Vacation Recap- June 27, 2008 (kid free)

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids but everyone needs a break from their kids every once in a while.

Day 3 of our kid free vacation was AWESOME. We started the day with a light breakfast on deck over looking the ocean. We spent the morning at the beach. The water was not very appealing today due to the over abundance of algae floating around. However, the temperature and breeze were perfect. We spent time lounging on the beach listening to our I-Pods and reading books.

We spent the afternoon at Serenity Day Spa which is located at the Sandestin Hotel. We had a wonderful relaxing experience getting a couples massage. I have never had a massage before now I can't wait for my next one.

For dinner we ordered up room service and had a quiet meal in our room, and then sat on the balcony reading for a while. It was a great last night for our trip.

Vacation Recap June 26th (Kid Free!!!)

Day 2 of our kid free vacation.

We started the day with breakfast at Sandcastle's. The food was pretty good. Sandcastles is one of several restaurants located on the premises of the resort. We had made to order Belgium waffles.

We decided that we would be lazy and rest on this vacation so we arranged for beach setup which included 2 lounge chairs and a beach umbrella set up near the shore line. It was a perfect day for relaxing at the beach. The temperature was around 95 but there was a constant breeze that helped to keep it cool.

We decided on sushi for dinner at Hadashi. It was great. Dinner was late due to a 3:00 lunch, so the restaurant was very quiet with only a few other diners.

Over all day 2 of our kid free vacation was awesome. The weather was perfect, the food was great and it was wonderful to be able to just focus on David and me.

Vacation Recap June 25th (Kid Free!!!)

Caleb turned 13. We celebrated yesterday with family so today was a scaled back day for him. We took him to breakfast with my parents and my grandparents.

Around 11am David and I left for a kid free vacation. The kids stayed with my parents. It has been 2 years since our last vacation with just the two of us, so it was long over due. We decided to go to the Hilton in Sandestin. We got a great room called the King Ambassador Parlor Suite, it is basically 2 rooms a living area and a bedroom. The view from the room is awesome. The room has lots of windows with a wonderful view of the Gulf of Mexico.

We arrived in Sandestin too early to check in so we hit the outlet mall. We did not buy much but just walked around looking at stuff. We were able to check in around 4:00. We decided on Ruth Chris Steak House for dinner. Neither of us had ever had the pleasure of dining there. The food and atmosphere was wonderful. It was a nice romantic dinner. After dinner we took a walk on the beach. I wish I could say it was wonderful, but I can't. It was hot and sticky even after the sun went down. However, it was nice to just be with David without the distraction of the kids.

Day 1 of our kid free vacation was pretty great.

Vacation Recap- June 24, 2008

WOW- Madilyn turned 1 . I can not believe that she has been part of our life for almost a year. A year ago today she was born and I had no idea that my life would be forever changed. It is kind of strange to have a child and not know anything about their

birth or first week of life. I wish that I could have been there when she was born and that I could have known her from her first moments in life. However, I am thankful that she is now a part of our family.

Our morning was spent getting ready for Madi's 1st birthday party. Caleb's b-day is on the 25th of June so we celebrated the birthdays together with a family BBQ.

The party was fun but lasted way too long. My family did not leave until around 11:00 pm. We were all very tired and ready for the day to end. Madilyn and Caleb were both spoiled by all of our family members.

The day was also the first time in about 11 years that ALL of my sister were together. The last time all six of us were together was when Caleb was around 2 years old. We all came together for the funeral of Grandma Matthews. We tried to get a picture of all of us together, with 4 cameras and about 100 shots, only one turned out decent.

Vacation Recap- June 23, 2008

We spent the day traveling to Milton, FL to the home of my parents. The trip was uneventful. We arrived in Florida around 2:00 and spent the afternoon visiting with my parents, grandmother and sister who is also visiting from Texas.

Taking a Financial Hit and having faith

David and I have been rolling along through life not being touched by the financial crisis of our nation. For us, life has gone on as normal and we have not felt the financial pressure that others have been feeling.

Well now it is our turn to take a financial hit. David of course is not at all worried about this, he never worries and has faith like a rock unlike me. I am the one who always worries and questions God. There you have it I am the weak one in this family.

Just before school got out I was called to the office, where I was met by my county supervisor. I was told that I would be taking on 2 schools for the next school year. So basically I have to continue to do the job of 2 people for the pay of 1 person. I asked about duties being cut since I would be at 2 schools and she said that all of the duties outlined in the job description must be performed at both schools. The supervisor then told me that my contract was being reduced by 10 days. A 10 day reduction in my contract means around a $3000.00 pay cut for the year. Hopefully this will be offset by my new pay rate that I will get for completing my Masters degree. But I am still waiting to see how much my pay will be affected by that accomplishment.

Yesterday David was contacted by his client. His contract is up for renewal. He was told that he would need to agree to a 10% cut. Basically with this short of notice he has not choice but to accept the contract. His current contract ends the last day of June, so he has no time to look for new clients or new contracts. So he has to accept the new reduced rate contract. The contract is only for 6 months, so he will be spending that time looking for new contracts.

I am praying that this will be an opportunity for David to branch out on his own a little more and not have his business dependant on 1 company. Several smaller contracts would be better for him financially and professionally.

I know that God will provide but sometimes I do not have faith like I should. We had a financial plan and we were working the plan. Now the plan has to change. Of course we were taking by surprise by this turn of events but God was not. Pray that we will see his plan in his time and act accordingly and pray that I will not stress and that I will continue to have faith, even when it seems that God is not working in this situation.

My how time flies

Last year at this time I was getting ready to start a new job, David was getting ready to go to London for 2 weeks and we had totally given up on the hopes of adopting a child. It has been just over a year since I posted the following:

June 2008: We both feel that if this was really meant to be we would not still be at step one. We have had all that we can take emotionally and need to move on with our lives. We have been stuck in "baby wish land" for far too long and need to figure out what the real plan for our life is.

When I wrote that post I had no idea what God had in mind for us. I just remember feeling so crushed that our efforts to expand our family had failed.

As I reflect on what has happened in our lives during this past year and what has happened in the lives of our family and friends I am reminded that God's plan and timing is always perfect. We may not understand his plan, but we don't need to we just need to trust in him and know that we are never alone if we trust in him.

Upcoming Vacation

Next week we are leaving for a short family vacation and a short kid free vacation. On Tuesday we will travel to Milton FL. to spend a few days with my family. It should be interesting since all of my sisters (ALL 5) will be in town. The last time we were all together was 12 years ago at my grandmothers funeral. My older sister and my mother do not get along well so things are usually tense when they are together. My older sister also leads a life-style that most of the family does not approve of, that alone makes our gatherings interesting. My youngest sister Mary will be bring her fiance Fred to meet everyone. Hopefully he is a good guy and not a looser like her ex.

Wednesday we will be having a birthday BBQ for Madilyn and Caleb at one of the local parks. Wednesday is Maddie's 1st B-day, and Caleb's 13th is on Thursday. We do not plan to have celebrations together every year but this seemed to make sense this year since we will be out of town and it will be hard to get the entire family together again the next day.

Thursday morning we are taking Caleb out to breakfast with just his grandparents. Hopefully this will help to make is day a little special.

Thursday afternoon, David and I will leave to spend a few days kid free. It has been 2 years since we have had a kid free vacation. We had one planned for last summer but those plans changed into this years Spring Break trip to Tybee Island when Madilyn made her unexpected arrival just days before we were to take the trip. The kids will get to stay with grandma, grandpa and great grandmother and have extra time with aunts, uncles and cousins while David and I have time to refresh and relax.

We are going to SanDestin Beach for 3 nights. We got the "Sun, Sand and Surf" package that includes

• Beachview suite accommodations

• Daily beach set-up, with umbrella and two chairs

• Two refreshing cocktails daily

• Panama Jack sunscreen, with your choice of SPF

• Two Hilton Sandestin visors

Here is a link to the hotel that we will be staying at: http://www.sandestinbeachhilton.com/

I am so ready for this vacation but it is still a week away.

Home Organization

We have been on Summer vacation for just over a week. Caleb is already getting lazy. I am trying to get things done that I have put off forever. The big jobs that need to be done is cleaning out the closets, setting up our food storage area, cleaning the office and updating Caleb's Room.

• Closets: Why can I just not make myself take care of these? Every time I open one I am scared of what I may find or what may fall out and hit me in the head.
  
• Food Storage Area: We went to IKEA and found some shelving that we are going to use in the garage storage closet for storing extra food. Now that I have gotten the hang of coupon shopping we have extra food that will not fit in our pantry. This is good for two reasons: 1) I always have the basics on hand and don't run out of things we use all the time. 2) if I just don't feel like shopping I don't have to because we are never out of groceries. David got the shelves built, now I just need to move stuff from the overstuffed pantry into the new storage area. Hopefully this will help with the over crowding issue we are having in some of our cabinets in the kitchen.
  
• Office: This has been a mess for over a year. I hardly go in the office anymore because I can not stand how it looks or feels. We went to IKEA to find storage solutions for the office but ended up getting stuff for Caleb's room with the idea of moving some of his old stuff into the office. We made a huge dent in the office. We still have some organizational work to do, but we can now see the floor, and my work area. David is still working on getting his work area cleaned up.
• Caleb's Room: While at IKEA we found some great pieces for Caleb's room. We got him a nice shelving unit a new desk and a new chair. The new desk is much wider then the old one which will provide him with more working surface. The new bookshelf is larger than the ones he had and is nicer. We took several of his old cheap shelves out of his room and placed them in the office closet to help with office organization. Caleb's room has never been really nice when it comes to furniture. It has just been a hodgepodge of stuff. We plan on going back to IKEA to pick up a new TV stand and additional shelves next month. We would like for him to have a nice room for his teen years. Caleb seems to like the new desk and shelves. He was told to clean his room and get rid of stuff he does not use anymore. I really thought that I would have to follow behind him, but he did really good and got rid of 6 huge bags of toys, and clothing that he does not use any more. Now if we can just keep him from getting the room all cluttered up again things will be good.

I hate the initial process of cleaning and organizing but once it is done I feel so much better, and the areas look so much better.

Still Here

The Lloyd's have not fallen off the face of the earth. Things have been SO busy here. Our recent happenings are listed below for your reading pleasure.

• Caleb got braces
• Madilyn went to see and ear, ear, nose specialist and she will be getting tubes in July.
• Caleb finished the 7th grade.
• I finished my 1st year teaching at Creekview High School.
• Creekview High School held its first ever graduation. You can not get anymore red neck than that wonderful display. I could not believe all of the hooting and hollering. You would think that these kids are never going to accomplish anything more in life. Graduation is a formal ceremony not a backyard picnic.
• Cherokee County cut my contact by 10 days, thus cutting my pay by about $2000.
• My new degree earns me a pay raise which is good since the county just cut my pay.
• Madilyn is now working on teeth number 3, 4, and 5 all at the same time. #1 and 2 have been in for a while.
  
• David is still working for himself with the same clients. Had to fire a contractor but life goes on.
  
• Have planned a KID FREE vacation for the end of June. We are going to stay at the Hilton on San Destin Beach. Kids are staying with grandma and grandpa.
• Madi will be 1 on June 24 (also Aunt Katie's B-Day)
• Caleb will be 13 on June 25.
  

As you can see not much has been going on. I am looking forward to a nice relaxing summer of not doing much. School starts back WAY to soon in my opinion.