Countdown to Disney 2015

It is a new year and time to get our third annual year magnet from Disney World.  Due to my school schedule (I'm going at it pretty hard so I graduate at the end of this calendar year) and trying to avoid the summer vacation crowds, the best time for us to go is the beginning of May.

In 2013, we stayed at the Shades of Green Resort.  It was okay, but lacked a kitchen in the room--or even a decent size refrigerator and microwave unless we went several floors up to the laundry room, nor was there a complimentary breakfast--so we ended up having to eat out every meal (which got old fast, not to mention expensive because we were not eligible for the Disney Dining Plan--which in our case is not worth getting.)

So, once we calculated the price differential between Shades of Green and eating out every meal--breakfast, lunch, and dinner (plus 2-3 snacks per day) and the cost of a cabin (with the Miltary Discount) at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort , and eating lunch either in a park, in a resort restaurant, or in Downtown Disney and being able to get up and get our breakfast at a leisurely pace as we dress and ready for the day and then have a quiet dinner back in the cabin--we actually came out a bit ahead and the trip was much more relaxed.

Since we liked Fort Wilderness, we are going again in May.  However, this time, we are going to rent an RV through myRVHotel.com.  We will fly down and take advantage of the Magic Express Service and the RV company will have everything set up and the Magic Express Service will take care of getting our luggage from the airport to the camper.

For us, a kitchen is vital because of multiple food allergies and intolerances and adherence to a paleo diet (though we may loosen up on that on vacation--but not too much, lest we end up feeling poorly and grumpy and it "ruins" the vacation...)

There are a few things I'd like to do this year:
Pin Trading
Buy Mickey Hats with our names on them and get a family group picture in front of Cinderella's castle.  The cast members are willing to use your camera plus, even without the Memory Maker, you can buy the pictures a la carte through the Photo Pass service.
Pressed Pennies
A Character meal.  Since I know my kids would get a kick out of Stitch and Mickey, it looks like the one at Ohana is the one to go to...and they will eat a lot of breakfast foods, but dinner foods offered may be very hit or miss so we want to try for breakfast one of the days we are there.
Maybe I will have a chance to hit a spa...(not likely though...for fear of Dame Littlebit pitching a fit because I go off and leave her).

On Mentoring...

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines “mentoring” as “serving as a trusted counselor or guide.” It is the critical process of an experienced person passing along that experience to another in order to grow and develop that individual in a chosen vocation.

Though mentoring was only in the last few decades truly formalized as a concept, it has existed as long as humans have as the more experienced individual sought to impart wisdom.

Church history is full of examples of mentoring relationships. In the Middle Ages people were mentored and mentored new candidates to the convents and monasteries. The close living arrangements allowed the protégés and mentors to have the close relationship required for the proper training and instruction. Unfortunately, with today’s busy-ness of life, mentors and protégés often do not share living quarters. They may not even work in the same place or attend the same house of worship (they may not even be the same religion). Many times, in modern life, it is difficult to find a mentor. The older, more experienced person may not know how to approach someone and it takes time to build the requisite trust to form a true mentoring relationship.

While both mentoring and discipleship are reciprocal arrangements, their methods and goals differ. In discipling, the teacher asks the questions in order to set the context for discovery and to draw out of the protégé what is known. In a mentoring relationship, the protégé is the one to ask the questions about what he hungers to learn. The relationship often flows between the two methods.

Titus 2:1-8 explains the biblical model for a mentoring relationship. An older person who is well versed in sound doctrine and lives honestly takes a younger person under his or her wings and teaches him or her about how to live honestly and teaches that person in doctrine.

In order to have an effective mentoring relationship, the mentor and protégé must spend a significant amount of time together, or important things will be missed. Therefore, some wonder whether opposite gender mentoring relationships are appropriate. Some say that the risks are too great to even chance it: it could devolve into a more personal, possibly even sexual, relationship; if it sours, accusations of inappropriate behavior might be made; or others may perceive that there is something less-than appropriate going on between the mentor and protégé. Others believe that within certain parameters: accountability to other persons, such as their respective spouses—therefore, if one of the parties happens to be single, there must be extra caution taken to ensure the single person does not reach out more out of lonelines; and a significant difference in age between the mentor and protégé—so it would be more akin to a parent/child or grandparent/grandchild-ish situation, then the relationship could be possible.

The goal of mentoring is not merely to impart knowledge, but also character. In order to be effective, the mentor must have more life experience than the protégé. It rarely works for someone to mentor someone younger and is impossible to mentor one more experienced. A mentor must know the way in order to show the way and help another along that way. In order to do that, the mentor and protégé must spend time together, being drawn into the mentor’s world.