I'm 28!!!

Yay! Today I turn 28 years old, and I must say, this is my favorite age so far. I'm past the crazy preteen and teen years, and the ultra confusing early twenties. It feels pretty nice.

I have decided in honor of my 28 years in existence, I would tell you a little about the people that have made my entire life possible, my parents. I actually meant to do this on Mother's and Father's Day, but ran out of time. Still, I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than to celebrate the people who made me the person I am today.

The year that I was born my father was named officer of the year for his bravery (he had only been on the force for a few years) in saving a family from a burning building. Every little girl thinks that her father is a hero, and my dad being a police officer only magnified that perception in my mind. 28 years later, my father is still my hero.

Though my parents were divorced for part of my life, I don't have a single important memory that doesn't include my dad. He was at every major event in my life, from sports games, to birthdays and holidays. He has ALWAYS been there for me and my brother, through good times and bad.

When my parents remarried, the first year was rough for me and my dad. I was hitting the teenage years and not okay with any kind of authority in my life, yet my father showed me consistent love, discipline and structure. Thanks to him we quickly moved past that stage and have been great ever since.

My father has adored me from the moment he laid eyes on me, and the feeling in mutual.

My dad is a man of integrity like no other. In a time where police officers are constantly in the news for their wrongdoings, my dad's badge shines bright (as do his shoes and gun belt, he's kind of obsessive about his appearance in uniform, haha. He won't even let my mom iron his clothes). He stands up for what is right and will fight for justice, yet he is a man full of compassion. My dad is well respected and he ha earned that respect. He is hard working, diligent, intelligent and...well he's my hero. He's my daddy.

In the Christian world I hear A LOT about the "wounds" our fathers inflict on us. There is always talk of how our earthy fathers fail us and how we need to turn to God and not put our own father's mistakes on Him. I'm not trying to belittle that idea, but my dad does not fall into this category. My dad certainly isn't perfect, but when I look at him, I see Christ. He loves, adores, respects, cares for, and cherishes me...the same way my heavenly father does. He carries himself with dignity and honor and nothing bad can be said about him.

I can talk to my dad about anything. I don't think he knows what to do with me all the time because I talk a little too much, haha. Still, I don't know many daughters that call home and can talk to their dads just as long, and as openly, as they do their moms.

Its hard to believe that a woman exists that is worthy of my dad, but my mom most definitely is. In fact, I'm not 100% convinced my dad is worthy of her, haha, but he comes as close as anyone possibly could.

My mom is one of the smartest people I know, though she has no idea just how smart she is. If I can manage to be half the mom she is, my kids will be blessed. My mom always puts her family first and is a great care taker. She made sure I was always at school, always had my homework done, and she always had food on the table for us, even if that meant she didn't have any. She stayed up late helping me with projects, saved her pennies so my brother and I could go on field trips and despite being a single working mom, never missed a ball game, class recital or band concert.

My mom is gentle and kind...until you mess with her family. She stands beside my dad through thick and thin, and does the same for me and my brother. There is no greater encouragement in my life than my mom.

While I am most definitely daddy's girl, my mom always has been and always will be my best friend. I literally can (and do) talk to my mom about anything and everything. She has (and continues to) put up with SO much from me! If you only knew me as a child...

I can be totally myself with my mom, and she makes me feel like that's okay.

My mom is the most beautiful woman I have ever met. Her eyes glow and her laugh is contagious. There are so many characteristics of the Proverbs 31 woman that describe my mom:

10:A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

11: Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

15: She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

17: She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

20: She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

23: Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

25: She is clothed with strength and dignity;she can laugh at the days to come.

26: She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27: She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28: Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

29: Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.

30: Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

I learned integrity and character from my dad. I learned strength and perseverance from my mom.

Together my parents make a pretty amazing team, which I why I believe the Lord worked so hard to bring them back together after over 8 years being divorced. My parents have the same sense of humor, and it has definitely been passed down to me and my brother, which is awesome. We laugh a lot as a family...both with and at one another.

Incidentally, I think pretty highly of my brother as well, but I'll have to talk about him some other time.

My parents have forgiven the unforgivable, loved me when I was unlovable, protected me when I didn't think I needed to be protected, cherished me despite my many faults and nurtured me through very difficult times; physically, emotionally and spiritually.

In high school when I had both my jaws broken (on purpose, it was a necessary surgery), my dad cried because he didn't like the idea of the pain I was in, and my mom stayed in the hospital with me 24/7 until I went home.

When I was in the hospital with malaria, my parents drove 8 hours through the night to be at my side in the hospital. It didn't matter to them that I was 23 years old...they wanted to take care of me.

I know how rare my parents are, and I thank God so much for the incredible blessing that they are. There are many ways that God could have chosen to make me into the woman of God that He created me to be, and He chose to give me 2 incredible teachers and mentors that I can (try to) model myself after.

I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for my parents, but they are so much more than that. I wouldn't be who I am without them. Everything that I am is God's grace on me through my parents.

Thank you Jesus for my parents.

We're Back

Well, we've been back for a few days but I have been so busy I haven't had time to write anything! This has been, and will be a very busy week for me with Reading Rocks starting as well as a group being here, and we have our block party on Saturday. I'm already tired...

Plus, unfortunately I returned to a horrific mess in my house that has taken me 2 days just to make liveable. The kittens created much poop that was never cleaned up, which has led to many flys and other bugs. And that's only the beginning,. I don't consider myself a neat freak by any stretch, but I can't live in the grossness that has become my house. I spent a good amount of time yesterday and today cleaning, so I'm feeling a lot better about things now.

My roommates from last summer, Jenna and Brooke, are here visiting for a few days and we have had a BLAST! We have had great conversations, yummy food and much laughter. And, they have very graciously helped with the cleaning. Jenna leaves tomorrow and Brooke on Wednesday, and I don't want either of them to go!!!

While the return to "normal" life has been busy for me, it has been even harder on the kids. They returned to the issues they had left behind, and they are having a hard time adjusting. For several of the kids, those issues greeted them at the door (actually, it was the lack of anyone to greet them that reminded them of their struggles). One set of kids came home to find a huge fight had broken out in their house while they were gone. Evidence of the fight was still all over the house, as well as bruises on her mom, brothers and sisters.

Another set of kids came back to discover that they were leaving in 3 days to spend the summer with their real parents...the ones they were taken away from several years ago because of the abuse they suffered. Another kid's pregnant sister tried to kill herself while we were away. This kid actually doesn't know this yet, but secrets can't be kept forever.

I know that all sounds kinda depressing, but that is the reality that these kids are living with. There is a part of me that wants to load them back into a van and head to VA for good. Of course, that would be teaching these kids to run from their problems rather than run TO JESUS with their problems. I don't want to do that...

So, please be praying for these kids as they readjust. And, please pray for me to be able to point them to Jesus and not help them run away.

Last Day

Today was our last day on vacation and while the kids are excited to get home and see their families, I am not ready to get back to work (although I do miss Gizmo).


WE had a very laid back day, hanging around the house and a bit at the beach. For the most part it was pretty calm, although we did start the day with some excitement...

Pillow fight!! It erupted spontaneously, but was hilarious and fun.





Most of us have been pretty beached out, so we didn't spend much time at the beach today. Thankfully, with movies, video games, board games, markers, nail polish and hair products, we were able to keep ourselves occupied all day.

Since tonight was our last night we decided to go out to dinner. Our original plan was to go to Macaroni Grill, however when we arrived we discovered that the power was out and they didn't know when they would be able to serve food again! So, we walked to several places around the Macaroni Grill only to find wait times of over 2 hours! As we headed back to the car to try and scout out some other possibilities, Pedro and Bonita noticed the lights seemed to be on at the Grill, so we checked one more time. Thankfully, the lights had just come back on and we were seated almost immediately! I think God did the power outage on purpose to clear out the restaurant so we wouldn't have to wait as long. :)

We all got dressed up for dinner, so before we left I wanted to take some nice pictures of everyone. As we were getting ready, however, a storm hit. I was so mad!! The only rain we had all week came right when I wanted to take pictures. God is so good, though, and as we were walking to the cars to go out to eat, the clouds parted and the sun came out!! So, we quickly ran to the beach to snap some pictures. We also have a really cool porch swing in front of our house, so I took some pictures there as well. I had to apologize to God because He obviously knew what He was doing. The lighting was great, and thanks to the rain, the beach was empty.

I have loaded all the pictures into my Phanfare site, and some of them actually look really good! I am hoping Carisa can edit them so they look even better and I will get a lot of them printed for myself and their families.

Here are some of my favorite individual pictures of each kid:


Pedro (and his million dollar smile)


Miguel


Tasha


Monique


Linda


Bonita



Luis


Zuley


Lindsay

Aren't they so beautiful and handsome?!?

After dinner we came back to the house to clean up, and decided to make some smores for dessert. Yummy!




We are heading out somewhat early in the morning, and I am hoping they will sleep most of the ride. I have a group coming in tomorrow, so I will literally get straight to work when I get back. On the bright side, my roommate from last summer, Brooke, is already in Philly for a visit and will be waiting for me when I get there. I am SO excited to see her!!!!!!

Still Perfect...Almost... :)

Today was another very low key day. We were all up pretty late last night with our dance competition, so most of us slept in (except of course Miguel...which means Lindsay didn't get to either). In fact, several people didn't even make it to the beach until almost 11.

At 1 we all got in the car and headed to our next surprise event. We went dolphin watching!! We boarded a boat and went on a 90 minute boat tour of the ocean to look for dolphins...and we saw some!! It was so exciting! We also saw some sting rays and jelly fish along the way (though we couldn't get any pics of the sting rays).





Unfortunately, the boat ride wasn't all great. Here is what we looked like when we came on board:


And this is what most of us looked like on the way back:



In fact; Zuley, Shera and Tasha were the only ones not looking like this by the time we were back on land. Thankfully, we were all feeling good when we saw the dolphins, so we were still able to enjoy that. However, while this was all the kids' first boat ride, it may also be their last.

The bright side of everyone feeling sick is that we were all pretty calm for most of the afternoon/evening. In fact, right now we are all watching an Animal Planet special on cats together, with several people dozing off. The living room in this house will fit all 11 of us, as long as we don't mind being close. :)

Tomorrow is our last day here, we leave early Saturday morning. This is the first time I have not been ready to get back to Philly! That may be because I brought a whole lot of Philly with me. :) Tomorrow we are spending the day at the beach and then dressing up to go out to a nice dinner together. The dinner will be to celebrate our final night together, as well as all the graduations we had last week. I'm so excited to see everyone dressed up!! Even the boys brought some of their nicest clothes! I am not looking forward to trying to get ready with 11 people and 2 bathrooms... :)

The introvert in me is CRAVING alone time, which is hard to come by in a house with 11 people. So, I will at least be excited for that on Saturday. Other than that, though, I am not ready to leave!!!!

Low Key

We had a very low key day here at the beach, but we all continue to love every second of this vacation.

This morning we all woke up and took our time eating breakfast, watching a little TV and then eventually trickling out to the beach as we felt like it.

What are we watching in this picture?

Super Why! Super Why is a kid's show that helps you learn to read, and we all enjoyed watching it together this morning. I thought that was funny. :)

The beach wasn't so much for for Lindsay today, she got a little sun burned. It really is as bad as it looks. I'm just glad she didn't have to deal with this while we were at Busch Gardens. We have put plenty of aloe on her back and we're praying it will heal quickly!!

At the beach today it seemed like everyone was much more interested in the sand than the waves. So, we decided to have a sand sculpture contest. I am SO impressed with their creativity! Shera didn't help them at all!!

Tasha, Linda, Miguel and Lindsay created this sunflower:


Bonita and Monique created this heart:


And Pedro and Luis made this turtle:


I was so impressed with all of them, I couldn't declare just one winner, so everyone won!!

We actually spent most of the afternoon/evening at the house playing hide and seek and then taking naps (well, I took a nap, haha). After dinner we watched "So You Think You Can Dance" together. While watching, we decided to hold our own So You Think You Can Dance.

All the kids came up with dances and performed them for me and Shera. Again, I was way too impressed with their creativity to declare one winner, but that didn't really matter, we all just had a lot of fun together!!


I know I have been sharing a lot about what we have been doing, but this vacation has been about so much more. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to put it into words yet. Actually, I haven't completely figured it all out yet.

Bonita and Monique have been inseparable all week and told me today that they are going to get the best friendship bracelets ever when we get back. The first few days we were here, Monique was pretty reserved, but in the last day or so she has just blossomed. I have known her for a little over 2 years now and I have NEVER seen her this happy...all the time. I hardly recognize her...this week she is showing me the kid I have always known was in her.

Linda and Pedro are teenagers now, and this week I am seeing just how much they have grown up. I am getting a glimpse of who they can be when they grow up, and I am so impressed.

We have 9 kids here...6 puerto rican, 2 black and 1 white...and to watch them together you would think they were actually a family that has grown up together. There are little fights here and there (which happens in families too), but overall they really enjoy one another and take care of each other. Everyone has been trying to help Lindsay with her sunburn. If Miguel can't reach something, no one makes fun of him, they just help him. When Tasha does something silly, everyone laughs and encourages her. When Monique dances, everyone cheers her on. I am just in awe.

My heart is stirred, and full. I have had plenty of people tell me that while I love these kids, it won't compare to the love I will have for my own kids. I don't know if I will ever get to test that theory, but right now I just don't believe it. I am SURE I will love my own kids in ways I never imagined, but I just can't even describe how I feel about these kids. And its okay with me if no one else understands that, I don't really think I do either, haha. I just know I am blessed, and so thankful for that.

Where did we go today?

Busch Gardens!! We spent all day (11 hours total!) at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, a theme park about 45 minutes from where we are staying. We didn't tell the kids anything (actually, we told them we were going on an all day hay ride, but I don't think they ever bought it), and they were so surprised, and SO excited!!



It was pretty hot all day, but thankfully Tuesdays are a GREAT day to go to Busch Gardens. We hardly had any wait time in lines, which was awesome.


Busch Gardens is great because its not a huge theme park, but has plenty to keep you busy. There are 5 major roller coasters, and several of our kids rode all 5! I was so proud of them! Bonita, Linda, Monique, Pedro and Lindsay (yes, the same Lindsay who wouldn't even go on the Log Flume last summer) rode all 5 of the coasters, including Apollo's Chariot 3 times in a row!! (They didn't feel so great after that, haha).

This ride is called the Griffon and has two 220 foot drops at a 90 degree angle. It was crazy!!


Escape from Pompeii (the one pictured below) was the only ride that all 11 of us rode together, and we all loved it. Miguel isn't much for rides (he is terrified of heights), but he isn't really tall enough to ride much anyway. He was GREAT today, though, as I gave him the job as map-keeper and route planner. He and I had several "meetings" throughout the day to discuss our next plans. When Shera and I were discussing changing some of the plans (we were all getting tired), Miguel announced; "Okay, we'll make this one change, but then we have to stick to the plan. I don't like it when people change the plan". I want him to lead mission trips someday. :)

Tasha rode every ride she was tall enough for, including the Alpengeist and the Big Bad Wolf. She is so brave!! Luis, Zuley, Shera and I rode a lot of the rides but we all kinda took turns hanging out with Miguel and Tasha (when she wasn't tall enough for a ride). I really enjoyed hanging out with those two kids, they are hilarious. I wish everyone else got to see the Tasha I see. Around most people she is really shy and quiet, but that's not really her at all. She's actually very talkative, silly, giggly, clever and fun!

In the middle of the day we took a break to eat a yummy picnic lunch that we packed the night before. Then, it was quickly back to the park where we stayed until it closed.

One of our favorite things was the 4-D adventure "ride" called the Dark Kastle. We felt like we were flying through a haunted house being attacked by creatures, but we never left the room. :) This was the only other thing that we all went on together, although we stayed as a group all day which led to even more fun as everyone shared exciting experiences.



By far our favorite part of the day, however, was the Pet Shenanigans show we got to see. They had trained cats, dogs, ducks, pigs, and even mice put on an amazing show for us. It was so cute!

They even had this parrot that did math!! Seriously! They had people from the audience shout out math problems. Then the parrot would walk to the number that was the answer and flip it over. He did addition, subtraction, multiplication and division! It was great!



By the end of the day, we all looked like this:


Okay, Shera and I didn't look like that (we had to drive), but we certainly felt like it!! All the kids are passed out asleep and I don't expect them to be up too early (except Miguel, he is always an early riser...then he wakes Lindsay up and they have breakfast together before all the other kids get up. I think that is so sweet!).

We all had a GREAT day though. As we were leaving the park I asked the kids if any of them were ready to go back to Philly...and I got a very resounding NO! They are ready to get back to the beach though. :)

Tomorrow will just be a relaxing day at the beach. We have a few more exciting things planned for the week, but we need a day to chill after all the excitement of today!