It's a Boy!!

L had her baby boy early Tuesday morning!!! M shares a birthday with C!!! I probably won't get to see him till after I get back from my trip but I suppose it will do. As L said, he will be here forever... Just thought I would post that on here.

Worked on packing tonight, not doing too bad. Still have to iron a couple things, and get the toiletries packed. I am ready for it. It is still snowing out. Started up again this afternoon around 2:30 or so. I can't for that week with a guarantee of NO SNOW!!!!!

Long Time, No Blog

It has been awhile since I last posted. I am trying to keep up with my school work. This is total insanity. I am only taking 2 classes but they are three nights in a row each week and I work, so that doesn't leave me with a whole lot of extra time when you consider homework etc. Plus, I am now trying to prepare and pack for my cruise... I will be flying to Florida next Saturday...5 days, 19 hours and 46 minutes from now. I am just desperate to get away where it is warm and not snowy... of course being completely away from work for a week will be nice also. Snow... it has snowed every week for the last 6 weeks now... that is NOT NORMAL... Yesterday it was snowing and we have more coming in at the end of the week... As long as my flight is able to get out with me on it on Saturday, I don't care what it does. I have most of my stuff together, just need to pack it in the suitcase and garment bag and then I just have the little things that I still need on a daily basis. My friend L is having her baby this week. She goes in tomorrow and they will induce labor. She is having a boy, I am so excited. I was afraid I was going to miss him, her due date is while I am on my cruise. But I will get to see him this week. It might be a little challenging, I have school Mon-Wed and then I just have Thur and Fri... I will figure something out. Maybe I can take Friday off work too, so that I can finish everything up and go see the baby... who will hopefully by then be home. I don't know, I just have way too many things on my plate right now. Why did I ever think going back to school was a wise idea?

Before I get to that....

Well, here it is a week later and I have my Friday's Feast ready to go. But since I haven't posted yet this week, I thought I would fill in a little bit before I get to that. I am just trying to remember what I was going to post about earlier this week... now I don't know. It has been a bit uneventful but not boring. Don't remember if I posted about this earlier, but about a month or so ago, I got hit in my car... my car I have only had for 4 MONTHS!!! It's a 2006 Honda Civic and I LOVE IT! Anyway, I got hit and it had to go to the body shop. I missed my car soooo much and despised the rental I got. Well, I got my car back today. I keep thinking, I need to name her... but I don't know what to name her. I am sure something will come to me eventually. I have never named a car so I am going to take my time on this.

Last Saturday my friend L had her baby shower. It was up north so we drove up there together. It was nice to see her again. She moved about an hours drive away so I don't see her as often as I would like. I did tell her that when she has that baby, I will be there a lot more. I need to make good on that too. I will benefit two-fold. I will get to enjoy the baby and I will have the company of my friend again. The thing that stinks is... I am going to be on my cruise the week of her due date. I told her she either needs to have him the week before or the week after. Not that she has any control over it but...


I finally decided what I am going to do for my birthday... I am going to NYC!! I have been there once but didn't get to see any of the sights really. We just drove around looking for a place to park... no fun. I leave Jan 6th and come home on the 9th. I am going to freeze my butt off but it will be fun. I hope to go see Mary Poppins on Broadway. That was my favorite movie when I was a kid... that and the original Cat in the Hat. I still love Thing 1 and Thing 2.

A Day at the Zoo

My mom and I teach Sunday School in our church. This weekend we were able to take two of the kids we had in our class at our old church to the zoo for the day. We had so much fun. Here are some pictures.




R & O with the Komodo Dragon...


R feeding the Lorikeet's. She had so much fun doing that.

I need a vacation from my vacation

Seriously... I am absolutely exhausted. But I had a blast too. No hurricane came our way. We did get rain everyday except Saturday. I got in late on Thursday evening and had to drive an hour and a half to where my friends live. It rained on the way there. On Friday, I went and picked up my friend D and her two kids, C and J, where they are living with D's MIL (hence the reason I was in a hotel). It was the first time I saw J (he's only 2 months old). He is a BIG BABY!!! He weighs 14 1/2 pounds... just half what his sister, who is 3 1/2, weighs. But he is a handsome little one. We went swimming at the pool at my hotel while it was raining. We went back to their place for dinner and then the four of us stayed at my hotel that night (D's hubby B was in Orlando visiting a college friend). On Saturday after B met us for breakfast before going to work, another friend of ours BJ came down with her two boys and we all went swimming and hung out in the hotel room. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast playing together and then were all tuckered out by dinner time. It was just D, B, C, J and myself for dinner... which we took to a park and ate so C could play. We all went home for the night. On Sunday, after church where I ran into some other friends, R and H, we went to dinner and B and D's house and then headed over to Daytona to the beach. It was a bit cloudy (still got burned though) and the waves were really big and rough because of Hurricaine Florence which was off the coast. Then we went to D's parents for dinner and to visit. I then got in my rental car and drove to Orlando where I stayed up entirely too late watching a movie and had to get up this morning at 8 to get ready to go to the airport to fly home. Here it is 7:30, I am at home, and I am ready to go to bed already... We missed the shuttle launch on Saturday but I had fun anyway. Here is my favorite photo from my trip...

Visit From the Past

When I was a little kid we had a dear family friend who was here from Africa going to college. He had come to our church for worship and fellowship and that is how we met him. He lived here for a few years and he was a true part of our family. When he was finished with school, he returned home to Zaire (now known as the Congo). He eventually moved his family to South Africa. That was 25 years ago. He is still living in South Africa and we have seen him twice in the last 12 years. He was here in 1994 and he was here on Friday night.

It was great to see him and to talk to him. At the end of the night, we were saying our goodbyes and he invited me to come visit in South Africa sometime. I am actually very excited about the idea. It would be neat to travel to a different country and know someone who lives there. So for now, I am dreaming of traveling to South Africa....