1.23

January 23rd = Quite a day in the history of the Martin family

1998 - Luke, our first baby and only son, came into the world at 1:11pm to 24 year-old kids who didn't have a clue how blessed we'd be 19 years down the road. #Lukesbday19

2013 - Grace went for her first colonoscopy after losing 21 pounds and we finally got an answer to what was causing all the havoc in her little body:  Crohn's Disease.  (How thankful we are that she has had very few symptoms since the removal of her colon in November of 2014!)  #nocolonstillrollin

2017 - As we wait for LID/LOA/TA (translation: the process we are waiting for to get word we can leave for China), we celebrate our sweet girl's birthday.  We don't know how they decided on this date as her birthday, but yes...it's also her brother's.  Luke & Lottie's Chinese name also mean the same thing:  Light.  I believe this means they will have a special connection.  Thankful that our agency's liaison in China could send her a birthday party complete with cake for all her friends and that we got pictures back today - which brought tears of JOY as well as a great longing to be with her. #Lottiesbday3

Dr. Myrlene Kennedy

Every year around this time of year I get a bit nostalgic about a great time in my life.  I long for the days in high school when I would be memorizing lines, learning songs, and staying after school for long rehearsals in preparing for the annual high school musical.  I don't mean Disney's cheesy show.  I don't mean just ANY high school musical.  Really.  It.  Was.  Legendary.

I never could do it justice with the words describing it, and I hated for people to think I was wishing for my "glory days" or even bragging while trying to explain the awesomeness that was the Friendswood High School Musical.  I tried to tell my husband and when he did end up seeing it one year he was very impressed with the quality and talent, but I still knew deep down that he didn't get it.  He didn't experience it.  And I actually feel bad for him.  He missed something very special.

Tears come to my eyes thinking of my beginning with the musical in Friendswood.  I was a wide-eyed freshman, just happy to be in the chorus, as were all freshmen….every year.  It was 1988 and the musical was Mame.  It was breath-taking.  The seniors seemed like Broadway stars.  My part was just making sure I got on the stage for the chorus scenes.  I still have nightmares to this day about missing my cue or forgetting my lines.

The music was directed by my music teacher, a beautiful opera-singing Carmen-like voice and character, named Jane Ann Quevedo.  The drama teacher, Ms. Bennie Nipper, was new to me but like most drama directors a little nutty, and the choreography was by the sweet young drill-team director, Sondra Schaaf.  The entire show was produced by the scariest woman I'd ever heard speak and I was pretty sure I just wanted to stay out of her way.  She was the assistant principal of Friendswood High School, Dr. Myrlene Kennedy.

The next year I went to audition in front of all of these same ladies and to my surprise, and everyone else's I got the lead.  I have no idea to this day how that happened, except I was so shy and maybe a little afraid of boys like Marian Paroo.  They all seemed to be matchmaking as they told (now Baptist Pastor- foreshadowing?) Freddy Nelson and I to endure our first kiss (pretty sure it was his first kiss ever too!) in front of the entire cast on that bridge made by the Art class.  I don't remember much about the next few years, but I do remember the dress rehearsal critiques by alumni rock stars of the FHS musical, backstage quick changes, and the Great Fire of 1991.  I remember standing on stage in my pajamas with Rhett Perry in Pajama Game, and marrying Kevin Kabell in 1991 my senior year in Showboat.

…and I will always remember that I eventually made Dr. Myrlene Kennedy smile.  I remember beginning to feel at ease with her and not so afraid as she encouraged me to come out of my fear, like a coach pep-talking a player onto the field.  I learned that under that tough outer shell, she saw something in me I didn't.  In her own unique way, she inspired me to be more than I was.  My senior year I spent a lot of time in her office, as an office aide and I think just skipping classes. :)  She challenged me to take a math class that wasn't on my "on-level (loser) path".  She "Baptist Bet" me (read: no $ in this for anyone at all) that I couldn't do it.  I couldn't take Pre-CALCULUS.  And sure enough, I got a B.  I really showed her!  :)

Later after college I invited her to a senior recital I was having at my Dad's church in League City.  She honored me when she took the time to come, and her comment while leaving was "You should've gone to Baylor.".  Haha!  Oh I loved her.  Not many people can say that they were close to their….assistant principal in high school.  I thought of her as a great influence in my life.  We kept in touch and I got that amazing Christmas newsletter in the mail every year.  I loved that she loved her family.  She even had me call her sister on several of her birthdays and sing Happy Birthday to her.

I will miss her.  She passed away today, and I know all of her kids will miss her.  There must be thousands of us.

I think I heard that she was engaged once, but looking back I see that she had one love.  It was Friendswood High School.  The musical was her baby, and she had many kids.  Anyone who graced the stage can remember it like it was yesterday.  We were all blessed to know the woman that first scared us to death, but later challenged us and encouraged us to live life like we're on stage…

 I wish I could have hugged her one more time or heard her voice one more time.  I wish I could tell her how much I loved her and will forever be grateful that once upon a time, she believed in me.

Throwback Thursday

Grace Caroline at her first dance recital at Phbc 2004

Halloween 1983

Miss Pacman.....oh yeah baby.  Atari was huge at the time and going to the mall to play video games!  I loved this costume!  My Uncle Ed made this for me out of a box.  And see those shorts I'm wearing....I sewed them myself!  Oh yes.  I sewed.

Not sure what my sister is supposed to be but I remember that she wore that tutu thing for a talent show and did a gymnastics routine while singing "I Am a Promise".  That's funny just thinking about it.  "I am a great big bundle of po-ten-ti-al-i-ty-y!" Annnnd....cartwheel into the splits!  Ta-da!

Cookie Monster is my cousin, who is now a Children's pastor at a large church in my hometown of Wichita, KS.  His son who is now about that age, looks eXACTly like him!

The baby tiger is my baby brother, about a year old.  Awwwww......

My mom makes that same expression even today and hasn't aged a bit....well a little.  :)

Acclimated & Blessed

Oh my goodness.  Blow the dust off your screens.  It's been a while.  I tried to clean out the cobwebs by getting a new background, but it's still awfully quiet around here.  If you go over to facebook or pinterest, you may see more movement, but even twitter has gotten the shaft lately.  There is just way too much going on in my over-stimulated mind to put down into 40 characters.

But since you obviously didn't come here expecting to spend too much time reading....   (Actually, if you are here at all, you must really love me.  *By the way, Hi 'Chelle!)  I will put down a timeline of what I've been doing over the past few months.  August was a blur.  September was... Wait, is September over already?!  *sigh*  I do heart fall.  So glad it's here but I'm not sure that Texas got the memo.  Maybe that's why I'm so discombobulated.  I think I'll go back and start with July.

July 10 Shady Oaks Baptist Church calls Brad to be their pastor.
July 14 Brad & Luke go to Brazil (see Mission trip blog) while the girls & I go home and start staging our house to sell.
August 6 We receive an offer on our house.  (Note:  That's less than 3 weeks on the market, in a market that's not selling, in a town, much-less a neighborhood that's not selling....Oh, and at the end of a triple-digit heat wave, with a pool.  Sorry about the heat wave, Kansas, but thank you, God for that selling boost!)
August 14 Last day at RiverPoint Church, Drive to Texas
August 17 Moving truck arrives at our rental house with all of our possessions.
August 19 Offered a job teaching voice at a middle school close to our new house!
August 22 Luke and Grace start school!  Luke is starting 8th grade and playing football in his last year at middle school!  He's in Advanced Placement Science and getting good grades in everything!  Grace, after K-4 homeschooling, is starting 5th grade which here, is the last year of elementary school.  We decided on public school after much research and have loved it!  All 3 of Grace's teachers have told her that "the most important part about them is that they are Christian".  Praise God!  Grace is now Gracie to all of her classmates, but Mom's not budging.  She'll always be my Grace Caroline!  Grace enjoys choir and reading and has friends in our neighborhood that she wants to play with daily!
August 30 Moriah begins Preschool 2 days a week at a church down the street from our house.
September 3 Open House for staff, search committee and all those who helped us move in to our new house.
September 6 Start teaching voice on the days while Moriah is at preschool.  Luke's football games begin every Tuesday in September & October!
September 15 SPARK SEATTLE trip - My favorite trip ever!  God is so good.
September 24 My mom's surprise birthday celebration reunion with friends and family back in Kansas!

What miracles!!!  See what God has done!  I'm overwhelmed with His provision and love and blessing.  My friend, Hopie, texted this a while back and I still think how wonderful God's blessing is....

Definition of blessed:  "one is pronounced blessed when God is present and involved in his life.  The hand of God is directing all his affairs for a divine purpose and thus the person lives before the face of God."


Hearing Rich Mullins' song "Hold Me, Jesus" the other day, I realized that right now....He is King of my glory.  There are times in life, and have been times and will be times again when I need Him to be my Prince of Peace.  But right now, I'm praising the King of my glory for directing all of His affairs for a divine purpose and that I am getting to live before the face of God.  It's a beautiful place to be!  *sigh*  It's good to be back.  Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you are BLESSED today.

Supportive

When I was in high school, I was in Wranglerettes, the jr/sr drill team.  If you didn't grow up in Texas, then you aren't impressed at all.  You may not know what a BIG DEAL drill team is and how hard it is to make the team and how drill competitions are as big as football games.  Okay not really.  Nothing in Texas is as big as football.  But drill teams make those football games' halftime so much more colorful and FABulous!

At the Senior Mother/Daughter banquet, it is customary for each senior drill member to stand up and thank her mom for all that she's done during her high school years.  You can probably gather that there are many tears and mushy moments....and you'd be right.  It's a mush fest.  I wasn't a big fan of mush.  (Since I married Mr. Mush himself, I think I may have changed just a bit....but not much.)  So the night before the banquet, I sat in my room (I can still remember this.) and wrote this poem for my mom...

A common thing in Wranglerettes is to create cheese
But common more in daily life is for our mom's to please
This ritual of finding words for seniors and their moms
became a bit annoying cuz our moms are just our moms
Get ready next year, juniors, cuz already I can see
that all your moms are supportive and don't take much to please
And Mama Schaaf is leaving cuz now she's mama for real
and it's important that she's there for them because they need to feel
the love that our moms gave to us from Ema and Ty's age up to now
She'll be a wonderful mommy cuz on all of us she learned how
I chose the word supportive and then I thought of....brassierre
cuz she's kinda like my bra in ways (now don't think I'm too weird)
Seriously, just think about it, it really is no lie
She works all day and rests at night just like this bra of mine
Now she does compare in most ways but there is on major exception
my bra is large as you can see, but she is sheer perfection
Just like my big brassiere she lets me know she's here
dancing, singing, acting, breathing...she always will be there
Supporting me and hugging me for everything I do
and when she's happy she bounces, just like these two

RIP Dame Joan Sutherland

Without a doubt, the greatest soprano who ever lived...singing "The Flower Duet" (my favorite) from Lakme by french composer, Leo Delibes. (wearing purple)

20 Year Reunion

I can't go, but this song expresses how I feel about Friendswood High School, Class of 1991. I had to fill out a bio for the reunion, so thought I'd share...

Education: _Friends University, Wichita KS, Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance 1996

Jobs: _Homeschool Mom, Pastor’s Wife, Private Voice Teacher, Music Director/Teacher for Christian Youth Theater Wichita, Spark Ministry Worship Leader & Speaker

Family Information: Married Brad Martin in 1996, Luke Ashton (12), Grace Caroline (10), Moriah Natalie (2)

Travel: DisneyWorld, Cancun, NYC, Reno, Colorado, Dallas, Oregon to visit Betsy!

What has been the most unique/exciting experience of your life (outside of marriage and children)?

After 11 years in music ministry around Texas, my husband felt called to start a church in Kansas. We moved back in 2007 and started with 6 people. We now serve and lead a family of 400+ at RiverPoint Church in Newton, Kansas.

I wish I had (but didn’t) while attending FHS: Thanked my teachers more often and appreciated the adults that invested in my life.

My most memorable moment from FHS: The big auditorium fire, The Music Man, The Pajama Game & Showboat, Drill Team dances in the stands (oh was football going on too?), and lifelong friendships made.

Tell us some good deeds that fellow classmates did for you (some random act of kindness or at least not still punishable by law) from the good old days in high school (you can tell more than one story here):

In high school, I was blessed to have great friends that were like family, fun & inspiring teachers, and a wonderful church family. I’d say that little town was aptly named, but I don’t think any of this kindness was given by anything random or because I deserved it but because of the rich heritage of this town, the God served there and His great love for us… Ephesian 2:4-8.

I have been changed "For Good".

Life is Beautiful

We are studying the Holocaust this week. This is a great scene from my favorite movie of all time, showing how this Dad turned the concentration camp into a game to protect his son.

Guido: [being shipped to a concentration camp] You've never ridden on a train, have you? They're fantastic! Everybody stands up, close together, and there are no seats!

Giosué Orefice: There aren't any seats?
Guido: Seats? On a train? It's obvious you've never ridden one before! No, everybody's packed in, standing up. Look at this line to get on! Hey, we've got tickets, save room for us!

Giosué Orefice: [narrating as an adult] This is my story. This is the sacrifice my father made. This was his gift to me.

My Grandpa

I recently visited my grandma in Plains, Kansas. I took pics around her house of my grandpa, because I didn't get to know him very well. He died 30 years ago, at the young age of 56. Grandpa Frank was in the military. He was a very good looking man. My dad looks a lot like him, and so does my little brother.

My parents met when they were in junior high in Plains Kansas when my mom's family moved to town as Pastors of the Friends Church. My dad was immediately asking her to "go with" him but she wasn't easily persuaded....until later in high school.

The coolest thing to me is that my Grandpa Frank was saved in the church where my other Grandpa Hutson was the pastor. So thankful for and blessed by that.

The marriage certificate behind the pic says they were married in 1944.

This was the last picture taken of him.

I can't wait to see him again in heaven.

20 Year Reunion

This fall my class is celebrating our 20 year reunion. Yep, that's me in the blue shirt I must've borrowed from my Grandma, after using an entire bottle of hairspray to get that helmet of hair nice & BIG. (???) This picture is actually an icon on the FISD website. Anyway, I wish I could go but it's a busy time for our family that weekend with Grace's birthday and CYT dress rehearsals, etc. Reunions are nice, but facebook satisfies that need to see everyone for me. If Betsy were going, I might think a little harder about going. But I just saw her last November...remember my secret gift?

I was the lead in the high school musicals so I suppose my classmates expect that I had had a successful career on Broadway or in Opera. At this point in my life I'm okay with that. I'm okay because I base my success on God's standards & perspective, not the world's. Just this week, these verses have been in my bible study, and I love that. God perfectly times His perfect Words to me.... I just love that.

Joshua 1:7-8 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Psalm 1:2-3 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. H

e is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

Luke 12:29-31 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Mark 8:34-36 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Praying for Jenna

I've been following a family on twitter that I feel very close to during such a sad time in their lives. I know it's because we have a bond in Jesus, and because my family experienced something similar when I was a child. It's hard to hear the pain. It's heart-wrenching to hear the fight is ending. It's faith-strengthening to know that this mother is clinging to God with all that she is. It makes me stop and pray for her every time she tweets, and it makes me run to hold my babies a little tighter. It makes me remember my mom's tears and how I sat at her feet for weeks. My mom says I wouldn't leave her side and I cried every time she cried. I usually don't want to think of this time in my life, but it's healing. It's also what God has called me to do in 2Corinthians 1:3-4, since I was once comforted by His great love.

I have been reading the family's blog and left this comment:

"I will pray, especially for Jenna. I was 8 when my baby sister died. I can tell you that because I knew Natalie was in heaven with Jesus, it brought me comfort to be able to pray. I'd lay in bed each night asking Jesus to tell her Hi for me and all the things I wanted her to know about our family and life in general. Her life brought me closer to Jesus, and I can't wait to thank her when I see her again one day. Jenna will be given supernatural strength that will make her able to perceive things in her little life with more depth than the average child her age. Her soul is forever etched with her sister's love and she'll easily be able to "set her mind on things above" because part of her heart is there. Praying God's great comfort for your whole family."

I am committing to pray for their 9 year-old, Jenna. Please pray for her with me.

Remembering Cafe Yumm!

Inspired by Betsy's comment below, I went looking to see if I could buy online a delicious bottle of something I found while I visited her there in Oregon. We had lunch at a very healthy, and very hip little place, appropriately named, "CAFE YUMM!" They have a simple philosophy, summed up by the very eloquent ME: put a bunch of heathy foods together in a bowl and put some sauce on it, appropriately named, "YUMM SAUCE!" and there you have it! Yumm bowls come in a few varieties to choose from, fill you up and make you feel like you just had a bowl of vitamins. Almost like a salad, but more filling, with organic beans instead of greens. Sorry Kansas, we're just not health-conscious enough to render getting one here, so you'll just have to go to Oregon to try some! I highly recommend the experience, but my opinion could be a bit off, since it may just be the company that made it so good! ;)

Betsy, have a YUMM bowl for me and I'll have um.....a SPANGLES cheeseburger for you. :( Oh, how very sad. Miss you, my dear friend.

a new thing

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:16,18&19

In the last decade I...

• have lived in 3 different states, 5 different towns, 6 different homes & 1 apartment
• had 2 baby girls while bringing up one active little boy
• took vacations to Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, DisneyWorld (twice), Cancun, Branson, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and Oregon!
• went on 5 mission trips & 2 retreats with SPARK Ministry
• said goodbye to my grandma & my father-in-law
• taught 7 different school years, Kindergarten thru 6th grade
• watched my sister, my brother, my cousins & many friends get married and have babies
• helped my husband start a new church
• watched as many have been changed from the inside out because Christ is doing a new thing in them
• experienced God's grace a million times as He continues to do a new thing in me

Praise God for His faithfulness and that He never changes. Praise God for new mercies every morning and every year. May I be a JOY to Him in 2010.

Is it Christmas Break yet?

It seems like homeschooling is the hardest in December. While trying to figure out why, I thought of college. By December 3rd, 1994 I was knee deep in finals, rehearsing for Candlelight Concert and looking forward to a month off of classes. Loved Christmas breaks in college.... Cinnamon's Deli, going to movies (forgot what that was like), dates with HOT boys (referring only to the one I married, of course!), getting paid to sing Christmas music every day and night, shopping at Dillards with gift certificates (they didn't have gift cards yet) and sleeping late every day....

ahh, I'm back. Anyway. I think I need to count my blessings again, so here goes: Another MAKE update:

• Husband making coffee makes me happy. I'm grumpy until I get some and I'm sorry about that. I really wish I could change that about myself. Maybe someone could invent a machine that intravenously pours coffee into me before I even wake up.
• Lots of drawing around here lately. Luke is a natural and Grace is getting better with the help of Draw Write Now books that teach step-by-step drawing. Love it.
• Luke is reading the third Percy Jackson series book "The Titan's Curse" and loves it! He wants this book "The Mighty 12" for Christmas, about the greek gods & goddesses. I'm just glad he wants any book for Christmas, and love when he gets into a series. Thank you authors who write for boys!
• Luke is also finishing (please God I hope) writing a paper on "The Persian Gulf War"....notecards, outlines, and bibliography cards, oh my.
• Grace has been reading a LOT of American Girl books. Now she is reading "The Christmas Nutcracker" about some ballerinas getting ready for the big show. She loves going to the library more than any girl I know. She says this book makes her want to take ballet again.
• Luke is heavy into circles in math. Ugh! Circumference and area and pi....mmm, pie. No not that kind. Hard stuff. Tired brains. Thinking of Christmas break again....
• Grace is already learning division, which is so hard to teach with all of the steps. We are knee deep in frustration over math. How many more days???
• Blessings....ok...Moriah is taking a nap right now, Grace is reading, Luke is correcting math mistakes and I'm blogging over a cup of Candy Cane Tea. Its all about perspective.
• Moriah loves "Are You My Mother?". All of my kids love that book. Maybe it's because I think it's so cute. "Snort!"
• Here's a day last week of recess...after lunch, not too cold yet, fun times.
  
• Psalm 103 is a good thing to memorize because it's all about praise, which puts us in our place and reminds us again Who's in charge and how many blessings He gives me but doesn't have to. Thank you God for this wonderful life. Give me new perspective and teach me to wear my crown of love and compassion with joy and contentment daily.

Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and

heals all your diseases,who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.Psalm 103:1-5

Legacy of Lois

But from everlasting to everlasting

the LORD's love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children's children.

Psalm 103

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice [or Charlene] :)

and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

2 Tim. 1:5

Rich Mullins

I remember being in a practice room at Friends hearing Rich play and sing this for the first time. It was an awesome moment I knew I didn't want to forget. Brad was with me and we sang with him once we learned it. I've sung it in my mind many times since when I'm nervous or afraid. It's a simple prayer with powerful heart-changing lyrics. I didn't know Rich very well but I do know He spent a LOT of time seeking God, learning more about God from reading His Word, spending time with God and reading great works of others who knew Him. He was a genius with a realness about him that made him so complex and unusual. He strongly smelled of patchouli cologne, so even if he'd been there minutes earlier you knew it. It was fun to go to school with him, but Jim Smith's book "An Arrow Pointing to Heaven" made me wish I'd known him better.

He died 12 years ago today.

9/11

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

Mall Friends

When I was in the 1st Grade, I met the prettiest little blond-haired girl and she became my BFF. We did everything together. We did each other's hair during 2nd grade story time. We had slumber parties and skated through each other's basements. We bought matching coats in 3rd grade and made everyone believe we were twins. We chased boys. We got into trouble writing notes in 4th grade. We signed every note with LYLAS. {Love ya like a sis} In 6th grade, we even rode the city bus to the mall BY OURSELVES to go shopping! Heather just said it today....."What were our parents THINKING???" We kept in touch when we moved away. We were in each other's weddings. We still get together and reminisce and laugh and talk.

BFF indeed.

Now here are our girls walking the mall (WITH their moms---duh! what in the world?!) and shopping for cell phones/lip gloss at Claire's.

Texting.

Grace with Heather's Hope (8) & Hannah Claire (4)

And the mall princess.

And 2 boys who went to Candyopolis and ingested WAY too much sugar!

A Friend loves at all times.

Proverbs 17:17

Vacation to Remember

Here are a few highlights that I don't want to forget...

•  Good 12 hour car ride thanks to dvds, plenty of pacis, snacks, new books to read and Brad's Journey cd.
  
• Yummy Mexican food!
• Time with Terri & Tim (Brad's sis & bil) LOVE you guys!
• Walking on the RiverWalk at night in the cool Spring weather
• Riding the Log ride with Luke & Shawn, and getting soaked! 
• Riding the "Great White" with Brad, screaming the whole time, embarrassing him.  hehe.
• Having Grace need one last hug, afraid to let mommy go on this "scary" ride 
• Watching Luke ride the Atlantis water ride with his best bud/cousin Shawn 5 times in a row!  (yay---no lines!)
• Watching Grace laugh out loud at the Sea Lion show and her amazement when Shamu waved to us.
• Seeing Moriah just take it all in with her laid-back, "whatever" personality.
• Seeing Leah's beautiful face as she walked down the aisle.... laughter + tears = priceless moment of happiness.  The sweetest wedding (& the shortest) I've been to in a long time.
• Brad's time away from working and getting time with his best friend and mentor, Dale.
  
• How easy it is for my kids to make friends....swimming at the hotel pool, they made fast friends with the kids there and started a game of Marco Polo....(poor unsocialized homeschooled kids)  (that was sarcasm)
• Sitting in the hot tub watching my kids and thanking God for them.
• Quality time with my family, relaxed and carefree.... thanks to a sweet little tax refund.