Savannah has been teaching us so many things through this journey, and this week was all about stepping out of our comfort zones. Josh and I tend to be neat individuals, so the idea of pulling out all of the sheets and blankets we own to make a fort in our cat fur covered living room was definitely out of the ordinary for us.
We got to work laying out all of the sheets, and trying to figure out how best to construct Savannah's fort. The process of making the fort was a lot of fun, we felt like kids as we tied two sheets together and onto the ceiling fan to make our roof.
By the time we were done, we had used most of the dining chairs, two mop poles, and even a string of Christmas lights! Savannah's fort would not have been complete though without a special sign and her favorite owl. The entrance to the fort was also very special, as we stepped back we realized that it looked like a sparkling white butterfly.
Savannah pulled us right out of our comfort zones on this one. Even though we were reluctant to dirty all of the sheets and make a mess in the living room at first, we came to realize that we were not making a mess... we were making memories! We could not bring ourselves to take down the fort the next day, so our living room stayed Fort Savannah for over a week!
All of that building made us very hungry so we decided to cross off something else from Savannah's list. We made a special memory as we gave Savannah her first Happy Meal experience in her beautiful fort! Daddy got a cheeseburger, while Savannah and I shared a chicken nugget happy meal complete with fries, apple slices, and of course JUICE!!!
We continued the night in the fort by watching Mommy and Daddy's favorite kids movies: The Parent Trap, and The Iron Giant! We stayed up way to late, but it was all worth it to be able to share this experience with our little girl.
One of the things that Josh and I were looking forward to doing was taking Savannah to SeaWorld. Once a year SeaWorld offers free tickets to Active Duty Military, Veterans, and their dependents through their Waves of Honor program. We had not used our 2013 passes yet, so we decided it was a more than perfect opportunity to take Savannah to meet Shamu!
The park was packed that day, and it was SO hot! At one point we thought that we might have to cut the trip short because of the heat, but God answered our prayers when he brought the rain. It cooled off the park, and we were able to continue making memories.
SeaWorld has a lot of opportunities for you to interact with the animals. We were able to pet the stingrays, and feed some adorable sea lions.
Towards the end of the day we headed over to the dolphin area. We had missed all the feeding opportunities and they were about 20 minutes away from closing that exhibit for the night. We stood watching the dolphins swim, hoping that they would come close enough for us to pet them as they swam by. Slowly but surely they made their way over to where we were standing along with about 60 other people. God answered our sweet Savannah's prayer when one of the dolphins popped its head right out in front of us and gave us a huge smile! We are pretty sure, by the way Savannah was kicking, that this was the highlight of her day.
One of our favorite things of the day was seeing the Shamu show! We took Savannah to the daytime one, as well as the Shamu Rocks show at night. While waiting for the show to start Josh and I couldn't help but notice all of the little girls on their parents laps cheering, clapping, crying, and in awe of the huge stadium. We always find joy in everything we do to celebrate, but we also have times where we find it hard not to focus on the fact that we do not know what the future holds for us and Savannah. Our hearts break when we think about the fact that there are memories that we will not be able to make with Savannah, yet we hold each day as a blessing, knowing that every moment and celebration is a gift from God. The Shamu show was one of those special moments that we will never forget. There is just something about watching Shamu, eating cotton candy, and feeling Savannah's wiggles that makes our hearts smile.
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| We texted Savannah's name into the fun mini game they had going on before the show! |
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Can you find baby Savannah?
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Like we mentioned at the top of this post, Savannah is helping us step out of our comfort zones. I am not a fan of heights, and SeaWorld has a rotating Sky Tower that takes you up 300 feet. Normally I would have never even considered going on something like that, but with some convincing from Josh, I decided that I needed to do it for Savannah! I started thinking about the fact that our perfect little girl is not afraid of heights, and what a memory it would be to look back and know that I conquered a fear with my sweet Savannah. We ended up riding the Sky Tower to the top, not once, but twice!!
Riding the Sky Tower was more than just conquering a fear, it was God showing us through Savannah that it is ok to let go and trust HIM in the big things and small things. The ride was not easy, but the view from the top made it all worth it! Just as this journey for Josh, Savannah, and I is not easy, we know that our God has a bigger plan and from heaven his view is beautiful.
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