Wings On Her Feet!

She loves to travel. She loves to experience new cultures. She loves making new relationships. She loves to make her Mom nervous! Last summer my oldest daughter spent three months in Nicaragua and absolutely loved the experience. She fell in love with her families, as I'm sure they fell in love with her. I confess that I was relieved when she finally returned home.

Now I'm preparing to send her overseas again, this time to Europe for the month of May.

For the first 2 1/2 weeks she will be participating in a class with the college (for credit = pay tuition). During this time she will be in Spain and then ferrying from Gibraltar to Morroco, for more cultural experiences. She will be staying with families in both countries.

On May 18 the class will be over and she will be traveling to more far-flung corners of Europe! Her and another student, who has been a friend of hers through high school and college will trek on and experience all there is to see and do! They have reservations in Hostels in each city. And we have the password to her bank account so that we can "contribute" as we see fit. :) Eventually they will join up with other GC students who had been studying in London, and also desire to give their Mothers' gray hair.





The countries/cities and a few of the cool things they will see and do ...

Barcelona, Spain ... La Sagrada Familia

Rome, Italy ... Colliseum, Vatican City, Trevi Fountain

Prague, Czech Republic ... Castles, St. Nicholas Church, Wenceslas Square

Paris, France ... Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, The French Open (tennis)

London, England ... Westminster Abbey, Wimbeldon

Belfast, Ireland and Glasgow, Scotland

All of that in a short 15 days! I'm exhausted just posting about it!


Here is where I need to say that I am excited for her. I continue to be in awe of the opportunities that college-age students (whether in school or not) have to experience the world. I hope that I am an encourager of these experiences and don't allow my Mommy Instinct to hold back my kids. When I was in college I spent a month traveling in Europe and the Middle East ... Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Greece, Rome ... walking where Jesus walked. I really can't remember calling home, it just wasn't that easy, and there were no computers for quick e-mails. But I know that I sent postcards - WooHoo! I can imagine that my Mom was on pins and needles, but I never felt held back. After college a friend and I had serious conversation about working at Disney World in Florida. Our dreams were smashed when we found out we had to appear in person to even fill out an application! Why would we want to spend that time and money and not even be guaranteed a job? I think this was their way of "weeding" real fast! My Dad thought I had lost my mind, and was quick to point out that I would probably end up washing dishes in some restaraunt in Frontier Land! So instead of working at my dream job in Fantasy Land, I ended up at Pizza Hut (the home of the 5-minute guarantee)! Hey, I had to do something while I waited for my Prince Charming to finish college!

So yes, I had opportunities. I am thankful for everyone of them ... even the dreams that didn't materialize! That is what I pray for Alli, that her life will be molded by the experiences she has as a young adult.

God Speed, Alli! Stay safe, be smart, and stay away from the pigs (swine flu)!

Love You Forever!

Mole-Be-Gone

I'm not talking about real live yard destroying moles! I'm talking about those ugly possible cancer producing moles that appear on one's body.

For two years we, along with a Doctor at the Cancer Center have been "tracking" a mole on Abbi's face at her hairline. It was a big mole, but not a big deal. Something to eventually remove. The Doctor was hoping to wait until Abbi would be old enough to remove it with just a local anesthetic. Well, that wasn't going to happen. In February at the annual check, the mole had made some significant changes and it was time to get it off! Yesterday was the scheduled removal at a 12:00 noon time slot. Nothing to eat after midnight and nothing to drink after 9:00am. We arrived at the hospital for check-in at 11:15, with Abbi already complaining about her rumbling tummy.

She covered herself up to forget about how hungry she was!

Surgery was delayed and she was finally wheeled to the OR at 2:15. By 2:45 we were with her in recovery and arrived home with her at 3:45. It was quick and successful, but coming out of anesthesia is never fun!

But Abbi was a trooper and before we left for

home she chowed down a 6" sub that we had taken with us to the hospital.

The incision is quite long and follows her hairline. The doctor removed it in a football shaped incision so that he could neatly stitch it together. The stitches are inside and will disolve on their own. I think he did a wonderful job, (not to mention he's a family friend) and as Abbi grows up, it will be completely unnoticeable.

So The Hawkins' Family continues to support our local medical community ....

Here are some pictures of more fun things that are happening here on our little farm on Amish Highway 35!

Abbi has a new horse that she is bonding with ... her name is Lucky (but it might change). Her much-loved 26 year old horse, Ginger went to the great Horse Stable in the sky this winter. She was a great horse for Abbi to start with, and we miss her.





Abbi and her friend Katie shopped for and found Lion's Head rabbits that will be shown at the fair this summer.

And here's Mitch and Abbi looking for the rabbit that escaped behind the entertainment center.

Puppy Love! Our dog Uno had 5 puppies early this spring. Uno is an Amish mutt and the hispanic neighbor's dog is the guilty dad. So we have bi-lingual puppies that wear suspenders and sombreros! Alli and a few of her college friends came to give some lovin' to the puppies and also to eat a free meal!



All lined up for a ride, then it's nap time!

Meanwhile .... two hours have passed since I wrote this post, and a lot has happened! A cousin stopped by on his bike to chat, and we heard Uno barking like crazy behind the barn. Upon inspection, she had trapped a skunk! Dave went inside to fetch one of Mitch's guns - no skunks on this property! I'm not sure what kind of gun it was, but it was a big one and mighty powerful! Dave lay on the ground to set the "sight" on the skunk that was hunkered down underneath our rusty old bobcat trailer. When he felt he had a good shot, KABOOM! We all cheered because we saw the skunk fall amidst the flying dust! Dave just kept laying there on the ground, when I finally said "are you OK?" My cousin walked around to the front of him (because you know when someone's shooting, you should all stand behind the shooter!) and said "oh my, you have blood running down your face"! I ran to the house to get some rags to stop the bleeding. The kick of the gun had shoved the sight into his forehead, and he's got two pretty cool gashes to show off. I asked Dave if he wanted to go to Julie's to have her put some butterflies on the cuts, and he said "no, she'll tell me I need stitches", so I went to Julie's to get some butterflies (she's a nurse and has everything!). Now if it would've been me, I would've gotten stitches ... I don't need any more funny lines on my face than I already have! He's all set now with butterflies and "siec schmere", our family's Amish FIX EVERYTHING salve. Can't wait to hear what he tells people in church tomorrow. By the way, I didn't even ask him if I could take pictures for my blog, because I'm pretty sure I know what his answer would've been!

un BOWL ievable!

Toilet Bowls that is ...

I know that most of you don't want to hear about the wonderful weather in the Sunny South, the beautiful sand beaches, sleeping in and waking to the smell of hot coffee, or how the sunshine warms my soul! So instead I'm going to take you on the "journey of restrooms" that my good friend and I had on 75 from Indiana/Ohio to Florida!

We, of sound mind (mostly), loaded up four of our six school-aged kids on Friday after school and headed south, full of excitement and energy, and eventually full of Diet Coke and Coffee. Each Potty Break brought new and dreadful insights to the lack of governmental control that each state has over the jurisdiction of "supposed" restrooms. Trust me, we were not about to REST on these stops, much less even sit! Oh to be a man, and only need to have the bottoms of our feet touch anything remotely associated with the restroom we happened to find ourselves in. When it was my turn to say "next exit please", my friend obliged. After emerging from the building I glared at her and shamelessly threatened her ... "if I get VD from this stop, I'm holding you personally responsible!"

Further into the nether regions of the deep south we journied. My dear friend timidly requested a stop and waited behind several ladies who kindly passed wads of tp to the next person in line, due to the tp holder being empty. My friend glared at me this time when she announced that she used tp that was handled by no less than 3 people! After daylight broke, we made another stop ... by now our kiddos were awake. A couple of the kids opted for the restroom while my friend filled a cup of coffee, glanced around at the filthy "coffee fixing counter", and promptly left her full cup sitting there dragging her son out the door with her, who was whining about that cold bottle of chocolate milk that he so desperately wanted!

Our final stop for gas and more Diet Coke and coffee of course, found us at a gas station with an inviting DQ in the same lot. I waited in line for about 20 minutes with our two girls, for a three-staller. The person right in front of us came out and said "none of the toilets flush"! EWWWW! We had already decided on an ice cream treat (remember it's already quite warm at this point), so we hiked across the parking lot to DQ and while my friend waited in line for ice cream, we used the restroom. This time I had thrown my camera in my purse, because I wanted proof of what we were experiencing! Yeah, I know ... who takes pictures of a restroom? Here you go folks!

In this lovely restroom, you entered from the outside into the "sink room". The BOWL sat in another tiny windowless room in which the light didn't work. So you either had to lock the main door or have someone stand guard outside, so that you could leave that beautiful red door open for light! In the next photo take special note of the toilet paper roll resting nicely on the floor along with other strewn strips of paper.

The saddest part of this story is that when we emerged from our pit stop, this was the line for our craved-for ice cream! There was only one fine soul working this joint, and she was definitely in the southern time zone of s-l-o-w!

So disappointment once again for the kids as we ordered them back into the van for the final leg of our journey, mentioning as they whined that there would be no more Potty Breaks until we reached their respective Grandma's houses! There we knew we would get yummy home-cooked food and ... CLEAN RESTROOMS!