I'm a little sad today

My son heard back from Moody today. He was accepted to the Moody program but not at the Chicago campus. Due to capacity constraints he has been accepted to attend classes either through their distance education program or he can attend at their campus in Spokane, WA. We are a little disappointed but recognize that at least he has his foot in the door. We have a ton of questions and will call an admissions counselor tomorrow and see if he can be put on a waiting list for the Chicago campus. At this point, I think he will do the online courses, continue working, and involve himself deeply with the local campus ministry that our church sponsors.
While this isn't exactly what we would have hoped for, we realize that " in all things God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). What more do we need to know?

Back Home

My lemon ricotta pancakes were out of this world!! Bob had blueberry something pancakes which were fabulous as well. We enjoyed a long, lingering breakfast and some great coffee and stood out on the deck at the restaurant, trying to embed the view into our minds. We had a brief workout in the exercise room at the hotel and then sat out by the pool reading. We headed back to Phoenix and did a little shopping. We met my brother Dean, who drove up from Tucson, at the Cheesecake Factory. Bob and I split the Chicken Maidera (FABULOUS!!). You simply can't go to this restaurant and not get a slice of cheesecake. I'm drooling as I'm writing. Bob had vanilla bean, Dean had lemon/raspberry, and I had peanut butter/chocolate fudge. We had such a great time just visiting and drinking coffee. This is one of my favorite memories of the trip.
We arrived back to Iowa around 12:30 pm, welcomed by snow flurries. We arrived back home around 2:15 and it all started up again. We had to pick Emmy up from school at 3:30, go to Logan's conference at 4, drop him off at Junior Players at 4:30, take Emmy to dance class at 5:30, pick Logan up at 6:00, and pick Emmy up at 6:45. We did manage to fit in a trip to Target as well. Back to the old grindstone that inspired this trip in the first place. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Until later...

Day 4

We started our morning with a hike around Slide Rock Park. For those of you familiar with Decorah, its kind of a like a God-made Cut; gorgeous, gigantic rocks that have fallen from the cliffs onto a running creek. Had the weather been warmer, it would have been fabulous to walk around in the water but not yesterday. We have been surprised by the weather. The mornings start out in the upper 30s and peak around the upper 60s in the afternoon.
We spent about an hour at Slide Rock and then went to Huckaby Trail. If you look at the photos I posted yesterday you will see a huge expansion bridge. It is so high up I can't even describe it. I was so nervous and off balance up there I was certain I would fall to my death. Anyway, we started at the top of the trail just under the bridge and hiked down to the bottom of the canyon. There is a picture of the bridge from underneath so you can get an idea of how high it is.
We ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant called Oxaca. I had a delicious portabello and spinach wrap and Bob had a hamburger and fries. I teased him that you can't order that at a Mexican restaurant but he said my wrap wasn't very "south of the border" either. Good point.
We spent the afternoon poolside at the hotel, enjoying some sun on our final full day in Sedona.
If you haven't been here you MUST see this place. As I blog, I find it difficult to not use the same words over and over again. The beauty here is inexplainable (sp?) and I never will tire of it. We talked about wintering here when our kids are grown but that will probably be a good 15 years from now.
This morning we are bypassing the free hotel breakfast and headed out to Wildflower Bread Company again to enjoy some lemon and ricotta cheese pancakes cuz I heard my brother loves them (Hi Mikey!!)
Until tomorrow...