Every Season…

I love music.  I love lyrics.  And when the two come together beautifully I get a little excited!  This song hit my sweet spot yesterday, and I still couldn’t stop thinking about it today.  And there is no doubt in my mind that God is keeping it on my mind!  Our church has been going thru a “spiritual renewal” time, and I have been so blessed by so many different messages, speakers, and classes.  I still struggle with applying these new found teachings and the excitement that I leave church with, and bringing them home with me and keeping the flame alive all thru the week.  I leave church inspired and fired up, I set a “goal” for myself on a certain area of life, and then I fail myself within that same week!  But I think God gives us these seasons.  He is re-creating me, sometimes on a daily basis even!  And it’s a good thing – because I need it!  We all need it!  I think this song is sticking in my head too because I have said for so many years that you can’t beat Michigan for the change of seasons.  The song describes each season and each of their  own beauty, and that’s Michigan – we get to experience them all.  And although I generally don’t enjoy winters here, I can’t imagine not watching the change from a deep sleep to new life in spring.  God is constantly re-creating life, both in nature and in human life, and for that I am grateful!  It gives me hope.

 

Here are the lyrics for Nichole Nordeman’s song, Every Season

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring

Cruise Highlights

Where or where did January go???  I may not know where January went, but I know where I went in January!!!  Thought I’d give a little recap of our cruise vacation.  For those who are here that don’t know the story behind our cruise, my husband’s work so graciously gives away a trip every year by drawing names at the Christmas party.  Kyle had been telling me for the last few months of 2011 that we would NOT be going on a big trip in 2012, only a few weekend things, but no real vacation.  Well, at the Christmas party we found out we won the trip this year!  HOW EXCITED we were!  We didn’t hesitate to book our cruise because we knew between our sets of parents that we had limited time due to their winter trips and what not!  So mid January we were off to Fort Lauderdale.  We were very strongly pushed to book a balcony room on the ship, so we did not argue!  I am so glad we did a balcony room too – it MADE the trip!  We also booked our trip on the largest cruise ship in the world right now!  It holds 8,000+ people with guests and crew – a small village for sure.  If anyone on this type of cruise is either bored or hungry during the week you are just plain crazy!  There was always plenty to do and more than plenty to eat!  We did a Western Caribbean cruise, and our ports were Labadee Haiti, Falmouth Jamaica, and Cozumel Mexico.  We liked each one for different reasons, and while I am sure we didn’t have the best destinations, it didn’t matter because there was always fun to be had!  So, let’s get into the pictures!  They say it all!

Here are Beth, Jeff and Kyle as we wait to board the plane in Detroit – just wanting to get out of Michigan safely and on time so we make our cruise – none of us could rest easy until we were in Fort Lauderdale!  Hate that stress part of the vacation!

This is the picture I took of the magnificent ship when we first got a good look at it at port in Haiti.  Our rooms were on the other side of the ship – 12th floor, mid to back of ship.

And here is our ship at port in Cozumel, alongside another Royal Caribbean cruise ship – amazing perspective!

Kyle and I just shortly after boarding.  Fort Lauderdale was about 65 degrees and quite breezy on departure day.   We boarded ship around 12:00noon and ship did not leave port until about 5pm.  Great time to check some of the ship out, get our rooms settled, and eat lunch.

It’s all in the details!  One of the bartenders made Beth and I little hearts with the straw wrapper for our first drink!  I was just enjoying playing around with my camera too at that point!

This is just a small view of the Royal Promenade area of the ship – kind of a “downtown” area feel.    Vintage Roles Royce there.  And between those 4 columns is a bar that rises and drops between the 5th and 8th(?) floor.   Bar was called Rising Tides and it was pretty neat.

The departure from Fort Lauderdale was quite fun, and it was great to watch it from our own balconies!  The Coast Guard boat was having fun with the passengers and driving crazy and getting people excited, and people along shore were waving and wishing us Bon Voyage and the like!

Formal nights are fun!  As a female I just love a reason to dress up!  Kyle, not so much excited about wearing his 12+ year old suit that doesn’t fit so well anymore, but he obliged.

And another favorite of the trip – breakfast on our balcony!!!  In the background are the mountains/landscape of Haiti – gorgeous.  That morning we awoke to a breathtaking double rainbow as the mist and fog arose off the mountains and waters!

Took this pic for the kids – we met Alex from Madagascar!  Lots of character events for the kids on the ship.

Captured some of Jamaica in the little village right at the port.  We browsed the shops a bit, but pretty much stayed on the ship that day.  It was a nice hot day!

Loved the brick wall here and the cool doors, and not to mention this hot guy standing in front of them making a perfect picture!

The views….oh the views.  What a way to wake up every morning and go to bed every evening!  Such an amazing world God has made for us!

Kyle on the zip line.  Lots of work to get suited up and a very short ride, but it was fun.

Looking out the back of the boat – maybe on the 16th floor looking down and back.

Kyle and I waiting to get harnessed for rock climbing!  It was both of our first time!

I made it to the top on the fairly easy route, and then I froze.  It took me a minute to let go and repel down – got a little nervous for that part.  Kyle is there on the bit tougher course, and he made it to the top as well.

Second formal night.  Another great dinner.  We had awesome wait staff – Bandoo and Avinash (Avi) from Mauritius.  It is an island similar to Fiji near Madagascar.  They were so kind and it was great to get to know a little bit about them during the week.  We also like Gabrielle from Romania, but we didn’t see him every night.

For some reason I am striking a barbie pose – not sure what that’s about – must have been feeling like a diva that night.

Kyle got the camera – I think we were out walking the ship at this point.

Here are the guys on the catamaran out to our snorkel excursion.

Manuel, our guide!  He gave us some good material for the rest of the week!  Guys, guys, guys…you must dance with us to YMCA…Why???   Because I am your guide and I said so!

We got to meet the Captain one night – after watching him on the tv channel many a time!  Kyle thought it was great to meet him, and ask him about the waves we had been having.  He wanted an answer to how big they were in feet.  I think we determined we had had about 25 footers at one point.  The ship handled them well though – none of us got sick in the least!

Another part of our trip was running – had to run to try to not gain TOO much weight from all the food you eat!  They had a great running track on deck 5 – fun to run around a ship, as you come around the back there was always great views, and at times out the sides too!  Never knew Shrek was on a training schedule! A 5k or 3.1 miles is a little over 7 times around the ship by the way.

So long, farwell, it’s time to say goodbye.  And the sun sets so beautifully and our trip must come to an end.

All in all we loved the cruise experience!  Won’t do it every vacation we take obviously, but it was very fun!  Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas was VERY nice and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking into taking a cruise!  Thankful too that we were safe and that we stayed healthy (the Costa cruise grounded/sinking ship happened a day before departure, and two ships were delayed just after our cruise I heard for NoroVirus)!

 

Next in my blogging schedule – my word of the year!  I know, I know…it’s February, and I just finally feel a leading towards my word, but better late than never!

 

MandaKay

Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!  I am excited for 2012 – have a feeling it will be a good year!  I’ve done a little thinking about my goals for this year and did a scrapbook LO of them – can’t wait to look back at the end of the year and see how I did!

We spent the New Year weekend at a friends cabin in the U.P. – Drummond Island.  It was a fun weekend, and kind of nice to go out for a weekend getaway.  The kids loved playing with their friends!

We did a night of bowling too – one of the only things to go out and do on the island!

And I finished 6 LO’s while up there – they all came together fast and it’s amazing what you can get done when you don’t have internet!!! 

So, we get to start out our 2012 year with a cruise!  Kyle won it thru his work, and we quickly booked a weekend that would work with our parents who will be helping out with the kids, so we booked it only a month before departure!!!  I am beyond excited, and we have never been on a cruise before, and it’s something that we definitely would probably not do if we had to pay for it ourselves!  We are BLESSED!