The Ultimate Gift

It's hard to believe that Christmas is on Saturday.  This year has certainly flown by.  It's hard to believe that we started the year living in Chicago and will end this year in Arizona.  It was hard to pack up all our stuff and leave our families and friends behind, but are trusting that this is where God has led us to be.  I am grateful to our families and friends for their love and support during this transition.  I am also thankful for my faith in God, as it has gotten us through some difficult times recently.

I am grateful for all that Jesus has done for us. He paid the greatest price to give us the ultimate gift, eternal life. Eternal life and the opportunity to be with our loved ones again. Words cannot express how grateful I am to Him for this. So, now when I think of Christmas, I not only think of the Savior's birth, but his life and more importantly his atonement for the world which means that I can be with my loved ones who have gone on to be with the Lord. 

This is the knowledge that I find rest in. This is the truth that comforts me. I know the burden of grief and how it can bring us to our knees. It's my prayer that if you are feeling the heartache and loneliness that comes from losing a loved one that you may be able to to feel the gift that our Savior gave us and that is the assurance that life is everlasting. In that we can find peace and comfort.

John 14: 7: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Happy Turkey Day A Day Early

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that you all have a blessed day with your friends, family, or coworkers even if you are stuck at work.  May you take the time to spend with your loved ones or call them and let them know how grateful you are for having them in your life.

This year Thanksgiving is a little bittersweet occasion.  It's the 5th anniversary of my Grandma passing away on the 21st and the same day, Missy and Tim lost little Audrey.  My birthday just happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year.

I just wanted to take the time to give thanks to God for the bountiful blessings that he bestows upon me daily.  I am so thankful for being raised in the church and for my ability to serve such a loving God and to not be persecuted for my faith.  I am so thankful for my wonderful loving husband, who has also been my best friend for the past 12 years.  We have been blessed with amazing parents, siblings, grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Our biggest joy came into our lives on September 26th, 2008, when we witnessed the birth of our daughter, Kileigh Erin, who is such a beautiful, sweet little girl.  We love watching her grow and flourish everyday.  I am thankful for wonderful friends who are there when you need them and also for those friends that I don't get to talk to very often, but when I do, it's like we just talked yesterday.  I am grateful for my job and the ability to provide quality childcare to other families.  I am also thankful for my health and being able to live an active lifestyle.

I want to take the time to say a prayer for the loved ones that are no longer with us this holiday season.  May they be rejoicing in Heaven with God's Angels and looking down on us and helping us through our grief.  I want to lift up the marines in our family - Tim, Missy,  and Justin, we thank you for your sacrifice to our country and our grateful for your safety.  Thank you to all our current active and also retired military and families who have sacrified so much and continue to sacrifice on a daily basis, so that we have our freedom and are able to celebrate around our Thanksgiving tables.  I also want to pray for others who are having a difficult time this holiday season whether they lost a loved one, are without a job or home, sick, or struggling with addictions.  May they be granted the peace needed to overcome this difficult time!

God Bless you all and Happy Thanksgiving!
Beth

Prayer Request

Saturday afternoon, I received a text from my mother-in-law that Kevin's cousin Missy's 18 month-old daughter Audrey had had a brain aneurysm and was in the hospital.  Shortly after that, Kevin called me and said that they were transporting her to Loma Linda Medical Center and that he was thinking of going to be with them.  I told him that I wanted to go too.  Kevin's aunt was able to come to our house and stay with her.  I threw a few things in a backpack and Kevin came home to pick me up.  We got to the airport and caught a flight to Ontario, rented a car, and drove about 20 miles to the hospital.  We found our way to the Children's Hospital and we up to the PICU.  A nurse told us that we couldn't see Missy or Tim because they were being interviewed and were told to go wait in the waiting room.  It was a few hours before we were able to see Missy and she was a wreck.  Doctors had told them that Audrey was brain dead.  Around 6am Sunday morning, Missy and Tim came out and said they took Audrey off life support.  We went downstairs to get some fresh air for a few minutes.  They went back upstairs to be with Audrey again and we waited outside in hallway and received a few calls from family.  Around 8am they came back out and said that she had passed away and were planning to go home and get some sleep.  We had planned to stay with them until Missy's parents and brother arrived, but they didn't want to stay at the hospital.  We gave them hugs and sent them on their way.  We heard that a rainbow followed them the 2 hour drive home. 

We drove back to the airport and got to talk to Kileigh on the way.  She kept saying Mama, Dada, and blowing us kisses, and saying Lovey Too.  We were able to get on an earlier flight home.  We were exhausted, but unfortunately Kevin had to work yesterday.  We were so happy to see Kileigh that we gave her lots of hugs and kisses.  I took her to the park and let her play before putting her down for a nap.  She didn't want to sleep, so I let her lay with me on the couch and watch a movie.  Last night we talked to Kevin's parents on skype and they had received a call from Missy's dad (which is my father-in-law's brother).  The preliminary report from the doctor was that Audrey's white cell count was elevated and that she might have been diabetic.  It sounds like she has she had an infection of some kind. 

Please keep Missy, Tim, and their families in your prayers during the coming days and weeks as they sort through their grief. 

Thanks,
Beth

Holiday Cards

Do you send Christmas or holiday cards? I receive a lot of holiday cards every year from family and friends. Some people send religious cards, some send letters, others do photo cards. I enjoy reading updates from people who I don't normally talk to or see throughout the year. I used to send regular Christmas cards, but after having to personalize 50-75 cards and then address them, it got too time-consuming. So now I like to send photo cards. All you have to do is take a couple photos, upload them, select a card, set everything up on the computer and then voila.  There are so many cute backgrounds and sayings for holiday cards that it is hard to narrow it down to one.  Now that we live in Arizona, the winter/snowflake design ones seem silly for family and friends who live out here. 

Check out all these great new designs from shutterfly.  You can chose between 5x7, 4x8, folded cards, or even photo story cards, which are like the Christmas letters, but in a shortened version.  Here are some of my favorites!  I love so many of them, that it's hard to pick just one.  http://www.shutterfly.com/

I really like the Gift Tag card, as it's always fun to attach cute photo tags to people's presents.  

I love the Picture Tree card as it reminds me of Kevin's grandmother.  She decorated her tree with photo ornaments with a picture of everyone in the family.

I like this one as it reminds me of the Christmas song "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!"

Even though I am not a fan of the taste of candy canes, I still like the red and white striped design.

I like this one because it implies such a festive spirit about the holidays.

Let there be Peace on Earth!

I like this as it's a new take on the traditional Christmas letter, but in a shorter version.

Cute design, love the ornaments

Top Ten List of favorite moments from the year

I love this one with seasonal updates.

Photo-a-Month

Which one should I chose?

Gooble Gooble

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, as well as my birthday.  My mom is flying in next Wednesday.  She hasn't been to visit since we moved, so now she will finally be able to see our new place.  After we pick her up at the airport, we are planning to go over to Tempe Marketplace to see the annual tree lighting, "snow fall", and ice skating performance.  Thursday is Thanksgiving Day.  I love to spend the morning relaxing on the couch, watching the parades on tv, looking at the ads, and mapping out our plans for the crazy shop-a-paloza on Black Friday.  Kevin is off on Thanksgiving, so we will cook our sides and then early afternoon head over to Aunt Jeanine's house for Thanksgiving dinner with the family.  Friday we will up early hitting the stores to full-fill our shopping lists.  I am sure with my in-laws and mom in town, we will have lots of family time.  Sunday will be our party for the November/December birthdays.  Looking forward to spending time with family and counting my blessings!

Halloween 2010

Since we got off the ship on Halloween, they had a display in the main atrium area with carved pumpkins, a cake, a witch, and monster. 

Kileigh was so excited to see us in St. Louis.  We were tired after getting up early and travelling to New Orleans and sitting in the airport for a few hours, so we ended up getting a hotel by the airport and my mom and I took Kileigh trick-or-treating in a couple neighborhoods by the hotel and airport.  She had a lot of fun!

My ladybug

Trick-or-treat

Checking out the pumpkin

Helping herself to the candy

Knock Knock

Hmm.....what should I choose?

Checking out the Halloween decorations

Hot dog house - they gave away hot dogs as well as candy

Culinary Demonstration/Galley Tour

On the last sea day, there was a Culinary Demonstration in the theatre.  The Head Chef & Maitr'de were very entertaining.  They made a couple recipes, including the popular fettucine alfredo.  It was nice to get the recipe as Kevin made it the other night with shrimp and scallops and it was delicious.  After the demonstration was over, we were able to walk through one of the galleys.  They were making preparations for lunch, so we got to see people working various areas in the galley. Since we were getting off the ship on Halloween, they had carved pumpkins and had them on display as well.

                                                               Culinary Demonstration

                                                                 Beverage Area

Making desserts

                                                                   Peppers anyone?

                                                                     Crab legs

      Tomato & mozzarella - something they claimed they couldn't make the night before at Sabatini's.

Flowers made from turnips

Pumpkin display

Grand Turk

This was first time stopping in Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos.  We did a snorkeling trip with Blue Water Divers.  We like book our excursious on our own because they are cheaper and usually smaller groups than the cruise ship.  They were great to work withand very professional.  The water was absolutely beautiful,  crystal clear water, with lots of colorful fish.  Unfortunately we didn't have a waterproof camera with us and decided to add a underwater digital camera to our Christmas wishlist.  After we got back to the cruise center, we walked through Margaritaville and ran into some friends at the beach.  We were hungry from snorkeling, so we decided to go back and get a snack on the ship.  If we get a chance to go back to Grand Turk, we would definitely hang out at Margaritaville as they have a gorgeous pool and swim-up bar.

                                                       Approaching Grand Turk

                                                                   Grand Turk

Margaritaville

Sunset

Grand Turk at Sunset

                                                                 Watching the Sunset

                                                           One of my favorites of us

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas

This was our second time in St. Thomas, but the first time we only got off the boat to do some shopping.  Friends we met on the boat recommended that we go to Magen's Bay.  If you ever get a chance to go to St. Thomas, you definitely need to go to Magen's Bay.  It is such a beautiful, clean, peaceful beach.  They don't allow any motorized water sports, so it's very quiet.  You can rent umbrellas, chairs, and floating mats.  They also have restrooms and a bar/restaurant for food and drinks.  The drinks are a little pricey, but definitely worth it as they are very generous with the amount of alcohol they pour.  After a few hours hanging out in the water, we headed downtown to a bar called the Big Kahuna.  Chris and Derrick knew the owners and bartenders as they have been there atleast 6 times.  We had a couple bushwackers and nachos before we had to leave.  There were delicious, tasted like a frozen mudslide.  We also got one to take with us that had a shot of rum in a test tube that was turned upside down.  As you drink through the straw, the rum comes down into the drink.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with the guys.  Lots of laughs!

Open Air Taxi

                                                      View on the way to Magen's Bay

                                                                     Magen's Bay

Kevin & I

                                                   Beautiful just like what you see on a postcard

Chris enjoying a bushwacker at Big Kahuna

Watching the bartender make our to-go drinks

Maho Beach, St. Maarten

This was our second visit to St. Maarten and second time at Maho Beach.  We had a difficult time trying to arrange a taxi as it was just the two of us.  We started asking around and found 8 other people who also wanted to go there.  We ended up sharing a taxi with a guy who was working on the Oasis supervising the entertainers.  He was flying home to New York, so we dropped him off at the airport.  The other couple were our age and they were on the Oasis.  We hung out with them for the day at the bar and beach watching the planes land and take off.  We didn't bring our suits as we hadn't planned to swim, but we ended up going in the water in our clothes anyway.  I was in the water when one of the big planes took off.  I will never do that again as I ended up with sand up my nose from the jet blast and kept having to duck under the water to try and avoid it.  We had a blast and would love to stay on the island and hang out there for a week.

                                                   Flight arrival/departure times for the big planes

View of the beach from the Sunset Bar & Grill