Mama, her name is "Friend."

This is our Hurricane Irma story, and how making one Friend can help others years later.


Seven years ago we took the kids on vacation to Vero Beach, Florida. Luci met a little girl she called "Friend," because she could never remember the girl's name.

Luci and Friend, otherwise known as Isabella

 Friend's mother and I exchanged Facebook friendships because we had pictures of each other's daughter to share. We left Vero Beach for Alabama, and they went home to Kentucky.

Fast forward to Monday, as Hurricane Irma chased people out of Florida to points north. On my Facebook feed I saw a post about a family who was stuck in Kentucky, on their way to Ohio, but their truck broke down and the mom was about to give birth. Their household goods were on an open trailer in the parking lot of a hospital they found for the mother, who had begun labor. I shared the message, hoping to find someone in my friends list who was close by.

Within fifteen minutes, Friend's mother commented, and said that her husband is a minister in a church just a few blocks from the hospital.

Within two hours from my first request, the family had food for mom, dad and siblings, their trailer was stored in a safe place, lodging for after the hospital stay was found, and a loaner vehicle was in the works until their truck could be fixed. Friend's family and others were helping this family in need.

beautiful Olivia!

It was so lovely seeing the hands and feet of Jesus being worked out through Facebook. We could not be there to help but Friend and her family certainly could.

This story keeps getting better--not only does Olivia have a great "How I Got Here" story, but the family's house is fine, ready for them to return home when the truck gets fixed. Dad says that they've been "absolutely overwhelmed by all the love." Here's his whole message:

Olivia ___ ___ was born at 3:16 yesterday [Monday] afternoon weighing 7 lb 11 oz. Mom is doing well with the exception of a cold or something of that nature. Olivia is happy and healthy and we are so happy she's finally here!

Words cannot possibly express to everyone how overwhelmingly grateful we are. Never in our lives have we seen such an outpouring of kindness from strangers. I've been trying for about 5 hours to post an update for everyone here but every time I've begun there's been a visitor at the door or a phone call. My apologies.

Oh my. I am in tears as I write this.

We are so thankful for Friend (known as "Isabella" to most people) and her family! You never know what a friendship between five year old little girls will amount to.

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Updated: Amy, mother of "Friend," has let me know that the family has had all needs taken care of, and they found their own housing, and most was figured out without Amy's family's aid. But still shows how small a world we live in, and how wonderful people are when you need them!

Another Lovely Update: Kelsey Malicote has helped raise money for a new minivan for the family! Malicote reached out to Dan Cummins Chevrolet & Buick; the dealership offered to help the family get a new vehicle.

On Wednesday afternoon, the family left the hospital and traveled to Dan Cummins in Paris. The dealership agreed to sell the family a 2009 Saturn Outlook for the $5,000 the community raised for them. The vehicle retails for $12,000.

The family will be staying with a family here in Lexington. They plan to head back home to Florida in about two weeks. Here is Kelsey's website: The Malicotes. 

Vacation!

Wehad a wonderful time at Vero Beach.  We were at Disney's Vacation Club Resort.  We planned this vacation as a "Hooray, John's Retired!" vacation, since he planned on being fully retired on October first.  But as the summer wore on, John changed the date to November fifth.  We kept the vacation date and had a blast.  The best part?  I didn't see John on the phone with work the entire time.  (He may have called when I wasn't looking, but I didn't see that--so different from every other time we've had time away from home.)  We really had his attention.  I loved that, and so did the kids.

Our condo had two bedrooms plus a fold-out couch and chair in the living room.  Plus, with the full kitchen and washer/dryer, you can vacation pretty cheaply.   The programs for the kids are a lot of fun, and quite a few of them are totally free.  Some cost a little bit, and some are expensive.  This trip we stayed with the free and low-cost items, plus John and I had one night out on a date, so very little money was spent all together. 

We had a great time just being together and taking it easy.  Disney World is fun, but we are always scattered, running and TIRED.  Vero Beach was just fun, swimming, and games as you will see:

What Do You Do at Vero Beach?

First you need a good water slide.

and a 14 year-old dare devil who WON the slide contest with the fastest run!

You simply must go to a tea party (and the un-birthday party! I can't remember which one Luci is headed to here).  All week the counselors would greet Luci with, "Hi, Luci, also known as Belle, and also known as Ariel the Mermaid!" Because she was in the pool whenever she wasn't dressed as Belle. 

You go to archery lessons...

and watch Mom's arrow fall to the ground IN FRONT OF the target!  Yes, that's my arrow on the ground--that stick-looking thing in the middle of the picture.  Thanks for recording that, JT.  You are so sweet (not!).

You make new friends!  Here Luci is with new friends from Kentucky and Florida, at the campfire one evening.

And, you must eat SMORES!

Peek-a-Boo!  Taking a bath in the "indoor swimming pool."  That's what Luci calls it.

You go to Mickey Chef Classes.

You watch Daddy fall asleep before supper.

You wonder if the 18 year old will ever get out and get some sun.

You get embarrassed by your Dad.

Especially when he gets chosen at the campfire to act silly during one of the songs (come on, John, first place in the SMORE line is hanging in the balance!).  Campfire that night was an "un-campfire" because of the high winds.  We were on the porch of the main building for this frivolity.

And you still wonder if Bryan ever got any sun.

You watch Mom go bonkers trying to play Boggle.  And catch Luci sneaking into the freezer!  Can you see her arm behind me?  She ate more that week than she ever had.  Lots of swimming will make a girl hungry.

And watch Luci conk out before bedtime.  This, along with the good eating, rarely happens at home.

You get to make crafts with Miss Rita!  This was one of Luci's creations.  Miss Rita is the one who inspired this post.

You get your whole family to build a sand castle!  Luci had this as her only "must-do" for the entire week.  She'd been talking about it for a whole year.

You bury your brother in the sand.  And look!  Bryan did get out in the sun after all.

What a great sand castle! 

We love it at Vero.

Fancy Vittles

Okay, so on our Disney Cruise, every time we sat down to supper (because I don't call it "dinner"), I wished for a Cracker Barrel menu.  That's my kind of food.  Watching shows like "Iron Chef" (even the American version) make me queasy.  Some of the restaurants in China were a challenge for me.

Here we are at a resort and John wants to go out for dinner and leave the boys in charge of Luci.  We will only be a hundred yards or so away.  The boys can take Luci to play Disney's version of Bingo while we go out.  Yippee for them!

But me?  I don't like seafood, and John's taking me to a seafood buffet.  So I asked if I could see an alternative menu--there are only three items on it that are not seafood and contain sides such as "Truffle-infused Macaroni and Cheese," "Crimini Mushrooms," "Meyers Rum Spiked Boniato and Plantain Mash."  Did I mention that I prefer plain foods? 

Those entrees cost almost twice as much as the seafood buffet (which is very nice and has things on it that I actually recognize).  So I think I will go ahead and have the seafood buffet, too.  Because as much as I am not crazy about sea food, I am less crazy about spending money.

Gaahh!! I hate driving in Georgia.

We've traveled a lot. We've probably traveled more without John than with him. But today has got to be the all-time record for misery in the car. One child was loathe to leave Vero Beach. It was not the 5 year old! If you happened to be driving through Orlando around noon, you would have seen us on the side of the Florida Turnpike, with that same child doing push-ups. (Again, not the 5 year old.)

And then leave it to Georgia to have so much freeway construction going on that we had an extra hour of driving.

Luci added an extra 30 minutes onto that by having to "go potty" three extra times. Why did I ever potty train her? I guess it will be good in the long run, huh?

Ares 1-X Rocket Launch

We saw the rocket! What a wonderful thing, even from 58 miles away. Now, to make you all jealous: Luci and I rushed out of the pool to go to the beach to watch the launch. Bryan and JT missed it--they were busy with surfing lessons!

Here's the story: Ares1-X Rocket Launch and a photo from Fox News.

Tuesday at Vero Beach

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday!

Luci turned five on Monday. She proclaimed it "The Best Day Ever."
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After Luci went to sleep Sunday night, JT decorated the apartment and I frosted the cake. We had cake for breakfast!


Luci went to a crafts class.

Campfire at night--complete with silly songs. I didn't know the boys were so talented at singing "A Tooty-Tah-Ta." I thought that was just a Luci thing. The campfire ladies also chose Luci to take part in a song, but then had her go find her mom or dad. Since dad wasn't available, I got to embarrass myself in front of the crowd. Unfortunately, no pictures of that disgrace survived....


Roasting marshmallows....

to make Smores! How did that marshmallow get on her temple??