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We have been back from our trip to Europe for a month now, and I am just now getting to posting about it.  John left on October 31, and he worked for a week in Cheltenham.  I left on November 6, flying to Chicago and then on to Heathrow in London.  My flight was uneventful, but I did meet Beth Moore in the Springfield airport.  Beth is a wonderful Bible study teacher, and I have done quite a few of her studies.  She was coming off of a plane as I was heading out to mine.  She was doing a conference in Springfield that evening which is why she would be in Springfield.  I was so excited to meet her.  We spoke for just a few seconds, and I told her that I would be praying for her and the conference.  As soon as I got on the plane, I emailed everyone that I had just met Beth Moore! 

I was a little apprehensive about flying by myself, but I got to Chicago and found my gate with no problems.  Since I was flying business class, I was able to hang out in the business lounge which happened to be directly across from my gate!  When I walked over to my gate, they were already boarding, so I got right on.  The flight went well.  I had a nice meal, watched a few movies and slept for the rest of the trip.  John met me at Heathrow as I came out of customs, and I was so glad to see him there.  Since I had slept quite a bit on the plane, I felt great.  We went back to his hotel, got his stuff and headed to London. 

We were in London for 3 nights, and we tried to see everything.  We took the double decker tour bus which drives you around town to see all the sights.  We toured Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, and we went shopping at Harrod’s.  We went to church at Hillsong Church in London which was in a theatre which was showing a tribute to Queen at the time.  We saw Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and it was fantastic.  Seeing that was my favorite thing of the entire trip.  We rode the tube which we were not sure I would be able to do because of my claustrophbia.  Our hotel was near Kensington Palace, and we could see the gardens from the restaurant window each morning at breakfast.  It was a wonderful time.

We then rode the train to Paris which included going under the English Channel.  Unfortunately I cannot tell you how that was because I slept through it on both trips.  We were only in Paris for about 48 hours, but our friend, Jean Mark, showed us all the sights.  He drove us all over Paris showing us everything, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph and so much more.  Everything was so beautiful, and we were lucky to have nice weather.  He and his wife took us for a wonderful dinner, and we also had breakfast at the cafe at the Louvre.  He also drove us to Normandy to see Omaha Beach and the Memorial and Cemetary.  It was a 2.5 hour drive, but it was well worth it.  We walked on the beach and saw where some of the German guns were.  It is amazing that anyone survived.  Our visit to the memorial and cemetary was very emotional.  It is just overwhelming to see where the battle took place and then to see how many died.  We all owe those men so much!

We then went to Cheltenham, England, for James and Noella’s wedding.  It was nice to see the LRS office and the town where John spends much of his time.  The day before the wedding, Martin took John and I for a tour of the English countryside.  It was beautiful even though the weather was awful.  We really enjoyed the scenery and the pubs.  Thanks Martin.  The wedding was beautiful, and we are so happy for James and Noella.  It was a great way to end our vacation. 

It was a perfect week, and I had a wonderful time.  Thanks John!  I love you!

John by one of the German guns 2 miles from Omaha Beach.

I cannot believe that we have been back from Disney World for 3 weeks!  I am sorry that I did not post sooner, but it has been very busy since we got back. 

We had a wonderful time.  It was so good to get away and to have time with the family.  It was so much fun watching the boys and Lily get more and more comfortable with Jay and Katherine as we spent every day together.  The boys always wanted to sit by Katherine because she let them play games on her Iphone!  She is the perfect aunt!

We visited all the parks, and we enjoyed each one.  The boys were able to ride some of the bigger roller coasters which surprised us all.  They loved Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, and they were able to ride it 3 times!   This roller coaster goes very fast, and even goes upside down.  The second half of the ride takes you backwards too.  They also really liked Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Magic Kingdom which is a milder roller coaster.  We were able to see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom twice which thrilled me.  The second time we were sitting directly in front of Cinderella’s castle, and the lights on the castle were gorgeous.  Sara and I both cried because we were so happy to be there.

Lily did not get to ride too many rides, but I think she still had fun.  Ryan and Sara bought her a package of 6 plastic princess figurines, and she played with them in her stroller each day.  She is such an easy going kid.  She did get to ride the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride, the Carousel, Nemo and the Pirates of the Carribean. 

Ryan and family went to the beach one day, and John, Jay, Kat and I went to Blizzard Beach.  I am not much of an ocean and sand lover, so the concrete and chlorine water at this “beach” were perfect.  We all enjoyed ourselves and were very tired that evening. 

We also went to a character breakfast which we had never done before.  It was fantastic.  The food was great, and Minnie, Goofy and Donald walked from table to table.  They focused on the kids at each table, and it was wonderful.  Lily’s eyes lit up each time she saw one coming.  Grandpa John really enjoyed that, and it may have been his favorite part of the trip.  The boys enjoyed getting to see them too.  The picture of the boys is from that breakfast.  The picture of Lily is in a gift shop where she climbed up and snuggled in with the stuffed animals.

I believe that history was made on this trip.  Jay and I love to ride roller coasters, and we rode one at Animal Kingdom that we did not like.  It is the Dinosaur ride.   You rode in a car that took you along a track, and the car bounced up and down.  Dinosaurs would “attack” the car.  It was dark and the sound was extremely loud.  When the dinosaurs would roar, it sounded like the dinosaur from Jurrasic Park.  It was just too over-stimulating.  The first thing that we said when we got off was, “Let’s find the kids, so that they do not take the boys on this ride!”   Jay and I both said that we did not like it, and we would not go on it again.  I had my eyes closed for most of it because it was too much. 

Thank you John for taking us all.  We had a fantastic time.  We love you!

We are back from our week at Disney World.  We had a good time and good weather, and the boys had so much fun riding the roller coasters.  I will have more and pictures soon!

We are heading to Disney World in 22 days!  Ryan, Sara, the grandkids, Jay and Kat are going with us, so we are all very excited about going.  When we made the reservations, it seemed so far away, but now it is sneaking up on me.  I need to get away from all this mowing!  I cannot wait to spend an entire week with my husband and family!

Last Thursday we went to Nashville to see Dan Timenski at the Ryman Auditorium.  The concert was fantastic, but we had a little accident on the way down.  We were about an hour out of Troy when a baby deer ran out in front of Bart.  There was no time to stop, so the Suburban and deer collided at 65 mph.  There was nothing left that we could see of the deer except a little hair on Bart’s bumper.  This is what Bart’s Suburban looked like.  We drove the car to Mt. Vernon and had 2 repair guys look at it to make sure it was safe for the remainder of the drive.  They both told Bart that it was fine to drive, and the second guy taped the (working) lights back in.   So off we went to Nashville.  Along the way, John noticed that some of the tape was coming off, so he bought some duct tape at a gas station and repaired it.  (Is there anything that cannot be repaired with duct tape?)  When we arrived at the hotel, Bart put the car in Valet Parking, and John asked the attendant to be very careful with the duct tape on the light.   Of course the next day when we got the car, John had to ask that attendant (a different one) if he messed up the tape.  Thanks Bart for driving, and we are sorry about the Suburban!

I am so excited!  I finally get to go to Europe with John.  James and Noella are getting married on November 14, so I get to go to the wedding.  John will be over there working for a week, and then I will fly in on November 7.  We will spend the week sightseeing, and then go to the wedding on Saturday.  We will then head home on Sunday.  We will defiinitely go to Paris, but I don’t know if we will try to squeeze anything else in.  I am happy to see the sights in England and Paris!  I will be flying over by myself, but I don’t think that will be too bad.  I am pretty good at sleeping on airplanes, so I am hoping to sleep most of the trip.  John will be at Heathrow to meet me, so I won’t have to navigate anywhere by myself.  Thanks James for asking Noella to marry you!  Thanks John for taking me!  I love you.

John and I are in Orlando. He had a conference here this week, and, for my birthday present, he invited me to come along. His just asking me to go is gift enough! We flew down separately Sunday night, and we leave tomorrow (Thursday). He of course travels on the corporate jet, and I am flying Southwest. It is not so bad though. Mom took me to the airport in St. Louis, and John was waiting for me in Orlando. He will drop me off tomorrow, and Mom will pick me up. I have enjoyed myself even though I am by myself during the day. (You are never really alone at Disney.) I have slept in, read, laid in the sun, shopped and walked lots. We are staying at the Dolphin Resort which is at Disney, but not run by Disney. I can certainly tell. Our room smells musty, and it is certainly not geared toward family here. It is filled with dressed up businessmen and kind of stuffy. I have actually walked over to the Boardwalk, Yacht Club and Beach Club each day to be immersed in all things Disney. John and I toured a model vacation club home at Boardwalk, and when the gal said “Welcome Home”, it just made me feel so good. It is crazy, I know, but I swear it is true. We always make fun of their continually saying “Welcome Home” when we are here at vacation club, but I must miss it.

We head home tomorrow, but we are actually coming back down in a week with Mom and Zeke and Carol. It will be good to be back in Disney quality again!

John and I went to the Wildwood Springs Resort in Steeleville, Missouri, this weekend with Bart and Laurie to see the Amazing Rhythm Aces.  John and I have now seen them there 4 times, and this concert we believe was the best.  We had a great time hanging out with Bart and Laurie too (as we always do).  We woke up Sunday morning to a bad storm and no power at the resort.  It was pretty dark in the building, but they did fix us a fantastic breakfast.  When we got home, we had over 3.5 inches of rain in our rain gauge!  We also noticed that we had a branch fall down and land on one of our swings out in the yard.  The swing is definitely hanging sideways, so I hope it is not ruined.  We sure have had our share of rain and storms this spring and summer.

Last week, Ryan, Sara, Elijah, Josiah, Lily and I went to the revival at Morningstar Ministries in South Carolina.  We left Monday afternoon, and came home early Sunday morning.  We split the drive down there into 2 days, so it was not too bad.  We arrived at the hotel/conference center about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.  The revival started at 7:30, so we got unpacked as quick as we could. 

Each evening service started with Worship, and I think that was my favorite part.  They had a live band (Molly Skaggs was one of the singers), and they were good and LOUD!  There is nothing that makes me feel closer to God than singing praise to Him.  After Worship, there was a speaker, and then they went into the Ministry time.  Rick Joyner spoke the first night we were there, and it was pretty cool to listen to him.  I have read some of his books, but I had never seen him in person.  Each night during the Ministry time, the band played again, and people prayed for anyone that asked.  It was pretty different for me, and I saw some things that were a little weird to me.  As in anything, there are always people on the outside fringe of “normal”, but that does not mean that they are not sincere.  I have yet to feel the presence of God in the ways that my kids do, but I know that every night I felt something. 

On Wednesday night, one of the girls from the kids camp that was there prayed for my back.  It was really hurting me from the drive down and the day at the water park.  As she prayed, it started to feel better until the pain was gone.  My back has not felt that good in quite a while, and it felt great the rest of the trip.  Thank you Lord! 

We went to a water/theme park on Wednesday and Thursday, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We went to the water park the first day, and it was great.  They had a great area for kids, and Lily crawled around in the water.  Elijah went down a water slide, and Ryan and I went down a very tall, fast, dark water slide.  The next day we went back and rode the rides.  We rode the log ride first (standing in line for about an hour).   After that we went to the kids area, and the boys had a blast.  Elijah and I rode the roller coaster, and he loved it.  As soon as we stopped, he said, “I want to ride another roller coaster!”  A good friend of Sara’s lives down there, and she kept Lily while we went to the theme park.  Thanks Lindsay!

We left Saturday morning planning to stop in Tennesse and spend the night, but Ryan felt like making the entire trip that day.  It was a long day, but it sure was good to be home.  It gave us all day Sunday to just hang out. 

All in all, it was a great trip.  The kids were great, we had fun, and it was my first revival!

John and I spent this past weekend in Naples, Florida, with a group of LRS Senior Mangers.  Dick and Ag graciously shared their hospitality with us for a luxurious weekend.  We were flown down on the corporate jets Friday afternoon and returned Sunday afternoon.  Friday evening Dick and Ag hosted a cocktail party at the hospitality room at their condo complex.  The food was wonderful, and we saw a beautiful sunset over the ocean.  Saturday they took us all out on their 105 foot yacht for a day of playing in the ocean.  There was food, drink, jet skiing, swimming, shelling and lots of laughing.  Thank you so much Dick and Ag for the wonderful weekend.