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He'll never leave me...

It's been a while since I've blogged about anything, but since I have time on my hands now I figured I'd give an update on things...

For those that don't know, I just had surgery. I'll back up and bit and give you a background on everything though so you know the whole story. But be warned, there might be some TMI details in here.

Most of my problems started a year ago, last October, or at least that's when it all hit full force and I began to realize there was problem. I left on a cross country drive to Arizona with my Aunt Ethel and grandma (Esther). A few days before I left I had been feeling nauseous, but didn't think much of it. Well, while in a hotel in Texas, I was woken up by extreme abdominal pain and vomiting. I began feeling faint, having chills and some other unpleasant, torturous bodily functions I won't mention. It was awful! I seriously thought at one point the pain was bad enough that I might day. So I just prayed and prayed. That night I knew I should have gone to the ER, but I was in Texas and didn't want to get stuck there and not be able to go home. So after dealing with all this for a while, I finally was able to go back to sleep and just figured I'd wait till I got back home to get checked out. Well the rest of my trip to and in Phoenix, I continued to feel nauseous, throwing up a time or two and still having some abdominal pain, but nothing like that night so I just figured I'd be okay till I got home. And then Saturday hit, which just happened to be the day some friends of mine were getting married, a wedding I was supposed to do the photography for. Well, from Saturday morning till late Saturday night I threw up and had abdominal pain all day long! And not to gross y’all out, but everything coming out of me was green bile so I knew something was wrong. Not to mention it felt like I was having a hard attack and my insides were going to be ripped out of me. It was terrible! But by the strength and grace of God, I made it through that day and left the next day to come back home to Virginia. Luckily I wasn't throwing up on the plane, but I was nauseous and in pain the whole time so I was definitely ready to get home.
Once I got home to VA I scheduled an appointment with my doctor who in turn scheduled an appointment with a gastroenterologist. He ran some blood work and an ultrasound, but said he found nothing and it was probably just constipation and acid reflux and sent me on my way with some prescriptions. Needless to say, I didn't agree! But what was I going to do to convince him? I went back into my regular doctor, but after a while it didn't seem to go anywhere and no one could seem to do anything to help except prescribe meaningless prescriptions So I just let it go. And besides some nausea here and there and a little pain, most of the symptoms pretty much went away over time.

Now that was a year ago. Since then, every few months I’ve have these bouts of throwing up and abdominal pain and then it'd all go away, but to be honest I didn't really realize how often it was happening till I began to look back at the patterns. Honestly till I realized what was going on.
It wasn’t until we got back from Belize in July, that I started having problems again. It was actually a couple weeks after we got back, on a Saturday night and we had gone dancing. I started having abdominal pain again and it was pretty bad pain this time. But I was so tired of doctors spending my money and not figuring out what it was that I didn't want to go back in to get it checked out...so I waited. After a couple weeks of the nausea continuing every day, all day and abdominal pain pretty constant as well, along with the persistent nagging from friends, whom I love very much ;), I figured I'd go back in to the doctor. So she referred me to another specialist, but they couldn't see me for a month. So another month went by and I continued to have abdominal pain and nausea and low grade fevers and finally after my recent trip to Phoenix, I was able to go to a different specialist and thank the Lord, this specialist found out it was my gall bladder after all! All this time, it was right there and I just couldn't get the doctors to listen to me.

So this specialist told me immediately I needed to have surgery and there was no way around it...hence the surgery I just had. It’s been a long journey getting here, but hopefully this fixes the problem! Hopefully that was it! Mikey said the surgeon told him that he could see scaring and remnants of past stones I had and passed and that was probably the times that I had been real sick and in pain. So he said it was good they got it out because it would probably just get worse. I guess apparently I had what they call sludge in there, which...not to be too gross...was old bile that was never released from the gallbladder mixed with basically small stones and over time and if I had waited, it could not only get worse but also cause infections and problems with my pancreas and liver, etc. So I guess it was good timing.

And now, I'm just recovering. It hasn't been easy. I'm in a lot of pain because the pain meds don't work and they make me sick and yesterday I spent the day throwing up everything I tried to eat....BUT today has been better! Last night I was able to finally keep down a couple bites of soup and this morning I kept down a shake. I'm still in pain, but I'm able to move a little bit more. So I'm just taking it day by day.

I will say the hardest thing about all this for me is being alone. I've had friends come at night when they get off work, but during the day I'm on my own. Mikey was able to take off work the day of my surgery and another friend was at the hospital with me that day but Mikey can't take any other days right now so I'm left alone during the day, which is hard for me. I hate being alone when I'm sick. Especially yesterday. Every time I’d get up, I’d get dizzy and throw up so I just stayed in bed all day. Yea, that was really hard. BUT I made it through and today I've been able to move around a bit more and since I'm not getting sick every time I get up, it's been easier on me both emotionally and physically. Thank you Lord!

So today I'm just thanking God for the little victories in my life right now and thanking Him for being with me, ALWAYS! Maybe that's my lesson in all this. He is always with me and gives me everything I need and I just need to learn to rely on Him. I need to trust and know that even though may flesh may feel alone, I'm never alone. He will never leave me or forsake me.

You know, I don't know what God has in store for me with all this. I don't know why He chose to lead me through this or what I am to learn or where I'll be when it's all over but I know one thing, He'll never leave me and if I can just learn to trust Him, He's got it all in His very capable hands.

The fringes of His garment...

Notes from Saturday's Holy Yoga class..

Luke 8:42-48
"As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!" But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me." And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

This unnamed woman...

Was penniless.
She had spent every last dime on doctors that couldn't help her.
She was unclean to those around her because it was their custom that if they touched her while she was on her flow, they too would be unclean...but for this woman...her time of being unclean lasted 12 harsh years!
So she was probably alone and hurt.
Shunned by her community because of their customs and even fellow believers because no one wanted to sacrifice their own purity to come in contact with her.
She was burdened by shame and desperate.
Too ashamed to ask for healing because she dared not utter a word about her shameful need or too afraid to ask for a touch of his hand because she felt unworthy, unclean. She was desperate and full of faith that if she could just touch the HEM, the very fringes of his garment, she would be healed.

So reached out...

At her touch, Jesus asked...who touched me? In the midst of this large crowd with many reaching out to him, it was this one woman's faith that drew Jesus' attention. As soon as she touched him, she was healed, but her shame held close to her like a thick cloak. The shame she had carried all those years was still weighing her down. Jesus wasn't content to let her be physically healed and still burdened by shame. He wanted ALL of her to be healed. So when she realized she couldn't hide in her shame any longer, in another act of desperation to rid herself of this burden, she fell at his feet.

She threw all that she was, shame and filth at his feet and laid it there. Jesus, seeing her faith and desperation, had compassion on her and lifted her up, blessing her and sent her on her way.
He had lifted that cloak and brought her into light. She was healed. Completely healed.

It was her faith that healed her by the power of God, but it was Jesus' grace that was extended to her to lift her out of her shame.

So what shame holds you back from healing and from the blessings that Jesus has for you? Where do you need to reach out for the fringes of His garment?

Where do you need to be desperate for Him to take control?

This story isn't just about physical healing. It's about so much more. It's about the realization that we can do nothing without Him. And even the fringes of His garment have more power flowing through them than anything within our power. We need Him. Desperately…..But will you reach out?

Playlist:

Healer- Kari Jobe

Beautiful Things-Gungor

Gravity- Shawn McDonald

Blessed be your name- Matt Redman

Did you feel the mountains tremble- Delirious

I am free- New Life Worship

Open Skies- David Crowder Band

Mighty to Save- Hillsongs

I have to believe- Rita Springer

I will wait for you there- Phil Wickham

Take my hand- Shawn McDonald

Right by my side- Jason Upton

Nothing but the blood- Hillsongs

Sit quietly...

Here are the notes from my holy yoga class yesterday. It was actually borrowed from Yahweh Yoga's site because it was so beautiful and spoke to me so much. I hope it speaks to you...

At the beginning of my class I opened reading it like this...

SIT QUIETLY IN HIS PRESENCE while He blesses you. Make your mind like a still pool of water, ready to receive whatever thoughts He drops into it. Rest in HIS sufficiency, as you consider the challenges this day presents. Do not wear yourself out by worrying about whether you can cope with the pressures. Keep looking to Him and communicating with Him, as you walk through this day and life together.

Take time to rest by the wayside, for He is not in a hurry. A leisurely pace accomplishes more than hurried striving. When you rush, you forget who you are and Whose you are. Remember that you are royalty in HIS kingdom.

Then at the end of the class, I read it like this...

SIT QUIETLY IN MY PRESENCE while I bless you. Make your mind like a still pool of water, ready to receive whatever thoughts I drop into it. Rest in My sufficiency, as you consider the challenges this day presents. Do not wear yourself out by worrying about whether you can cope with the pressures. Keep looking to Me and communicating with Me, as we walk through this day together.

Take time to rest by the wayside, for I am not in a hurry. A leisurely pace accomplishes more than hurried striving. When you rush, you forget who you are and Whose you are. Remember that you are royalty in My kingdom.

And here are the scriptures...

Psalms 37:7
"Rest in Jehovah, and wait patiently for him: Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

Romans 8:16
"The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God"

1 Peter 2:9
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Playlist:
Refuge by Darrell Evans
Nothing but the blood by Hillsong
I have to believe by Rita Springer
For freedom by Jimmy Needham
Father we need you by Seth Peterson
Freedom by Seth Peterson
Undignified by David Crowder
Right by my side by Jason Upton
Revelation Song by Kari Jobe
Your Beloved by Melissa Bent
Healer by Kari Jobe
Freedom Reigns by Jason Upton
King Eternal by Gye Nyame
Worth it All by Rita Springer

Storms...

Notes from my Saturday Holy Yoga class this last weekend..

When storms come, bringing trials and tests, we often run or hide.
But have you ever stopped to think? God might be there in your storm. Waiting for you.


His voice thunders from His throne as He calls out to the one He loves.
The light of His glory is dispersed so that His beloved will see His power.
The tears He has gathered and kept near to His heart are poured out in a drenching rain as a reminder of all the things He has brought you through. To remind you that you have not been forgotten.
His presence surrounds you like a rushing wind, engulfing every part of you, beckoning you to move with Him.
He is here. Calling to you, will you listen?
Your Creator, your King, longs to reach into the depths of your soul, the innermost dark places where your hurt, your fears and your anger reside.....and free you.
Will you let Him in?

Job 37:2
"Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth"
Sometimes God chooses to speak to you in an unsual way, but be sure that when He does...you're listening. Don't be distracted by the method He uses, but be sure to listen closely.

Psalms 97:4
"His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and tremble"
God longs to reveal himself to you. For you to SEE him and walk in reverent fear of the Lord. In what ways is God lighting up your world? In what ways is he showin himself to you, revealing His power?

Psalms 56:8
"You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? "
There is not one single tear that is forgotten. One moment of pain. One moment of struggle. He records each of them. Just as a parent aches for a hurting child, our Father aches even more so for us.

Acts 2:2
"And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting."
Let His presence rush over you and fill your life, your heart. Let Him sweep over you like a rushing wind, filling you up.

Playlist for class:

Praise you in this storm- Casting Crowns

At the Cross- Hillsong

For Freedom- Jimmy Needham

Dancing Generation- Matt Redman

Battle Cry- Nina Landis

This is how we overcome- Kevin Michael Gray

Undignified- David Crowder Band

Revelation Song- Kari Jobe

Right by my side- Jason Upton

Freedom Reigns- Jason Upton

Healer- Kari Jobe

Engage, hold fast and look up

This is the scriptures from my holy class a couple weeks ago. Enjoy and be Blessed!

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."

When we think of hope, we think of what we desire in this life. What we "hope" for in this life. But David speaks of a different hope,

Paslm 39:7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you."

David knew with the Lord, He had nothing to look for. He speaks of his hope being IN the Lord. This is where it should be. It's not bad for us to desire for things and pray that God will fulfill the desires of our hearts, but we are to put our hope IN HIM. This is most importannt.

Isaiah 40:31 NIV version says "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

The Lord restores those who put their hope IN Him. Not in the desires of their hearts, in the things of this world...IN Him.

In Chinese, the word for hope is made up of two radicals. One means "engage" which is defined as to "hold fast" and the other radical is to "look up".

So when we hope IN or FOR something we are engaging, holding fast and looking up to that object, person or desire. Then considering this translation and meaning, shouldn't our hope always be IN the Lord. So that when we engage ourselves, when we hold fast and look up, that it's all to the Lord?

Hope is what sustains the soul in the midst of trials and testing. It's what enables us to bear it all without complaint. If our hope is in anything else but the Lord, we will fall when we come to those trials and testing.

Not worthy...

Mark 16:15
"And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."

As we prepare to go to Belize both physically and spiritually, I've come to the realization of something that I had never thought of before...

I'm not worthy to proclaim the gospel to the whole creation, to anyone. I'm not worthy to speak the words of Jesus or even speak His name. It's just as John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:11, "...he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry." I'm not worthy.

But amazingly, God can take a sinner like me, clothed in filth and the scum of this world and not only save me, rescuing me from a very deserved eternal punishment, but also, by HIS grace, send me out into the nations to tell of His salvation, to proclaim HIS NAME. WOW, seriously?! God, are you sure about this one?! I'm truly amazed that He would bestow something so precious on someone like me. And I don't take it lightly.
My prayer on this trip is that I can please His heart by fulfilling what He has asked of me to do, and not with the words of my mouth, with which I would fail, but HIS words. It is only by Him and through Him, I am able to speak His name and tell of this gospel. So please pray for me and my team as we travel next week. Pray that we are the first gleam of light into a dark world. Pray that we will lay down our pride and flesh and walk in His Spirit and His humility. Please, just pray.
We are so undeserving of this gospel and even to speak of it, but by His grace, we are able to.

Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

slipping...

Like any other big event in your life, things are exciting and new following that event. Unfortunantly as life begins to settle back in and things go back to normal, you fall back in to old ways, old habits. When I came back from my HY retreat, I felt good. I had heard the Lord speaking to me, I felt Him working in me and have ever since. I know He's still pruning me and refining me, but I'm beginning to feel myself resisting, withdrawling. Old lies are starting to whisper again. And old feelings are welling up. I'm beginning to feel inadequate again and unfixable. Oh that word. Unfixable. I feel so much like much-afraid from that heart-wrenching book, Hinds feet on High Places. And it breaks my heart to admit that. I know all I can do is lay it back down on the altar and leave it there, but I'm so scared. Scared that if I lay down my desire to be a mom, if I don't constantly remind God of my desire to be a mom, He'll forget. Funny right? God forgetting. But that's my fear. I can feel my fingers clapsing tightly again to my desire and holding on for dear life. I want to let go. I want to leave it on the altar and continue to let my Creator prune me. But I'm just not sure I can. Maybe I should just stay here till I can. I'm sure eventually my fingers will tire from holding on so tightly that I'll have to let go. I know this is just a season and I'll make it through. Somehow.

It is enough. You are enough.

(This was the scriptures and what I shared from my first holy class. I'm thinking this is such an important lesson for all of us to remember, I might just do a repeat of it every couple months.)

Galatians 5:26 says, “Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.”

*Our goal in holy yoga is not to become like anyone else, except Jesus. We don’t need to be like the person to our left or outshine the person behind us. It’s about Jesus and His word calls for us not to become boastful because it’s not about us so what do we have to boast about!

Psalms 139:13-14
“For you formed my inward parts: you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made”.

*Where you are at in your practice and the vessel He has given you to do this practice is perfect because you were fearfully and wonderfully made. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb and He knows every part of you. He formed your inward parts, the innermost parts of you! Your Creator KNOWS you so why would you want to be anyone else. He created you JUST AS YOU ARE.

*Some will come to this class to exercise, some will come because they’re curious about this thing called Holy Yoga and some will come because they are hungry for something more and all of that is okay, but no matter why you are here…Jesus is here and it’s all about worshipping Him.

Psalms 150:6 says “Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord”.

*If you haven't realized it, WE HAVE BREATH, therefore we are called to praise him!! This is our charge! Here on our mats, we are to worship Him so it doesn't matter if we can't do every pose or we fall when doing dancer. We are here to Praise the Lord, our Creator, our Savior.

*So remember in your practice that where you are at is okay and you don’t need to be anyone else or be anywhere else.

As we learned at our teacher training...

“It is enough” and “You are enough”.

He will never leave you or forsake you...

So I've decided to blog the scriptures from my Holy Yoga Classes so that those of you that can't be there or miss some of the classes can still feel a part of it and those that were there can have the scriptures that I referenced in class. I only have some of the classes' scriptures because I can't seem to find my notes from the other days, but I'll share what I have. :D

Here is the first class...

Deut. 31:6

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

-The word strong here in hebrew is "Chazaq" which is translated to "fasten upon" and also sometimes translated to fortified. I love the word fortified. BE FORTIFIED! Don't let things waiver you! Be unpenatrable.

-Then it's followed by "Be courageous" or translated to "steadfastly minded".

*So right at the beginning this scripture says...Fasten upon, BE FORTIFIED and STEADFASTLY minded.

-This strength that this verse refers to us is not OUR strength though. It is not dependent upon our abilities or what we have within us because if it was, we would fail!

Eph. 6:10

"Finally be strong IN THE LORD and in the strength of HIS might."

*It's in HIS might, not ours. We are to be strong IN HIM! For where does our strength come from. So not only are our minds steadfast, but we are strong in the Lord!

Col. 3:2

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

*In order for us to have steadfast minds, our minds must be set on things above. ON THE LORD. There is no other way. When our minds are set on earthly things, we get distracted and lose our way and we fall into a life of sin and unrepentance.

-In Greek, LEAVE in this verse translates to "give up" and in Hebrew to "let sink" or "loosen your grip".

-FORSAKE, in Greek often translates to "leave helpless" or "totally abandon" and in Hebrew one of the translations is to "leave behind".

*These are His promises to us and they are always the same. When we trust in Him and His promise of always being with us, what do we have to fear? We are to be strong in His might, not fearing anything, for the Lord, Yahweh, is walking by our side! He will not let us sink, nor loosen His grip on us, letting us drown. We might feel like the water is closing in around us and we are loosing all the life within us, but He is always there and will NEVER leave us helpless. He will NEVER abandon us or turn His back on us.

*Stand on His promises. Cling to the hope we have in Him and trust in His unconditional love for us. He is with us!

Are you not of more value than they?

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

Matt. 6:26

Such simple words to understand, right? But so often we discount the promises of God to provide and never leave us or forsake us. I often pray a prayer for God to provide, meet my need or give me an answer, only to turn and try to make it happen on my own. That's my specialty...fixing things, making things happen, planning. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, God doesn't always think my best made plans or "fixing" ability is always that great! :D

Well, despite my lack of faith and my controlling behavior, God showed (yet again) His faithfulness and love for me. Let me explain...

Our church is going on a medical/school building missions trip at the end of June to Belize and after talking and praying about it we felt like we were supposed to go on the trip. Aside from the missions outreach side of it, we've got some exciting opportunities that might open up from this trip so we felt strongly that we were supposed to go. Easy enough. LOL. Well, after doing our taxes and saving some money we were able to raise over half our money for our trip. That is until two weeks ago, the week before I left for my Holy Yoga immersion retreat. Within a couple days during that week, all the money we had saved up disappeared through a series of unfortunate events. We had a friend of my husband's steal money from us, unexpected things came up and our tax return was taken to be applied to a previous tax year that we owed on (even though we had already been set up on an installment agreement for it). So we were back to square one. Well, we had no other choice but to talk to our pastor and tell him that we probably wouldn't be able to go on the trip after all. Obviously after all this, we began to really think, talk and pray about whether or not we were really supposed to be on this trip or was it just us trying to make something happen because of our own desires. But after everything, we continued to feel this tugging on our hearts that we were supposed to be there. SO we prayed about it and decided to do as Gideon did before going into battle and put a fleece before God. We decided to completely put it in God's hands and said, "Lord if you want us to go on this trip, we pray that you will provide!"

To back up a little, my husband bought this awful, ugly, old van while I was in Phoenix in October and although we were blessed to have it, I have been itching to get rid of it ever since! So we decided to go ahead and put it up for sale as our fleece before God. We prayed, "God if you want us to go on this missions trip, help us sell this van for what we need to". The next day, Mike put a sign on our van and within a few hours, we sold it and got the money we needed for it.

Well, this all happened before I left for my immersion so we were definitely feeling like we were supposed to be on this trip!! I mean what better sign did we need right? But falling back into my old habits, I began to worry AGAIN because I'd be taking a week off work for my Holy Yoga immersion and we only had a week left to raise the money. So we just agreed to fervently pray and put it in God's hands, trusting that if He wanted us in Belize in June, we'd be there!

While in Minneapolis for my Holy Yoga immersion, I got a phone call from my husband telling me that we got our money back that his "friend" stole. Praise God!! Are you serious?! We had been trying for about a month to get this money from him, with no luck! How cool is that? So we began to run the numbers and figure out how we can save and what we could do to raise the rest of the money....yet again, going back to "How can I fix it?” Well, then I got another call from my husband telling me that someone gave anonymously to us for our missions trip and we were completely paid for! I was SPEECHLESS!! I was so overwhelmed with emotion because here I am wavering back and forth in my faith and trust that God would provide and that He was indeed calling us to go on this trip...AND HE DID IT! Oh Stephanie of little faith! As you can tell, I feel both blessed and humbled!

I mean what an amazing testimony of God’s willingness and faithfulness to meet our needs and intervene when we need him the most, even when I am human and feeble and fleshly...He is there! And just as the birds of the air, He provides!

So June 25th we will be leaving for Belize for a week. I am both excited and intrigued to see what God has in store of us and our team! It is obviously going to be an amazing trip and my heart is overjoyed that I get to be a part of it! Thank you Jesus!

I am Holy Yoga Certified and here is my journey...

March 3rd, I started an amazing and life transforming journey and as of this last Sunday (May 8th), I am a Certified Holy Yoga Instructor as a result of that journey! Even though that is a miracle and blessing in itself to be HY certified, luckily that's not all I got out of it.
Throughout this training and our immersion retreat last week, I have found a new love for reading and devouring the bible. I have learned this beautiful way of reading the Word that opens it up in a new way and I am in love!!
As our immersion week began and I made my way to Minneapolis, I began to really worry about being able to weave the word into my Holy Yoga classes in a way that spoke to others, like it spoke to me. I was starting to feel like I wasn't good enough, like I didn't have the ability to do this and my practice wasn't good enough. But as the week went on, the AMAZING sisters that I was surrounded by continued to pour truth and life into me and I felt this weight lift off me and the slogan of our retreat became,

"It is enough." "YOU are enough!"

And that stuck deep in me! It released me from the expectations I put on myself that I'll never be good enough and I was able to say, "Jesus, I give you my best and I know that is enough!". And the cool thing is when I came home I found the scripture Gal. 5:26, "Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another", which just fit PERFECTLY and quickly became my favorite verse for my practice.

So getting back to my journey....last week was AMAZING!! Every time we'd get into a yoga session, it was just unexplainable! Those that know me, know that I'm not one to say God SPOKE something to me, specifically, but this week...He did! One night, while we were in a yoga session, we were laying in corpse pose and usually I would put my hands on my stomach (in my reproductive area) to stimulate positive energy and focus positive thoughts on all those organs. Well, I began to feel the Lord say to me that what started as a good thing became a way for me to guard and protect myself and I needed to let go and lay on His altar and let Him do heart surgery on me. WOW, weird and so very hard, right?! I thought, “I can’t be that vulnerable!” But after many tears and crying out to God, I laid it all out there and physically took my hands off my stomach and put them on the ground beside me. Can I just say, this was one of the HARDEST things I've ever had to do! But as I did it, I felt Him COVER me with His presence. It was like our HY sister, Jen Miller said, He is never closer than when He is pruning and working on us and it was so true! I KNEW He was close! So after that session was over, I sat in a place of silence before God and felt Him say..."okay, good job, but I'm not done and just like a surgery can take longer than expected...I'm not done with you." Wow, great! I’ve got more coming?!
So a couple nights later, during another yoga session, He began to do more work on me and I have to say...it was painful, actually painful!! Brooke had posed the question, what is it we need to give up? Later that night we were going to do a bonfire and burn whatever it was so she asked what was that one word we needed to burn. So I had been thinking and praying a lot about what I needed to let go of. Naturally, for me, the first thing that came to mind was the word, "Infertile". But while I lay in pigeon pose that night in our yoga session, I felt the Lord begin to speak to me again. He said, "I want you to go deeper." That I not only claimed I was infertile and believed this about myself, but that I wore a cloak of INFERTILITY as my identity and who I was and more than that...that I believed that the Lord COULD NOT AND WOULD NOT heal me and fix me. I believed I was UNFIXABLE! So as I laid in pigeon, I felt the Lord dig deep and begin to prune, deep down inside me...pulling out old feelings, hurt, lies and just filth that I had let root deep down in me and IT HURT! I literally felt the very depths of me crying out in agony as I cried because so much of who I had become was being ripped away. But just as Jen said, He is never closer than when He is pruning and working on us and even through all this pain, I felt He was close!

Now oddly enough, I didn't think of this till later, but for those that don't know (me included at the time), the place you store up most emotional issues is in your hips (especially women) so it's interesting that that's what I was working on in that pose, was the deep stuff in my hips. HMM. So after letting go and just letting God work on me, I felt another HUGE weight lift off me. All these years of lies and sorrow and pain and heartache begin to dissolve away. It was freeing! More freedom that I had ever felt before!

So that night, when we burned our words in the fire and I burned mine

UNFIXABLE

Because it's a lie and I will no longer live in that lie!
So needless to say, last week was AMAZING and freeing and beautiful, but I know it’s only the beginning of this TOTAL transformation of my life and heart. My prayer is that I can hold on to it though! That as the enemy tries to bring back those lies and whisper to those dark places that I'll be able to cling to God's promises and His Word and OVERCOME!

I can't begin to tell y'all how good God is and how thankful I am for the sisters He brought into my life last week!!
To my HY sisters….

To those that held me, hugged me and loved me, thank you! To those that encouraged me and spoke truth and life into me, thank you! And especially to the Core Team & instructors...thank you for being such amazing women of God that I can look up to and for listening and being obedient to the calling of God on your lives! I’m so blessed to be a part of an amazing ministry and I can’t wait for the healing and transformations God is going to bring through it!

~Lots of love~

I had to let her go...

Yesterday afternoon at about 4:30pm my mama (grandmother) finally breathed her last breath. She had been struggling to breath even being on the oxygen machine at 100% and she was so miserable and in pain on it that we decided to take her off of it and try to make her comfortable. For a little while after being off of the bipap, she stabilized and we thought she might do okay, but about an hour and a half later her stats began to drop. As I sat watching her heartrate fall and her breathing begin to slow, my heart dropped along with hers. She was dying and I knew I had to let go. Her frail hand in mine, I cried. I knew she was more comfortable without being on the bipap and she was no longer in pain. I knew that she was going to a better place where she could dance and worship Jesus like she loved to do. It was just hard. It was hard to accept that her presence in this world was ending.

So I told her how much I loved her and it was okay to go be with Jesus and my papa. Then, with God’s help, I let her go. And in her sleep, she peacefully took her last few breaths as my husband and I stood by her bedside. I’m glad I was there to hold her hand and to say my last goodbyes. I’m glad I was there so she wouldn’t be alone.

Today I came back to my mom’s house, where she lived. And as I walked in, I was overwhelmed with a flood of emotions as the reality of it all hit me. Her favorite cereal and cookies still sits in the cabinet and her reading glasses are still on the table. There are so many pieces of her life laying around that it’s hard not to do anything without being reminded of her. But I wouldn’t trade those memories, those reminders of her for anything. She was an amazing woman, wife, mother, grandmother and friend and I feel so honored that she loved me and she was a part of my life. My heart may hurt because I miss her, but my spirit is glad she finally made it home! Mama, you will be missed, but I know I’ll see you again someday! Give papa a big kiss for me…

My second home at the hospital...

I forget what day it is or how long I’ve been sitting here in this uncomfortable chair. I think it’s become such a part of me that I’ll leave a permanent mold of my body behind when I get up. Usually when Friday comes along, I’m so excited for the weekend that I don’t need to be reminded what day it is. Unfortunately, that’s not the case today. Nothing is exciting about today.
Early Wednesday morning I was startled awake by a phone call from my mother telling me my mama (grandmother) had collapsed and my mom was going to have to rush her to the hospital. Panic stricken, I rushed to get dressed and as soon as my sister picked up my nieces from me, I went to meet my mom. At the time we didn’t know why, but I guess it all started with a cold. It’s rather unnerving to think that something as simple as a cold can turn so serious. Apparently, I guess the cold turned into pneumonia and the infection is pretty bad in one of her lungs and she collapsed as a result. Walking into that ER and seeing my frail mama laying there with tubes and wires sprouting like ugly weeds was heartbreaking. I felt like her beautiful life was slipping through my fingers already and no amount of grip would be able to hold on to her.
Three days later, I’m thankful for the time I have had with her. Both in the hospital and through the years but even though I’m glad for the time we’ve had, I’m not any more comforted. She’s in the ICU and it’s not looking good. Her stats keep dropping and the doctors don’t sound optimistic. The truth is I know that if it’s her time to go that my great and mighty God will protect her and keep her safe, but my heart still hurts. At one point last night her stats dropped so much we thought we were losing her. As we all stood around her bedside, sobbing, I was reminded me of how scared I am to lose her. She’s always been such a big part of my life and it’s hard to let go. I know when or if the time comes, God will give me the strength, but that still doesn’t negate that my human flesh is weak.
To many it may seem odd to write a blog about all this, but as I sit here, alone, in this eerily, quiet room, I feel my thoughts overwhelming me. My sister and husband are at work, my mom is home trying to get herself and things together. And I’m here. The only noise is the constant alarms on her monitors setting me on edge. I’m clinging to hope. Hope that if it’s not her time, God will heal her and make her well. Hope that if it is her time, he’ll take her home in peace and not pain. Hope that God is with me and will give me strength.

Seeing the countryside...

The past few days have been simply relaxing and restorative! My wonderful uncle has driven us around to see parts of England that most don't get the pleasure to see. And of course I've taken pictures CONSTANTLY! The English countryside is spectacular! Along with seeing much of the countryside, he also took us to see many historic cities and towns in the area. We've been to Warwick to see the Warwick Castle (a beautiful medieval castle built in the 11th century). We've also gotten to see the Cotswold area (Chipping Camden), with its charming buildings and lovely little town! We visited Leamington, known for its luxurious spas, where the royals would go spend their vacations to relax. And we’ve also seen many other towns and areas that I can't remember the names of. Needless to say it's been a great experience! Of course we wanted to see London and the sights there but we simply ran out of time and actually it was quite nice, like I said, to see places that most "tourists" don't see.
I have to say though, as AMAZING as this trip has been and we've had an absolute BLAST…we are ready to be home! We miss our own bed, having a car, not being lost, having a washer and dryer and not living out of a suitcase….not to mention we miss family and friends! Even the family and friends that are far away because at least we could talk to them fairly often. So we are so very thankful and blessed to have had this trip but we will be glad to be on the plane headed back to the states tomorrow! Now we just have to pray for safe and smooth travel!

Coventry, England

Day 9

Well, we actually didn't get to do much on our last day in Italy. We woke up early to finish a little laundry before we left, but the dryer ended up taking 3 hours to dry our clothes so we were pretty much stuck in the hotel waiting for our laundry to finish. Obviously, this put a damper on the last day because we had some things planned to see before we flew out.
Once our laundry was finished and we got checked out of the hotel, we decided to make the most of the rest of our time so we headed to Rome to shop a bit before we left.....that didn't work out too well either. We wanted to find a belt for Mikey but we couldn't find what he wanted anywhere so we got back on the train and headed for the airport early (or so we thought).
On the train to the airport, thinking we were going to be about 2 hours early, I realized we were actually only going to get to the airport about an hour before departure because I misread the itinerary and flight time. Once we arrived at the airport we were sent to the wrong terminal SO we nearly killed ourselves dragging luggage through the huge airport, checking in and racing through customs and security to our gate. We managed to arrive at our gate 5 minutes before departure to find that NO ONE WAS THERE! Of course, by this time I'm almost panicking. Luckily 2 other people arrived at the same time (obviously as late as we were) and we all realized they had moved to another gate. So we finally found the right gate and got on the airplane barely in time for departure.......and then....we ended up sitting on the plane for almost an hour because there was a security issue with one of the bags on the plane! Unbelievable right?! Yea, great last day in Italy! LOL....BUT LUCKILY we made it to London safely and got checked into our hotel around 11pm.

Day 10
Luckily, today was a relaxing day, especially after the day we had yesterday! We woke up late, fixed breakfast and then was picked up by my uncle around noon. It was great to see him and quite an experience to drive through London and see the scenery on the way to Coventry. Coventry, where he lives, is in the countryside about 2 hours outside of London so it was a pretty drive! Once we got into the area we went to eat and then spent the rest of the day just talking and catching up. It was a good day and I'm so happy for the time we're getting with my uncle!!

Picking up where I left off...

I'm a few days behind, but I'll try to fill in the gaps....

Day 6-

Our last full day in Venezia.....Luckily, despite the weather forecast calling for rain the entire time we were in Venice, we were blessed with fairly clear skies! It was obviously cold and a bit overcast, but nevertheless we counted our blessings for no rain and especially no more sickness!
We started our day with visiting the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia, the Doge's Palace, constructed in early 1300. For those that don’t know the Doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Not only was this a palace, but it was also a prison for a period of time and was graced with the presence of none other than, Giacomo Casanova (who apparently escaped through the roof, re-entered the palace and was let out). Great addition to the prison, wouldn’t you say? LOL. During our tour of the palace, not only did we get to see the rooms and council halls where members of the government met, but we also had the chance to tour the prison cells. It was intriguing to see the vast difference (obviously) between the extremely luxurious and lavish living and social quarters of the elite inside the palace and the bitter desolation and ghastly conditions of the cells below. We were bundled up in coats and other winter attire and we still froze as we explored the prison cells….I can’t imagine how it was for those prisoners that made their beds down there!
After touring the Palazzo Ducale, we decided to spend the rest of our day shopping and walking the streets of Venice. We didn’t really get much accomplished when it came to shopping, but we did manage to try some delicious desserts and pastries as we simply spent time relaxing, sipping cappuccinos. It was wonderful!


Day 7-

We woke up early, packed our bags and headed for Verona. I know many feel a trip to Verona is senseless, seeing as the even existence of Romeo and Juliet is debatable, however….this hopeless romantic couldn’t resist at least seeing the place with which one of my favorite movies is based upon. So we hopped on the train, left our bags at the baggage deposit in the train station and maneuvered our way down to the Casa di Giulietta (House of Juliet). If nothing else, I saw the house for which Shakespeare’s inspiration stemmed from and the filming location for several movies. Touring the Capulet house was definitely interesting, at least for me. I guess I imagined a more grand residence, especially considering the way it is depicted in the movies, and yet in its own way, it was still beautiful! Maybe it was the romanticism behind the old walls, I don’t know…but I enjoyed it! We also saw La Tomba di Giulietta (the tomb of Juliet), which was both interesting and a little creepy. I guess I’m just not accustomed to seeing death from that side, but the care they took in burying their loved ones was touching.
After seeing some of Verona, we got on our train to Firenze. Unfortunately, our train from Verona was running about a half hour late, which in turn made us late for our connecting train in Bologna. Luckily during this time, we met a kind older Italian lady, from Tennessee, but whose parents were from Italy. Apparently, her family has a villa in Sicily and after talking with her for close to 2 ½ hours, she actually gave us her card and invited us to stay at her family’s villa any time we wanted to. So we actually got a nice surprise out of the whole ordeal! After finally being put on a train in Bologna to Firenze, we arrived in Firenze and checked in to our hotel. I will say, we’ve been blessed to stay at some nice hotels and this one was nice as well…..but odd. There is a bidet (or at least I think it was a bidet….mikey thinks otherwise) and a shower and sink in the room with you, with carpeted floors! Odd yea? Anyways, after such a long day, we ate dinner and called it a night.


Day 8-

We woke up early and headed to Pisa…debating whether or not it was worth the time and money, we decided the leaning tower would be a sight we’d hate to miss, even if we were disappointed. Fortunately, we weren’t! I thought it was fascinating to see this world famous faux-paw! Plus the design and architecture of the building is magnificent! Sadly, the majority of the places we’ve visited have been under some sort of reconstruction or repair so there have been scaffolding and various construction platforms around them, but it was still great to see! After walking around taking pictures of the leaning tower, the church and the original city walls and gates to Pisa, we came back to Firenze.
Once back in Firenze, we shopped a bit and found a charming little ristorante with lovely outside seating, called Za Za. Man, was I happy to find this place! It was probably the best food I’ve had since we arrived in Italy! In fact, it was so good I bought their cookbook and Mikey had the cook sign it for me! So now I’ll get the chance to attempt to make these yummy Italian dishes at home!

There's no place like Venice...

Day 5...

Today was our first full day in Venezia (Venice) and we fell in love with it even more today! Particularly because I felt WAY better today and it didn't rain at all! Well, we really began our day by sleeping in. Great way to start the day, don’t you say?! We decided I had been sick for days and we had been getting up early almost every morning since we left so we reckoned we deserved a day to sleep in! Once we woke up, we lazily wandered downstairs for colazione (breakfast) and realized that apparently we were the only ones around here that go to breakfast in our pjs. Oh well! They’ll never see us again, right? So we ate a nice yummy Italian breakfast with pastries and jams and yogurt. It’s actually been a similar yummy breakfast each morning, however, this morning I could actually enjoy it!

After finishing breakfast, we headed down the streets of Venezia to go to Saint Mark’s Basilica, built in 828AD (After getting dressed out of our pjs, of course!). Saint Mark’s was rather different then some of the previous churches we had seen because the interior was all done in byzantine mosaics. It actually was originally the church for the Venetian rulers and stood/still stands as a symbol of wealth and power here because of the elaborate mosaics. Unfortunately, they were doing some restorations on the front of the church so I was unable to take many great pictures of the outside because of the scaffolding but you can bet I got some pretty good ones inside!

Afterwards, we got on the vaporetta and headed to the Galleria Ca’Rezzonico, an art gallery. It was fascinating to see artwork from centuries ago even though we’re not “art people”! We then went and grabbed lunch and I had my first Italian panino. It was a panino kebab and it was molto bene! Obviously, very good!

Following our delicious lunch, we stopped by a lovely little church we stumbled upon and walked around in it for a bit. I can never get enough of the beauty and history that these churches hold so whenever we’re given the chance, we check ‘em out!

After window shopping for a while, we finally decided to try out a gondola ride because what’s a Venice trip without a gondola ride, right? Luckily, my husband is a good negotiator….I guess the car and real estate business has really taught him a lot! He managed to work the gondolier down from 125 Euros to 70 Euros. So we hopped on and went for a romantic gondola ride. The whole ride and scenery really was picturesque! It was (oddly) a quiet night so as we glided down the smooth water of the small canals, all you could hear was the church bells ringing in the distance. Every once in a while the kind little gondolier would speak up saying, “scusi”, and would point out a famous or historical building for us to see. We saw the Doge’s Palace, which was also once a prison, the house of Giaccomo Casanova and several other local Venetian sights. It’s been pretty cold here in Venice….mostly 20s & 30s, but that didn’t ruin our gondola ride. In fact, it just made us snuggle up even closer and enjoy the ride even more! It was truly a magnificent experience and the perfect end to our day!

Day 2, 3, 4...

(Not taken by me because we couldn't take pictures, but I figured I'd show you a photo of the Catacombe di Priscilla...which you'll learn about below.)

Wow...I have so much to tell...

Our second day in Rome...

After breakfast, we decided to go to Le Catacombe di Priscilla, which dated back to the Second Century AD and is ran by the Benedictines of Priscilla (nuns for those like me that wouldn't have figured that one out). Just getting to the catacombs was half the adventure, bearing in mind we were able to walk everywhere on our first day in Rome. So we moseyed down to the train station (il treno stazione) and after some typical touristic behavior, figured out which bus we needed to take and hopped on. Unfortunately, getting on the bus wasn’t even the hard part, it was trying to figure out which stop was the right stop and once we did that, we had to try and figure out which street was the right street to go down….obviously we didn’t have a map. Luckily, I’ve been trying to learn Italian for a little while now so my limited Italian knowledge came in handy. We actually had a kind old Italian man (God bless them!) walk us down the street and point to where we needed to go. So we found our way to Le Catacombe di Priscilla fairly well and made our way inside. I don't think it's the oldest catacombs, nor the biggest but we found it to be pretty interesting nonetheless! It was 3 miles long total, 40,000 tombs and 3 stories deep under the villa of the noble Roman family, Acilius Glabrio. Apparently early on Christians, Jews and other outcasts weren't allowed to be buried within the city walls of Rome so they had to bury them in catacombs such as this one. Apparently these tombs were made out of some sort of soft volcanic material. The body was wrapped in a shroud, laid in these small little burial tombs and then sealed with marble slabs. Unfortunately, the catacombs were raided many years ago and most of the bodies and relics were stolen. They do have a bunch of tombs though that are still in tack (body and all) and even a couple tombs just partially opened that have the bones still very visible. LOL....that was obviously a little creepy for us.
After visiting the disturbingly fascinating catacombs, we decided to go grab lunch and then head to Vatican City. Unfortunately, they close earlier during winter months so we weren’t able to see everything, but we’re hoping to go again at the end of our trip to see what we missed. However, what we did see was breathtaking! Even just standing in the Piazza di San Pietro, you are in awe! You see this place in movies, on the news and in books, but you never imagine you’ll be standing there. For one thing, the architecture is stunning, not to mention the history that it is founded on is again, mind boggling. One big fact that I learned that I didn’t know about the Vatican City is that it is its own sovereign country and is the smallest nation in the world. Guess you learn something new every day, huh?! Maybe someone else will be surprised by that information as well. After taking pictures (of course) and standing in awe for a while in the Piazza, we jumped in the extremely long line to get into the Basilica. Once inside, we were again in awe….which seems to happen a lot on this trip. It was just too much to put into word and really no amount of words would do it justice! Luckily, I did take a lot of pictures, but even those won’t fully suffice. I’ll be sure to share them with y’all though so you can see a bit of what we saw.
Afterwards, we strolled down the main street and happened to stumble upon the Castel Sant'Angelo. Yea, I know you’re thinking, how do you stumble upon a Castle? Well, Rome has built up so much that you don’t see many of the sights until you are right up on them. So we decided to check it out and wow were we glad we did! Apparently, it originally was a mausoleum (built around 130AD) for the Roman Emperor and his family. But later it was used as a prison and then as a castle and fortress for the popes. Obviously now, it’s a museum. :)
So that was an exciting find, which pretty much leads us to the end of day two.

Day Three…

We were SUPPOSED to wake up at 6am and catch the early train to Perugia where I had a special anniversary surprise for Mikey. However, considering how sick I’ve been on and off and how tired we both were, we overslept and didn’t wake up until 9am. So we kicked it in high gear, checked out of our hotel and jumped a train to 9:50am train to Perugia. Obviously, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds, but I’ll spare you the boring details. The train to Perugia was rather unadventurous, mostly because I was sick the whole way, but Mike was pleasantly surprised at what I had waiting for him once we arrived.
For our 7th year anniversary, I had booked a stay at the Castello Di Monterone, a beautiful castle in Perugia. It was built to be a military base (I’m not sure of the date it was built), but around the 13th century was bought by a nobleman. I’m sure there was more history to it than that but I was sick most of the short time we were there so I wasn’t really able to learn all that much about it. BUT it was an amazing place and we were glad we got the chance to stay there, even for a short time.

Day Four…

We woke up, ON TIME, this morning and checked out of our hotel to catch the train to Venice. The train ride was a bit of a journey (about 5 hours), but I think we are getting the hang of things around here and it’s getting easier to get from one train or bus to another. Luckily, I’ve been feeling “a little” better today also so that made it easier as well. Despite the rain we were greeted with when we arrived in Venice, we both really like it here so far! Once we checked into our hotel and dropped off our luggage we headed out, arm in arm, down the rainy streets of Venice to find something to eat. We found a cute little ristorante with some yummy minestrone zuppa….good for a weak stomach and a cold rainy night! And of course, Mikey had to try their pizza. His goal was to try pizza from every town/city we went to that way he could decide which had the best. So far….Venice. We’ll see if that vote withstands the rest of our time here. After eating, we headed back to the hotel because it was getting really dreary out, but not without first stopping along the way to window shop. It’s amazing to me that the streets here are so full of life and character, even in the rain! And there are so many shops! There are Venetian mask shops everywhere! And dolci shops (desserts) and places to shop for clothes & boots! :) Ahh…it’s great! I’ll definitely be taking plenty of pictures to share. I think we’ve found our favorite place!!

P.S. I promise I'll be sure to share pictures of all this ones I get home. I doubt I'll have time before then.

Buon giorno!

Well, we made it. And our arrival definitely didn’t lack excitement or a true Italian welcome. We arrived in Rome yesterday at about 7:45am and FINALLY got our luggage and got out of the airport around 8:45pm. We managed to get ourselves on the right train to the main station in Rome, called the Termini, despite the mass confusion. That in itself was an experience. We arrived at the platform in the station to await our train and as the train arrives, we realize the 50-75 people standing just in our nearby vicinity were going to rush the same tiny 25 inch door within a matter of seconds! So with two 50 pound bags, 2 carry on bags, and a laptop bag, we pushed our way through to the miniature door, like a lively bunch of canned sardines. Despite having to haul our “light” load up the steep steps of the train while the door kept shutting on us, we managed to safely and quickly find seats.
Once we arrived to the Termini in Rome and walked out onto the streets, we realized the real adventure had begun. We had directions to the hotel but could not find any street signs to tell us which direction to start walking…So with bags in tow, we just guessed. Luckily within a block or two we stumbled upon some very nice older Italian men that were kind enough to confirm that our guess was correct and directed us to rest of the way. In fact, we were greeted several times walking down the street with individuals happy to guide us on our way. And surprisingly with no gratuity expected. Unfortunantly, the 700m that google maps said it was to our hotel was a little off. (For those that don’t know that’s almost a half mile.) Apparently we came out of the opposite end of the train station, therefore our half a mile walk became more like a mile walk, pulling our suitcases THE WHOLE WAY! Luckily, our hotel was fairly easy to find and upon entering the elegant little hotel we were greeted by a very nice Italian man who was sincerely happy to see us. Immediately he sat us down for some water and a warm cappuccino while he carried our suitcases up 3 stories of stairs!! Poor guy. And even though our arrival was several hours earlier than check in, he had it cleaned immediately so we wouldn’t have to wait long.
After quickly cleaning up and changing, we headed back out to sightsee. The realization that we’re in Rome still hadn’t quite set in till we saw the Colosseo. It was at that moment that I finally began to really believe we were here. To think that we were standing where the ancient Romans stood and gladiators fought was captivating. The history that we walked upon just boggled my mind.
We had read that we should go to the Roman Forum first and get tickets there and then we would avoid the long lines at the Colosseo, however in our eagerness to see the Colosseo we decided to just try our luck there first. Surprisingly, the line actually wasn’t that bad. I think we waited for about a half hour before getting our tickets. The experience though was, yet again, a true Italian experience. Much to my surprise, there were a lot of Italians waiting in the line. I guess I figured it’d be mostly tourists at sites like this. So not only were we packed into a very small area with a massive amount of people trying to get to a few small ticket windows, but all we heard around us was Italian. And you’d think they would have a better system of lines set up to accommodate the large crowds that come to see it, but that wasn’t the case. So we pushed and shoved our way to the ticket counter (not an exaggeration in any way) along with all the others and finally got our tickets to get in. And we were not disappointed. Wow, what a sight! The Colosseo was amazing! I probably could have walked around there all day taking pictures and still been just as enthralled as I was when we first entered it. We even saw animal bones from bears, boars and horses that they excavated from the site, confirming some of the types of animals they used. It was just amazing!
After spending a couple hours at the Colosseo, we ventured down to the Palatino and Foro Romano. Along the way, we decided to grab lunch and had the change to experience our first REAL Italian pizza! Yummy!
We decided not to get any kind of tour guide for the Palatino or Foro Romano, but just walking around seeing the ancient ruins was a history lesson enough. Plus occasionally, we’d join up with a tour group and eavesdrop to help fill in the blanks about information we didn’t know.
The rest of our day, we spent walking around these impressive ruins and Capitoline Hill, just soaking in everything we could. We walked the famous Capitol steps, designed by Michelangelo himself and even got to tour the inside of the churches there!
After walking till our feet hurt, we decided to head back to the hotel to relax for a bit. (We had only slept for about 3 hours on the plane and had been traveling for over 24 hours) After cleaning up and relaxing for a bit, we ventured out for dinner. Walking the Italian streets at night was everything I imagined and had seen in the movies. It was kind of magical and I loved it! We stumbled upon a cute little hole in the wall Italian restaurant, where we had our first actual Italian meal provided by a very kind old man and his wife. Mmm…it was delicious! Cheese raviolis with meat sauce & a huge calzone, plus fresh bread and homemade Tiramisu! It was great! Following dinner, we picked up a cappuccino and headed back to the hotel. Even though we didn’t want our day to end yet, we decided we’d call it a night so we’d be well rested and prepared for the next day. Therefore, concluding our first day in Rome. It’s been remarkable to say the least so far and we can’t wait to see what else Italy has for us!
Arrivederci!

Italia!!!

Our Italia adventure has begun...

As we've traveled through the airports today, performing the necessary security requirements, I’ve been reminded of one thing.....a lot has changed in 7 years! Especially in regards to our country and the security measures they take now.
For those that don't know, we'll be celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary this Wednesday.....hence our trip to Italy. Therefore, it has been 7 years since we've gone out of the country (our honeymoon to Mazatlan, Mexico). Obviously we've flown domestic flights since then but it wasn't until we suffered through the whole gauntlet of flying international that I realized how much things had changed. And what's worse...anyone that knows me knows that I'm completely incapable of traveling light! It’s just not in my nature. To imagine packing just one color boots is unthinkable and trying to plan my outfits ahead of time is an impossible feat for me, leaving me to pack several outfits for EACH DAY. Yes, I know it’s exhausting….even to me. So you can imagine the trail of luggage Mikey has had to endure through check-ins, security check points and from gate to gate. Although, believe it or not, Mikey brought just as many bags as I did, all the same size. So it’s not just this clothing obsessed person that has caused our shoulders to ache and our feet to hurt.
Anyways, getting back to my traveling realization….security! Whether you fly international or domestic, we’ve all probably encountered the horrid x-ray machines. Well, being weary of said machinery . we decided we’d opt out of the x-ray machines and take the embarrassing yet healthier route of the pat down option. Well, lucky for me I didn’t get chosen, which is odd because usually I do, but Mikey did. So he had the pleasure of getting felt up by a complete stranger in the middle of the airport. And if you know Mikey, he’s really ticklish! I mean SUPER ticklish! So it was only a matter of seconds after the pat down began that Mikey began to giggle, not laugh….giggle. I’m sure at this point the TSA agent was either really concerned or hating his job and thinking he had a security threat on his hands. So Mikey says to the guy, “sorry, I’m ticklish”. Well, as the guy continues his pat down/feel up (whichever you prefer), Mikey continues to giggle to the point that the TSA agent can’t help but laugh. Apparently though, it looks a little “odd” if a TSA agent is performing a VERY hands on pat down and is laughing because he told Mikey, “they can’t see me laugh”. Obviously once Mikey was “clear” the TSA agent joked around with us about it, but I guess I never gave much thought to Mikey’s fellow CWATs (Comrades who are ticklish). Not only are you embarrassed to stand there while a TSA agent gets up close and personal without buying you dinner first, but then if you’re someone who is ticklish, it’s a whole new experience.
Needless to say, today has been an amusing and good start to our trip. I’m glad that I have my amazing and loving marito by my side. He finds a way to make everything funny and makes traveling anything but boring. I can’t wait to see what else we encounter! It’ll definitely be a trip to remember!

Arrivederci USA, Salve Italia!