THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving

I want to wish each visitor to my blog a very Blessed Thanksgiving. May you take Thanksgiving Day to spend some time reflecting on what you are thankful for.

I want to share some of what I am thankful for.
My number one thanks is to My God. I thank Him for sending His Son to die on the cross for me. I am thankful for my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I am looking forward to meeting my Lord and Savior, and spending an eternity with Him! Praise God!

I am thankful to my husband John. This man has stuck by my side since I was 15 years old. He is the father of my four precious daughters. He is a man of integrity. I am thankful that he too will spend eternity in heaven.

I am thankful for my four precious daughters. They too walk with the Lord, this has been my prayer and I am thankful for answered prayer. Each daughter has married a Godly man, what more can I ask for? I am thankful for my boys!

I am thankful for my eight grand daughters, one grandson and number ten grandchild on the way. Some of them have entered a relationship with Jesus Christ, and I pray that the rest will do the same!

I am thankful for our nation and the freedoms we have here. I am thankful for our troops who have willingly sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

I am thankful for each member of our extended families and our friends, there are too many to mention.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A WONDERFUL WEEKEND

I had a WONDERFUL weekend! I spent three days with my children and grandchildren. We missed Erin and Corey as they are in Singapore. We had our Thanksgiving Dinner this past Friday night. We all spent time on the webcam and chatted with Erin and Corey, we miss you guys greatly! On Saturday we had a party here for Emily, Madeline and Abigail to celebrate their birthdays. Today we got to relax and enjoy each other! Can't wait to see you all again at Christmas!!!!

BINTAN, INDONESIA

ERIN AND COREY CELEBRATED THEIR FIRST WEDDING ANNIVERSARY ON A GETAWAY WEEKEND TO INDONESIA. IT IS A FERRY BOAT RIDE AWAY FROM SINGAPORE. THEY HAD THEIR OWN VILLA TUCKED UP ON A HILL, OVERLOOKING PARADISE.

BATU FERRENGHI, MALAYSIA

Here is a picture of Erin, Corey and Tien in Malaysia. I copied Tien's post on his blog for you to read about their time together.

Meet Corey and Erin, check into the room, head to the hotel bar/lounge, also known as the G-Spot. Yup. Amazing Jazz singer, Catherine Skyes, performing with her band. Played a little stevie wonder, a little louis Armstrong, a little norah, it was great. Talked until the bar closed at 2.Day 4Wake up later than planned, walk around Georgetown looking for a place to eat, end up eating decent Chinese. Head to Batu Ferrenghi beach, beautiful spot, hang out, have some Tiger beer and fried bananas. Mango smoothies. I’m stuffed. Go to Penang hill, take a cable car up, see the whole city, even the ship in the harbor. Chinese folks ask to take a picture with Erin, like she’s a movie star. Tall American girls, one in a million. Probably less. Take the cable car back down, there is a girl next to me sobbing the whole time. Corey infers that her boyfriend jilted her at the top. Oh to be jilted on Penang Hill, how tragic. Head back to the hotel, download my album on iTunes for Corey, freshen up a little, head out to the Hawker market (new to me, Corey and Erin go to them in Singapore), which is basically an area full of street vendors selling food, with lots of picnic tables. The food is awesome. Laksa (Malaysian soup) stands smell terrible though, really gets to Erin. Best Chicken Satay I’ve ever had. Clay pot chicken rice. Fried egg/shrimp dish is great. Something that tastes like Pad Thai was awesome.Go to another restaurant where people are singing karaoke. They are really serious about it, all dressed up, very focused. Sit down to have a few drinks. One thing we couldn’t figure out, there was a rack of fake flower bouquets to the side of the room, and someone would present them to certain karaoke singers, who would receive it nonchalantly, then hang it up on a hook on the stage after they were done. One guy was really into singing, jerking his head side to side and clenching his fists as he crooned. One girl sang a song with some English in it (“Oh my pretty pretty boy I love you”) and it was really catchy.Headed back to the G-spot and listened to Catherine sing a few songs. Went back to the room, skyped Clara, who was setting up for homecoming - can’t believe Bernadette is in high school, and they’re both wearing zebra print dresses - then video-skyped the Bonaventuras – Sara was spazzing out, and saw baby Joseph for the first time. Audio didn’t work for a while, really funny to watch Matt trying to fix the computer in pantomime.Day 5Breakfast in the G café...head towards the Snake Temple, a Buddhist temple where they have sheltered snakes for a really long time, and they have a snake exhibit now that it’s a tourist attraction. Took us forever to get there, we have a rental car but our maps are very limited.Finally get there, take a picture with a huge snake, watch a Chinese guy with a weird Chinese/Australian accent kiss a king cobra (“the most dangerous animal in the world is the ‘two legged snake’, not the king cobra”) Visit the temple area, head back to Georgetown, where the ship is. Had an AWESOME lunch, Chinese food with roast duck/chicken/pork, delicious rice. Best meal of the whole port stay I think. Walk around some of the textile markets. Back to the port, goodbye to Corey and Erin. I love them, it was immeasurably therapeutic and delightful to share the last two days with them. I can’t believe we were together all the way over here on the other side of the world. They are such wonderful people (and funny and hip too), I am so glad that I got to spend some time with them, doesn’t matter where we are, Malaysia, whatever, it’s always wonderful to spend time with family. Traveling with them is even cooler.

BIKER FOOL

What is wrong with me? How many times do I tell myself before biking, bike into the wind out and with the wind back. Well.........today I decide to do a 24 mile ride, and you got it..........I biked with the wind half way out and against the wind ALL the way home...........I AM TIRED.......

BERNADETTE MAEVE

My niece and Godchild, Bernadette Maeve, had "homecoming" at her school on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Berna is already in 9th grade! Where has the time gone???? Isn't she a strikingly beautiful girl. She looks like her mother for sure!!!

22nd Annual American Sandsculpting Championship Festival

The American Sandsculpting Championship Festival is one of Fort Myers Beach’s most popular events every year. Masters of the craft and amateur sand sculptors join to create amazing works of art.
The sculptors’ creations are formed from combining the water and sugar fine white sand of Fort Myers Beach. Many of the world renown Masters return each year to participate because they believe the natural resources of the area are the best in the world for sand sculpting events.
Every year around 20 Masters and amateurs unite on Fort Myers Beach to participate in the American Sandsculpting Championship Festival. The sculptures that are created are imaginatively stunning.

THE "Q" IS DOCKED

JOHN AND MARTY WENT TO MARINE MAX YESTERDAY TO GET OUR BOAT. IT HAD BEEN SHIPPED DOWN FROM OUR BEACH HOUSE TO HERE. THEY HAD A NICE RIDE BACK TO TARPON POINT MARINA WHERE THE "Q" WILL RESIDE. WE THANK YOU MARTY FOR YOUR GREAT HELP!!!!!!

PROUD GRANDPARENTS

Our 7th grandniece was born last night. Leanora Jeanne Fitzgerald entered this world at 9:21 PM, weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long. Patrick and Katie are doing great! Proud grandparents, Walter and Susan, now have six grandkids!!!

HOPE HOSPICE

HOPE HOSPICE
I honestly don't know where to begin. A friend on the Cape approached me last May, asking me if I would be interested in working for Cape Coral's Hope Hospice http://www.hopehospice.org/ I told her I would give it some thought. Time went on, and I kept thinking about Merri's suggestion, wondering if I would be a fit for the organization. Merri McNeeley sent me the Hospice application to our NJ beach house. It sat on my desk for a few months. I would occasionally glance at it, wondering if I would ever fill out the application for working there. After much thought and an inner prompting, I made a decision to fill out the application and see where it would bring me. Some more time went on, until one day I received a phone call from one of the employees at Hope Hospice. Joe called and wanted to have an interview with me. I had a lengthy interview with Joe. I told him that I was mainly interested in administration at one of their Hospice Houses. Joe told me that I would benefit to go to their full training course to become certified as a Hospice Volunteer. They do not take volunteers lightly! For them to qualify for Medicaid, they have to have at least 5% of their staff as volunteers! I made the decision to go to training and this is what I did this week. To make a long story short, I have made a decision to not only work administration, but to work with the Hopsice patients. This will be an emotional challenge for me. I will be working at the Hospice House and these people will be at their end stages of whatever condition that brought them to their final days. I will be there when they pass from this journey to the next. I know that this new job will bring a new and heightened awareness of the brevity of life. I ask that whoever reads this post to shoot up a prayer for me as I minister to my patients. Thanks be to God for each of you!!!Oh, and by the way, I passed all of my tests and Graduated today!!!! I still need some continual education courses and my second TB test to work at Hospice, but I am just about there!!!!!

BALLERINA, SNOW WHITE AND EMILY

Ballerina Abigail, Snow White Madeline and Kit Emily

Hannah, Alexa and The Lion King

BABY JOSEPH AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH
THE LION KING

Anna loves her big sister Sara!

Alexa, Hannah and THE KING