Goodbye for Now, Florida!

After a very nice four days in Sarasota, on Thursday, we had to say goodbye. Wednesday was an incredible final day. We had breakfast and left the house to go shopping at the local Mennonite bulk food stores. In short, they were quaint grocery stores that sold organic food. After our shopping trip, we went back to the house and visited with another of our friends’ daughters (they have five grown daughters and no sons). Unfortunately it was a fairly short visit and soon she had to leave for work. Next, we did one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced: we picked oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines. It really reminded me of the abundant blessings God has provided for us. I'm not just talking about wealthy people. I'm talking about ordinary, hard-working people who don't just walk around with their hand out. I'm talking about people who are willing to work through the unavoidable hard times in order to prosper during the good. I'm talking about people who are humble enough to accept help when they need it, but honest enough to refuse it when they don't. God has provided us with an abundant country whose resources are literally dropping from trees. In a time of war, poverty, and hardships, some people question where God is. How can they though, when God has provided us with everything we could ever need? After more reflection, I began to think about Adam and Eve before the "fall." If a simple orange grove can be so abundant, how unimaginably plentiful God must have made this earth before we became sinful. It’s incredible the kind of perspective a fruit grove can give you! It was an enriching and enlightening experience, one that I will hopefully never forget or take for granted, especially during difficult times. Anyway, after acquiring (and eating) many bags of juicy grapefruits (yuck), tangerines (yum), and oranges (yum, yum, yum!) we traveled back to the house and had dinner (can you tell we did a lot of eating on this trip?!). Around nine-thirty that night, we got out the Uno cards and shotgun (no, I’m not kidding) and played Shotgun Uno!! One of our friends takes the game a lot more seriously than most! He refuses to play Uno without an unloaded (I think!) gun sitting next to him. That way, he can threaten us whenever we’re thinking about putting down a draw four or any other “bad” card. All in good fun! Friday morning, following bittersweet goodbyes, we hit the road; destination, Orlando! After checking in, we moseyed around the resort, ate dinner, and went to bed, excitedly awaiting the next day’s destination, Universal Studios (http://www.universalorlando.com/usf_index.html)!! Universal was a lot of fun. It was a lot like Disney's MGM Studios. I'm a Disney girl so, of the two, MGM was my favorite, but Universal was still a fun experience. My favorite attraction was Universal Horror Make-Up Show. It was a well-done show demonstrating some of Hollywood's special effects. I also really liked E.T. Adventure, Shrek 4D, Animal Actors on Location, and JAWS; although, after JAWS, I was soaked and dripping for the rest of the day (they meant it when they said, "YOU WILL GET WET!!")! It was also fun meeting some of my favorite characters, like Shrek, Donkey, Scooby Doo, and Shaggy. Saturday we drove home in some rather unnerving weather, but we're here now, safe and sound. I'm looking forward to a relaxing Sunday evening, especially since school begins again tomorrow. I hope your week was as great as mine!