Wrapping up a Great Vacation

So I am sitting here finally back on the computer after 9 days being unplugged ... I didn't even have a computer here but did hop on my sister's computer once just to sift and sort through our 116 waiting emails.
















I am looking at my belongings packed and waiting by the door, and am a bit wistful; a bit sad to be leaving what has been a little haven this past week. It was such a blessing to spend time away and we only left the house for outings 3 times during the entire week. Once was to take a beautiful hike to the nearby nature center where I put J on my back in this great back pack I'm using more. He and I had such a fun time visiting all the animals; the peregrine falcon, the bald eagle, the bobcat, the red foxes, the owls and then we took some time inside to see a variety of local birds, turtles, snakes and rabbits. The second outing was with Papa Herbie (my sister's 87-year-old father-in-law) who took us to Wild Birds Unlimited to pick up more bird seed for my sister, lunch at McDonald's and then picking up a few things at the grocery store. Our other trip was to my one sister who had us over for dinner and I got caught up on our email.






























It was so great not having to go anywhere but getting up in the morning and spreading the bird seed mix onto the patio areas waiting for the birds to come and making little peanut butter sandwiches to feed to the squirrels. As I let J enjoy a little morning TV show, I enjoyed spending time with the Lord. While I enjoyed my breakfast and coffee I would read the Elisabeth Elliot book These Strange Ashes. She wrote the book Passion and Purity which I enjoyed in my early 20's when I was first truly turning my heart to Jesus. These Strange Ashes is about her first missionary journey which takes place in Santo Domingo where she ministers to the Colorado Indians. I also started a Max Lucado study on the book of Mark that has been encouraging.

Here are the results of where I was spending my extra time......

Books to bring along:
In My Hands, Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke
(DONE; this was a really good book)

The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai
(Read a bit more of this)

Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington
(Read about 1/3 so far. Really good story about aboriginee/white mixed race children forcefully removed from their families and made to live in a special camp. The 3 main characters end up escaping but I'm not at that part yet.)

As We Forgive by Catherine Claire Larson
(I didn't end up reading any more of this)

The Shack by William Paul Young
(This book is too tough a subject. I read up to the point where the parent's little girl is kidnapped and I know she gets murdered but I just can't read on.)

Washed by Blood by Brian "Head" Welch
(Didn't get to this one)

Books for spiritual enrichment:
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
(Didn't get to this)
The Gospel of Mark study by Max Lucado
(Liking this study a lot)
These Strange Ashes by Elisabeth Elliot
(Really enjoying reading this)
Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel
(Didn't get to this)

Other:
The Everything Guide to Potty Training by Kim Bookout, DNP, RN, CPNP
(Didn't get to this)

Movies:
Living Proof
This one had a lot of hoky-ness to it with some really cheesy scenes, but I was most interested in the story about how Herceptin (a strong breast cancer fighting drug) came to be put on the market. My mom went through breast cancer and succumbed to it during the time this drug was going through the incredibly challenging process of getting approved.
Penelope
I really liked this movie, even though the idea of it is a bit goofy (a fairy tale about a curse that causes a girl to be born with a pig nose and she needs to find someone to accept her and marry her to break the curse). I picked this one up when I saw James McAvoy was in it. I have seen a few of his movies now and really like his acting. This was a great story.
The Pianist
Didn't get to this one.
John & Abigail Adams
L and I are going to watch this one tomorrow night.

For the last part of this vacation, L joined me today for our year-in-review. This morning, we dropped J off at my sister's house where immediately he ran off to play with his 3-year-old cousin Henry. Before this, I had a really hard time getting him out of the house as he didn't want to leave and was talking about really missing me, but once he was there all that disappeared and he was having fun. I was a little worried since this is big for us to be apart from him on an overnight. So much fun that they didn't even need to call me to put him on the phone to help him go to sleep. We did a little facebook chatting in the afternoon and my heart was content knowing he was having a good time. So L and I were able to spend some real quality time together, reviewing the things the Lord had been doing in our life the past year. This part takes a good amount of time; we really wished we had another day but we need to pick up J in the morning. We are getting up early to begin prayerfully sharing what the Lord was teaching us and then to move on to talking about the things we envision for the coming year. This will be an ongoing conversation that we'll take into our morning times together.

So .... I am officially back. I definitely feel refreshed and have some clarity for what would be a good way of sustaining this refreshment once we're home. Like, spending less time on things that are wasteful especially needless computer time. I want to make the time the Lord has given me count.