Airport...waiting...waiting

Tim here! So we got to CLT airport this morning around 11. It's amazing how God has continued to grow our faith continually through this experience. As we were checking bags at the automatic check-in kiosk up popped a message that said "you do not have seats for 1 or more your segments". So here we are thinking "Alright, what exactly does that mean?" Well, the ticket agent came over and explained that while we all had seats from Philly to Rome only I a seat from Charlotte to Philly - they had overbooked the flight and consequently neither Beth, nor Ang had seats (obviously, that meant Ty as well). They said they would have to see about bumping someone on the Philly flight, but nothing about a 'plan B' was ever mentioned. So the apprehension and worry began to poke it's little, ugly head. After we got to the gate, the agent there said "we'll just have to see if someone is willing to be bumped from this flight." Same song and dance. Not very reassuring, huh?! And it seemed like it was a dance Ang had danced about a week ago trying to get to Texas and frankly, it wasn't a song or dance I wanted to participate in! Sitting there waiting for any word from our flight, I noticed there was a flight to Philly leaving about an hour earlier than ours across the concourse and so I sent Ang and Beth to check with U.S. Airways' Special Services to see what could be done - if anything - to get them on that flight. It was nice to finally get a "here's what happens if you don't get on this flight" response. We were to take the 6pm direction flight from Charlotte to Rome, if need be. Thankfully, we got seats on our original flight and I am standing at the power station charging my tech tools for our first leg of this trip. God, it seems is using this experience to grow our faith in His provision, our patience and the ability to not panic in the face of changing plans.
"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness...On Christ the Solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand!"

See you guys either in Philly later tonight or tomorrow in Rome!

Italy

Ang here. It's 11:42. Tim is so excited he had to go run, otherwise he won't be able to sleep. It's absolutely amazing how God has orchestrated this trip. 8 weeks ago Matt and Mel asked us to come and I had tiny faith and decided Tim would go. Then it looked like Tim and I would go and we would send Ty to TX. (I couldn't leave him an ocean away.) Then my mom called and asked if she could be the nanny. Super! Her dream trip w/Ty. All the money came together. We've gotten all the passports. I have a big God. I'm glad he puts up with me and shows me his power. Our flight leaves CLT @ 2:35pm. Then we leave PHL at 4:40 and arrive in RCO @ 8:50 Wednesday morning. We'll spend the day in Rome seeing the Coliseum, Pantheon, Vatican and whatever else we can get our hands on. Then we'll take the train to our resort in Livorno (google it) on the beach! It's only a smidge from Pisa so I hope we get there one day. Stay tuned to our adventures!

Ciao!
Ang, Tim, Ty and Tutu

What a year

It's Ang. What a year so far! I turned 30 (blech) in February. In May we found out we're finally pregnant! What a journey! Don't think we'll find out what it is, but Wednesday is that sonogram. Just returned from a 7 day cruise, so I wanted to give you the low down.

Thursday night I couldn't sleep - too excited so we left at 4am on Friday. We took an extra day in Cocoa Beach just so we could hang out and get our vaca started.

Saturday morning we took the shuttle to the port and they flagged me for being preggo eventhough I had ALREADY turned in my Dr.'s note! But it was fine, just had to sign another paper.

We got on the boat and I was digging in my bag and sliced my finger on Tim's razor. So I went down to get a band-aid and they charged me $2.19 for 6! Why can't I just have one? Then as we left for dinner I ripped the door over my toes and skinned them up some more. Alas we departed and set sail.

Sunday we docked in the Bahamas and we didn't have an excursion planned so we decided to take a horse and buggy tour. Once we got in the buggy, we realized maybe it wasn't such a good idea. We were going through most of Nassau that was closed and looked pretty rough, but we survived and returned to the boat.

Monday - Fun Day at Sea and we just hung out and took it easy.

Tuesday - St. Thomas - We planned to snorkel and were not aware we would be riding a power boat to our site. I did not know a Power boat was a death trap where I sat on the back (supposedly the easiest part of the ride) and hung on while we jumped waves. I got a nice sunburn and did see some sea turtles, lots of fish and a sunken ship.

Wednesday - St. Maarten - This and the Grand Caymans are my favorite ports of all time. This was a smooth water taxi out to a tiki hut where we saw fish, a submarine, cannons, squid, and tons of stuff. There were also divers and helmet divers. I think I still had a little sun poisoning from the day before so I took a break on the floating dock and before I knew it - was puking my guts up! Embarrassing! But Tim had also brushed up against the dock and we thought it was just irritation from his sunburn. But, was probably some sea life. When we got back from the Mexican buffet that night, he was covered in welts. Because it was after hours 10 Benadryl tabs cost me $28, but I didn't want him to itch. The next morning the welts were gone, but he was completely pink!

So, since it was a Fun day at sea, we stayed in. By dinner time, we decided to go to the Medical center (the price of another excursion!) and got some prednazone, claritin, and caladryl. It cleared up nicely. We had a huge movie screen on the pool deck so that night we saw Avatar.

Last day- won some money back from the casino, played some trivia, Tim played Minute to Win it, and had a great time.

It was hard to drive home and start life back again, but what a nice vacation before the new chapter in our life begins!

2009

It's my next to last day at the CDC (not center for disease control, although sometimes...) anyways I was playing Bejeweled Blitz and began thinking "What if you only thought about the 'bad' things that happened to you this year?" So I decided to lay them out then challenge them with the greatness:

Meh or Bad
1. I have PCOS (insulin resistance)
2. Another year w/o a baby
3. MeMe went to assisted living
4. Miss my family
5. Miss my friends
6. Mingus ran away
7. Had a rough job most days
8. Didn't lose much weight this year
9. Took a large paycut
10. Moved from my house (unsold) to tiny apt. (1 bathroom and small closet)


Great things:
1. Moved to NC (weather is great!)
2. Made lots of friends
3. Saw Dr. Peacock who diagnosed PCOS and has a plan
4. Lost a little weight
5. Mingus came home and goes to puppy school
6. Had a job
7. Got a new job(s)
8. Was able to visit home a lot
9. Live near Myrtle Beach - got to go once!
10. Learned to live on less (space and money)
11. I'm no longer responsible for carrying the insurance!
12. Tim is happy @ work
13. Time to read - (more than fiction)
14. VBS!
15. Variety
16. Living in a big city
17. Time to bake!
18. QT with Tim (no grad school)
19. Visits from Fam and Friends
20. Charlotte One
21. SNOW!!!
22. Mountain trip!
23. Working with College students (youth and children)
24. Paid off some debt
25. Sending Care packages
26. Adam will be near us while at lutherie school
27. So many close states
28. Dog parks - Reedy Creek
29. Adventure

My list really could go on. I know people get down in the winter, so maybe they should make lists. I'm a list maker, from to-do lists to pro/con lists. They always make me feel better. The great things that have happened to you this year far out weigh the negative. The most simply being you lived another year. God has provided for you for another year. I know a lot of people lost jobs and things got tight, but you made it there was a new tomorrow and maybe you got to volunteer somewhere, maybe you got to know others w/o jobs. Maybe you found something else. Look forward and don't dwell on that stuff that you can't change!

I'm still here at school (3 more days), counting down to quitting, and getting to TX. I'm ready to wrap all those presents I sent there and spend some good times with the fam. The Christmas musical was excellent and I miss seeing everyone already (not that I want to have marathon practices again, just want to get together). I'm excited about my brother coming back to NC with us after Christmas and starting a new job in January. I'm ready to go see Dr. Peacock on the 21st and have him tell me I'm doing better since we're walking Mingus regularly. I'm ready to get into a rhythm and be excited about what I'm doing. I guess that's it. What a great year 2009 was and 2010 can only get better (except for that whole turning 30 thing!)

What a Mess!

So Friday, I took two children in to the bathroom. Well I stood at the door and they went in as we still had kids on the playground. I thought they both came out but evidently I left one inside for 30 seconds. I thought I was going to fall apart when I turned around to see her in the hands of my boss. Therefore, I was put on administrative leave until Monday. ( I didn't know this at the time, but that will come later.) Since I'm only going to be there another month, Tim thought maybe I should go ahead and resign, because if they did fire me, it would follow me on my employment history wherever I went. So Monday morning at 6 am I called and left a message. I got up later to do whatever since I wasn't going to work and was really praying for direction. I'm a neon sign kinda girl and wanna hear it. So I was digging through Tim's bag and found his copy of Utmost for His Highest. The one for Monday was 1 Cor 10:31, "Whatever you do, do for the glory of God." Smack me in the face. So I went upstairs to tell Tim I'm going to quit and we'll just suck it up and make it. As I'm telling him the phone rings. It's my boss, asking could I come into work. I said yes, still not sure that I wouldn't go in and quit. As I'm getting ready, Tim checked my email from his iphone to find that a school wanted an interview and as he's reading that I get a call asking for another interview. Wow! God is awesome! So I went in and kept my job, but still interviewed for the others as HE may need me here for a little while longer.

Things going on

Sunday, after returning from Youth retreat I made about 3 dozen Cake Pearls for college "Short" group. We didn't eat many and I took them home. Monday, I took some to work to share and when I returned home the plate was empty. What I didn't tell you was my car was in the shop so I was driving Tim's. I called him and asked if someone brought him home and they finished the cake pearls. He said no. I said come on, yeah you did. He said no. Mingus ate 8-10 cake pearls! I'm so thankful they weren't chocolate, but I'm sure his stomach didn't feel very well.

Today I had an interview with Elon Park Elementary. It's in South Charlotte and the weirdest interview I've had yet. They were scheduled every 15 minutes and I felt like just as I sat down and told a little about myself, it was over. I drove about 40 minutes for about 12 minutes of get to know you. I'm not sure if that's enough time to tell them if I'm right for the job, but we'll see!