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Thanksmas

12/5/2018

And a lovely Thanksmas evening it was! I have 2 pictures to share of everyone around the dinner table. The first is a candid shot of all but 3 of us digging in. My father is on the right next to me, and my sister-in-law on my right with my niece, Leeann, next to her. Across from Leeann is her boyfriend, Matt, and next to him my nephew, Danny. Then there is Carol and Roger (my parent's best friends!).

This next shot has everyone in it!

I just loved being together with everyone there!! The time just flew by!

The next day, Wednesday December 5th, was my doctor's appointment. Tim and I, along with Nicole, drove into Detroit for my appointment with my urologist, Dr. Alanee. He did a cystoscopy on my bladder, and I honestly thought it looked much redder than I'd seen it. He explained and showed us that the red was just the blood vessels and were good indicators of good blood profusion. It also made the scars from all the biopsies I've had very easy to see. He said everything looked good to him and to come back in 6 months. The urine cytology came back with the same results I've been having - atypical cells - cannot rule out carcinoma. So, while I would love to hear a report like, "all normal cells - definitely cancer free!", I continue to be reminded not to place my trust in anything but the Lord. And while I'm doing that, I'm living life to the fullest! Next post will be about my trip to New York City with Nicole!!

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Happy December!

12/3/2018

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Hello, Friends! Got a little catching up to do since my last update, so let's get to it. First, I have one more picture from Hawaii that I wanted to post. We were in the airport in Honolulu behind a lady with one arm who looked a lot like Bethany Hamilton whose life the movie Soul Surfer was based on. Well, long story short, it WAS her, and she was gracious to let me take a picture with her:

So that was pretty cool! When we arrived home I noticed our amazing avocado tree was suddenly dying. We consulted with an arborist who said that it had contracted a lethal fungus called laurel wilt that kills red bay type trees and a few other species very quickly, and there's nothing that can be done to save it. Here's a picture of it before we had it removed:

It had it's longest and most productive season this time since we bought our home 5 years ago. So very sad to see it go!
On a bright note, we were able to see Nathan play his ultimate frisbee championship games the Thursday after we got back from Hawaii! We had never been able to see him play since he always plays on Thursday nights and we have a commitment to our marriage ministry that we lead at our church that meets every Thursday night. But that was a rare Thursday we weren't meeting, so we were able to go see him play! His team lost in the final, but it was an exciting and close one! So proud of him!

Well, I mentioned a couple of months ago that we had kittens, and I just have to show you a few of the cutest pictures we took of them. They have all been rehomed so I'm already missing them. I enjoyed them SOOO much as I always do, but even more this time. My favorite thing of all time is to have a fire in the fireplace and a Hallmark movie on with a kitten in my lap! So I was going to have our cat fixed after this, but I think we'll go for one more time. Aren't they just the sweetest things ever?

We made our last WinShape trip of the year November 5-7 to attend a vision casting session with one of our favorite marriage ministries, Intimate Life Ministries. We don't have anything on the books for next year but WinShape sent us their schedule and asked us to let them know when we would be available to serve. We're going to volunteer to be the host couple for several of their retreats and host couple trainings, so hopefully some of those will work out!!

My brother worked for a company in Tampa for a few months, so I was able to see him more this fall than I have for the past several years combined! One time we met at the Tampa River Walk and took a nice stroll, and then Tim and Nicholas joined us for dinner. And another time he came over and helped Nicole set up a cool telescope she had received for free from her astronomy class! It was so great being able to connect with him!

And then, my dad actually drove up to spend the day with me and even spent the night the week before Thanksgiving. We had a very nice visit together, along with playing with the kittens! :-) This is Nicole and I seeing him off when he left.

Thanksgiving day was just the 6 of us and one of Nathan's friends, Haroon, from college. Haroon is from Pakistan, and this was his first Thanksgiving here, so we were very privileged to have him with us! It was such a beautiful day we moved the dining table out to the lanai and ate out there. After we ate we played a game I stole from a Hallmark movie I had seen where we all wrote out something we were thankful for or admired about every person around the table, and then put what we wrote about them in their cups, and they had to read them and guess who wrote what. That was really a special time - LOVED IT!!

The next day Nathan and 2 of his friends left early in the morning to drive up to Hickory, NC, dropping Haroon off at college on the way. The rest of us left several hours later and drove up to Franklin, NC. We stayed at Eagles Rest, a cabin owned by a friend of ours, and that next day, Saturday, was one of the happiest days of my life! Nicole and I sat by the fire and read and talked and listened to the piano guys, and then Nathan and his friends showed up around noon and then played some worship songs by the fire. A little later, Tim and I went and sat out on the front porch and just enjoyed being together. Then that evening a young lady whose grandmother lives next door who we met on one of our first visits to the cabin 15 years ago came over and we had a very nice visit catching up with her. It was just a very special day that I will cherish in my heart. Here are some pictures from our time there:

We drove back home on the Monday after Thanksgiving, and then Friday Tim and I flew up to Grand Rapids to attend a marriage conference in a small town called Zeeland, MI. We couldn't believe all the SNOW!! We went to the downtown area, and it looked like one of those towns you see in the Hallmark movies - so cute! The conference was Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday (yesterday) we went to church with the conference speakers and then to their house for lunch. Funny story, the family sitting in front of us at the church had twin daughters who were born 2 days after the triplets. So I snapped my picture with them (see below) and texted the picture to the kids, telling Nathan and Noah I had found wives for them! Lol! We had a lot of fun banter back and forth, and the final verdict was that Nathan was going to marry the girl on the right and Nicholas wanted the one of the left (Noah wasn't interested). Too funny! After lunch we drove to Lake Michigan and snapped a picture just to show we were there! From there we headed over to my parent's house near Detroit, stopping at my sister-in-law's home to have dinner with her and my nephew, Danny (sorry - forgot to get pictures of that!)

When I was growing up, my grandparents owned a mansion on an island about an hour outside of Detroit called Harsen's Island where we spent a large part of our summers. My grandpa sold it to a family friend, George, who has always said any of us in the family could go visit any time. So we picked up a key from George this morning, and first thing after that we drove by the motel my grandfather used to own called the Mel Plaza. I snapped a picture of that along with a picture of the convenient store he used to own right across the street. I remember my grandfather used to walk us over to his store, hand us a little paper bag, and tell us to fill it with candy as much as we wanted! From there, Tim and I drove out to the 'cottage' as we used to call it. The only way onto the island is via a ferry, which only adds to the charm. It was really great walking down memory lane today. The weather was cold and gray with a few snow flurries along the way, which kind of made it all the more special, if that makes any sense. After taking a tour of the house while I reminisced and told stories about each room we went in, we went to lunch at a restaurant just about a block away from the cottage that I had never been to before. We dined on yummy of cream of broccoli soup, and I had a perch sandwich. The big freighters go by right in front of the house, and one came by while we were having lunch so I got a picture of it!! After lunch we returned to the cottage for a luxurious nap, and then headed back to civilization. There was a sign right by the ferry that someone put up that cracked me up. It is the last picture in the group of photos below for your enjoyment:

Tomorrow Nicole is flying up and we're going to have a Thanksmas party at my parents house where we're staying!! These are relatives we hardly ever get to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with, so we're really excited to do a combo celebration with them tomorrow. Tim and I are making beef wellington and mushroom wellington, along with mashed yukon gold potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce and a salad. My sister-in-law and nephew, along with my niece and her boyfriend, and my parent's best friends (along with my parents and Nicole, of course!) will all be here! Can't wait!

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Fun and Games and Last Night Luau

10/20/2018

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We started the day out getting in some last minute activities around the resort. But before that happened, this bird flew into our unit because our sliding glass doors were open so we could enjoy the ocean breezes:

The poor thing finally flew out the way he came, but not before knocking a bunch of popcorn off of the popcorn ceiling. The housekeeping department is going to wonder what in the heck we were doing in here! Then, we let the games begin, starting with croquet:

Does anyone know how to actually play croquet? We asked a few passersby, but no one knew the rules, so we improvised and I think Tim won. Then it was on to ping pong:

We didn't play this one too long due to it aggravating my shoulder which was sore from kayaking. On to putt putt!! The putt-putt course was even less rule oriented than the croquet one. There were no tees, just numbered holes, so evidently you could drop your ball anywhere on the green and putt it to the next numbered hole! Who cares? Look at the view - it was right on the ocean! We didn't keep score, but I think Tim would have won that one, too, if we had. Regardless, we had fun!

We mosied back to the room for some domestic chores (I sewed buttons on a pair of Tim's shorts while he ironed), and then some lunch on the porch:

Does anyone know what time it was after that?? That's right - nap time!! Woohoo!! And then, it was time to get ready and go to the luau. So, these pictures all look a little fuzzy - not sure what was up with my phone camera, but I'm including them anyway!

Tomorrow it is packing, checking out, and going to the airport for a 2:50pm departure time heading for Oakland, CA. We won't arrive in Florida until Sunday afternoon around 3:30pm! Not sure if I'll update anything else on here about our trip, so until next time - blessings to all!

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Kayaking time

10/18/2018

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It was a 5 hour adventure through the jungle, including kayaking and hiking through streams and muddy paths with a beautiful waterfall as our reward! Our guide, Blake, was a wealth of nature information, including these honeysuckle type plants that taste like ginger in the first picture below, and then swiping the earth with his foot while whistling to call this beautiful bird in pictures 2 & 3. When we arrived at the waterfall Tim took the first plunge of our group, and then came back to convince me to go under the waterfall. Why not? YOLO! The water was SO COLD, but it was truly a lot of fun! I can check 'standing under a waterfall' off of my bucket list (um, I don't think it was actually on the list, but I can cross it off, nonetheless!). We came back to our room and got a wonderful nap in that felt so refreshing (especially since we missed a nap yesterday!). We nibbled on leftovers for dinner and then right around sunset we took a stroll on the path that runs right outside of our window called Ke Ala Hele Makalae which is Hawaiian for "The Path that Goes by the Coast". It is a 7 mile paved path on the eastern coast of Kauai. We ended the night flipping back and forth between a Hallmark movie and NBA basketball (how romantic!). Tomorrow is our last full day, and I think we're going to take it easy during the day and end our last night with a Luau. Until tomorrow!

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Ziplining, baby!!!

10/18/2018

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I have never been ziplining before, and I hope it won't be my last, but I can't imagine a better experience! Our guides, Sierra and Connor, were awesome - they just made an already incredible event even that much more fun! This was an 8 leg, 3 hour course! What?? Amazing! They took pictures the whole way and then shared a link with our group so we could download the pictures for free - what? They didn't charge an extra $50 for 1 photo? This place was the BOMB! These pictures below were taken right after we suited up and then discovered we were next to a scary dinosaur!

Most of the rest of these they took for us but I included a couple of photos I took, too:

We left there and went to a local fish market for some ahi tuna poke (for me) and Hawaiian Laulau (for Tim). We then took a lovely drive to the Hawaiian Grand Canyon called Waimea Canyon - check out these views on the way there:

And then, after a very twisty and windy road (Tim was loving driving it), we were there! Here are some pictures from there, including some dragon fruit we bought at a stand there (along with some papaya and banana lumpia we didn't get pictures of), but check out these views! Oh - side trivia note - people put locks on the fence there at the top with their names and dates - some even planned ahead and have the locks engraved as the one you'll see below. Just thought that was interesting:

I took 4 pictures of the canyon kind of panorama style, and google assistant put them together for an actual panorama picture. Check it out!

We then went to a bird sanctuary at the recommendation of a family we met at the Canyon from Dallas. There wasn't a ton of wildlife - a few birds - but we took a very peaceful walk around the sanctuary which was a nice break from our go-go-go day! We then drove to a park on the ocean we had seen on the way up to the canyon so we could watch the sunset over the island of Ni'ihau, which they call the forbidden island because it is off-limits to everyone except relatives of the island's owners and a few other special people. Here are a couple of shots from that:

Finally, it was dinner time. We have some friends who, when they found out we were going to Hawaii, slipped a $100 bill in my hand and said we have to go to dinner at Roy Yamaguchi's restaurant on Kauai. So tonight was the night! Tim had the Hapa Burger which consisted of Makaweli beef and wild boar (it was the best burger either of us have ever had!) and I had the blackened island Ahi with buckwheat noodles. It was amazing! The hostess had asked if we were celebrating a special occasion, so we let them know we were here on this trip celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. When they brought us the dessert we ordered (the chocolate souffle) it was accompanied by another dessert with a Happy Anniversary message in chocolate! Nice touch!

Tomorrow is kayaking day, so I'd better hit the hay! (Hey, I'm a poet and don't even know it! Lol!). Until tomorrow!

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Snorkeling Day!

10/16/2018

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The resort charges a whopping $4 a day for snorkels & masks, and we don't have to return them until 5pm tomorrow, so really for 2 days! So today we went on the hunt for snorkeling spots. We drove up to the top of the island based on the recommendation of one of the tour companies, but the surf was definitely too hard to be able to snorkel peacefully. The views were amazing, so we enjoyed those while we stopped by Anini Beach first, and then on to Hanalei. We would have liked to have gone further, but the roads are closed because of Hurricane Lane which swept through here almost 2 months ago! Thankfully, we were able to view the area from the helicopter yesterday (Hanalei and the surrounding area is the 18th picture I posted yesterday). Like I said, absolutely gorgeous, but too rough for snorkeling today. While we were up there we found a juice bar and got some freshly juiced carrot juice - Yum! I went ahead and google searched 'best snorkeling sites in Kauai' (probably should have done that BEFORE we left - lol!) and discovered a place that was only a couple of miles from our resort! But I'm still glad we drove up to the top of the island. Anyway, we drove back down and went to Lydgate State Park, and it was perfect! There was an oasis created by rocks that kept the surf from battering us, and we enjoyed snorkeling all around it for over an hour! We didn't see as many fish as we did at Hanauma Bay in Oahu, but we enjoyed swimming around with several different varieties of beautiful fish, especially the Blue Tang - they were awesome and pretty big! As we left there, we noticed a sign for a waterfall, so we drove the 2 miles off the main road for that - it was called Opaeka's Falls and it was spectacluar! Then it was back to the ranch for a soup and salad lunch and then a nap! We're getting used to this nap thing! My mom used to say that when the USA was taking on other cultures as we were forming ours, why didn't we include the siesta??!! For sure!! Tonight was home made chicken and rice and watched the movie Christian Mingle - very cute. Tomorrow, it's ziplining, baby!! Here are some pictures from today's adventures:

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Helicopter Tour Day!!

10/15/2018

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Wow! This morning we went on an incredible helicopter ride around the island! I guess either 2 people cancelled or they booked our group with only 4 people, but Tim and I both had window seats on a Whisper Star Helicopter so we were able to snag some great pictures! The only downside was that our pilot mumbled the whole time so we couldn't understand what he was saying. I caught phrases here and there, and I think one of the things he was saying was that he was pointing out different spots of where various movies were shot on the island (like a waterfall from Jurassic Park, Gilligan's Island lagoon, a movie I think he said that is currently shooting here with Dwayne Johnson, the old TV show Fantasy Island), but regardless of not being able to understand him, the views were spectacular and breathtaking and his pilot skills were fantastic, so a lot to be thankful for! When we were being shuttled back to our resort I snapped a picture of a McDonald's with the word Aloha above the entrance - lol (see below)! After arriving back at our room, Tim made a wonderful salad which we consumed out on our beautiful breezy balcony. All this excitement was so taxing we just had to succumb to a luxurious nap. It's been rough! Lol! After our nap we took a long walk along the shore and then came back and grilled steaks on one of the resort's gas grills (didn't get any pictures of that since we devoured it so quickly!) It was so yummy! Below are some pictures from our helicopter ride and lunch. Tomorrow we're planning on driving up to the north shore and going snorkeling! Can't wait!

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Today was a 'down' day...

10/14/2018

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Apart from this picture taken from our room of the sunrise this morning, we didn't take any other pics today. We went to an orientation this morning and signed up for some excursions that we will do this week, then we rented a car from a 'rent-a-wreck' type of place that rents used cars. We have a lovely Toyota Corolla with only a mere 99,880 miles on it! It's a fraction of the price of rentals from all the other car rental places and even will allow us to drive it to the parking lot at the airport and just leave the keys in it and text them to let them know where it is. We did a 'rent-a-wreck' 25 years ago in Montana and had a great experience, so hopefully this will be like that! We then went to the grocery store and stacked up on groceries for the week. After the price we paid for a meal out last night I had even more incentive to get stuff from the grocery store - lol!! We were going to play croquet, but ended up getting some ping pong in instead, with me leading the entire game until the very end when I did my usual choke, so Tim won. I'm so happy for him (argh)! Lol! Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow!

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Aloha from Kauai!

10/14/2018

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Before I talk about Kauai, I have a few random things to share about our time in Oahu. First, one thing I forgot to mention about our drive around Oahu was that after it got dark Tim and I felt so happy we sang some praise songs, and with the top down it felt like we were singing straight to heaven - it was pretty cool! We also drove a couple minutes out of our way to drive by the Dole plantation, and even though we couldn't see it we could definitely smell the pineapples! As we drove into Honolulu that night we drove by a building that caught my eye, so Tim turned around so I could get a picture of it. Isn't it beautiful?

As it turned out, after we turned back around some fireworks started near us, so we were able to pull over and watch them. If we hadn't turned around to get that picture we would have driven past the fireworks before they started, and then we would have been surrounded by a bunch of tall buildings that would have obstructed our view, so we felt thankful to be able to see them. They only lasted about 5 minutes, with the last 3 minutes being like a grand finale! Very cool! It was the perfect thing to cap off such a perfect day!! The place we turned in our car was next to the Trump tower, so I took a picture of the entrance, and then the next morning on our walk we happened to walk by there so I snapped a clearer picture of it just for trivia's sake:

We sadly left our hotel around noon in an Uber (loved, loved, loved where we stayed - already gave them a 5 star review on Google!) and made our way to the airport. When we arrived at our airside I was surprised to see the airsides forming a triangle around an open air atrium. You can see our airside in the middle of this picture on the other side of the atrium:

Birds were walking around inside the airside - it was kinda crazy! I took this picture of us on the plane, and then snapped this picture of a runway at the HNL airport as we took off!

We have another wonderful room, this time right on the ocean! I promptly took a walk after arriving while Tim was talking a shower and took this first selfie below. The rest of the pictures are of our room - not too shabby!

We took a short walk to an originally named local restaurant called 'Local' because they locally source everything. I had an amazing salad and Tim had Ahi Tuna dip with homemade Okinawan (purple potato) chips (shown below), and then he also had chocolate habanero chicken strips with hollandaise sauce and cole slaw. Yum Yum! I'll leave you with a photo of us at the restaurant:

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Aloha!

10/13/2018

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Tim asked me yesterday to pinch him to make sure this wasn't just a dream. It has been amazing so far! Thursday we went to Pearl Harbor in the morning, then to the grocery store to get groceries after that, and then hiked Diamond Head in the afternoon (that was quite the hike!). We met the cutest couple from Denmark on their honeymoon on the way down from the top of Diamond Head (wish we had gotten a picture with them) and even rode the bus together back into Wikiki. Here are some pictures from Thursday's adventures, including the fabulous dinner we made (it was yummy!) with some of the groceries we bought:

Yesterday, we rented a car and drove around the island. We went to go pick up our 'standard' car, and they gave us a convertible mini-cooper!!! You know we put that top down and breathed in the sights and sounds of Oahu! Our first stop was Manoa Falls, where the chickens promptly perched on our car (good thing it was a rental! jk - they didn't hurt it):

The hike was less strenuous than Diamond Head - just more slippery and muddy (but not horribly so). It was SO worth the hike! Warning - I didn't do anything with my hair yesterday, including the fact that I didn't put any temporary color on it - so you'll see how gray it is actually getting (not a pretty sight - but hopefully it will be ok once it is all grown out). Concentrate on the beauty of the waterfall and how lush everything is!!

From there we drove to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling, at first walking to the top and looking down on the bay that was a crater created by a volcano, and it is stunning. But once we got down to the bottom we discovered there was a $7.50 entrance fee to the beach, and then a $12 snorkel rental fee (both per person!). Plus, I forgot my bathing suit bottoms!! We almost didn't go, but we went ahead and paid the fees and Tim lent me his extra pair of shorts, and it was SO worth it!! The fish were absolutely spectacular!! We saw most of the fish in the picture we took below with the Guide to Reef Life. Amazing!!

From there we just drove from beach to beach seeing more spectacular views. It kind of reminded me of when we went to Kruger National Park in the 90's after a missions trip we did in South Africa. There were so many amazing deer-type of animals that we were quite taken with and wanted to know all their names, but by the end of the day we would just point them out as another 'deer-thing'. It can be almost overwhelming! Plus, it started raining so there wasn't much point in stopping in the rain. But we still really enjoyed all the views. And then I realized if we didn't stop we could make it to the top of the island and then around to the western side just in time for the sunset. It wasn't raining that far north of the island and we just made it there right after the sun went down in time to enjoy the beautiful colors. The first 3 pictures were taken at a beach called (appropriately) Sunset Beach, and the last one was taken at 'Ehukai Beach:

Today we are going to walk on the beach this morning and then fly out to Kauai later this afternoon for the last 7 days of this trip! Stay tuned for my next post from Kauai!!

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Tim & Jodie

Tim and Jodie have been married since Nov. 5, 1988. Tim is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and retired city of Tampa Firefighter. Jodie is a happily laid off IBM/AT&T 21 yr veteran employee turned stay-at-home home-schooling mom (say that fast three times!). She works very part-time for a local Christian author and speaker. They have four wonderful children: triplets Nathan, Nicole, and Noah born 11/16/97 and Nicholas born 5/16/99.

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