

Reading
November-April

I thought I'd go back and fill you in on my favorite books from the winter & spring. I didn't read as much then as usual. Then again, keep in mind, I read A LOT! So I'll try to stick to a faves list! These are in NO order, just faves from those months.

Sophie Kinsella - "Shopoholic takes Manhattan", "Shopoholic Ties the Knot", "Shopoholic and Sister", "Shopoholic and Baby" - I think that I already listed "Confessions of a Shopoholic" in my previous (September or October) reading blog. These books are all hilarious. She is so funny! I never get tired of the Rebecca Bloomwood character and her chaos, I fly through the books and look forward to the next one each time. Her website has some videos of her talking about writing the books, very fun. The first is being made into a movie, it'll come out next year, made by Disney. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (SP?) that's never done this kind of movie before, but from his interview, he's into it.

Richard Paul Evans - "The Gift" When you see his name, you know it's going to be emotional, short and deep!! I love his books and this one is right on par with his other books. A little boy has the power to heal people, but with each healing he gets sick.

Sophie Kinsella - "Undomestic Goddess", "Can You Keep a Secret" & "Remember Me" are great! They aren't the same characters, but the books are very good. Easy to read, hilarious! I think "Remember Me" is my favorite of these though. Girl is in a wreck, wakes up to realize she's forgotten the past 3 years of her life. She's married and doesn't know the guy, she's become someone she doesn't like, very very very good book!!

Mary Kay Andrews- "Deep Dish" How much do I love her?? I even visit her blog daily, though she doesn't update every day. She is a hoot and her writing sucks me in. She is SERIOUS SOUTHERN chick lit romance. (She lives in Atlanta) Her books make me laugh out loud and feel like I am right there in the story. With this one I see Paula Deene and Matthew McConaughey as I read the characters. Too funny!!!

James Patterson- "Maximum Ride-The Final Warning" How can these books, written mainly for teens, be so great?! I love them. The winged characters are so NOT my typical reading style, but I adore the characters and look forward to these. Quick read, edge of your seat and action!!

Madeline Wickham (Who is also Sophie Kinsella of Shopoholic books) "The Gate Crasher" I've decided that I don't like her books by this name near as much as when she writes under Sophie. For some reason these aren't near as engaging and not quick reads. Just a thought-


THEN..... April arrives. In April I made a trip to the Christian Bookstore and bought a few books from the bargain table, $5 each. These are some of the best bargains I've EVER found!! I found two new FAVORITE authors and was hooked!!! I ran straight (to my couch) to order (used) the rest of the books by these authors!!!!

Ray Blackston - "Flabbergasted", "A Delirious Summer", "Lost in Rooville" that is all one series! Then there was "Par for the Course" .. The first there, "Flabbergasted" is by far my favorite. It is written from a guy's point of view, but it's a chick Christian lit sort of book. Funny to "hear" it from a guy! It's about a guy named Jay Jarvis who is new in town and thinks church is a great place to meet girls, so he finds himself in a singles Sunday School Class. Yikes! You've been in one and know that it might be shocking to someone who has never been in church before! I totally relived my past and "saw" so many of my old friends in the characters. They are headed on a singles retreat to Myrtle Beach and he's off with them, as the new guy. It is so fun! I was in love with the story from the first chapter. It's very entertaining, while offering a few deep moments as well. Great, great, great find with this author!!! I adore him!!!!!!!!! The other two in the series are great, but nothing like first finding a new author you adore. "Par for the Course" is good as well. You meet a new character, called "Hack" who owns a small town driving range. His employee has a souped up golf cart and uses a bull horn to shout at the golfers once a week as they try to hit him driving around. It's a hoot!! There's a mystery thrown in and small romance. Good book!

Kristin Billerbeck - "What a girl wants", "She's Out of Control" and "With this ring, I'm confused" are all one series. (There are others) This was my other lucky bargain find!! This girl is a hoot!! She is hilarious and I found myself "knowing" the characters in this one too!! The main characters name is "Ashley Wilkes Stockingdale", named after Ashley Wilkes from Gone with the Wind. If that isn't funny enough? She's a Christian girl with a great job, she's part of her church singles group and they call themselves "The Reasons". They are SURE there's a reason they're still single. Ashley is secretly in love with one of her long time best friends, Seth. There relationship has been hit and miss for years and they try to finally get it together. But... a new guy comes along as well. He's dreamy and perfect for her!! These books are fantastic, hilarious, you wonder what will happen and they have a few deep moments thrown in too. How lucky am I to have found these great new authors to adore??

*There you have it until I post a summer reading one. I've already read 4 books this past week, so there will be plenty to share!*

It arrived in the mail with our copy of our home study. It is also currently at the office in North Carolina, on the desk of a lady named Gina. We pray she looks at it quickly and says "time to put 'em in the books"! Then we'll have the OK to copy our birthmom letter 100 times, add 100 pictures to it, be linked to the agency website with our website and then it's a matter of waiting on the phone to ring. We're approved!! Thank God from whom all blessings flow!!!!

Cruisin'

So here we are, back from our 8th cruise in just over 3 years. The crazy thing, we are so ready to head back again. We come home to get online and look at either flying back and staying in Nassau or Port Lucaya or cruising again. We seriously need a support group for our cruising addiction.

We had a great, relaxing, lazy, beautiful trip! We'll start with the ship. We went on the Carnival Sensation which was just like our very first ship, Carnival Fantasy. It's much smaller than the Glory, which we've taken 3 recent trips on. It took getting use to the smaller ship feel, but we loved it just the same. Matter of fact, part of it's smallness (is that a word?) made us love it all the more!! It was less crowded, lines were shorter, there were ALWAYS chairs available and debarkation took no time!

Here is a picture of the Sensation while we were in Nassau-

The decor was pretty funny. I'd read previously that it could be a little overwhelming with it's late 80's and early 90's decorations. It is truly a hoot and you are surrounded with purple & pink with glitter for added sparkle. It's very "Vegas" like, but fun to look at for sure! I should have took pictures to show you, I slack more and more in cruise photos. I guess b/c we go so much. I use to take hundreds per trip, two cameras. Now I take my cheaper camera and come home with 25 pics. I digress, the main lounge is set up kind of strange, there are a lot of "bad" seats which is very unlike other ships. There are poles in the way of a lot of seats and the back parts of the balcony are really terrible seats. They aren't multi layered enough to see over the person in front of you. Of course we had "our" seats in both the balcony & downstairs, we were good.

Towel Critter

The buffet restaurant was smaller and we LOVED the feel of it, I mean LOVED it!! It was pretty wide open and you could see everywhere, more like a restaurant than the "cafeteria" feel you get from bigger ships. We had a table, our table, that we sat at every single meal on board other than one I think. Funny!! The buffets were set up neat, with there being several smaller lines rather than one long one. It flowed much easier. The pizza place was in there and that was convenient, plus a bar where I could get soft drinks. That was also convenient compared to other ships. The hamburger & hot dog grill had two huge lines, much easier and quicker than the one line on other ships. It was located right beside the large pool area on the Lido deck. There was a big slide as always, the new "water wars" things that are on Carnival ships, 9 hole putt putt and the smaller pool on the upper deck. (Ok, seriously think more like dunk tank. Those pools crack me up! That is one place where the ship really shows her "old age") I do think the larger ships should take note of some of the layout with this one though, very easy to navigate and things flowed so well!

We were on the depths of the bottom floor, we haven't been "down there" since our first trip. It ended up being SO QUIET and we loved it! It was also right be the aft elevators and all we had to do was jump on them and come out at the Sea view Restaurant, can't go wrong with easy access to the food!! We were in an inside room again, we've gotten use to that. For the money we save and are able to cruise more frequently, we will be ok without our window. We did talk about missing our balcony from the first Disney cruise, but we weigh our options and cruising more works for us!

The shows were good, it was great to see different ones. (Since we did Glory 3X's & Disney Wonder 2X's) The "Welcome Aboard" show was just OK, our cruise director wasn't the most entertaining one we've had for sure. Tory, she's a nice girl, but not a ton of "fun". The 80's show had fantastic music, the juggler/comedian night was great!! We'd seen the juggler/comedian & magician/comedian both before, but they were two of our favorites! Then their final "Curves" stage show was pretty good as well, great costumes. When we compare these shows to the Disney ones though, well... let's just say you can't compare.

Towel Critter

We drove to Ocala on Saturday, it was a super easy drive. We weren't sure what the holiday/school's out weekend traffic would be like, but it was non-existent period. I wonder if prices of gas is keeping everyone home more? Speaking of gas, it was cheaper all the way down and back than we thought. Never more expensive than home, $3.87 or so. We figured it would hit $4 in Florida, but that wasn't the case. We stayed at exit #350, same place & same hotel as last time. We get a government rate, there are tons of places to eat and a Barnes & Noble right there. We ate at Chili's (using a gift card from one of my kiddos this year) and then bought a book & magazines at B&N. I have to say it's still strange not staying at Disney for our trips and I am having SERIOUS withdrawals, we're both ready to go back and get annual passes next year!! (Hopefully with a little Tanner in tow!)

Saturday we were up and headed to Port Canaveral by about 9:30. We ended up taking the little by pass around I-4 and that was great, prevented me missing Disney quite so much. (No tears this time) LOL!! We were at Port Canaveral by 11:30 and headed to embark. There were NO LINES again, going early is the way to go. (They say you can't board until 1:30, not true) We went straight through security without a pause, straight to an agent and were on board within minutes! We ate "lunch on the Lido", Andy talks about that in the days leading up to our trips. Then we hung out and walked around until our cabin was ready @ 1:30. We napped (the lazy trip begins) and had our boat drill. It was also SUPER EASY & FAST, the smaller ship really adds to that as well. Then we stood outside to watch sail away.

Nap Time

Leaving Port Canaveral was neat. A few years ago we watched as we were escorted out of port by a few dolphins, that was neat. This trip it was sting rays & jelly fish. There were about 8 HUGE sting rays that we saw gliding through the water on our way out. The beach around Cape Canaveral was also V E R Y crowded, first time we'd seen that. Then the jelly fish, HOLY MOLY!! I've never seen anything like it, hundreds, maybe thousands. They were rolling IN with the tide and I wouldn't want to be swimming out there having seen so many. Yikes!!

We did keep with our plan and didn't take any "dress" clothes, we packed in just one suitcase! (even our toiletry stuff) We ate all of our meals in the buffet restaurant and were thrilled with our decision! I read 4 fantastic books, more on that later. We didn't do any excursions, thanks to my friends over at Cruise Critic we found some GREAT CHEAP ways to enjoy the islands. I'll blog about that soon too. We found fantastic things to do and we'll choose that route again for sure! We saved SO MUCH money compared to other trips. We didn't have to tip waiters in the dining room, we didn't buy a single photo (crazy for me), we spent VERY LITTLE on the ship and none on excursions. I only went online once and went on the night it was 50% off of minute rates. I checked email, sent one reply and wasted no $! We went SO CHEAP!!

We spent a ton of time on a back deck of the ship. There were two little decks on each side of the buffet restaurant with tables & chairs, it was very quiet, pretty, great views! We watched the sun set from back there every night. It was a great place to sit and relax, of course I always had a book in hand. We could be found out there a ton! We cracked up one night on our walk around the top deck when the winds were like tornado force, we had to put our heads down, grab onto a doorway frame and literally pull ourselves out onto a viewing area. It was hilarious!

We played Bingo every night, imagine that. We had cash set aside for our little bingo adventures though. I actually played 7 games one day by myself (Andy was in a "spinning" class that he loved). I was just lacking ONE number four of the rounds. Crazy! We saw several kinds of game shows, the regular night shows and one late night comedian. We watched a few movies in our room during "rest time" and Andy went to the free golf clinic as usual.

I'll go ahead and skip to debarkation. I'll post blogs tomorrow about our port days. We did have one day at sea and it was typical sun & fun. Our debarkation day, yesterday, couldn't have been easier. They now call you according to a number zone, they give you the previous evening. You can NOT get off any earlier even if you take your own luggage now, just an FYI. They started calling number zones @ 8:15 though and we were zone 18. We were sitting in our car, totally done and cranking up to leave, by 9:20! You can't beat that! Our ride home was uneventful. It took about 9 & 1/2 hours, but we stopped a TON!

Towel Critter - what is it????

Tragedy:

Earlier today I watched "Oprah" whose episode today was on learning from tragedy. The last story today was about a family from our hometown, Powder Springs. Just over a year ago the Grand Mother accidentally backed over her Grandson and tragically cut his little 4 year old life short. I can't imagine how a family lives through something like that, only by the power of knowing God I am sure. The family knows it was an accident and there is no blame, other than what the Grand Mother holds for herself and she is living with her own lack of ability to forgive herself. What a tragic story. Prayers to the Peck family now and always.

Then this evening I am checking in on my "regular" blog reading and I find that just this week, Wednesday in fact, the youngest daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman died in almost the same way. I haven't listened to the radio much this week and can't believe I didn't know this. Steven Curtis Chapman is one of my favorite contemporary Christian artists. He and his wife have 6 children, 3 through the beauty of adoption from China. It was in fact the agency that he used that we read through a Christian magazine that answered so many questions we had in our minds before making our decision to adopt. Their story of completing their family is beautiful. To add to tragedy of loosing their youngest, just five years old and having just "Graduated" from preschool, is the fact their teenage son is who was driving the vehicle in their home driveway when it happened. I can not begin to fathom the loss the family is going through or the heart ache that the big brother must be experiencing.

You can read the story here, please keep their family in your prayers.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/TUNEIN/80521174/1005/ENTERTAINMENT
Photo: from Tuck photography

Anyone who drives a vehicle, may we all learn from this. Roz Peck said the only reason she told her story today on TV was so that others may learn. Remember to check, double check and check again before moving a vehicle where small children are playing. Be sure everyone is accounted for and 100% out of the way. There are so many blind spots in vehicles and we need to always be aware!

Added: I found this through another link. There are several video blogs on YouTube of Steven Curtis Chapman and his family, this is of he & his daughter Maria.

Layla Ballerina

On Monday I was invited to our great niece, Layla's, final ballet class of the year. She is two and goes to a Mommy & Me dance class @ the Marietta Ballet Conservatory. (Where our other niece Ruthie works) Her Mimi (my sister in law) takes her because her Mommy (Aimee) teaches preschool (where I do). Are you following this story?

Anyway, the class WAS SO adorable!! They do all sorts of movement things that the kids are great at, but you can watch and see how those things will lead to ballet moves even more in the future. Layla take her ballet VERY seriously and didn't crack a smile, other than once, the entire hour long dance class. She studies what the others are doing and then does it just right. How did she become such a perfectionist? So funny!! You see that I was quick enough to catch her one hilarious outburst!



Anyway, of course I went armed with TWO cameras! (Like any aunt would!) I took tons of photos. The walls were white and Layla's outfit was pale pink, so the color isn't fabulous. I played with my photo editing software though to make the pictures a little crazy, but I think they're neat. It was a great morning and I am lucky to be "Aunt Moncc c ca" to Miss Layla Grace! I ADORE her and Tanner!!!

Enjoy!!

And because I didn't want Tanner left out and he was a great sport for his sister, here he is too! I "borrowed" this picture Aimee, it was yours obviously! :) It is such a cutie picture!!!!

Preschool Graduation

Ten years and I still cry like a baby. I say, "I'm use to this. It happens." They come in, they grow up so much, I have to send them on there way. It's my job, it's what I do. It sounds so typical, so easy, so normal and everyday. Then it's time to let go, send them on their journey. I'm the one on my way home crying like a baby.

Now, time to party! 86 days that I don't have to go to work!! Sounds awesome huh??!! Makes everyone want to be a teacher.

I also don't get at least a dozen hugs a day, pictures drawn of me with a big head, pink cheeks and wearing a dress. I don't get to hear stories about weekend adventures like soccer games or swim practice. I don't get told daily that I'm beautiful, that my finger nails are pretty or that I am sweet. I wont get to color with a friend, build a tower, give orders to waitress who can't really write or dictate stories by budding authors. I wont get to sing silly songs, dance with a partner or play duck duck goose. (and yes, I do play) I wont get to put Lego men heads back on or call people silly names like "peanut", "cookie monster", "munchkin", "little dude" or "tootie frutie". (I find my grown up friends don't appreciate it so much, I wonder why?) I don't get to hear giggles because of a song about peanut butter on your underwear or mend broken hears because someone has said "you can't come to my birthday party". I probably wont be asked to tie shoes, take glue caps off or be told someone is in need of more stickers & construction paper this summer.

I will go to the lake to ride on the boat and swim with my family at least once a week. I'll go camping to the lake in the camper with Andy. I'm going on a cruise with Andy, the beach with my Mom and to the mountains with my girl gang. I'm going to read at least 35 books, at least. I'll watch old movies and new movies. I'll go shopping with my Mom. I'll get together with old friends and go on lunch dates with new ones. I'll make baby curtains for my nursery, paint trees on the walls in there with my friend (or maybe I'll just watch her) and wait on my phone to ring from a birthmom. I'll get a tan, I will walk in my neighborhood and listen to my favorite music on Itunes. I'll play tons of Wii games with Mr. Andy. I'll play golf. I'll sleep late, ahhh yes, I'll sleep late!

I'm excited about all of that, I do so love summer.

Nothing can make up for the tight hugs, sticky kisses and daily I love yous from my kids at school though!!

86 Days of laziness, fun and summer.
86 Days of not going to work, no schedule and no big commitments.

*Sigh* Ahhh summer, it is truly bittersweet!

Home Study Update:

The social worker now has the entire completed home study written up. I read it tonight. I now know why it took so long, I didn't realize she basically had to re-write our entire biography & questionnaire. Since I turned in NOVELS for mine, no wonder it took her so long to plug through. That much information, plus our interview and home visit. I wish it would have been explained more about all she was writing, I would have been much more patient. I was thinking more of a fill in the blank, short answer kind of thing. I didn't realize she'd write her own novel! I was seriously over-whelmed at all she basically re-wrote of what we'd already done.

We had a glowing recommendation and I couldn't be any more proud. Now it all waits on our coordinators desk for her to approve

Prayers, good wishes, pixie dust, whatever.. for her to get time to do it, then get it off to California would be much appreciated!!

On we go...

Preschool

I can't believe we're down to 2 days left in the classroom, a party and Graduation. Time flies!! I look forward to the summer, I LOVE summer. Hot weather, visiting at the pool, lake trips, camping, cruising again, beach trip with Mom, weekend trip to the mountains, hanging with friends, time with family, reading oodles of books, sleeping late and well... you get the idea. At the same time though, I truly..whole heartedly miss MY kids!

It's so hard to say goodbye to a group of kids that you've spent sooooo much time with! I am so proud of all they've done and know they are 100% ready for Kindergarten, I'm very excited about a new group coming next year with new and familiar faces, but .. it's all bitter sweet.

Today they answered some questions for me about their favorite things to do at school, things about myself and Ms. Dawn, their special friends and things they didn't like. It was so sweet, their comments brought tears to my eyes on many occasions. Thankfully 8 of 12 kids couldn't think of a thing they didn't like about school, "I just love it all" was often the reply. Of course one didn't like "work", one didn't like "when I argue with friends" and a few other random things. They said Ms. Dawn was perfect, sweet and she helped them open snack. They said they loved school because they love to learn, have fun in centers, like to go outside and their friends are there. They said I was wonderful, I taught them things, I was fun and they just loved me. Where else can you go to work and get that kind of reward????

Our entire FORTY NINE page scrapbook is done. Yes, I said 49 pages! Thankfully I color copied some pages, some Moms helped me and some pages were artwork. The books are precious and will be cherished for years to come. I am able to share one page with you, we did this today. The kids told me "what they'd be if they lived under the sea" last week, they did fingerprint fish today and this is one I color copied for everyone. It doesn't have a picture at all, but strangely enough has become one of my favorite pages of the entire book. The bottom says "Up on top or deep down under, God displays his awesome wonder" and the top part of the page says "What would you BE, if you lived under the SEA?". The quotes are adorable, but I don't think you can read them. Some examples: a whale that blows water at other fish, jelly fish, mean shark, mermaid and my favorite "just a plain old fish". I assure you, there were NO PLAIN OLD FISH IN MY CLASS THIS YEAR!!!!

Happy almost summer!!

Funnies:

A young student told his teacher, "I found a dead frog on the playground at recess." Concerned, his teacher asked "How did you know it was dead?" He answered innocently, "I pissed in it's ear and it didn't move." "WHAT?" she exclaimed! He explained, "I went 'pssssttt' in it's ear, and it didn't move. "



During lunch break, a boy opened his box of animal crackers and spread them out all over the table. "What are you doing?" asked his teacher. "The box says you shouldn't eat them if the seal is broke," the boy explained. "I'm looking for the seal."



- Found these in my "Teacher" calendar Mom bought me for Christmas. No authors posted or I'd share the credit!

Out of Order:

What's out of order?? My posts! I wrote one a few days ago, updates on our lives. Went back to edit and post it today and it seems it's stuck back chronologically a few days ago. So.... if you've read these two about my quote, keep going, there's a new one stuck in there about happenings at the Tanner household. I sure wouldn't want you to miss all the "excitement" that is our lives. *Add your own sarcasm and eye rolling please*

FOLLOW UP:

I read my quote again and wonder if people think it sounds rude. It isn't meant that way at all. It's simply talking about how we take all this time planning how WE THINK things in our life should work out, before we consult God on HIS PLANS for our lives. He has such better things in mind, I can just imagine him shaking his head at us and saying "just look over here, I have something so much better".

My niece had a blog about it this week too, go... read her blog. Read the one titled "Pearl Necklace", it's a great blog!!

http://writingaboutthejourney.wordpress.com/

Then I had a discussion this week with someone about how we pray and wait for things to happen. Specifically we were talking about praying before making a decision. She is a wonderful Christian and I was sharing my times when God sent me huge answers to prayers in big ways. We were talking about the fact that we don't always get those signs though, then what do you do? Do you just pray forever, waiting on hold for a neon sign? Sometimes you just have to pray, wait and then take a leap of faith and DO SOMETHING. Good discussion and deep thoughts-

Read Trisha's blog, she and her husband are also taking huge leaps of faith. I admire she & Mark! I'm not good at leaping and am so proud of those who do!

"We spend vast amounts of time and energy crafting a thesis in our heads of how life should play out, then Almighty God spends an incredibly brief amount of time blowing our thesis to bits."

From: Ray Blackston in "A Delirious Summer"

Adoption, Parent's Move & End of School...
OH MY!!!

For some of you, this is a huge repeat, you hear me rambling all the time. So feel free to ignore this one, simply an update on things at the Tanner household!! Carry on-

1. Our birth mom letter has been officially approved by our actual coordinator, praise the Lord. It took alot of edits, many photo sessions (thanks to all the participants), tons of emails, my ranting and raving to some of you (God bless you for listening to me), tears and frustration. But, it looks great and we're so happy with it! Now it will go to California with our entire home study for approval. Prayers for this process to go quickly are great appreciated. It's hard when you can't do anything but wait, I guess this is just the beginning. (or the middle since we've been waiting for years, but whatever, who's counting now?) We are craving being officially approved though!!!! We're on hold with the social worker finishing her end to get it all sent and not doing anything is making me a little nuts. All in God's timing.....

2. My parents have spent their first two weeks in their temporary home. They have bought land (1.1 miles from their previous home) and are about to build a new house, complete with pool, how excited am I?? ((The houses are 1.1 miles from each other and in ONE DAY of helping them move, I put 60 miles on my Durango, figure that out?! A LOT of trips!!!)) There was already a smaller and older home on the property. My parents house was under contract, then the closing got moved up and basically we spent 4 days doing what would normally take 2-3 weeks to do! We moved in mass chaos, super fast, throwing things in boxes and running 1.1 miles down the road. It was CRAZY and they're STILL trying to find things we stuck somewhere! They are there though, the house is really great (trying to decide if we're going to move there eventually, but thankfully that's way down the road) and they are about to start grading for their house first thing next week!

3. The school year is coming to an end. It is so bittersweet!! You spend 9 months with a group of kids and they (and their parents) become your family. You laugh together, learn together and even cry together. You see them grow both physically and emotionally. They are SUCH different people from those I met 9 months ago! It's amazing- I wish I could show you pictures I took of them, same spot in front of the calendar the first week of school and then just this week. Wow! We weighed & measured both times too and they grow SO MUCH in 9 months!! They are well prepared though for "big school" We are taking artwork down, sending photos off my photo wall home and sending home various things of theirs around the room. Our room begins to look a little sad. They ask "so, who will be in OUR room when we're in Kindergarten?" It's all such a big change.

Here is what our set up looked like for Mother's Day Tea.
We made those big floppy hats and they were a HUGE hit!
Moms wore them with pride, too cute.
The flower cups had 2 or 3 popsicle stick flowers with their child's photo too, forever flowers.



These were part of our gifts, coffee mugs that we decorated.
They had the word "mom" with the kids picture in the "O"
Then they made finger print ladybugs to add as well.
The "m"s for Mom were in red-
They are laminated so if they get wet they wont ruin.
Oh and the kids painted white lunch bags for a gift bag, too cute!
They put "toilet paper" (you may know it as tissue paper, but
they said toilet paper) in the gift bags!



These butterflies hung from our ceiling

4. Scrapbooks for school- Along with the end of the year at school becomes the big push to finish scrapbooks. Kim, do you read this? I totally blame you on this! I always did a video of our year together until I saw Kim's gorgeous scrapbooks a few years back, now here I am knee deep in scrapbook pages in my living room floor. I had help from my parents, but I still did 22 pages myself. Multiply 22 pages, by 12 kids please. Yeah, it's alot of pages!! I swore I wasn't doing this again next year, but now that I see these almost done and know how much the parents & kids will love them, I may reconsider next year. We'll see.... *I'm now 1 color copy away from being done and they are SO CUTE*

5. My Gizmo is totally deaf. I haven't shared this with anyone because I get emotional, I'm such a big sap. You know that Gizmo is my 11 year old Shih Tzu, given to me by my best friend from childhood/high school/college as a Graduation from UGA gift. (along with a few others) Anyhow, he and our labs ARE OUR FURRY CHILDREN and are insanely spoiled. Gizmo sleeps with us, has a travel bag for when we leave him to be boarded and has my Mom wrapped. She comes to stay here some when we travel so he can stay home, seriously! Anyhow... he's SO STUBBORN and always has been, totally ignoring when you call him. He's also had ear infections on and off for years and we think that might have led to his lack of hearing. It's hard to tell if he's totally lost all hearing or just most of it. We've done a ton of experiments here though and he isn't hearing anything most of the time, only higher pitched sounds. Very sad.... He's still on the go though!! *Let me come back and add again, some days he seems to hear more than others. So odd, we can't figure it out! Maybe part of it is old age, Andy's SCREAMING at him lately. Not mad screaming, just loud so he hears. It's so funny, like living with an old geezer! Andy says "this house is about to get really LOUD.*

Guess who is cruising AGAIN in 23 days???????

Where: Nassau (8th time) and Freeport (2nd time)
both in the Bahamas
When: May 25th for 4 nights
What: Carnival Sensation (1st time on this one)
Why: Because we have a cruising obsession and can't stop!

Thank You

I heard this song about 4 or 5 months ago and have been falling in love with it all the more! It's become my favorite song, my inspiration and my prayer. I have it on my current favorite CD and in my IPod. No matter how many times I listen to it, it touches my heart and evokes big emotion. I hope & pray it continues to keep it's effect on me.

I have been praying on the way to work for years, remembering to mention each child in my class by name and asking God to help me be just what that child needs that day. (among other things naturally) I listen to this song on the way to work each morning now, then pause to not just ask for God's blessings that day, but to remember to say THANK YOU!

I listened to it from my IPod while we were cruising. I remember laying in the sun on a day at sea, watching the ocean that God made, seeing the beautiful sky and knowing how blessed I am. I listened to this song and stopped to say THANK YOU for all the blessings in my life BIG and SMALL.

There are days I listen to this 4 or 5 times, never tiring of it, reminding myself to be THANKFUL for all of God's blessings. Do you stop daily to think how blessed you are? This is for me too, I'm not preaching, just reminding- Do you have a family? Friends? A Home? Food to eat? A car to take you places? A job where you earn money? A church family to love you and bring you closer to God? Do you have air to keep you cool and heat to keep you warm? Do you have enough money for those fun extras in life? Are you able to buy music you love, coffee from your favorite spot, a movie on DVD, a new outfit? There are too many things to name that we take for granted, there are so many people in the world who don't have those blessings.

May my song touch your heart
and remind you to be thankful too!

It's by 33Miles, download it!

What if in morning when I wake up
Even before I fill my coffee cup
I said thank You
Thank You

What if I look at the day and the hours ahead
And before I move forward I bowed my head
And said thank You
Oh I said thank You

What if I looked at my life in a different way
Took a little more time to stop and pray
I know it would change all the moments in between
So here I go

Thank You for everything
Thank You for loving me
It don’t even matter what tomorrow brings
Well I will sing my

Thank You for sun and rain
For what You give and take away
For all Your goodness I will always say
Thank You
Oh I’ll say thank You

What if I lost everything that I had
I could smile and somehow still be glad
And say thank You
Thank you

‘Cause life is joy, life is pain
But the prayer on my heart will never change
I say thank You
Oh I’ll say thank You

Cruising

I know, how many blogs can one person have about cruising, right?! I just have to go back and hit some things that I didn't talk about though. We were telling Andy's brother last Sunday that we are addicted to cruising, I think we need a support group. I wonder if support groups cruise a lot??

We came home to immediately start looking online for the next one! We had been cruising two or three times a year and last year only went once, this trip reminded us how much we love it and we're ready to go again. We are going on another in May or June!! :)

We've only been to the beach in Florida together twice, both of those being trips with my parents. (One before we married and one the year we did get married) It's funny b/c we'd both been so many times before & now WE'VE never taken a trip together, just us to Panama City. Strange and funny!! However; we have been to beaches all around the Caribbean, so we're not complaining!!

You can NOT beat the value of cruising. Every time we look at going to the beach, looking for somewhere to stay and spend a FORTUNE on that alone, plus food and getting out to do some things... It reminds us of just one reason we enjoy cruising so much! The value for your money can NOT be beat! A great comfortable room, all the food you want all day & night, entertainment out the wazoo and you have to do NOTHING!! This last trip cost us about $150 a night for the two of us when it was all said and done. We could never stay at the beach, eat 3 meals a day and have extra spending money for $150 a night!

This past cruise we also did something VERY different for us. We love to eat, we look forward to each and every dinner especially! We have always taken clothes to "dress up" for dinner at night in the dinning room. We started taking an outfit per night, slowly we've started taking things we could mix & match to save on packing space. Then you have one (or two if it's a 7 night cruise) "formal" night. Ugh! All those clothes to wear for just an hour or two. (We go back & change right after dinner anyway-) We realized on this trip that almost every food offered in the dining room was also in the casual buffet. Usually every entree except for one (we would compare the menus), all the appetizers and at least 3 of the 4 desserts were on the buffet!

I ate so many wonderful things that I would have never ordered off the menu. I like to SEE what my food will look like, especially seafood. We could get all we wanted to try on the buffet and go back for more. Of course you can order all you want in the dining room, but you have to wait on them to get it and so on. The fact that we didn't dress up alone was awesome! We are going to start packing one set of dress clothes only (if that) for lobster night b/c it wasn't offered on the buffet. :) Otherwise, I think we're now officially casual kinda folks!! Maybe if we cruise with others we'll go to the dining room, then again maybe not. You never know- (Plus it saves money on tips, shhhhh we're cheap!)

Time always flies too, that amazes me. On the first or second day I always think, man... we have such a long vacation ahead of us. Then something happens and it's the night we have to pack for home before I know it. I always plan to do so many things and we never get them done. I wanted to play putt putt, the ships all now have a 9 hole course. I wanted to consider a massage, I planned on doing a ton of activities offered that I never got to. Funny how fast time flies!

I just had to share one more time how much we love cruising! Andy now gets more excited than me I believe. We're ready go again for sure! ...and now that silly boy is mentioning being ready to go to Disney again too, you know he wont have to talk me into that one!....

Home Visit

I am both blogging this and emailing it, in case you don't pay attention to one or the other. You may see this twice. I wanted everyone to be "in the loop" on where we are, you guys are so amazing and supportive, we appreciate it!!

I am so thankful to announce that we are finished with everything we can do for our entire home study. Every piece of paperwork is complete and filed. We’ve been poked, prodded, questioned, interviewed, studied and visited. Saturday our social worker, Jenni whom we love, came out to visit. I was sad that she didn’t notice my spotless dusting, clean baseboards, freshly washed curtains, new blinds, cleaned fridge and oven, cleaned out closets, nothing under the beds and general tidiness. We’ve spent 2 months getting ready for the big day, that was more like an hour visit from a friend. Funny! I know that we went above and beyond, but it was things that we needed to get done anyway. We went to the dump once and Goodwill twice, how can we have so much stuff?? It feels good to have everything done for once though.

She took a grand tour, laughed at just how much we have in the nursery already. Amazed like everyone else! She checked our smoke detectors, did notice I had all chemicals in boxes on a high shelf in a bathroom closet (I pointed it out) and she did ask to see the fire extinguisher. She met the dogs, all three. She talked to Millie & Casey outside and loved on Gizmo during her entire visit. She asked us a few more questions about what school our little one will attend, how far away the nearest hospital is, how far away the nearest park is (yes, she asked), how far away our church is and a few other random questions. Again though, it was just like chatting with a friend. It feels absolutely amazing to have that final step behind us.

What now?

Jenni will write up her report and send it to our coordinator for approval, she’ll also send us a copy to approve for factual information. Then she will have our coordinator sign off on the final copy and everything we’ve done up to this point will all be sent to the office in California to be signed off on. Sometime while that is happening, our birth mom letter should be approved. We’ve sent our third edit back and are waiting to hear from it. Hopefully if we have anything else to change, it will be very minor. We are hoping and praying that this all comes together in the next 3-4 weeks. Your prayers are much appreciated. I imagine we’ll be able to be “in the books” and “waiting officially” by the time I am out of school. That will give me plenty of time to sit and stare at the phone every day! (Just kidding, I have tons of summer fun ahead of me!)

We continue to value and thrive on your prayer support. It isn’t easy when all you can do is wait, but we’ve been waiting for almost 9 years so we’ve had a lot of practice. We are so firm in the faith that God’s timing is perfect and his hand has guided us each and every step along the way. For some reason now it feels like it’s more in his hands than ever. I know he was with us along the way so far, there are so many examples. To know that we have nothing else to do finally seems like it’s officially handed off to him though and we take such confidence in knowing our God is in control. We will stand back and wait to be amazed by him once again.

A Sunday School teacher talked to us one year, 6th grade I think was when we had Ms. Campbell (right Lisa?), about miracles almost weekly. She reminded us that God wanted to bless us with miracles. We need to pray for them,then watch and EXPECT to see them from God. We need to look for them in all the little moments as well as the big ones. We are praying, expecting and anxious to meet our own little miracle!!!!

So, pray for us and wait with us!
Much love to all!!

Friday, Day 6 @ Nassau:

Back in Nassau. Funny, every cruise we’ve taken has led us there eventually. I have to say that it is what you make it. This was a perfect day in the Bahamas. It was such a pretty, hot, clear & sunny day to begin with. We arrived @ 7:00 and we got up pretty early. We headed off for some shopping. We were walking around a little before 9:00 and most of the stores had signs up that said they didn’t open until (and yes this is a quote) 10:ish! I knew I loved it here, I fit in!! We walked through more stores and alleys than ever before and it’s becoming so comfortable to be there now. I found two things that I wanted and eventually talked myself out of, then wished I’d had gotten. Gotta hate when that happens. We came back to the ship for a short visit with Mr. Dean & Mrs. Carolyn and a piece of pizza. Then it was off for our Stingray Adventure and beach trip to Black Beard’s.


*Picture headed out to Black Beard's. Left to right: Regal Empress (she's tiny, down and back to Nassau from Fort Lauderdale and we want to try it sometime), Carnival Glory, Disney Wonder, Carnival Imagination & Carnival Sensation*

It was our 3rd time to the same beach and we always enjoy it. The stingray adventure there is better than ones we have seen other places. We spend about 3 hours at the beach and you can go in with the stingrays as many times as you want and stay as long as you want. The people on the island are super friendly. The boat ride there is about 25 minutes each way and it’s a pretty boat ride. They have ray feeding once an hour and it’s a ton of fun, if you can get past holding the slimy squid in your hands. Ick!! It’s awesome to hold them under the water though and have the rays suck them right out, amazing!! It’s also so cool when you step into the water and they come and glide around your feet & legs, rubbing on you like a cat would. It cracks me up and continually amazes me, no matter how many time we do it! When they know it's feeding time and you've fed them already, they are all over you! When I'm on my knees with them and they are swarming me, they typically knock me backwards and off my knees. It's hilarious, they're so funny!!

*Picture: I didn't have a water proof camera with me this time, so I didn't get many close pictures of the rays. That little critter wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a good picture*

We have always had the island pretty much to ourselves with our excursion group and maybe one or two more. Today however; was chaos! We’ve never had a problem getting something to drink, getting our food from the grille, finding a chair or spending time with the rays. There were 5 ships in port today and I’d never seen an excursion place like that. The lines were so long for food & drinks that we gave up on our food that we’d already paid for with the price, Andy (bless his heart) waited for 20 minutes on 2 Cokes! There weren’t enough chairs for the number of people there and it was wall to wall (sand to sand) people. I really think they over booked themselves and that’s not fun for everyone. It was still a good day, but I imagine it’ll be our last trip there. Time to find a new favorite place in Nassau.

*Pic : Us on Black Beard's *


*Pic: This was un LAST TIME we were there. We didn't get the picture taken this time because the line was SO LONG!*



For the second excursion in a row, we got back to the pier just in time to jump on the ship. They were pulling up one gang way and standing around waiting on us at the next one. Our group was the last one back to the ship, thankfully we were with a group and they were waiting. We had 5 minutes to spare, yikes!

After a cheeseburger back on ship, we spent a few hours by the pool before it was time to head back and get ready for the night. It was also packing now, how fast that slips up on you! Dinner, a show and it’s over again..

Towel Animals

A highlight of any cruise, you know you love 'em.
You know you take picture of 'em! The beloved towel animals!!

What is this? Andy says a bunny, I say a dog? Opinions, thoughts.....






We love when we get a new one and this trip we got a frog. I think he's adorable!! Don't you want to save these things and take them home?! I want someone to make one for me every night on my own bed. I always say I am going to the class about making them and never fit it in.



Then there was this guy, again we had NO IDEA! Andy says a jack-a-lope! LOL!!! I don't know what to guess, crazy looking!





We had a few others. I already posted the elephant and I didn't take pictures of the other one or two. We didn't get a swinging monkey, first time I think. So cute though... a new Carnival Caper each night to read about the following day and a new animal, such fun!!