Shileen's Blog

New Normal

2020-04-04T09:41:00.001-05:00

UNITED WE STAND 🇺🇸

🔹Carnival Cruise line told Trump, “We can match those big Navy hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships.”

🔹GM & Ford said, “Hold our cars, watch this; we can make ventilators where we were making cars by next week.”

🔹Construction companies said, “Here are some masks for the medical staff & doctors.”

🔹Restaurants & schools said, “We’ve got kitchens & staff; we can feed the kids.”

🔹NHL & NBA players are writing checks to pay the arena staff during postponed seasons.

🔹Churches are holding online services & taking care of their members & community.

🔹Women & children are making homemade masks & handing out snacks to truckers.

🔹Breweries are making sanitizer out of the left-over ingredients.

🔹We thought we couldn’t live without baseball, hockey, & NASCAR, or going to beaches, restaurants, or a bar.. Instead, we’re ordering take-out to help keep businesses alive.

What they didn’t count on was America saying, “Hold my beer, watch this.”

I think a Japanese Admiral in the middle of the Pacific said it best in 1941: “I think we have awakened a sleeping giant.”

Give us a little more time & we will be doing much better! Stop listening to the hysterical media.

We are one nation, under God.

God’s got us, & #WeGotThis! 🇺🇸🙏🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻🇺🇸

#UnitedWeStand #BeAnAmericanForAChange

Copy & pasted. Author unknown. Pass it on.
This is what America is really like!

The One With the Virus

2020-04-03T08:29:00.003-05:00

Just so I NEVER forget..... April 2, 2020

*Gas price a mile from home was $1.52 today.
*All Schools are cancelled
*Stay home, work safe. Don't leave your house except for essentials (food, medicine).
*Social distance in public.
*Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other.
*To keep the numbers of people down in stores, lines form outside.
*Non-essential stores and businesses closed.
*Playgrounds, sports fields, basketball courts, tourist attractions closed.
*Entire sports seasons cancelled.
*Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events are all cancelled.
*Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings all cancelled.
*Churches are closed.
*No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, then 10 or more, now no gatherings of people you don't live with.
*Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.
*Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves.
*Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
*Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towels, no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.
Shelves are bare.
*Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer, and PPE.
*Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.
*Fines are established for breaking the rules.
*Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
*Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
*Government incentives to stay home.
*Barely anyone on the roads.
*People wearing masks and gloves outside.
*Medical workers are afraid to go home to their families.

**This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, 2020.

Why do I share this?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.

We have so much!
Be thankful. Be grateful.
Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone.

We are all one! ❤️

Being grandparents is the best!!!

2020-04-02T09:38:00.002-05:00

I am in love with this little guy like I never thought possible. Levi is absolute perfection! He's 4 months old now and I can't imagine life without him. His smiles and giggles are the absolute best. During this crazy Corona "quarantine" he is definitely the highlight of my day when I get to see him. We are so lucky to be only 10 minutes away.

My travel agent links

2019-07-02T12:22:00.004-05:00

If you get a craving to book a trip to the Caribbean or Hawaii in the middle of the night and it just can't wait... or you know exactly what you want and don't really need the services of a travel agent but would like my name on the reservation in case you have questions..
these links are for you..

To book for Mexico or the Caribbean use this link: http://www.funjet.com/index.asp?plcode=45613DC

To book Hawaii or South Pacific use this link: https://res.blueskytours.globalbookingsolutions.com/search/default.aspx?plcode=45613DCT

If you use these to book your trip I will be the agent on record and can help you with any questions you have.
Questions - shileen@3dcruiseandtravel.com

We're going to be grandparents!!!!

2019-07-02T12:15:00.001-05:00

Finally! We are so excited for Jordan and Michael. They are due to have a little boy on December 4th!

2019-03-28T10:26:00.003-05:00

I am Cedar Park's only Hawaii Destination Expert according to the Hawaii Tourism site!! Hopefully that will help with leads!

2019

2019-03-21T17:16:00.002-05:00

Wellll, Hannah graduated and is still working in College Station. I "retired" from K2F and am now a Travel Agent!!!
My specialty is Hawaii and Cruises to Alaska. (But I can help you with most anything.) I am located in the Austin, Tx area, specifically Cedar Park, but I can meet up with you anywhere or work with you strictly online!
shileen@3dCruiseandTravel.com

Oh my gosh..

2017-05-10T15:30:00.002-05:00

It's been like 9 months. WHY? I have no idea. Hannah has had a great first year at A&M. She adjusted just fine and we actually did too. It's weird being an empty nester but we have stayed busy. I am now at the office (Key2Free) full time. Oh, we opened an office in Georgetown!

So I actually go to work every day and funny enough, Josh works from home most days in his pub. Yes, he built a pub in our old game room. It's actually pretty cool. He named it the Crowned Elizabeth and it has lots of cool English pub decor and a booth he built, along with a bar he modified. We also built a really cool deck out back, and we use it all the time. It's like a cool patio restaurant with a fountain and pergola and cool lights. We absolutely love it.

In other news Hannah met a boy last September. They are still together and it's looking pretty serious. His name is Javi, he grew up in El Salvador, and he's a ~~junior~~ Senior aerospace engineering major at A&M. They met in the ballroom dance club that she joined. Oh yeah, she is a ballroom dancer now, who knew. She tried out for the team for fun and made it! They have been pretty much inseparable since they met. We have allowed her to bring him home on multiple weekends and holidays and even on our spring break trip so we can get to know him. I absolutely adore him. I really love how good he is with her. He handles her ups and downs and freak outs with ease. :-)

I promise to keep this more updated. We just moved Hannah home for the summer, she's going to intern with us at Key2Free for the next 3 months!!

Aggieland

2016-07-05T13:29:00.000-05:00

Our visit was so much fun. Even for a Longhorn. Just one night in that city converts you. All the "Howdy's" and "Gig-em's" and friendly smiles start to invade your pores and you end up just handing over your credit card and go home with more maroon than you could imagine. Hannah loves it there. I really think she's gonna be very happy there the next 2 years, and I will look for any opportunity to get back.

So much..

2016-06-16T12:29:00.001-05:00

In the last month Erin got married, Jordan graduated from college, I had an Amazing Race (Mothers Day edition) and I went to Africa! I haven't had a chance to reflect or process all that has occurred because things have been so crazy. And things aren't letting up. We have to take Hannah to new student orientation at A&M in the next two weeks and then we're headed back overseas to England and Ireland in July!
Here are a few highlight pics from this last month:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2016-04-27T18:03:00.000-05:00

Mexico was lovely as always.

Florida conference was good too!

Michael W. Smith showed up and led worship, prayed over us, blessed us, and did an intimate concert for us that was just incredible. He shared his heart for some of his songs and stories behind others, just an amazing experience.

Taking a break at downtown Disney

Oh, and Hannah got an internship at the Capitol! She is going to be a Deputy Legislation Director for a House member!!! Still hasn't heard from Ted Cruz's office, so she took the job!

Updates!

2016-04-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

Sooo, I'm going back to Africa, finally!!! In about 6 weeks actually. Our team has already started meeting and it seems to be a really great group. I couldn't be more excited to get back and see all that God has done in the last 8 years.
In a little over a week, Josh and I are headed back to Mexico for our annual long weekend getaway! I love these trips so much and I'm so glad we started this tradition a few years ago.
This summer the kids and I are headed to England and Ireland! My mom was supposed to join us to visit the countryside where she spent some of her childhood but wasn't feeling up to it, so the kids and I will carry on in her honor.
I also have some smaller trips coming up; Florida for a conference and Arkansas for Erin's wedding!!! Yes my summer daughter is getting married!
I'm thrilled with a busy travel schedule these next couple of months. That is definitely my happy place.
Plus it keeps my mind off the fact that Hannah is leaving in 4 months and I have to figure out what I want to do with my life :-)

P.S. Hannah had her first phone interview for the internship and it went really well! Waiting to hear..

Oh man

2016-02-15T11:55:00.000-06:00

These brutal Texas winters...

wow

2016-02-08T11:45:00.002-06:00

So it's been a year and a half. I admit, I forgot I had a blog. And when I remembered, so much had happened it seemed overwhelming to try and catch up. So I didn't.
2015 was a blur. Highlights?

*Hannah got her first boyfriend!
*Five months later she broke up with her first boyfriend!
*She still has a gaggle of boys following her around everywhere.
*She got accepted into A&M for this fall! She's finishing her 2nd year at ACC right now.
*She just applied to be a summer intern with presidential potential candidate Ted Cruz. She got a letter of recommendation from our mayor. She's been very active with the local Republican party.

*Jordan and Michael have been married for a year and a half! They bought a house here in Cedar Park and they have two kitties, Lucy and Scruffy. Jordan graduates college this May!

*TheKey2Free is still alive and kicking. We sold our first safe house to open a transition house and now we're moving again to a bigger property.
*I've been in a fitness boxing/kick boxing class since last September. One year after finally having surgery to have my abdominal adhesions removed. Nice to be able to exercise after years of not being able to because of horrible pain.

*Josh got a new job about a year and 2 months ago at Sailpoint. He also wrote his first book! It's called Hindsight, you should check it out on amazon.

I think that sums up the last 18 months! 2016 is bound to be memorable. We will be empty nesters in August!! :-(

A few of my favorite wedding photos

2014-08-26T11:08:00.002-05:00

Pt 4 Pisa and the coastal apartments

2014-08-08T12:54:00.003-05:00

We had to stop in Pisa, just to see the tower. It was the wildest thing. We did the obligatory poses, then ate lunch and left promptly. Nothing else interesting there. So we were off to the coast.

base of tower

Ok, driving in the coastal region, known as the Cinque Terre is ridiculous. We're talking edge of the cliffs, road crumbling beneath you into a ravine, you could die at any second kind of driving. And when another car comes the opposite way, you scream. But seeing these towns was worth it.

view from Pisa to coast (Alps)

Portovenere

Portovenere, my favorite of the coastal towns

La Spezia

random village on hillside

our apartment for the night

tram from parking section to hotel

you could either climb the massive amount of stairs or ride the tram with your luggage

We had to climb these stairs later that evening. They go from sea level up to our apartment. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. I stopped midway and took a pic down and another one up. Absolutely ridiculous.

That red dot at the top was Josh, aka legs of steel, and he wasn't even at the top yet, it isn't in the pic...

UP next.. The Cinque Terre and Monte Carlo

(sigh)

2014-08-05T13:55:00.000-05:00

I know I need to finish Italy, but my daughter just got married. It will happen.
The rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and wedding day went off perfectly. It was so much fun and yet such a blur because it went by so fast. All those months of planning and it's just over in a flash. She's gone to Jamaica and her new life. My house looks like a wedding exploded, but I'm back at work this week so it will have to wait.
Everyone said it was the most beautiful, sweetest wedding they'd ever been to. Joe even said, aside from his wife, she was the most beautiful bride he'd ever seen. Another pastor, Karen, who does tons of weddings said it was at the very top of her favorites list. The staff were all saying it was something "magical" and just so wonderful. The photographer said he'd never taken such wonderful photos. (can't wait to see them) Our videographer showed us a couple of clips that were breathtaking. It was as if God opened up the heavens and released His Spirit into this mansion for the day. It was indescribable.

Josh surprised Jordan and had recorded his version of "You are so beautiful" for them to dance to for the father daughter dance.Then we all danced. And danced. And danced. It was so much fun. Here's some guest pics for now..

Hannah almost stole the show with her comedy routine speech and then while a slide show played, she sat down with her keyboard and sang everyone a medley of songs from their favorite band, Train. She got a standing ovation.

Before the ceremony they prayed together (he was behind a door so he couldn't see her) and they both broke down in massive tears. It was the sweetest thing ever.

Rehearsal Dinner

2014-08-02T23:08:00.000-05:00

It was soo much fun. Loved talking to our family and friends and also sitting down to chat with Joe and Lori. Rare treat. <3 Such a beautiful night.

Not Italy

2014-07-26T00:13:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't finished Italy yet, been a bit busy. 9 days until the wedding. Knee deep in guest lists, seating charts, music selection, decor, you name it..
Jordan, Megan and I took a break and went to a hip hop class on stage at the Long center downtown last week. So much fun.
Today Josh brought me a "just because" present. I LOVE those kind! He thought of me in the middle of his day and went out of his way to make me happy. SERIOUS brownie points. Where does that phrase even come from?..

Part 3 Tuscany

2014-07-18T16:10:00.001-05:00

The next morning we went for a drive through the Tuscan hillsides. We had a scenic route planned with a bunch of stops in these hill towns that were scattered around everywhere. They are ancient,walled villages set high on mountain tops. So amazingly quaint. They were divided by these amazing valleys with olive fields, wheat or vineyards.

I took a TON of pics that day too. We also stopped at this abandoned abbey San Galgano, built in 1218, where the roof and windows were gone but you could walk in it with the birds flying around and dirt and grass covering the ground. It was eery but soo very cool.

The missing ceiling made the shape of a cross. My lens wasn't wide enough to capture it.

Breathtaking.

Italy part 2 of 6

2014-07-11T16:17:00.003-05:00

After Rome we boarded a bus to Siena. It was a VERY rainy day and we were glad to be leaving Rome and get away from it.

BTW, trying to figure out the Italian train and bus system is not for the faint of heart, let me tell you. Especially when everything's in Italian!

Anyway after a very scenic ride to Siena, we get off the bus in the middle of town and are now tasked with finding our rental car company.

These are the streets of Siena. Does it look to you like there is a car lot around? Nope, we didn't see it either. We had to lug our ridiculously heavy backpacks down that street on the left. I stopped to take a pic halfway down. The one on the right was where we came from. At the bottom, and out of the historic district was a wee little lot where we picked up our car and our crazy GPS.
So we type in the address of our "Beauty Farm" (yes that was the name of our "hotel" that I found on hotels.com) and we hit the road. It's supposedly 15 minutes away. We find our way out of town and through some hills and beautiful countryside until our GPS tells us we'd arrived. Yeah right, not even close. We ask an old Italian man for directions and he speaks no English but Josh managed to pick up enough words to at least point us in the right direction. So we head down another few seemingly endless roads and were about to turn around, lost, when we decide to take this dirt path just for kicks because it has a word on it that matches what we were looking for, and would be a good spot to u-turn, and of course at the end of it was our farm. Oh My Goodness. I fell in love immediately.

I guess you can tell I LOVED it here. I probably took 100 photos. The view made me speechless. Hannah and I ran around absolutely giddy, taking pictures as fast as we could. In the mornings they served breakfast out by the pool. It was so charming. The rooms had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen and living area. I would absolutely stay here again. After we settled in and calmed down we headed back to Siena for dinner and fell in love with that town too. The quaint shops and cafes were just magical.

Siena at sunset

Italy - part 1of 6

2014-07-05T13:28:00.000-05:00

Vatican City selfie

Sorry it's been so long, summer is flying by.

We just returned from our family vacation to Italy!
Due to severe jet lag, I have zero desire to post 800 plus photos on here, so I'm going to post maybe a couple per post.

This first post will be about Rome. We stayed in the weirdest "hotel", it was so hard to find because it was an apartment building. I didn't know this when I booked it on HOTELS.com.

This was the entrance. Yeah, that's graffiti.

Anyway, Rome was hot and crowded but it was fun to see all the sights. We were there 2 days and saw the Coliseum, Forum, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, some fountains and went to Vatican City and saw the Sistine Chapel and the cathedral. In the Pantheon, there was a choir giving a beautiful performance and then walked into the crowd telling them about Jesus. Very cool experience.

Rome was my least favorite part of the trip but I was very grateful for the chance to go.

Hannah and her soldiers

Pantheon

2014-05-27T15:26:00.003-05:00

She did it. She graduated. I'm grateful for the family and friends that came, and I'm very proud of her.
I now have two college kids.

2014-05-22T22:13:00.001-05:00

Today I sold most of the remaining homeschool stuff at a used curriculum sale. Today was Hannah's last day of high school. I am no longer a "homeschool mom". Seems surreal that she graduates Saturday. Jordan and I decorated her car while she was in her last class..

But, exciting news - Josh comes home tonight!!!!!!!! He has been in California all week. I think we need to celebrate a 20 year accomplishment of educating our children all the way through. We stuck it out and actually pulled it off. It's so funny to remember my thinking when we had just begun this journey, that it would only be for a couple of years. :)

2014-05-19T15:16:00.001-05:00

"Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memories seep from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

So tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees"