So, this post is pretty much a bunch of pictures of my recent "dream vacation" with a few of my best gals. We were gone from Monday -Friday and had a wonderful time with a little bit of everything: rest/relaxation, exploring, shopping, good food, and a ton of laughter! What a memory!

This is Connie and me in front of our room.

I think my favorite day was Tuesday, when we spent the day on Catalina Island. The only town on the island is Avalon. A few of us got off early and went for a run in the morning, got back on and cleaned up, ate lunch, and then we all got off and explored for the afternoon. What a beautiful place! None of us wanted to leave!


Good friends together in a beautiful place! How cool is that??

This is El Casino, which means "meeting place" in Italian. It was built to debut the first motion picture with sound - "The Jazz Singer".

We were the last boat back to the ship, out of more than 2,000 people on board!


Gotta have an elevator picture!

Karin and Erin posing pretty...

This was our attempt to take a self-portrait with our towel elephant. You'll have to use your imagination!

I said before I even left that what I really wanted from Mexico was a "designer" bag and an authentic taco. My Gucci is pink and I got a delicious fish taco! Richie says that's not really authentic - that fish tacos originate from San Diego and not Mexico, but it's good enough for me. YUM!

This is all of us enjoying our tacos.

Connie and me in front of La Bufadora, the blow hole, in Ensenada.

Um, this is so cute of Connie! What a haggler - I was glad to have her with me! Well, I'm always glad to have her with me, but you get my point!

This was our "at sea" day. We had so much fun reading on the deck in the sun! We also got to participate in a beanbag toss contest and be witnesses to a truly amazing event - the "men's hairy chest" contest. Trust me, you're glad I don't have pictures of that! :)

This is Wendy and me at the beanbag toss. I smoked 'em!

This is me with our servers, Joy and Jadeesh.

Seriously an amazing adventure with 7 amazing women!!!

A day in the life of..

Ok, we've been pretty much home-bound for six days. I've broken the rules and taken the girls the Walmart and I snuck out a couple times in order to regain my sanity, but my daughters and I have been pretty much staring each other in the face for almost a week. They really only had a cold, but Avery's fever lasted 5 days and Allie has been an emotional wreck! Fun times!

Today things were looking up, but I kept Avery home since she had a low fever yesterday and there that whole "24-hr rule". So we (SSSHHHH!) went to Target and the library. Is that terrible that we went to the library? I sanitized their hands and we didn't stay long! Anyway, this morning, before we left, Avery was watching an OPB show and shared her observation that the mother pteranadon (sp?) on Dinosaur Train always says "Yes" to her kids when they ask her for something. I stared at her and then explained that that's because she's a pretend mom. What's more - the kids are pretend kids. They only ask their mom for things that she CAN say yes to. To Avery's credit, she pretty much understood that. I think her comment was more out of surprise than jealousy!

So then we left for Target. As we walked in, Avery went straight to a shirt that wasn't even cute, and asked if we could buy it. After I said no (because I'm not pretend), she said something like, "We never get to buy the things we want." I tried to ignore that until she decided to continue with the pouting. I reminded her that I'm not a pretend dinosaur and there are a lot of things that I have to say "no" to. I love her and she gets so many things she wants - yada,yada,yada...

Then we went to the library. Thank the Lord one of my children didn't pee all over herself (sorry, Anna, I had to say it!), although I definitely wouldn't put it past my youngest. Allie lost me for a minute, though, and a mom found her and she came crying to me - so sad!!! The trip was a bit stressful, though, and I was very ready to leave. As we were walking out, I was thinking to myself, "these trips are more frustrating than they are worth." While that thought was going through my head, though, Avery said, "I just love going to the library!" Well, folks, there you go. So many things we do as moms are frustrating for us and quite testing of our patience, but that comment sure put it all in perspective for me.

Then we met Rich for lunch because he was meeting an old coworker who kind of wanted to see the whole gang. The girls ate jello and oranges. At least it was cheap. As we were driving off, I'm not kidding, Allie asked me, "What's for lunch, Mom?"

The afternoon was fairly uneventful, except Emily called, since she had my dog for a doggie-playdate, and informed me that Raleigh had dug a hole to China in her backyard and she had to give him a bath. Super. She was very gracious and wasn't at all mad! What a pal!

I had almost gotten the kids to bed after making dinner and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, when Allie said her ear hurts. An hour later I finally had her drugged and sleepy and back to bed. Guess she's not going to preschool tomorrow and we'll be heading to see the doctor. Never mind that I really need to get in myself, but that will have to wait! Really, I'm not bitter about it. The grace God has given me over the last week is clear - I'd have lost it days ago without His sufficiency! "We hold these treasures in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." Amen!

Not sure how tomorrow will look, other than I will either please Him or not. I'll walk with Him, or not. I'll be victorious, or not... You get the idea!

Did I mention I'm going on a vacation next week??????? Oh, man...

Another Avery Observation

Avery and I were watching "Prince of Egypt", which is a movie VERY loosely based on the Biblical account of Moses and the Israelites' flight from Egypt. As she's observing their construction of the pyramids and statues of their gods, she says, "How can those be their gods if they have to build them? It's just made of brick and it doesn't even answer your prayers or save you from your sins."

Yep! That's the thoughts from my five year old. As I write this, though, I'm also compelled to consider whether I have built up any gods before Him. I don't believe so at the moment, but I know I have been guilty of having idols. I've been known to make an idol of trying to be thin, of pleasing others through good works, of trying to keep a clean home, of trusting in financial security over God's always sufficient provision. I'm sure I could add more to the list. None of those things can hear or answer my prayers and they CERTAINLY cannot save me from my sins. I'm so thankful to my mighty God Who does all that and so much more. And I'm extremely thankful for my sweet daughter who, with her innocent observations, encourages me to put my trust solely in Him.

Barbie

I very often have conversations with Avery that leave me astounded. That kid is so perceptive and on top of that, she thinks about things. I guess that'd be first part Erin and second part Rich. Not that I don't think, mind you, but, well...

This evening, Avery was practicing her ballet and trying to imitate what Barbie does in "Barbie in the Nutcracker". Avery said to me, "I wish I could do what Barbie does when she sticks her leg straight up behind her and balances. She's amaaaaazing. I wish I could be like her." Horrified, I quickly pointed out that BARBIE IS PRETEND. SOMEONE DREW HER. To that, Avery answered, "Yes, but, they made her too fascinating. People just want to be like her." I just stared at her.

Yes, Avery, they did make her too fascinating. I can't help staring at those long, animated legs and wondering what it would feel like to walk around on a pair of those! God didn't make any of us that way - especially not us, daughter. However, you're incredibly beautiful and were created by the true Mastermind and He finds YOU fascinating!

The Holidays part 2

Our preschool always does a cute little Christmas program. This year they did the ABC's of Christmas. Allie's line was "D is for Donkey." It was our family homework to decorate a poster with her line in mind. Poor Allie had a pretty unimpressive poster, compared to the glitter and pizazz of most of the other letters! Sorry, honey!

This is Allie in the crowd of preschoolers on stage. She sings all the time at home, but can't seem to open her mouth much on stage. I'm pretty sure she'll grow out of that!

Rich's mom, Gramma Ginny, was able to come see the program. I really appreciated her making the 45 min. drive to see Allie's event.

I had just gotten done telling a friend that Rich wasn't going to be able to be there, due to just plain too much to do at work, but then he showed up! Allie-girl was pretty happy!

Seriously, this girl is one of the best people in the whole world to get a hug from!!

Need I explain?

Christmas morning with our girls!!

These are the gifts they got for each other. Avery and I made a "fuzzy" pillow for Allie. Anyone who knows her knows how much she loves her fuzzy blanket (that's what she named it) that Aunt Jana made her last year. You know, the soft fleece no-sew blankets with all the ties. Allie and I picked out a cute hat and gloves for Avery, something she loves to wear. Those gloves are supposedly Avery's size!

I just thought I'd throw this in. Rich's mom made us this sign and I just love it. It's in my hall above a family picture already. What a great gift!

Truly, the best gift of all is our salvation. The knowledge that Christ gave up His throne in heaven and came to earth the live as a "man of sorrows" and pay the debt I owed - unbelievable that my King should die for me! Shame on me for ever complaining about any discomfort I may suffer here on earth, compared to what my Savior did for me. And compared to what I would be suffering were I not to know Christ. This earth will pass away and I will be with Him. When you look at it that way, it's pretty hard to justify many of the things we seem to struggle with daily. Lord, that I would live my life under the constant recognition of your sacrifice!

A Cultural Experience

Rich and I decided to splurge and take Avery to a Christmas concert this year. I went to "A Gospel Christmas" last year and loved it. As I watched it last year, I thought, "I'd love to take Avery and Rich next year." I knew Avery was young, but it just seemed like something that would be so fun to bring her to. Rich and I both love African-American gospel music, and this concert is just awesome. We took her to dinner beforehand - Mexican food is always a winner! Avery got a complimentary ice cream cone and I think that's what topped her night!

Here's Avery and her Daddy waiting for the concert to start.

Avery took this picture of the stage. There was a choir of about 100 people, with the Oregon Symphony accompanying them. Awesome!

The two of us in front of the fireplace scene outside of the theater.It was a fun experience to take Avery. She got bored pretty quickly, though, and was very tired, since it started right around her bedtime. I figure she got a great cultural experience that not many five year-olds get. As we left, Rich and I agreed that next year we'll make it a date night!

A Special Friend

If you know me very well, you probably know that I moved around a lot as a kid. There were a lot of great things about moving to a new state every five years or so: learning to make new friends easily; learning to adjust to new environments; and getting to see the country. However, I learned to become a bit jealous of people who had obviously known their friends for their entire lives; who had lived in the same house or town for as long as they could remember; people who had history together... So I moved to Oregon from North Carolina when I was 17, during Christmas of my junior year of high school. Talk about traumatic!!! It turned out to be a very good thing, though, as I've learned that that's usually how God works! He turns mourning into dancing, makes beauty from ashes... My friendship with Connie has to be one of the most beautiful things that has come from a heartbreaking move from one coast to another. We started out singing in a small group together as soon as I moved to town. The next year, my senior year, we were cheerleaders together. :) After high school we remained friends, rooming together the year we were both engaged to be married. We were bridesmaids in each other's weddings, and were given the wonderful gift of having daughters the same age who love each other a ton! I don't think I've ever known a woman so loyal to me and so determined for my happiness. I now have someone with whom I have history - what a gift! We got together for her 30th birthday for a little girls' lunch at our favorite family spot - Red Robin.

Wow! We sure have some cute girls!

What can I say? I know our friendship is quite unique and I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world! Welcome to your 30's Connie! Hope we celebrate your 60th together just the same way!