Por Ejemple!

words cannot even really describe the past week. but you know me, i will try anyway and undoubtedly come up with a few.

My Spring Break began a little rocky...I realized Sunday afternoon that I needed but couldn't find my birth certificate (which I HAD to have to get on the boat) and we were supposed to be leaving from Jackson at 8:00 a.m. the next morning for the cruise. Not only that, but I tried to sign up for the Mayan Jungle Explorer excursion that all of the girls had already signed up for and found out that is was SOLD OUT. Great. Of course, story of my life, God has ALWAYS found favor on me through my mistakes, and this trip was no exception. Mom and Dad realized that my birth certificate was in the lock box at the bank in Starkville, so some of the girls offered to stay behind with me so we could get into the bank early Monday morning and get it out. DONE. Then, once I finally got on the boat, I went to the information desk to see what I could do to get on the excursion and they just "happened" to have ordered a few more tickets to that particular excursion. I mean, seriously?? The rest of the trip was more of the same...everywhere I turned, I could see ways that God was blessing me. The girls I went with were AMAZING and so much fun! I have never been with a more laid-back and agreeable group of girls...and it was so refreshing to be around people like that. We made up fake names...I was Peyton...which turned into Peyton Manning ("no relation" would always follow my introduction to people on the cruise) and we used them as if we didn't even know our real names even existed. It was great. The cruise actually lasted a day longer than I thought it was going to, but the last day (at sea all day) was a much needed day of relaxation after our 2 previous action-packed days in Mexico. Days "at sea" consisted of eating really good breakfasts in the dining room, laying out and reading ALL DAY, having my quiet time while watching the sunset and drinking coffee, then showering and getting dressed up for dinner in the dining room. Every night after dinner, we went to the Karaoke bar and danced like FOOLS to every ridiculous song possible until the "club" started playing good music (good meaning RAP) so we could continue our dancing through the night. Everyone on our boat thought we were WASTED....day and night. The funniest part of the whole trip was the fact that we never even got drunk the entire trip...we were that out of control SOBER. I loved it. Our day in Cozumel was fun...we spent the day at a beach with kayaks, water trampolines, volleyball, etc. and we met a bunch of cool kids from North Carolina. Who knew NC people were that cool? The next day was Calica, another island in Mexico, and this is where we did our excursion (the one I mentioned earlier). The excursion was called the Mayan Jungle Adventure, and it definitely lived up to its name. For anyone considering going on a cruise in the future, I HIGHLY recommend this particular stop/excursion. We began our day by being bused to a Mayan Village in Calica with Marlon, our super cool Mexican tour guide. Our first activity was the zip-line, which took us across the Mayan jungle on three seperate lines. SO FUN. Next, we took a bike ride through some trails in the jungle and then we came back to the village and went on a hike to some caverns, where we watched an ancient Mayan ceremony take place. Then we walked down into the caves, which had the CLEAREST water I have ever seen in my life, which we got to swim and snorkel in!! After snorkeling and swimming through the reefs, we went and laid in tubes in another really clear pool of water and relaxed while we waited on our Mayan lunch to be made. Good thing we had a super-active group, because the whole day was intense. We made a stop by Playa de Carmen after the excursion to take naps on the beach before we had to get back on the boat that afternoon. It was definitely a trip I will always remember...I am so grateful for the blessings that God has poured out on my life...not only go on trips like this, but also to go with so many amazing girls that I have become so close to.
Turns out, there are quite a few words for that week?!

And if a trip to DC and the Caribbean in back-to-back weeks weren't enough, I am going to Virginia Beach for Easter weekend and most of next week!