SLEEEEP - where are you?

Here it is ANOTHER sleepless night for me.  I seem to have so many these days.  My body is ready for bed, but my brain is anything but.  It has been going non-stop all evening.  Driving me crazy!  There's so many things swirling through it right now that I'm not even sure what to write!

One thing for sure is a prayer request for some dear friends: their 5 year old son is having open heart surgery tomorrow at 11 am.  Please lift him up.

We are thinking of moving to an apartment.  There are some right down the street, and we are thinking it will save us about $50.00 a month.  It will also give us the opportunity to meet more people and hopefully find some more playmates for Briggs.  Please say a prayer for us, too, that we will know God's perfect will.

We went kayaking for the first time in forever on Saturday.  We paddled Floyd's Fork.  Briggs rode in the dry storage in my boat and it worked pretty well.  The water level was pretty low so we kept getting hung on the rocks, but overall, we had a really enjoyable day.  The only bad thing: we didn't take the camera so we missed getting a pic of Briggs in the boat for the first time.

Briggs and I enjoyed time with new friends on Monday, and Aaron joined us once he got off work.  We had lots of great food and fellowship!  Briggs loved playing with Josiah.

Tonight while Aaron was at work, I had to get up in the attic and I found the dvd of my Brasil trip back in 2004 (in Portuguese, the name is spelled with an "s" rather than a "z").  It seems like so long ago that I was there.  I immediately had the sense that I wanted to go back - or at least go on some foreign missions trip.  The things that a person experiences on a missions trip are indescribable.  I believe that every believer should go at least once.  I remember how happy the people seemed there - and they had nothing.  I missed my family and friends that week, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I can only hope to see those people in heaven again one day.

I must not forget to say how AWESOME God is!  His provision and love and mercy and grace have been so abundant in our lives, and I am so GRATEFUL for the honor and privilege to serve such a wonderfully caring God.

One more thing - I was reading back over some journals the other day, and I came across something that a friend told me as I was talking to him one day about "getting on with life."  Aaron had gone back to school and was working on his undergrad, and I was ready for us to be settled and start a family.  This is what my friend said, "Life is not always about the destination, but about the journey."  So many times I only focus on the destination of things and forget that there's a journey to be made on the way to that destination.  I've learned so many things along this journey that we are on right now; I often wonder if the destination really matters at all.  Anyway, the point is that sometimes we need "to stop and smell the roses."  Take in where you are now in life and ask God what He has in store for you at this particular point in your journey.  Enjoy every moment of the journey along the way.  I am learning to do it!