Florida Vacation

We had an excellent trip to Florida. We headed out Wednesday AM around 6:45 pulling a trailer full of dirty laundry. We invaded DrewÂ’s sister KariÂ’s house around 8 AM to change BaruchÂ’s diaper, get Abigail dressed, swig down a gulp of coffee and have a morning BM, then unhitched our trailer (full of dirty laundry), DrewÂ’s sister hopped in and we headed for the airport. We were up in the air before 11 AM (Central Time) and landing in Orlando some time around 2:30 PM (Eastern Time). Getting our rental van went smoothly and we were all excited as we took off for GrandmaÂ’s house. By the time we arrived at GrandmaÂ’s house Drew was completely whooped. I had caught a nap on the way. We had supper and went for a swim.

Every day we enjoyed at least one trip to the pool, several games of connect four, lizard hunts and work in GrandmaÂ’s house on different small projects.

Thursday night Mom, Matt and Michele joined us as we met a few friends at C CÂ’s Pizza. It was so good to see my friends Susan and Colleen from High School and to get to meet their families. We all came back to MomÂ’s after Pizza and went down to the pool for a swim.

Friday we went to Clearwater beach from 9 to 11 AM came back to MomÂ’s for naps and went to the pool before and after supper.

Saturday Michelle and Julie had organized a picnic at Philippe park. The fellowship was sweet and I LOVED seeing everyoneÂ’s children. Drew got some excellent pictures some of which are on the flickr site (click on the side bar). I donÂ’t remember Philippe park being so beautiful. It was a great day of encouragement!

Sunday we enjoyed worship at Riverside Fellowship with Matt and Michelle, then went to Tarpon Springs so the kids could spend the money from Aunt Donna which was burning a whole in their pockets. They each badly wanted a Florida Souvenir. Mary purchased a necklace and matching bracelet made with dolphins and flowers. Jacob, a sharks tooth. Abigail a fish that said Florida and a sparkly green frog and Baruch a stuffed salamander. When we got home Abigail gave her fish to Grandma! It was so sweet to see her be generous. It was really good to see Aunt Donna, Uncle Bill and Frank when they came over Sunday night. Matt grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs. Abram surprised me completely when I saw him up on his knees! Another Mary Elisabeth on the way. Watching Michelle love her kids up really pumped me up to do the same with mine. She is an excellent Mother! Jason, Dawson and Melvin were complete gentlemen at the table. I praise the Lord for such an awesome Mom.

Monday we took another morning trip to the beach. The water was really clear. Their was a huge flock of pelicans that was really fun to watch. Abram slept under Pier 60 while Baruch and I built a sand castles and knocked them down while the others played in the surf. Matt and Michelle came over for supper and another dip in the pool then good byes! I could hardly believe the week was almost over.

Tuesday we took a final trip to the beach, then packed up. I got the bright idea of cleaning up before we left. First Abram scooched right off the bed (Abigail was watching him but had come out to tell me how cute he was). Then Jacob knocked over a planter on the back porch when he was vacuuming! I thought we better get out of there before we did some permanent damage somewhere. We headed to Orlando around 2 PM in hopes of avoiding rush hour traffic. A friend of DrewÂ’s mom came to the hotel around 7:30. The kids really enjoyed meeting Vicky.

The sun rose way too early Wednesday Morning! We left the hotel at 6:30 AM and were being picked up by Aunt Kari the laundry fairy at 10:45 AM. We met DrewÂ’s folks at KariÂ’s house for a wonderful lunch. Then hitched up our trailer and headed home. You guessed it, the laundry fairy had laundered all that dirty laundry and the trailer was brimming with baskets of neatly folded socks, underwear and outfits!

The week absolutely FLEW by. I am leaving out HUGE details but time is of the essence and this gives you a taste of our vacation anyway. When I asked the kids their favorite part about vacation they all said seeing Grandma and swimming in the pool. Jacob also said catching lizards.

While in Florida Drew did the grocery shopping (I made the list). He said he realized how dependent we are on the grocery store. It is our prayer that we would be even more dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That we would be constantly calling out to Him, our Creator, Redeemer and Lord.