Smooches from a loving Father 

Our 2014 Cruise Page


There were so many things that happened for the group to get everybody to this cruise we thought it good to document some things that we recognized as kindness from the Father. Some folks may look at these things as coincidence but to those of us who experienced these we choose to see them as important places where the Father intervened for our good :-)

After Bing and I go to the retreat at  Bear Creek Ranch I called everyone I thought would benefit by attending themselves and when discussing with Rich who says yes after hearing Bing's extreme cheeriness in the background and speaks with her - Rich knew a big change took place in our lives. Rich thinks some time in February would work out. 

1) The whole cruise plan started with Joetta. When she heard about Bear Creek Ranch and almost immediately calls Ray for her schedule to attend the retreat during the  first week in January 2014. When discussing this retreat with Sebrina, BB & Rich (Amanda & Emily also) all felt they should go so we tentatively discussed possibly February or March as a target date.  How this is significant will come in later.

2) Several weeks prior to her going Joetta was asking whether going by yourself would be the same as going with a group. I wondered whether we could just get Sebrina to go with Joetta so she wouldn't have to go by herself. I called Sebrina ( thought I would explain the schedule shift with Rich after we got things settled) who was happy to go in January; When I called to reserve a slot for Sebrina Ray mentioned that BB and Rich were already scheduled for the very same week. Totally uncoordinated (on our end) we were scheduling everybody for the same retreat !

3) Since the beach was only an hour and a half away from Bear Creek Bing and I took the opportunity to spend the Sunday night afterwards at Hilton Head. A fabulous beach front room in the Marriott.  The soothing sound of the ocean seemed so therapeutic to us, I recommended to Joetta they might consider something similar. Bing and I could join them all there and we could enjoy some together time processing. Joetta was familiar with Tybee Island condo rental (based on previous trips there with her family) so finding a nice place for us all to unwind for the week (not just Sunday Night) was not a problem. Although pricey (IMHO) we decided after much ho humming to go ahead and rent the pricey condo. BUT wait.... Moments after I committed to paying (all but her share) for the condo on the beach Rich calls with an exceptional deal from Norwegian Cruise lines ! Rich and I decided we could not pass up the Black Friday Bahama cruise deal. Oh no I just agreed to pay the beach front condo! Of course the Lord would not have us rent the condo (our plan) when He was offering a Bahama cruise for a fraction of the cost :-) So by the time I got back in touch with Joetta (several hours) she had not yet pulled the trigger on the rent.. Thank you !!!!!

4) With all the coordination for the beach front condo Rich's work schedule (a specific project) would not allow for him to miss the whole week. They planned on staying only the Sunday night. Almost in conjunction with deciding to go on the cruise instead of the condo the project he had to get back for "resolved itself" and he miraculously had the rest of the week to enjoy the cruise.

5) When doing general research for the cruise I used the Bing search engine of course. (BTW my wife had that name long before the kids at Microsoft were born) to look at the port logistics, where the ship might be and driving directions etc...  So of the 60 plus cruise ships that use that pier and stay in port as short a stay as possible, of the hundreds to thousands of different time slots  it had been since the Microsoft gang uploaded the satellite pictures for that particular spot on the earth you get one guess of which ship just happened (coincidence) to be in the photo of the Miami pier? That's right The Norwegian Sky ! The very ship we will be sailing. Amazing coincidence I think Not!

7) And just because there was also a Filipino Food cart less than 100 yards away from the ship on the map doesn't get lost on me. Sure you can call it a coincidence since there are a lot of Filipinos in the area that would be an expected place for the food truck to be right? How usual is it for the huge map service to map a moving vehicle on a map instead of a building ? Smooch !!!! 

8) During this entire adventure our dear friend Joetta had just endured a very intrusive surgery that although successful (huge smooch) was taking a long time to heal, So her mobility was not the greatest. In fact the healing was taking so long the closer we got to the date the less it looked wise for her to be walking all over a ship or a port or anywhere.  So a few days, I think the last (or 2nd to last) Thursday before the Monday departure due to the mobility and a number of other significant factors Joetta was forced to cancel her cruise. If you've seen the pictures you know this ends well). As sad as that may have seemed - having her pay for something she wouldn't be using would add insult to injury seemingly. So the initial reaction after the regret of our friend missing out was to get someone else into her slot. But if that someone were to plug in with the travel plans and benefit from a retreat and Bear Creek... Boom ! The exact day Joetta pulled out Amanda's schedule opened up and she was wanting to go to Bear Creek in Feb/March remember. Couldn't have been more obvious it was Amanda's turn to bat.

9) So literally last minute we need to get Amanda into Bear Creek. They will tell you they almost never enroll folks for the retreat at the last minute and nearly as rarely ever have a slot left open that close to the retreat start date. But we serve a God that is cool with almost never. Cuz' Amanda was able to get into the very same retreat that her folks were at the very last minute. So good.

10) As a really sweet little smooch Christmas time found Amanda and BB getting brand new luggage. The circumstances surrounding it are a little rabbit trail but after all the twists and turns of that story both of them have brand new luggage. Just as a 'by the way'....

11) So originally we have a trip that has a group going to Portal Georgia, Bing and I meeting them in Portal after their retreat and all of us driving together on to Miami. With Joetta now only going to Portal and needing to get back to Atlanta. The change in logistics could have put a real twist for us BUT we had it already covered with Bing and I driving the truck up to Portal - Joetta using it to get back to Atlanta would actually shorten our return trip after the cruise saving us from picking the truck up on the way back. Although there were a number of ways to organize all the travel the Lord was able to get us set for this unforeseen contingency (Joetta needing a ride back on the Sunday instead of the Friday with everyone else) 

12) Now everything is all set right? Dad is not finished with us yet. Joetta (due to changing circumstances) is now totally wanting to go on the cruise. YIKES !!!! After all the miraculous rarities and "coincidences " we have yet more opportunities to watch in awe as Dad goes to work for us :-)  So here we are last few days before the ship takes off... travel agent(s) - sorry no more rooms available the ship is totally sold out. Norwegian Cruise Lines - sorry there are no rooms the ship is sold out. BB - why don't we ask whether we can add someone to one of our existing rooms? Dwayne - Logistically, life vests, square footage no way man - they must have a strict limitation on room space etc.. But I call anyway and Smooch !!! Joetta is on board again ! So it is as if Dad says hey great plan with that cruise business but you forgot someone... here let me help... so good.....

13) So not only does Amanda (our aspiring actress, movie diva, model, dancer) get to attend the Bear Creek Ranch Retreat, Go on the cruise, she also gets to enter a "Dancing with the Sky Stars" dance contest. A drawing from woman's and men's buckets would determine the 6 (3 each) 'lucky' contestants that would compete. As we were waiting for the contest to start young ladies all dressed up came out of every corner of the ship - easily 20 - 30 young ladies circled the club putting their names in the bucket. Definitely a crowded field of possible female contestants. Not so much for the men candidates. So who was the very first name drawn ? SMOOCH Amanda ! Not only was her name drawn first she won !! SMOOCH SMOOCH Not only won but the three judges all had glowing comments for Amanda and her partner through every round. The contest in previous cruises is typically an opportunity to laugh at goofy moves and craziness from the Sky dancers sort of forcing comedy instead of actual dancing... but not with Amanda SMOOCH ! The Simon Cowl of the judges says she "flipped the script" and made this particular contest about dancing ! 

14) Sebrina has an "Encounter" and for the first time in her life "FEELS" something Spirit related.

15) According to Emily Gad saved her and Richy's life 3 times.

16) - the car didn't start and they got stranded at the convention center hotel. This was good because it didn't leave a choice to even try to drive home in the deadly blizzard AND when they got to the other hotel on Monday   their room's heater at the other hotel failed during the night and they could have frozen to death in that room in their sleep by morning.
17)  - God saved them and major damage to the house by keeping the home furnace from breaking until Monday very early in the morning so they were able to call & get a repair person out to fix it with the temperature only dropping to 50 and not cold enough to freeze them or the water pipes!

18)  So... I charge Emily's car battery starting Sunday Night. Monday morning get into her car to take it to work just to make sure it will keep the charge and start for me after work. Wouldn't you know it... she has a worship CD in and it starts to play. For the first time in several years I am able to actually worship God like I had once upon a time many years ago.  Worship is no longer hindered in my life.