Bahama-Mamas

Well, my blogger friends, it's been a while. Where, you may ask (all three of you), have I been? Oh, just suffering through a little girls-getaway-weekend-cruise to the BAHAMAS!



Can you believe I had to endure delicious meals cooked for me day and night that I didn't have clean-up after, diaper-changing free days spent carelessly laying in the sun or shopping, and, not to mention, spending time with six other super ladies who made me laugh until my stomach hurt. I know you're really feeling for me. ;) Seriously, this trip was the best thing I've done in a long time! Of course I missed my little family, but Will and Sadie were in the very competent hands of their loving Daddy-- so, I knew they'd do great and they did!! (Almost too great-- Rob cleaned out closets and caught up on laundry, too-- now he's making me look bad! ;) All of this allowed me to really relax and cut loose with some good friends! What a Man. Thanks, Honey! Okay, back to the trip...

Where to start? Ah, yes, the cast, or who went on the voyage. I had the pleasure of traveling with my mom (who was also my roomie) and three of her friends from high school-- Bev, Cheryl, and Kathy.



Along with two of my dear friends and bible-study buds, Sally and Jenny.



What a fun crew-- never a dull moment! And on a cruise, as I'm sure many of you know, there are very few of those. At any given time there is something going on! Which is probably why I didn't get all that sleep I promised myself I'd get, but it was worth it because I was spending that valuable time with such a great group of ladies!

Our cruise left on Friday evening, but my trip began Thursday night. I flew into Orlando to meet with the rest of the crew. Flying solo is such a foreign concept to me nowadays (read: I wasn't dripping with sweat after lugging a double stroller and carseat through security all while my two-year-old is having a meltdown!), but I quickly adjusted. We stayed the night in a spacious condo that was wonderful although lacking in some areas. (Note quote below) And after a little catching up and a quick snooze, we we're on our way.



Sally graciously drove Jenny and I to the ship. And after stopping at a toll road at what seemed like every five miles, we arrived at this beauty: The Sovereign of the Seas.



After our safety brief (I know, no sense of humor, these ladies!!)...



...it was onto fun times-- we ate, we saw shows, and boy, did we laugh!



First stop: Nassau. There, Sally, Jenny, and I enjoyed some shopping, lunch at Cafe Skans, and a tour of the beautiful 5-star resort Atlantis, which had a really neat aquarium. The highlight of the day was jewelry shopping for Miss Jenny!



Too much fun. That night was the formal dinner so we all 'gussied up' and enjoyed the night!







Second stop: CoCo Cay (almost!). Unfortunately the weather turned sour and prevented us from actually setting foot on Royal Carribean's little island, but this is what it looked like from the cruise deck!



We were suppose to snorkel that day, so we were a little bummed, but as Sally mentioned on her blog, we can have fun almost anywhere!



We spent most of the afternoon on the pool deck followed by an evening show, dinner, and finally the very crazy game called "Quest"!



As quickly at it started, our trip was over. And, as thrilled as I was to see my little stowaways, I could have endured at least one more day in the Bahamas!



To my fellow shipmates- I had such a great time with all of you! What a great group you are! Thanks for the laughter and many fun memories!

I'll leave you with some fun quotes from the trip that my friend Sally came up with that had me rolling! Don't read into them too much, they're harmless, I promise! :):)

"You need more toilet paper? Well, there's a Walmart..."

"Which of those ladies got 'friendly' before she left?"

"ANOTHER toll bridge? Do they finance?"

"Free booze?! Where? When?"

"Oh, that's beautiful!"

"Back to the garden!"

"Um, what kind of animal is this towel supposed to be?"

"Give me your bra... Faster!"

"Any song sounds good when put to a Calypso beat!"

For those who couldn't join us this time around-- we hope you can join us next time!!

Can't wait to do it again!

Love,
Jamie

Dream Boy

Yes, for our top-secret anniversary date my dream boy took me to see Dreamgirls presented by the North Carolina Theatre. In a word-- it was fabulous!! I can't tell you how many times I got choked up simply because of the powerful performances and amazing voices. I thought the movie version was okay, but the stage version rocked!! The woman who played Effie (Quiana Parler) brought the house down. It was just the taste of broadway I needed. Two thumbs up from the two of us!

Before the show, Rob made dinner reservations at 518 West, a very classy Italian eatery downtown. And let me just say, we did not leave hungry. From the bread, salad, main course, a little wine, and a delicious tiramisu for dessert- we didn't hold back!

To top all this off, I put on a nice dress and Rob wore a tie for the night-- it felt like we were going to prom. ha!

Rob, thank you for such a wonderful, romantic night! You did well, my man. You did well! :):)

Me and My Shadow

Oh, I am so loving having a baby girl! I shamelessly put bows on Sadie's bald, little head and especially love to dress her for church on Sundays. This morning, after our first dusting of snow (although, here in NC you would have thought a blizzard was coming-- ha! ;), I made sure Sadie and I had on our matching winter, black coats!



Oh, but the sappy, matching Mommy and daughter duo didn't stop there--we coordinated in our black and white outfits, too!



Yes, I am eating this up. She may end up a tomboy one day, and that's okay, but I'll get away with the frilly stuff while I can! :):)

Love Is In The Air

Four years ago yesterday I pledged my life to my sweet, hubby, Rob. I don't
think, at that time, we could have even imagined the ride that was ahead-- and we're
still just getting out of the starting gate of married life! Thankfully, the good
times have far outweighed the hard times. Oh, how I love my strong, Godly, committed,
smart, hard-working, and handsome man! Over these years, I have also had the joy of
watching my man become a 'Daddy'-- twice! He is such a wonderful father to Will and Sadie
and that makes me love him even more!! I cannot wait for the secret date Rob has planned for Saturday. Thanks for the romance, sweetheart. Here's to the many exciting adventures
that lie ahead! Praise be to our Father who joined us together to serve Him. AMEN!!!

I LOVE YOU, ROB!!

Book Report

Wow. With a title like that I feel like I'm back in 5th grade! But, I can't help but blog about a feat that has been accomplished in my life that hasn't happened in quite a while. I actually finished a book! Now, that's not to say I haven't started books, sure that's happened, but completing one from cover to cover is a whole different issue. Ah yes, the book-- "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert-- a book I read for a 'Book Club' I recently joined. Now, the title may seem like a book that you'd use for a nice women's bible study... but not so much. First the author is not a Christian, the book hardly mentions the Bible that I can recall, too many expletives, sexual references, and just bad theology, to be honest, for that. This is not to say that I disliked the book altogether, though, either. Unfortunately, I can relate to some of the author's "battlefield of the mind" issues and she came across writing like a friend who was basically spilling her guts out to you-- her writing was warm, witty, and interesting. I will quickly add that this book, in my opinion, is not for the young adult or teen reader. Too many 'adult details' about her life-- nothing crazy-- but I wouldn't feel comfortable passing this on to girls in my Sunday school class, if you catch my drift. Now, onto more details about the book.

First, let me say, I was excited when this book was presented as the choice for our reading group. I happened to see a brief portion of the author's interview on Oprah. Everyone seemed to be raving about the book. One lady even referred to it as her 'bible'. (Uh- no thanks.) To quickly sum up the book the author, who has a successful writing career and seems to have done well for herself, emotionally spirals out of control after a nasty divorce. She becomes severely depressed and looks for many things to fill the despair and void in her life. When she can't find what she's looking for in her current situation, she decides to take whatever money she has left after the divorce to travel for a year to find some sort of peace with God, herself, and her past. She travels to three places, four months a piece: Italy to learn about their ability to enjoy life's pleasures, India where she lives in an Ashram to learn from their strict adherence to a life of prayer and devotion, and finally the Indonesian island of Bali, where she hopes to learn from the people there how to balance the two.

Okay, the good points: Easy to read, colorful writing, funny, honest, transparent, great storyteller, wonderful descriptions, did I mention transparent? I definitely found myself rooting for her in her vulnerable search for God. I just wish I could sit down and have a cup of coffee with her to share some from the Word!! With that said, her experiences made me think more about meditation-- on God's word that is, the Bible. Taking time to just be still and listen to God. My God, the God of the bible! Finally, I appreciated the author's courage as she revealed her inner dialog to anyone who reads the book.

Not so good points: Her spiritual experience was a little out there for me. Too much 'tossing in the wind' listening to anyone and everyone-- taking on their belief systems. At one point during the book, I did tire of it a little bit. I guess that's just me wanting her to 'move on' with some of her issues as much as she did! And, Lord knows, I have enough issues in my own life that I have a tendency to 'beat a dead horse' on-- so no pointing fingers there.

All that said, not a bad read, but unfortunately, our belief systems are just too different for me to truly appreciate her experience. Mostly, I appreciated the author's vulnerability, writing skills and the adventure of it all. Ultimately, the book left me examining my own walk with the Lord and clinging to the blessing that it is to be close to your Maker, through Christ!

Now, on to my next read about another journey: "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan-- which I think I've read before, but it's part of a reading project a friend and I are working on based on the book "The Well Educated Mind". I'll keep you posted! Now I have to get to work on the things I really need to get done today! Have a great weekend everyone.

Welcome '08

Happy New Year everyone! I'm happy to report that Rob and I actually stayed up until midnight-- although, it was kind of an accident. After a candlelit spaghetti dinner, we got the little ones down, put in a DVD (The Kingdom), and before I knew it, it was 11:45 PM. I thought to myself, "Well, it's only 15 more minutes, you can't go to bed now!" And so there I was bringing in 2008 with my hubby, Dick Clark, and Ryan Seacrest. HA! Exciting, I know. Actually, deep down, it was A-okay with me. Our family needs the down time and are thankful to get it!

The past few days have been spent trying to get little people healthy and the house / laundry back in order (not there yet!). Oh, big news-- we bought bookshelves for our living room. We've been wanting to do this/putting it off for months now and we finally bit the bullet. Target (Otherwise known as tar-je' in our house!) was the store of choice (they were on sale) and we really like the two, 5-shelf cases. I am horrible about making decisions on furniture/decor for our house-- so it feels good to get 'er done! My next project is to put together the 'black and white photo wall' I've been wanting to do above the entertainment center and, now, new shelves.

Speaking of goals, that is one of the things I love most about the new year. Yes, resolutions! I know, I know some people hate them but I get giddy thinking about my hopes for the new year. There's just something about the clean slate of a new year to make me forget about all the times I let myself down in certain areas of life and look forward with hope. My hopes for this year (don't worry I'm not going to list them all) range from big to small. Ultimately, my goal is to continue to grow as a Christian, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and neighbor. May God grant me the strength, patience, grace, and humor to make 2008 the best yet!

And that's my prayer for you, too! May '08 be all that you want it to be!

Love,
Jamie