We are here. Finally. After weather delays and rough flights, we landed around dark so we really haven't seen what it looks like here. Had our first local cuisine. DELICIOUS! We are only staying here in downtown 2 nights to see the sights before heading out to the even nicer beaches for the rest of the week.
Met a navy seal on the plane named Jeremiah. He told me all about the dolphin navy program in California that Jordan is interested in. really cool conversation..great guy. Divine seat appointment perhaps? Until tomorrow..

Sorry blog world, been cleaning, doing laundry and packing. Cause.... tomorrow morning we leave for VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posts will get alot more interesting in the coming days :) I soo can't wait, I wish it were morning.

Look for some great pictures coming soon..

After years of paying a fortune for smoothies and years of the stores closing down on me and having to search for another one, the last one of its kind has closed. So now, I have perfected my own at home. It's a pain in the butt to make and to have all the ingredients on hand, but... it is soooo worth it. It's so good!  It has pineapple and mango fruit chunks and pineapple sherbet and juice, and vanilla frozen yogurt. Absolutely tropically delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe.

sisters

Love this

Some pics from Jordan's week. Luckily her teacher and friends took photos for me. She is still so excited and the interest has spread to Josh. He now wants to learn.
Erin is here, and Michael is home from Italy and he's been here, hanging out this afternoon. Josh just taught him to drive a stick and now he's out proving it to Jordan. Since she learned first he hasn't heard the end of it. If they ever return we're all going out for Mexican food next. It's been a good, relaxing, bumming around Saturday.

Spent the evening with one of my best friends tonight. René Banglesdorf owns Charlie Bravo Aviation, where she sells / brokers aircraft. And last week she spun off another company, Charlie Bravo Charter. I know it will be as wildly successful as the other is. She is an amazing woman of God and I am so glad I got to know her before she became who she is becoming. Our time together is becoming less and less as her schedule fills up, and she is jetting around the globe, but that's ok, because our bond is solid and we always pick up where we left off. I am so excited about her future, (and mine as well) and I know we will be friends forever.
In a few weeks I get to shoot their second calendar. This time we're going to an aircraft museum in Dallas. Really looking forward to it because last year was a blast, and it came out just beautiful. (Thanks to the art design work of Eric, who magically transformed my pictures into months of the year..)
Ren inspires me. And she sees my calling and she expects great things to come out of me. And we all need people like that in our lives. People that believe in us even when we don't.

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She's home. And Certified. Very proud of her. (Her friend took this pic for me )

Yesterday Jordan comes home from dive camp excitedly telling me of all the ways she can die and I kind of just put it out of my mind. She's happy, she's gonna be ok.
Today she comes home from diving in the lake and begins to tell me how she almost died. They were doing an exercise where they have to take off their gear and put it back on at 28 feet under. (except for their air of course)
So in the middle of the exercise Jordan's regulator breaks and her mouth is flooded with water. Since her pack is off she can't find her back up air supply and begins to panic. Since she didn't know her air was about to be cut off she had not taken a big breath or anything, so she is literally out of air. As she is frantically searching the water and is running out of oxygen because she has none coming in, the instructor notices something is wrong and immediately identifies that she's not breathing and shoves his extra regulator in her mouth and yanks her to the surface. When he found her gear that had floated away he saw her regulator with a piece completely broken off. He was in shock because he says that NEVER happens. She thanks him for saving her life and they Go Back DOWN!
AND SHE's DOING IT AGAIN TOMORROW!
Jesus thank you for being there today and everyday of her long career. Please give me peace!
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( a few hours later ) - ok, I'm calm now. I promise. It's all good. I asked God, what's up with this? He says he's just teaching her. Makes sense, it's a safe environment, well... comparatively I guess, considering there is one instructor for every 2 students.
..breathing deeply..
I have always told my kids to not be afraid. If it's your time to go be with Jesus, you're gonna go, doesn't matter what you're doing. Now I get to practice what I preach.

I want a set of these bowls from Anthropologie. One or two of each color. Soo if someone was wanting to buy me something, here ya go.    :)

This morning I had a dialogue with myself about the fact that I may never have a future in missions, and that I may never do anything extraordinary, and that perhaps maybe my life will be ordinary after all. And I was really ok with that. After all, I put myself here, not God. I had my chance and blew it. A life of ordinary, I decided, was gonna be ok.
So I get to church and Pastor Mel (africa campus pastor- this is his last sunday visiting in the usa, they're going back to africa)he walked by as he was getting to his seat as service was starting and he stopped and leaned over and said to me as the music was starting.. "last time I saw you I noticed something different about you. I talked to Pastor Karen and she absolutely agreed. So I wanted to tell you, you are welcome in Africa anytime. "
I think I hugged him for like 5 minutes, fighting back tears. He hugged me back equally as hard and with as much emotion.
Why do we underestimate God and His grace? Or His impeccable timing?

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We made Josh some Fathers day photos while he was gone. We decided he needed a pic for his new office at work. So we gave him a few choices. It was so good to see him when he walked down those stairs at the airport last night. Even though we got to bed around 2 am, he was up at 7 something and has done all the yard work, checked and refilled the air pressure on all three cars tires, and is now driving Jordans around to try and diagnose the noise J says it's making. He said it's nice to not be in a conference room.
It is so nice for me, to not be the one in charge anymore. Such a huge weight lifted. I feel safe again.

have I mentioned how much I love Skype? And HIM?

34 more hours..

For those who don't live here, we have been in a severe drought all spring and summer, so this radar is seriously exciting!!