We're going on vacation!

By this time next week, we'll be in California!  We're soooo excited!  Let me tell ya a little about God's goodness.

In 1998, we discovered that Savannah had a birth defect.  She was about 18 months old before we really discovered it & immediately we found an awesome doctor to start treating it.  Savannah had an eye muscle disorder that falls under the Strabismus umbrella of eye problems.  (for more info, go to www.heatoneye.com & click on the "education" link at the top, then scroll down to "strabismus")  Anyway, in beginning the process to treat her & knowing that surgery was part of what we'd be doing, I went online in search of someone who had "been there, done that" & could tell me what to expect with the surgery/recovery.  A single dad from California wrote to me.  His son, a couple years older than Savannah, had been through the surgery already & he filled me in on what to expect.  We talked about our kids & how each of them came to have this problem, what sort of treatment they were doing, etc.  Over the course of the next couple years, Savannah had 4 surgeries to correct it and eventually went to glasses (bifocals).  During that time, this nice man remarried & added several other children to his family and we kept in touch.  That was nearly a decade ago & we're still online buddies.

Last year, he told me that his son (the same one who had the eye problem like Savannah) was turning 13 in August of 2007 & he would be having his Bar Mitzvah.  He invited us to be there!  Wow!  What an honor!

Without sharing all the details, God has really blessed us with the finances to go.  Without HIS hand in all this, we could've NEVER afforded this trip!!  We are so excited!

We'll be just outside of L.A. next week for the Bar Mitzvah & since we may never go back, we decided to go a few days early to do all the cool "tourist stuff".  We'll go to Disneyland while we're there, the beach, up & down the Hollywood streets to check out stars' homes, etc.  We can't wait!  Don't worry...I'll take lots of pictures & will report in as soon as we get home.  This is truely the trip of a lifetime for us.  I've said for YEARS that my "dream vacation" was to take my family to Disneyworld....but Disneyland is just as good!  :)  And since we've obviously never seen a Bar Mitzvah, that will be a HUGE event for us--what a great experience for all of us!

We are sooo excited & just can't wait!!  We've got 5 suitcases lined up in the living room waiting to get packed!  We've got carry-on bags waiting to be filled.  Oh the excitement is growing!!!  WooHoo!