friday letters...

Dear Friday Letters...
It's been a while.
I have had plenty to say, but sometimes I just think it, and forget to write it down.

Dear Disney World,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!  After riding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before opening day I said okay, the rest of this trip is gravy!  And really, it was.  I had been watching to progress, and watching every website I could think of, waiting for the opening day announcement! I was disappointed that it would open after we left, but I held out hope for the 24 hour event... and by 8am, we had ridden twice!  You outdid yourselves!  This ride is fun and beautiful!

Dear Imagineers,
I love your imaginations!
The Festival of Fantasy parade was spectacular! And the costumes!!!  I think I might need one of those circus dresses...

Dear Buzy Bee Suz,
Thank you for driving out to safari road and the trail!  I loved sharing it with you and your family!  I wish you could have seen the baby gators, but seeing deer, owls and the BIG gator was fantastic!  I hope you'll come out again!

Dear Tanya,
Oh, my dear long, lost friend!  It was SO wonderful to see you, even if it was only two ten minute visits! Your family is beautiful, and your joy is always contagious!

And now... I'm running out to collect supplies for graduation gifts.
We have a five-party marathon tomorrow for these beauties:

a few last disney days...

We made a little trip to Disney World over the weekend... {well, it wasn't really that little, it was more of a last hurrah on our year-long passes!} I hardly slept for three days before we left, because, yes, I am known to act like a five year old, especially when it comes to Disney and Christmas!

The plan was to work a half day Thursday and leave as soon as Camden got out of school... but when my boss said I didn't have to come in at all on Thursday, we made Cam leave school early.  I am still not sure if he was really on board with that, but it was great to be arriving about the same time we would have been leaving our house!

Believe it or not, after a year of Disney, there were still plenty of things we hadn't yet done.  Like DisneyQuest, playing the Fantasia mini-golf course... and eating at the Irish Pub in Downtown Disney. That meal was definitely a favorite... delicious gluten-free fish & chips for my husband!  {I actually liked his better!}

Friday was the 24 Hour event at Magic Kingdom.... we may not have spent ALL 24 hours, but we were there when it opened at 6am, and made it through until 3:30am {with an afternoon swim/nap break.}  It was a day when dressing up was encouraged, and so... we did.

Thinking about/creating the costumes was certainly a factor in my sleepless nights!  But it was great fun... and I knew that if we didn't dress up, we would regret it!

We split the rest of our weekend between Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios...

We have loved our year of Disney... letting the kid in each of us shine on through.  I don't know how long we'll be able to resist going back, but until then, we'll carry the magic in our hearts.

p.s...I can't promise I won't share a little bit more... I do have a few more fun pictures!

when the storm clouds roll in...

Sometimes it feels like life just falls apart...

One piece crumbling after the last, each piece feeling heavier than the whole.  

Perceived or real... it hurts just the same.  Your field of vision so cluttered with fear and tears and hurt that you can no longer see hope shining through..

It is a season.  
And while I have declared that the teen years are amazing, they can also be hard.  Parenting each one just the way they need to be parented, all the while pushing our own broken hearts out of the picture so that we can focus on theirs.  Perhaps hard is an understatement.

But hope, while we cannot see it, is there.  Here.  Because not only is our hope in God, our hope is God. Even when you yell through your tears I hate this, God! I hate this!  He is strong enough, big enough to handle it.  And He will carry us through... along the new path to an old dream, or to a dream all fresh and new.  He will hold us though our weariness and carry the to-do list that is burdening our hearts, until we are rested enough to take it all on once again.  And He will love us and shower us with grace every moment along the way.

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—
whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.
Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds.
They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.
And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?
Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

Matthew 6:25-27

making the most of every minute...

It was a beautiful weekend.  Beautiful.
Bright blue skies with fluffy clouds, and trees swaying in the wind.
And cool... which is amazing for May in southwest Florida!  We made sure to spend as many minutes outside as possible, drinking in the last of the low humidity, not sure if we'll feel this good again before November!  But I will hope... for one more weekend just like this.  Because you never know, and why not?!