Guess what I did tonight…Yep! I went to the next house on Extreme Home Makeover. It is about 15 mins. from my apartment. It was so cool! They had people park in an old abandoned parking lot a couple of blocks away from the house and they shuttled people over to the site.

The tents were up and the lights were blazing. It had the feeling of a fair with all of the people and the noises. People were actually selling hotdogs and drinks in their front yard.

Seriously, it is like the house that never ends and the picture that does not do the house justice.

Check out all of those blue shirts. Speaking of blue shirts this city is going crazy with all of the Extreme Makeover business. There were a couple of people with the blue shirts on at Wal-Mart the other night and when I saw them, I almost squealed. Thank goodness I restrained myself, cause that would just make me look silly!

This is the VIP section where only people who had passes could go. Look at them with their chairs and their plants! Who do they think they are? It is my birthday! I should have gotten to sit in a chair, under a tent, with pretty plants surrounding me. Okay, I’m done being spoiled!

This was such a fun way to spend my birthday evening! With my friends, on an adventure! And the best part is, I think we are going to repeat it tomorrow because that is when Tye shows up with the megaphone shouting “The family comes home in 24 hours!”

UPDATED 2/23/06 10:50pm

We went again tonight and I have more pictures to post tomorrow, I’m just too tired to do that now. Here’s something to keep you guessing until tomorrow though. I saw three of the designers…can you guess which ones?

Yesterday I received the most fun pre-birthday present ever!

My sweet moma boxed up birthday napkins, plates, cups, a table cloth, streamers, and balloons. Underneath that fun stuff was the best part…A birthday cake mix. Moma measured out the salt and baking soda and sent all of the dry ingredients of my favorite cake; Red Velvet cake. Even though I have to make it, I know that she wants to and that is what matters.

And the best part about it all…there is another box coming on Tuesday with presents! She said that she played a little game with herself to see exactly how many things she could wrap and she made me promise her that I will call her and open my presents with her on the phone.

She would hate that I am letting the world know how cheesy she is but it is her chessiness that endears her to me. I am proud of her chessiness!

I love you, Moma! And Daddy, thank you for your part in it all as well!

Can you believe the entrance to this place? I mean, seriously…it’s like it’s own little, er I mean, hugantic (props to Randy) compound!

We spent all day at the Magic Kingdom, and when I say all day, I mean ALL day! We got into the parking lot at about 11:15am and we didn’t pull out until 10:00pm. It was fabulous! Can I just tell you, it was the best birthday party I’ve ever been to! I mean these people really went out of their way in the decorations…just look.

Anyway, enough silliness…One of the first places we went was to “City Hall” to get Mike an “It’s My Birthday” button. Everywhere we went Disney folks were wishing him a Happy Birthday. That is always fun!

The rain was pretty good to us, although it did start sprinkling enough for me to break out the poncho. That poncho would later keep the super cold wind from cutting into my skin after the sun went down. Now I am not a wimp when it comes to the cold, in fact there are times when I prefer it to be cold but, come on! It’s just like Florida to not be cold when you want it to and to be cold when you don’t want it to. We found ourselves going on silly indoor rides just to stay warm. By the end of the night, major thawing had to take place.

Okay, time for some more pictures…

Pictures of this castle have never done the structure justice. I squealed like a little girl about a half dozen times yesterday and I believe the first time was over seeing this in person. One of the other times I squealed was when I finally saw Belle. The 24 year old Kathryn knows that at the end of the day the actress takes the Belle costume off and goes back to everyday life but the 5 year old Kathryn still thinks she is the beautiful princess that tames the Beast into falling in love with her. Her love for her father and her purity and strength literally transforms the Beast. It is a beautiful story and it is my absolute favorite. So…when I saw her in the parade, I squealed.

One thing that disappointed me was the lack of Disney characters amoungst the people. I also thought that they would be mingling. But maybe they have to keep them hidden in those secret Disney tunnels for security reasons. Anyway, this is the closest I got to Mickey ALL day.

Speaking of secert tunnels…we went to Tom Sayers island and they have secret tunnels and neat forts and barrel bridges. A little boy could get lost in his imagination there. In my opinion, it was the ultimate backyard for boys and for the occasional adventurous little girl. Well two little boys were definitely making themselves at home there and as Mike and I were emerging from one of the secret tunnels one of those little boys fell from the sky right on top of me. Well, not really from the sky but that is what it felt like. They had been playing on the hill above the tunnel exit. I am so glad I was there to break his fall because if I hadn’t he would have hit his head on the rock that was all around us. I didn’t fall but I can tell that I will have a pretty nasty bruise on my shoulder in a day or two. Anyway, the little boy just got right on up and started laughing. I’m glad he was okay.

Now, onto the rides. There were a couple of Disney staple rides that I HAD to ride and most of them were the rides you associate with Disney World. For example, the Teacups, Dumbo, It’s a Small World, the Magic Carpet ride. Not what you would call grown-up rides. But Mike was a trouper and he humored me. While we were standing in the very long line for Dumbo we met a 3-year old little boy and his daddy. His dad was sharing that it was his first time there and that they were also there with his mommy and his 8-month old brother. He also shared that he wished they would have waited a couple more years before they brought him for the first time. Then I shared with the little boy that it was my first time at Disney World too. He looked at me as if to say,”Sheesh Lady, where have you been?” It was so funny.

My favorite ride there was Thunder Mountain. Nothing super special, just a fun ride! Spalsh Mountain was fun too. It was about 8:00 and freezing cold and there was nobody in line for it and Mike asked if I wanted to go again. So I put on my poncho (it was freezing cold. I was not going to get wet!) and we got on the ride. No one else was in our boat and there was no one in the boat in front of us or behind us. It was so cool! The best part about this ride is the anticipation of what is coming. It builds and builds until you are on the top of the drop and then you just fall. So, once we got to the drop off zone and there was no one waiting…we went again. We didn’t even get out of the boat. It was too cool!

As you can probably tell, I had a blast! Thanks for being born, Mike!

Okay everybody, you have to come visit so I can go back!

 

Early tomorrow morning my Moma is making her way down to visit me for a long four-day weekend. I would appreciate everyone’s prayers for her while she is on the road.

I don’t think she has ever made a trip quite this long by herself before and she said the other day that she was looking forward to her “adventure on the road”.

 

Traditionally I would reject the idea of a New Year’s Resolution. Why set yourself up for failure and what is so special about January 1st… but not this year. No, Weight Watchers and I are back on, hot and heavy. Now before you say “Weight Watchers :::scoff:::”…It works for me and I need the structure that it brings, being the “all or nothing” kinda girl I am.

I also want to start reading again. Since college graduation I have sworn off books. After almost a six month break I am ready to jump into the deep end of reading for pleasure. I saw The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe last month and I felt completely left out when some friends of mine were talking about how the book said this and the book said that. So, before the inevitably sequels come out on film, I am reading The Chronicles of Narnia! I would be open to suggestions to add to my list once I am finished with this. Keep in mind my personality…no vampire books!

So this break from tradition for myself got me to thinking…Do you make resolutions every new year? Why or Why not? And if you do, do you ever stick with them all year?

 Please share!

Last night, while others in the blogoshere were being young/old fogey’s, I went to a bonfire with a friend. His church has some empty land behind their main building that they are in the process of clearing to build an addition to their church. Well, last night they had a bonfire, complete with s’more fixin’s, fellowship, and praise and worship. At around 11:30 about six different guitars were going and 30 voices were singing out. The focus was on all the Lord had done in 2005 and all the He will do in 2006. It was really special. No one knew exactly when the clock changed from 11:59pm, Dec. 31, 2005 to 12:00am, Jan. 1, 2006 but all of a sudden fireworks went off across the street and lots of screaming and yelling started. In complete contrast, our little group was silently praying and as my ears were filled with the pop and crackle of the fireworks they were also filled with the whispered prayers of my brothers and sisters. It was quite magical! As a sat there staring into the fire listening for my Lord’s still small voice I thought about all the amazing things that have happened in my life this past year.

I went to Hawaii in January. I turned 24 in February. In March I filled out my application for graduation. In April, I met Randy and the Exodus gang. I donned the graduation cap and gown in May and later in the month I faced one of the most difficult spiritual battles of my life. In June I began persuing a ministry position with Exodus International. I broke my ninth bone in July and found out that the job I desperately wanted was mine. In August I fully realized that taking said job meant I had to move to Florida. In September I left everything that was familiar to me to follow my Lord and I began a new season of my life in Orlando. I was in wedding number seven, in October and realized that ALL of my core group of girlfriends were married and that I was finally okay with that. By November I had finally unpacked all of my boxes and breathed a sigh of domestic relief. Finally, in December, I started my very blog! 

How did I get here? Why me? What is so great about Kathryn? Isn’t there someone else that could do this better? There have been many times over the course of this year that I have asked these questions and yet the answer is always that the sovereignty of God does not always make sense, and I remain in awe that I have a part in that sovereignty. Who wants a God that they can understand, anyhow?

As the adventure continues for me and my Lord I pray that you will begin one of your own with Him. I hope that 2006 is for you what 2005 was for me; an amazing adventure with our Awesome God! He will rock your world in the best way possible…if you let Him.