HOPE Big!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

 I cannot even put into words what a wonderful whirlwind of a weekend this was! Justin and I were given the TREMENDOUS honor of being named 2012 Heros of Hope for the American Cancer Society High Plains Division. Taken from the American Cancer Society, "The High Plains Relay For Life Heroes of Hope and their Profiles of Courage symbolize the courageous struggle of all cancer patients and caregivers as they deal with the physical and emotional aspects of their cancer journey. Through their stories, Heroes of Hope help to create more birthdays as they fight back against cancer in communities across the High Plains Division."

What an amazing blessing this is. We had the privilege of attending the High Plains Relay For Life Summit this past weekend in Dallas, TX with approximately 900 others who share the same passion, spirit and fight to find a CURE for cancer! Within this, we had our "official" training as Heros of Hope and met our Hero family.

As a Hero of Hope, we will have the honor of traveling around the state and speaking to various groups, clubs and Relay For Life events to share story of hope and encouragement.

I know that this is part of God's plan for us. That He is using our story, our voices, to share His word. Someone out there needs to hear our testimony. Even if it is just ONE person whose eyes and heart are opened up to our Lord and Savior, we have done our job.

As we embark on this year to come, I am SO excited at the opportunities ahead of us. How many people can say they have the chance to travel and speak for a world-wide organization to share their love for Jesus and FIGHT CANCER?! Not many!

Hopefully, we have many moments of joy and laughter to come. If you are interested in having us speak at engagement where we can share our personal fight against cancer, give us a call!

Florida Sunshine

I realized last night I never shared pictures from our Florida trip! So I am going to share a few and try and remember the details :) This post is going to be all pictures & captions. Nothing too interesting - but I want to document it so we remember!

Relaxing on the beach. Love my pink 80's sunglasses!

Fishing off the rocks that created a little bay.

Perfect view.

Fishin'

Our resort.

Windblown on the dolphin cruise.

Sunset.

In-laws :)

Macey & Field

I'm Baaaack

Made it back from vacation and finally settled down. We had such a great relaxing time, for the most part. I hope to upload and edit the photos soon to share. I'm feeling a little unsettled tonight. I can't put my finger on it. Just uneasy and unhappy. I think part of it is knowing I have to go back to work Tuesday. It's sad really, how I start dreading it so early. It's just that I don't realize how stressed I am all the time until I leave it. Then I can breathe again. I decided that while we were on vacation I was going to enjoy it. I didn't take my temperature or chart. I drank alcohol!!! Moderately, but that's still big. I drank caffeine. I enjoyed my husband without worrying I was drinking the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, messing up my already over-sensitive body. It was amazing. For both of us. I finally just relaxed. That rarely happens for me. I'm hoping this feeling tonight will go away..... Maybe I just need to shower and go to bed.

Pomp & Circumstance

So, I finally pulled myself off the couch and uploaded pictures from this weekend onto the computer so I could blog. I apparently have every "itis" disease you could possibly catch at one time. Major fail immune system. I am not quite sure HOW that happened considering I am taking every fricking vitamin under the sun.

Anyway, on Saturday my baby brother graduated from college. This was a big day for everyone! I know my parents are very relieved (and proud, of course! but relieved) to have their last child out of school. My mom said on our way there, her and my dad have had a child in school for 30 years. That's a hella long time.

He graduated from a small liberal arts college in Fulton, MO. Val Kilmer (otherwise known as Doc Holiday from Tombstone and BATMAN) was the guest speaker. He did a really good job!

I am so proud of Zach. He's grown into such a kind, gentle hearted, sweet spirited, crazy young man. I can't wait to see where life takes him. I can't wait to see him marry a wonderful girl (she's gotta be out there somewhere!) and have a family full of little kids. I can't wait to see him be an Uncle to my children, because he will be the best.

If this picture says anything, it is the quintessential explanation of Zach's personality:

We also had to take a few family portraits:

After the ceremony, we suprised Zach with a sweet cake. He is petrified of clowns, and Justin & I just couldn't control ourselves.....

We went into Jefferson City to eat lunch, and then headed on to the outlets in Osage Beach. Both my momma and my husband indulged me in some retail therapy.

I snagged this awesome swimsuit for our upcoming beach vacation for WAY under retail value:

Source: usa.tommy.com via Claire on Pinterest

Score! Now, back to the couch before I get in trouble from my hubby. He's taking AWESOME care of me. I kinda want to stretch this out... Except I feel like poop. That part sucks.

Disney World Recap: Epcot

We really enjoyed visiting Epcot as well. We ended up going to that park twice. We went one evening because we had reservations in "Japan" for sushi. We both agreed it was not something we would ever want to go back to again, because it wasn't very good.

We did however love walking around through the World Pavillion. We managed to hit EVERY country there, I think :) We also caught the super cool light show that evening, and managed to get on some very popular rides.

Justin really was interested in all the space rides, so we rode Mission Space: Orange, which was a simulation of taking off and landing in space. I was spazzing out the entire waiting time, because they kept making announcments that if you had motion sickness you didn't need to ride. I have serious motion sickness. When we got on the ride, they even had barf bags! I got one out and open just in case. Thankfully, I didn't barf, but if you watched last week's Grey's, it was only because I put mind over matter!

All in all, it was the best vacation. We can't wait to go back!

Disney World Recap - Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

We probably spent the least amount of time at Hollywood Studios. There really weren't a lot of rides or attractions we were interested in. We did take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours and were able to walk right onto Tower of Terror. Right after dinner. Not the smartest move. I am pretty sure my Ruben came back up when that elevator dropped.

We did eat dinner at a really cool place called the Sci-Fi Drive In Theater. You ate in cars and there was a huge movie screen that played old sci-fi clips, cartoons and drive-in movie ads. It was really fun and worth going to!

We spent a little more time in Animal Kingdom. We went on the safari, which was interesting, but I don't know if we would do it again. They went SO fast it was almost impossible to get pictures or see anything. We both agreed our favorite rides were in Animal Kingdom, though. We LOVED Everest. It was crazy fun, and the Yetti about did me in. I was warned, but didn't realize how freaky it was! The picture that was snapped was hilarious. I look like I am about to barf, and am practically in Justin's lap, and he is laughing. We should have bought that one! We also liked the Kali River Rapids. We both ended up pretty soaked afterwards - but what's the point if you don't get wet?

Disney World Recap - Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World is the most magical place I have ever been. Seriously. I know it sounds so cliche, but it is TRUE! It was like walking back into childhood. Every "cast member" (which I learned just means employee) of Disney was so nice. They ended every conversation with "Have a magical day" and most of them called my Princess. It was hilarious. And I loved it.

We stayed at Disney's Polynesian Resort. I would highly recommend it. The rooms were spacious and nice. The resort was breathtaking. It was directly across the lake from Magic Kingdom and we could see Cinderella's Castle from our balcony. Our room overlooked the lagoon and was right on a beach with hammocks and palm trees.

We spent a LOT of time at Disney's Magic Kingdom. We both agreed it felt the most "magical." I loved loved LOVED Main Street, U.S.A. We had so much fun walking up and down the street and looking into all the shops, bakeries and restaurants.

We road a lot of rides in Magic Kingdom, including Space Mountain, It's A Small World, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Mad Teacups, and many more. The BEST part, hands down, was the firework show and Cinderella's Castle. It was breathtaking.

Best tips for Magic Kingdom:

• Make SURE to stay one evening for the fireworks and parade
• If you are short on time, spend it here
• Check out all of the little shops in each of the "lands" and on Main Street

We still had three more parks to visit - believe me, we were exhausted, but we made it work!