Riverbend Ramblings

It's been a few weeks since I've linked up with my favorites. I had hoped to spend the last few days getting settled back in at home after our trip, but instead I ended up with a packed schedule, including a funeral service and a last-minute overnight trip. Here are five of my faves from this week:

1. It was so good to attend our home church on Sunday morning. On Sunday evening, I went with Steven to a church in the Orlando area where he was preaching both services for another pastor while he was on vacation. The church folks there were very welcoming, and the girls made some new friends.

2. Steven was invited to preach the mid-week service at a church in South Florida, and I was thrilled to be able to go with him and enjoy some much-needed time together while our moms took care of the kids. The pastor there took such good care of us, and we were blessed to be able to stay in an apartment on the church property. The church folks have done a beautiful job fixing it up, and we were able to relax much better there than we would have at a hotel.

3. On our drive back home, we took a detour to Sarasota for breakfast at Yoder's Restaurant. It's one of our favorite places to eat. I ordered the stuffed peach French toast. Oh. My. Goodness!! It was the best French toast I've ever had. Not low calorie, for sure, but I enjoyed every single bite.

4. I came across this lovely scripture art in someone's home, but the owner didn't know where it had been purchased. It's the first time I've ever found all of Psalm 119 displayed in the KJV. I looked on the back of the frame to see if I could figure out where it was purchased, but there were no markings. I am going to keep searching online. Maybe I can find something similar.

5. A few of our church folks had surgery or sudden trips to the hospital this week, and all of them are doing well right now. I have been blessed to be on the receiving end of prayer so many times in my life, and I am thankful for the privilege we have to pray for one another.

You can link up and share your favorites over at Susanne's. Have a great weekend!

 

Labels: Friday's Favorites

After nine hours of driving in rain, we made it back home safe and sound on Saturday night. I have never been so glad to pull in our driveway! Although I am super thankful for the time away with my mom and the girls, fifteen days was just too long for our family to be apart. I missed my guys! Thanks for praying for us as we traveled. I'll be back to regular posting later this week.

Labels: Travel

We've been staying at a resort at Pensacola Beach this week. It's the most beautiful, relaxing spot. I'm missing the rest of our family like crazy. Steven and I haven't spent this long apart since we started dating twenty years ago. I can't wait to see him (and Case) again in just a few more days. In the meantime, the girls and I will soak up a little more sun and surf.

Labels: Family Life, Fun Stuff, The Kiddos, Travel

I hope you enjoy Shay's recital performance of Soliloquy at Pensacola Christian College's summer music camp.

ETA: The link should work now.

Labels: The Kiddos

I mentioned in my last post that I had some trouble getting our reservation confirmed prior to our arrival at the resort we were staying at for the first week of our trip. Thankfully, our check-in was smooth, and we were soon unpacked and ready to relax. We were very pleased with our condo unit, and Hope and Bryn were super excited about the bunk beds. I thought that was funny since they sleep in bunk beds all the time. I guess it's the novelty of sleeping in bunk beds on vacation.

Apparently the Panama City Beach area had rain for the two weeks prior to our visit. In fact, one of the resort staff members said that they had over 20 inches in 72 hours last week. Some of the streets were closed due to flooding. It rained the first day we were here, but it's been mostly sunny since then. We found a good church to attend on Sunday and spent some time at the pool relaxing that afternoon. It was overcast, but Shay and I were still able to take a walk on the beach. She wanted to enjoy it as long as possible since it was the last day she would be with us.

Monday we drove about 2 hours west to Pensacola. Shay is attending a two week music camp at Pensacola Christian College. She's had a goal for several months to attend the camp and worked really hard on the piano this year. She received the highest score at a huge competition back in April and was awarded a scholarship. The scholarship didn't cover the entire cost of music camp, but it was still a help. Shay is having a great time at camp. Her days are crammed full of music lessons and classes in hymn play, theory, music appreciation, performance, and chamber music. She's in the choir as well and has two practices for that each day. She has been placed in a chamber duet and is also accompanying for a strings group. She's preparing for a recital and concert at the end of camp. It's exhausting, but she's in her element and having a fantastic time. She's also getting her first taste of college campus life. Good stuff.

My mom and I drove back to Panama City Beach with the little girls late Monday, and we've spent the last few days relaxing. I could get used to this.

Labels: Family Life, The Kiddos, Travel

For those of you who prayed for us while we were on the road yesterday, thank you SO much! I'm not sure when I last felt like I needed prayer so badly. I thought I had everything planned out well for this trip, but there are some things that happen that we just don't have any control over. This is a hard lesson that I think the Lord must really want me to learn. I truly felt His hand of protection over us yesterday.

The morning started out with a snag when my truck wouldn't crank. I'm not sure if a light got left on inside the night before when we were loading it or what. Steven charged the battery, but he didn't feel comfortable sending his girls off with a potentially problem battery. The garage we use to service our vehicles was closed for the long weekend, so Steven decided to swap out batteries with the one in his truck. That took a while, so by the time we got to my mom's house and loaded her stuff in the truck, we were about an hour and a half behind schedule.

I had dreaded the holiday weekend traffic, but it really wasn't any worse than usual. Our drive on the turnpike and I-75 was going fine until an unidentified flying object hit the windshield. It sounded like a tiny piece of gravel. Suddenly, there was a crack on my windshield. It got longer. And longer. And longer. I stopped at the next rest area to take a closer look. You can't tell in the picture below, but the crack is about two feet long.

Stuff like this worries me. I like to feel safe in a vehicle. This was one of those times I really wished my husband was driving. He always does a good job handling situations that I would stress about. I called Steven, and he thought it would be safe for us to continue driving. The crack spread a little bit more during the day, but I was still able to see fine through the windshield. I'm going to check into getting the windshield replaced once our insurance agent's office opens on Monday.

We changed time zones and hit some rain as we got into the panhandle and arrived in Panama City Beach after an eight hour drive. I had some trouble getting our resort reservation confirmed prior to our arrival, so I had no idea what to expect. I'll share more details about that in my next post. For now, here are some pictures I took last night of fireworks over the Gulf of Mexico. The fireworks were postponed on the 4th due to bad weather, so we were blessed to get to see them last night. A beautiful way to end a rough day.

Labels: Daily Life, Travel

I'm hitting the road this morning to vacation with my mom and the girls. We've got a seven hour drive ahead of us on the first leg of our 15-day trip. I'll share more when we reach our destination. If you think about it, please pray for us as I'm sure the interstate will be busy this holiday weekend.

Labels: Daily Life, Fun Stuff, This N That

I took this picture at Stone Mountain, Georgia, a few years ago.

Labels: Special Days