Vacation

We had the most spectacular time in Captiva, Florida! We flew out from Minneapolis at six in the morning. We had a layover in Atlanta, Ga and then on to our destination.

We picked up our rental car and headed west to Captiva. We stopped and bought groceries off the island because we were advised that it would be much cheaper. Loaded up the mini van (yes we actually drove a mini van) and proceeded to our destination.

We check in and then drove to our house. Our house had three different levels. We opened the door and the kids ran every which a way. It was so fun to check out the super spacious house. The kids were claiming their bedrooms as they discovered them.

The week was filled with lots of beach time, swimming and sunshine, some shelling on an uninhabited island, good eats and seafood. It was a relaxed time and just what we all needed.

We reluctantly boarded the plane for home. The week went entirely too quick.

I have a funny story to tell. They left us a 6 seater golf cart to get around the island on. It was so fun tooling around on that thing. Anyway, the first day we all piled into the cart and drove it to the little general store to get a few things we forgot.  I ran into the store and came back out to the parking lot. There was an almost constant beeping noise. I got to the cart and Dan was looking quite embarrassed because the beeping was coming from our golf cart. I got back in and we decided to head back to the house as fast as we could go. We avoided eye contact with others because whatever Dan did, the beeping wouldn't stop.

We parked the golf cart in the garage and turned off the key. Dan looked at it and tried to find the source of the problem. A bit later, Dan laughingly told me that the horn button was on the floorboard and without knowing it, his foot had been on the horn the whole time! We had a good laugh over that.

We are so thankful to the Dream Foundation for this wonderful vacation. It was just amazing how God put it all together and at just the right time.

Captiva Florida here we come!

We have all had a great day around here! Let me tell you what went on.

I'll start by telling you what happened about five months ago. I went in for treatment and one of my nurses brought me some paperwork to fill out for a dream vacation. She said I should fill it out and see what happened. 

I read through the papers and was shocked when I found out that it was a program similar to Make a Wish Foundation for kids and was for terminal adults. 

I asked Holly, my nurse about this and she encouraged me to fill the papers out and disregard some of the terminology.

I filled everything out and sent it in. My doctor filled out forms as well. He later told me that when he was asked about my life expectancy he wrote down,"I really don't know how long she'll live. Most everyone else would be dead by now."

I waited and waited, coming to the conclusion that I didn't qualify for the vacation. 

A box of games from Hasbro arrived at the house one afternoon for the children compliments of Dream Foundation - the foundation I applied to for a vacation.

The box was decorated colorfully. The kids were excitedly opening the games. I watched them and thought that this was the "consolation" prize for not getting the vacation. 

The next day I received a phone call from Dream Foundation telling me that I had been chosen to pick a dream vacation as long as it was within the continental US. 

I couldn't believe it! I was so sure that I had been disqualified. 

Fast forward to today. The whole family went over to my doctor's office to receive our dream vacation. 

We are all being flown to Captiva, Florida where we will spend a week in a beautiful house that includes an elevator, swimming pool and hot tub, and six bedrooms just minutes from the beach. 

All I can say is "Yay God". He knew how much we need this time for our family. 

I'll let you know how the trip went when I get back. 

Hi ya'll

I have been horrible about updating my blog this summer. I'm sure the few readers I had got tired of seeing the same page pop up all the time.

Lil update. I'm doing well. I now have spinal treatments every five weeks. My treatment usually goes smooth and I loose about a day to it. I can remember loosing weeks to treatments so this is good. I don't think I'll ever hear the words, "you are in remission" or "you are healed" from my doctor. That's ok. God has healed me and I'm good with that. 

I started school today with the three. Dan is checking up with Shelby but she's mostly doing school by herself as a tenth grader. 

My son, Levi, did something funny today. He put on a mask and thought it would be fun to go into our local bank dressed that way. LOL. I had to tell him that was not a very good idea and then I explained why. 

He decided he would read on the back porch with his mask on. 

Kids!?!!!