….since I had a Diet Coke.

sigh.

And that one Big Gulp sized bit of heaven was the only one in a two week period of Diet Coke-free living.

I’m not swearing off of caffeine….that’s just NOT going to happen.  You can pry my morning coffee mug from my cold, dead fingers.

I’m just done with aspartame.  That stuff is nasty.

I’ve known for a long time….ever since we started Noah with a DAN doctor….that aspartame is neurotoxic.  I enforced the no aspartame rule for Noah and Isaac…I just didn’t worry about it for myself so much.

I have finally come to the conclusion that I cannot possibly afford to kill off any more brain cells.  So the Diet Coke is being replaced by iced tea. 

I’m sure that I’ll treat myself every once and a while a chug a 32 oz. bit of happiness, but those times will be few and far between.

Ah….Diet Coke….I shall miss you…

I think that my server is back at 100% today. 

But my brain is working at about 25%.

So….here’s some random updates on life around our house…..

The plans for our church building are moving along nicely.  Right now, there’s a lot of behind the scenes action….finalizing plans with the city…ordering furniture….choosing paint colors.  We are hoping that hammers will start flying sometime in the next week or so.  I’ll let you know when it starts.  We are beyond excited about it all. 

I booked a vacation home in Maggie Valley for a week in early June.  With Noah’s summer school schedule and the church move, we are having to do some creative sandwiching of our schedules.  Doug will be in California June 1-5 for the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor’s Conference.  While he’s out there, I will pull Noah out of the last two days of school and take the boys to see Michelle and her family in Beaufort for a night or two.  On the 5th, the boys and I will head for the mountains (about 5 hours from Michelle’s house) and Doug will fly from Los Angeles straight in to Asheville, where we’ll pick him up.  We’ll stay there for a week and head home via Beaufort again.  Noah will rejoin summer school the following Monday, only missing two days.  I love it when a plan comes together…..

I really, really, really am going to write more about the next step on Noah’s ongoing biomedical journey.  We’ve already started some new interventions and will be adding more in the next week or so.  Once I get my brain back to around 62% of its’ operating capacity, I will attempt to explain all. 

Until my brain turns back on….

My server went all wonky today, wigging out this website.

I have no idea what happened, but I guess it’s back. 

Hopefully it will still be working tomorrow…..we’ll see.

I hope you had a lovely Monday….

We took the boys to EPCOT for the evening. 

Our plan was to ride the new version of Spaceship Earth…look at all the purty flowers (seeing as how the Flower and Garden Festival is currently running)….and visit a 25 year EPCOT anniversary exhibit.

First stop…Spaceship Earth.

For reasons that we cannot possibly explain, Doug and I ended up sitting together in the ride vehicle….

….with our THREE YEAR OLD and his seven year old brother who has autism left to sit in the seat behind us….all by themselves.

duh.

When we realized what we’d done, the ride vehicle doors had already closed and it was too late. 

We were officially bad parents.

As our car started the climb up the first steep hill, Doug said “I’ve got Noah, you get Isaac”. 

We managed to contort ourselves in a most uncomfortable manner and hang on to our children for dear life.  For a good portion of the attraction, we faced backwards. 

That was fun.

Thankfully, we made it through without incident and moved on to the rest of the park.

Next up was a stop at the EPCOT 25th anniversary exhibit.  Anyone who loves old school EPCOT would love this.  There are maps and photos from when the park opened.  A few original costumes are on display as well.  And for a special treat…the music playing in the exhibit area is all throw-back….I heard the original Communicore atmosphere music as well as the original Land Boat Ride song.  Groovy stuff. 

Nemo was next on our list.  Thankfully, they took out the freaky scary fish that used to jump out at you toward the beginning of the ride.  That thing was just WRONG.  Isaac tripped the first time he saw it.  I did too.  So….freaky fish gone, the boys fully enjoyed Nemo.

Last up was a ride on the monorail.  No trip to Disney would be complete without one. 

When we got home, Noah said, “good time, EPCOT”. 

Yes…it was. 

This post may be a wee bit “jumpy” this morning.  I’m having a hard time connecting the dots in my brain to form lucid thoughts.

I’ve got about 85 things on my plate today….I’m trying to figure out what God wants me to “pick at” and what He wants me to either leave alone or put back in the pot.

One fun thing on my plate is the finalization of our summer vacation plans.

This year we opted for a vacation “on the cheap”…seeing as how we just finished purchasing two cars.  Spending a grand on airplane tickets to go somewhere just ain’t gonna happen….and doesn’t need to, since my “Toaster” is a mighty fine road trip vehicle.

So…I’m feeling a Smoky Mountain-stop at Stuckey’s-visit tacky gift shops and buy fudge to chow on-play in mountain creeks kinda trip comin’ on.

Our town of choice is Maggie Valley, N.C.  I’m not a Gatlinburg kinda girl….WAY too much traffic for me.  Maggie Valley offers easy access to the Smokies, the Blue Ridge Parkway and Cherokee for all your tacky tourist fun….but without all the crowds and cars. 

We’re going to rent a little cabin in the woods for a week.  We’ll play in creeks and take the boys to goofy theme parks like Ghost Town in the Sky and Santa’s Land. 

And I’ll eat lots of fudge.

I’ve got lots to report about Noah’s biomedical treatment….lots of new direction and interventions happening there…but a goosy brain is keeping me from writing about that today.  I’m still processing it all myself.

I’m off to take the boys to the park.

Ya’ll have a restful Saturday….