It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday, as you know, was the start of evil Daylight Savings Time. (ICK.) Between trying to adjust from vacation and the loss of my precious hour of sleep, I spent a good chunk of the day in bed. Oops. But that was, of course, after I went to church and stopped by my parents' house for lunch. Mom wanted to see all 490 vacation pictures, so I loaded up the laptop and went for meatloaf and picture presentations. And when I arrived, I got to see their newest wall decor:

* Monday was re-entry to reality. I overslept for the second day in a row since the implementation of daylight savings. (Lovely.) My computer at work took a full 30 minutes to boot up completely; guess it was still on spring break. After work, there was the grocery shopping, the laundry, the unpacking...yep. Vacation is over. How I loved it while it lasted.

* Brace yourselves. Tuesday I did my first ever March Madness bracket - all by myself. I know. It shocks the soul. I was recruited to be in Phats' bracket contest. What ever has become of me?
Tuesday night I also experienced another first in Bekahland...I made five 9x13 coffeecakes in one night. Someone from my church is in charge of the kitchen at a women's retreat this weekend and asked if I'd be willing to make these for one of the breakfasts. Fun challenge!


* Wednesday I got to have lunch with an old friend from college. He was a very faithful prayer warrior for me during my desert and happened to be in town, so we grabbed lunch. And - I was so excited to notice this bit of beauty taking place in the yard:
It's true! Spring is coming!

* I have a little photo essay for you to cover my life on Thursday. I had to go to McConn for this: (Caramel macchiato freeze - my new favorite frozen drink. Oh. My. Word.) And I needed it because this was the temperature IN OUR OFFICE:
But it was okay because it was beautiful outside and I was able to exercise out there in the breeze and under the sun! That redeemed the day.

* Friday was Kaegan's belated birthday party. Since I missed his actual birthday, my house-sitter threw him a party on his real birthday. But I wanted to celebrate with him too! So we partied. I was so proud of him...he fought for his treat. His little sister tends to bully him out of treats and then after two seconds she loses interest and walks away, but he's already gone. But this time he got right in there and chowed down and made her wait. After ten years, he's growing up!

* Saturday was blissfully fun. I tried a new recipe - which was SO GOOD. Cinnamon bun pancakes. You'll see them soon. Olivia and I tried to have our weekly phone call, but we had connection issues so we Skyped instead. Why haven't we done THAT before!? Went to get my nails done. My nail lady just got back from a trade show, where she got ideas for new Shellac colors. She said I'm her only client willing to try the crazy stuff. (Seriously?!?! I'M the adventurous one???) Check this out:

After the nail-palooza I went to the mall to scope for an Easter dress (ALWAYS a drama to find something that fits) and walked out with the first dress I tried on. I did pay for it.
Books I'm Reading: Sparkling Gems from the Greek continues, and I read more in When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty. Really enjoying what I'm learning from that book! It continues to affirm that I did something right in this past year!
Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: I loved Thursday evening, which was a pivotal night in the post-desert journey. As I sat and reflected on the past year and all it meant for me, both good and bad, I just became overwhelmed with love for the Lord. I went into my bedroom, plugged into my ipod and just sang worship song after worship song. By the end of the night, I was in tears (good tears). Loved it.
Update on Last Week's Goals: The Florida scrapbook is trucking right along! I have 23 pages done already. I spent part of the week just journaling the details so I have them for the book, when I get to the appropriate pages. And God has reminded me over and over of my Lenten theme, and I'm just resting in it. Feel very peaceful.
Goals for the Coming Week: I want to switch my closets this week. Time to put away the sweaters and bring out the summer stuff. I know we probably still have some cold days ahead but I'm over the sweater scene. O-ver. I am also ready to get out the Easter decorations and bring some spring to this house!

Our Digs

Before I go on into the week and all that took place, I wanted to share with you where we stayed! Ronda found this place through an online hunt and it seriously could not have been more perfect!

We stayed at The Arbors on Indian Rocks Beach which is just about a half hour from the Tampa airport. It was right on the most LOVELY beach that was pretty private and had GORGEOUS white sand. So pretty.

The owner, Deanna, who manages the place along with her son, Bill, was as hospitable as could be. More on that later. There is a little string of cottages, but we stayed in one called the Angler. It was a little 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom (tiny but darling!) place. I took a bunch of pictures of it, but to switch things up this blog post, I thought I'd post the video tour I took. (I intended to upoad the video directly but it would not work, so I had to put it on YouTube. Good grief.)

Please note that I am in my jammies at this taping and therefore look hideous. Please do not yell at me for the (two) times I said "yuck" in reference to myself. My self-esteem is not in jeopardy. I am nicer to myself after getting ready. :)

Enjoy!

Oh - and seriously if you ever go to this part of Florida, I highly HIGHLY recommend this place. It was just as precious and restful as can be.

OH! - and one other thing. I don't work for the Blair Witch Project. I'm just new at video.

Chorale Concert

Remember the original reason FOR the Florida vacation?

Ahhh yes. To hear Jonathan sing with Chorale. Would have gone a LOT better for me if I'd been feeling well! I lasted through about three songs before the very warm church (temps definitely were for the snow birds and not for the Bekah!) got the best of me and I had to listen to the rest of it from the foyer.



I (sadly) did not take my camera with me upon my hasty exit, so this is the only picture I got of the Chorale singing in Ft. Myers. Jonathan is the second guy from the left there in the middle.



You know you're in a retirement community when you're standing by the back door of the church and a nurse comes in to get someone from the congregation for her 7:30 medication dosage! LOL!!


Anyway, here are some other pictures of the night. Megan and Jonathan, post-concert, along with Silas and Khi. Khi had been talking about "John'n" all day. He was so excited to see him!

Jonathan with the sweet friends who treated us to lunch. Love them!!!

After the concert, Jonathan spent a long LONG time talking to his family and friends, and Khi was just really not a fan of all that waiting. He and I made countless trips to the parking lot to look for "chucks." (Trucks.) Everything is a truck. Bus = chuck. Golf cart = chuck. Car = chuck. So we saw a lot of chucks.

In between chuck sightings, we may or may not have done a little...ahem...dancing...in the back of the church. Hey. Whatever keeps them occupied. He was cracking me up with his moves. Think Bill Cosby...but faster.

I know I always talk about A Mighty Fortress, which is my FAVORITE Chorale song, but I thought I'd share a couple others with you this time.

This is the Africa song. (This is also not the full Chorale...but it's the only rendition of it I could find on YouTube.) It's not a religious song at all. I believe it was made popular by Toto, which to me, is a dog that flew out of Kansas, but to the rest of you, it may have musical meaning. I also believe Straight No Chaser has done this song. (I only know David Phelps has NOT done this one.) I don't really understand the words...but I am posting it because I love what they do at the beginning. Super cool.


And my good friend of a song....Betelehemu. My roommate, Jenny, used to practice the claps to this song in our room. To be honest, this song scares me to death, but it's cool in a frightening sort of way. I don't speak this language, so I have no idea what it says either, but it's fun to watch. They did this one in the round on this tour and I didn't like it in the round. Loses the effect of what you'll get to see here. (This is from '06 I think.)

Sundays in Florida

* I'm the blogger today over on the Intentional Journey and I shared about a lesson God taught me on the beach in Florida. Head over and check it out! Link on left. *


Sundays in Florida....are bliss.

I woke up a little extra early so I could go out to the beach for my morning devos:
However...it began to sprinkle as soon as I got out there, so I came back up close to our cottage to a little gazebo and settled in at the table with my journal and my Bible. The only thing missing - a cup of coffee. (Perilous way to start the day.)

I eventually came inside and got ready for church. And while Ronda and Megan finished getting ready and got Khi ready...I snuggled with Mr. Silas.

Let the record show, we did stop at a McDonald's so I could get some liquid gold. (I think I'd scared them both with the talk of how evil I get without coffee...)

And then we set out on the great open road with a destination of Venice. (Florida. Not across-the-pond-Venice.) I should stop here and say that the friends of Ronda's that we originally planned to stay with live in Venice. After Megan, Khi and Silas joined the trip, we changed our plans and got a cottage so we could make a big mess with no worries. (And we did!) But we still wanted to spend time with those friends, so we began the trip by going to church with them. Check out this bridge we crossed!!

Good thing I'm not as scared of bridges as I used to be! But man was that ever up there!

The church we visited was the Church of the Nazarene and it was just a lovely place, full of welcoming snow-birds. I loved the time of worship - we even sang He is Here...one of my faves.

Just in case you forgot that gorgeous view I had...

After church I became acquainted with some of Florida's OTHER inhabitants. Shiver.

Ronda's friends were, in a word, delightful. They hugged me on the spot. I love that. They made me feel absolutely part of the family and even took me out to dinner. (Twice.) After church that morning, they wanted to treat us to lunch at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants. Check out what it's called! (This will only mean something to Marion-ites.)

It was a GORGEOUS day - perfect temp, perfect breeze, perfect sunshine. SWEET. The restaurant was at this little courtyard, so while we waited for our food, we enjoyed the beautiful day.

This is Khi with "Pappy" as he called him right off the bat. They had the best time running around looking for those creepy little lizardy things. Shiver again.

Oh how I miss flowers. Can't wait to plant some!

Oh I'm sorry - did I forget to mention we ate outside? Heaven, heaven, heaven. Chicken quesadilla (heavy on the cheese) and a sweet tea. Oh yes.

After lunch, we got in the car and headed even farther south to Ft. Myers, where Jonathan's Chorale concert was held. Seemed like we'd just eaten lunch when we stopped at some relatives' of Ronda's to eat dinner. I actually wasn't feeling well by that point. (Two days of non-stop moving, weird eating schedules, little sleep, and really varying temperatures began to catch up with me.) So rather than eating, I walked around their little community and tried to cool off and calm down. By the time we got in the car to head to the concert, I felt REALLY sick. Poor Ronda had the air blasting on me, freezing out the entire car, and I was praying for some sort of serious mercy!!

Florida or Bust!!

There had been some concern about my ability to pack successfully for this trip. And by successfully, I mean without going bankrupt and/or over the weight limit. I really don't understand the concern. I mean you SAW the picture of the bed and the list of what I took. Hello!!!

So here I am the Saturday morning of our departure. One checked bag. One carry-on. (And my purse...which is hiding behind the top suitcase. To be fair, it is a Mary Poppins purse.)
Weight to spare, people! Weight to spare!

Megan's husband drove us to the airport. Here I am with Ronda and Khi. He really wasn't too sure about this whole travel thing. Just in case you can't tell. And this, my dear friends, is the best my hair looked all week. If you watch Friends, you might be familiar with the string of episodes where they all went on vacation to the Bahamas (?) and Monica's hair got bigger and bigger throughout the week....yep. It's for real.

And....we have our first "Bekah" story.

Airport security. Gets me every time.

We were kind of a heavy laden bunch. Megan and I each checked a bag, but we all had carry-on bags as well...plus Khi's car seat (huge!)...plus Silas' entire travel system (huge!)...plus all of us. Ronda went through security first, with Khi. Then Megan went through with Silas. My panic attack and I were last to go through...but security agent lady #1 would not let me walk through until all our baggage was pushed through. And guess what refused to be pushed through the little machine? The travel system. So I was stuck...panicking more by the moment...until the last of our little trays finally got through.

Then security agent man #1 told me to hurry up. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, PEOPLE!! I was shaking by the time I got through, and if I'd had the time, I might have also thrown up. But there was no time.

Because it was time to get on the people mover and be moved.

He didn't like it any more than I did. I skipped the next one. (Skipped OUT on it. Not skipped ON it.)

This is me...so glad to be through security and in a seat.

So our flight was supposed to leave at 2 pm...get us to Atlanta for a 2 hour layover, and get us into Tampa a little after 7 pm. By the time we got to the airport, our flight out of Indianapolis was already delayed to 3:30. I was kind of glad. Gave us more time to breathe. Megan went up to the desk to gate-check the stroller and car seat and the nice ticket agent (who looked just like Taye Diggs! SWEET!) offered all of us a free switch to a direct flight into Tampa - if we were willing to wait until 5 to leave. Since none of us were thrilled about the idea of going to Atlanta anyway, we took it. (And I considered it yet another blessing from God, whose handprints were already all over this trip.) They assured us our checked bags would be transferred and all would be well.

And it seemed to be - until the new flight delayed until 6:30!!! Megan and I weren't sure we liked Mr. Diggs at that point.

That was the long way of saying we spent seven hours in the Indianapolis airport with a two year old, a two month old, and a flight scaredy-cat. (That would be me.)

The kids did SO well. Khi had hours of free entertainment. Went something like this:

PYANE!!!!! PYANE!!!!! (plane)

CHUCK!!! CHUCK!!!!! (truck)

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAA PYANE!!!! (plane landing)

When that got boring, there was plenty of time to write (color) with Mom-Mom.

...And help me try (in vain) to get online. Great sadness.

THIS was nearly my undoing. My worst fear (next to crashing, of course). A plane de-icer. I think Ronda got nervous at that point. Not of the de-icing. Of dealing with Bekah WITNESSING the de-icing. A fair source of nervousness.

FINALLY they got us on the plane. I actually got to carry baby Silas on board. It was so fun. (I ignored all looks of "Noooooooooooooooooooooo there's a baby on this plane?" LOL!!!) Megan sat with Silas and some ooey-gooey love birds in the row in front of the rest of us. Ronda sat by the window, Khi sat in the middle, and little Miss "Lord help me" sat on the aisle. I think this look says it all - from both of us.

I spent most of the flight praying my way through some SERIOUS anxiety. Khi spent most of the flight playing.

I started enjoying the flight about 30 minutes out of Tampa. And upon landing, I got to hold some cute sweetness who became my buddy throughout the course of the week!

When we landed in Tampa, it was over 70. No plane de-icers there! Praise the Lord. We had to pick up our rental car and try to cram ALL our stuff in it. The very nice rental car guy helped us shove all our luggage in, and about halfway through, I heard him say "Y'all should have gotten a mini-van." Cracked me up. He was right though. Three adults and two car seats, plus a week's worth of luggage for five AND a stroller - in an Altima?? (I held my carry on suitcase in my lap for the entire drive from the airport to our cottage.)

We finally got in and settled about midnight. I'm a night owl for sure. But I was one pooped puppy. Bekah....out!

SSMT: Verse 6

Man - with a week of vacation thrown in there, I feel like I'm still learning verse five! For some reason, that last verse was a tough one for me to get all in order, but I think I finally did it. And now - a new SSMT verse.

I found this one while reading When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty - the new book I started reading last week. The author quoted it in one of the early chapters and the very moment my eyes fell on the words, I knew this was my new verse.

Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

Joshua 23:15

God has been doing a work in my heart this year. He's always working, but He's working extra right now. I have two or three paths going on at once here....and I'm not sure where any of them will lead. But I know that right now, more than ever, I need to cling to these words and know my God is good.

Here are the things I learned from this verse:

* This came from Joshua's farewell address to the leaders. In the verses leading up to this one, he shared with them important things they needed to know in taking over the job of leading the nation he led so well. No pressure. And in this verse, he sets up the words by reminding them (with no bitterness...just stating the fact) he's about to die. To me, that makes this promise all the more powerful. If I sat with someone who didn't have much time left on this earth...and he was sharing from his heart, I'd listen. Those words would be the most important.

* The word know means to perceive, discern, be familiar with, be aware of. I loved the definition be familiar with. When I think over this journey I've walked in the last year, I can say with absolute certainty that I've become familiar with my Abba. That sweet comfort...that familiarity...it truly is a knowledge that surpasses head information.

* The word soul means life, breath, passionate existence of an individual, appetite, desire, will, longing. It's the core of who I am. Not the physical existence of flesh and bone, but ME. Everything about me that makes me Bekah.

* The word good means pleasant, beautiful, excellent, lovely, delightful, cheerful. It's not just on the positive side of okay. It's deeper and more precious than that.

* The word promises means the Word of God - the account of His actions. Far better than the promises of people which are made and broken just as quickly and without any thought.

* The word failed means brought down low, to fall. It even went on to describe it as a terrible tragedy - whether on purpose or by accident.

So when I look at those definitions, I see that what Joshua wanted the leaders to know then...and what God longs for me to know now is this:

I've developed a relationship with God that has made me intimately familiar with Him and how He relates to me. Everything about the person I am - clear down to the deepest part of my personality...quirks and all - rests in that deep familiar knowledge of my Abba. And because of that...because of what I have seen in my own life and what I've read in the Bible and observed in the lives of others...I can say with certainty that every beautiful thing God ever promised...happened. Nothing fell apart. His plan has always prevailed. And even when things did not go as I heard they would - as in my relationship with Isaac - that does not mean He is incapable of redeeming them to be even greater for His glory.

Right now in my life, He's promised new starts...restoration...redemption. And He will bring it to pass.

So. About This Whole Florida Thing.

Tomorrow is a new SSMT verse day, so I thought I'd just sneak in today real fast and tell you how this whole Florida vacation came to be! It was definitely a God-ordained trip.

I'd never been to Florida in my life. Never. Not even barely across the state line. Not even close to the state line. A travesty indeed.

One that apparently I mentioned a lot.

Last December, while at the IWU Christmas party, I said goodbye to my dear friend Ronda, who was about to leave for...Florida. And as I said "I hope you have a great time in the state I've STILL never been to...." apparently she picked up on a smidge of bitterness.

And she said to me, "You know, I've been thinking about that. You busy on spring break?"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

A few weeks later, toward the end of January, she asked again if I'd want to take a week off during IWU's spring break. Jonathan (of blog fame) is Ronda's son, and he's in the IWU Chorale. Chorale toured the state of Florida during break, and since it was his last tour, she really wanted to see him. I asked for the week off (despite the fact it came RIGHT at the start of our uber-busy season at work) and once given the go-ahead, Ronda and I booked our flights!

And I booked it into the living room to make us some countdown paper chains!!

Lesson learned...Braeya thought the carefully organized (by color and date) strips of paper waiting to be chained were actually toys for her. It was a mess.

About 2 weeks after we booked our flights (maybe a little longer than that), Ronda came to see me and told me her daughter Megan wanted to join us on the trip. Megan also has 2 little boys - Khi and Silas. They'd be going too. She was worried I'd be upset about that, but I sure wasn't!

So...the Saturday before Valentine's Day, Ronda and I made a trek to Megan's house to do the final planning. And of course, I had to take presents!

Little tropical inspired gift bags....

And something for Khi too!! The puzzle was for him but he was more interested in the tropical scented anti-bacterial hand gel...which he thought was hair gel and applied it as such.

Then of course...the week of the trip, it was time to pack. (I did not take the clock. It was relocated to the bed because it had been ON the cedar chest where the out of season clothes were housed, so I had to move it.)

The list was as follows: 15 shirts, 8 pairs of shorts, 5 pairs of capris, 3 pairs of pants, 2 swimsuits, 2 skirts, 1 dress, and 1 jacket. And that, my friends, is the pared down list.

I have titled this piece, "Please Mom, don't go."

But go...I did. And I can't wait to show you the fun along the way!! We'll go to Florida together after tomorrow's break for SSMT!!!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday morning I got up and went to church:
Oh wait. That doesn't look like my normal church view, does it? That's because I WOKE UP IN FLORIDA!!!!! Y'all, it has been SO BLESSED HARD to keep this secret from you!! Yes, it's true! I went to Florida for the first time in my whole life. And I am so excited to tell you all about it. But what you see above was indeed the view from my pew, at which time I decided it should always be the view from the pew!!

* How to even pick the highlights of each day for this post? I'm sure I don't know. I will throw a few in here and then give you much better posts in days to come. Monday I went to my first ever low country boil. I've heard of these things. Never been to one. Pretty cool!!!!


* Tuesday I had a run-in with security. My second one in a week. (I flew to Florida, so you know there has to be an airport security story. There always is!!) This is too great a story to spoil by giving you half a detail here. You'll just have to come back to read the rest of it.

* Wednesday, the plan was to go to Disney, but I found out it was going to be the warmest day at the beach, so I asked if we could stay at the cottage instead. (The plan to go to Disney was solely for my benefit anyway, so it was okay if I made the call to stay home.) So.......I tried my hand at the hammock. Oh dear goodness. It did not go well. Chris, I will leave the hammock all to you. I'm not smart enough.
* I guess I never told you WHO I went with, did I? I went with the Smith clan! The official travelers were Ronda, Megan, Khi, and Silas (and me) but we also had Jonathan join us for a couple of days. Thursday was a very rainy and cold day so we went to eat at Crabby Bills Seafood restaurant.

* Friday was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, but ever so cold. But nothing keeps this girl off the beach!!

I am not too proud to lay out under a blanket! No sirree!! In all honesty, I probably SHOULD be too proud to lay out under a blanket. Stacey and Clinton will come right after me. But I just knew if I stayed inside, I'd regret that later!!!


* Have you ever wondered what I look like at 6 am on a Saturday? Here it is: Yep, that's me riding back to the airport for the flight home to Indiana. Sadness. But my good friend Kristin picked me up at the airport and took me to Sonic. That helped me have a reason to smile. I am not above admitting I'm an overgrown two year old who can be bribed with a burger and tots.
So that's been my week in the south! I really hope you'll come back and read more about it. I'll try to make it a fun read and not like "oh great she's STILL talking about that vacation."
Books I'm Reading: Does it still count as a book if I photocopied the appropriate pages out of Sparkling Gems from the Greek so I didn't have to lug the whole book with me on vacation? Hope so! I FINISHED Twice Toward Justice and also began a new book that my friend Jamie gave me - called When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty. It's about grieving through the loss of a relationship and accepting a fresh start on life.
Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: Oh man, there were a lot of those at the beach. This might not make sense without knowing some of the God-moments that led up to this, but yesterday morning, as I rode back to the airport, we drove right toward the sunrise. (I see precious few of those, as you might imagine.) It was very pivotal to me that a new day was dawning in my life, and that moment, packed in an Altima with four other people, symbolized it.
Update on Last Week's Goals: I did finish the book Twice Toward Justice and I did get SOME rest. Not every day...in fact, some days were so busy that I actually felt sick...but I did get some beautiful rest.
Goals for the Coming Week: I want to keep my heart open toward the lessons God is teaching me this Lenten season...and I want to hit the Florida scrapbook hard...before I forget the fun details that made the vacation so delightful.

30 Days of You and Me: Day Seventeen

Today's topic? An art piece that is my favorite.

I'm strange about art. I really don't have a lot of it in my house. I don't get into famous paintings or sculptures (real or replicas) or anything like that. It's not that I don't appreciate such things. I'm just not addicted to them.

My house is mostly decorated with things that have sentimental value to me. Pictures of people I love...little trinkets that remind me of an event in my life or someplace I visited. Probably wouldn't mean anything to anyone else and I'm okay with that. It's my house and I love it.

I've shared this on the blog before - last fall when I did Kelly's "Show us where you live" tours:

My favorite piece of artwork. It's a print of a drawing my friend Amber did when we were in high school. I'm in awe of her talent - and to think this was her high school talent...wow.

When the Hollands were over for Pancakes with the Princess late last month, they commented on it...and I was so proud to tell them about Amber. (So much more fun to talk about an artist I actually know!)

So that's my fave! What about you? What's your favorite piece of artwork? (Whether you own it or not...)