Cast All Your Cares

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.1 Peter 5:6-7

A good reminder, this popped up in my InBox today -

I've realized that my anxiety has often blocked what God has intended for me to do.  I get so preoccupied trying to work it my way, that I miss what it is He really has in mind for me.

Do you ever do that?  Well, this scripture is certainly a good reminder, first to be humble, second to remember that it is in His time, not ours will we be lifted up.  We may be going through a troubling time for a reason and must find a blessing in whatever it is.  Also, the final reminder in this scripture is to cast all our cares/anxiety on him, because he cares for us. 

Casting my cares on him is one of the hardest things for me, and I struggle with this daily.  I look at it like this.... I am fishing and I cast my line out and instead of waiting, I get anxious and reel it back in.  Otto always gets mad at me and tries to encourage me to be patient and leave my line alone.  But, time after time, I cast and reel it in without a thought. 

Well, I am going to post this message and commit it to memory to help me when I get frustrated and lack patience, or try to go off in my own direction instead of the one he wants me to!  Hopefully, it will help me with patience and waiting for God to do what he has intended instead of what I want.

Who knows, maybe it will help me on my next fishing trip as well!

Vacation

Just returned from a week in Florida on Cape San Blas ~~ what a glorious time we had.  First stop last Friday night was New Orleans, unfortunately our luggage was in Tampa - oh well, off to see the town. (our luggage finally made it Sat around 1:00 .m.) We headed to Bourbon St. for a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's, dinner at the Old Coffee Pot for Jumbalaya and Gumbo, then on to Frenchmen St for some jazz.  Headed back to Bourbon St. for some live music at the Funky Pirate and saw Big Al (all 375 lbs. of him) sing some blues.  New Orleans is about what I expected, dirtly, rowdy drunks and lots of old, old bars.  Frenchmen St. did have some good jazz and clubs, but very crowded!  We had to listen outside some of the bars as they were so many people jammed in :(
Sat am - off to Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait - the site has been a coffee stand since early 1860's, such history!  That was awesome!  Still no luggage so we couldn't head to the beach yet, decided to check out some cemetaries, crazy they are above ground and sooo old!  we saw one gravesite that had over 12 family members buried there.
Picked up rental car and back to the hotel to wait for luggage and grab lunch before getting on the road to Florida!
Arrived at Mexico Beach about the same time as the Hanson's so stopped to pick up two kids for the remainder of the drive to the beach house for 7 days with the fam!  Wow, the kids are getting sooo big!

It would take a few pages for me to describe the fun the next six days held for us -- here are some highlights!

Beach, more beach, shelling, jellyfish stings, sting ray, bob fetching, dolphin and jumping fish sightings, bonfire on the beach w/ s'mores, raw oysters, great pizza, lighthouse, more beach, body surfing, more shelling, floating, family trivial pursuit, giggles and tickles, cribbage, steal my pile, fish, pictionary, scallops and fish tacos, early am beach runs, coffee w/ chicory, chocolate pancakes, skim boarding, fishing, catfish stings, sand dollar find, treasure island, rain, lightning, sunsets and sunrises.  But, the best of all the kiddos 24/7!!

We had a wonderful time with the Hanson's and Horel's at Pass View on the Gulf!  Thank you so much for all the memories!

Just for Today

Just for today, I will....
try to do better than yesterday
be the best wife I can be
be a good sister, aunt and friend
glorify God

This doesn't mean that I will only do this today, but today I WILL do these things!

Crazy Hair Night

Kaya goes to a bible study on Wednesday for teen girls - last night was crazy hair, check out her do....