In the middle of winter, it’s a tradition in our family to take a break from work, school, and other responsibilities, and “get away” for a few days. We call this our “merry midwinter getaway”. It usually means a fun overnight or two at a hotel. This weekend, we had our annual getaway in Branson. Mom, who is amazing at hunting out great bargains, found a place for us to stay cheaply, yet quite comfortably. We enjoyed time together, relaxed, and had a wonderful weekend! Here’s some pictures:

Our “little boys” (who really aren’t so little anymore!) have been, are, and always will be great buddies! :)

Being the only girl, I was spoiled and got a whole bedroom all to myself! Thanks, boys, for being happy with the air-mattress! :)

Wesley raided the popcorn-chips which were supposed to be for the movie. Caught-ya! Thankfully, he left a few plenty for the rest of us! :) :) We watched The Incredibles that night.

The next morning, we enjoyed coffeecake with fruit and tea for breakfast. It was delightful!

We then went to the Titanic museum in Branson. It was amazing! Unfortunately, you weren’t allowed to take any pictures of the inside, but here’s what the actual building looked like:

There were so many interesting artifacts and stories of people who had been on the ship. It was so sad, though, as we read about the tragic story of the sunken ship. So many people lost their lives on the day the Titanic sunk: April 15, 1912! We were all sobered coming away from it.

Afterward we went out for lunch. Now this is a treat for us (although we all love Mom’s delicious cooking! :) Here’s Mom and Daddy at the restaurant.

We have such sweet memories from past merry midwinter getaways.  I’m so grateful we could make new ones and carry on tradition this year!!!

Looking over my journal entries from last year, I was amazed to read about the predictions I had written down about my life and how I thought this year would look like. Not all – in fact, few – of my “predictions” actually happened. I am a planner. I love to know what’s going to happen. When something goes “wrong” (not how I think it should go), I am often disappointed.

As I sat there reading my journal, I was struck by the thought: God’s ways are higher than mine. He is in control of my life, not me. I can trust Him. It reminded me of a poem some sweet friends shared with me for my pearls of wisdom tea party. It compares our lives to a tapestry:

My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors, He worketh steadily.

Oft times He weaveth sorrow and I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why

The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver’s skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

He know, He loves, He cares, nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those who leave the choice with Him.

I remember working on a quilt several years ago. It was big and the upper side was beautiful. But on the underside I could see all the strings and raw edges of fabric. Threads stuck out most disgracefully, and the pattern was barely distinguishable. But when I sewed the backing on, no more to see the raw underside, all I could see was the beautiful top of my quilt.

Just as I saw the upper side of my quilt, God sees the “master plan” of our lives. He knows what He is doing. Even when He brings hardship into our lives, let’s not forget that “He sees the upper, and we the underside”.
Romans 8:28
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Hello everyone!
Whew! It has been a while since I last posted!  Things have been pretty busy lately. Here’s a little update on what’s going on in my life.

– It’s been beautiful outside these past couple of weeks! We have all enjoyed the weather immensely. I love going on walks though our woods. Many times, I don’t even need my jacket, and I can keep my bedroom window open. (Having lived in Wisconsin for several years, I’m still asking, “can this really be January!?”)

– Family group. We’ve been going through Greg Koukl’s series “Tactics in Defending the Faith” with several other families at our home. It’s been wonderful to spend time with these families and I am learning so much from the material we’re studying!

– School. I’m taking an online math class and an English class with our community college. I’m in the third week now, and I am getting the hang of things. Two other academic “biggies” are competitive speech, and an anatomy course. (we’re almost to the dissections – I can’t wait! :)

– Running, playing volleyball on Wednesdays, choir, Spanish lessons. I’ve enjoyed doing these on a weekly basis!

– Cooking! I’ve made it a goal to learn to make some new meals. And as muffins and breads and cakes are not a meal, this has been a great challenge for me! :)

– The sniffles. Yep. Our family has held out for most of the winter, but my younger brothers both came down with colds last week. Poor guys! I’ve been drinking lots of water and disinfecting everything in sight (OK – not quite everything, but almost everything!) :)  Nevertheless, I came down with a short, but really bad flu bug. It came and went within two days….very odd. But I’m grateful it didn’t last any longer!

– Last Friday, Wesley drove me to choir practice in the morning. I also had Spanish lessons that afternoon, so we stayed in town and went out for lunch. It was super fun! I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful big brother! :)

– In the midst of a busy season of life, it’s easy for me to get caught up and distracted from the Lord. But setting time aside each day to spend with the Lord is richly rewarding. I was reading Romans 8 the other day, and this passage stood out to me:

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Although everything around us will eventually wither, die, and disappear, God’s love is from everlasting to everlasting! We can place our hope and trust in Him. He will never forsake us.        I challenge you, as I do myself, are we putting our focus on Christ? Is our manner of life worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27)? I know that I fall short, time and time again. But by God’s grace, I pray that He will strengthen us to do His will, and that we will glorify Him in all things!

Have a wonderful and godly week!