Sittin' and Visitin'

I just adore company.  There is nothing better than having friends stop by and then them just sittin' and visitin' for a while.  We have had 3 straight weeks of company.  It has been fabulous!

We started with Sara and Kenny McGrath and ended with Stephanie and Greg Brown.  Both weekends were so fun, but I've gotta be honest, they were laid back!  So laid back, I didn't even pull out the camera!  We did a good deal of eating and a lot of talking, just the way it should be with old friends. 

In the middle, we had Justin's mom and stepdad visit.  We were very excited because this was their very first time to come see us here.  Since they had never visited (actually his mom lived here 20 plus years ago- but she had only been back once or twice since and a lot has changed).  We did all of the normal touristy stuff. 

Friday night we went to Acme Oyster House, Sucre, drove down St. Charles to see the chandeliers, and got out and invited ourselves onto a movie set.  ha! 

Saturday we ate breakfast at Cafe Du' Monde and then walked around the French Quarter for most of the day.  We did several things we don't typically do, including browsing the galleries on Royal Street, checking out some antique stores, and touring the museum that is in the Old U.S. Mint, so it was some new things for us too!

Watching Pralines being made.

Mrs. Lisa and I decided we would each buy one of these for our houses. Watcha think?

Mitch had to see Bourbon.  We stayed just long enough to get this picture!  ha!  Not our scene.

After the quarter, we took a brief break and then went to Dat Dog for dinner.  You don't think hot dogs when you think New Orleans, but the Bethany's thought it was the best meal of the trip!  We certainly agree.  Such a fun atmosphere.

We are so blessed and happy to have people come and visit us in the city.  When are you going to plan your trip?  You better call us! ;-)

I can't wait to have patience

When I was in kindergarten my absolute favorite cassette tape was "Rappin' Rabbit."  Imagine a really hokey rabbity voice "rapping" (translation: chanting in an upbeat tempo) about Bible themes.  I vividly remember listening to it on the way to school in the mornings.  My mom was awesome to even allow that thing in her car, in my opinion.  Anyway, the only song to really stick with me is this one that goes:
I can't wait to have patience
Cuz' patience is a wonderful thing!
Got have it, Got have it, Give it to me now!
I want it more than anything!

I feel exactly like Mr. Rappin' Rabbit.  Patience, oh such a wonderful thing.  One of the fruits of the Spirit within me, but sometimes I find myself so needing just a little bit a lot more reliance on the Spirit and buckets more of the patience He teaches.  And just like Mr. Rabbit, I want to avoid the work on my heart and just get that virtue.

The latest thing God is using to mold me more into his likeness has made me sing to myself Rappin' Rabbits song almost everyday.

We had a plan.  (insert laugh here- You know what God does when we plan!)  We felt that this summer was the right time to begin to pursue God's will for making our little family bigger.  And almost before we even began we encountered roadblocks.  An autoimmune issue in my body that has been dormant for close to seven years has made a lovely reappearance.  We are treating this issue, but after consulting with a high risk ob, he strongly advised delaying pregnancy due to a high potential that the pregnancy would end with an early delivery that could not sustain the life of our sweet little one.

And so we are waiting.  As I watch friend after friend announce a pregnancy and countless other friends journey down the equally difficult road of trying to conceive, I feel like I am stuck at the starting line, paralyzed.  I watch their journeys with joy, and am so excited for each bundle of God's grace that I celebrate.  But I wish that was God's plan for us NOW.  I can't wait to have patience.

Paul said a rather remarkable thing near the end of his life.  He stated that he had learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  At first glance, this seems to be a heroic statement of a mighty man of God.  But it makes me pause to think all the life experiences that must have gone into that learning.  He was beaten, discredited, blinded, shipwrecked, falsely imprisoned, snakebit, and delayed many many times by the Lord.  It comforts me to know that as Paul sat in that prison cell he had LEARNED to be content whatever the circumstance.  That this experience of a hope deferred will teach me more about how to be content with my Lord and to count the sweet blessings of my life.

As I wait for a child at my home (whichever way the Lord brings them!), I am grateful that God has blessed me with a mother's heart.  I am grateful to have "mothered" over 100 kids in the classroom over the past years.  I am grateful that it doesn't take bearing a child to nurture one.  And although I wish I had the patience to wait without a grimace for my time to actually be called "mom,"  I am grateful that the Lord is preparing my heart and using the time to make my heart a little more like his.  And maybe down the road, when I have toddlers screaming for cheerios and refusing to nap, all this patience I will learn will come in handy. :-)

Who Dat!

As you probably have read, I got Justin tickets to the first preseason Saints game.  This was a big deal for us because it will probably be the one and only time we get to go (unless a season ticket holder wants to give us seats they won't be using!!).  We had a really great time. 

So close to the field!

Please excuse the exhausted look on my face.  It had been a loong day at school and I didn't even have a chance to freshen up.  It was ok though!

The 610 Stompers.  You have not lived until you see these middle aged guys gettin down with their bad selves.  It is hilarious!

Who Dat!

Justin's Birthday Weekend in Jackson

Due to the fact I am a horrible wife teacher, it was really difficult to go to see family on Justin's actual birthday weekend, so we went the next weekend to see all the family.  Justin's dad held a nice cookout to celebrate all the Kelly birthdays (there are 3) in August.  It was so nice for all sides of the family to be there. 

This was the funniest thing.  Christopher started picking at Gavin by poking him when he wasn't looking.  Well, Gavin decided he could dish it back.  So this started a poke war between them.  Whatever Christopher did, Gavin would dish it RIGHT back.  It was SOOO funny!

We opened presents.

Justin got acid free covers and some backs for these comic books that he inherited from his paternal grandmother.

The birthday children.  Who do you think is the oldest?? ;-)

We at cake.  How cute is this cake?  They found toys that were representative of each kid and put it beside the numbers.  Justin got R2D2, Hannah a doll, and Matthew a Transformer. 

 Afterwards, we went to Justin's mom's house to check out the renovations they have been doing at the house and further celebrate.  The house looks nicer and nicer each time we go and Justin's mom outdid herself with a Mexican fiesta.  It was like being at a Mexican restaurant.  Seriously.  It was funny though, because we brought Mama Jean from the nursing home who must have never had Mexican before in her life.  Every time she ate a tortilla she complained that she was eating paper.  We couldn't convince her it was a type of bread!  ha!  I guess Mama Jean will not be requesting Mexican for her next birthday meal. :-)

It was hilarious, because as we got in the car to leave for Jackson on Friday, I turned and told Justin, "Aaron and Nichole are going to have Jude this weekend."  Sure enough, we get a text about 6.30 in the morning saying that Nichole was in labor.  Jude made his arrival later Saturday night.  So before we even went home on Sunday, we stopped by Ochsner for a visit.  Here is our first picture together.  Doesn't he look like a doll?  I have had a bit of a cold and just general school germs for the two weeks since he has been born so I haven't got as much hands on time as I wish, but I will soon make up for it! 

Justin's Birthday

We celebrated Justin's 28th birthday yesterday.  It was so funny because after we got home last night we were watching the Olympics and the announcer said in reference to some athlete, "Yeah, he is 28, so he is getting pretty old for the Olympics" or something like that.  It was pretty funny to even hear the TV announcer confirm that Justin is officially old!  :-)

He started off his day with breakfast in bed.  Don't worry, he only ate one.  I just put them all on the plate for show!

After I got home from work, we opened his present- Saint's Tickets!!  I was really excited about this.  And he was totally surprised!

"Is anything even IN this box?"

"Hey, I already have a Wah peddle."

Can this face get any better??  Love it!

It's Saints Tickets!!!

After that, Justin had another surprise in his truck.  My parents renewed his XM radio subscription for a year.  This had come with the truck, but we didn't feel that it was something we could spend money on right now.  Justin had enjoyed his free trial of it, so my parents decided to give him this for his birthday.  He was very excited. 
After a dinner of trout and vegetables, we went to our favorite ice cream place for dessert, Sucre!  Even though I am working like crazy to get back in my classroom, I still think we managed to have a pretty decent celebration of his 28 years! 

Disney Love

As I mentioned before, I had a BLAST on our Disney trip last year.  So much so that my newest hobby is stalking Disney blogs and rereading our unofficial guide.  Of course, Disney is very expensive so I doubt that we will be going back to Disney anytime soon, BUT when and if we do, I have some things that I will definitely repeat and some things that I will not do again. 

General
I will:

• Stay on resort property- you can't beat the convenience.

• Use Disney's Magical Express if we fly (again-convenience)

• Eat at least 2 sit-down dinners in Disney and make advance reservations for at least one (I want to ease into the ADR system because we really don't focus much on food when we are there)

• Get there before park opening- this helped a ton with managing crowds

• Use a touring plan

• Experience the evening shows
• Go to Animal Kingdom this time.

I won't:

• Buy a dining plan (unless it is a free special)- we just don't eat enough to justify it.
• Get a room by the swimming pool.  It was so loud!  Even after quiet hours.

Magic Kingdom
I will:

• Try to do a better job about experiencing Main Street this trip

• Try to be at the front of Cinderella's Castle for Wishes

• Possibly spend a park-hopper morning to take-in some of lesser attended attractions such as Tom Sawyer's Island

• Experience the new Fantasy Land- so excited!

I won't:

• Get on Carousal of Progress (I know this is a favorite of so many, but it got stuck for about 15 minutes on us, smelled musty, and was just outdated..I can totally skip this.)

• Get on Stitch's Great Escape.  It was horrible.  No thank you.

Epcot
I will:

• Spend more  time exploring the different countries.  We plan to spend a day and a half at Epcot next time.  I want to ride all of the rides, but I also want to savor the countries.  

• Eat at the countries.  I love the unique food and dining experience.

• Visit during the Flower and Garden Festival if we can.  It was so pretty.

• I will hit some of the minor attractions in Epcot such as Ellen's Energy Adventure, Journey into the Imagination, etc.  I just want to see what they are like.

• Ride Sum of All Thrills.

There is really nothing about Epcot I wouldn't do again!

Hollywood Studios
I will:

• Go to the Sci Fi Drive in this time.  I love that place!  It is just so fun!

• See Beauty and the Beast.  I was so disappointed we missed it.

• Take the Art of Animation tour.  I think it would be interesting.

Again, nothing at Hollywood Studios I would change.  It was great!

What are your must do's?  What do you dislike? 

Flashback Sunday: Universal Studios

After our days at Disney, we spent one day doing Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  We had a choice of the van picking us up at insanely early or about an hour later.  We were stuck though, because if we chose the later time we would miss park opening.   So we chose the insanely early time, counting on traffic and other stops making the trip about 45 minutes long.  We were surprised when we were the only pick-up and it took about 10 minutes to get there!  ha!  I know the guy thought we were insane to want to show up so early!

Even though it was a good hour before official park opening, we headed to the gates of Islands of Adventure, hoping to be first in line to visit Harry Potter World.  Imagine our surprise when they let us go right in to the first gates of Islands of Adventure!  We soon realized that this was just shops and we assumed they would stop us at the next entrance, but we would try anyway!  We showed our tickets and they let us in.  We couldn't believe our luck!  We realized they were letting their resort guests in early, so at the next stop, they asked for our resort bands.  We told them we didn't have that, so they asked to see our tickets.  To our shock, they told us to go ahead in!  We were thrilled!!! It was like a little fun blessing from God to start our day.

We headed straight for Harry Potter World.  The theming is on par with anything Disney has ever done!  Totally immersive and awesome.  We were able to do ALL of Harry Potter World including the shops before the park even officially opened.

The chocolate frogs!

Three Broomsticks Restaurant

We did sample the butterbeer.  It was tasty but very sweet.

After knocking out the major blockbuster before the park even opened, we were at our leisure to do the rest of the rides.  We did some of the water rides and man that was a mistake.  We were SOAKED.  This might be good if it were July, but it was April and I was freezing.  We spent the money on two rounds in the people dryer and were still miserable.  Justin finally just bought me new shorts.  Islands of Adventure does not play with their water rides.  Only ride if you want to get soaking wet.  (even the log flume which is relatively tame at some parks).  We also did all of the DC comic portion of the park and enjoyed the Hulk, Spiderman, etc.  We  are both roller coaster people, so we really enjoy Islands of Adventure for the thrill rides.

Help!  A dinosaur is attacking!

Yeah, they try extra hard to get you wet. 

Justin's in the doghouse. :-(

We had ridden every attraction we cared to at Islands of Adventure by noon, so we headed over to Universal Studios.  I've got to say that I was not that impressed with Universal Studios.  It just seemed rundown.  BUT there are some great coasters there as well, so we will be going back.  Plus they are doing some refurbishments that should enhance the property.  The mild rides we road were Shrek 3D, Jaws, E.T. (pure nostalgia-I hope they never get rid of this one!), and Twister.  On Twister, Justin's sunglasses were literally blown off the top of his head.  They had to stop the ride cycle so a coast member could get them out of the set.  We rode the two big coasters numerous times.  Mummy Returns was WAY more awesome than I expected it to be.  We were done with everything we wanted to see at Universal Studios in plenty of time to go out to their City Walk and have a nice dinner at Bob Marley's.  Then we went BACK to Islands of Adventure to explore til closing.  We had more than enough time to do everything we wanted to do at the two parks.  It was really nice.  :-)

JAWS!  Glad we got to see this before it was demolished to make way for a new attraction.

We had a fun talk with the conductor of the Hogwartz Express back in HP World