Coffee Talk 7.23.10

Good Morning, Ladies! Come on in and grab a bottle of water or perhaps a can of V8. I broke my blender so I can't offer you a green smoothie...but my MIL gave me some money for my birthday, so I hope to have a replacement soon.

Although it has only been a couple of weeks, I feel totally out of touch...I am so excited to make the rounds and see what everyone is up to. This week has been a week of resting and catching up.

We had an AMAZING trip to Idaho. I was finally able to see my family, some of whom I haven't seen in 5 years...that is just too long! We were lucky enough to hear my mom and dad and a team from their church talk about their mission trip to Belize. Probably what touched my heart the most was hearing about a little state run orphanage. The conditions there were AWFUL and my heart just breaks for those little children. I do not know the name of the orphanage or anything about it, but it is in my prayers every day, I wish that I could go and take over and just love on those sweet babies and tell them about Jesus.

We then got to go to Jerome and see my grandmother and several aunts, uncles and cousins...it was so great and I will absolutely NEVER let it be so long between visits again. Then we went to Boise where my kids got to hang with their cousins for 2 1/2 days. They had so much fun. If you have read long, you will know that it was after my sister's visit here last year that I had a hormonal pre-teen boy who moped around the house for a week in depression because we couldn't pack up and move to his cousins...he even got online and found his daddy a job as a bi- lingual translator for AT&T...unfortunately, Tigerfan is NOT bi-lingual. The kids were pretty sad about leaving again and we have heard the words, "If we were in Boise..." countless times since we left. FB has even informed us that he is praying daily for that to happen!

The drive home was a little tough because we chose not to reserve hotels beforehand. The reasoning was that we could just drive as far as we felt comfortable with and then stop. That worked really well for us...for awhile. Unfortunately, after day 1 of the return trip, we spent the night in Laramie, WY. We got up and headed out, drove to Independence, MO, ate supper and decided we could drive a little further. So, we did...our goal was Columbia, MO. We began calling for Hotels and there were none. In fact we called, and called, and called and finally were told that there were no hotels ANYWHERE until you got on the other side of St. Louis! By the time we had gone that far, it was about 3:00 a.m. and we were only a few hours from home so we decided to go the whole way. In 21 hours, we drove 1,179 miles...I don't recommend it!

The trip was TOTALLY worth it. We had such a good time and in the next few weeks I hope to share with you some of the things that God has been teaching me. He is alive and working and has great things for us. For now...I have to get out of denial because, despite the fact that we normally start school the beginning of August, I have not only not ordered curriculum, I haven't even decided what we are going to use. I think I am waiting for a flashing sign from above and a few thousand dollars to fall from the clouds to make my decisions clear and affordable! I don't think that its going to happen..because I have totally been watching!

Well, I must go feed breakfast to the masses...I look forward to visiting this weekend...don't forget to check out Home Sanctuary for more Coffee Talk!