We just got back in town after venturing off on our , FIRST, you read correctly, FIRST ever family vacation. Don't get me wrong, we have been on adventures, DH and I trekked more than once from the deep south to the far northwest and vice versa...but never on vacation. Those were moves and visits back home and the like. And we've had our fair share of trips, you know those short little jaunts that require little if any planning to your nearest scenic spot or tourist trap to stay for a night or two or three. But we have NEVER, EVER, EVER been on a real live vacation until now!

We decided to take our wonderful "stimulus" money and actually make our first ever attempt at this thing called vacation. We had plans originally to stay with friends in Florida but those plans all fell through when our lovely friends went from house sitting at a large "winter" home for family to occupying a single bedroom apartment in Orlando. We're thrifty and we love our friends but the logistics of seven people in a thousand square feet or less did not seem promising. Then God intervened. My husband called his parents to see if perhaps they could procure any beach side resorts through their time share. Alas they were all booked but they had a two bedroom resort villa booked in Orlando and would only need one room. These things are huge, there is enough room for Snow White and her seven dwarf's to sleep comfortably... we were in! Miracle number 1. Next our parent's suggested we all ride together in their seven passenger van. I can't even calculate the savings in fuel cost alone. Miracle number 2. Now we were getting exciting. Where DH and I had plans of just crashing at a friends home and going to the beach every day and eating PB&J we were now looking at a different set of possibilities, dare we even say it...Disney World! We crunched numbers and tried to remain optimistic but the closer we got to vacation the more dismal it looked, grocery costs were eating away at our "savings" and my being unemployed for the month of July wasn't helping either. Then we went to our dear friends the Dowling's home and they surprised us with two one day passes to Disney. Who does that? Who gives you their passes to Disney World people? And to top it all off they loaned us their portable DVD player with 2, count em, 2 screens for each kiddo to watch movies on the 12 hour plus drive to Florida. Miracle number tres and quatro. Just when I thought the blessing basket was surely empty the gift giver of the universe, my sister shows up with play money for everybody...thanks to her we bought the additional two kids passes to Disney and the kids had spending money to boot. Miracle number 5. There are endless amounts of blessings that we continued to receive while on vacation, those are just the ones that got us there.

The craziest thing for me was that my kids are eight and seven and they had never seen an ocean, never touched the sand, and never asked for Disney. I won't lie, they have longed for the ocean, dreamed of what it must be like when their cousins would return from trips seaside. And with every ounce of mothering in me I have wanted to give them that dream. Each summer would come and go and I would sigh at the impossible. I also longed to give them Disney World just because it is such a magical place. It was like saying, I want to give you the moon. When they were four and three I thought perhaps, then five and four, and so on. Like my name sake I tucked all these things away in my heart and pondered them and came upon seven and eight. That would be the "ideal" age I determined for us to have enough money saved up and for them to thoroughly enjoy the experience...not too young, not too old. Needless to say when T Bear turned 7 if anyone had mentioned planning that Disney vacation I would have laughed louder than Sarah ever did to Abraham. In and of myself it was impossible, with God all things are possible. To me that was the greatest miracle that Father cared enough about the things hidden away in my heart and saw fit in His timing to bring them to fruition. Miracle infinitum.

Was it all that I hoped for you might wonder? It was soooo much more. In spite of tropical storms and lost reservations. In spite of less than caring people and being lost in a strange city on foot after dark. It was beautiful and wonderful and more than I could ever store away in my heart. And it occurred to me it really is true, good things do come to those who wait. We don't really wait for anything anymore in our culture do we? We don't wait for sex, or relationships. We don't wait for food or for shelter. We don't even wait to communicate with someone a mile or 2000 down the road, we text or IM. We wait for nothing. We want for nothing. I'm not excluding myself. I've wanted for very little in my life and in as much waited for probably even less but my kiddos, they've waited...patiently without complaining. They've hoped without losing sight of the possibility and thus sinking into deep depression. They have embodied so much more of the fruit of the spirit than I could have even fathomed. And I was just so lucky to be along for the ride. I got to be there the first moment they walked across the boardwalk onto the beach and their eyes lit up with excitement. It rained and was chilly most of that day and they NEVER complained once. They had a dream and a hope and as far as they could tell this was it. They were genuinely excited at the waves and the seashells and the shore. No amount of rain could take that away from them. And Disney, oh my! They ohhed and awed and again never complained. Every ride was amazing, every exhibit fabulous, every character worth waiting for. Now you tell me the wait was in vain. The next time I really want for something, really not just in a passing silly way, but really want something...I pray that I will be endowed with the kind of hope , and faith, and gratitude and patience my kids possess.

First look at the ocean... My FIL was walking directly in front of the kids down the boardwalk when my son cleverly quipped, "Move that Poppy!" with the same inflection Ty Penington does on Extreme Home Makeover. It made us chuckle the rest of the vacation.

Dreams really do come true.

Here we all are!

The bathroom makeover

A little bulletin board of happy thoughts we made for T Bear's room

New seat covers sewn for the kitchen chairs

New pillows sewn for the couch

My favorite view...the kitchen window

The prettiest flower in my garden

So I have just been chillaxing ( as T Bear likes to say) for the past two days. I have accomplished some personal parenting things I had filed away in my head and had not time to get to until this week. So that was good... but other than that I got nothing. So I decided to put it out there and make a list ( not so friendly with the lists usually) of what all I would like to accomplish during this blessed break. These are projects mostly so it's not the end of the world if I don't get them done but on lazy days like today when I lack any sort of motivation it's good to be reminded with a L-I-S-T. So with no further ado and in no particular order of importance:

• reorganize baking cabinets in kitchen
• clean out garage enough to remove large freezer
• organize getting large freezer to beautiful sister's home where it can be loved and used
• while in garage organize canning supplies ( I'm itching to preserve some summer goodness)
• make T Bear a mini skirt from old pair of blue jeans ( if possible in time for the 4th)
• create bird on a wire tie backs for living room curtains
• clean out entryway closet
• clean out hall closet
• print out pictures for year 2003 (yes they were digital and yes they are still on my computer)
• complete scrapbook for 2003 ( my mantra has always been slow and steady wins the race)

So as not to overwhelm myself, here is a list of things I have had filed in my head and have managed to accomplish in the last few weeks:

• touched up the paint in all the main living areas
• painted the main bathroom, took down ugly mirror, refinished grandmother's mirror and hung that one, and decorated with things from around the house
• recovered all the couch pillows (pictures coming soon of those)
• made a slip cover for the chair cushion my doggie has lovingly worn thin
• made new seat cushions to replace the old gross ones on our kitchen chairs
• cleaned out the laundry closet
• cleaned out the pots and pans
• cleaned out the pyrex cabinet
• patched a hole in the hallway and repainted
• took down hooks that were coming out of the wall in entryway, patched walls, and painted
• gave the front porch a makeover with flowers in the planters, ditched the worn out wicker, replaced with newly refurbished rod iron furniture compliments of my dad, and birthday ferns

Whew it never seems like much when you are doing a little here and there. Run little turtle. Run!