testing

testing

easter 2013

"God sent His son, they called Him Jesus.

He came to love, heal and forgive.

He lived and died to buy my pardon.

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives."

Because He Lives

Bill & Gloria Gaither

"Lord, by such things people live;

and my spirit finds life in them too.

You restored me to health and let me live...

In your love you kept me

from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins behind your back...

The living, the living-they praise you,

as I am doing today;

parents tell their children about your faithfulness."

Isaiah 38:16-17, 19-20

Some trip details before we begin.

The Schedule:

The make-up of each day is pretty similar.  Wake up call at 6:00, hotel breakfast at 7:00 and by 8:00 each morning the bus is pulling out, headed for our first destination of the day.  Israel is still on its winter schedule so almost all of the national parks/tourist spots close at 4:00.  We’re usually back at the hotel a little before dinner time.  Danny and I struggle not to take a nap before dinner and so far, we haven’t been successful. :)  After a big day of touring, I just want to put my feet up.  When I do, the jet lag + pregnancy fatigue overpower me and I pass out quickly.

The Guides:

Ronnie is our tour guide. 

He was born in Manhattan, New York but has been an Israeli citizen for the past 40 years.  He speaks Hebrew and English interchangeably and has a wealth of knowledge on the country of Israel.  He’s on the bus microphone throughout the day explaining everything from daily life during the time of Jesus to what kind of trees we’re passing along the road.  We can ask him all kinds of questions and his quick wit and sarcastic humor keep us laughing all day long.  When we get to a site he gives us a quick historical rundown of where we are before handing it over to one of our Bible teachers.  Ronnie is also in charge of our schedule.  He makes sure we’re on time and he’s in constant contact with the tour agency should any tweaks need to be made for security reasons.  (As far as I know, that hasn’t happened yet.)

Dr. Bramer, Dr. Bailey and Dr. Dyer are our Bible scholars.

  They lead us in worship at most of our stops.  Then we walk through Scripture under their incredible knowledge, authority and authenticity.  They don’t hold back from personal testimony (pretty or not) and like Ronnie, are engaged and approachable throughout the day.  In other words, you can ask them anything and they don’t treat you like it’s the most ridiculous question they’ve heard all day.

  The Group:

Our tour group is made up of one hundred people from all over the country.  About half are here with their spouses.  Some brought their children.  We range from elementary school to age 71.  We’re traveling on two big buses that were assigned before we arrived.  Sometimes they combine our groups for an on site teaching, other times we stay divided.

The Land:

Israel is about the size of New Jersey.  The rainy season is just about over so everything is the greenest it will be all year long.  In a couple of weeks, everything will turn brown.  The weather has been all over the map.  In Galilee it was 70, at the Red Sea it was 90.  When we go to Jerusalem it will be half that warm.  There are mountains everywhere!  At one point when we were driving north we could see the Mediterranean on our left and mountains on our right.  If you drive for thirty minutes, you’ll see something completely different.  It’s amazing how many kinds of geography are crammed into such a small country. 

The Food:

The food is predominately Mediterranean.  Lots of pickled vegetables, marinated salads and fish.  This meat and potatoes girl is doing pretty well.  My nurse practitioner warned me, “Now don’t go crazy.”  I did have this for lunch the other day:

It’s totally out of character for me, but it came from the Sea of Galilee!  The meat was good once you cut past the eyeballs. :)  We take snacks we brought from home to hold us over until the next meal.  I can’t say we aren’t planning our first meal when we land back in the States.  :)

The Technology

One of the most helpful details of our trip is our headset.  We were each given a portable listening device.  It’s a little pack we wear around our neck with an attached earpiece. 

  It’s connected wirelessly to our guide’s headset so when he’s speaking we can clearly hear him from any distance.  It’s so nice because I can walk around a site taking pictures and still hear every word he’s saying from 50 yards away.  And it’s a huge time saver.  No yelling across the way to gather everyone together when it’s time to get back on the bus.  I love, love, love my headset!

Ok, that's it for some of the nitty, gritty.  Next update will include some of the amazing sites!

in Israel

We're in Israel!!!  The land promised to the Patriarchs, conquered by Joshua and divided among the twelve tribes.  Traversed by Elijah, ruled by King David and inhabited by its Messiah during his entire earthly life.  The land of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and now...three of the Hintons!

It's a long, incredible story of how we got here.  Unfortunately we had to shell out money for 24 hours of wireless Internet, so I want to get through as many updates as I can.  Fingers crossed our next hotel will provide it for free, but we won't know until we get there.

Short version?

Danny and I have known for a while we'd love to travel to Israel...someday.  Someday meaning when the girls are grown, college and weddings are paid for and we're living happily in the realm of retirement.  So we put it on the bucket list.

For some reason, through a series of events only God could have foreseen and orchestrated, He plucked our Israel dream out of our very distant future and stuck it here, in our right now.

While the pre-travel arrangements have been seamless, I can't say they've been easy.  The week before we left I had a handful of melt downs and wondered if Dan would have to medicate me to get me on the plane.  The morning we were set to depart, one glance at the girls' toothbrushes set the waterworks flowing.

All I can say is, thank goodness for Super Nana.  And the prayers of many friends.

Reese was a hoot at the airport.  She was bouncing around, high on Nana's arrival.  It made it easier to fight back the tears until we rounded the corner, out of sight and headed for security.

Friday night we flew out of JFK.  (We took two flights to get there.)  For our international leg, we flew on the biggest airplane I have ever seen.  In hindsight I wish I had taken a picture of it to show Reese.  It had two stories and I was dying to know who/what was upstairs  The rest of us riffraff had to stay downstairs.  Kind of like the Downton Abbey of flying.

The flight wasn't bad.  They turned off all the lights so everyone could sleep.  I was under strict orders from my nurse practitioner to get up and walk every hour.  I felt a little high maintenance, but I wasn't about to get all the way over here and risk ruining the trip with health complications I could have avoided.  There were tons of movies and TV shows to keep us occupied and I watched a few in between cat naps.  Dan helped me keep track of my walking schedule.  They served us breakfast about an hour before we landed.  By that time it was afternoon in Tel Aviv.

 (This was the live map we could watch on our little seat back screen.)

After a small hiccup in customs, we met up with the rest of our group, boarded our big touring bus and headed north.  Our first hotel was on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  We arrived at sunset and took in the view before eating dinner and collapsing into bed. 

We slept like babies.  The next morning I took a few more pictures from our hotel room.

After breakfast we boarded the bus and headed north along the Mediterranean coast.  It was time for our first full day of touring!

drum roll please...

The sisters have some news about our newest addition...

Hugs all around!

"For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands." 

Psalm 92:4

breaking the blog silence :)

It's about time I update our blog with what's been going on with our little family.  

Another member is on the way, due to arrive this July.  

Let the fun/chaos continue!!

a happy day indeed

tired baby

Happy Auntie.

summer bubbles...

...even more fun when you're chasing them with your cousins.

funky music

One of Reesie's favorite past times is listening to the musical greeting cards at Target.  Her mama's too cheap to buy her one, so when we have time I let her listen to a couple before moving on to our other errands.  I always forget just how loud the music seems to echo through the store once the card is opened.

Today as Reese rocked out to the greeting card and I avoided eye contact with other shoppers, I looked over at Hope to see her dancing away in the shopping cart.  Apparently she shares her sister's love for musical cards.

 

the daddy in our house

To the Daddy of a house full of women,

Happy Father's Day!  Thanks for letting us hang all over you as often as we want.

Love,

Your Girls

P.S- For your gift we will do our absolute best to leave for church on time regardless of the status of our hair accessories.

water skiing then and now

The chill stole my breath as I slid off the back of the boat and into the water.  I bobbed up and down hoping the movement would help the wetsuit to hurry up and work already.  Dad had had the foresight to grab it before we pulled away from the dock.  I'm so grateful one of us knew what he was doing.  Missouri lake water in May isn't all that bad when you're ten.  Unfortunately my circulation isn't quite what it used to be.

I tried to relax but it was difficult wrestling the ski into position while waiting for the boat to bring the rope around.  Doubt slithered through my mind like the rope through my hand.  It's been a seven year hiatus from water skiing.  The sun's setting fast.  If I pull a hamstring how in the world will I haul Hope around?  Or survive the long drive home?  There is no worker's comp in my field of work.  The chilly water wasn't the only thing that caused my hands to shake as I gripped the handlebar.

But Dad believed in me.  And if anyone could get this mama of two up on a water ski, it was him.  He can drive a boat better than most with one hand tied behind his back.  Heaven knows I contributed to his many hours logged at the helm.

I remember the summer I was determined to learn how to slalom ski.  We were out there for hours.  Everyone else had gone inside, tired of watching me fall over and over again.  It was just Dad and me.  Each time I crashed he would pull the boat back around, ready to try again.  Sometimes he gave me a pointer.  Not once did he criticize or try to talk me into quitting for the day.  We stayed at it until I emerged from the water on one ski.  Mission accomplished and a victory for us both.

This time it took two tries.  The boat powered forward, the water sprayed my face and for a minute I was transported back to the summer weekends we spent at the lake.  They are the crown jewels of my childhood.

As Dad zipped the grown up me around the lake it hit me.  Attempting to ski wasn't so much about seeing if I could still do it, it was wanting to relive one of my best memories from growing up in my family.  The strain on my legs, the wind whipping my hair, the roar of the boat.  It didn't disappoint.

Thanks for believing in me Dad.  And thanks for taking me skiing- then and now.

Happy Father's Day!

it's only fair

I'm turning the tables today.  After all the sharing I've done about my girls I decided it's only fair to tell on myself.  I read somewhere one good prompt of getting out of a blogging slump is to write a simple list of ten things others might not know about me.  Here goes nothing!

1.  I cannot sleep while wearing socks.  It makes me feel like I'm suffocating.

2.  Going to the grocery store is my least favorite chore.  I'd rather scrub toilets.  I also feel serious guilt about this fact because there are people all over the world who would love to have an entire store's worth of food they could bring home and give their families.  Dan is always willing to go if I send him with a list but it's hard to surrender the control.
 2A. I might have an issue with control.

3.  My favorite subject in school was reading.  I loved Nancy Drew books the best.  Every time I take the girls to the library I contemplate checking out a Nancy Drew book.

4.  I love action movies.  The more intense and explosive the better.  There are very few romantic comedies I like.

5.  I'm bad at fixing my hair.  Some girls have the hair gift.  I'm not one of those girls.

6.  I have no clue what my love language is.  If they added taking a nap to the official list then that would definitely be it.

7.  I had my two front baby teeth pulled out in China Town (in New York) by a dentist who barely spoke English.  I went on to have braces twice before high school.  I had some messed up teeth.  Heaven help our girls.

8.  I love mountains.  For our July honeymoon we went out west to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.  I'm dying to go to Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.  Something about being so small in the midst of such grandeur is incredibly comforting to me.

9.  My favorite toy growing up was Barbie.  I'd go up to my room for hours and play and play.  My family called it "Barbie Heaven."

10.  Seeing Celine Dion in concert is on my bucket list.  

Love,
Me

PS- Aren't the smaller Hinton girls so much more interesting? :)

10 months old

Hope is ten months old!  

I can't believe she has hit double digits!  Our baby is going to be one before we know it.  At ten months old she can drink from a straw and bark at dogs.  She started saying "Dada" and "Bye."  She loves doors.  In the morning while the rest of us get ready she goes from door to door swinging them back and forth.  I figured out if I hang a couple of hangers on the knobs, she can't smash her fingers.

She loves to chew on shoes, her Daddy's wallet, plastic bags, papers, crayons and Uno cards.  (All things she's not allowed to have.)  We have to sweep her mouth constantly for random things she finds on the floor.  She gives kisses at will, thoroughly sliming the lucky recipient.  

She's a bit um, tenacious.  She hates getting her diaper changed and fights me at almost every change.  She's also started to bite me when she eats.  (Not fun!)  She loves baby food and Cheerios and wants to eat like a big girl at every meal.  She's not crazy about avocados but I keep offering them hoping she'll change her mind. 

She laughs easily and naps well.  She loves when people talk to her when we're out and about.  She has one heck of a pout.

She is loud!  When she's happy she'll suddenly squeal at the top of her lungs.  Last night we went out to eat and I had to take her out of the restaurant because she was yelling.  She was perfectly content, just wanted to test out her vocal chords I guess.  :) 

True to second born form she's pretty tough yet easy going.  She goes to the nursery at church just fine. The day I took her ten month pictures she leaned over the little brown chair and pulled to a standing position.  

She's our sweet baby girl who makes her daddy swoon, her sister giggle and her mother thank God for the incredible gift she is.  

We could never deserve her.

indoctrination

Hope's astute thoughts on the Kansas Jayhawks:



What can I say, we raise 'em right.  Rock Chalk Chickenhawks, go Mizzou!!!

9 months

As of last week, Hopie is another month older and what a big month it's been!  In the past couple of weeks she started crawling and is pulling up to her knees.  She dances to music, waves at strangers and will initiate a game of peekaboo.  She blows raspberries continually and repeats sounds that her sister makes.  She also says "Mama."  She's shown a bit of a stubborn streak lately. :)  She loves to be startled.

After many fitful nights she had two tiny teeth appear, the same month her older sister got her first tooth.  At her nine month check up we found out she's in the 98% for height (30 inches) and 95% for weight (23 pounds).  She wears a size 4 diaper and 12-18 month clothes.  She's a sweet natured baby.  People love to talk to her when we're out in public.  My favorite is when little girls say "I like your baby."  I like her too. :)

mother's day

I am spoiled rotten.

My mother's day celebration started on Saturday morning.  After donuts for everyone, we split up and my favorite four year old took me to the movies.  I could tell she was up to no good before we left.  There was some serious whispering going on with her father.  On the way there she piped up from the backseat.

"Hey Mama!"  Her volume gave away her mounting excitement.

"Yes Baby?"

"Do you know what's in my pocket?"

"What??"

"NOTHING!  Hahahahaha!"

We parked the car and held hands all the way to the ticket counter.  The worker asked me how many tickets we'd need and before I could respond Reesie yelled, "WAIT!  I'M GIVING THE MONEY FOR THIS!"  She whipped her money out of her tiny pocked and slapped it on the counter.  Then she turned to me and bellowed "Happy Mother's Day!" so loud I'm sure even the people watching Avengers in theater 9 heard her.

We saw Chimpanzee (so good!) and only needed one bathroom break before it was over.  On the way home she talked about whatever popped into her head and I got to listen with undivided attention.  Conversations these days are equal parts interesting and hilarious with a heaping amount of the unexpected.

The next day we went to church and ate lunch in the parking lot of McAlister's.  Then I went shopping for an entire hour by myself.  Then we called our moms to thank them for putting up with us.  We ended the night eating Mexican food and playing corn hole with our new small group.

Like I said.  Spoiled rotten.

The women responsible for making me a mama.  I'm so grateful they haven't fired me yet.  

hopie's vlog

We can't leave all the video fun to Chica, it's Little Sister's turn!  Our baby just turned nine months old.  While this movie doesn't pack the humor punch of the last one, it does feature her waving and and crawling skills. :) Enjoy!
 

church choir

I know I promised a recap of the birthday stuff, but this video is too good to keep to myself.  Each Wednesday night Chica's been going to children's choir at a local church.  Tonight was the end of the year performance.  

Danny and I laughed so hard we were both in tears.  

A few things to note about this video:

1.  If you watch it, watch it until the end (it's about 2:00)  It gets better and better.

2.  Chica's in the middle in the blue shirt and brown pants.

3.  Apparently hands on your hips is a great neutral position.

4.  If a little choreography is good, more is better.

5.  Why stand still when you can dance?

6.  I tried to hold the camera still, but it's a challenge when you're laughing hard enough to shake an organ loose.

7.  The baptists might not have us back. :)

there's a four year old in our house

She makes four look good!  

All the birthday shenanigans to come...