Ahoy 'Mon!

Ahoy from the high seas! Well, Hank and I are exhausted after another long, but lovely ,day at sea! Snorkeling was a blast!!! Thought at any moment I may see Sponge Bob jump out from the coral reef. Lol Rainbow Fish, Blue Fish, and many other tropical fish were swimming right there close enough for us to reach out and touch them. Amazing! The water here in the Bahamas is truly a turquoise blue and very clear. Paradise! Well, I thought I would die on board the first night. We got settled in our state room , went to Third Day Concert by the pool, made dinner plans, and then it happened….the boat actually started MOVING! Rocking was more like it. The captain (I like to refer to him as Captain Stubbing personally) had warned us the waters would be a little choppy until midnight…but oh my word!!! I have never once suffered from motion sickness of any kind but …OH ME!! First time for everything. Somehow, I managed to freshen up my makeup and actually walk down two flights of stairs to the deck that our dinner was being served on. The line was rather long as we all waited for the doors to the Moonlight Dinning Room to open for the 8:OO pm reservations. Just know , the last thing in this world I felt like doing was eating…gross…but a lady in line beside me had convinced me that eating bread would help my feelings out greatly. So….Hank sent me to sit down on this centerpiece made of marble while he stood in line for the both of us. How ironic—Hank is always the one that gets any kind of motion sickness! ALWAYS! Thank goodness he had a nausea patch on so he wouldn’t get sick. He had offered me one before we boarded the ship but assured him I would be fine. “Pride goes before the fall” Lol Well, I was sooo wrong! I sat on that cool slab of marble and was feeling some better. Then I heard singing. (Duhhh…It’s a music boat cruise) But….this was not expected but was however the cherry on top of the entire day. An Asian band was singing in the lobby while we waited on our dinner doors to open.{ I felt like I was in A Christmas Story for a minute.} You know when the Christmas dinner gets ruined and they eat Chinese and they sing “Deck the Halls”…well, yep. Not only am I on my death bed turning green on a cold hunk of marble--but I am listening to an Asian lady sing “ Proud Mary”! I thought surely I was going to pass and Hank would just have to throw me overboard. Well, finally , the time came to enter the dinning room and true, the bread saved my life!!! We ate with a lovely couple from North Carolina and enjoyed our dinning experience immensely. However, leaving the dinner we noticed the girl had stopped singing and now an Asian man was singing. “Don’t tell my heart, my rakey , rakey heart….” Please…that was just too funny!!! Off to a late Denver and the Mile High Orchestra concert then off to bed! (LOVED THEM) After a wonderful nights sleep, we woke up ready for a fun day in Nassau, which we did have!!!Snorkeling was an absolute blast! After dinner, we listened to baseball player Josh Hamilton share his journey with the Lord and how God uses him in his profession in ways he never imagined he’d ever be used. I am not a real sports fan but I love hearing anyone, especially people with some fame, discuss how Jesus changed them and now works in their life because they’ve surrendered all to Him! We were about to turn in and as we walked by another lounge we noticed it filling up rather quickly. That is when I saw her---Mandisa. I was really glad to finally she she’d made it to the ship. (she flew in and met us in Nassau) I went over and introduced myself and told her how real she seemed— and how the love of Jesus just shows all over her. I also told her how Houston, Ms had voted many , many times for her while she was on Idol.(However- my husband wasn’t much help because that’s the same year he developed his man crush was on Blake Lewis -lol) We talked a bit about when she did praise team music for Beth Moore’s Living Proof Ministries .She said during the Idol competition she did the sign that we all memorized ….sign language meaning I’m believing God!! That prompted the two of us into a high five!!! I then told her I sure would like to hang out with her! Well, we have a few more days.{commercial…’Like sands through the hourglass..so are the Days of our Lives—ok new day} Today was beautiful , so Hank and I took a ferry to the CocoCay Island, “ Mon” NOTE TO FAMILY….HANK’S GOT A NEW WORD!!!! For now—it’s “Mon” . Prepare yourselves!! Lol Oh me….I just love him though. We are really having fun. An island band played the entire day as we shopped, ate, shopped, drank, shopped , laid out, and shopped. The group 4 Him had their chairs just beside us! They were funny! Tonight we went to hear Dave Nasser and Mandisa perform then off to dinner. My girl sang “Shackles”…OH ME!!!!!!!After that we heard a George W. Bush impersonator! HILARIOUS!!! He was a hoot! Then it was off to the pool deck to Premier Cruise Idol. I was standing just behind the judges. Mandisa, Third Day lead singer, and Dave Nasser. Of course the battery in my camera died! Never fails! Oh well, we had a really good time! It’s late now and people are still scattered around the ship. Hank was sleepy but I wasn’t ready just yet to turn in. It is way after mid night and I am on the promenade deck in a lawn chair listening to the waves rush beside this massive ship.(Oh ‘the promenade deck’ sounds so much like the Love Boat doesn’t it?) I am in total awe of the beauty I have seen this week. This afternoon, Hank and I watched the sun set from sitting on the back of the ship! At some point, just before the sun gave up it’s glow, for a brief moment…the reflection that the sun cast was a glowing, perfect cross. OH MY IT WAS LOVELY!! This is a new beauty for me. Now I am not a “beach girl” for sure…but I do love the ocean! Love the beach but don’t like to sunbathe or deal with sand grit. I don’t like to play in the beach or ocean but I love it!! The only thing I can say when I see it’s beauty is…WOW GOD!!! How could you think any other way. The name of our ship is Majesty of the Sea. Well, they can call it that if they’d like but that is all I can think of when I look out across the water! HE is THE MAJESTY of the sea! Where is seems to have no end I softly hear in my heart… “as far as east is from the west I’ll remember your sin no more.” Looking out, it’s pitch dark but the stars are like little diamonds. God is such an amazing and majestic God! I was also reminded of that when the dolphins swam along the side our sailboat the other day and as we snorkeled, God really made it all!! He cares about every single detail of this universe and everything does glorify Him. This afternoon ,Bello Nock, a former clown from Ringling Brothers circus, broke a world’s record by walking the tight rope across the length of the 11th deck! (WOW) While he walked ,he had praise music in the background. When “I Stand in Awe of You” began to play...I thought ‘now that says it all’! In a nutshell…I am standing in total awe of God!!! He’s everywhere I look!! Sure, musicians and speakers are great…but God’s creation is what has spoken to me the most here. The waves make me feel as if I am being rocked to sleep by my daddy…you know, I am. The wind is a love song to my soul reminding me I am His and I am loved! Well, just now I am realizing how sleepy I am , so I’d better go back to my cabin and get some sleep! ( sure hope I remember how to get there—Just kidding—well sort of anyway) I know tomorrow God has even more blessings in store for us, and I certainly don’t want to miss a thing!! That’s all I know for now….but I am learning more every single day!!! Hope you all have a blessed day—‘Mon’!

LO