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| This is a magnet that has hung in my Nona's bathroom my whole life!! |
We made the best of the trip. We rented a nice car, a Buick Enclave and packed it full of stuff and were on our way, August 18 at 11:30am. We were all so excited and so anxious! I am so glad that my husband took the time to plan the trip and gather the information. The gift he gave us is one that has eternal significance, in my mind. It was such a blessing. Kaleb did most of the driving. I had trouble feeling kind of sick and weird in the car and so did my sisters.
First, we traveled to Clemson, South Carolina and spent Sunday, August 19, with our lifelong friends, Tammy, Erin and Erica Young. We had a wonderful 11 hours with them! I feel so blessed to know such wonderful human beings! Time always goes by so fast and we have such a good time reminiscing and making new memories. Every time I am back around these dear friends, the Lord reminds me and I hear His voice so strongly, "see I did create a friend just for you but you need to be okay with the distance, yes it is hard, but this is a friend you have had your whole life"...
After Erin and Erica's we drove to Greenville, SC at 11pm to stay with my moms sister R and her husband and 5 children. For privacy purposes she requested I don't give out names. We stayed at their home for 2 days. It was fantastic! We explored Greenville on the 20th and on the 21st I woke up and my belly had grown immensely! It was pretty incredible. Everyone noticed it. That day, we drove up to Asheville, NC into the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was wonderful! I took so many photos! I can't wait to spend some time editing them! We listened to music in the car and had some good times singing loudly! Being reunited with our cousins was fantastic! 6 years was a long time to be apart!
On Wednesday, we started our journey to Daytona Beach, Florida. I wanted to see our old house in Summerville, SC and we wanted to visit with our former neighbor, Aunt Cheryl. It was wonderful to see her and snap some photos!! We couldn't stay long because we had to get to Daytona to meet up with our cousins again. That was a blast! We walked on the beach at night and we all got up early and watched the sunrise come up over the Atlantic Ocean. That is a sight to remember forever. We also at at Joe's Crab Shack that evening. That was also an experience to remember forever. The employees all started trying to get the crowd to dance the Cupid Shuffle, but it seemed people were too shy, so our 55 year old mother stands up and starts dancing. It was awesome!!! She got other people to get up out of their seats and dance. I love her!!
That evening after playing on the beach and walking on the boardwalk (with all the roaches, YUK!) we went back to the hotel room to get to bed. Baby H was super active. My brother and mom and sister Kiah had been trying for a long time to feel the baby move or kick. And that evening, August 21, 2012 everyone was able to feel it and also see the baby move my belly up and down. It was such a beautiful memory!! In the morning we watched the sunrise. And my siblings and Kaleb swam for a while. The ocean waves were too intense for me. So I watched and took pictures.
Then we were on our way to Nona (grandma in Italian) and Popop's house in Orlando, Florida. It was only a one hour drive. Kaleb had made arrangements to get a Grand Caravan for the drive home. and we were all looking forward to having the extra space... Arriving there was a whirlwind of emotions. I am so glad they were able to meet Kaleb and see how wonderful he is and hug his neck. My Nona said, in her strong Italian accent, "You pick a good one, Jenni".. Those two days went by so so fast. We hung out until late at night. On Friday, we woke up early and went to Cocoa Beach, it was so much fun. (side note, just as I typed that last sentence, Baby H started moving all around. Must be time to wake up.) I tried to brave the waves but my body just feels fragile and my muscles don't need to be strained and bashed around by intense waves. Kaleb and my siblings had a blast. They had bought a boogie board in Daytona Beach and spent lots of time on it in Cocoa Beach. It was fun to watch them enjoying the water and the waves. I decided I would just take tons of pictures. My brother had the great idea of burying himself in sand up to his neck. So he dug a hole and climbed in and Kaleb buried him. I recorded the whole process. I have lots of stuff to do to get everything uploaded and edited. I hope to quickly get it all done this week! Just in time for our new couch and recliner on Saturday!! :)
After the beach we went back to Orlando and hung out with Nona and Popop and our cousins. We enjoyed every minute we could. I snapped tons of photos. You can never take too many! We had pizza that night and we celebrated my birthday! The cake from Publix was so so yummy!! We stayed up late that evening looking at old photos!! I now have an awesome project/task for the winter months, I am going to scan and digitize all of the old photos of Nona and Popop and my mom and aunt. I am so excited!! It will be a hard task but it will be worth it. We packed up our bags and planned on leaving Florida at 8 am but that turned into 9:30am because we realized we forgot to take some photos and we had to pack up the van. So we all lined up and each took a photo with Popop and again with Nona. I am so glad and so thankful that Kaleb took charge and helped us. We were so emotional and so many tears were flowing. I could not think straight. Kaleb took the initiative and snapped the photos. I am so glad he did!! After the final photo shoot, we were on our way out the door. We hugged everyone and I hugged Popop several times and Nona many times. We were all a pile of tears by that point. Every "see you soon" is so difficult. This one was even more so because we won't all be together again on this earth. It was a lovely family reunion.
The drive home was crazy! It went by so fast. And it was much more comfortable with the extra space. We could actually get out the computers and watch some movies.. Kaleb and Jesse (my brother) drove all night until we reached Champaign, Illinois. Our family friend, Melanie grew up there and her parents offered for us to stay overnight with them. So we took them up on the offer. It was a great time! We are so thankful!! We only slept a few hours. But it was nice to just rest and lay horizontal on a soft bed and pillow. We were up and on the road at 8am. Then we had an 11 hour drive home. We made great time even though we had to stop and use the restroom a lot. Pregnancy is so fun!! We dropped Kiah off at her apartment at 5:30pm in Minneapolis. Then we had 2 hours left! We were all ready to be home and ready for our beds. We were home by 7:30pm and dad had grilled ribs!! It was so yummy! We ate ribs and corn and relaxed. Then we unpacked the van. And Kaleb went home to bed and I drove the van home an hour later. The next day, Monday, August 27th, my mom and I left at 8:30 to bring the van back to the car dealer in Minneapolis. We brought Kiah her house plants and went out for lunch for my birthday. Then mom and I rushed home to get Gina to her school registration. FUN TIMES!!
Mom made linguini and spaghetti sauce, and green beans and we bought a chocolate Pepperidge Farm cake. YUMMY!!! It ended up late so tonight we will go back to my mom and dads to play some board games. Because there just wasn't enough time last night to play. :)
Okay, now I am off to edit some photos and get this house cleaned up!! Oh and eat some food too!! SO EXCITED to get back to a somewhat routine!! :)
I also kind of wanted to blog this in terms of what this trip taught me and showed me, personally. I haven't spoken with Kaleb yet to get his input. I will do that later..
WHAT I LEARNED:
1. Life does not wait for you.
Psalms 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I did my best to take as many photos of everything as I could. I wanted to remember every moment . Life doesn't wait for us. I think about my life so far, I ponder the fun memories and the bad memories. I think about where each one of my choices has brought me, even the bad choices. God didn't create us to sit around and mope or to wait for great things to happen. He didn't create us to live in negativity and be sad. Proverbs 18:10 (KJV) The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
He also didn't create us to sit around and ignore people around us and walk over people and be rude to one another. . The thought "life does not wait for you" reminded me of childhood. How each day is precious. How as parents we have to make sure each day is a blessing to our children, as best we can. We teach them, love them, show them how to love God, and so much more. I also think I was shown even more, how special being with family is. We had childhood to be together and now that childhood is nearing it's end as we all grow up and make lives for ourselves. My sister, Kiah lives in Minneapolis (2 hours from me), my brother Jesse is leaving for the Coast Guard sometime this fall, and my "little" sister, Gina is a Junior in high school. Gone are the days where we wake up and our biggest worry is what we eat for breakfast and what toys to play with and what we will watch on TV. We are growing up.
2. We will all get old
WE choose how we live. WE CHOOSE IT!
Joshua 24:15
... choose this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
God doesn't force it upon us. Most things that happen we caused and created and then we still blame GOD for things failing. IT is a cop out and so sad to me. I am guilty of doing this. I have. But I refuse to do it now. God brought me everything I have. I CHOOSE to believe that because everything keeps working out for the good. And that is what the Bible says will happen. We may be young and spry right now but we WILL be old one day and have nothing left but our thoughts, memories, choices, mistakes, and regrets. All the things we think are so important fade away because in the end what matters is the people WE LOVE. It matters how we treat them. It does so greatly matter. We may think that our choices don't matter now because we are young. But seeing my grandfather sitting in his chair, quiet and content was a beautiful sight. He may have made mistakes, but he has Jesus. That is the best choice we can make. JESUS. And I saw such peace in his eyes and floating around my grandfather. It was tangible and I felt as though I could reach out and touch the calmness. I was also overwhelmed with this thought. It may sound simple to some people but it hit me so profound. I know we all do things we regret and get lost in this ugly world. I know some of the things my grandfather regrets because he told them to me 3 years ago. But to see him on this trip to Florida and to see the peace and dignity within him. I couldn't help but be reminded of My Lord and Savior. This was God's plan. What I mean is in the end, if we have chosen Jesus, He will meet us where we are and He will bring us peace and comfort. Our past doesn't matter. God still brings us wisdom and allows us to bless others. Even in our last days. Popop said some amazing things while praying over his family. Things that I won't share online because they are special and were so family specific. But they moved us all to tears. There was an air about my Grandfather George that I have never felt or seen. He is at peace. He is ready. He knows his days are numbered. He was so glad we could all make it to see him because he knows it was the last time we could ALL be together.. All of our days are numbered.
3. Real love transcends time and distance
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails
What I mean by that, is the word love gets thrown around a lot. I have had many friends say they love me and then I am crushed when I find out they lied to me or deceived me somehow. But they claim they love me so much. Or they hear a rumor about me and hold tight to it, and forget all about the wonderful things I have done for them. It is as if the love they have for me is circumstantial. The love they say they have depends upon so many things. When real love isn't that way, it never depends upon anything. IT simply exists and stays and grows.. I truly believe it is because in our society/culture today love is portrayed differently. IT is portrayed wrong. But real love between people holds on despite the miles between the people. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with a family that loves and openly says it OUT LOUD! My grandmother, Catarina is from Italy and the love she has for all of us is so beautiful. Her love does not depend upon anything. What I mean by that is this, she would never say "well how much I love you depends on your actions". She simply loves us the best she can.. There is so much emotion between us all. It is incredible. I am so glad we will all be in Heaven together. It makes up for the fact that we are thousands of miles apart from one another.
I will leave with this. Life is not long, life is short. Answer this question:
What are you making of your life?
I want to make a difference and I don't want to be selfish. I want to let God make me strong and courageous. I want to love with everything I have. I want to include God in my life. I want to embrace others as JESUS has embraced me. I want people to know their life has PURPOSE AND MEANING. I want to crush Satan with my prayers and actions. I want to raise my children to love the Lord with all their hearts. I want to pray daily. I want to be faithful to do what is right and what is just. I want to be a good wife. I want to combat the darkness with the light of Christ. I want for no one to suffer. I want my lost friends to believe that Jesus died for their sins. I want to be the light that leads others to the face of Jesus. I want to gain more patience. I want to hold my tongue when God wants me to. I want to speak when God wants me to. I want to forgive people that hurt me. I want the lost to be found. I want to be selfless. I want to help people grow in Christ. I want to seek hard after Jesus everyday. I want to be wise in my old age. I want to shake up this complacent lost and hurting generation with help from above. I want to hold tight to the cross. I want to repent daily. I want to stay free from sin. I want to tell my story. I want to love the darkness away from people's hearts. I want to show people Jesus is always there for them.
I WANT EVERYONE I LOVE TO COME TO KNOW JESUS AND SEE JESUS FACE TO FACE AT THE END OF THEIR LIVES..
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| This is the word I woke up with on my heart this morning. So I posted it and shared it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and now on this blog!! |
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