A VACATION!

As you can see, I'm not keeping this updated too well, am I?! HOWEVER...I think I have a legit excuse for this past week...we were in FLORIDA!!!

Christian is from Pensacola, FL and we've been trying to figure out when we could possibly make it down again for a visit. With Chrisian's sales season FINALLY over and after finding out Claudia's tumor is not growing and then getting another dose of chemo down, we just wishfully talked about getting away for a visit and a much needed mini vacation but, for the most part, just blew it off. But last Monday (4-3), Chistian began getting very serious about wanting to go...so we decided we would wait and see where her blood counts were on Wed. and talk more seriously about it then. I think God knew how much we needed to get away because Claudia's blood tests came back so good that she almost had the counts of a normal child (which is sooooo good...and rare!). So as soon as we got the results (at about 2 pm) we decided to pack up and go...that night! We were on the road by 7 pm! The trip took about 14 hours. We bought an RV last year (these long trips to Florida being a big factor in this purchase) so it made the trip a LITTLE more easy. But, we were really questioning our decision of leaving that night at about 4 am...everyone exhausted (& grouchy!)...Claudia refusing to sleep even a minute...and still 7 hours to go. But we made it and seeing Christian's family made it all worth it!


We had such a fun visit with Christian's mom and dad (or to Claudia "Ma" and "Pa!"). We were there from Thursday morning to Tuesday morning. We also got to see Christian's Grandma and Grandpa Fitzgerald, Grandma Marlow, Aunt Donna, Uncle Greg, Aunt Sheila and cousin Danielle (which was a really neat surprise...she's in the military, stationed in Germany and was home for a training!) We were supposed to have several days of rain while there but the rain passed over and every single day was beautiful. We went to the beach twice...it was a bit windy/chilly, but beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better trip. God knew what we needed. As we were driving home through Indianapolis, I got tears in my eyes...instead of living in a hospital in Indianapolis, having to watch Claudia suffer as they give her radiation, God gave us a beautiful vacation to Florida instead. Thank you, God. You meet all of our needs (and sometimes desires!!!)...your mercies truly are new every morning...great is your love for us!

(For some reason, this post wouldn't let me include all the pic's, so I had to create a new post...they're in the one above...so confusing- sorry!)