2nd Honeymoon

First of all, I will say that plane tickets are pricey - wasn't sure how we were going to fit this trip into the budget, but we were going to do it anyway! Harry's company payed for the vehicle, the gasoline, and the food, so that left shopping, sightseeing, and plane tickets. Some friends of ours have frequent flier miles and they graciously told us they would like us to use them for my trip to see Harry. This trip was a tremendous blessing - thank you God for amazing friends and family and incredible blessings!

I brought my girls to my brother's house on Wednesday night, and headed out on a plane on Thursday morning. I hopped on 3 planes to arrive in Erie, Pennsylvania. Got there with more than an hour to spare, so I waited for Harry to get done with work and meet me back at the room. ..... it had been 5 weeks ..... That night we went to the Peninsula on Lake Erie - it was beautiful. Watched the sunset on the beach, and went to an Italian restaurant that night.
















Woke up, had breakfast with Harry and then said goodbye for the day. Listened to him get teased a little by co-trainers ;) and then went shopping by myself without children all day. I kept it at 100 bucks, putting a lot of items BACK on the shelf. Is it just me, or are there more things to look at when children aren't present? When Harry got back, we went to a music store, and he looked at bass guitars, and I played the Bach trumpets there - heaven, I tell you.

Saturday morning we headed off to Niagara Falls. We headed to Canada to see the Falls from there.



















It was beautiful. :) And perfect. The flowers below were carefully placed all around Niagara Falls park and walkways.

Then we went back to the hotel and had pizza with Rodger, Harry's friend. Then woke up Sunday morning and went to Grace Church - it was such a friendly church. I felt right at home! After that, we went to the bookstore and then to some of the vineyards between Pennsylvania and New York.














Harry and I like wine, but don't buy it very often because we don't really know what we both like. So we went to Heritage Wine Cellars and did some wine tasting - and it was tasty! We liked a couple of the same kinds, so we bought them and went on our way. I'm looking forward to a few quiet evenings and a glass of wine when he gets home. :)
















Then it was Sunday night already! So we went down to Lake Erie again and spent some time relaxing. Harry skipped some stones at my request. :)

Then Monday morning it was off to the airports again! This tunnel is in Detroit airport and it was just great - they have calming music while the lights are going - just fun.

When I got home my sister and her son, and my girls were waiting for me at the airport. I cried. I missed them tons, and it was such a relief to know they would be cared for and loved while we were gone - even when they are a lot of work! :) I don't know how Harry's been gone for 6 weeks without seeing them....that's endurance, friends. Skype just isn't the same as a big daddy bear hug. He will hopefully be home tomorrow for good!!! We can hardly wait!

Ouch!

Heth taught me about podcasts today. I am on my third sermon tonight as I clean my pig sty of a room. This one talks about Trials: Suffering to Worship. Idol Worship, and I was thinking maybe I didn't have as much work to do on this topic. BOY, was I wrong! Listen to this:

And to seek out not only our sins, but the underlying cause of them namely the idols that we run to, cling to, in place of Jesus. That which we get our identity, our comfort, our security, our salvation, our passion, our pleasure, our hope. Do any of these sound like you: I am a nice person. People like me. And they say nice things about me. If your idol is people-pleasing and fear of man and being liked and being popular - then when people hurl insults at you, when they criticize you for living for Christ, you will have a crisis - because your idol will be threatened. .... ..... ..... but if your idol is "I'm a nice, likable, loved, decent person, and what they're saying is mean and they don't seem to appreciate me, and they're criticizing me, and they're disagreeing with me," you will find yourself, if that is your idol, in this wonderfully joyous moment that you get to decide whether Jesus Christ is Lord or the opinion of others.

Gets me right where it hurts!!! I'm completely hooked.

Hum Dee Dum...

Oh, let's see. What's new. My kids were running completely naked outside all afternoon. And I didn't even stop them. I hope they don't need psychological reviews on childhood memories in their adult years when they get an indecent exposure lock-down. But....with all the magic tricks Harry sent home they should be able to bend the bars just right to escape....or at least entertain the jailers with their pull-the-bunny-from-the-hat trick.

Remember this? We added on. Got a puppy today. He needed a good farm yard to run around on. He is a yellow lab. 6 months old. Name: Diesel. Changing name. I think we will call him Buddy. Buddy will take some training. He has a few little habits we need to talk about.
1. He sniffs our female constantly.
2. Tries to mount. Baaaaad idea. Seriously. There are children watching. We laid the smack-down today.
3. He nibbled a little at Darin's hand - like a puppy would do.
BUT, he was eagerly welcomed in by the kids (Olivia would have rather had a parrot, though) and he didn't jump up on them or scare them at all. So, pictures to come. But, Welcome Buddy! We're glad to try this new adventure out - hope it's a permanent one! Maybe we can pull you from a hat, too. Here. Hold still.