Closing of 2012

I feel like 2012 was a blink. I think that begins to happen more as you age in general, but I can't help but think that my life of full-time work, nursing school, etc (i.e. being on the go 90% of the time and rarely home but to sleep) has a lot to do with it too!

I'm reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and one of the main focuses of the books is about taking the time to see the gifts all around that God has blessed us with, being in a state of thankfulness regularly! I'm just over one hundred pages into the book, but she has already spoken a lot about time. She quotes:

"Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing. . . Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away."

In the midst of work to dos and school to dos that seem to pile up, at times, it's hard not to be in a hurry all the time. It's difficult to enter fully into the current moment. I think I hurried a lot in 2012, and likely another reason it feels like I blinked and it's gone.

So with the closing of another year, I believe it's imperative that I take the time to reflect on the year that was and give thanks for God's constant and awesome provision for me and Mr. McGoo.

2012.

• Nephew Neil Fisher Kee born, May 16th
• Furbaby Tango added to the family in July
• Mr. McGoo lead a team to Ethiopia for a short term mission trip in June for Central Church
• Mr. McGoo went to Uruguay for a mission trip in October
• I turned 30 in October
• I successfully completed 3 trimesters of nursing school 
• Youngest sis, Kelsey graduated college in May
• Youngest sis, Kelsey got engaged in December
• Traveled to Cincinnati with Mr. McGoo & enjoyed King's Island in August
• Our Godson/nephew was dedicated in September
• Traveled to Arkansas to visit with Ethiopian friends and meet their son, Ben in December
• Traveled to Kansas City with Mr. McGoo to celebrate Christmas with family in December

Although when put on "paper"it doesn't sound as eventful as it felt. . . 2012 was a year on the go. It was a blessed year that God provided abundantly for me and Mr. McGoo.

I believe most of 2013 will likely be the same, but Mr. McGoo and I are looking forward to the new adventures the Lord invites us into. I'm praying we say "YES, LORD" for every invitation He gives. . . it will be worth it!

Happy New Year!

Paint Party for Ethiopia

At the beginning of the month, past members of Central Church's Team Ethiopia short term mission trip (this includes me) hosted a PAINT PARTY fundraiser at the church to help begin raising funds for the 2013 summer team. Although it is unknown who Team Ethiopia 2013 will be, the fall fundraiser provided a great turn out and will hopefully help to reduce some of the stress that comes with a team fundraiser near the departure date of the trip.

The event was definitely a team effort and was super successful! The Lord was very generous to us!

I caught a few pictures of the event to share. . .

Team Ethiopia Members: Candice (2012), Liz (2010,2011,2012), and Mr. McGoo (2010, Team Leader 2011, 2012)

The fabulous artist/instructor and Team Ethiopia member (2012), Jane

Goober me and the photographer (& Jane's hubby), Chris

Mr. McGoo & I were also able to use the event as a birthday present for our (now) 11 year old niece, Grace. For her December birthday we got her two tickets to the event and she was able to make it a mother-daughter activity night. They did great!

What night would be complete without a Uncle/Niece goofy pic?!

Our niece and sister in law were not the only family in attendance. These four goobers had a date night at the event - talk about a win/win, supporting a good cause and spending quality time with the one you love! I was super impressed by their finished products!

Dad, Mom, Uncle Brad, and Aunt Glenda

works in progress

This one REALLY makes me smile!

Another 1 Complete

Excited to be able to say that another nursing school trimester is complete. Last night I put the finishing touches on the Fall 2012 trimester and am on break until January. I'm not sure that the reality of only have 2 more trimesters to go has truly set in. The end is insight. . . well a small glimpse of it, at least. No doubt there is still much work to be done, but for now I can sit back and relax to enjoy the 2.5 week break I have in front of me.

I look forward to enjoying Christmas with family and friends without the distraction of school to dos.

Thanksgiving

Somehow December has already come upon us and quickly the memories of Thanksgiving begin to fade. Crazy how that happens. Before we get too far into the Christmas season, I wanted to take a quick moment and say that Thanksgiving was great.

This year was different than ever before for Mr. and Mrs. McGoo. We did not travel this year... something that has not happened since I became "us". Due to Mr. McGoo's family moving and scattering all throughout the nation, this Thanksgiving we decided not to travel. A first for us. Instead of traveling, we enjoyed Thanksgiving here in Memphis.

I must say that I found the experience to be....

restful!

We definitely missed visiting with Mr. McGoo's family, but I forgot how much traveling can "take it out" of you. Not traveling gave Mr. McGoo and I some extra rest and relax time, as well as fun time with our furbabies. It was fun. I completely ignored school work and soaked up the time as much as possible. 

There are definitely photos from the long weekend that I could share, but I'm waiting for Mr. McGoo to write his own blog post about the events... they will be more entertaining from his perspective. He was there.

UPDATE: Mr. McGoo's Thanksgiving blog post - DEFINITELY worth checking out!

Blessed

We have so much to be thankful for today, and every day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Below provides some, often much needed perspective...

Thirty Par-Tay

As promised photos from my thirtieth birthday party. Late, but better than never...

All decor props go to my middle sis, Kee Creative and my mom was the rock star of all things edible.

A Legend In My Own Mind

Watch out! Mr. McGoo's blog is back in action!

I'm excited for what's possibly to come.

Go check it out.

A New Decade - My 30's

This past Friday I entered a new decade of my life, my thirties! Thanks to my fabulous husband and wonderful family, I had the opportunity to celebrate my 30th with a large group of family and friends! What an awesome surprise!

I was absolutely spoiled for my birthday - all weekend long!

I don't feel any older... any wiser... any different than before, but I will admit it does sound odd to say, "hi I'm 30". Now that my birthday has passed, it's safe to say that 2012 has been a busy year for my folks - their oldest turned 30, their middle had their first grandchild (May), and their youngest graduated college.

So a NEW DECADE has arrived. I'm pumped to see what God has in store - let the new adventures begin!

Post coming soon with lots of images from the weekend...

Baby Dedication

This past week was a whirlwind...

• Class Tuesday night 6-9pm following a full day of work 
• Traveled to Pittsburgh, PA for work Wednesday through Friday afternoon
• Attended my Psych/Mental Health Nursing clinical Friday night
• Worked on clinical paperwork Friday until after midnight
• Arrived back at the clinical spot at 8am Saturday until 6pm
• Attended a Connecting Point get together with Mr. McGoo Saturday night
• Traveled to Nashville and back on Sunday and tackled school to dos in route

However, the highlight of the week was the reason Mr. McGoo and I traveled to Nashville. We went for our nephew's baby dedication at my sister and brother in law's church. We are honored to be Fisher's God parents and were happy to be able to attend.

The celebration was great. We started with a family lunch at my sister and brother in law's casa. We enjoyed some yummy eats and time with my parents, my sister and brother in law, Fisher, and lots of my brother in law's family. Unfortunately the youngest Wilson girl was not able to join us due to work obligations, but she was there in spirit!

From there we headed to the church to be a part of Fisher's baby dedication celebration. This was a time for Fisher's parents, my sister and brother in law to dedicate Fisher's life to God. They shared publicly their desire to see him grow to be a man of God that knows the Lord and follows daily after Jesus Christ. And they invited us to join them in this pursuit, asking us to play a role in pointing Fisher to Jesus as he grows.

I have no doubt my sis will post about the big day on her blog, so I'll leave most of the details for her to share. In the meantime, here is a picture of the adorable family, and the "life verse" they picked for Fisher:

The Kees

 "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

Fun pics from our visit in Nashville

I'm looking forward to spending more time with the little guy and the rest of my family in the next couple of weeks!

TFC Benefit Dinner

On Thursday, September 13th I had the opportunity to attend The Forsaken Children Benefit Dinner, an annual event to celebrate and advocate for the ministry with local friends, family, and extended networks. 

TFC is stateside organization that advocates for Ethiopia’s children and families by walking closely with Christ-centered Ethiopian partners to help them implement three long-lasting interventions: Christ-centered mentoring, Ethiopian family building and strengthening, and Project sustaining techniques. 

To say that Mr. McGoo and I are passionate about this organization is an understatement. Our journey in 2010 to work with the Ethiopian ministry TFC partners with changed our lives. God used the children and people of Ethiopia to turn our lives in a new direction, or like Mr. McGoo likes to say - we were ruined for the ordinary (coined by a dear friend of ours). 

Although Mr. McGoo was out of town the night of the benefit dinner, I had an opportunity to go. I had friends from my Connecting Point class from Central Church come with me, a few coworkers, and a sweet friend I met in nursing school. 

I thought the event was fabulous - wonderful dinner by Jason's Deli, awesome speaker(s) sharing the call of believers to care for widows and orphan,  how the ministry of TFC works, and how folks can be a part of the team. We also had an art auction at the event, thanks to the donated talent of so many - I bid on numerous pieces, competitively, and somehow walked away with nothing (probably best when I think of my max bid for each, had I won them all, Mr. McGoo would have likely been none too happy)!

Overall the night left me excited for next year's annual TFC event and the opportunity to invite others to join! It was also reminded why I support and advocate for The Forsaken Children - - - the Lord is using the ministry to change lives for the temporary and the eternal!

Some of my Connecting Point class friends!

Beautiful Keysha and Me

If you want to learn more about The Forsaken Children organization and how you can help, go to www.theforsakenchildren.org. Even $5 per month makes an incredible impact through this ministry!

Quote from the past

A really cool post popped up on my Facebook page the other day... a friend wrote the following quote on my wall stating that she found "an old note [from me]... dated May 2003". Here is what I wrote to her over 9 years ago...

"The Bible is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhuastless wealth. It is the guidebook for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, a balm for every wound. Rob us of our Bible and our sky has lots its sun." 

- Thomas Guthrie

Cincy Vaca - Continued...

Other Adventures in Cincinnati, OH

Following Friday's full day at King's Island with my man and taking some time to clean ourselves up after our adventures, we had the awesome opportunity to meet up with some dear friends that moved to Columbus, OH several years ago from Memphis. The Armstrongs are special folks, and we rarely have a chance to connect with them, so this was an especially awesome night! Not to mention we were able to celebrate Brent and Kelly's birthdays together - Brent's birthday is August 24 (that night) and Kelly is the day after, August 25. We had a fun birthday celebration complete with good food, quality conversation, lots of smiles, and many laughs.

The Armstrongs - Brent and Kim

Me and Mr. McGoo - he got a little sun at King's Island

Downtown Cincinnati had a music festival type atmosphere all weekend just a short walk from our hotel in their "square". Each night another genre was represented with a few bands, so following dinner, the four of us walked across the street to people watch and listen together.

The birthday boys! Regardless of their age, some things never change: GOOFY!

After our full day Friday with King's Island and visiting with the Armstrongs until very late into the night, we enjoyed a slower pace morning on Saturday. We slept in - me, more than Mr. McGoo and leisurely prepared ourselves for Saturday's adventures.

Around lunch, we made our way from our hotel to the river, crossing the bridge into Newport, KY to meet some friends at Hofbrauhaus. It was a beautiful day, although we definitely worked up a sweat during our more than 2 mile walk with pace. We passed by The Great American Ball Park on our way...

We met the Bergers - Scott and Summer at the Hofbrauhaus. I've heard Mr. McGoo talk about this place, but it was my first experience. What a fun environment! Good ole German vibe and laid back. We enjoyed some food, good company, and delicious brew. It being Mr. McGoo's birthday, Scott got the accordion player to wish him a happy birthday - check that off the bucket list: hearing "happy birthday" accordion style! In addition, Summer and I had a chance to participate in the world renowned "chicken dance". Ha. It's a Hofbrauhaus tradition to stand on the tables, so we joined our fellow guests and took that dance to town. Scott and Mr. McGoo did not join us, but instead made fun of us, I'm sure.

Image from their website: http://www.hofbrauhausnewport.com/

The fab Bergers -  Scott and Summer

The McGoos sharing a German brew

After lunch we caught a ride from the Bergers back over the river to The Great American Ball Park - GO REDS! There we enjoyed a Reds game against the Cardinals (Reds won). It was a perfect day for baseball and we had seats nicely tucked in the shade a little off first base.

If you didn't' know, Mr. McGoo is a REDS fan - he grew up in Lexington, KY so Cincinnati is a mere hop skip and a jump from Kentucky, so he grew up saying "go reds". It was fun to celebrate his birthday with a good game!

Sunday morning we got a wild hair and decided to make our way back home through Lexington, leaving Cincinnati earlier than planned to stop and enjoy some of Gram's famous waffles. It was a perfect completion to our trip getting to spend some quality time with Grams and Granddaddy. We even had the opportunity to visit with Mr. McGoo's sister, Jess. A great morning in Lexington.

Granddaddy and Mr. McGoo - love these guys! GREAT men!

Mr. McGoo and his beautiful sister, Jessica

Jessica, Mr. McGoo, Grams, and Granddaddy

The McGoos with Grams and Granddaddy

Last, but not least, we stopped in Nashville for a couple hours on our final leg home. We definitely made the best of our journey to Cincinnati, getting to enjoy family time along the way and seeing friends while having quality time with each other all weekend! It was great!

In Nashville we were able to see my parents (who were also there visiting), my middle sis, brother-in-law, and our handsome, nephew. Even though it was a short visit, it was worth the time. My sister caught this photo during our time there... I love it!

Fisher enjoying his reflection - happy baby!

If you cannot tell, we had a blast on our Cincy Vaca! I'm certainly looking forward to the next adventure with Mr. McGoo!

Cincy Vaca - King's Island

My handsome hubs and I had an opportunity during my short nursing school break to get away for a long weekend. We enjoyed Mr. McGoo's birthday weekend in Cincinnati, OH. I took a Friday from work, an actual "ME" day to do something fun, unlike when I usually take time off these days (for school). It was great!

We left Thursday night and made our way to downtown Cincy. Our official Cincinnati Adventure began Friday morning. We work and made our way to King's Island. Mr. McGoo grew up in Kentucky, so he has many childhood memories of King's Island. In over 5.5 years of marriage, we had never spent time together at an amusement park, so we were pumped to experience this together. We had a blast!

The weather could not have been ANY any better! Gorgeous day! The park had minimal visitors, so we were able to ride rides repetitively and with ease - taking advantage of each ride 2-3 times each over the course of the 8.5 hour day. We couldn't have asked for a better day in general, if you ask me!

The Diamondback was the best roller coaster I've ever been on. The 2nd and 3rd peak were AS BIG as the highest peaks in other roller coasters. The first peak was worthy of making Mr. McGoo and I question why we got on the ride (or again) when we rode it, panic spurred and the "get me out of here" feeling rose quickly! Once we were halfway down the opening peak, everything else was pure joy - AWESOMENESS!!! There is a pic below with an overview of part of the King's Island grounds - the Diamondback is on the right - see what I mean?! Best roller coaster I've ever had the chance to enjoy - it actually scared me!

Here are the Diamondback details from the King's Island website:

At a Glance

Location:	Rivertown
Duration:	3 minutes
Height Requirement:	54 inches
Manufacturer:	Bolliger and Mabillard
Speed:	80 mph

---

• One of the top-ranked steel roller coasters in the world as voted on by Amusement Today readers and other Industry publications and polls. 
  
• The tallest and fastest roller coaster at Kings Island, standing 230 feet at its highest point with a first drop of 215 feet at a 74-degree angle and reaching speeds up to 80 miles per hour. 
  
• Diamondback features six drops of more than 100 feet along its 5,282-foot-long course ((215', 193', 131', 129', 110', 106') and a spectacular splashdown ending. 
  
• The ride's steep hills and drops provide riders with an abundance of airtime.
  
• Adding to the ride experience is the use of unique, open-air, stadium-style seating on the trains which provide all riders with an unobstructed view of all the thrills this steel monster offers.

 

 

Mr. McGoo's favorite coaster as a kid

 

 

We actually got stock in a tunnel for 20min on the Adventure Express

Stuck in the dark in the Adventure Express tunnel - scary!

  

View from the Eiffel Tower - see the Diamondback on the right - wow!

Of course, we enjoyed some Soak City time while at the park!

We definitely had a blast on Friday, enjoying the fun that King's Island provided for 8.5 hours of our day. I asked to call it quits at the 8.5 hour mark, choosing to scoot out before we planned. We could have stayed longer to see their firework show, but this lady wanted to get off my feet for the day. It was fun taking this adventure with my handsome man!

In addition to King's Island, our Cincy Vaca included other activities... more updates to come...