Sea World is one of my all-time favorite places. I loved it growing up. (Do any of you Midwesterners remember when we had a Sea World in Ohio? Sigh. Those were the days.) I love it even more now. For a hundred and one different reasons. For your sake (and mine), I’ll narrow it down to five or six.

For starters, blue is my favorite color. Lots of blue at Sea World.

Secondly, I LOVE big animals–the bigger the better. And killer whales do not disappoint in that department. So huge, so powerful, so majestic.

So sleek, so smooth, so shiny. I desperately want to touch one someday.

No matter how many times I see these whales perform, I can’t get over the fact that humans have developed such an intimate relationship with them. I can’t believe all the things they’ve been trained to do. I just shake my head and let my jaw hang.

The girlies before the Viva! (dolphins/aerialists/high divers) show. I looove the anticipation of waiting for a Sea World show to begin. Especially if there’s popcorn and Pepsi involved.

And beluga whales? Wow. Maybe not the most attractive folk (they’re just so… lumpy), but my goodness, they’re fascinating.

Sadly, the other two girls thought they were too old to be posing with marine mascots. Are you kidding me? I’m pretty sure I was still getting my picture taken with Dolly and Shamu when I was in high school.

We saw our first Pacific white-sided dolphins. Rare, stunning, and oh, so graceful. Aren’t they just gorgeous?

The Viva! show was really incredible. Our favorite of the day–even beating out Shamu (which is no small feat).

So, we were waiting for the Sea Lion show, and I start getting Tweets (Twitter lingo) from my blog friend, Kimberly, on Gabe’s iPhone. She lives in San Antonio and was at the park the same time we were! I tweeted our location, we met just as the show was starting and hung out the rest of the day. How cool is that? Here’s her recap of our day.

The five of us girlies posing by the beautiful BLUE water.

The Shamu Coaster was all kinds of fun. Livi and I rode one of the big coasters earlier in the day–more my style. I love the kind of coasters where the harness comes over your head and your feet are dangling.

Nina was not a fan. A month later, she’s still talking about how much she didn’t like this.

I love, love, love feeding and petting animals–after giraffes, dolphins might be my fave. Someday I WILL swim with them.

We just had the greatest day. We HEART Sea World!

EDIT: Here are some pics from Sea World Orlando back in December in case you missed that post. Woohoo, Sea World!

Sea World San Diego, here we come!

Since you’re dying to know where yesterday’s pics were taken, here you go:

1. Gabe and his brother Tug in Ohio Stadium, a.k.a. The Horseshoe (home of the Ohio State Buckeyes).

2. Sand dunes by Lake Michigan.

3. Two miles from Taviano, Italy. One of Gabe’s friends from Italy took a bunch of pics for us.

4. Columbus, Ohio.

5. Reggie White’s house in North Carolina, Sept. 2004, just three months before he died. We coached his daughter’s 6th grade basketball team (I taught 3rd grade.) in Ohio. They lived close to Sara’s family for a year in between his time with the Packers and his short stint with the Panthers. We stayed at their house on our way down to Myrtle Beach where we were vacationing with Gabe’s family.

And the jersey on the wall? Cool story. Gabe’s brother sent it to Reggie for him to sign as a Christmas gift for Gabe that year. He signed it, Tug framed it, Gabe opened it on Christmas Day, Reggie died the next day. We were devastated. But so, so thankful for such a special gift.

6. Sea World Orlando (or the sky above it, rather).

7. ESPN College Game Day in front of The Shoe.

8. McCain/Palin rally in C-bus.

9. North Carolina Zoo back in October. My friend Jess was so impressed when she saw that pic for the first time. Couldn’t believe we were standing out in a field with elephants. C’mon, admit it. Some of you thought they were real too.

10. Columbus Zoo Lights.

David and Sarah like the old Mac on Gabe’s desk. A friend at work was selling it for $10 a few years ago, and Gabe couldn’t resist. It’s quite the conversation piece.

Charity wants to know why we live in Ohio and have a Red Wings trash can. That trash can was a gift to Gabe from me about 12 years ago. The Bluejackets didn’t even exist back then. We’ve been to a few games (mostly when they played Detroit), but we’d have to classify ourselves as Wing fans.

Tarah wants to know if we’re Packers fans. Nope. Browns fans. Wait–did I just admit that?

If I had prizes to give away, Kelly the Zoo Girl and Donita would tie for first place. Great job, gals!

Busy day today. Visiting my grandma and mama for Mother’s Day.  Love you, Mom, Janelle, and Grandma! Thanks a billion for your love, encouragement and prayers!

Happy Mother’s Day, friends!

I want to be there. I really do. In India with the Compassion bloggers, making a difference.

This is the perfect topic for a Swirly Saturday, because my thoughts are so stinkin’ swirly on it.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a heart for missions. Taking the hope of the gospel to people in far-off lands. Bright colors, exotic landscapes, foreign tongues. I know it sounds like I’m romanticizing it all. I am. I do have some small sense of what it’s all about though. In 1997, I spent 10 weeks on the island of Okinawa, Japan as a student teacher. It wasn’t the slums of India, but there was poverty. And there was darkness. And bright colors, exotic landscapes, and foreign tongues. It wasn’t an easy 10 weeks, but something about it just felt right.

This is going to sound odd, but this itch to be a missionary of some sort is the premise of my 52 Zoos Book. Say whatzit?? True story. See, I dream of seeing the globe, taking missions trips with my family. But it’s just not in the scheme of our reality right now. I ache to sponsor another Compassion child, but it’s not possible quite yet. Without giving away the whole introduction to the book, I was sitting at the kitchen table with my journal one morning, and the thought came to me. Go to some zoos. They’re like little foreign countries. It will be a small step. The real-life foreign countries will be next.

I’m not going to say God spoke to me (in book proposals, that phrase doesn’t fly). Well, okay, I’m going to say God spoke to me. He’s given me the heart He’s given me for a reason. And right now, He’s got some other stuff for me to learn. Like I’ve mentioned before, in my own little sub-division, there are probably 20+ countries represented. What am I doing to reach the people God has plopped in my lap?

Oh, the swirly.

I’m excited to see what God’s future for me holds. And I’m doing my darnedest not to get ahead of Him, to enjoy the here and now. And oh, there’s so much work that needs done here. In my home. My family. My neighborhood. My city. My heart.

Lord, help me to be faithful in the small things that you might trust me with the big ones!

There are lots of bloggers on the trip. I’ve been following Melissa, Angie, Anne, and sometimes Pete and Robin. Their stories melt my heart. And the words God has given them to convey what they’re experiencing–wow. And the pictures. Man alive.

Here are a couple of my favorite posts: Revelation and I Have Been Ridiculed and Lied To.

Someday, I’m going to sponsor 10 Compassion kids. Maybe 100. And I’m going to go visit them. And help them. But right now, I’m going to chip away at our bills. And write letters to 8-year-old Maria in Mexico and pray for her. And teach my girls about the Bible and God’s heart for the poor. And visit the animals native to those foreign lands where these little ones live.

I’m going to seek first the kingdom of God (not the dreams of Marla) and his righteousness, and all these things (the things HE has planned, not me) will be added to me as well.

Praise you, Jesus!

And Happy 24th Birthday to my sister Stephanie! I love you, Steph!

Here’s some randomness from our trip. Keeping Swirly Saturday alive!

Stopping at the St. Louis Arch on our way to Oklahoma.

Mattress surfing with Amy (Thompson) in Dallas.

Happy Gabe after a twilight ride in Jack’s helicopter.

River Walk in San Antonio.

My friend and yours, Big Mama.

This pic makes me smile.

Word Sabbath tomorrow, Tulsa Zoo pics Monday. Have a great weekend!!

Sitting in my mom and dad’s living room, chit-chatting and laughing with them and my two older girlies. Livi and Ava were reading World Book Encyclopedias a little bit ago (my grandma used to sell them). Now they’ve moved on to the ChildCraft How and Why Library. Talk about a stroll down memory lane. It’s like I’m nine all over again. I was such a nerd. Oh, how times have (not) changed.

~~We got to see Grandma again tonight (the girls and I and Mom and Dad). She was doing really well. (Gabe’s in Seattle with our camera, so I had to use our old, stinky, blurry one.) We had a good visit. I took her a little book about Heaven by Randy Alcorn. He signed it for me, which she thought was pretty cool. She kept saying, “I know he has a lot of other good books. I just can’t think of them right now.” Each time she said it, I gave her a little list of titles. Other than that, her mind seemed sharp. She was sooo happy to see us. Oh, I love her.

~~Livi has another painting in the Westerville Art Show. It’ll be on display in the library in a week or so. Way to go, Livi! We’re proud of you!

~~Speaking of Liv, Gabe took her to get soccer cleats at Once Upon a Child a few days ago. Last season’s cleats were too small. They came home with size 4 1/2. Are you kidding me?! How am I old enough to have a child with such huge feet?

~~The kids at Ava’s super cool school study one country per year. First grade is Mexico. And we sponsor a little 8-year-old girl from Mexico through Compassion. Ava told her teacher, and Mrs. D. asked her to bring in a picture of her. So, Ava took in Maria’s picture and the letters she’s written us. Mrs. D. read them all to the class. In a public school. Letters that talk about how much Maria loves Jesus. Praise You, God!

~~Please pray for Seth, a 5th grader in Ava’s school who rides the girls’ bus. He had a brain tumor a couple years ago that was benign. It’s back, and they think it might be malignant. I can’t even imagine. He had brain surgery this week, and the principal sent out an e-mail asking everyone to pray. One of the moms held a prayer meeting at her house. Sadly, I couldn’t go, but it thrills my soul to watch God work in public schools. Praying for you, Seth!

~~Free Zoo Tickets from Fort Worth and Memphis today. Woooohoooo!

~~Nina asked me today, “Can we go to my husband Josie’s house?” Um, ‘scuse me? “”What’s a husband?” I said. She looked at me like I lost a screw. “It’s a friend,” she said. “So, when are we going? In first grade?” Josie lives in Kentucky and belongs to my friend, Gail. I plan on seeing her again before Nina’s seven. And the fact that she thinks husband is synonymous with friend makes me smile.

~~I had more to say (I think), and I’m pretty sure it was all witty and fun, but alas, my brain cells have up and gone the way of the… See?

~~Have a great weekend, amigas!