Our trip to Orlando was crazy and fun!

I can’t even believe we went to Disney World, after so many years of talking about it..but we finally did it.

So we arrived on Sunday, April 27th by plane…and Delta lost my luggage at the airport. Don’t know what happened and we’re going through the claims process even now…but I had packed away our whole life just about in that one suitcase (my stuff, and the kids’). All of our summer/spring stuff was in there - shorts, shirts, designer dresses, perfume, hats, shoes, bathing suits, underwear and socks — EVERYTHING… not to mention some other pretty important items like cameras, a Video Now Jr., my daughter’s special Strawberry Shortcake doll that she’s slept with every night since she was 2, and my most favorite study bible of all time.

All gone, just like that.

What’s up, Delta?

But moving on…

We had a great time that week regardless of the setback. We ended up at Walmart for a good bit of that Sunday after arriving to get more clothes, camera, shoes, and basic necessities that were in the bag which was lost.

Well we slept on it…it was going to be okay. We stayed at the Shades of Green resort , which was relaxing…so I got better quickly.

Monday morning we got up, boarded our rental SUV and set toward Sea World after eating at Olive Garden. We spent the whole day there and got to see Shamu!

 And here we are with little Zoe fast asleep…

A little water fun…

Sea World was a ton of walking. Walk, walk, walk. With no shuttles or lifts to transport you around the huge campgrounds you’re really glad to have strollers for the kids and wish you had one for yourself.

Day 2 we set out for Magic Kingdom at Disney World. This is where Nyomi had her most fun. she enjoyed dressing up like Aurora and getting a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. (Pictures coming soon).

She also got to take pictures with Belle at storytime by the castle. (picture coming soon).

There were so many attractions there. She loves the Merry go Round, visiting Minnie’s house and hanging out in Pooh’s playground.

We also hung around a bit at Epcott Center where she rode on a spaceship thingie with Fabien. Zoe and I just strolled around in the sun and I grabbed cheese filled pretzel. Fattening but good.

AFter her makeover we attended the big show (I can’t remember what it’s called) but it’s the main attraction of Magic Kingdom.

The next day (Day 3), we missed breakfast for sleeping in too late, but drove out toward Tampa to Busch Gardens.

Now THAT was my favorite place. There, we got to see attractions like Jungala, wild animals, the African “safari”, a cool show with African dancers…and we even rode the cable cars high above so we could see the view below. It was breathtaking!

There were face paintings, drummers, and lots of cultural sites to behold. Not to mention the variety of artistic shops set up to sell native African garb.

Nyomi rode on the bumper cars there with Fabien, but she didn’t like that her car was actually being “bumped”

Not to worry, her daddy made sure little Princess stayed clear of all mean little drivers.

We cut our time at Busch Gardens in half so that we could make it out to Adventure Island before it closed (and boy did they close early at about 5 or 6). I didn’t much there since it’s a water park and I don’t swim. Fabien went on just about every water ride while I stayed with the girls in a cozy beach like area near the sand and shallow water to splash our feet in. I took some vidoe footage of this and lots of pics. I’ll be sure to add pics when I can.

That night we took a detour by the airport to see if we might find our luggage (still no success), got sidetracked on the side of the highway while we waited on our GPS system to boot up so we wouldn’t get lost, then found our way to Cici’s Pizza for a late (and I mean really late) dinner.

That was our last full day in Orlando. The next morning we awoke to a beautiful breakfast at our resort’s restaurant in the downstairs lobby.

 Meanwhile my husband was secretly rushing me around so he could get me to some surprise that I had no clue about.  Before I know it we’re roaming around the golf course of the resort, circle the swimming pool, and end up right in front of a massage table!  So that was my surprise — my 1st professional massage.  Thanks, Hubby!  (and thanks Angela from upstate New York!)

we then rush upstairs to get our stuff out of the room and check out before 11 a.m.

Next was lunch, a quick stop at Disney Downtown for the last time (and while there we caught a movie - College Road- and ate a jumbo popcorn) and ate at Haggen Dazs from which I fell sick the next day by the way.

Then to Walmart to return some items, to the gas station to fill her up, to the airport, boarding the plane and off in the late evening sky back toward Birmingham, Alabama.  Through all of this, Zoe was AMAZING!  She wasn’t fussy at all on the plane rides and pretty much enjoyed being strolled around during the whole trip.  Nyomi, as usual, was eager to ride the plane for the first time and she just totally dove into all the new sights, sounds, and experiences.

We drove home from Birmingham that night and the kids fell asleep, exhausted from such a long trip.  We arrived home an hour later (around midnight) and tucked Nyomi in her princess bed with Disney ears on and fully clothed (except the shoes).  She was knocked out for the night.  Zoe went to her crib and it wasn’t until an hour later that Hubby and I finally got settled in for sleep.

What a trip!!!  Oh, but it was so much fun!

Exhausting, but fun.

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In a few days we’ll be heading for Orlando and I cannot wait.

We haven’t been on a ‘real’ family trip in ages and this will be absolutely fun!  Finally Nyomi’s at an age where it will matter, although Zoe won’t remember a thing.

We’ll take lots of pictures for her, though.

As for homeschool, I need to sit down this weekend and add up the remaining days we have left.  I think we’re actually done already but I just want to make sure.  I plan on having about a month long break with some intermittent 2’s facts practices, but just taking a good, long break from it all so I can regroup and get back organized for our new semester.  My plan is to make some major changes in the way we do school next quarter - adding some classes to the mix and reevaluating whether I should drop some.  I’ll sit down with Nyomi and get her opinion.

Today was fantastic!  We are finally doing some home renovations.  We bricked in the bottom half of our home, and spent the evening at Lowes hardware picking up lumber, cement, and paint for our big renovating project this week.  It was a blast walking around lowes with Hubby and kids while we made plans about how to increase the value of our home.  However, the thought of the clean-up efforts we had back home waiting for us was a bit of a downer… there’s so much debris (mixing sand/mortar, blocks, bricks, plastic wrap, bags, wood) lying around the yard from this morning’s team of 15+ workers who came to lay blocks on our home.  We’ll have to double up our efforts to just to clean up…but I think it’s all worth it.

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My little Nyomi has officially “graduated” her Kindergarten class tonight at our homeschool Awards Ceremony.

It was a nice event with a good turnout.  SO many of our homeschoolers are talented achievers and will grow up to be monumental successes one day.

I’ll try to post some pics of the graduation this week.

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This week has been a busy blogging week at Christian Ladies Connect.

1. There’s the Genesis study I’m doing
2. A book review of A Wife’s Prayer
   
3. An article called “In The Beginning” by Keisha Foster, our Biblical Womanhood Resident Expert
4. A worship video of Hillsong “From the Inside Out“
5. Social networking group for Christian women
6. An article from Biblical Motherhood Resident Expert, Destiny Ezenwa-Ogbanna on Motherhood

And again…I’m always looking for new resident experts in various subjects. Right now I’m in search for experts in:

• Beauty and Fashion
• Home and Garden
• Health and Fitness

Have an interest in heading up any of these? Contact me if you are (just respond in the comment box below).

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This week’s been awesome.  yesterday we went to the park.  It was SOOO beautiful outside.  The weather was about 79 or 80.  It’s a nice break from the turtlenecks and sweatshirts.  I was a bit worried about how the pollen might affect Zoe, but I did take a little cover for her carseat so I thought we’d be fine and we were.  It was really nice and fun to run into a co-op classmate of Nyomi’s. Nyomi got an unexpected playdate at the park and I got some mommy time to catch up with another adult.  It was fab.

This week actually started off painfully slow, but has picked up speed. I’d been asking the Lord to “anoint my time” when I read the scripture about “redeeming the time for the days are evil”.  At first it seemed that we never got anything done.  Nyomi would complain at the end of every school day that she didn’t get to play the games she wanted or didn’t get to do something she really wanted to.  I couldn’t udnerstand why — after all, we had all day…or so I thought…until I realized we’d been doing school practically ALL day most days.  I couldn’t understand what was happening to our time.  School seemed to drag out into this long session that never ended and it was frustrating for both of us. Well after getting up extra early this morning I realized the problem was timing and scheduling.

We finished homeschool in 2 hours this morning and covered 4 subjects!  I was pretty impressed.   So was Nyomi.  She loved it because she’d been up since 6:30 AM.  We started school around 7:55 and 9:55 she was done.  She had the whole day to herself and love every single second of it!  Now, that’s what I call a cool school day.

Zoe’s been enjoying her new food.  Rice cereal has been a pleasant beginning for her.  She’ll start on oatmeal cereal tomorrow.

Wow!

Only 13 more days of our school left and we’re officially on vacation.  Then I’m starting year round school with 2 week breaks off and on throughout the school year.

It’s kind of weird because Nyomi is graduating from her kindergarten class at her group co-op next week, but she’s been in 1st grade since January and is half way through her 1st grade curriulum even now.  By September when her co-op starts up again she’ll be doing 2nd grade work.  The beauty of homeschooling is, it’s okay!  I’m okay with that.  We’re still learning our math facts in Math-U-See, but I expect we’ll be at a mastery point with most of our facts by August or September — but no rush.  Math is something I want her to grow to love and never feel pressured about.

Okay, well gotta start an early school day again tomorrow.

I’m loving this schedule so to bed I go…

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If you’ve read my previous post about Oprah WInfrey and Eckhart Tolle’s “New Earth”…well here’s a video that shows a bit about the background of Oprah’s stance.

Watch and see for yourself if Christians should be involved in the new web class:

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Wow, what a week.

Life is definitely different now that Hubby is back home.  different but good.

Zoe is still growing up.  Here’s my little angel:

Then there’s my Nyomi who is growing by leaps and bounds and just hit another growth spurt not too long ago:

(I was playing around with my digital camera, attempting to take a good closeup in front of our house near a small tree):

I have lots going on in my personal life.

1.)  Our homeschool year is nearing completion.  Our community co-op meets only three more times before Summer Break…so we’re winding down a bit.  I’m going to begin the process of planning out our new school year for the upcoming year, which I’m contemplating it being year round with small 2-3 week breaks in between.  I just don’t like the idea of taking off a whole summer (3 months).

2.) I officially accepted the call into the ministry to teach the Word of God, as of April 2nd.  Ministry opportunities have been increasing for me immediately after I accepted this holy  charge.  I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to head up a bible study group at the Pink Collar Club.

I’ve always known God had called me to teach the Bible, but for some reason ran away from the stigma of “minister” because of the mode people place tend to pigeon-hole you in when you say that are called into the ministry.  So in the past I never wanted to portray myself as a minister…but that is exactly what each Christian is in a sense.  I no longer run away from this.  I embrace it because it is what God wants for me and for the world.  He has a purpose.  I was already doing the work, but just running away from the idea of the traditional sense of it.  But it is what it is.  God will use me in my own personality to deliver His message His way and I’m open to that. In fact, it’s such a strong calling that if I ran away from it ever again I’d be going against His will. I have to give an account for how I lived my life on this earth, and answering HIm when He calls is part of my accountability.

During this process of accepting the Call, I also discovered how to help others accept their call.  At ChristianLadies.net, I’ve invited several godly women to come on board with me and share their experiences as Christian women and special topics of expertise that God has gifted them to share with others.  So far the Lord has brought people from as far away as Nigeria to be a part of this and I am honored beyond measure.  Read more about our resident experts here:  http://christianladies.net/resident-experts/

3.)  I began a few more social networking groups as add-ons or sister sites to WAHM University and Christian Ladies Connect.  They are:

 http://wahmuniversity.ning.com

http://christianladies.ning.com

Piece by piece, it’s all coming together.  From the outside looking in it may seem confusing to some, but there really is a method to the madness.  There is a plan to all the projects that I’ve begun.  Sometimes it feels like it doesn’t make any sense to me, but I know the urgent call and the shift in seasons and the times to pick up a brick and begin building, or the seasons to put down the bricks and stop building.  I’ve had to submit to both.  Even though I don’t clearly see the whole picture, the vision is becoming clearer with time.  Meanwhile, I walk in faith and I don’t answer questions liek “WHY?”  or “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

I get the raised eyebrows, the questioning looks of wonder when people see the degree M.S. next to my name but notice that I’m home all the time.  I simply smile to myself.  It’s different indeed.  I homeschool a 1st grader, care for an infant, manage my home, run a home based business designing websites and podcasting, run an online women’s ministry, plus manage over 15 domain names/websites, and still have time for my husband at the end of the day…hmmm…

And what’s more is, I ENJOY it!

So I might be a little on the odd side.  But I love my life!

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My hubby came back home last night after a 2 week departure with the navy…

I’m so glad to have him back.  Especially Nyomi.  She missed him a great deal while he was away.

One thing’s for certain: you really appreciate what you have all the more when it’s gone.

Tonight I’m just happy and blessed that we’re together as a unit again.  Amazing…only 2 weeks and I’ve felt like it was an eternity.

The one thing I am finding that really helps to keep things in order while my husband is away is developing routines for my children.  It really helps to take some of the edge off of the difference in atmosphere.  When we have routines to look forward to everyday is not as challenging to look forward to each day with anticipation of what’s new.

Well…

We’re at a sigh of relief right now, with our missing piece of the puzzle back in place.

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Okay…I decided to jump in and take a leap toward DOING something about losing weight.

No more pity parties.

I was listening to Creflo Dollar this afternoon and he’s been talking about procrastination.  Enough of it for me.

Leslie Sansone’s videos have seen me through weight loss in the past and I just connect with her, so I’ve got to invest in myself and I plan to use her DVD’s and gear…maybe even join the online club and community for support.  I’m sure it will be worth it.

I just downloaded the free ebook  of the 10 day weight loss challenge, and I’m going for it.

I’ll keep you updated.  I want this to be something I incorporate into my life for the long term.
I suppose I should post a before and after picture too right?

Will do that soon.

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Today…organizing, teaching, cleaning, exercising, business…Here are my updates

• organizing my desk drawers
• laundry: cloth diapers, folding and putting away last night’s laundry, still a pile on my daughter’s bed
• exercising: worked out to Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away The Pounds - did a 1 mile walk
• teaching: bible: Noah’s ark, science: butterflies, math: place value,  grammar:capitalization, handwriting, sentence structure
• family: visiting my parents, taking the kids out to see grandma and grandpa
• organizing: sorting old mail
• cleaning: dishes again and again, kitchen table, bathroom sinks, bathtub.  Giving baby a bath, washing her hair, giving oldest bubble bath, untwisting my hair for a shampoo
• business and ministry: networking with newest resident expert at Christian Ladies Connect, checking on WAHM University’s stats progress

Busy day indeed.

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