New Yorkers visit NC (again)

Back in November Henry's parents and Grandma came for a visit. They got here on a Friday night and left Wednesday. It was a great time. We went to the Holly Day Fair here in town on Saturday and just kind of relaxed. Went to church Sunday morning and it was such a lovely day.

Mom and Grandma reading on the balcony after church. Such a lovely day that we decided that going to the beach would be a great idea. So we booked a suite (great deal since it was offseason!) and left Monday early afternoon. We went to Ocean Isle, my favorite beach.

When we got checked in and headed out on the beach, the sunset was on one side....
and the moon on the other.
Of course too cold to go in the water although everyone but Grandma and Mom did wade in. We went out the next morning before we checked out too. Dad and Grandma were so funny looking for shells. They both left with a couple large handfuls worth!

Then we drove along the coast to Oak Island to go check out the lighthouse.



Found a plantation/gardens on the map, so continued north along the coast and went to Orton Plantation. It was very interesting but a lot of walking. Below is the main house were people actually live.

We then stopped to eat lunch and were trying to figure if there was something else we could see before heading home. We weren't far from Wilmington so thought we would head over to the USS North Carolina battleship. Turned out we were even closer than we realized and it took about 5 mins to get there. We didn't have quite enough time to see it thoroughly before they closed but it was still really fun.
Always a big grin with a gun in the hands! Or maybe the grin gets bigger the bigger the gun is??? Just wish he'd smile like that when its a picture of us together!


So a great trip! Oh, and we did take them to the Japanese steakhouse. I didn't take hardly any pictures...we had an okay chef. And poor Grandma....growing up in the Depression Era, she always finishes everything on her plate. I had told her beforehand there was no way she would ever be able to finish all the food. But she still tried! She ate more than I did, and I could tell she was past full but kept eating. She couldn't believe that she still took home enough food for 2-3 more meals. One other thing we did was Mom and I went to a formal wear shop so I could hopefully try on the bridesmaid dress for Jennie's wedding. Which I did and ordered it after we got back from the beach. I think that covers pretty much everything (only 2 months late).

The snow!!!!!!!!! The beautiful wonderful close everything down SNOW
This was at about 8am and it hasn't stopped yet.

Melting Pot

Just about gone. And now time for some silly faces.


I need to come up with a name for this face he just loves to do. Here I think we're taking this nice picture and he's making this dopey face!





So then I did it.....and wish I hadn't it because he's actually smiling.

Finally a nice one although the lighting is weird.
This restaurant is unbelievably yummy. I don't know if we would have ever gone if it weren't for a good friend giving us a gift card. We both want to go back but the price will probably keep us away for a little while. In the meantime, I am hoping to get/buy their cookbook soon!! But I'm sure it won't be as good.

God in control

The start of a new year is not very positive for me this year. It means Henry’s one year of being home is coming to an end, and he will be leaving again in a few months. It’s especially on my mind now that they are training like crazy (last week was 5am-9pm every night except Fri when he got home at almost midnight). This week they are in the field, so no contact and climbing into an empty bed alone every night. And of course every night, my thought is “I have 12 months of this to look forward to”. Ugh! The other problem is this thought that has been running through my mind like a broken record, “How many times can we push our luck?” Because this will be the 4th time he’s deployed and so far the worst thing has been this last one when he fell and broke his arm. Well it just hit me, GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL. Our professor at IWU, Dr Martin used to say that if we are true biblical Christians, words such as luck, fortune, chance, etc, cannot be part of our vocabulary. So as I sat here once again thinking “We are pushing our luck”, I realized what I was saying. That God is not in control but luck or chance is. WRONG That is not what has kept Henry safe previously and is not what will in the future! Whew. Can breathe a little easier now. Thankfully God has no limits. No limit on what He can do, to the number of times He will save us, protect us, forgive us..............

And for anybody that says this gets easier….they’re probably lying.

Steal

My most recent steal (deal):

And I LOVE IT! You probably can't tell but it's a Nine West bag. I call it an overnight bag because it's so big and you normally would have to pay $120 for it and may be able to get it for sale around $50-60. I got it for $22!!!!!

Lazy Sunday

Mac has spent most of the day this way. He only moved because Piglet jumped up and took his spot.


How I wish I had spent the entire day. It was pretty lazy but I did do dishes, some laundry and made baked oatmeal in the crockpot. Besides, I have a feeling the bum cats spend EVERY day this way, not just Sundays.