Thank you God for another day. Thank you Lord for the lessons I learn. May I apply them to my life. May I be a disciple who makes welcoming others, the common mission of Christians, mercy, and Christ's call my priorities. *See Luke 9:46-62* May I not listen to my pastor's sermon and go away the same person I was. I need to change.

Do I practice what I believe? Do I see people the way God does? Not always. Am I getting better at following Christ? Am I maturing as a Christian? Sometimes I think so, and sometimes I feel like a dismal failure.

Satan tells me lies. God shows me truth. Satan shows me failures. God shows me blessings. Satan beats me up. God drenches me in grace and mercy. Satan leads me to sin's door. God leads me to Christ. Satan hates. God loves.

I choose God. Who do you choose?

We are finally getting the rain we have needed for awhile. And since it has been so long, we are getting quite a bit. So far, it's been raining for over 24 hours. It is a bit wet out.

It also has messed up the plans my family had for today. We were going to go to Merrymead, a local dairy farm, to pick out pumpkins, get lost in the corn maze, maybe get ice cream. Do the fall fest things. But it is a soggy boggy day, so we are staying home. Next week we have a full weekend planned. First, Friday night is dinner with friends we haven't seen in over three months, then Saturday morning driving to Messiah College for Homecoming to see friends we haven't seen in a year, then driving to my grandparents' cabin in the Poconos to hopefully see some fall foliage and relax. My husband may take off work Monday morning, so we can stay over two nights. I love staying at the cabin (see my first entry.)

We finally made it to the beach by 1:00 pm on Saturday. My husband finished working around 8:00 am and we were on the road several hours later. I drove, he slept. Not that I got much sleep that night either. I found things that "needed" to be done. Like rearranging my jewelry box, from when our wonderfully behaved cat knocked it off my dresser. I also thought it the perfect time to put the new pulls on our ceiling fan chains, or at least try to. I wasn't successful.

All this after I told my friend I couldn't play scrabble anymore and needed to go to bed. It was a beautiful weekend. Sun shiny days. There was also a nice breeze blowing in from the ocean. The water temp. was 78 degrees. 78 feels colder than it is when you first stick your toes in. It warms up as you stand around introducing your daughter to the ocean. She liked it. She wasn't overjoyed, but she also wasn’t clinging to my neck in terror, either. We also sat her in the surf, to which she didn't object. She did enjoy playing in the sand. We foolishly sat her in the sand to play while her little bottom was still rather wet. You can imagine how covered in sand her little bottom half was. Added to that, is the cute little cover-up she had on that was also wet and then drug through the sand in the efforts of playing.

Once dried, the cover-up and her bottom-half lost some sand. But alas, my child felt the need to coat her insides with sand as she did her outside. We gave her some crackers, but some fell in the sand. So we put them in her bucket to throw out when we reached the trash can. However, while we were packing up, she found them and started munching. Apparently, the grit did not bother her. We enjoyed our walks on the board walk as well. Mack and Mango pizza, savory loop fries, would be fresh squeezed lemonade, gourmet coffee, fresh roasted peanuts, chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie dough. Not all eaten on the same visit. We also found this nifty store where all merchandise changes color in the sunlight. We made a few purchases.

But alas our time was over and we headed home. The drive is not too long, just 1 hour and 40 minutes. We listened to our book on tape that we hadn’t finished from our trip south. Unfortunately it was an abridgment of Tom Clancy’s The Teeth of the Tiger. By the end, we could tell a lot was missing. I actually went looking for more CDs. It seemed like there should have been more.

It was a dark and stormy night . . .

Well, maybe not stormy, but it is dark. It is actually tomorrow, since the hand went past the 12. I got home from a Phillies game (our last one at the ballpark for this season, the Phillies won 12-5) shortly before the clock struck 12, but since my friend talks about not playing enough scrabble, I thought I could play some games with her instead of going to sleep and instead of packing. (I am in the process of winning two out of three games.)

Ah yes, and my husband . . . where is he you might ask? He has a project due on Monday and needs to get it done before we leave. So, presently he is at work. I dropped him off there after the game. He will be there overnight.

We each won two games of scrabble. I am going to bed. I still don't think we ever discussed Hu being a shortened name for Hugh. It was Stu.

We are home from our jaunt down south and are loving our own house and our own bed.

Though, I have still not unpacked everything, I did get my daughter's pack n' play put away. And I thought to myself, what a good mom am I. Then I remembered that we would need it for this weekend. So, I made more work for myself in my effort to clean up.

Yes, we are going away this weekend to Ocean City, NJ. Yes, after we just got back from a two week vacation. It was the only weekend available for the house where we are staying. It is free. My mom's cousin lets family stay for free.

Lastly, we are in Alexandria, VA.

We made it here around 7:00 pm. We had a nice leisurely day at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house. We joined a tour of the house, which got interrupted, for me, by a squirmy-wormy daughter, a short time after we were slightly embarrassed by the musical toy that my daughter pressed to play its little ditty in the middle of the tour. This seemingly quiet sound in the car, turned very loud in a reverberating room. It also brought forth a scowl on the tour guide's face and a curt "Could you turn that off?" With red faces and quickly as we could that thing was away from her little hands. After the official tour was complete, our tour guide gave me a personal tour of what I missed. She was as nice as could be.

We also joined the plantation tour, which was actually just a walk down a lane while a lady talked about the plantation. I assumed (silly me) that we would be walking around more of the plantation. We took our time and walked around ourselves after the "tour."

We headed out for Alexandria at about the time we were hoping. We leisurely made our way north. I had told my friend that we wouldn't be there until tomorrow. We surprised her and showed up tonight. Unfortunately, my dear friend was working late on a project that others were suppose to have finished long ago, and she wasn't home yet. I called her and ended up telling her we were here. Very gladly, she wrapped up things at work and came home.

Thinking that her house was too unclean for us to be in, she came in the door cleaning and continued for a good hour. My friend scrubbed, vacuumed, dusted, and fussed forever. She nearly wore herself out. What would happen to our visit then?

Sometime after dinner last night, my aunt's boyfriend was on the phone with his daughter. She told him there was a tornado warning for his area. They went into emergency mode: lighting candles, filling jugs and the tub with water, making waffles. (I don't get the waffle thing.) But alas, no tornado. We just had the hurricane. Wind and rain whipped around all night and into today. Of course today was our chosen day to leave. My husband packed the car with the pelting rain and the wind whipping at him. As we left we saw leaves and branches strewn about.

But we were on our way. Of course the nasty weather was not done with us, oh no. Our chosen route was to take the Blue Ridge Parkway into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Let's see. Oh yeah, we couldn't. There was fog and mist on the Parkway. Not much of a view. Well, there were some places where we could see out across the mountains and valleys. Then, we reached a high point, atop a mountain. No view. Not even across the parking lot of the visitor center. We decided to eat lunch here. Almost two hours later, we were back on the road. The other side of the mountain was clear and even a little sunny. The complete opposite. Although we could now see the beautiful views, the wind was still very strong.

We made it to Great Smoky Mountains NP. But guess what? Those strong winds knocked down trees and branches on the very road we wanted to take. Yep, the only road through the park was closed. So, back to the maps we go. This is only the hundredth time we have consulted the maps. We ended up taking state routes to I-81. We did drive into the park a short way and checked out a campground, so we could be in the park.

The rest of our drive was rather uneventful.

Franklin, NC. Our forth destination. Another aunt's house.

We relaxed after our late arrival. But today we went sightseeing. There are many a waterfall in this area. We looked at least five of them. Unfortunately, the roads to all these beautiful sights were windy and hilly. My stomach had a hard time with that. (I am getting a little queasy thinking of it.) Sitting in the back seat was also not helpful. One of the waterfalls you could walk behind. The power of two little hydrogen atoms and one little oxygen atom strung together with trillions of other little H2Os is amazing. The spray from the water hitting the rocks was very wetting. All my little hair wispies got curlier.

Finally we were back on solid ground that didn't go up or down or twist or turn. My stomach wasn't sure if it should believe that or not. It took awhile for me to feel better.

We had a yummy dinner at a Thai restaurant. While I was looking for a peanut sauce meal, I found a cashew sauce meal. It was yummy. Previous to going out to eat, we fed our daughter. Trying to feed her at restaurants is more taxing than feeding her at home. Besides, it would have been too late to wait to feed her at the restaurant. As an aside, the food she willingly ate for dinner was the same food she adamantly refused to eat at lunch.

Sometime after dinner my aunt's boyfriend was on the phone with his daughter, who told him there was a tornado warning for our area. They went into emergency mode; lighting candles, filling jugs and the tub with water, making waffles. (I don't get the waffle thing.) But alas, not tornado. We just had the hurricane. Wind and rain whipped around all night and into the next day. Of course "the next day" was our chosen day to leave. My husband packed the car with the pelting rain and the wind whipping at him. As we left we saw leaves and branches strewn about.

But we were on our way. But the nasty weather was not done with us, oh no. Our chosen course was to take the Blue Ridge Parkway into the Great Smokie Mountain National Park.

My husband's cousin is getting married tonight. It will be a wonderful event. Weddings always are.

I've told my husband that I want to wear a wedding dress again, so he needs to ask me to marry him again. He hasn't asked. I could just put it on for fun. I haven't had it cleaned yet. I should so that it doesn't turn yellow.

Back to the traveling. We leave after church on Sunday for my aunt's in Franklin, NC. Then we are driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway. My husband has his heart set on seeing Monticello. We will be stopping, I don't mind seeing it. He'd be happy as a lark to stay there three days. We won't be staying that long. Than we are off to my friend's house. Where games and pizza abide.

Augusta, SC.

We are staying in my husband's cousin's little house. It is very nice. It will be the first home of the newly married couple. They are on their honeymoon, so we are staying there.

We have the rehearsal dinner Thursday night, the wedding Friday night, relaxing and visiting on Saturday, and church, a big lunch with family, packing and leaving on Sunday. Of course, with all the family down here, we have a lot of rounds to make.

Being patient. That is what dial-up is all about.
My aunt has a computer with internet connection. A dial-up connection. So, I sit and wait while the page I desire loads. Than I sit and wait while the next page loads, and so on. Meanwhile, I age 3 years. Since getting DSL at my house, I cannot imagine going back to dial-up. Perish the thought. I'd rather give up my spending money, I think. Everything is faster with DSL. I can actually send pictures, and not have to go do a task around the house while waiting for it to send. I can use the phone while using the internet. There really are no minuses with DSL that I can think of. Unless you consider the cost factor, but let me tell you: IT IS WORTH IT!

Alright. Now, let's see. My girl has another tooth. Or did I not mention she had a first tooth? Well regardless, she now has two front bottom teeth. Barely poking their little selves out. Now we have to remember to brush them.

It is 6:45 pm and no dinner yet. My daughter ate, though. That's alright since we had a late breakfast and lunch. The plan is a chicken casserole, which takes an hour, but I wouldn't mind pizza. Unfortunately, my aunt isn't into pizza like I am. My husband said no one is into pizza like I am. I quickly replied that there is one person. My best friend. Whom no doubt would always eat pizza with me. You can never have too much pizza, I always say. However, you can have too much of a brand of pizza. It is important to switch around.

Albemarle, NC.

Well, we had a nice but short visit with my husband's cousin in Virginia Beach. We left much later than we wanted and pulled in at 11:30 pm Saturday night. Though really late, we stayed up and talked some. My daughter did not want to settle down after being woken. But when we were ready for bed, she finally did settle. She usually isn't up that late. It threw her off. It happened again last night, because we got in to my aunt's house late. Not as late but still way past her bedtime.

Speaking of bedtime, my husband has her ready tonight, and the computer is in the room where she is sleeping.

Good night my sweet child.

I am home, but I am off again.

My little family and I are off to visit family and friends in North and South Carolina and Virginia. We will be gone another two weeks. We get to see family we don't see very often, and some new additions we haven't met yet. We will be witnessing the marriage of one of my husband's cousins. We will be relaxing and reading. We will be together. I am very much looking forward to our vacation.

I will however miss the Scrabble playing with my friend, although her house is the last stop of our voyage. She will be expecting us to catch up on all our missed games of Scrabble and Phase Ten. I will have to beat her. Badly. No mercy.

Bye. Again.

Here I sit at my own computer. In my own house.

I slept in my own bed. I showered in my own shower, where I didn't have to pay (in Telluride, if you wanted a warm shower you had to pay $2:00 for 5 minutes.)

I got to put my daughter down for a nap in her own crib. I also got to take a nap.

An aside . . . that wonderful cargo bag . . . got a rip in it on the way home. I took it back today.

I guess I should be more specific on our travels. The state of Colorado is beautiful.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is very deep, and it is steep. There are streaks of color in the rock. The power of water.
And the sunrise at our campsite was magnificent.

Next was our stop at rainy Telluride. Although it rained most of the time we were here, the town was beautiful. We also rode the gondola up the mountain. The view, when the clouds were parted, was spectacular.

Next stop . . . Durango. We camped in a great spot. There was grass on which the kids to play, the train went by right next to our campsites, and we went to visit Mesa Verde NP.

Then we ended our tour of Colorado at The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Here we fought winds, more rain, and flash flooding to get to the visitor center. After the storm blew through, there was a freshness about the park. And in the morning we went and played in the sand.

That is our trip, except for the exciting three-day drive out and back. I cannot fully explain the beauty I saw, or the fabulous time I had with my family, but beauty was all around me, and I shared it with my family.

Yeah!!!!

I am home (actually my parents' house.) I am in a house. No tents. No Sleeping bags. No getting wet in the rain.

Well, we finally made it back to my brother's house.

We had a great time. We went to Almont, The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Telluride, Durango, Mesa Verde National Park, and The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

We drove and camped, drove and camped, and drove and camped some more. Through sun and rain. Though it seemed like more rain at times. And get this . . . my sister and I used a cargo bag on the roof of my car. That is all fine and good. But since there is no roof rack, we cinched it to the roof with straps. The fun thing about that is, that when it rained, which was often, the straps wicked the water right into the car, creating four small waterfalls. But having the brilliant mind that I have, I came up with a brilliant plan. Use diapers. Yes, my sister and I wrapped diapers around the four straps. And get this . . . it worked. For the most part. We saw evidence on our vacation that water is rather persistent, so the water did try to find a way in anyway. We got out more diapers. I was most embarrassed when I had to stop at a toll booth and the diaper is hanging there in my face. I can just imagine what the lady was thinking.

And although we are back now, we are leaving tomorrow to head on home. Home. I like the sound of that. Not that I like the sound of three days of driving. But I am missing my husband.

And even before we get to bed, we have repacking to do, and shopping to do. We want to be ready, since we are aiming to leave by 7:00 am, or is it 6:00 am. Regardless, it's early. My sister and I are trying to make our stops on the way home short, save the one for lunch for my daughter. She needs time to crawl around. We took entirely tooooo long on our stops coming out here. We'll see how well we do going east.

After feverishly getting everything ready, I think the car is packed. Except for the pack and play, for the child is still in it. My daughter is very tired from her trek west. Her schedule is skewed. She was up at 5:15 this morning and yesterday. She needs the rest. And besides, I was free to pack. No crying girl at my feet. She has been a bit clingy lately.

Well, must still help my brother and sister-in-law pack.

We'll be back in a week.

We made it. We are in Fort Collins, CO. We pulled in around 7:00 pm last night. But let me tell you. I don't need to be getting in a car anytime soon. My daughter has the same thoughts. In fact she was done traveling each day around 5:00 pm. Which was unfortunate for her, since we didn't get to our destinations each night until at least 10:00. We did take some long breaks for her, which helped, but fussing occurred a lot.

Yeah, although we had maybe 8 hours of driving, the whole traveling thing took much, much longer. With stops it took us probably 10-12 hours. That makes for an unhappy baby. But this coming week will go better, because we won't be doing more than 4 hours at a time.

We still have to get home, though.

We leave today. We will be driving to Norwalk, OH, about an eight hour drive. then on to somewhere in Iowa. Then Thursday, Fort Collins, CO, where my brother lives.

We hope to get off by 9:00 am.

Today my girl turns ONE!

It is hard to believe it has been a year. So much has happened, but it doesn't seem like enough time has gone by.

I think back to the day she was born and get all teary-eyed. I miss my newborn, but enjoy my almost toddler. I miss her smallness, but enjoy seeing her grow. I miss our time together nursing, but enjoy seeing her try new foods. I love her sounds and her attempts to copy what I say. I love hearing "mama" and "dada." I crack up at her growling, wondering how it doesn't hurt her throat. Her want for independence is evident, along with her stubbornness when she doesn't get her way.

There is so much to remember. All the things she can do now. And all that she still has to learn. Of course, she will never stop learning.

What will the next year hold?