Chicken update...

I know, I know, you are just dying to hear about the chickens, right?
Well, here they are. In all their glory. They are completely feathered out, and display the unique characteristics of their individual breeds. It has been fun trying to identify them. My children love to play with them, and show them off. These, actually, are S's photos. These spiderwebs are the reason she took the camera out...but couldn't help taking photos of her pets, too.

The Cruise

Yes, it's been forever since I've written. Ahem. Sorry. No good excuse. Just silly ones. :-)
We did go on the cruise. It was fabulous. If you have never cruised before, you should. It is the most relaxing form of vacationing that I've ever experienced. And if you like a bargain, (or need one) there are plenty to be had. Of course you can spend a lot if you want too, also, but it isn't necessary to have a good time.

We sailed from Miami to Key West (a place I want to visit again!) and Cozumel. We didn't spend any time in Cozumel, though, because we hopped aboard a speedboat to the Yucatan Peninsula and then a bus down to the Tulum Ruins. We had a great guide who was very familiar with the country's anthropological history. Brian and I kept remarking, "amazing" and "this guy really knows his stuff", we enjoyed ourselves immensely (even though it was hot!)

We were able to dine every night (except when we were in Mexico) in the elegant dining room at our table for two. Our waiter, assistant waiter and Maitre d'hotel were wonderfully accomodating, and friendly,( and it was great to order anything off of the fancy menu each night.)

Each morning we ordered room service for breakfast. Poached eggs, Kipper, Salmon...mmmm. Tablecloth, linen napkins, tea in your jammies....sweet!

We loved our room. Marble bathroom, that was cleaned for us constantly...up to three times a day. The exterior wall was a floor to ceiling window with sliding glass door...out onto a private balcony! (where I slept as we left Key West on Friday and burned my legs in the sun!). Yes...sleep! Every mom's dream. And I did LOTS of it! Where else can you go to bed in one place, get rocked to sleep and awaken in a new location to visit? I'm telling you, I see a future cruise on my horizon!

A long way....{From the archives}

Was dusting around my house today, and found these blog drafts from the past....um....wayyy past!... So. Ahem. Here they are.....Drumroll please....April 2009

We left April 1-6 for our 20th anniversary cruise. It was, in a word...wow.
What a great time. I have spent the days since trying to unpack and analyze just what about it was different than any other vacation or trip, and figure out why it was so much better than anything we've ever done before. Was it the timing? Was it the season in our lives? Was it because I've always wanted to try a cruise? The amazing service? The neat people we met?
I can't say. But it was the most relaxing, enjoyable trip I've ever taken. I can't wait to go again. And, believe it or not, we are in agreement on this one.

Celebrations....

April is a time of celebrations around our house. Easter, birthdays, and our wedding anniversary. This year was cause for greater celebration, as we hit a milestone anniversary. 20 years.


A few weeks ago, we made plans to travel someplace special. A cruise. Something I've always wanted to do. So I'm talking with a dear friend on the phone while I'm painting my toenails in preparation for the days of sandals and warm breezes. Pushing past my excuses for doing so- she would have none of it, she insisted on treating me to a professional job. Early birthday. Whoo hoo!




So now I'm ready. Watch out, here I come!


My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
1John 4:11-12 -The Message

In Plaster

In high school I read poetry for competition. The following poem was one of my favorites, and yet, it was borne out of a great deal of suffering. Its author, Sylvia Plath took her own life one day, with her infant son safely tucked away in another room. Last week, her son took his own life.

In Plaster

I shall never get out of this! There are two of me now:
This new absolutely white person and the old yellow one,
And the white person is certainly the superior one.
She doesn't need food, she is one of the real saints.
At the beginning I hated her, she had no personality --
She lay in bed with me like a dead body
And I was scared, because she was shaped just the way I was

Only much whiter and unbreakable and with no complaints.
I couldn't sleep for a week, she was so cold.
I blamed her for everything, but she didn't answer.
I couldn't understand her stupid behavior!
When I hit her she held still, like a true pacifist.
Then I realized what she wanted was for me to love her:
She began to warm up, and I saw her advantages.

Without me, she wouldn't exist, so of course she was grateful.
I gave her a soul, I blomed out of her as a rose
Blooms out of a vase of not very valuable porcelain,
And it was I who attracted everybody's attention,
Not her whiteness and beauty, as I had at first supposed.
I patronized her a little, and she lapped it up --
You could tell almost at once she had a slave mentality.

I didn't mind her waiting on me, and she adored it.
In the morning she woke me early, reflecting the sun
From her amazingly white torso, and I couldn't help but notice
Her tidiness and her calmness and her patience:
She humored my weakness like the best of nurses,
Holding my bones in place so they would mend properly.
In time our relationship grew more intense.

She stopped fitting me so closely and seemed offish.
I felt her criticizing me in spite of herself,
As if my habits offended her in some way.
She let in the drafts and became more and more absent-minded.
And my skin itched and flaked away in soft pieces
Simply because she looked after me so badly.
Then I saw what the trouble was: she thought she was immortal.

She wanted to leave me, she thought she was superior,
And I'd been keeping her in the dark, and she was resentful --
Wasting her days waiting on a half-corpse!
And secretly she began to hope I'd die.
Then she could cover my mouth and eyes, cover me entirely,
And wear my painted face the way a mummy-case
Wears the face of a pharaoh, though it's made of mud and water.

I wasn't in any position to get rid of her.
She'd supported me for so long I was quite limp --
I had forgotten how to walk or sit,
So I was careful not to upset her in any way
Or brag ahead of time how I'd avenge myself.
Living with her was like living with my own coffin:
Yet I still depended on her, though I did it regretfully.

I used to think we might make a go of it together --
After all, it was a kind of marriage, being so close.
Now I see it must be one or the other of us.
She may be a saint, and I may be ugly and hairy,
But she'll soon find out that that doesn't matter a bit.
I'm collecting my strength; one day I shall manage without her,
And she'll perish with emptiness then, and begin to miss me.

It is hard to understand what kind of agony this woman lived in, to write such words. And yet it has spoken to many people over the years. Some of the best Psalms are written when David was dealing with harsh circumstances...and yet out of that time comes great work..words that touch our soul thousands of years later. Paul's wonderful letters to the churches; which have provided us with so much wisdom and insight, were written because he was imprisoned. Somehow in suffering we find that common denominator with one another. That one thing that we can all relate to. Suffering. Real or imagined, it feels the same. For Mrs. Plath, it was real...yet she had no hope. For David and Paul it was real...but they HAD hope. They had truth.

As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

PSALM 103:15-18