vacation photo for jerry

well, we've just returned from a wonderful week in new orleans for spring break. after years of paying for mission trips for kids and other people, we went on a mission trip ourselves -- a first for both of us. our church went to new orleans to help rebuild homes after hurricane katrina. it was a great experience and we had lots of fun!

on our afternoon off, our group went to the french quarter. since jerry is still recovering from knee replacement surgery, he didn't want to just walk around and shop so we went to the aquarium. it was a fantastic time and we had this picture taken. i didn't really want to, but jerry talked me into it and it turned out great -- i'm so glad we did it.

we later "lost" the picture as we left it behind in the restaurant where we had dinner and didn't realize it until almost 2 hours later. that meant a walk back down to the other end of the french quarter to retrieve our prize and we were lucky that the waitress had found it and set it back for us. we were so excited to show it to our grandchildren, as they all love to watch shrek when they come to visit.

i was SO homesick for the little ones that i couldn't wait to see them when i got back. that is the longest that i have gone w/o seeing them and it really hurt. they were waiting here at the house when we got home that night and spent the next 2 hours climbing all over memaw and grandpa. thank God for cell phones and keeping in touch. i even got an "i love you" on voicemail from riahna that i'll be saving!