#920 - Pure Joy

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. There's so much I want to catch up on, so I'll be attempting to do that as much as possible. The Lord has blessed me in so many ways, and I want to be sure to record them before too much time passes! If you haven't read my blog before, or it's been a while, early in the year I challenged myself to write about things I am thankful for. This came after reading part of Ann Voskamp's book, "One Thousand Gifts," in which she makes a list of 1,000 ways the Lord has blessed her. So, I am counting down from 1,000. 80 completed so far, 920 to go.

Two weeks ago we went on a mini-vacation paired with Daniel's 10-year college reunion. A church member let us borrow an amazing camper (HUGE blessing in itself!), and we set up shop in the middle of the trees at DeGray Lake Resort State Park. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it! Our last full day, it rained the entire day. Daniel and I knew we'd go crazy if we stayed inside the camper all day with two littles, so we loaded up and headed to nearby Hot Springs for some indoor fun. We spent the morning at Mid-America Science Museum. It was really neat, but a little too advanced for sweet Ella. She spent most of the time in the stroller, and I could tell she just wasn't too impressed. We then ate lunch at McClard's bbq. Daniel raved and raved about it, and they really have been named best bbq in Arkansas. I guess I'm just used to Floridian bbq... Anyway, after lunch we found an awesome indoor playground. And the reason I titled this post "pure joy" is because of the look on Ella's face when we walked in. She absolutely lit up! I took her shoes off as fast as possible (no shoes allowed!), and she took off running! So precious! It was as if she was thinking, "Finally! They finally brought me somewhere I can play and have fun!"

At one point I was sitting on the floor watching her. I teared up because of how much joy I felt just seeing her have such an awesome time. And then God whispered to me, "that's exactly how I feel when I bless you with something that makes you so excited!" What a moment! I will never forget hearing His voice and catching a small glimpse of our Father's HUGE heart for His children! Thank you, Lord, for once again using my children to teach me such priceless lessons!

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:9-11