Wise Words for the New Year

I have just a few more hours of 2013 left.  Just enough time to crank out one last post that I have been meaning to get on the blog for awhile ... some good quotes, some words for the wise that I want to ponder and practice in the coming year.

Lysa TerKeurst:  Wise women tuck Godly wisdom into the words they speak and even more into the words they choose not to speak.

Lysa TerKeurst:  Having a pity party is a good clue you are relying on your own strength and not God's.

Elvis:  When things go wrong, don't go with them.

Lysa TerKeurst: Truth is the only healthy place from which to speak. Assumption is the birthplace of godless chatter.

Jon Bloom:  Christianity is not so much about you desiring God as it is about God desiring you.  I wonder if you believe that.

Jon Bloom:  Jesus so loved you and desired you that while you were still a sinner he died for you (Romans 5:8).  And if you love him at all it is because he first loved you (1 John 4:19).  Delve into that glorious mystery!

Proverbs 21:23:  Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

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And I have never done this before, but I am going to pick a word for 2014.  It's one that I feel like the Lord has been pressing on my heart for over a year now and challenging me to study and to practice.  That word is - Mercy. The verse I keep thinking about is Micah 6:8. I am challenged by the fact that is doesn't just say show mercy.  It says LOVE mercy.  I am gonna keep circling that command.  Mercy doesn't come naturally to me, but I want it to!  

He has shown you, O man, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.  

This mercy challenge for me will look like  ... me cutting people more slack, my not accusing in my heart, me giving people the benefit of the doubt, me holding my tongue, me being gentle, me being slow to anger, my resisting the urge to compare, my not showing favoritism, my praying for people more, and my saying so.  And sharpening my eyes to see moments that need a kind and healing word and being the one to say it.

Help me, Lord, in 2014!

Anna Gives Chase

Anna's classmate, Levi, has a new baby sister and Anna is quite excited about the news.  This afternoon, she set down to work on a card telling him how happy she was for him.  She can't wait to go back to school and deliver it to him.  I didn't get to see the actual card part because she taped it up already, but I was tickled to see the envelope's heartfelt inscription instead. 

too LEVi

FRUM ANNA

OLCHAS

YtooDA ♥

(I'll chase you today)

This was the FIRST I have heard of playing chase at recess.  I usually just hear about who hurt her feelings when they wouldn't play with her.   So when I read this and my eyes got big and I grinned in surprise, she clued me in telling me that the girls ALWAYS chase the boys at recess and that the boys like to be chased.  

Adorable!

Disney Trip: Magic Kingdom

There is so much ground to cover at Magic Kingdom and this is where the biggest crowds are too.  For that reason, we planned for two days at this park - our first and our last days.  Here are some highlights from both those days.

First day, first ride ... Dumbo!

I sat next to this excited creature.

We had leftover stroller rentals from years ago so we gave it a try.  That lasted an hour before we decided it was quicker to have the kids hoof it.

Letting Anna walk/keep up proved to be a risky business, however.  We lost her more than once!  And usually because she had ducked down to the ground to gather leaves and rocks while we were moving on to the next attraction.

It's a Small World was closed while we were there, so we were sad to miss that classic ride.  Then the Mad Hatter's Teacups were having a techincal issue, too, but on our second pass by, it was back up and running. We grabbed a ride while we could.  It was a delightful spin as always.

Off to the races at Motorcross Raceway again.

Dreams Come True Parade was one of Noah's favorite parts.  You can't tell because my dumb camera wasn't quick enough, but Noah's dream came true right there when Donald came over to give him a high five.  Right after, Goofy made contact with Anna. :)  Those are my feet and my missed timing with the shot.

We waited almost an hour to save these spots on the front row.

Worth every minute, too. :)

 We took several turns on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

The view from the top of the the rocket ride.

And from the back of my seat with Noah.

And looking down on Josh and Anna. :)

We lucked out and happened to be passing by another performance later in the day.

I had to hold this guy up the entire time so he could see over the standing crowds. Not easy!  He has grown since the last time we saw this show.

Anna enjoyed it very much. :)

Noah's favorite moment is always the bad guy parts.

Love these guys!

So much excitement in the air!

It was nice to have kiddos old enough to last til nighttime.  The crowds thin out by then, the air finally cools, and the castle looks so magical.

This was how Anna spent most of our time in line, any line.

On a whim, we visited with Cinderella.

And Sleeping Beauty.

It's adorable to me that Noah enjoyed this more than I thought he would.

Love all the details.

Love the lights.

Even love this view of the kids' backsides at the fountain just outside Gaston's Tavern while we waited for Josh to rustle us up some grub.

Aren't they hilarious?!

Awe.

We finally made it into Ariel's new ride.  Anna was impessed.  Hope met!

Before we left the park, we took in the lights parade.

I would have loved to go back into the park after this point because we still had Extra Magic Hours to take advantage of, but someone was fading fast.

Someone else was hanging in there with us though.

So we wrapped up our first day at Disney with the Fireworks show.

We remembered how the last time we saw this, we were right up under the castle.  That ended up being the WORST spot to have because you couldn't see the fireworks that go off right above the castle.  This time we knew better.  We watch the show from the train station's second floor terrace and then made a quick exit outta there!

I had to catch this shot of Anna on her favorite of any and all the rides.  The conveyor belts!  Ha!  After this, Noah took on Space Mountain with me and again with Josh.  He cried through the first run and manned up through the second.  Lots of bragging rights for him!

Aladdin's Carpet Ride.

Swiss Family Treehouse, a particular favorite of ours.

The castle by day.  This was our second day at Magic Kindgom, which fell on our last day at Disney. Our favorite rides this day were Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, both of which both kids were tall enough and compliant enough to ride.  Noah ADORED them both.  Anna CRIED her way through Thunder Mountain.  Fun Memories.  Ha!

On our way out of the park, Anna finally got one of those long-desired balloons.  We spent $10 on that dumb thing!

The one Photopass picture we purchased. Perfect shot!

Thanks for the memories, Disney!

Disney Trip: Animal Kingdom

On our third and calmest day at Disney we headed to Animal Kingdom bright and early for the Extra Magic Hour.  Unfortunately, we promptly wasted our head start by heading for Mickey's outpost that wouldn't be open that early anyway. Doh! : /

No worries, we bolted on over to the safari and still had no wait time.  I had low expectations from our last time on this ride, but it ended up being so great.  We saw a lot of animals and early morning activity!

We saw some animals up close and personal.  Or was it them seeing us?

Even saw the king of beasts lounging about.

THENNNNN, we went back to take care of a little character business.  We were first in line for this shot.  It turned out so great! Mickey was a good sport, too, when Anna kept tapping him on the nose with a leaf.

Next up, I fooled Noah into going on Expedition Everest with me.  He screamed in terror for the first half of the ride, bless his heart.  But he survived. 

He not only survived.  He turned around and rode it again with Josh just to earn a cool souvenir. I was proud of the little guy!  You can't actually see him in this shot, but you can see Josh grinning big behind the guy in orange.  Noah was over in his lap, much like we was when he rode with me.

Then we moved on to tamer attractions.  This one in Dinoland has my heart because it was Noah's first ever Disney ride back when he was only 3.  Anna's only glaring because she wanted to sit up front and got rushed into the back so I could get a quick pic.  It's hard being the littlest sometimes, even in the happiest place on earth.

We giggled to remember a botched attempt to see Nemo: The Musical last time we were here.  Noah was so terrified he hid behind under the seats and we left early.  Not this time though!

We had great seats up close and it was such a good show!

On a potty run before lunch, Noah spotted Pluto and Goofy off to one side and we doubled back to see them, too.  Goofy was so funny.  He kept messing with Anna's hat.  

 

Anna found it less than funny.  Thankfully, she didn't fuss about it until we were out of earshot.

And thankfully, we have at least one normal shot of the encounter, too.

We checked out Dinosaur. This was a new one for all of us and it was quite an exciting ride.  I was worried about Anna, but she was so proud of herself for not freaking out.

Then we hit The Lion King performance which we LOVED on our first Disney trip.  It hadn't changed a bit and was just as good as before.  

Anna was spellbound. ♥

So many great moments!

The End.  Literally.

Great day, Animal Kingdom!