More Cruise Pics-Dinner Time

I just now realized that I hadn't finished posting pictures from my cruise! I posted all of them on facebook...but forgot about the blog! SORRY! Here are some pictures from dinner/night time!

Our dining room (Tuesday night)

Our head waiter and assistant waiter! They really put on a show each night! As our cruise director told us, they are NOT just "waiters", they are entertainers as well! Each assistant waiter is training to be a head waiter!

with our assistant waiter
(i know..my face looks funny...not sure what happened)

Our Matre 'd of our dining room!

Our dinner table group!

Monday Night! (i think my eyes look a little sleepy)

Formal night-Sunday!

Captain's Dinner (formal night)---cocktail party right before dinner. And whatever drink I had (i think it might have been a hurricane...not sure....but it was really good (and not very alcoholic)

"Professional" Cruise Pics

Here a a few of the pictures the "cruise line photo people" took of us! They take TONS and TONS of pictures, then display them in one of the areas on the ship. You can buy the photos, or recycle them. I did decide to buy a couple....but most of the time, my snap shots turned out just as good! I did buy one 8x10 picture from formal night..but it is a little difficult to scan!!! I also bought a cute frame for the 8x10 picture in the photo gallery, which had the name of our ship and a few other cute phrases on it!

They took this one in the cruise terminal before boarding the ship...BON VOYAGE!

Progresso! As soon as you got off the ship, they would have the staff take pictures as you were exiting off the ramp onto the pier. You basically smiled, said "cheese" within a matter of 5 seconds, and off to the next person! So....each day I didn't have my sunglasses out yet, so that is why I'm squinting...but i don't think it's too bad.....I think we both look cute with the pirate lady :) I'm going to try and find a frame for this one! I think the other 2 (one above and one below) will be put in my scrapbook!

And Cozumel! The color of our shirts just happened to match the border design/colors they were using!

Cruise Pictures Part III-Towel Animals

Each night on the cruise, our room steward would leave us a "towel animal." It was kind of neat!!! When we would come in from dinner and/or a show...there the animal would be...waiting on our beds :)

Night 1: Bunny

Night 2: Elephant (they found my sunglasses and put them on it)

Night 3: Pig

Night 4: Dog

Night 5: Sting Ray

On Wednesday, they had a "seminar" where they taught us how to create some of the towel animals. I know it may sound a little cheesy...but my friend and I thought it was fun!!! They even have a book that shows you how to make over 20 towel animals (of course you had to buy it though)!!!

Cruise Pictures: Part II

These pictures are from day 3 of my cruise, which was spent in Cozumel, Mexico! One word to describe the beaches, water, scenery, etc.: PARADISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The shore excursion we took part in was an adventure, and as you will read below, we were not able to take pictures because our cameras would have gotten soaking wet (literally fully immersed in water)! So all my pictures are from the port/pier area!

Our shore excursion was called "Isla Passion By Twister." It included a thrill ride on a speed boat; We experienced incredible acceleration and high speed maneuvers, including 360° turns at high speed (up to 70mph), as Twister (name of boat) skimmed along the Caribbean waters! Following the boat ride, Twister took us to a private island where we enjoyed about 3.5 hours of relaxation at Isla Pasion’s white sand beach. We also had an open bar and lunch buffet. And the island had an open-air mini mall with lots of clothing, pottery, jewelry, etc., to shop for. I bought my Mom some beautiful and extremely good quality pottery--salt and pepper shakers!! She loved them! Then afterwards, Twister took us back to the pier/port area! The ride to and from the island was about 30 minutes. And then we spent a few extra minutes playing around doing 360's! Oh...and once again, our two tour guides for this shore excursion were pretty cute/hot =) At the end of the excursion, one of our tour guides was giving us instructions and said, "We may me Mexican, but we are all brother's in Christ." I thought that was awesome...so I gave him an extra tip!!!!

I don't have captions on the pictures...because I'm not paying for premium features! But you can probably figure it out! Enjoy...i hope you check the pictures out....really do!!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cruise Pictures: Part I

I was trying to think of a good way to post my pictures from my cruise! I took LOTS LOTS and LOTS of pictures! So I am starting out by sharing the photos from day 2 of my cruise, which was spent in Progresso, Mexico, which is right on the Yucatan Peninsula! I created a "photo book" through Smilebox to help organize and journal the pictures! Click on the cover photo to view the entire album (it's not long...i promise). I hope you enjoy....and i hope this method of sharing (using Smilebox) works well! Stay tuned for more pictures!!!

Make a Smilebox photobook

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm back from my cruise as of tonight!!! I had the most awesome time and I can't wait to share!!!! But that will have to wait a few days!!! The trip went pretty well! I appreciate all your prayers!!!

I also wanted to give a quick update on my friend Emily, who you have been reading about in my posts! They did identify that the flu strand she has is the swine flu!!! She is still on the ventilator! Our doctor feels she will make a full recovery, but she continues to be challenged each day, and has not yet made that progression off the ventilator! She is very agitated and restless! Please pray for God to give her peace, for her to be able to rest, for her lungs to heal, and for her oxygen to keep getting better and stay stable so they can try once again to start weaning her off the ventilator!! She really needs to come off of it SOON, to avoid getting a trach. I did not go visit her the other day before I left for my cruise, in fear I would have caught something (and this was before I knew it was the swine flu). I'm so glad I decided not to visit her! (well, i really just wanted to talk to her husband, but knew that he had been sick too and exposed to whatever Emily had at that time). So please continue to keep her in your prayers! She really needs them as she is literally still fighting for her life! And there have not been many cases reported of a CFer and transplanter with the swine flu (H1N1)!!!! I know she is in great hands of our Lord as well as our UAB Transplant Team!

LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of GREAT pictures to come!!!!! Back to reality...which includes babysitting this weekend, and preparing for classes, which start next week...UGH!!!

Lots of Love!!!!

Gone Cruisin'

I have officially left for my cruise (this post was scheduled)!!! Please keep me in your prayers for safety and feeling good!!!

And please continue to keep my friend Emily in your prayers, as she was flown to UAB Thursday night. She is still on the ventilator and still fighting for her life!! I pray that when I get back she will be off the vent and SO SO much better!!

I did get to see my friend Tony on Friday...and he is doing AWESOME!! He's just waiting on that last chest tube to be removed so he can be discharged!

THANKS!!!!!!!!

Prayers Please

I have a couple of prayer requests, since I know how awesome the blogger prayer chain can be!

First, as most of you know, I leave on a cruise Saturday morning. I will be gone on a Western Caribbean cruise for 6 days. We will make stops in Cozumel and Progresso Mexico! Our ship departs out of New Orleans, and my parents are driving my friend and I down (only about a 4.5 hr drive)! Please pray for a safe trip! But more importantly, please pray that I feel good, REALLY GOOD for this trip! I have had some health issues come up the last couple of days that have me a little worried/concerned! And I actually just finished a 2 week course of oral antibiotics last week. All i want to do is to be able to enjoy this trip without any health complications or interferences during the trip! I SO want these issues to be gone by Saturday!

Secondly, one of my dear CF/transplant friends, has been sick for a couple of weeks, and has been on the ventilator now for about 1 week! The doctors have finally identified what kind of infection she has (a type of flu), so now they can treat her accurately and more aggressively! However, this has really knocked her down and she has a long recovery in front of her! God is so good and I know he is right there with her. I have full confidence she will make a full recovery! But she needs our prayers!! She is not out of the woods yet! She was actually transplanted here at my local transplant center, but is from Texas, and right now in the hospital in Texas. The team of doctors are communicating back and forth! Please pray that she can remain in Texas so her family can be with her, but also that the doctors make the right decisions and if she needs to be airlifted to UAB, they will do that. Although I have complete peace with what God wants to do, I can't help but worry about her because of Shaun, my friend who recently passed away. She has exhibited some of the same exact symptoms and is on the ventilator! But God is giving me a peace about it as well. The difference though is that the team of doctors have identified the type of infection making her sick....which is great! You can click here to visit her blog! Her friend has been updating pretty much daily and I know she will love to read your comments (she passes them along to Emily's husband)!

UPDATE (7:40 pm): Emily was supposed to be life-flighted to UAB around 4:30 this afternoon. The flight will take about 4 hours! Please pray for a safe flight! She has not made any progress today and the situation is a little serious! I'm glad she will be at UAB with the transplant team! I'm going to check on her tomorrow! I hate that I'm leaving Saturday and will not be able to follow updates until I return...this breaks my heart...and now I'm really concerned for her! Thank you to those who visited her blog!

THANK YOU!!!!