The first stop on our April vacation was South Carolina. While we were there, we visited my family and stayed with old friends. One afternoon, we visited my sister at Cypress Gardens (again), but this time with my mom and dad (who is out of the hospital and doing much better.)


Dwayne paddled me, the kids, my mom and dad through the swamp with my help (but he'd call it "interference") at times. At one point, we got the boat stuck sideways between two cypress trees. Very funny.


We saw a small gator in the water in front of us, so we paddled fast and caught up to him. It was cool to watch his tall swish back and forth as he swam. He dove under the water right after I took this photo and he disappeared from view after he was under only a few inches of water. Disturbing.


I think these are called "snot weeds." When you feel the underside of them, they are covered in a slime that feels just like thick mucus. Fascinating.

This little blue heron was breathtaking.

This wood duck was very friendly. He followed us everywhere in the greenhouse.

The girls were getting a closer look at the button pigeons running around in the bushes in the greenhouse. The babies we saw on our last visit were almost the same size as their parents already.

The girls found another bunch of eggs hidden against the green house wall.

The picture doesn't do these monarch chrysalises justice. The spots on them are golden and they sparkle brilliantly when the sun hits them. I am filled with wonder and awe when I look at them. Even one would be a miracle, but millions are made each year.

Avril and Norah watched the bees from behind the glass. Once outside the greenhouse, you could track them flying out and around to flowers and then coming back into the hole.

We spotted tons of tadpoles and frogs in the pond.

The girls rest on a swing.


The dogwoods were in full bloom. They're my favorite.

My Resolutions for 2011.

I'm trying not to give into the urge to forget this list even exists, trying to keep it in front of me so I may actually accomplish all these things.

Let Norah play outside.
Doing well with this. Norah's been outside everyday (that it hasn't rained) since we've been home from vacation.

Read through the entire Bible.
I'm supposed to be using this plan. But, I am very behind schedule. I think I am almost done with reading for the month of January. Like I said, I'm very behind.

Pray.
I've enjoyed the prayer times I have had since I've been home from vacation. I find it hard to be in my "secret place" with God while in hospital rooms, hotel rooms or other people's homes.

Read.
I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in January. In February, I read "The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "Needless Casualties of War." In March, I read "Dumbing Us Down" and started "Oliver Twist." It's the end of April and I am almost done with it, so I may have slowed down my pace, but I am still on track to average one book every month, basically.

Eat fruit and vegetables.
With all the traveling, we have not been eating healthily. But, we are doing better every single day we are home. Yesterday, the girls and I had some grapes, strawberries, broccoli, tangerines and bananas.

No late night eating.
I started doing this again, partly because we are on vacation, party because I am staying up way too late. I had totally forgotten I had resolved not to do this.

Be consistent in the garden.
When the girls go outside to play, I work in the flower bed. I am telling myself that it doesn't have to be perfect all at once, but little by little it will look better and better. I just have to be consistent.

Stop talking in bed.
I had forgotten I had resolved not to do this one, too. Sorry, Dwayne.

Go to be early.
I may need to change this resolution to "No caffeine after 6pm." because I will often crave a soda after dinner and then find that I'm sorry for drinking one when I can't fall sleep till after midnight.

I started the other day still bummed that my vacation was over and not entirely ready for "real life" to begin. But after encouraging one friend, praying with another, planning a visit with a new friend the next week and planning to make lunch for an old friend and her family after church that coming weekend (and all this done by lunchtime), the Holy Spirit shook some sense into me and whispered as I was sweeping the kitchen floor, "You can't live the life I want you to live and be an effective friend if you travel all the time."

I realized that my friends are here and God has called me to be a friend... So, that's all it took to settle the conflict in my spirit.

I was happy to be home again.

Avril about to eat some fried chicken at the Easter Eggstravaganza.

This is a photo of Norah at our church's Easter Eggstravaganza last Saturday afternoon. She was inside a huge soccer-type ball that she rolled by crawling forward. A good friend of ours took this photo and sent it to me today. The church had a bunch of festive activities for the kids indoors and an egg hunt outside (once it stopped raining long enough.) The girls are still eating the candy they got that day (and probably will be eating on it for another week).

There is always someone I know who needs my prayers. One friend is grieving the loss of a young niece, another is struggling with the prospect of months of sickness, another is battling negative emotions. I don't understand all that happens in the spiritual realm when I take another person's name and dilemma to God over and over again. But, I believe the power of prayer cannot be underestimated. That power doesn't come because of who I am. It comes from the compassionate, powerful God I pray to. But, my comfort in using prayer comes from who I am or rather, how short my sin-list is. The longer I follow God, the more I realize that I do not spend time in God's presence for my own sake alone. Of course, I benefit from time spent with God and the clean conscience that time brings. But, even when I don't feel the need of holiness or friendship with God for my own sake, I must remember to continue to pursue Him so that when I am called on to pray for others, I can step into God's presence carrying their needs in my arms without any awkwardness, without even a moment's delay.

"The prayer of a righteous man (or woman) is powerful and effective."

My daughter didn't go to school for three whole weeks!!!

But, these are only some of the books she read while we traveled:

The Minstrel in the Tower
Magic School Bus Polar Bear Patrol
Magic School Bus Wet All Over
Corn is Maize
Horses and Ponies Spotter's Guide
Magic Tree House Tonight on the Titanic
Magic Tree House Research Guide Pirates
Why I Sneeze, Shiver, Hiccup and Yawn
Puzzle Train
Let's Go Rock Collecting
Mysteries and Marvels of Plant Life
Usborne Hotshots Swimming
Best Knock Knock Book Ever
National Geographic Almanac 2010
Magic School Bus Blows its Top
Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive
Pippi Longstocking
Mr. McBroom's Wonderful One Acre Farm
A Chair for my Mother
How Mountains are Made
Usborne Internet linked Dinosaurs
Hill of Fire
Clara and the Bookwagon
Meet Molly
Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake
Molly Learns a Lesson
Molly's Surprise