My Shirt!!

I forgot all about posting a picture of my favorite shirt, it was a gift. If you don't know what I am talking about, go back to my post in April and you will see. What do you think? Cool huh? (For those who don't know, I often refer to my great hubby as "my boyfriend" even though it has gotten me some odd looks over the years.)

Kept for Jesus

This morning I was reading in Jude. It starts out with "To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ." I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I am kept for Jesus." I pondered that thought for a while..what was I kept for Jesus for?

The answer came in V.24. I was kept for Jesus so that he can present me blameless before the throne of God. Oh, what a glorious thought.

"Now to him who is ABLE TO KEEP YOU from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy..." Jude v. 24

He will present me in glory, not as one who never has been faulty, but as one whose faults will not be taken into account!! And, it brings HIM great joy? Oh, it brings me great joy!!!! I am kept for Jesus so that He can present me before the throne, clothed in His righteous alone, all my sins blotted out and Jesus will be there with great joy. Mind boggling, absolutely mind boggling.

As I meditated on these verses Romans 8:1 took on a whole new meaning, "There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." None, our sins will not be taken into account, only Christ's righteousness will be counted. What a glorious comfort.

P.S. The picture of Violet has nothing to do with this post. I just thought you were probably ready to see her again!! he he

Home Again

Well, we are home from our wonderful trip to San Antonio. It is a beautiful city, hilly, trees, old and full of character. There is so much to do that we are already thinking about when we can go back there and explore some more. The first day we arrived after taking our time to get there. We stopped at 2 different Outlet shopping centers (one was amazing and definitely a girl's weekend dream trip) and we enjoyed a few shops. Then we stopped at a Czech bakery for some yummy nourishment. When we finally arrived at La Cantera we found the place to be gorgeous and the views wonderful, though it is no Colorado. We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming the grounds and learning about the place. After dinner we enjoyed the sunsetting as we sat in the hot tub and then had a smores from the fire pit. It was so relaxing and breath taking. I felt the cares of the world fading away!!!

On Sunday morning we took a long walk and discovered more little special things on the resort grounds and then had a wonderful breakfast brunch. Then off to Target for sunglasses (I broke mine) and cheaters (I tore my close up vision contact :)) and a disposable camera (of all the things to forget.) Then, we hung out at the adult pool for the rest of the day until the late afternoon.

The afternoon found us in downtown San Antonio. An old city, amazing architecture and character.The famous Riverwalk was more than I could have imagined. We took a boat tour through it all, this is the 2nd most popular tourist activity in Texas. Truly amazing and pretty. I felt like I had been swept away to another country.

We ate dinner at Rio Rio and had one of my favorite meals, fajitas! Yum. Then home for a quiet evening in our room while a horrible storm blew through the city!

The next day we went exploring in New Braunfels, an old German town and home to Schliterbahn, the world's biggest and best waterpark. The rivers in the town were full, swift and breathtaking. You can canoe, raft, kayak and tube on these rivers. Unfortunately, due to the storm the night before you couldn't get near the raging river. We ended our time there with a tour of Gruene, another German town. Again, I was treated to more than I had imagined. We ate at a restaurant that was an old cotton gin and on the river. The restaurant was built into the hill of the banks of the river, so the decks of the restaurants were in the trees overlooking the water. Then we roamed this little town. Quaint, quiet and so relaxing.

We enjoyed all the scenery, but more importantly, we enjoyed one another. One question we pondered was "When you look at our lives, what is different than you would have expected." We had many different things, but more than anything, we both said, our lives were far richer than we ever could have imagined and God had been kinder to us than we could ever have thought.

It is so good to stop life and ponder. It is so good to hop off the merry go round and look at what you are doing and where you are going. It is good to look back and see where you have been, where you could be and how incredibly amazing God has been. That is what this little getaway was for me, a time to reflect on the incredible journey i have enjoyed with my favorite person in the whole world.

Off We Go!!!!

Tomorrow my boyfriend and I will leave Frisco for a romantic get away. We are going to LaCantera in San Antonio. It is a resort owned by the Westin group. It has been a long time since the two of us slipped away, so we thought since it was our 25th anniversary this past week, we would continue the celebration and head to romantic San Antonio. (The place all good Texans go.) We will be there for 3 days enjoying the beautiful Texas hill country and one another. We have been recalling the years we have been together and all the things we have experienced that have shaped us and made us who we are, but more importantly, those experiences that have shown us who God is. What a faithful God we have. He has helped us through many difficult seasons and blessed us with many wonderful ones! We are humbled that the Lord has given us breath each day that we may serve him and enjoy him and have one another. For all you young marrieds that read this, the journey is worth it. The giving in and letting go, the swallowing of your pride again and again, the dying to your so called rights, the forbearing and overlooking, it is all worth it for the reward is so much greater than the cost. The reward is waking up each new day to someone who has worked hard to provide for you, out of love, someone who has seen your body grow and stretch and bear the reminders of that and still somehow thinks you are beautiful. Spending each day with someone that adds to your wrinkles because he make smile so much. The reward of sharing the joys of parenting and grandparenting and recounting all the stories that no one else will ever thing are special. Having a warm body to press your cold feet against. Having someone to lighten the load when it seems overbearing and to cheer you on when there is no way for him to help make it better. The reward is having a constant companion in the journey of discovering over and over what the cross really means and how it has saved me and someone to remind me of the Gospel when I fail to remind myself. The reward of knowing that if we honor God in our marriage we will reflect Christ and his love relationship with the church. I could write all night on the rewards of sticking it out, but you get the idea.

We will let you know what we discover in San Antonio, I know it is the birthplace of someone special!!