Marriage Cruise, Take Two

Alan and I had a wonderful time again on the Love Like You Mean It Marriage Cruise with two other couples (back in February).  This season of life is so busy, and I love the opportunity to focus on "savoring" my husband.

Our 25th wedding anniversary is next year, and after seeing so many people's marriages fall apart (including my own parents) in this season, I am sensitive to be extra diligent in protecting our marriage.

We once again went on the cruise with some good friends.  My friend Wendy lives in Oklahoma, so the cruise provided a great excuse to see her and her husband John.

And Troy and Caren are good friends who live near us and suggested the cruise in the first place.

Part of the fun of the cruise is eating--escargot, alligator, our daily omelet, pizza, desserts, ice cream. . .

The cruise was supposed to go to Jamaica and Grand Cayman.  We were especially excited to go to Jamaica since that is Tyrell's birth heritage, but unfortunately, someone on the cruise had a health situation arise and we had to turn around and go back to the States  So we ended up back on Key West, which had been a destination the year before.

Thankfully, what we really cared about was having a good time and being with our friends, so riding around in a golf cart with our new selfie sticks and laughing 'til we almost peed our pants was enough to ensure we had fun.

Our second stop was the Bahamas.  Alan and I explored the island from the poorest of the poor native islanders to the extravagance of the Atlantic resort.  The stark extremes were striking.

The conch we tried here was A-MA-ZING.  Much better than what we had in Key West.

As usual, we heard some outstanding lessons from speakers including Lysa TerKeurst and Dave and Ann Wilson.  Some of my favorite tidbits from the lessons include:

• Don't worry about falling out of love; worry about falling out of repentance.
• We tend to think our greatest need is to be loved, but our greatest need is to learn HOW to love.
• Forgiven people forgive.
• Unforgiveness is like drinking a cup of poison and expecting the other person to die.  We cannot harbor unforgiveness and expect to achieve oneness at the same time.
• Satan does all he can to dim our light by making us turn from the battle around us to battling one another: 'You're not meeting my needs!'
• In conflict, someone has to de-escalate the situation.  Who? Whichever one is most mature.
• Inside every man resides a punk and a prince. The one you speak to is the one you call out.
• Stop speaking to the problems and start speaking to the potential.
• My job is to be obedient to God.  God's job is everything else.

Selah was absolutely incredible.  What amazingly gifted musicians!

A major highlight of the week for me was the ballroom dancing classes Alan and I took (and we talked Troy and Caren into taking one with us!).  It was SO MUCH fun, I know my mouth was stretched into a huge grin the entire time.  We laughed and goofed and had a blast.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.  Once again, the buffet was closed and it was time to head back to snowy, cold Iowa.  While we don't plan to go on this cruise again next year, I do hope we'll get to go again someday.

Savor: February

February was a great month to practice "my one word": SAVOR.

I think Destry is beginning to realize he won't be living here much longer, and he is being more deliberate in spending time with his younger siblings.  I treasure the moments I see him spending purposeful time with them reading books. . .

or playing card games.

My children can be the best of friends, but they can also push one another's buttons without mercy.  I savor the times I see sibling love:

Big sissy Kiana chose the girls' outfits for the day. . .

 Easton and Tyrell played happily with airplanes. . .

Easton, Kiana, and Tyell played "picnic".

A stomach virus hit our family in February, and while I can't say I appreciated it, it did remind me to appreciate our general health.  I also just had to grin that even when Mom is sick on the couch, she is still the best place for a sick boy to lie, and the preferred place for a wiggly almost-two-year-old to perch.

I am delighting in this man and in our marriage.  We got to go on the Love Like You Mean It cruise again in February (maybe I will get around to posting about it someday. . .) and my very favorite part of it was the relaxed time spent with him.

We also got to enjoy time on the cruise with these dear friends--John and Wendy and Troy and Caren.  Friendship is ever so precious to me!

I love to dwell on the relationship my two big kids have.  While Briana was visiting one day, she regaled Destry with stories from her two jobs and I sat watching them, dwelling on their laughter and joy.

 As residents of Iowa in the year of a presidential election, we enjoyed getting to caucus for the first time.

This son of mine is so weird and crazy and fun and loving. . .I'm savoring these moments of spontaneous, neck-choking hugs before he goes off into this big, wide world.

And this spunky, ornery, delightful not-such-a-baby-anymore. . .

And finally, I "tasted and enjoyed completely" an evening at Johnny's Steakhouse to celebrate the 20th birthday of my daughter in the wonderful company of my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and daughter.

The word savor is just perfect for this year!

Bible Study Campout

One of the highlights of our summer was the Bible Study Campout in July.  Since I wasn't staying up with my blog then, I haven't posted about it yet, but it was such a fun memory that I want to preserve it, so look out:  many pictures ahead!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed camping out.  They liked gathering wood for campfires, cooking outside, eating outside, playing outside. . .Alan--not so much.

In his defense, we were in a little pop-up camper with a tent off to the side.  And Aryana still insisted on getting up between 5 and 6 am.  And we were trying not to let her wake the entire campground.

Truthfully, our campsite worked out just fine.  I was happy with how all my food preparations worked out.  I have to admit I got a little bit bored with camping.  I had done all the cooking work ahead of time and I used crockpot liners so clean up was a breeze.  There was no cleaning to do, no laundry. . .I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself.  This is where you're incredulous that I wasn't in a hammock with a book, but a busy one-year-old didn't allow complete relaxation--we had to keep eyes on her constantly.

The fun was in spending time with friends.  We went down before the Bible study started, so some friends invited us to spend Saturday with them at Alley Springs and then the river.

It was beautiful, the museum was interesting, and the kids loved walking the trails and climbing up into the little caves with their friends.

After our hike and a picnic, we went down to the river.  The moms sat in lawn chairs with their feet in the river while the dads and kids played in the water and collected crawfish and tadpoles.

The kids brought the tadpoles and crawfish over to the moms so Ginger made them a little pool to swim in.  Aryana was fascinated by this little pool.

The Bible studies started on Monday and lasted throughout the morning.  There were some really good studies--the best for me (most convicting?!) one was on pride (part two).  In the afternoons and evenings, people got together for all kinds of activities, from water activities, to playing games, singing, going for ice cream, etc.

One highlight for the older three children was the canoe trip.  Alan took Easton and they rode in the canoe with Briana and her friend Tiffany.

Destry took a canoe with his cousins Jared and Vanessa.  They were a more adventurous group, racing ahead of others, pulling over to the side to climb up cliffs and jump off bridges.

Another day some friends invited us to the place they were staying off the campground.  The view from the house they stayed in was simply beautiful.

 There was a little creek on the property that we enjoyed playing in.

Alan and Destry got the idea of building a little dam to speed up the current so the kids could ride their floaties.

 Wheeee!  It was pretty fast!

Jumping off the cliff into the river is a tradition Briana got to participate in with a bunch of friends. . .

 Rainy day cards with friends. . .

 Trips to Eminence to the Dairy Shop with friends. . .

 Sweet young ladies. . .

Alan and I ended up going home early when it started raining, but Briana stayed with friends and got to perform the British version of The Three Little Pigs for the sharing night.  It was lots of fun, and we were all tired at the end.  Even Destry slept on the way home.