45th Birthday in Florida

Greetings from Florida!  I celebrated my 45th birthday from Orlando.  It was great to do the simple things.

Birthday cards from the girls

Okay y'all, Colombians are the most impatient people on an airplane.  I took this picture...WHEN WE WERE STILL TAXING TO THE GATE!!!  As soon as you land, before the seatbelt light goes off (which is normally when you arrive safely at your gate), they are up moving around, talking, getting their luggage, etc.  We flew Avianca this trip.  Delta is normally strict and I don't see this on American based airlines.

I looked behind me and took this.  Do y'all see the lady in the white shirt standing on the armrest with the overhead compartment open???  This is crazy!!

We made it to Chick-Fil-A at the airport for lunch.

We did some shopping at some of my favorite places (Ulta, Bath and Body Works, and Target) then ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Chuys.

I had the stuffed chicken avocado, battered in Panko crumbs and fried.

It was delicious, but oh my word, my mouth was on fire!!  The sauce was the hottest thing ever.  I seriously drank 4 tall glasses of water!

We stayed at this Hilton for our first 3 nights in Orlando, due to we agreed to listen to a timeshare presentation, which we made it out of with no vacation home!

Brook in front of the palm tree at our hotel.

The next day, we ate lunch at Longhorn steakhouse, which is a treat for us.  We hung out at the hotel and even did a little swimming in the afternoon.

We took a 5 minute walk from our hotel and were at Downtown Disney. 

Family selfie

First picture with the most famous mouse in the world!

We ate at Earl of Sandwich 

And we met up with our friend Mandy!  We did training in Brussels with her and then saw her last year at our area retreat.  She served in Honduras with MTW, but is living in Florida now.  

Thank you Walt for your genius insight of this place!

Veteran's Day 11/11

It's 11/11.  Translation:  It's my 45th birthday and it's Veteran's Day.  I am thankful for breath of life for 45 years.  I am thankful for those who have loved me. I only hope to be a better me with each day of life.  I have no throwback baby pictures.  The earliest picture I have on this computer is a photo of me in 1st grade:

So I didn't win Little Miss Southaven, but I was 2nd runner up.  That is me in the center.  

But, I do have a cool photo of Veteran's Day to share which I saw on Facebook.  So thankful for the Veteran's in our country.

At exactly 11:11 a.m. every Veteran’s Day (Nov. 11), the sun aligns perfectly with the Anthem Veteran’s Memorial in Arizona to shine through the ellipses of the five marble pillars representing each branch of the Armed Forces, illuminating The Great Seal of the United States. 

This year, 11/11 also means one other thing:

That's right! Shhh.....we are scooting out to Disney for a family vacation.  The countdown has been a long one for this trip.  Off we go, so will blog when I can!

Facebook Funny Fotos, 4th Edition

Good morning!  Here are a few more fotos to share with you all this week:

This is for sure one of my favorites!!!  

How is this so true???

This is year round for us in Bogota, although, it doesn't get dark until 6pm instead of 5:30.

Please stop Algebra.  Is it really necessary??

Okay, this is for sure one of my other top favorite sayings!!!

Sad, but true :(

Ha, ha!  Grandmothers in leggings and boots!

And this isn't a funny foto, but one I did find on my photo stream.  It was a countdown app I put on my phone in the spring.  I have already been to Peru, Memphis, and NYC.  Tomorrow (the trip that was 231 days out on this countdown), the last event on the countdown happens!

Hope some of those photos put a smile on your face today!

Weekend Wrap Up

Welcome Monday! We are glad to see you come this week.  Our weekend was pretty low key overall.

Friday, Avery and I helped with Fill Your Cup ministry and had lunch with our teammates, the Browns.  Isabella had an after school small group outing with some other 9th grade girls at her Algebra teacher's apartment.  She really likes her Algebra teacher, which is a good friend to have!!

Saturday, I babysat for some friends so they could have a breakfast date.  Isabella went to the international church to help with their one day VBS. Avery went to a bike show and the movies.  I spent the afternoon at home with Brook.  I watched a Christmas movie while working on Christmas cards.

Sunday, we had church then spent the afternoon at home.  There was some packing and listening to Disney music Sunday night, after all the homework was finished.

This email was sent to us to tell us it's almost time.  The next line reads, "Excited yet Bridges Family?"  Why yes we are!!

Avery and I before church Sunday morning

And here we are today on a Monday.  We will be hosting our MTW team at our apartment this morning for a team meeting.  That will take up most of our day until the girls get home and we begin on homework.

Enjoy your day!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  It has been a few weeks since I've done a Friday post.  I thought I would do one today since I will miss the next 2 Fridays.

The favorite part of our week was Edwin came to Bogota!  He was here Tuesday for the day and we got a picture before he left that night.

Colombian baby in an Elvis costume.  What else can I say??

So this may be hard to see, but this is my everyday life.  I will post this again on Bogota Bridges.   

I have spent this week finalizing some plans for our vacation next week.  And if the font doesn't give it away, we are taking a family vacation to Disney World!  We are all so ready and excited  Yes, we are taking the girls out of school.  We are meeting some supporters there, but will have a few days to ourselves before and after we meet with them.  We have been talking about this trip for close to two years now and have had our tickets for almost a year.  We haven't had a family vacation in over 2 years.  Orlando is only 3 hours away and is not expensive from Bogota.  Actually, a lot of Colombians have traveled to Orlando. Yes, we have traveled more this year, but it is rare that the 4 of us get out of town for a few days doing fun things, so we are ready.

As far as weekend plans, Isabella will be helping with a one day VBS at the international church Saturday and I am babysitting for a friend so she and her husband can have a date.  The rest of the weekend will be filled with...you guessed it....homework.

Happy Weekend!!

Facebook Funny Fotos, 3rd Edition

It's Tuesday and we are happy to have Edwin with us for most of the day!  If you have forgotten or don't know, Edwin is our "Colombian son".  We met him last fall and he has become a family friend. He was in Bogota on a college internship and now lives back in his home city, about 8 hours from Bogota.  He arrived at our door at 4am this morning!

Today I am sharing a few more funny fotos from the internet with you.

This says "I don't always watch the Royals, but when I do, I have no idea what time I'm going to bed."  As you probably know, the Kansas City Royals won the world series Sunday night for the first time in 30 years.  Every game they came from behind, so each game lasted really late.

Bring on the Christmas! 

Yes

So true.

I have another one I will share with you tomorrow on Bogota Bridges blog.  

Tonight, in addition to visiting with Edwin, Isabella has 3 test to study for tomorrow.  Yes ,3.  Crazy.  I feel like every week is exam week.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday!  Today is a Colombian holiday, so the girls are home from school, but Avery and I both have Spanish class today.  The girls are always happy to see Clara again since they don't see her much anymore.

Also, I have public service announcement....Colombia does not honor daylight savings time, so because our time never changes, we are now on Eastern Standard Time in the states!

Okay...Our weekend began with me taking Isabella and 3 friends to youth group Friday night.  We all crammed into a taxi with backpacks and food because  I was feeding the youth group Friday night. I visited with some teammates during the youth group time and  Avery took Brook to a friend's house for about 2 hours Friday evening while we were gone.

I made BBQ chicken, brought buns, chips, and brownies and cookies to share.

The group will play ping pong beforehand and Isabella was cheering them on!

These are the girls that rode with us in our taxi to youth group. 

Saturday, we had a relaxing morning then Avery and I went to meet some teammates for a few hours. On our way there, our taxi broke down, we walked several blocks, waited about 15 minutes (which can seem like a long time!) and finally found another taxi to take us.  Once we returned home, I made chili and cornbread and lit my pumpkin candle :).

Our administration from our building brought the girls Halloween candy Saturday afternoon.  

Sweet pumpkin smell of fall!

Chili and cornbread

Dessert

Living on the 16th floor of a guarded apartment building, you don't get any trick or treaters!  I do miss that and miss our girls dressing up for Halloween.  Traffic was crazier than normal for sure around us because most kids are going to the mall here (which is basically around the corner from us) for Halloween.

I had on my orange and fall colors and watched the crazies in the crazy traffic.

This is an intersection we can see from our balcony.  There are no rules of the road here. The only rule is every man for himself!

This is looking the other direction in front of the mall.

 
Now the city will go straight to Christmas mode since there is no Thanksgiving or fall season here.  I realize the states is already in Christmas mode too, but there is also a few fall colors and turkeys in the mix!

Hey, but its all good.  We were blessed this past week with tickets to come home for Christmas!!  A Sunday School class raised money for us to come home and we are so thankful and excited!  I love to travel, so this makes me very happy.

Sunday was filled with church and taking Brook to the mall to spend a gift card she received for her birthday. I also made pumpkin muffins!

So thankful for these imported goods of brown sugar and a can of pumpkin!

Hope you all have a happy Monday!