The Howerter Family Homepage

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.

The curse is broken!  Jeff and Judy tempted fate once again by inviting us to the Indy 500.  Every time that John and I have gone to the Indy 500, it has rained on race day.  This year it did rain on Friday, but not a drop on Sunday!  I had a fantastic time at the race.  Due to many minor accidents, there were many restarts which are always exciting to me.  We also got to see Danica Patrick get out of her car and head over to Briscoe’s pit to confront him for running into her and knocking her out of the race.  It was pretty exciting, and the crowd was really cheering her on! 

The entire weekend was a blast.  We drove over on Friday and came home Sunday after the race.  We ate, shopped, ate, saw the new Indiana Jones movie, ate, played cards, ate and even saw a race!  Thanks Jeff and Judy for taking us!

John and I and Jeff and Judy went to Florida last week for our spring vacation.  Since Jeff and Judy had never been to the Magic Kingdom, we decided to spend some time at the parks.  We went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom and MGM Studios (now called Hollywood Studios).  We had a good time touring the parks, and we walked a lot.  Jeff and I kept using all the exercise as permission to eat cookies!  (I don’t think that will surprise anyone that knows me and my love of cookies!)  We also spent time by the pool soaking up the sunshine (which we have not seen much of here in Illinois).  It was a very relaxing week even though we kept busy. 

I was glad to get back to see Elijah, Josiah and Lily (and Ryan, Sara, Jay and Katherine too).  We brought the boys a Davy Crockett hat and a gun, and they were thrilled.  My day was made when Elijah came running to me and said, “Grandma, I missed you so much!”  It just does not get any better than that!