Tired,thirsty,and red eye

As we are waiting at the gates we still have about 1 hour until we leave. All the Starbucks are closed, even all three in the airport. What are we going to do? Even though I have my Minute Maid lemonade and mini Oreos,I'm saving it for when I might wake up at night and I'm hungry. So, as you may know we're leaving going to Atlanta on a red eye. Well I think I might sneak a few Oreos. Shhh! Don't tell Dad! ;)

Thoughts from Mama Jean

This week has been fantastic!  I LOVE Seattle and its weather.  It has been great to see Amy and her family.  She is doing great.  I had a visit to Seattle Prep School where she works.  Wow, they sang her praises.  They couldn't do without her.  I think she just about runs the school.

Amy is very happy in Seattle.  I look forward to coming and visiting with her again.

Sarah and I have shared a hotel room.  It's a generational gap - she sleeps late and I get up early - and we get along wonderfully.

I have been off my diet since I've been on vacation.  I'm sure I've gain a few pounds, but they they have been worth it.  I'll find out from the doctor how my numbers are when I go back.  I'm sure I'll be fine - vacation is good for all of us.

This is Saturday morning.  We leave on the red eye plane tonight at 11:00.  We get to Atlanta at 6:45 am.  I'm sure we will all be exhausted.

I'll have lots more to say on the phone, so when I get home - call me!  I would love to hear from you.  Eric has my phone number if you need it.

Jean

Disappointment - Vacation and the Olympics

This week as we have lived and played in Seattle, the Olympics have surrounded us.  We wake up looking for friends on the Today Show.  We catch glimpses of second tier sporting events on TV’s in restaurants during the day.  My iphone alerts me to the gold medal winners and news throughout the day.  Each day ends trying to stay awake to watch some the best sports of the day.  Our family has a intimate Olympic connection.  The year after I served as an Olympic Ministry Coordinator in Birmingham during the Atlanta Olympics, Sarah was born.  The year after I went to the Sydney Olympics we named our second daughter Sydney.  Sarah and Sydney have watched me lead other Olympic ministry teams to Salt Lake City and Torino.  Our family loves the Olympics. 

Today I read an interesting article in USA today about the mother of Jordyn Wieber's mother (Read it here).   Jordyn  is the world champion gymnastic who has trained for these Olympics all of her life and didn’t get to the All-Around Championship because the country was only allowed two qualifiers.  And she lost out to two of her teammates.  The article relayed how Jordan’s mother would not attend the all-around competition.  While she worked hard to say the right things – thankful for a gold medal for the team – I could hear the disappointment in her voice for her daughter who just missed out of this once in a life time opportunity.  She spoke of how difficult this was – to see her daughter hurt and not be able to take away the hurt – like parents want so desperately to do.  I could tell, this disappointment would be something that would not go away, but something their whole family would have to learn to live with.  You could almost hear her say, “We are disappointed, but we barley feel the right to feel this way – we are at the Olympics and we did win a gold medal.”

This got to me thinking about all of the other competitors and their families who never make it this point.  Those gymnastics who competed at the Olympic trials who didn’t make it on the team.  Other runners and tri-athletes and swimmers have also given up much of their lives for this dream of Olympic gold and never made it to London or the Olympic village.  There are many of us like  Jordyn Wieber who have to learn to live with disappointment. 

San Juan Islands - Picture Perfect!

This week during our time in Seattle, we ventured out on a bucket list opportunity – whale watching in the San Juan Islands.  We boarded a large, fast ferry on pier 66 in Seattle and traveled for almost three hours to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  We have a beautiful day.  We saw stunning views of Mt. Baker.  The skies were crystal blue – blending into the water.  But we had come to these waters to see the three pods of Orcas who live in them.  It wasn’t too long before I began to feel some grey skies building.  Talking to the naturalist, I learned all three pods had headed out to the ocean and no one knew if they were back.  There had actually been a day that week they had not seen any whales.  I began to worry. 

Friday Harbor, WA

After we left Friday Harbor for some searching for whales we heard the announcement – none of the other commercial whale watchers had seen the orcas.  We were going to go see what we could find.  We found harbor seals and bald eagles and a few porpoises, but no whales.  All of this was unique and special and wonderful, but in the end, we all found ourselves disappointed.  We understand there are no guarantees – these are wild animals – but 97% of the time they see whales.  We happened to be the 3% who didn’t.  We had done all we were supposed to do – we had positioned ourselves to see what these incredible animals – and we had not been successful.  It was such a beautiful opportunity – like actually being in the Olympics, but we were still disappointed. 

I’m thinking how most of us are more like the Jordyn Wiebers of the world – we have learned to live with disappointment.  Maybe it disappointment in our family – our children didn’t live up to their potential.  Maybe it’s our own lives – we have lived with dashed dreams.  Maybe it’s disappointment in our work – we find ourselves driving to work each day to simply pay the bills.   

This week, we have learned to live with our own disappointment.  We had a hard time gathering our steam yesterday – it felt forced.  Frikday, we have plowed forward and enjoyed the day much better.  Maybe thanks how we all work through these things.  It’s hard at first, but we dust ourselves off and just keep taking advantage of the opportunities we do find. 

Tomorrow we enjoy a day with a friend from Beaufort before we take the red eye back to Atlanta.  We are surprisingly ready to be home.  We’ve never really adjusted to the time difference.   We look forward to the next opportunity and adventure that awaits us.  Thanks be to God.  

Busy and thinking back home

As we begin our Friday adventures, our minds are turned back to home. Our Habersham County and First Baptist Cornelia friends have been impacted with loss this week. A school friend of Sarah's drowned on Thursday and a church family has experienced two sudden deaths in their extended family. Our prayers are with them as we begin our day today.

A few memories of the past couple of days

At the The old curiosity ;Shop at the Seattle waterfront we met Sylvester - a Mummy.

A visit to te Seattle aquarium.

Luck and the Spiveys

Apparently the local killer whales are gone 4 days every summer on vacation to the Pacific Ocean. That happens to be at the end of July and beginning of August. 97% of the time folks see the killer whales. Guest who didn't?

Seems to go that way with us. If you want to see wildlife, have good snow for skiing, whatever, then find when we are going and book another date.

Of course when we have beautiful warm weather and good seas and see more bald eagles than at Dollywood - then how do we really complain. Of course it is funny. Sort of ..,

Now back to the ferry and on to Seattle.

Ferry ride

We are headed to Friday harbor in the San Juan islands. Got to love 3G in the middle of Pugent Sound! Here are some pictures of the ride north.

Sourtherns on the West Coast

One of the really interesting things about being in Seattle has been the change in time zones.  Working with several generations of Spiveys has made us all very conscious of what time it is and what time we are on.

For example, yesterday's flight left Atlanta at 11:30 and we arrived in Seattle at 1:45 - almost 5:00 EST.  With the changes in airlines - that means not food on a 5 hour flight.  I can count the amount of time it took for us to figure out how to navigate food for MJ and the rest of us.  We ended up getting some Chili's take out sandwiches for the plane ride.  We then finally got to eat an early supper at Amy's at 5:30 - around 8:30 EST.  We were starved, but we made it.

We all got back to the hotel about 7:30 pm.  All generations were asleep by 8:15 - even the teenager!

By 4:45 this morning, though, we were all awake.  Taking our time and willing ourselves for a little more sleep.  MJ was up, dressed, make-up on and looking for coffee by 6:00.  We were out the door looking for a hearty less expensive breakfast option by 7:45.  We walked about 1/2 a mile to a cafe/bar called 5 Points Cafe.  Great food!  But it was also a 24/7 bar.  So, while we ate breakfast the bar was open on the other side with several folks getting their daily alcohol intake at 8:00 am.

When we were done, we went looking for a cab and wound up walking to Pike's Market.  The streets were very quiet.  We met Amy, John, Julianne and Maxwell at the Market and enjoyed all of the unique and wonderful sounds and smells of the market.  By lunch, though, we were all exhausted and we ended up back at the hotel - taking a nap.  Hopefully, we can manage to stay up a little later tonight and see if can better manage the time frame.

Eric