friday letters {the disney version}

 

Dear Disney World,
I love everything about you... and I miss you. Desperately. 

Dear Mickey Mouse,
Are you the one who makes all of the magic?  There was more than we could have imagined... beginning with the upgrade to Animal Kingdom Lodge!  And being chosen to test out the new Magic+ bands?  We were honored to be a help to you!  Wearing them made us feel like rock stars.  We hope that our feedback was a help to you... and if you ever want us to test anything again we are ready!!!

Dear Scoop,
Your pin trading lanyards were amazing... and you made Laura's day!  A Marie pin and a Duchess pin?!  Perfection.

Dear Main Street,
Thank you for all of the fun!  We took time to ride the trolley with the Dapper Dans and stopped to clap along with the Marching Band!  When I rush to get it all done I miss out on these extras that make Disney World so extra-special!  I was thankful that I could get myself to slow down and enjoy, instead of rushing on to the next thing!

Dear Animal Kingdom Lodge,
I am still processing all of my feelings about being there... I asked Eric if we could stay forever, but he said no {which he hardly ever says!} but I hope that someday we'll be back!  Someday...

celebrating 50...

We dined in Gemany, soared over California, gazed out over the Savanna, and shouted Aloha! all in the name of love.  Fifty years of love, to be exact.  It seemed there was no more magical place to celebrate my in-law's fiftieth wedding anniversary than Disney World... 

Ten of us around the table... all thankful to be a part of their fifty years together.

processing the magic...

We are in the midst of a vacation marathon... just home from Disney World. 
Laura is back at school, and Camden is at Boy Scout camp... and on Monday we'll head for San Antonio with Camden and three other youth from our church.  It is a lot of fun being packed into three weeks, with none of the timing being our own.  My sweet friend Christine told me she wanted to hear all about the trip... more than me just wanting to live at Animal Kingdom Lodge... and I promise you, I am trying to find the words within me.  I don't want to lose the magic that danced all around this week.   

Yes, there was magic... the abracadabra brand, the pixie dust variety, and the kind that can only be made when love surrounds you.  We created our own out of pure necessity and scouted out or happened into more that I could imagine.  It was a beautiful time.    

The necessity part?  In our scrambling to get ready for three trips, I realized that Camden would need a haircut before Texas... and it was too late to really do anything about it before we left.  And then I remembered that Disney World has a Barber Shop...

He skipped the pixie dust... but for a Mom on a mission to check off haircut on the to-do list, making the haircut part of the fun was magic.  Truly.

stepping over the line {part 2}

Way back here I promised that there would be more...

and then yesterday, I double promised...

When I asked the question about the balloons flying, the answer was maybe.  They were waiting for the fog to lift.  Balloons were inflated but still on the ground to conserve fuel just in case.  And then, just in case happened, the balloons were upright and the sky filled.  I could hardly breathe.  It was a dream come true... to see colors in the sky.

As the balloons were setting sail, Miss Daisy was coming down... and we were opening the petals we had sealed in the dark. 

I was torn... between wanting to help and wanting to see the sky in full color.  In my mind I was stretched out on a blanket gazing at the sky... but sometimes what you plan isn't as perfect as what actually happens.  With my camera around my neck we hustled around Miss Daisy and then, taking off our shoes, we shuffled along the silk helping the air find its way out...  The silk billowed up and around us and along with the air, joy and laughter bubbled forth.

I shuffled, looked up to the sky, and snapped shot after shot over the clouds of silk... all the while, laughing and knowing that there was no better view.    Perhaps all my life I have been a stand-on-the-sidelines kind of girl... but God has changed me for the better.  He has taught me that the gap between enjoying the view and dancing with abandon isn't as wide as I believed it to be... and that to accept that hand that is reaching to pull you across is a grace all in itself. 

My dream to sail over the treetops in a hot air balloon remains a dream... even though we flew high in a tethered balloon.  I loved being in that balloon, seeing the world from on high, but something in me has changed... and the seeing doesn't fill me like the doing. 

Hot, sticky and weary, it felt like afternoon as we walked out across the field, homeward bound...  and we were all amazed that morning would be around for another hour or so.  But the weary was a good weary and the sticky didn't stop my Mom from leaning in and whispering just how amazed she was at me stepping over the line of caution tape.  I smiled... and confessed a little fear, that there was a split second of hesitation.  But OH! there was a joy worth living on the other side and I wouldn't have changed one moment.  Not one.
 
did you miss part one?
and find some more photos here and yesterday's post...

because I didn't forget...

Nope. I didn't. A promise is a promise.  More ballooons...

But the story?  Coming tomorrow.  Yes. I promise.

he dreams a dream

He dreams of flight.
He wants to be a pilot when he grows up… and grown up isn’t that far off, I realize, as I look up into his eyes. Once upon a time I would giggle with him over what he wanted to be… cowboy, police man, car designer… and dream along with him.  It hurts to be honest here, but this is not my favorite dream.  It just isn’t.  But I will not utter one word against it... because I know, and believe this: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. {Jeremiah 29:11}  It is the only place I can go when the worries get the best of me.

 

Last weekend, he flew.  He didn’t just ride… he flew the plane, with Julio’s instruction.  Out to the beach, down the coast, and back around again.  I knew that this would be the make it or break it moment… but as my own Mom said, what teenage boy wouldn’t be hooked?  Not mine.  That’s for sure.  Before his feet ever left the tarmac his grin reached wide.  And after?  Oh… well, I repeated that verse again. 

 

Two years ago, watching the story of Daphne Sheldrick’s amazing dream on the big screen, my eyes rained down tears.  The reality hit me, there in the theater, larger than life.  How dare I even begin to dream for them?  To do so would only hold them back from what they are meant to do, who they are to become.  Because what if I dream too small?  The corners of my mouth turn up and I remember that yellow printing on a dark green Bearstone box... Mom, how far can I dream?  I don't have that answer... but I know that whatever they dream it will be beautiful, because it is their own, and that only God can take them there.

a laughing place

The weekend was crazy, which is not that unusual.  But it was crazy good, which made it okay.  And these people made me laugh, which was perfect.  It made the running here and there and everywhere all worth it. I wish we could have stayed there on the beach and celebrated longer... but there were glasses to pick up...

You can only expect your husband to superglue his glasses together for so long... and really, he glued them together five months longer than I expected.  And he'd probably still be gluing the temples on if one hadn't fallen out of his grasp and into the storm drain!  This falls into the most-used category of our life- you have to laugh.  {Did I ever tell you about the other time glasses went down the drain?  Itty bitty pink prescription sunglasses, only a week old... right down the toilet.  My fault... and it was days before I could really laugh about it!}

Laughter... it is always a gift I am thankful for.

-my favorite hymn in church sunday {as the deer}
-time with friends, celebrating a bithday
-getting some things checked off the list!
-finishing up a few last things for disney {not packing... still ON the list!}
-finishing up t-shirts & water bottles for the national youth gathering
-hearing happy in my daughter's voice
-my son, showing up at my office just to say hi
-not having to pack lunch today
-celebrating 5 years at a job i didn't think i wanted
-how he cares for me, even when i am unaware {or asleep!} thank you for rubbing my back, i'm sorry if i kept you up with my coughing!
-finding my favorite earring
-a brave sister, who was willing to take on cub camp this year {170 boys?!  EEK!}
-conversations with a nice young man
-love, love, love...

life lately... {and hawaiian shirt thursday}

We've been busy... and not.
It seems like summer has barely begun, and is already racing away.
So what to do, but wrap up one more school year and make time for fun and dreams and dreaming.   And this boy?  The Florida native who loves looking like a tourist?  And just says I'm going to the mall and drives himself? 

Is now a high school junior.
In total disbelief I asked him can you believe you are half-way through high school?!  He looked at me with that look and said yes. I don't think about his perspective... the daily grind of sleepy mornings, homework and testing, and feeling every single day like high school may never end.  If I do take the moment to think about it, I remember it well, and with a smile, I nod.  Well, yes, I guess you can believe it. 

less one, but blessed, oh blessed...

We are settling into life as three instead of four {four instead of five, if you count the cat, which I never do, but the kids never fail to!}  The milk is lasting longer and there is less shuffling of cars in the drive.  I notice that Cam has taken to her piano-room-spot-in-the-sun... and I wonder if he has been waiting all this time.  Few texts fly from north to south, and phone calls are rare.  No news is good news, I keep saying.  But all in all, from what we can tell, she is happy and thriving.  And we are thankful. 

Counting blessings on this Monday...

-a rainy afternoon, a cuppa tea and a quiet hour

-the school days winding down... two half-days left!

-actually having a conversation of substance with our girl

-being able to tell that she has found her niche

-celebrating a birthday... and reminding her that we are still three cords

-running into a friend in the aisles... catching up & laughing for a while

-the reply to a good morning text

-a dense clouded day breaking way to blue
-the perfect beach day
-watching a group of goofy boys {big & small} as they celebrated one i love

-paddling away into the ocean with a friend
-the peace we found
-getting things in order for the youth gathering... finally
-and getting excited for disney
-just leaning into him
-laughing with cam
-getting carried away
-a delicious lunch
-a boy's gift of song in church
-sunday night on the couch