Taking God At His Word

 Have you ever gotten to a place where you are utterly and completely frustrated? Nothing seems to be going right and the devil is ganging up on you, trying to make you believe God is not God and that He cares nothing about you? Perhaps you've been waiting and waiting for the answer to something and the answer still hasn't come yet.
 We have to walk this road by faith, turning our eyes upon Jesus. It can be hard to do when you are rattled and angry - maybe even angry at God. But think how infinite the mind of God is. How great He is and how small we are in His sight. Yet we try to be The Boss and tell God what we want, " firing " Him when we don't get what we expect, when we expect it. Oh, we try to be patient, but if our patience doesn't outlast His timing we feel rejected and get mad.
 O ye of little faith! We must take God at His Word. His promises are true. He will not fail us. When we rage and kick at Him, he quietly waits off in a corner until we are finished with our tantrum. Then He gently scoops us up in His nail-scarred hand and cradles us as we weep out our sorrow, frustration, and pain. He renews us so we can go on our way with our head held high with the knowledge of His strength made perfect in our weakness.

Little Blessings

 I love how God gives us little things that we maybe mention in passing that we want. Little love gifts. :)
 Several months ago, when Mom and I discussing what I wanted for my birthday I had mentioned ( as this was during a time of major stress for me, working and finishing school ) I'd love to have a massage. I thought maybe either my parents would pay for one or I'd use birthday money. We-ell... as you recall, my dad had had an injury at work. He had chiropractic work done. In the end, some kind of settlement/reimbursement was made and Dad got a gift certificate for...a massage! To expire the end of October. He didn't want to use it and we checked to see if it could be transferred to a member of the household. They made an exception. I got a massage! Yesterday. Mmm, bliss. :)
 I got another little gift a week ago as well. Mom and I had done errands on the Saturday at Costco. I took the opportunity to browse the cameras. As you recall, my camera went kaput in August. I happened to notice that an upgrade of the model I had lost was marked down considerably due to the fact that once all of that model were gone, that was it. I moaned my luck to Mom because I doubted they had extra money or that there would be any cameras left by the time I had birthday money. The next day Mom and Dad surprised me and said they were getting the camera for me early for my birthday!
 I am so thankful for these blessings that certainly caught me by surprise that I did not truly ask for, though I wanted them. :)

Voyage of a Lifetime!

So. It is a week ago today that I really actually went on a boat and really actually went out on the ocean. YUP! You read that right. :) I am still excited that I got to do this. What did I get to do? Wellll, I got to go on a deep-sea fishing trip. :D I didn't actually get to fish, but I had an awesome time anyway. Ok, minus the fact that I did get queasy and nauseated. I didn't puke though!
 It was actually originally an all-guys fishing trip, but the visiting minister had brought his daughter out with him and she was wanting to go. Not wanting her to be the only girl, I asked to go too. As it turned out, one of the guys brought his wife along too and we three girls joined forces and had a great time.
 Most everyone caught something...some of the guys did quite well. We ended up hauling in three baskets of fish. Not bad for 5 hours.
 Here are some pics:

Sunrise

Depoe Bay/The Ocean

Waiting for the boat

Down to the belly of the whale...or so it felt ( and smelled! )

On the boat at last!

I think this is one of my favorite pics! Love it!!!!

Bro Wayne, Matt, Si, & Jordan

Quite possibly the biggest catch of the day!

Marci, me, and Gracie

I doubt you can see it, but it  says Gracie's Sea Hag.
So, Gracie took a pic by it.
And we all ate a fabulous meal there.
:D

 There are shots and clips I would have loved to have taken, but it was too risky. Like when dad and I stood at the bow the whole way back, riding the waves. That was the most incredible things EVER, and quite possibly my most favorite part of the whole trip. :D It kinda felt like I was riding the creature in Water Horse, ( an awesome movie, by the way, if you've never seen it. ) dipping and rising with the waves and having the salty sea spray up on me. :) :) :) I really hope I have another chance to do this again!

Fall-la-la-la

  I am absolutely in love with these Fall pictures I found on Pinterest. The first one took my breath away & I think maybe ( just maybe ) might be my favorite. :)

Ahhhh, bliss. The stress melts away... :)

What's better than Fall in Paris, right?!

Well...maybe falling in love!
( no pun intended, seriously! )

Fall Decorating
* sigh *
:)

Can you even imagine how good this smells??!

Or how good these taste?

Or these?!!!!

Bon Voyage & Happy Fall!