Rhodes and Turkey

Our next stop was Kusadasi, Turkey, where we visited ancient Ephesus. We signed up to do the Best of Ephesus, which took us to Mary's house, Ephesus, St John's Basilica, and to a carpet demonstration. Mary's house was this place where they say she lived the last 5 years of her life. Of course, the house is rebuilt, but it was still pretty neat to see. It was tiny and you walked in single file, no talking, and if your back was showing, they gave you a lovely scarf to cover it. A nun was at the far door and she looked like she could take you down if you messed with her Virgin Mary. Outside of the house you could light a candle or write a prayer for the Virgin Mary. You could also fill a jar with the "holy water" outside from the spring and take it back with you. We weren't quite sure what we would do with that, so we by passed that... The drive up to the house and Ephesus was gorgeous. Turkey was beautiful and very clean. Ephesus was amazing in person. So much history and it just is so weird to think this is how people lived, they were here, living just like us... and Paul was here preaching! What?! It was overwhelming at times and made it seem like it was more real than I previously believed. The library and the theatre were my favorites. The old bathrooms were interesting, with a ditch of water that flowed at your feet to wash your hands afterwards. Supposedly servants would also warm up the stone for your back side in the winter. Mmm. While we were in Ephesus, this little group put together a show of how it would have been back in the day. It was really stupid, but hey, we watched, I cheered, Jack rolled his eyes, it was great. 

Next, we went to St John's Basilica, where he was believed to be buried. Around the site was a Mosk that went into chants and there was something great about being there seeing the country side and hearing the sounds of Turkey. Lunch was next at a "5 star" hotel that was super good, but I didn't get to have Turkish Delight. I always think of the Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe when I think of Turkish Delight =). I'm not sure I would like it anyways. I did however have some Turkish wine at the carpet demonstration that was quite disgusting and I was kicking myself for not getting the traditional apple tea. The carpet demonstration was very interesting, but the whole time knew we would not be buying anything. I kept thinking about being haggled, but no haggling, they were very nice and professional. 

On the way back to the ship, I was once again reminded of Mj's passing by this poster in a store window. 

The next stop was Rhodes, another greek island. Rhodes had a totally different feel, being the Knight's hopitallers came in and captured it, giving it a very medieval feel. Old Town, which is right of the port, has a huge wall around it and a castle, with lots of shops, restaurants, and parks. Outside of the medieval wall is called New Town. Jack and I decided to see Old Town and then head to the beach and maybe a winery. I had seen a winery that I wanted to check out, but it was about an hour away. As we were walking blindly around the town, all of a sudden we came across an information center. They were extremely nice and helped us figure out how to get to the beach and a winery. They showed us another place that may be good that was located in town that we could hit up afterwards. Before going to the beach, we had a traditional greek lunch at a cafe. I had greek meatballs, pita, and saganaki. The beach was gorgeous, with perfect weather. Before heading to the ship, we decided to venture to this winery. The taxi driver pulled up and it looked like we were at an abandoned warehouse. Seriously? We told our driver to wait on us... "give us 15 minutes". We were the only ones there and it was pretty much a warehouse. Hilarious. We did try the wine in about 5 minutes-fastest time ever-because we were nervous to be the only ones in this shady warehouse and hoping our driver wouldn't leave. The wine was good, bought a bottle and headed back. We both had a good laugh out of that and knew it would have been a much better option to go to the winery an hour away. Oh well! If we hadn't gone, I would have always wondered. Thankfully, we have a much better winery experience in Santorini. 

Athens and Mykonos

Sorry for not continuing in the story of the cruise, but I took trip to see my brother last week. So back to the cruise...

that night after Sicily, it was our first "formal" night in the dining room. The food was delicious and then we decided to stop by the show. It was some violinist that seemed very good to me. Before one of his songs, he starts talking about a mentor of music that will be missed, yada yada yada... "michael jackson"-WHAT?!!!! Michael is dead?! DEAD?!! Then he proceeds to play an extremely sad song. Maybe it was the sad song, the wine I had at dinner, or my love of mj, but I proceed to cry. "Why am I crying?" Jack responds with, "I don't know. There goes the night". We skip out on the show and go to play Bingo where we try to get the low down on what the heck happened. I'm thinking suicide? car wreck? What happened? And I continually repeat "I can't believe he is dead". The bingo guys tell us they don't really know what happened yet, just that he was found at his house and they tried to revive him. Weird. I was very sad. Yeah, he is extremely weird, but he greatly influenced my childhood and love for music and dance. I still remember my sister loved him when she was younger and etched "I love Michael Jackson" in this huge piece of wax. I had a sticker collection and I had his sparkle glove. We had the Thriller Record and I used to play it all the time. I adored watching the making of Thriller video where he's wearing that mickey mouse sweater and the girl is wearing that scarf thing around her hips. Ahh. Well, 

the night was still fun =).

We had a cruise day the next day and then we got to Athens. I wasn't expecting much from Athens because I had heard it was dirty and congested. I was presently surprised, it was congested but we really enjoyed our time there.  We got off first thing in the morning and headed to the Acropolis by taxi. The Acropolis was beautiful and I think we enjoyed it even more because there was hardly anyone there. After Acropolis we walked around town to see the arch, the gardens, and then to Syntagma square to see these hilarious guards. In the square there were lots of pigeons and men selling pigeon food. Brilliantly, we passed on that, but one teenager thought it would be fun to take off his shirt, lay down on the ground and put the food all over himself. It made quite the scene. Ah, the joys of teenage boys. 

Next, we hit the market street, browsed, and ate lunch at an outdoor cafe. Jack had a gyro and I had moussaka and a greek salad. It was delicious. Back to ship!

The next day we headed to Mykonos, a beautiful greek island. The island itself was very rocky and had winding roads down to the beaches. The official bird of the island is the pink pelican and Jack and I were lucky to spot one early in the morning. I also read that Jackie O was a big visitor of the beach so I got a picture of this bar called Jackie O. 

Again we got off the boat early because we planned to look around the island and spend the day at the beach. We walked around the square area for a while and then headed to Psarou beach. We read this beach was beautiful, secluded, and a hang out for celebrities-well, sign me up! The beach was gorgeous and we were the only ones on the beach except for a man who got up from  his yacht and started kayaking. About an hour later people started to stir, but the resort that was there didn't get hopping until several hours later. Apparently in Greece, the beach doesn't get going until late morning/ early afternoon. There were a slew of workers for these beach chairs and it literally took them 3 hours to clean it all. It wasn't that it was dirty, they just really seemed picky and wanted it pristine as could be. Sweeping the chairs, the sand, etc. It was quite impressive. They were still cleaning when we left and we had been there about 4 hours. We decided we had heard a lot about Paradise Beach and would try it out. Very touristy beach, known for partying, nudity, and gay side/straight side. Mmmm. At first I was scared, but then thought, "when will we ever be here again? Let's just say we've been there!" So we headed that way by taxi. The beach was beautiful and we saw lots of people from our ship, where as the other beach we hardly saw anyone. I saw hardly any nudity, maybe one old lady, and no partying. Maybe it's night time that it gets hopping. Either way, I'm glad I didn't see much! 

After the beach time, we headed into the square and saw the beautiful windmills, with a beautiful view. Our time in Mykonos was great and relaxing, I'd say a perfect beach spot. 

Sicily

After arriving to Rome, our first stop was Sicily, Italy. We watched the coastline while eating breakfast on the balcony and we pulled in to port at about 8 am. We had signed up for an excursion, but it was one were they provide transportation but let you explore on your own. We decided to go to Taormina. Jack's dad was stationed at one time in Sicily and told us that was one of his favorite spots he visited. The drive there was beautiful, with lots of olive and lemon trees and oleander. At one point the tour guide girl pointed out a spot that the Godfather used in filming, I nodded and said "cool" not really knowing where that was in the film. We made it into Taormina, which is perched on top of a beautiful hill. The city itself had these great narrow roads, so cars weren't able to go into the middle area. The narrow streets were lined with shops and cafes. We visited a theatre that looked similar to the one in Rome, but you could see a breathtaking view of Sicily from the top. They used the theatre for concerts and such. You can see in the picture it looks like they lugged in a huge scene marker (you know the things for movies they put the scene # and say "action", what is it Lindz?). Jack and I walked around the quaint town full of hills and beautiful stones and squares. One of Jack's favorite sites-a dancing Homer from the simpsons. Seriously, they were selling this dancing Homer off the street and we stared at it for like 5 minutes. 

So I had read that you could take a cable car down the mountain to the beach, so we hopped on to go see it. So we got down and started walking. Most of the beach was lined with hotels, but not beach access. Finally we came to an opening to a restaurant that looked interesting. We definitely were away from the tourists but decided to try this restaurant that was on the beach. First nude sighting! I knew it was coming... not many nudist, but they were there. Topless chick breast feeding her baby, or toddler, I should say. 

Back to lunch, the place was kind of like a beach bar but had little tables and one step down to the beach. It was great to be where Italians were and not a bunch of tourists and some Italians. Our first taste. Barely there speedos, lots of smoking, little kids speaking Italian which sounded so much smarter... and wait, american oldies on the radio? 

Lunch was great- and we headed back to the cable car. Another example of how God blessed our trip: we walk up to the cars, about 50 feet and see a tour bus pull up. Jack spots it and we start running. Just in time. Any SECOND later and we would have been waiting for 70 people to get on 3 cable cars. Once we got up to the top, we stopped at a cafe and had gelato, a cappuccino, and a canoli. Somehow the waitress was confused as to what Jack ordered and gave him two flavors. One was one he asked for, the other was yellow with gummy fruit in it. Interesting. We couldn't quite put our finger on what the flavor was. Any ideas? Reminded me of the time I got ice cream in China and they put tomatoes in it. 

The gold statue that is posted is at the Port-the tour guide told us it was the Virgin Mary blessing Sicily. Could be anything-no, I think she was telling the truth. 

Cruisin'

Jack and I took a once in a life time trip to the Mediterranean on a cruise at the end of June and got back July 6th. It was WONDERFUL. I can't believe how much God blessed us on this trip. So i thought I would post some pics and tell you what we did each day, so each post a new location. 1st up: Rome.

So we flew into Rome on July 25th. That's right, on the day Michael Jackson died. To those who know me well, you know this was BIG news for me. I am a huge MJ fan and have stuck by him through the tough times (I'm not saying he isn't weird). I actually named part of my blog after him (Blanket, aka his son).  Well, Jack and I were waiting to leave Nashville to get to Atlanta, when we heard Farrah died. Got on the plane and was completely unaware to the fact that my dance hero has passed... and I will continue to be in the dark for four more days (very sad, I know). 

We got to Atlanta about 3pm and then left around 5:30 to arrive at Rome 8 am their time. We slept a little, but not much. We had booked an excursion with Celebrity to take a panoramic tour around Rome so we conveniently found our tour and left our bags with them. (unknown to me someone watched me put my ipod in the front pocket and stole it, which I found out when I got to my room). We hopped on the bus and it took us all along Rome with a great tour guide who said "todaaayyy" in the funniest way, so Jack and I continued to repeat that all day.

Highlights: Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the last picture of some building I didn't quite get the name of. Then we arrived at St Peter's Basilica and piazza, but realized we didn't have enough time to go in, so we walked around the piazza and got gelato. The first place we went, we stood in a little line for 5 seconds and found our selves being served free Prosecco and I was all about it. Then Jack decided this may take a while so we went across the street to another Gelato place. My first Italian Gelato experience. It was amazing, better than I hoped. I got cappuccino flavor and jack got something that looked like vanilla with chocolate flakes. As we walked around I spotted some sisters from the Missionaries of Charity, the charity that Mother Teresa founded who serve the "poorest of the poor". Being my hero, I completely flipped and got their picture. It probably violated all kinds of respect and value of mankind, but I didn't care. I took it. 

Next, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Civitavecchia, the main port in Rome to get on our ship, the Celebrity Solstice! On the way, we definitely felt very tired and fighting the constant head bobs and eye closing. We entered our ship being welcomed with Mimosas and Champagne. Our ship was amazing and HUGE. Our room had a balcony and was on the 8th floor, 4 from the food. I will tell you some of our favorite parts. First, the pool, indoor and out with cute little cabanas. The martini bar with the best bartenders in the world who made a fabulous French Martini. They also had a martini tasting and in the picture I posted, they are pouring 4 tastings or 18 drinks at one time. Our last favorite, was the sunset bar and lawn club on the top deck that had grass to play putt putt, croquette, boccie ball, or just lay on. We went there most every night to enjoy the sunset and a mojito, beer, or sangria ( I must mention, of course, Jack got the beer). 

That night we had our first meal in the dinning room. If you've never been on a ship, this is the place you eat every night that has a four course meal (all included in your fee). You can sit with other people or you can sit with just your party. Being I don't like to talk to strangers much, we ate alone. If you wanted to skip this, you could eat at any of the other places on the ship, too. After dinner we hit the sack to catch up on our much needed sleep! Next up, Sicily! 

Praise the Lord, for he is good!

so, if you can read this, it tells you the amazing, awesome news that I don't have to get any more shots! Yes, it's true! I went his morning to receive my news, as I do every thursday, but this time Jack came with me. It was so great to have my best friend there with me. I think Jack has been seeing how hard it's been on me to go alone each week and he asked to come this week out of the blue. It meant more to me than I could put into words to have him there beside me. My chemo nurse told me that it was 4.5 and that like she said last week, I would probably need 2 more rounds after today to get to normal. I secretly died inside as I heard it, but tried to keep up beat as I went into the room. I was scheduled to see my Dr. and he came in, started discussing the process and mentioned "well since it's normal today, this is your last shot". I had to ask him again... what?! He said that at the lab I get my blood work, normal is considered 5 or less, where as some other labs, it can be 2 or less. I have NEVER been so happy for someone to be totally wrong! I couldn't believe it. The minute he left, jack gave me the high five and I burst into tears-I could not contain the relief and joy that overwhelmed me. Jack gave me a huge hug and prayed thanking our God for bringing us this news. 

So the next process will be getting blood draws weekly for 6 weeks, then to every 2 weeks, then monthly for a total of 6 months. So I don't have to go to that office again, just to see Barbara, the sweet lady who draws my blood, in the lab at Baptist! Crazy. 

Last week I was totally heart broken, but God put scripture into my lap that otherwise would not have come to my attention. I was reading over the Psalms before I had to go into work and tried to pull it together... I kept reading about enemies and saving from the foe, etc. and I was thinking "I can't relate to this, I need something else". Funny, next thing I know God points out to me that this is so my enemy, this tumor is my ENEMY and pursues me like a lion. That is exactly what I felt like that day, "O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge: save me from my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver." Psalm 7:1,2

"When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment." Psalm 9:3,4

I am so thankful to God for this day and praise him, but it will never be enough. He has maintained my cause all along, it may not be as others see it should go, but he has been faithful. Some may pity me for my experience, but I am thankful that he would enable me to get near to him in this way. Am I saying I would want it, welcome it? No, but if it is his will and brings the joy of knowing him through my hardships, let's do it together. 

Thank you thank you thank you for all of your prayers, weekly checks of numbers, encouragement, cards, texts of love. I could not have gotten through the past 125 days without you (yes, this is the number of days since finding out about losing the pregnancy and then hearing it was a molar pregnancy, d & c, to chemo treatments.) I have the best friends in the world. Honestly. 

Ps. Jack's brother and family are in town this week. He has 4 children and my niece, Caroline and nephew, Henry, helped draw and color this picture for me. They have been praying for me for months. I went over to the Barrett's for a celebratory dinner and they gave it to me. How sweet!

Week 12

My niece forgot to put Jack's name on the cake, so she made this sign.

Sorry I haven't posted my levels for last week! You know I would have posted sooner if they had been zero... they were 5.5. Although they had said previously that I could stop after 5, now my doctor wants it to be 2. I got my blood drawn this morning for this week, so I will find out Thursday and let you know!

On another note, Jack and I have been doing Body for Life for the past 12 weeks. I just wanted to tone up and it was a great opportunity to become more disciplined in what I eat (I was not being very disciplined!). I also was excited to do it with Jack. For those who don't know, it is a 12 week process of combining workouts and a healthy eating regimen. You work out 6 times a week, cardio 3 and weights 3. You eat 6 times a day, 1 carb  and 1 protein for each meal and veggies twice a day. One day a week is a free day, anything you want to eat and no workout. Jack and I would go to the grocery store together every Sunday night and plan the week. We worked out some together, depending on if he was getting up super early (I don't do super early=)). So on this past friday we did our final weigh in's and body compositions. I am so proud of Jack, he lost 15 lbs. and 3% body fat! He looks great! I lost 10 lbs, 3% body fat, and 12 inches from my arms, hips, and waist. It was hard at times, some days you just wanted a krispy kreme donut! Mostly it wasn't bad, we even found that when we did eat those cravings, it wasn't that good or it would make us feel horrible. It was good to become conscious of what that bad stuff did to your body and have some sort of discipline on it. At first I was frustrated that the weight wasn't coming off fast enough, but by week 7 and 8 I felt great and stronger than ever! I just wanted to encourage those who feel like their eating has gotten out of control or just want to eat a little healthier, this is a great way to go. The discipline can even spill over into other areas of your life-spiritual, tv watching (for me). 

One other area of news-Jack turned 30 last tuesday! We went to dinner with his parents at Sperry's and had a joint birthday dinner with my sister at my parents. We also went to the lake this past weekend at Rock Island with some friends (he is starting to have his own little birthday week). He says he's old, I say he is getting wiser! Here are a few pics. 

single digits

Levels today were 8.4. Really? 8.4? You can't just go ahead and take it a step down to 5 or 4? Just a little bit lower. Personally, If I were Hcg levels, I would have gone ahead to 0. I'm just saying... Good news, my doctor said once I hit 5, I will get one more dose and stop. So levels, I have a message to give to you. I know it's hard to lower yourself to a "normal" level, but please do it for me!