I keep waiting for Colleen to share our adventure, but she hasn't yet.  I'm sure she can fill in details I will miss.  Here goes.  Every year I have to take 5 days of education to keep my CPA license active.  And every year I wait until after Thanksgiving to even get started, because it is such a serene time of year, nothing to do but study tax law.    So this year I wanted to get a jump on it and actually have it done by Thanksgiving.  Every year there is a week-long conference at Gatlinburg so you can get all your work done in one week.  Well, I couldn't be gone a whole week, but I went for Monday and Tuesday.  This was all Aaron's idea.  He said I should go and ask someone to go with me for company and he would stay home with the kids.  (He has his eye on a skiing trip in February).  So I asked my mom and Colleen to go, and they said yes.  We were all looking forward to a restful, relaxing trip in the Smokies.  Ha.  We left on Sunday morning and came home Tuesday evening.

 

First of all, this past week was "Fall Break" from school, so it was packed!  It took an hour to drive through Pigeon Forge then through Gatlinburg.  When we got to the hotel the conference was held at, their driveway was up such a steep grade I didn't think the minivan was going to make it.  Well, we get settled and the first day went well.  Mom and Colleen went down to Pigeon Forge to shop, then came back up the hill to get me when class was over to go back down and have dinner and shop some more.  This was a major time waster with all the traffic.  Mom and Colleen kept asking me if I could catch a trolley to make it down the hill and not interfere with their shopping.  My mom even called the front desk to see if there was transportation from the hotel all the way down there.  I hear her saying, "Oh, there's a SPECIAL red trolley?"  Well, lucky for me the trolley route was very complicated and mom and Colleen had compassion on me and didn't make me take it! 

 

So on Tuesday morning Mom and Colleen were going to try and leave early to get more shopping done.  Well, about 4:30 am we are all awakened by a storm outside.  The wind was SO bad.  Aaron found on the weather channel later that the winds topped out at 106 mph in Gatlinburg.  We were on the 4th floor of a 14 floor hotel that was round with all the rooms on the outside and the lobby in the center.  The wind was so loud, and it was coming through the air conditioner in the loudest whistle I ever heard!  So then the power flickers out a couple of times.  Then about 5 am we see a bright flash and hear a transformer blow.  Total darkness.  The power was out permanently now until about 9 am!  I kept laying in bed thinking any moment the power would come on and I could get ready for the day.  Oh, and the plumbing in Gatlinburg is on an electric pump so WE HAD NO RUNNING WATER!!!  We went out in the hallway and people were heading down to the lobby to sleep because it sounded like the windows were going to blow in on the rooms.  Around 6:30 we all decided we better get dressed because we were afraid we would have to evacuate to the basement or something.  It is still total darkness, so we took turns holding our cell phones open for each other so that we could get a little light to see our clothes.  There were generator lights in the hallway, so I went out there to put on my make up.  But I still couldn't do my hair; I used my mom's sponge roller to try and get my hair from sticking straight up in the air.  I was the brave one who went down to the lobby to get muffins and water for all of us. 

 

I also went to the CPA conference leader and asked what we were going to do.  She said we were still going to have class!  There were probably 300 people there that had all spent money on the classes, and instructors that they had to pay, so they didn't want to cancel.  With no running water?  So, I decide to go to the classroom where we are supposed to have a demonstration of Excel, with no electricity!  So they have the whole class go out in the hallway next to a window to get daylight.  We had been sitting there about 5 minutes and the lights came on!  So we all go back in the classroom.  Well, not everyone in the class had stayed the night there.  A lot of people had driven in.  So I am sitting there looking like a drowned cat with make up on my face put on in the dark, and here are all these lovely people who had showers!  I left class and went up to my room to at least comb my hair.  Colleen and mom were able to get ready at that time and left for shopping late.  Then they came and got me at 4 in the afternoon and we headed home.

 

A good part of the trip was that Knoxville has a Mimi's Cafe that we ate dinner at on Sunday and Tuesday.  It was really good and it is in a really nice shopping area called Turkey Creek Crossings.  It is like an Opry Mills, but all outdoors.  And there is Target, Walmart, Belks, and a lot of other stores there too.  So we had fun there.  Anyway, sorry this is so long, but we had to have a written record of this trip to be able to tell our grandchildren about the time we survived the great storm of 2006!

I was thinking this morning about when I worked outside the home.  You can look at what people do on the surface and think they are just shuffling paperwork, making phone calls, sending emails, etc.  But what they are really responsible for can be creating a marketing campaign, developing a new product or strategizing for a new joint venture.  Come on into my house.  On the surface I am changing dirty diapers, folding laundry and scrubbing toilets.  A lot less glamorous, yes.  But what I want to remember is that my "product" will hopefully be three healthy, well-rounded adults who when people say, "It's because of the way they were raised," it will be a blessing and not a reason for them to roll their eyes!   We are creating something that all the marketing campaigns are trying to sell - security, warmth, love, acceptance, and a sense that you are important to someone.  Please Lord help me to remember I am trying to create a home where lives can flourish for You.  Help me not to get bogged down in the nitty gritty, but honor the true calling that has been given me as a homemaker!  Just my thoughts as I warmed up the bottles this morning.  God bless.

 

I just found my favorite quote and thought I would add it here:

 

Samuel Johnson

 

Okay, I am REALLY supposed to get this idea today.  I just opened up to Proverbs 14 (Proverbs has 31 chapters so you can read one a day and read the book every month), and the first scripture says:

 

 

Surely the writer is not talking about a wife literally tearing down brick and morter, but that a woman has the influence on her home to either encourage and build up the members of her home, or tear them down with her influence.  See, it IS a lot more than housework!  What a responsibility and an honor to be able to influence our families.  I will never forget my mom telling me I was a princess because I was a daughter of the King.  I'll never forget how she made me feel loved.  That truth has come to my mind many times when things were difficult.  I love you Mom!

 

P.S. I just realized I read the wrong Proverb, today is the 13th, not the 14th!  Oh well, guess the 14th is what I really needed today.

I don't have much time to get my thoughts out this morning, but I just had to share something I read in 2 Chronicles 30:18-20.  It is -  

 

18 Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone 19 who sets his heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of his fathers—even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." 20 And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

 

This just reinforced to me the teachings we've been hearing over the last few years that the Lord is searching our hearts, our intentions, so much more closely than to see if we are "clean according to the rules of the sanctuary."  Even in my weakness, if my heart is set on seeking God, He WILL heal me.  Praise God!  Hope everyone has a blessed day!

 

Today is D-Day, or should I say B-Day.  I promise I am not fishing here.  I just thought I should at least record where I am at on this birthday.  Aaron put it well last night when we were reflecting over the last 2 years (2 years ago we thought, hmmm, let's have another baby).  He said we have probably lost a few battles, but we are winning the war.  Right when he said that we hear squeals of laughter coming from the cage.  Elijah was laying on his tummy and Emily was diving over him making him laugh.  Praise God we are here with our three kids, they are all healthy, we're a little farther down the path and I think our vision is a little clearer too.  I feel the "what" of my life is clearer all the time, to bring glory to God.  It is the "how" that is fuzzy and I am still trying to seek out. 

 

Today is also our 8th anniversary.  I can't believe how fast it goes.  I am so thankful for the husband and father that Aaron is.  He continues to amaze me with his love and patience with our family.  I don't know how I would do it without him.  My life would have been so different if he hadn't loved me enough to ask me what I was doing, why I wasn't serving the Lord (at 21-22) and telling me that I would only be happy if I followed the Lord.  I love him so much.  I am so thankful for the journey so far, and I wouldn't want to face the future without him.

 

My birthday usually makes me think about all I have not yet accomplished and want to in the next year.  But I want to reflect on all that God has done for me and all my blessings.  Again, I want to say how thankful I am for all my family and friends.  I love everyone so much, and you are so precious to me for staying faithful to the process we are trying to accomplish.  Now if that didn't sound like Bob Richter, I don't know what does.    But really, I love everyone so much.  Thank you for being my friends and sticking by me when I needed you so much.  Thank you for adding so much to my life and my family.  The variety that we find in each other can be overwhelming at times, but how much richer our lives are for knowing each other!  Hope everyone has a blessed day!