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How happy are the people who know the sound of joy!

They walk in the light of Your face, O Lord.

Psalm 89:15 (New Life Version)

Docked in Port Canaveral, Florida

January 30

The second sunrise of our cruise 7:10 a.m.

Imagine my delight when I walked out onto the rear deck and found our four children already up and enjoying coffee!

This is  one of my treasured memories of this cruise.

This is a photo from Deb. She asked another person on the cruise to take this picture – just before I got there.

Jere went back to the stateroom to help Kristen get Jesse and Jared ready for breakfast. This is the kids area of the buffet.

Ian was staying in Roy and Deb’s room, and delighted in being their “son for a week.”

The boys wanted to go for a walk, so I took them to the seventh deck. This is a beautiful area for casual walking.

We ended our walk on the top (fourteenth) deck. The boys are looking down on the pool area.

We are back in the buffet area (twelfth deck)

We could see signs of land during most of the morning as we approached the Port Canaveral area.

Our group decided to stay on the ship during this stop. We figured the pool would not be full, making it a great time to relax.

…and it was!

Can you see that Jesse spent most of the day in the pool?

On this evening we had supper in Azura.

Azura, Tsar’s Palace, the Garden Buffet, and Blue Lagoon were restaurants where we could eat free, because they were included in the price of the cruise.

Someone’s appetizer

Jesse’s pancakes

My dessert was a wonderful, mango creation.

Afterwards most of us took walks, played games, or checked on some of the evening’s happenings, but I don’t think anyone went to the theater because the entertainment was not anything we wanted to see.

Our very comfortable bed felt wonderful at the end of the day!

My soul, relax! The LORD is caring for you.

Psalm 116:7 (Easy-to-Read Version)

A Glimpse of Sunday Evening on the Cruise

January 28

I tried to get a picture of everyone in pairs, and thought I got everyone but I could not find Jere and Kristen in these photos. I’m not sure how I missed them. (Maybe they weren’t in the room at the time. Maybe they hid from me.)

Nathaniel, Abby, and Hezekiah checking the menu.

Diana helping Jesse choose something from the kids menu. He usually got a peanut butter sandwich.

We told everyone that they could dress up for supper if they wished. These two took us seriously.

Deb and Jordan

Josh and Nate being very cooperative.

Roy and Gloria – Hezekiah and Ian

Jared and Josiah – Nathaniel and Abby

Diane & Mark (sometimes he just doesn’t cooperate)

Jeff surprised Chris with a kiss before posing for a picture.

Jesse and Diana – Lydia and Hannah

Cerwin and Elizabeth – Cerwin and me

Some of our food

Jesse and Jenna

The evening program opened with a sighting of Dora Explorer

Can you tell that Jesse was pleased to meet her.

There was also a presentation of the production band. We were asked to not take photos during that show.

The 8:30 show was Deal No Deal, which was great fun. Two people were chosen from the audience (one at a time) to play the big screen game. If you wanted to participate, you had to buy a $20.00 Deal No Deal Card. I think everyone from our group found this to be a great time – even if we didn’t buy cards.

Wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure. Then it is peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good deeds, impartial, and sincere.

James 3:17 (GOD’S WORD Translation)

Back to the Cruise

Sunday evening meal – January 29

I am going to add just a few pictures tonight to let you in on the beauty of the restaurant where we ate on Sunday evening.

Tsar’s was our favorite restaurant for the evening meal. Supper is the only thing we scheduled each day. After making reservations, I put a stick-it-note on our stateroom door to let everyone know where we were meeting for supper.

Everyone did their own thing for breakfast and lunch.

How about that for a view at mealtime?

More pictures tomorrow.

Birthday Interlude

February 8

If I wait to include these after the cruise pictures, my sixty-eighth birthday celebration will be long gone.  

Having a birthday a few days after a family cruise seemed like I didn’t need any kind of recognition.

Jere came to our house the night before with a red velvet whoopie pie, a raspberry filled brownie, and a card.

He asked me to not read the card until after he left. I knew why after reading it. We would have both been crying. Instead he left me to cry alone.

On the evening of my birthday we met Roy and Deb at 2400 – a nice restaurant in the Willow Valley Resort complex.

The food above is mozzarella cheese patties.

They had confiscated photos from the cruise photography area and had them framed for us.

She put this one in a porthole frame.

Roy and Cerwin

My meal was a delicious salad with walnuts, cranberries, and shrimp.

The other three got filet mignon.

They surprised me with a birthday cake, and asked the waiter staff to sing Happy Birthday.

My final celebration was this morning when Jere and Kristen’s family took us to Shady Maple for breakfast.

As you can see, it was like driving through a winter wonderland.

Josh and I share birthdays, so we usually celebrate together. He turned seventeen this year.

The little boys liked the specialty pancakes. This is Jared’s M & M pancake. Ian’s was chocolate chip. Jesse just got a plan one.

After breakfast, we went next door to have coffee in Shady Maple’s Cafe – which is located in the grocery store complex.

This is a good place to meet our TFC friends Sam and Alice. They recently had a very neat God-thing happen in their lives, and wanted to tell us about it.

I felt very loved this week with phone calls, cards, e-mails, and more than a hundred facebook wishes.

The roses are from Cerwin.

I even got my Grandma License renewed for another year.

The LORD’S voice can be heard over the sea.
The voice of our glorious LORD God is like thunder over the great ocean.

Psalm 29:3 (Easy-to-Read Version)

Sunday Afternoon on the Norwegian Jewel

January 29

We had a restful Sunday afternoon with many of our family members playing games in Mama’s Kitchen on the twelfth deck.

There was a game room, but it was usually full of people playing games and putting puzzles together. Furthermore, if our family went there, we would have filled the room.

Mama’s Kitchen is used for extra seating next to the buffet. We could stay there until about 3:00 p.m. when they started preparing for the evening meal. This restaurant served their own meals for the evening.

Some of the Myers’ played Ticket to Ride.

The rest played a variety of games with Rook cards.

This was our constant view outside the windows.

Snack break was a constant temptation, as the buffet was not too far away.

~~~

It was a beautiful, warm day as we headed south. Most of these afternoon pictures were taken somewhere between Washington DC and the Outer Banks.

I walked to the pool to see if anyone was there. Hannah was shielding her eyes from the sun, and did not see me.

As she turned, she was surprised to see my camera focused on her.

The pool was on the twelfth deck.

I continued walking and came behind Mark and Diane going for a walk on the thirteenth deck.

These chess pieces were about two-and-a-half feet tall.

Looking down on the rear of the ship. I was on the thirteenth deck looking down on the twelfth. This is where we watched the sunrise each morning.

In the late afternoon, as we were preparing for supper, Ian knocked on our stateroom door. He wanted to show us what he bought in the store.

Fake gold

It looks like he must have taken a shower after being in the pool and gotten into his pjs.

Never forget these commands that I am giving you today.

Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (Good News Translation)