EPCOT

One of the things they asked on our way into Disney on Monday night was was does EPCOT stand for? One person said "every one comes out tired". That's so true (although I think it's true for all the other parks as well). Really it stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. It's been many years since I've been to EPCOT and I really don't remember anything about it at all. We had a lot of fun yesterday & made ourselves quite woozy several times. First ride... about puked.

Mission Space.

It was a great "idea" of a ride, but when you get older like me & Corby, our stomach just can't handle it anymore. You choose how intense you want your training to be. Green is less intense & orange in more intense. No knowing how "intense" it really was, we chose the orange experience. You sit in a simulated spaceship, very tight, enclosed space with a screen & lots of control panels in front of you. You are turned upside down & blasted at g-force speeds into space while you are on a mission to Mars. It's so realistic (or at least what I think is realistic of being blasted into space). They even have barf bags on the ride. I'm really curious to how many times people have lost it in the ride. Anyway, fun concept. Not a fun ride. Corby came off white as a ghost & I really thought he was going to lose his trail mix. Thank goodness we had not ate a big breakfast before we got on.

On to the rest of the park. We rode a lot of simulated rides... seemed to have a lot of that there. My favorite ride was Test Track... where you are blasted around a car testing track through all kinds of conditions that really test cars go through. Fun ride. However, getting off the ride, I was trying to help this really, large man sitting beside of me get out of his seat belt & hit my knee cap. Didn't think it was that bad until I tried to walk. Geez... it was only the second ride & I'm already hobbleing around. It took well into the afternoon before I quit limping, but we tracked on.

We made it through the entire park. We didn't see every country to the fullest, but at least walked through them & rode most all of the rides & saw most of the shows that we wanted to. It was so cold the entire day. We both had on 3 layers & not once even thought about shedding even one layer.

Here are some pictures from our day at EPCOT.

This is our rental car for the week (just kidding... a Camero from the showcase of cars at the Test Track)

A fish feeding at The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Daisy Duck

A view of America across the lake

This globe is in the lake & lit up during the fireworks show that night

Aladdin & Princess Jasmine

Morocco

France

United Kingdom

Canada

A view across the lake of the countries

Germany (i think)

A beautiful night view of the globe

Man it's freezing down here

So I thought Florida would be a warm place to escape from the frigid temps of NC. Wrong! The highs are in the low 50's... not bad. However, tonight while we were walking around Downtown Disney, it was 44 and the wind was blowing pretty good. Even people we've talked to from Canada say that it's cold. The low tomorrow night is 35. Geez... oh well. We are still at Disney. It's all relative.

So, tonight we went back to Downtown Disney & I brought the camera this time. Here's a few shots from our outing.

Waiting at the bus stop...

We ate supper here...

Which had some really cool stuff on the walls & hanging from the ceiling like this...

This is all stuff from the original movies (supposedly... that would be Herbie, the Beverly Hillbillies car/truck & the Titanic thingy that stopped the ship)

A view from the West Side

Legoland

I love this store... could spend hours in it.

One of the many centerpieces in the middle of this store. I wonder how much that costs?

A picture for Carter...

A picture for Kensley...

A picture for Chandler...

That's the Reedy Creek Fire Department (& it looks really cool lit up at night)

Disney!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about our trip. We haven't had internet access until today (& we had to pay for it... go figure). We are having a great time in Florida. The resort is really nice... and big, the weather is great today...chilly, but sunny, and did I mention that we are at Disney?! I was so giddy when we arrived here. It's exciting just to be at this place. We are staying at the Coronado Springs Resort. For those of you who don't know, I am on a business trip with Corby for The First Tee. Last year was my first trip (to San Jose, CA) with him, this year we are here in FL and I asked him last night where we were going next year... and that would be San Antonio, TX. Hopefully. Anyway, to be at Disney without the kiddos, well, I almost feel bad about that but know that because of the logistics of the trip, they would not be able to fully enjoy the whole Disney experience. They are at home with my parents & Corby's mom (they are splitting the week) while me & Corby are enjoying some time to spend with each other. However, Corby has done a lot of this...

... because he's in the process of having to hire a new position at work. But still, we are enjoying each other's company. I've posted a lot of pictures (sorry everyone, it's for the kids). Hopefully I'll get one more chance to post again before we leave. Last night we went to Downtown Disney. I could spend way too much money at that place, but I restrained myself. We ate supper at McD's (ha... it was cheap and the restaurants in the hotel are not) and went to see a movie. I think we are heading Disney Boardwalk tonight for a fancy meal. Tomorrow we are going to EPCOT. VERY excited about that park!

Here we are at the hotel lobby.

A view from the conference center


Of course there are Disney characters all over the place.


Birds are EVERYWHERE around this place. They are not afraid of you either.


This place is huge... streets signs everywhere.


I just thought this was cool.

A view of one area from one of the bridges. As you can see this place really is big.

Our room is through those trees. There is a little beach area with hammocks.

One of the pools. This is the kids area.

Kids playground area

Another view from the pool area of the landscape of this place.

Trying to pan the area... several shots

A view of the place at night

Finally, the plane we flew on. This is for you Chandler.

Are you busy?

I felt the need to blog. Haven't really put much umpfh into my blogging lately. Main reason... lack of time. So before I sat down to blog I went by to my inbox to catch up on the pile of devotions that I've not taken the time to read. The one that caught my attention first was this one. I hope you enjoy (or get slapped in the face) as much as I did. If you want to sign up for daily devotions from Proverbs 31 click here.

Multi-tasking Mayhem
by Karen Ehman

29 Jan 2010

"But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me." Psalm 31:14-15 (NIV)

"Mom, quick…look at that lady!" My fourteen-year-old-in-driver's-education-child shouted at me as we were headed down Michigan's US-27 interstate on an errand-running Thursday afternoon. "She should not be doing that," he added for emphasis.

I glanced over at the car next to us, expecting to see someone without her hands gripped properly at the ten and two o'clock positions like my by-the-rulebook-boy does when he is behind the wheel. Instead, I nearly ran off the road while gawking at what my resident Driver's Ed patrolman had spotted.

Next to us was a woman who was doing all of the following: talking on a cell phone by cradling it on her right shoulder, holding an open fast-food salad container in her left hand, ripping open a salad dressing packet with her teeth and her right hand…all while steering her car with her knees! What in the world!? My boys and I thought surely, if she kept up this multi-tasking method of driving, she was going to cause a crash.

"I would NEVER attempt to do all of that when I drive", I smugly thought to myself. "Entirely too dangerous and probably against the law." Yep, when it comes to being a safe-driving etiquette expert, the apple doesn't fall far from the "Honey-you-didn't-use-your-blinker-back-there" maternal tree.

It wasn't until later that night that it hit me. Yes, I may not try to dangerously multi-task when it comes to driving my car, thereby putting myself and others at risk of a collision. But in my day-to-day life? In my schedule? In my "sure-I-can-take-on-one-more-responsibility-so-everyone-will-like-me" way? Well, I sometimes dangerously multi-task to the point where I too am headed for a crash.

God nudged my heart a few years back, after dealing with some stress-related medical conditions that would not go away, that I needed to do a major plate scraping in my life. Taking on too many responsibilities, no matter how "good" they may be, can often render women ineffective for service to God. He knows our limits. He understands are capacities. He is willing, if we will ask Him, to help us navigate the waters of busyness and activity that often drown many a woman.

On one of my so-busy-I-couldn't-breathe days, I read today's verse. While I'm sure that the author David was talking about actual physical enemies -- men who could chase you, catch you and ultimately hurt you – I thought that day of busyness as the enemy. Too many activities and responsibilities outside of my four walls were abou t to do me in. They chased me, they cornered me and worst of all, they were about to go in for the kill.

Thankfully, God rescued me from the barren life of busyness. And He can do the same for you. He's longing for us to hold our too-full plates up to Him, scrape off all the activities and responsibilities, and then, place back on our plates only the items HE longs for us to possess.
Then, we can create white space in our calendar and places of sweet respite in our days where we can connect with the God of the universe who is just waiting for us to slow down and sit still; to listen and learn from the very Creator of time itself.

So, how about it friend? Rubber spatula ready? Keep reading below and let's start scraping before we crash and burn!

Dear Lord, Forgive me for allowing busyness to overtake my life, crowding out others and worst of all You. Help me as I purpose to place only those items on my plate that You long for me to have. In Jesus ' Name, Amen.

Application Steps:
List on paper all the commitments you have said yes to outside of your job or home responsibilities. Catalog approximately how much time you devote to them each week. Pray about what you discover.

Reflections:
What activities and responsibilities have I said "Yes" to that I know in my heart I shouldn't have?

How can I thin out my optional tasks and duties, freeing up more time for the places where God wants me to focus my efforts?

Power Verses:
Matthew 6:33-34, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (ESV)

Genesis 2:2, "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." (ESV)

© 2010 by Karen Ehman. All rights reserved.

Snow... again!

Looks like this is the year for snow. I guess we'll get it all this year & then have another 5 year lapse before we get any again. That seems to be the trend for this area. Anyway, we were heading to Statesville this weekend for my sister-in-laws baby shower. Needless to say, we didn't have it because we got over 7 inches (if not more) of snow there. We drove in it Friday evening on the way there & it was pretty scary. But once we arrived at MamMaw's we all had a great time. Having lots of cousins to play in the snow with was a lot of fun. We came home Sunday night with snow still on the ground here in Shelby and enjoying a day off from school today. I took way too many pictures as usual, but decided to do a scrapbook page to sum it all up for you. Just click on the pictures to make them larger.

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
January 26, 2010...

Outside my window...
my backyard, 2 big branches that fell from a tree yesterday in the ferocious wind and a swingset.

I am thinking...
that I really need to get in the shower.

I am thankful for...
a home to live in... even though it may not be the size I want it to be.

From the kitchen...
a planned menu for the next 3 weeks (go me!) Tonight is parm chicken sticks, green beans & mac and cheese.

I am wearing...
lounge-wear or as I affectionately call it my "daily wardrobe".

I am creating...
not much in the present... but really want to be using my creative juices for lots of ideas lurking in my head.

I am going...
to Chick-fil-A for a free breakfast & playdate with a friend.

I am reading...
the new testament in a month
... and it's hard to keep up

I am hoping...
that I experience the true life change we are studying in our small group. The Miracle of Life Change by Chip Ingram (it's really good so far!)

I am hearing...
the Disney channel that my 3 year old is watching.

Around the house...
i see lots of clutter because of my lack of motivation this past week...
i see a long to-do list of things to accomplish in the next few weeks...
i see a craft/card making table that's been calling my name for weeks, but haven't had time to give it any attention...
i see stuff that i've cleaned out of closets, but i'm at a loss of what to do with them until my consignment sale in February.

One of my favorite things...
is American Idol auditions on TV... I can't wait for each Tues & Wed night to see these poor people humiliate themselves.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
**weather permitting** going to see a college friend this weekend & helping give a baby shower for my sis-in-law Erin

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

The kids went to see Mimi & PawPaw this weekend & the boys got to help "fight the fire" for a controlled burn they were doing on the neighbors property. If you know anything at all about Chandler, this was a HUGE thing for him... as he IS going to be a fireman.

To read more simple women thoughts head on over to http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/