1) a hotel bed in W. Palm Beach (we drove to Florida two weeks ago tonight leaving at midnight.  We were sure tired and ready to sleep Friday night!)
2) a floating city on the sea (I could not believe how big our cruise ship was!  It was 18 storeys tall and we enjoyed our 14th floor balcony view often)
3) laughing in strobe lights (we got to see Blue Man Group on the cruise.  I'd wanted to see them for a long time.  I especially liked the end with the toilet paper and strobe lights.  Nora liked it for the most part but she was actually sweating at the end because she was so nervous!  But the rest of the cruise when we passed by the area she talked about "Blue Man"--which really sounded like snowman!)
4) the rush of the water slide (our cruise had 3 of them!  I didn't go on them often but they were fun--espcially the open one that was like a funnel that you had a tube on.  That one had the longest line and was closed when it was windy--which was often)
5) finding "A friend in Jesus" in a taxi driver (we went to the airport beach in St. Maarten which was awesome--and a little scary--to be right under big planes flying in.  We got a taxi driver who had "Taxi for Jesus" on the front and told us her husband is a pastor.  She was singing to Gospel music most of the ride--some of it in French)
6) cruise libraries (ours wasn't too impressive but I finally got to read The Postmistress and highly recommend it.  It took me 4 days which was quick reading!)
7) Nora saying "Rain, stop!" and it did (when we first arrived in St. Maarten it was a little rainy.  Thankfully it stopped.  The boat was really rocking at times from the wind and waves but by the end of our cruise it was very hot and not so windy)
8) Penny falling asleep in my arms (when we took taxis on the different islands, I would hold Penny and every time she fell asleep :)
9) 60 years for Joanne and Carlton! (that is a long time!  our cruise was a celebration of their anniversary and so generous of them to include all their family in on the gift.  We had a special dinner together--which Penny and I missed because she had thrown up earlier that day--and gave special gifts and looked at old pictures together)
10) a Second City date (Josh and I got to go out to dinner and to see Second City the last night of the cruise.  We had fun plus...
11) staying healthy (we managed to stay healthy because we had gone on our date.  The rest of the fam went to a Brazilian restaurant and came down with food poisoning.  Nora threw up in the middle of the night our last night but then was pretty good the next day.  Not so with Kathy and Megan :/)
12) HOME after 12 days (we had an awesome vacation but there really is nothing like home--plus we were definately running out of clean clothes!)
13) girls in BSF (after waiting since September they can finally come with me to BSF!  Nora came yesterday and had no trouble fitting in, of course).
14) God is rich in mercy (after BSF I'm remembering not only has God blessed me physically but so much more spiritually.  I'm being encouraged by writting down more of the blessings I'm finding in the Bible through BSF)