A new synonym for "dangerous"

Well, I have another "from the mouths of babes" entry this evening. Today as we drove through town we met up with a girl riding her bike on the street. Destiny exclaimed, "A LITTLE GIRL riding her bike in the STREET!! How adjentic is THAT??" I asked her what she said and she repeated the word exactly as she had said it the first time and then exclaimed again that it was a little girl riding a bike in the STREET! So I just smiled as I wondered where that word came from!

The official anniversary picture

Last week I posted an anniversary picture of Lisa and George that had Anthony and Lori lurking in the background. But here's the official anniversary picture, taken right before they went out to eat. Looks like Sophie didn't like the idea of a picture of Mommy and Daddy without her in it! George's mom (lucky Grandma) babysat her that evening.

From the mouths of "babes"

Here are a few quotes from the mouths of "babes." This evening Lisa said that recently Sophie said, "That sounds like a good plan, Mommy. That's a great idea!" Does that sound like something that would come out of a two-year-old's mouth?? Another recent one - "Look, Mommy, it's tipping over." Tipping? At the rate she's adding to her vocabulary, we're going to need a dictionary to understand what she's talking about by the time she's in Jr. High! Of course, not understanding a teenager's vocabulary isn't all that uncommon!!

This evening Destiny was singing, as she always does, as she played. She just makes up songs all the time. This time she was singing, "He's waiting, He's waiting for you to die, for everyone to die, so He can take us to Heaven. We'll have so much fun, walking on the clouds, getting to fly, so much fun, so much fun." I have no idea who gave her the idea we'll walk on clouds and get to fly, but it surely made me smile as I listened.

Yes, Destiny is still here at least until tomorrow evening. Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for Enid and her family - the preliminary hearing for Enid's brother and fiance and the other two young men involved in the murder of Ray Diener on May 2nd. I will be praying for them tonight and tomorrow. Yes, these young men committed a dreadful crime, but they are someone's son, brother, grandson, boyfriend, etc, and there is so much grief, so many sleepless nights, panic attacks, so much fear and pain. Until I heard Enid describe the mental torture that her brother is experiencing I never gave it a thought what it would be like to be the accused. If I had foolishly committed such a crime and was put into a cell alone for 23 hours a day, what would I do with all that time? Would I have any desire to stay alive? Like I said, I have never pondered such things before, but doing so has given me a desire to pray for these young men as well as their families.

Destiny and neighbor boy Anthony spent a long time this evening making tiny little furniture out of paper. I thought it was so creative.

Of thunder showers and baby showers

After hitting the sack around midnight, I was awakened at 2 AM by a very strong thunder storm, but thankfully was able to easily go back to sleep. I had to get up quite early because I still had to finish preparations for the music for our morning worship service. At 5:00 we were hit with another strong storm accompanied by HEAVY rain. I was so afraid our electricity would go off, which would have really messed me up. I needed the computer to finish my music prep, I needed a shower, and I needed electricity to dry and do my hair. Luckily the storm passed after about an hour and we did not lose our electricity. This evening we got more storms, none of them really close, but hours of thunder, lightning, and rain. I think it's finally quiet now.

This afternoon I took my stepmother along with me to my niece Marcy's baby shower. Marcy is my sister Doris's daughter who is a paraplegic as a result of a tragic boating accident nine years ago. She and Scott were dating at the time and were on that boat along with many other friends, when another boater turned to look back at his water skiers and plowed right into and over top of their boat. Scott pulled Marcy out of the water and saved her life. He has been there for her ever since, and as Scott's uncle who married them in 2003 said, "Scott and Marcy are the poster children of I Corinthians 13, the 'love chapter.'" Now a little daughter will soon be a part of that precious love they have for each other. There will be many challenges, no doubt about it, but they have proven themselves to be over comers. Marcy and Scott are surrounded on every side by supportive, loving family, as demonstrated by the 40 - 50 people (mostly women relatives) who attended the shower today.

Marcy and Scott, expecting a baby girl in about one month.

The funniest game at the shower was when they passed around diapers that had various brands of softened chocolate candy in them. We were to identify what kinds of candy they were by the look, smell, or even taste of them. Of course, it surely looked like something else in those diapers!

Scott's parents' dog really wanted to play with this baby toy!

There were many blankets, sleepers, cute girl clothes, diapers, and baby items given, but this was probably the only handmade gift - a blanket made and given by my dear stepmother.

A HOT day at Hershey Park

The very first ride every time - the Carousel! We made sure this time that we rode the horses that go up and down.

Even Grandpa went on this ride. We love the music!

Destiny started out with a few mild kiddie rides like this, but soon progressed all the way to the SooperDooperLooper, which takes riders completely upside down! She loved it and went for a second ride!

The Sky Ride was a nice, relaxing ride, but some of the roller coaster tracks came awfully close to us!

At 4:00 we went to this secluded area of the park for a catered meal, compliments of Dick's employer.

At the air-conditioned Music Box Theater we enjoyed a great show of dancing and acrobatics depicting the story of Beauty and the Beast. Here's Destiny with Belle.

At the aquatheater the sea lions and divers put on a very funny show. We got SOAKED and it felt so good!

We had decided to save the best for last - the water rides and pools. Dick and Destiny changed into their swim suits (I did not because there were no lockers available to store our things, and I was tired enough to be willing to sit on a beach chair and guard our things and relax.) Would you believe, we got to the area they call the Boardwalk, and we heard them announce that due to inclement weather the pools and water rides were temporarily closed! We could not see any inclement weather, so we decided to wait around. Wait around we did! Dick took Destiny to splash under a sprinkler, and I sat and listened to that stupid recorded announcement every three minutes and looked around at the various roller coasters nearby.

Finally, after about an hour-and-a-half, we got tired of waiting for them to open the pools and water rides. We decided to go ride the ferris wheel.

Then the pools were opened again, since no inclement weather had arrived! What a FUN place!! It was my favorite part of the day -sitting on a beach chair without the heat of the sun, but warm enough to enjoy being splashed as I sat and watched everyone play in the water and the "waves." It was also Destiny's favorite part of the day. I think she could have played all night!

As we left the park on the tram at around 10:15 PM , we were treated to a show of fireworks! We were hungry, so we made a stop at a nearby McDonalds for some Ranch chicken wraps and fruit, then headed home. It was around 11:30 when we got home and Sunday was coming soon.

Daddy's little helper

I got some new pictures from Lisa last night, so I'll post them here for your enjoyment while we have our day at Hershey Park.

"What ya doing, Daddy? May I help?"

"I'll dig a hole for you right here. OK?"

"Would you like another hole over here?"

"What are we going to do next, Daddy? I'm getting a little hot out here."