Since I've been going to Vinton everyday for work, I've been able to have lunch with my ESL families. Today I ate Chinese with the Montuori family (from Italy)...Antoinetta, Antonio, and Franco. I love these days.

Yesterday mom and I drove to Pinehurst, NC to attend a luncheon benefitting the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina. Grandma Carolyn invited us and we had a great time! There were 100+ women there, including some girls from the Boys and Girls Home. We participated in a silent auction, where I won both items for which I made a bid. Thank you for the experience, Grandma!

Grandma, Marie, and Aunt Nancy (not pictured) were there from Raleigh. I won this sconce in my hands, and a spa gift certificate at the hotel in Pinehurst.

Nathan and Erin went out to eat with us tonight! We had a great dinner with encouraging conversation. We've been missing each other in Sunday School this summer because of our vacations and their vacations. Erin and I just decided on a book to read together for the rest of the summer: Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney. I read it last year but gave my copy away so I haven't been able to reread it until now. It's based on Titus Ch. 2 about the older women teaching the younger women what is good. Get it if you can!

I am helping out with West Salem's Vacation Bible School this week. We're having a great time and it's been good for me to get to know members of the church better. I am not with a specific age group...just running around for the director with whatever she needs me to do.

I am also working at summer school at a high school in Vinton this week and the next two weeks. They emailed me while we were on our cruise, and when I called them back last week, they were desperate for someone to help tutor the ELL students. It's only 4 hours a day, and Fridays are off. It's a great way for me to not "eat the bread of idleness" at home in the summer mornings. I've only been there for 3 days, but the kids have encouraged me so much. I am very thankful!

For the past two weeks, the Salem Fair was in town. It wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't live right across the street from it! We are glad that it's over...we had so much traffic outside our house! Parking would have been difficult if we didn't have a driveway in the back, and there were voices outside our home of people walking by in the late evening. We did visit one night, and it was interesting. We ate but didn't participate in any games or rides. It's just fun to watch how excited people get!

We are back! We had an amazing vacation last week. We left last Sunday morning and returned this past Sunday night. If you are planning a vacation, we definitely recommend a Royal Caribbean cruise! We went to Cococay, Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten during the 7 days, and also enjoyed the days at sea on the ship. These pictures don't show everything about the trip, but you can get an idea of the fun we had. Here we are in the Orlando airport awaiting our bus ride to Port Canaveral. Aaron is trying to act cool, but he's hardly containing himself with the excitement of the vacation. Our first stop was on Monday at Cococay, Bahamas. This is an island that Royal Caribbean owns, so it was just a beach/watersports day. The Mariner of the Seas (our boat) couldn't dock at the island, so we had to take a smaller boat. We were really impressed with the ship. It was unbelievably big. I read on the beach and got in the water on a beach mat. I played volleyball with Aaron first thing that morning, but he played the majority of our time on the island. He met a lot of people doing that.He met enough people, in fact, to make a team to play in the volleyball tournament later in the week on the ship. They didn't win the tournament, but it was something fun to do (and watch)!The same people made a team for the dodgeball tournament on Saturday. They got 4th place in that one.One of the highlights of the trip was dinner each night. We ate dinner in a nice dining room and had the same table and waitress each night. The food was awesome! We could eat as much as we wanted. There was a 4 course meal every night. We had fun getting to know our tablemates. Chi and Cindy are optometrists from Seattle. They had cruised before and could give us some tips. We were thankful that we were able to sit with couples around our age because we had several things in common. Joe and Tracy came cruising from Detroit. They had interesting stories to share right from the start...because of delayed flights they almost didn't make it to the ship in time, and had to leave their luggage. They got it back on Wednesday, though, and had a great attitude about it! We loved our waitress, Setenay. She was so sweet. She is from Turkey. Most of the staff there (there were 1200 employees on the ship) worked a 6 month contract with no days off, but we couldn't tell she was tired...she gave the best service and always smiled and laughed with us! She helped to make the vacation very memorable!Our assistant waiter was fun, too. He made the ladies at the table 3 roses from napkins. Pretty crazy, and very sweet!

One night Setenay entertained us with tricks. It's hard to tell, but the napkin is covering a wine glass, and on top is a salt shaker with a toothpick in one of the holes. On the tip of the toothpick, two forks are balancing together. The waiters also sang a few songs for us throughout the week.
Aaron and I went to the main show every night. Sometimes they were before dinner, sometimes after. The entertainment was first class. Comedians, aerial artistry, singers/dancers, etc.

One night a group called Mosaic sang for us. They were our favorite. It was 6 guys who made noises with their voices that made it sound like a band was playing with them as they sang. In this picture they were doing a tribute to TV show theme songs. Can you guess which TV show they are portraying here, with Martha Stewart as Alice the maid? One night we participated in a game show called The Quest. It's hard to explain, but this picture tells a lot...Aaron is picking up a guy with his underwear on, along with a bra, lipstick, a woman's purse, women's shoes, etc. It was kind of like a big scavenger hunt.On the days that we spent on the ocean and not at a port of call, we hung out at the pool. It was crowded! I remember one morning Aaron got up aroun 8:30 to reserve us some chairs because we knew there were a lot of people starting to get out there. We witnessed some fun pool games, including a men's belly flop competition, and a women's biceps competition.This is the guy that won the bellyflop competition.There was a jogging track around the top of the boat, but Aaron and I stuck to doing our runs in the fitness center because we knew we would be dodging lounge chairs out there.

On Wednesday we went to St. Thomas. That morning we went parasailing near the island (pictures of that to come later), and had lunch at a local spot before our afternoon tour to St. Johns Island. We took a ferry to St. John and while we were there we went to a beach and snorkeled a little. It was among the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was the most picturesque sites we saw on the cruise, and I forgot to take my camera that day!

On Thursday we went to St. Maarten. St. Maarten is half Dutch and half French. We took a taxi to Orient Beach on the French side, and sat by the ocean all day. We didn't do any excursions...we just relaxed and read books and got a massage and swam in the ocean and walked along the beach! It was a beautiful place, also. This was Aaron's favorite day of the vacation. After St. Maarten, we headed back to Port Canaveral. It took two days at sea to get back.

On the boat, we walked through the casino a couple of times. Aaron played a couple of rounds of Roulette and a few hands of Blackjack. He broke even every time.
Our stateroom was small but sufficient. We enjoyed having it cleaned twice a day. Each night when we returned from dinner, we had a new towel animal friend, folded by Smordy our stateroom attendant. This was one of the cuter ones.

Our room was close to the Royal Promenade. There are shops and restaurants along the strip, and this was also the site of two parades and a 70s disco dance party.

We've had a busy weekend so far, but I forgot my camera at all occasions. Last night we went on a date to downtown Roanoke to eat Thai. We found a great place that we will visit again! After that we indulged at an ice cream shop that is similar to Marble Slab (my favorite date spot in Raleigh), and then to Barnes & Noble to browse. Today we ran together, I had lunch with friend Lauren while Aaron cleaned the vehicles, and we played in the pool for our monthly Sunday School social. It's been fun.

We are leaving tomorrow morning for an Eastern Caribbean cruise! We'll be back the following Sunday. Pray for us!

Every day except Fridays, my dad and Aaron go to the Omelette Shoppe for breakfast. My dad has had the same morning routine for 25+ years...go in to work to let the drivers in around 6, get them out on their routes, take a shower, and have breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe (kind of like Waffle House, but more local). Aaron is picking up on this routine (except the shower thing...he gets ready here at home in the morning). Rarely do I join them, but this morning I did. Sometimes Stephen and Michael go, too. It's a great place for early morning conversation!
I know I embarrassed them by taking this photo, but these are the sacrifices you have to make for the blog. :)

On Saturday we took a road trip to Richmond to witness the marriage vows of a friend Casey and his bride Ashley. It was a great day! Casey is a friend I made from family Christmas gatherings (there is a group of several families who lived in the same neighborhood together for years). He is a fantastic photographer: http://www.caseytempleton.com/, and a committed groom. We rode there with Stephen and Michael. We played Catch Phrase the whole way there and back. If you haven't played it, you should try it out. We also had a good time getting to know Tom Tom.
I didn't get any good shots of the bride and groom...there were a lot of people there and they were so busy at the reception. They have lots of great pictures on their website, www.ashleyandcasey.com

Last Thursday I went to Raleigh to have lunch with Kristen and Allison. It was great to see them and take note of their growing bellies (Allison is due with her 2nd in Nov., and Kristen with her 1st in Dec.)! The sky was cloudy and it was chilly, but the encouraging conversation brightened my day!

"The only true intelligence I own is precisely because I know the worth of [my husband]." -former Dean at Oxford and former radical feminist, after having been freed by biblical womanhood