Welcome to The Bird Family Chronicles...a.k.a. What's Up With The Birds?

[Note to VWM Leadership: I'm temporarily adding this on the Personalized Start Page so you can check up on me to make sure I'm behaving! :0) I'll remove it when we get back.]

We're getting ready to head out on our long-awaited family vacation to Florida. The "we" about whom I am referring are myself, my sons: Jedidiah and Troy, my daughter-in-law: Rachael, and three of my grandchildren: Mary Ruth, Emma, and Layla. Unfortunately my daughter, Zipporah, and granddaughter, Alyanah, were not able to join us, but there's a backpacking trip sceduled in July for Zip and myself...

In discussing our upcoming vacation with friends, co-workers, and family, many people have voiced concern for our safety...you know: What about the alligators, pygmy rattlesnakes, copperheads, theft, murder, etc...the usual stuff people try to speak over you out of their own fears... (I didn't intend for that to sound mean, but it is the truth.) Then there are others who are just plain curious or excited about our camping plans which includes a couple nights in the Everglades at a campsite that is only accessible by canoe or some other watercraft and two nights on the beach in Ft. Desoto State Park. I decided that the easiest way to disseminate current information about our family to those who are interested was to post to our own blog. Thus...The Bird Family Chronicles Blog was born!

A little bit about our trip: While we're gone we'll be celebrating: Emma's 4th Birthday on June 15th, Troy and Rachael's 7th Wedding Anniversary on June 17th, and Troy's 25th Birthday on June 20th. I was blessed as a mom to be asked by my son and daughter-in-law to come along and help them celebrate. How cool is that?

We were originally going to be driving two cars to haul our group, but thanks to the provision of God we are setting out in a 15-passenger van that we just purchased from a friend at church. It used to belong to our church, so it's got an anointing on it as an added bonus! :0) Much nicer than having to rent a vehicle and drive separately; plus, we've got lots of room for us and all of our gear!

We're planning to camp in three different places in Florida, all of special significance to us in one way or another. The only family "visiting" we're planning on doing is inviting everyone out to our campsite in Ft. Desoto State Park for a cookout one night. We'll be about an hour from everyone, so we didn't think it was too much to ask people to come to us.

Well, time to get some sleep...yes, I'M going to get some sleep! We'll update you soon, and we'll be posting pictures on our family Flickr site. We hope you'll all enjoy our vacation as much as we're planning to enjoy it!