A tale of Easter kindness

When I was working for Norwegian

Cruise Line, I spent about 4 months 

sailing in and out of New Orleans.

I was able to attend church regularly

at a singles branch in the city, as my ship

docked on Sundays.

I met some great people in that branch,

including two young ladies named Autumn 

and Thaidra.  A week before Easter,

they invited me over to their house the

following Sunday for Easter dinner.

Unfortunately, I always had to be back

on the ship at 4 pm, and so I explained I wouldn't

have time to go home with them after church.

Well, the next week when I showed up for

church (on Easter Sunday), these two

sweet sisters had prepared for me

an Easter picnic to take back to the ship.

The meal was delicious, and consisted

of a chicken salad sandwich (on a croissant),

deviled eggs, and poppyseed cake.  I'll 

never forget sitting outside the ship on a 

bench and quietly enjoying that meal,

which was prepared with love.

I was very touched

by their thoughtfulness and grateful

that I could celebrate Easter in some way.

I've thought of this experience every

year on Easter since it happened, in 2008.

I've always wanted to recreate that meal

and that special memory.

So that was our dinner this year on Easter

(Autumn and Thaidra were kind enough

to share with me the recipes).

Hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday!

As my mom reminded me via a text this morning,

Easter is truly the most hopeful day of the year.

Dollar Store Pity

Meet my new sock purse.

Here is the story about how she came to be:

The day that Jake and I left for London
(more on that trip later), we ran
to Dollar Tree to pick up
some supplies.  I specifically
wanted some sort of change purse,
and the only kind I could find
were of the sock purse variety.
At the checkout line,
we realized that we didn't have
our wallets (they were packed in
separate bags for our trip).
So Jake ran out to the car
and found some change (literally, nickels
and dimes) to pay for our few items.

Because we were low on coinage, I decided
the sock purse wasn't really a need,
so I put it back on the shelf and went outside.

Jake lingered in the store for a minute
more, and the cashier slipped him
this sock purse (for free) to give to me,
which was so sweet.

Now, Jake and I are really blessed and
are financially stable (well, as long as you don't
mention "student loans").  But you know we must
have come across as real ragamuffins when
the dollar store cashier thought we were
too poor for a sock purse!

I must say though, the purse sure did the trick
in London holding our pounds and pence
(also known as quids and p's).

Happy Valenbirthaversary

Yes, I have finally jumped onto the Modern Family bandwagon.

Anyway, due to Jake's work schedule and a string

of visitors, we celebrated Valentine's Day
a week late, on February 21st.
This also happened to be our six-month anniversary
(when you haven't hit a year mark yet,
you have to celebrate by months).  

And last but not least, this day was special because

Jake's cousin Tiff and her husband Albert were

blessed with a baby boy, Quentin.

So it was a big day!

Jake planned a lovely evening out.  Here is a picture of us

eating at the romantic Antonio's Italian Restaurant:

Meet the In Laws

In February, we hosted Jake's mom, Claudia,

and her fiancé, Karry, for 10 days.

As Jake was working during the majority
of their stay, I got to spend some
quality time with them!

They were even kind enough to take me
out on Valentine's Day, since my
"Valentine" spent the holiday at the hospital.

I also worked during part of their visit,
but luckily Claudia and Karry are very self-sufficient
and found plenty of ways to stay entertained.

In fact, I think they saw Florida at its finest!

Here are some picture highlights of their stay.

Visiting Disney's Epcot Center:

Disney's Hollywood Studios, where Claudia

was able to go on her favorite ride, 

Aerosmith's Rock 'N' Roller Coaster":

Disney's Animal Kingdom

On Jake's afternoon off, we all went to
Universal Studios, where Hogwarts
was definitely a highlight:

 This picture really sums up our time together.

Claudia collects smashed pennies,
and Jake helped her find just about every
smashed penny machine in the greater Orlando area.
I think we're keeping the smashed
penny industry in business.

 On their own, Claudia and Karry went golfing

(that's a gator in the lake)...

...made it out to the Kennedy Space Center...

...the beach...

...and even the Daytona 500 Race!

 This is the only picture we managed to snap

with all 4 of us.  Jake is appropriately
in his scrubs standing outside of
Winnie Palmer Hospital.

Thanks Claudia and Karry for a great visit!