Birthday Surprises

This past Wednesday, I celebrated my birthday. I started out the day just figuring it would be another day and my birthday could just sneak on by. Dont get me wrong, I like birthdays, but don't really require the hoopla. I had to work and we are crazy busy getting ready for camp, no time for celebrating birthdays. And my son had to have an outpatient procedure called an "endoscopy" for some chest pains he has been experiencing - I would spend part of the day in the waiting room during the procedure. No big deal, just another day.
Little did I know that God would use this day to show me how much He loves me. He uses people to show His love for us. He sent them my way and gave me such confirmation of what great friends and family I have.
When I arrived at work, Carson had left a Starbucks gift card on my desk with my fav Starbucks drink, thanks! I had a message on my phone from Melissa S., thanks! I knew I had alot to do in a few hours since I would leave early to take my son. But Chad made sure we stopped at noon to take Carson and I to lunch for our July birthdays, thanks! As I sat in the waiting room at my son's outpatient appointment, my cell phone rang and it was Kelly Robertson, she wanted to drop me a gift at my desk, but I told her the deal about Corey and where I was. She knew the place and within 30 minutes she showed up. She not only brought a gift, but sat in the waiting room with me until Corey was done, Wow, thanks! That meant so much to me for her to take her time, more than she had anticipated, to wish me a Happy Birthday. Finally the day ended with a family dinner at Romeu's. My sister and her family who were in town visiting from Georgia came, along with my BFF since middle school, Kim, my BFF since college, Haydee and an unexpected guest, my step-sister, and her family. When they surprised me at the end of dinner with a cake, I looked around and thought it doesn't really get any better than this. Everyone there has known me most of my life and loves me anyway, all the good and bad. Just like my Savior! I am so lucky! Thanks!

Surge Protection

So, remember I told you that while on vacation my husband's laptop had some issues. Well, after a day on the phone with Dell and an overnight delivery of a new DVD player, the laptop was up and running yesterday from about 8pm on. But isn't life just like this, today as the laptop was charging at about 3pm in the afternoon, the summer time rain storm came through. Lightning and thunder was heard outside as our home took an electric surge and the next thing my son hears is a crackling noise coming from where else, my husband's laptop. His computer took a hit and it fried the audio card. The computer was only going for about 19 hours and BOOM, another problem.

It is so much like life, you get an issue taken care of in your life, or a situation is cleared up or fixed and watch out, because he comes another one. The frustrating part is that we just got the laptop to working order and now it has a new problem. Do you ever feel like you just got steady on both feet and the rug is pulled out again before you even got your breath?

We did find out that the computer was plugged into the wall charger that was plugged directly into the wall and not a surge protector.

So many times we don't take the time to make sure we are plugged in to the PROTECTOR, and BOOM we fall down.

Tomorrow we will call customer support, and take the necessary steps to fix the problem, and learn from our mistakes. Does it mean no more lightning storms? No. It does mean we will make sure we are plugged into the right protection each and every time we need to charge it again!!!!

Top 10 Cities In America

Congratulations Cooper City! You have been voted by Family Circle Magazine as one of the 10 Best Towns for Families. You can check out the article in the August edition of Family Circle Magazine. Lori Green, a friend of mine, was interviewed for this article. If you catch this blog in time, check out The CBS Early Show tomorrow morning, July 18 as they interview the writer of the article.

It is a nice honor to live in this town and I have felt that it is a special place to live. I just hope our mayor and city council can come together after the recent division that has come to the council over the past few months.

Enjoy the honor, but continue to pray for our town.

Making Memories

Pic #1-Ft Myers Beach

Pic #2 - Sister's house

Pic #3- Blake and Corey jam session

Pic # 4 - Helicopter Ride

Pic #5 - Putt putt golf

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Pic #6 - Smoky Mountains

My intentions were to be able and write while on vacation, but my husband's laptop decided not to cooperate the first day into the trip. We decided to just not deal with internet or answering cell phones and just focus on spending time with each other and family. This meant no myspace for the kids or email for Tim and I. I believe it was God-ordained, haha. We spent the 4th of July in Ft Myers. If you are anything like me, you hate looking for that great place to watch the fireworks for the fourth of July, fighting crowds and mosquitos. Well, I will share a secret I have known over the past few year, Ft Myers beach is the place to go. You can get a hotel right on the beach and watch the fireworks from your hotel. I do not mean mom and pop shows with fireworks bought at the tent roadside shops, I mean major fireworks like Disney World, going on all around you. We didn't fight any crowds or mosquitos, we actually sat on the balcony of our 6th floor room and watched the shows, looking left or right and they went on for about an hour. The kids made strawberry smoothies in the blender and baked cookies, we had so much fun. Pic #1 is Amber, Marcus, Jamie and Corey on the beach during the day.

We then headed to Atlanta and spent a couple days at my sister's home. We went and saw the movie Transformers at the IMAX. It was a really great movie. We also watched old family videos and laughed our heads off. Pic #2 is my nephew, Tony and Corey in front of my sis' house.

My sister and nephew decided to go with us to Tennessee. We met up with Tim's mom, dad, older brother, wife and 2 kids. We had a lot of fun just hanging at the pool, playing cards, shopping. We also went riding go-carts and some of the crew went on a helicopter ride through the mountains. We always have a Farver family round of putt-putt golf. We had 10 of us playing so we broke into teams. It was so much fun! We have such a competitive group of players. My team won!! Way to go Amber, she had like 4 hole in ones and was on my team. Picture #4 is Tim, Jamie and Corey on the helicopter ride through the Tennessee mountains, picture #5 is my niece, Kindal, myself, my sister, Amber and Corey playing putt-putt and picture #6 is Corey, my sis, Wendy and Amber at a stop in the mountains. It was cool to be with everyone and of course it wasnt always hunky-dory, we did have our moments of needing our space and getting on one another's nerves. A cool time was when my 15 year old nephew, Blake and Corey lead an improptu set of worship in the living room of one of our suites. Blake brought his guitar and Corey went through the kitchen pots and pans to find a bongo. He eventually ended up with a plastic covered bowl. (see pic #3) I noticed Tim's mom and dad in tears for a brief moment. It was nice to watch them enjoy the music and look around at their family and feel proud. At first I wasnt two keen on driving all the way to Tennesee, since I get to do it again for High School camp, but I know the sacrifice and making the memories with the kids and extended family is priceless.

Vacation Time

It is vacation time in our home. Everyone is so excited, but anxious at the same time. When your children become 19 and 15, they have an agenda of their own, but not always the bank to back it up. So, I told them like a mission trip, this vacation key word is flexibility. Our destination is Tennessee to meet up with Tim's family, but we have stops on the way. We are going to beach it for the 4th in Ft Myers and then head to my sister's home in Georgia. We will stay with her a couple days and then meet up with Tim's older brother and parents in Tenn. We always have stories and adventures when we do these type of road trips. Stay tuned...My sister is calling and she is also going with us to Tennessee. I love this part of life...being with family...they are such great creatures to study and learn from.