Days two and three

We are having a terrific time.  

We are doing so many things!  I have been wiped out at night.  Let me just tell you the food is fantastic.  That's important isn't it?

I can not log on to Flickr otherwise I would put all our pictures on it so far.  i just wanted to put a couple on there from the last two days.   We are on the Sea of Galilee now.  We got here yesterday and just got back from a boat ride.  Pastor Mark is keeping us right on schedule and very busy.

We went to Ceasarea, it was pretty, and Megiddo which was very cool. It was amazing to see the whole Jezreel Valley before us.  So much history in that valley.  Isreals not big.  We could see from Jordon in the west almost to the Meditterean in the east.  We we also visited Mt. Carmel, but it was so foggy.

Today we went all around the Sea. We are staying in  Tiberius.  I am trying to write this fast so excuse poor grammar and typos.

We were at the beach, to the best reckoning, of were Jesus appeared to his disciples after He was crucified and resurrected, and He cooked breakfast for them.  Does that make sense?

Oh, and I re-confirmed my baptismal vows in the Jordan river!The water was pretty cold.  Got to go.  I will write more.

Love Joann

We made it

Hi guys,
We made it to Israel. What a trip. The flight was great but long. I think my left butt cheek is still asleep. It took us about 13 hrs in all. It was very interesting on the last leg of the trip to see all of the ultra orthodox Jewish people on the flight. Two or three times the men got up for prayer and put on their phylacteries and scarfs and met in different parts of the plane.
Rick was squished in a window seat the whole ride. He's 6'3". It was funny when someone asked him if he got any sleep on the flight, he said"my left leg got about 2 hrs".
We got on our funky purple bus for the ride to Netanya which is, I think, about 30 or 40 miles north of Jerusalem. There was an accident on the road during our drive,a nd our huge bus could not get around it, so the fellas on our bus got out and pushed the car out of the way. We got to our hotel and had a beautiful buffet all ready for us in the dining room. Wow, what a spread. All kinds of delicious salads and pot roast and chicken and fish. Yummy desserts, too. After that we went for a walk to the town. It was interesting. Rick took some pictures of me and I was getting embarrassed, because I was trying t0o be "cool", and blend in. Any way, our hotel room is nice, we are on the Meditterean , and I hope to go put my toes in it this morning. We have anice balcony and can see it from our room so we slept with the sliding door open and listened to it all night. It's been raining for a while and man where there some big thunder claps last night. It echoes off the buildings so it sounded very intense. I think it's supposed to rain today for a bit, but that's ok. We are going to Megiddo , Ceasarea and Nazareth today, the we will be staying in a diffent hotel on the Galilee. It's about 5 am . I'm getting hungry.
Thank you for all of your prayers for my kids. We web camera called them last night and they were goofy.
God is so good to me. This trip is such a blessing for Rick and I. I am so excited to see what He is going to show us. I'll see if I can post a few pictures here of our cool bus.
Love,Joann
Send a comment so I can keep in touch with you guys.

Thank you

Just wanted to give a big "Thanks" to whomever dropped off the Lemonade Emergen"C' tea the other day. I have been drinking it and it's not so bad. I hope you all have a great weekend. Good luck at the polls on Nov. 4th.

Make sure you get out and vote.

I will be keeping you all updated on our whereabouts when I can download pictures in the evening. You can comment on the posts so I can keep up with things. Isn't the internet amazing?

I love you, friends!

Thanks for all your love, support and prayers. Please pray for my kids while I am away from them. They are precious.

Talk to you later

PS. f you have a few minutes to spare, check out these cute pet-costumes on Martha Stewart. So fun!!

http://contributors.marthastewart.com/portal/contestGallery/cutest-pet-costumes

Mindless Guinea Pig nomage

Here's a couple of quick videos of Sarah's piggies. We are having a quiet afternoon. the kids are doing their homework (I think).

I am getting a bit queesy in the gut about my trip. Very excited, queesy. Got my walking shoes, a hat, jeans , t-shirt and my camera. Ready to-go but a bit nervous.

Tomorrow I see my oncologist and I have my last chemo. Yeah! That was about 10 treatments or so and I have to say, I feel pretty good. Well, got to go feed these kids and continue on my enormous pile of laundry.

Here's the guinea pigs eating some salad. If you listen closely you can hear their little chewing sounds....nom,nom,nom.


Good thing it's not smell-a-vision.

The McCain Rally

This was so cool you guys.
We ended up going kind of late to the Rally and there were so many people there. I think I would estimate about 5 or 6 thousand. What a line! Charlie took a cool video of the length of the line but I accidentally erased it.
Well, we couldn't get in so we listened to the speeches outside and hung out off to the side leaning on some barricades, talking to people. Jimmy made a sign in the car, "Obama is a Noob" , and we gave him a hard time. I was trying to be the politically correct Mother saying, "Jimmy, we support our beliefs and our Candidates, but don't knock down the other side". Well, he brought it anyway. Man did he get a lot of attention. So we were hanging out and we saw all kinds of secret service fellas, and an officer came by and said, "Don't leave, you've got a surprise coming.", then they roped our section off. A few minutes later the Senator and his Wife, Charlie Crist, who I think is going to be President some day, and Sen. Mel Martinez came down the line and shook our hands. It was thrilling. I couldn't get pictures of them shaking the kids hands because we were all squished together and the Secret Service fellas were telling us to put things down or lower them. Sarah would not shake Sen. McCain's hand but he tried. The boys were pretty excited and gave them all a good hand shake.
Wow, that was cool. I put all of the picture on Flickr so you can click on that. You actually have to click on the picture grid, not the text. I think I got a couple of videos but there's not much to them.

On a different note. I have been feeling pretty yucky. I have had a bad cold or sinus infection, actually I think it's two. I got over one and seem to have picked up another and have been coughing like a ...I don't know. It's gross though. I feel pretty washed out. I am leaving next weekend and would truly appreciate some prayers for health.
sniff,sniff,cough, cough.
Thanks so much. Anyway , please look at the photos and tell me what you think. Everyone have a terrific weekend.
Love,
Joann

It's been a while.

I am feeling great. I only have one more chemo to go then I'm off on my big adventure.
I am so excited
I haven't had too much to say in the last couple of days, and still don't really. I'm kinda keeping a low profile.
Things are quiet around here, the windows are open, finally. We have a nice cool breeze blowing in from the ocean.
I had a terrific breakfast with my friend this morning. Deep fried stuffed french toast. Oh my gosh, bring on the carbs! It tasted like the bread was dougnut batter. Wow. It was filled with strawberries and bananas. Delish.
It was great sitting and having coffee with her, although she is a tea drinker.
we had a meeting at to church , last night, about our trip and I am kind of in a daze about going Israel. I can't believe it.
Thank you , Lord, for all of these wonderful extra blessings.
I'm feeling quiet so I don't have much to say. I have a couple of friends that are going through very difficult times and I would appreciate your prayers for them, both of them are battling breast cancer. Catie is a friend who also has a blog, and she comments occasionally on my site. Please lift her up in your prayers.
Here's what I have been praying for her:
Father, I know you see your daughter now, and I know you are leading her though this valley and I thank you for that. Lord, please let her feel your presence today and this evening as she rests. Strengthen her body and her spirit. Heal her from her cancer and her doubt. Help her to understand that you are in control and that you are not going to leave her. You are there and she can rest in your arms. Lord, comfort her husband and touch his heart. Bless their children and keep them healthy. Lord, when I was going through treatment I asked you to take away the nasty side effects, and you did. I admit I felt bad for doing that after you had already taken away my sins, but you did it gracefully and totally. I pray that for Catie Lord Jesus, that you will take her weakness and nausea and discomfort and give her your strength. Lord you took our stripes so that we could be healed from so many things, sins, death , disease.. please do that for Catie. I know you will meet her more than halfway when it comes to getting to know you more.
Lord Jesus, help me to be a good example of your love to her. Guide and watch over the words that come from my mouth and my actions, so that all she sees when I am talking with her or helping her is your never-ending love for her. Thank you Lord for the people you put in our lives. Thank you for Catie and give her a peaceful comforting evening, and watch over her husband and children.
In your name, my Savior I pray.

I am going to the McCain rally tomorrow night, should be fun. i will put some pictures here when I get back.
Have a great night.
Joann

Here's my favorite song, ever, with a video to boot!

Whenever I hear this song I stop what I'm doing and try to get all cool and sing to it.
It bugs my kids but they're okay with me being a geek.

This is really beautiful.

Please listen if you have a few minutes. Hope you all have a restful weekend.
http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/Battle%20Hymn/index.htm

Here is a prayer that I came across today on my e-mail

You Have Our Attention, Lord

A prayer by Max Lucado – written in October 2008

Our friends lost their house
The co-worker lost her job
The couple next door lost their retirement
It seems that everyone is losing their footing

This scares us. This bailout with billions.
These rumblings of depression.
These headlines: ominous, thunderous-
“Going Broke!” “Going Down!” “Going Under!” “What Next?”

What is next?

We’re listening. And we’re admitting: You were right.

You told us this would happen.
You shot straight about loving stuff and worshipping money.
Greed will break your heart, you warned.
Money will love you and leave you.
Don’t put your hope in riches that are so uncertain.

You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped.

We were wrong to spend what we didn’t have,
Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor,
Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn’t. You gave it. And now, tell us Father, are you taking it?

We’re listening. And we’re praying.
Could you make something good out of this mess?

Of course you can. You always have.
You led slaves out of slavery,
Built temples out of ruins,
Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine.


This disorder awaits your order. So do we.

Through Christ,
Amen

>

We had a little drama this afternoon. one of the guinea pigs, that shall remain nameless ( Snowball) bit another one of our guinea pigs (sweet Buster) on the nose.
He was kinda bloody and a little gross. Poor fellow. I think it might be a little cramped in their cage. Needless to say , Buster got a lot of love and cuddling this afternoon by Sarah. Guinea pigs!
That was the big drama of the day.
Boy, has it been raining out a ton here. The ground can't absorb much more water and the kids across the street were laying in the puddles on the field. Yuck.
I just wanted to share with you guys something, sometimes you know how you might read a bit of scripture and sort of breeze right by it, and then other times you may read it and God so clearly is speaking to you. That happened to me, so here it is..It's pretty cool.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

I just thought that those were appropriate verses for the latest things that are going on with the economy and the election. It was written by King Solomon, and it makes me want to read more of Ecclesiastes. I've put a link to that chapter if you want to read it in context.

Well, leave it to good ol' Solomon to put things in perspective for us.

Have a great evening ,

Joann

PS I'm still waiting for someone to give their opinion about my question on the economy? I'm kind of at a loss about economic issues. Lately I have been reading Citizen Jane Politics and it explains and describes issues pretty clearly. I put a link to it over to the right on the "check out these web-sites"area.

Homework problems

Yikes, just got through a major homework battle with one of my boys. That was a little ugly. I have to drag every scrap of info out of that kid. Anyway , I had a pretty uneventful day. It gets a little hectic getting three kids off to three different schools but at least they feed themselves in the morning so that's pretty cool. I had chemo this morning and met a very nice woman and her friend. We had a nice chat. I kept eyeballing her scarf. I think I have three more chemo treatments, then I be free. Yeah.
I met my Mother-in-law, husband, his cousin and friend for lunch afterwards. Then I voted absentee at the Elections office. Exciting,huh?
Was that a boring debate last night, except for the first statement from Sen. McCain about the Homeowner's Resurgence plan, what was that all about?
Whoa Rick's home, better get off my fanny, we are going for tacos.
Have a great night
Love ya
Joann

Gee, I guess I am self-involved

Hi guys,
I got a comment this morning about my blog.
To answer the writer...I guess I am self-involved. That's why I am writing the blog. I'm not making any excuses or being defensive. You are correct. I feel a little bad for myself sometimes and sometimes I just write what I am thinking. Nothing deep. I do try to live the "Bible Stuff", my faith is very important to me. I am not perfect and I don't live it perfectly, I am trying to live what I talk although , honestly , I don't sometimes, but I am trying. I also don' think this is the spot to talk about any body else's issues because it's not my place to discuss in this format.
I try not to mention my friends or families issues because this is out there on the internet and other people are more private than I, so that leaves my life to write about. Sorry.
Politically speaking, I am not claiming to be neither ignorant nor well informed. I am a Republican and support that ticket. I do read and try to get a grasp of current events but I am not a great debater so sometimes I am not terrific at explaining my views occasioanlly but I will give it a try. That being said, no matter what the election results are, I will show respect for the elected officials. (that's Biblical)If you would like to bring up some political questions or ideas on this post...
bring it on...let's get political...
and I will do my best to start a conversation about it. In fact I would love it.
I am interested in hearing other people's views and ideas.Let's talk about the economy, the environment, energy alternatives, the war, domestic problems. I might not agree with you but I love to hear from other people. I don't get too many comments from other people.
Ok,
I'll start,
Let's talk about the bailout? I don't understand it...what would happen if these institutions were not bailed out. Would we heal from that? Has the media created most of the hysteria? Who is responsible the government or the people? Why does everyone want to place the blame on the government and not have the guts to say that the individuals who took out the loans have some fault for the state we are in?
Is that naive? discuss...
Got any other topics to discuss? Go for it.
I will try to be not so self-involved, but if you are going to read this blog, you are going to get Bible stuff. Do me a favor and think about it.
I am not claiming that I walk around all day praising God, I should , but I don't, but I do try to share Him and what He is doing for me in my life.
Any hoo, maybe this will make for interesting reading, I look forward to hearing from you.
Love Joann
PS Here's a video that I think is fantastic



And here's a scripture for you too
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (New International Version)

26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I really want a chihuahua-waa-waa

Sarah and I went to go see 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua on Friday night. It was great. We both loved it. It was very sweet, nice story , no swear words or pottyjokes, the boyfriend -girlfriend thing was very wholesome and it was a good story about friends and love. I enjoyed it and Sarah did too. So now I am hooked.

I have been trying to drop hints to my mom about getting a little dog to keep he company but she says no. I'm thinking a little puppy would make a sweet birthday present for me(hint)Rick says maybe but the guinea pigs have to go, but that's not happening so we might have to work at this deal a little bit.I want to find one that has been abandoned or in a pound, but I still would like to have a puppy.
Blue would be thrilled too. He's a little sad since or little sheltie(Cassie)died last April.
What a nice weekend we had this weekend. I am just about over my cold so I feel pretty good. The chemo makes me feel a little wonky but I'm a bit goofy so nobody really notices.
Rick and i took the kids to a Art Show in Downtown Melbourne but we didn't see anything that struck our fancy but we got some fancy popcorn and some crazy hot dogs. We were all happy, then later Rick and I out went out for a nice dinner with some friends for Thai food,yum. We had a nice dinner. I would've brought my camera. Maybe next time. Rick got a new camera so i get his old one and man is it sweet. I'll take more pictures with it this week. I'll try to get all artistic on ya.
Moms In Touch at my house tomorrow and I have not done a whole lot of cleaning Luckily we are a pretty easy going group. I think my house is passable. As long as there's no sticky spots on he counter or floor or spiky Lego pieces poking out from the sofa cushions and the toilet is flushed after the boys use it...I'm good.
I am reading a book called Nefertiti by Michelle Moran and it is really great. I love historical novels, reading about all the clothes, the architecture, the lifestyles, so it's pretty good. I recommend it. Well, that's about it for me tonight. Have a great night. Drop me a comment if you have a chance, even if I don't know you. Just click on where your see comments

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Patience worketh perfection. When was the last time you asked God to make you perfect? Maybe you should have asked for patience, as well, because it is only through patient, abiding faith and trust in the Lord that we become perfect. A lot of people confuse this word “perfect” with “sinlessness.” The Greek word for perfect in James 1:4 is teleios and it refers to maturing growth. For example, an oak tree is the teleios of an acorn. It is the perfection of an acorn. So when you’re feeling discouraged and feeling a little blue take a look at a mighty oak and see what a nut can do.
ACTION POINT:
Take a walk this week enjoying the fall color and ask God to give you the patience and faith that can turn a little acorn into a mighty oak.

Reminiscing

Rick and I are just sitting here at Starbuck's. He's got this cool tiny computer and i am using it. It's so little. Anyway, he think's I should write some deep thoughts on my blog, but I don't really have any, so then he thought I should do some reminiscing, but I am drawing a blank.