Sincerely..., Tornado Warning, Marco Island and Woohoo!

We attended church with Daniel and Tynelle at the LDS chapel in the town next to theirs. It was the same as it is back home. Guess that lets you know the church is true no matter where you are... tee hee! I was just so proud of Brother and Sister, though. After sacrament meeting (the first meeting with everyone then we split into seperate age group classes) Brother voluntarily and happily went with Daniel and Tynelle to their primary class. They teach his age group. Sister wasn't too excited to go to her class. She went with Popo to his class even though she is a little bit younger. Anyway, it was so sweet because Popo was trying so hard to comfort Sister while she was having a hard time adjusting to being there, nervous about all the new people, worried that I was leaving her... you know that kind of thing. Popo was rubbing Sister's back, and stroking her hair so that she would feel better---you could tell he was so sincere. He kept leaning over and whispering in her ear, "It's gonna be OK. You'll be OK." I felt like crying happy tears because of all the special effort that Popo was making to help her get through her anxiety. It is amazing to me what children understand--I mean, they really seem to "know" what each other is going through. In Daniel and Tynelle's class they said that although Brother was coloring on a table in the corner he was the one piping up with all the answers, "Who was Isaac's wife? --Rebecca. Who was Jacob's wife?  ---Rachel. Who were Isaac's sons? --Jacob and Esau." They were so happy with his answers and so was I. I am amazed at what he does know. He knows more than me. I don't even know who their wives were...

It was a neat experience to see so many investigators into the church. I mean people who just see the church sign that says "visitors welcome" and they come! So awesome!

Later that day we had a great dinner and just hung out playing games, talking and eating. Ya, I thought I would lose weight on this vacation. Hmm. We will see. I exercised on Friday morning but not Saturday because of my sunburn. So I got some exercise in yesterday and today.

On Sunday night I got a cool surprise. Remember the post about the book I was reading "When Life Doesn't Seem Fair." Well, I got a comment from the writer of that book, Joyce Erickson! She is the mother of Heather that is the subject of the article I posted. If you want to read her post go to this link here. What a small world it is on the internet! So fun to hear from Joyce and to think that she would take time out of her busy day to write to me... that was one of the small highlights of my day.

Monday morning the thunder and lightning woke me. I have to admit I was a little scared. The rain was pouring and the lightning seemed to be knocking out the front door. But, Marc still wanted to go exercise. We would have to walk. It only takes two minutes to walk there from the house, but it was crazy outside. Daniel and Tynelle informed me that when it rains really hard they call it "frog stranglers." Oh, that is comforting... will I be the frog today??

Daniel dropped us off at the gym on his way to the library and even handed us an umbrella. Are you supposed to use and umbrella when there is lightning? Anyway. We get in there and get started. It is hard to ignore the crazy weather out side windows as the palms are bending like they have stiff elbows and the sky is dark until the lightning strikes and thunder cracks just big enough to light up the sky for a split second. The whole time I am thinking, "Dang it! I better lose weight after this workout between the fear and the exercise..." Then I see on the big TV in the corner that some old man has tuned into the news at the bottom in a red bar, "TORNADO WARNING SOUTH-WEST FLORIDA." Hmm. Maybe I should go into the other room where there is no TV so that I won't panic. So, I go to the other room to do my stomach workout to the radio broadcasting over the speakers. As I am laying down putting my stomach through a good work out I am realizing that the DJ's back home aren't near as crass as the ones here in Florida, sheesh! But, then the sounds that I was trying to ignore between the music were gone. Dead silence. They must have lost their radio signal. OK, I think I am ready to go now. Marc! I come out and we are the only two left in the whole gym except one old lady who is heading out the door.

Marc and I head out the door and the storm is getting harsher, the rain heavier and the thunder louder. We hold the umbrella together and head out the door walking along the buildings as we make our way. Then we just decide to make a run for it. I let go of the umbrella and ran--more like sloshed. There was at least an inch of rain on the ground. My shoes were sopped when I got in the door. Crazy.

Tynelle and I decide that today would be a good craft day. So we go to the Dollar Store to get some flowers so we can make some flower clips. We also got some groceries and shopped for some swimsuits for Tynelle. I even found a cute little swimsuit for Sister for only $8. Not bad.

When we came out of the store it was sunny and hot. No sign of a storm other that the heavier humidity.

We decided to go swimming. It was so fun. We had Tynelle take some family pictures of us at th pool. I think they turned out really cool.

After swimming we had dinner when Daniel got home and then we quickly cleaned up and headed out to Marco Island.

Wow!!!! The drive there was amazing!! Kind of what you picture Florida to be like. Huge hotels along the shore line. Palms everywhere. Boat docks at all the beachside homes. Docks for your boats even in the store parking lots!

Marco Island, so far has been my favorite. We got there at sunset and it was absolutely amazing! We even saw a surfer. And Daniel found a dead jelly fish along the shore line. Glad no one stepped on it. We went combing the beaches for any shells. We didn't find anything really big, but there were shells all over after the morning storm. I hope to go back there again. We got some awesome sunset pictures--can't wait to post them next week.

This morning I went and exercised for 20 minutes and then rushed back for a quick shower to get the kids to story time at the library. It was a VERY awesome library. The story teller was very animated and the kids even got to make a craft. Then we came home with our library books and DVD's and we are just having a relaxing afternoon until Daniel gets home for dinner. Then we will go see the sunset at yet another beach. Aaaa. Florida! What a great vacation and we still have 4 days left here! In Brother's words, "Woohoo!!"