Tip of the Day 7/02/12

99 Days of Summer: After 10 wonderful days of vacation I am feeling refreshed and renewed. This year we chose to do what has been named a "Stay-cation" in recent years. We first did this several years ago and had so much fun we decided to do it again. We approached the time differently this year and this week I would like to share some ideas for different types of "stay-cations." For our first "stay-cation" we planned a week of activities, day trips, movie outings, beach time, camping in the back yard, etc. It was a lot of fun and we did a lot of the things visitors to our area do, but seldom the residents. A great way to plan this type of "stay-cation" is to approach it as you would a vacation anywhere. Pick up brochures or go online for ideas and plan the "trip." Plan a budget just as you would for any vacation. The advantages are obvious, lower gasoline expense, no hotel fees, money stays in your community, more time for fun because of no travel time. If you enjoy where you live, but never seem to have the time to enjoy what the area offers, consider this type of vacation this year.

 Word for Today, Desire: Our youngest daughters name is Desrie', which means desire. She, as well as all of our daughters, were an answer to the desire of my heart to be a mom. It is often hard to understand how God works in our lives to fulfill our desires. At the age of 22, recovering from a hysterectomy, I certainly did not not see how my desire to be a mom could ever be fulfilled. But God! The beautiful thing is God goes above and beyond what our desires are to fulfill His purposes. I was overjoyed at being blessed with our two daughters and step daughter, but 10 years later God said, here's more, and we were blessed with two more daughters. As I have watched them grow up, marry, have children, and now their children having children, I find myself in awe. My vision for myself was so small. He looked deep in my heart and knew my deepest desires. As we surrender our will to His hand, and trust that He knows best, we desire what He wants and accept what He knows is best. I wanted children, and was "satisfied" with our first gifts, but God saw that the older girls needed a family and decided that was the completion of my desire. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."