Make A Wish Disney Dream Cruise Day 2

I might have been just as excited as the kids, because I was up before the alarm to watch our first sunrise aboard the Disney Dream. A massive funnel cloud on the horizon was fascinating to watch as a storm brewed on one side while a pink sun rose on another.

The massive ship slowed and gracefully backed into Castaway Cay (Disney’s own private island) without so much as a lurch. At first glance, it looks like a pristine deserted beach. But apparently a couple hundred Disney employees reside on the island just to accommodate the passengers that pull into port for a day’s time. The ship docked about 7:00am and disembarked another several hundred employees who transformed the quiet beach into a tropical paradise with brightly colored umbrellas, BBQ buffet restaurants, live music band equipment and characters decked out for dance parties well before passengers were allowed off the ship to explore the island.
When princess Evie woke up, there was a special surprise from her best friend Maggie waiting to be opened – a beautiful “puffed sleeved” Cinderella dress. The other girls also had Disney princess gowns laid out by their “lady in waiting” (aka mom!) and a personal invitation from the princesses was awaiting them and received with squeals of delight!

We donned our dresses and descended the grand staircases (trains flowing behind and hands clasped in anticipation) and made our way to the grand atrium where the princesses were holding court.

Oh the look in Gigi’s eyes when they appeared waving and welcoming her!!

Its been a 3-year wait for this wish to come true, but honestly, the timing could not have been more perfect! A year earlier and Gigi would have been too young to remember it, and life would still have revolved around a necessary nap time. A year later and Abi for sure would have been out of the princess stage. This girl of mine – she is the most mature 13-year-old I know, yet still loves all things girly and wanted a Jasmine costume for the cruise. Of course this momma was happy to oblige and have 5 girls all dolled up in princess pretties! We’ve decided Abi might have a promising career as a Disney Princess!! She is a magnet for kids and could pull of the homecoming queen wave and pinky-up curtsies!

The princess conversations were hilarious! Snow white invited the girls to come visit her at her home “through the black forest and past the seven waterfalls, then mine is the little cottage in the clearing!”.  And Cinderella didnt understand Evie when she said she flew on an airplane to get there. “Whats an airplane? I always take a carriage everywhere I go!”

The girls left practicing their waltz, wave and talking with their pinkies up like Snow White.
When we got to the Frozen gathering on the other side of the ship, we were early for our princess appointment. However, because Evie was a wish kid, they whisked her to the front of the line and gave her an extended period to talk to Elsa and Anna. Anna acted completely baffled that Gigi had a matching dress….and I must say, Britain’s Elsa braid was more authentic than the actual Elsa’s 🙂

Then it was off to dine alfresco at Cabanas. Breakfast buffet with Mickey shaped waffles (and all the toppings) and an extensive variety of pastries, eggs, breakfast meats, crepes, yogurts and fresh fruits to choose from. A lovely view from the balcony of the ship looking out over Castaway Cay….all well and good until a squad of seagulls started dive-bombing our plates!

We hit the Aquaduck after breakfast during the non-peak-time while most of the other cruisers were on the island. This is the massive waterside aboard the ship, that swings out over the ocean and then covers the length of the ship, twice! There was one little duck who was seriously upset that she wasn’t tall enough! Seemed like the perfect time to offer a concession prize – soft serve ice cream available 24 hours a day onboard. Who cares that is just past breakfast time!? We’re on the vacation of a lifetime!!

We disembarked for a lovely afternoon on Castaway. We were so busy having fun, we totally forgot to stop for lunch and hit the BBQ buffet (not to worry….no one was below the recommended calorie count ever on the cruise!) White sugary beaches. Emerald blue water. A majestic view of the ship. And a little shade offered by a towering palm tree for this poor guy who couldn’t go in the water due to the cast on his arm (theres another story – shattered his wrist and had to have surgery last week….not the best timing!)

Before dinner time, we hit up the pool (and the ice cream machine) again just in time to watch a movie starting at the dive-in-movie.

The ship cast off again and we returned to our stateroom to dress for the evening activities. There was a note again at our door with tickets for our Wish Kid for an excursion planned for the next day….and a platter of chocolate covered strawberries!!

Another fabulous show, and then it was dinner at the Royal Palace with the servers all dressed in their Prince Charming dress coats looking very dapper and complimenting the romantic decor of the restaurant that has mosaics of scenes from some of Disney’s traditional and classic love stories.

When we told Gigi she needed to drink water too so she wouldn’t get dehydrated after all the time in the sun, she mastered this skill so she didnt have to slow down guzzling her Shirley Temple.

I was paranoid about the kids clubs before boarded the ship, but my friend Sarah who is a weathered cruiser, and the impressive system for security for the kids, quickly put my mind at ease. The place is awesome and so, so safe with tracking devices on each child and in our case, an older sister who is always looking out for a younger one. We let the girls go to the club for about 45 minutes after finishing dinner. Sure enough, when I came to pick them up after the allotted time, Gigi burst into tears because she didnt want to leave. Apparently dancing with tinker belle is more fun than bedtime!

Immeasurably More Than We Ask Or Imagine

The page is worn.
Familiar, comforting and poignant are the words.
A million emotions today, coming across them again in my quiet time as I remember back to the moment years ago where they first jumped off the page to grip my heart with hope.  The verses in my bible are frantically underlined and marked up with “Evangeline 2008” scratched in the margin by a mother desperately needing a lifeline to cling to in a seemingly sinking ship in the early days of Evie’s unstable little life.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father…..I pray that our of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine….to him be glory!!”

God has unarguably done more than we could ever have asked or imagined and answered exceeding abundantly, our prayers for our daughter.  There is a tenderness to her heart and love for Jesus that is grasped I believe, proportionally because of all she has endured.

After a conversation recently about heaven when my grandmother died, we had touched on the points of God taking away all pain and giving us new, whole, healthy bodies when we go to live with Him.  Almost disappointedly she asked “but will I not have my scar anymore? I want to keep my scar.  It means God fixed my heart and I like it”.  She knows her life is a testimony to the divine touch of Christ and His intervention and healing of her little body and she has a story to tell. She has come home school more than once this year and expressed her frustration that “the other first graders are too busy and they don’t want to sit and listen to me tell them about Jesus”.  C and I laugh with the mental image of Evie trying to line up 20 kids on the playground and get them to listen to her, but all humor aside, this has been our prayer.  Her name means “evangelist” and it has been our prayer since the day she was born, (before we ever knew what her story would be) that she would share the message of Christ and that His perfect peace would be her story of grace to a world needing to know Him.

This week we embark on a journey of a lifetime!
Evie has generously been granted a dream come true through Make A Wish – an organization devoted to making wishes come true for children who have life-threatening illnesses.  We praise God for a good visit with Evie’s cardiology team last week in Charleston.  As we visited with one of our favorite nurses she teared…she loves our girl!  7 years ago, she was on the floor and the charge nurse designated to caring for Evie often.  She now teaches new nurses being trained at the teaching hospital.  She told us she uses Evies story with each training she does for the new nurses because she is such a miracle!  She marvels with us at a story that has overcome so many odds and shares the positive outcome and drastic measures taken to save a life and prefaces it as a “happy ending” to a tragic medical drama that she wants her nurses to know how to prepare for.

We were encouraged by reports from her doctor that she is receiving great care through her cardiologist in Thailand and he was impressed with their notes and that they are taking all precautions and monitoring everything he would like to have assessed.  Only God could have brought us to a place of peace and provision for her being seen and monitored away from the States.  God has been so faithful to meet us every step of the way with the care and supervision that she needs.  We continued to watch and wait as we see things that will likely need further intervention as she grows and develops.  Her heart is functioning in a way it wasn’t designed to and the cardiac function begins to be compromised as her body grows and matures but today…..today she is good.  She is a happy, healthy, imaginative, passionate, beautiful 7 year old and we give thanks and CELEBRATE today!!

Make a wish beautiful dreamer!!

California Cousins and Twin Teens

And just like that, we have TEENAGERS!!  We did the math….from this day until Gigi turns 20, we will have 16 consecutive years of teenagers ahead of us (gulp!)  These two who made us parents have made us proud!  We love the young man and woman that they are becoming.  On their 13th birthday. they were presented with a list of challenges from mom and dad – tasks to be completed before their next birthday on which they will receive a new set of goals for each birthday throughout their teen years….Spiritual challenges….A new skill to acquire……Implementation of their gifting and exploration of their interests.  An opportunity to serve.  And a special trip planned for each of them this year!  (leave me a comment or email me if you’d like me to share our challenges for our kids as we usher them into adulthood upon this monuments birthday!)

There’s no place on earth they’d be happier celebrating than in the USA!!  We’re loving being HOME!!   Our “California girl” and “Surfer dude” celebrated with cousins, grandparents and friends on the beach.  After some surf and sand, we lit a fire and bundled up as the temp dropped with the setting sun.

The fun continued the next day as we sojourned to a week of “Smith” family vacation in Palm Springs where we soaked up some rays and blistered our feet in the desert heat.  A joint birthday celebration at a fun Mexican restaurant to celebrate the twins and Aunt Arlene’s birthday made for some full bellies and giggling girls when the mariachi band started singing improv about Gigi – the “chips and salsa girl!”

Finally some R&R for our family after a couple weeks on the road.  We loved the slow mornings and lazy hours by the pool and the little duck friends that came to the back door of our condo.

Gigi, the very moment our aggressive little ducky friend “bit” her finger!

Cousins are just the best!!  Your turn Savvy and Eli….Come visit us in Bangkok next summer!  And you’re invited too Sheryce!!  We loved catching up with you!!

……back on the road again with this brood scattered between states and grandparents…..missing my babies, but so excited they are making memories with the friends and family they love so dearly!