Listening for God's Voice

My wonderful friend and neighbor, Wendy, invited me to "Moms Morning In" at our church. It meets every 2 weeks on Thursday mornings, and this was the first opportunity that I've had to attend. The topic today was hearing, listening for/to, and obeying God's voice/words/commands. Isn't it sad that we have to watch a DVD Bible Study to stop and remember to do this? It is so true though, we are so overwhelmed with everyday life, everything going on in our heads and around us, thinking that we are in control, that we rarely stop to listen, let alone obey God! I am truly guilty of this myself!
God spoke to me through my husband last night. I booked something to do tonight but it didn't involve him and he'd originally wanted to do something together. Instead of doing that, I took the opportunity to do a market research study. So, I guess I chose the almighty dollar over my husband/family. What does that say to me? What does it say to us all about our priorities?
On a positive note, I took a friend out to lunch today for her birthday and was able to give her her birthday gifts. My dear friend Angie's b/d was last week and we hadn't been able to get together until today. She runs herself ragged and even has a younger one that is getting sick. She thanked me for pampering her! Don't we all need a little pampering sometimes and for someone to take time out of their schedules to make time just for us? Don't we owe someone else the same? We all want to be loved, appreciated, and valued. It was nice for Angie to appreciate me in return!
Today was the middle school spelling bee. Lauren, my daughter, was the winner last year and went on to the county level of competition. She did not win this year or even come in 2nd, but we were still so proud of her for trying, putting herself "out there", and for the way that she encouraged and praised others for their efforts and on their wins.
Rhys came home today with a letter that said he'll be receiving the "Optimist Club Award", for kindness. Okay, if your kid is going to win an award for a character trait, it couldn't get much better than that. He was absolutely beaming when he showed me that letter and God spoke to me to be so proud, so congratulatory, to make a big deal about it, and to immediately mark the award ceremony on our calendar!
So, after I got home tonight, from the market research study, all the kids were in bed and Brad was lying on the couch. He is all congested, doesn't feel well, and is sleeping on the couch so: 1.) He won't keep me awake 2.) To try to keep me from getting sick too! As much as I'll miss him being in bed with me, how amazing is that?! I've said it once, if not a million times, he's a wonderful man and a real keeper! I put the tissue box close to the couch on the end table, brought him a blanket and some Vick's Rub, made sure he had a beverage, and came upstairs. Here I type away on my computer, amazed by my blessings, glad to hear God's voice and see his everyday miracles, and happy to have another day tomorrow to be blessed even more.

Preparing for the cruise

It's amazing how much you have to do before you go on "vacation", especially when your "vacation destination" is in a place with a "hot season" when you are living in a climate with a "cold season".

For the last month, I've been shopping for all of us for shorts, swimsuits, shirts, etc. Do you know how hard it is to find these things, and not pay outragious prices, in November? Don't even get me started on sunscreen and flip-flops! At any rate, we are only 11 days away from our cruise and we are all pretty excited!

Our flight leaves at 6am on the "morning of", so by the time we get on the ship, we'll all be ready to collapse!

This is our first time to cruise with our kids: Lauren is 13 and Rhys is 8. The big questions are will we see them or will we not, will they make new friends, will they be bored, will we ALL have a good time???? I sure hope that the answers are yes and no, yes, no, and YES!!!!!!!!!!!