Surprises and Blessings

I wanted to take some time to document some of the amazing surprises and blessings God showered us with while on our trip. Before we left, I prayed specifically that somehow, the expenses of our trip would be taken care of and that it would be full of fun surprises. Well, let me just tell you, God delivered! :)

I'm just going to mention some of them here, but I really need to write in my journal all of the awesome ways we were blessed.

1. A friend from high school emailed me a few days before our trip and invited us to a Third Day concert that was going to be in Bismarck while we were in ND, their treat. It was such a fun night out with this couple and we saw a great and uplifting concert too!

2. A friend of mine took me shopping for Camden and baby (didn't yet know it was a boy) at some outlet malls and the store we went to was having a MAJOR sale. Can anyone give me an AMEN for really nice, new, brand name clothes for $0.99!!!

3. We kept hitting major clearance racks at the stores we went to because we were looking for summer clothes, and that's what was on sale. I don't think I ever paid more than $12 for anything....most everything was in the $3-$7 range. Hallelujah!

4. Our 15 hr. drive to CO and back would have been super expensive, but gas decided to hit some all time lows just for our trip. One way of our trip (from ND to CO) only cost us about $70 in gas....now that's a surprise! I was expecting the prices to still be very high. And my dad let us use his really nice and new Toyota Sienna...blessing! (This was total luxury for us compared to what we drive here in Brazil!!!) (AND I got to drive a LOT in the states...oh how I miss it!)

5. It was amazing how provision and money just kept landing in our hands....here are just a few ways. A church gave us a "love offering", during my girls brunch with friends,they pulled together to come up with some money to help us buy clothes and things we need, some people just handed money to us, and Renato got paid from my brother and parents for helping on the farm while he was there. (Also there were x-mas gifts thrown in!) Praise God!

There are countless other blessings, but I just wanted to name a few. This trip was such a blessing in so many ways, but I think seeing friends and family was the best blessing of all. We came back so refreshed and ready to go. This trip was just what we needed.

I'm truly amazed, once again, at God's faithfulness. I was kinda stressed about the trip, with all the traveling and expenses, and logistice, but again, God was faithful. Thank you Lord for wonderful suprises and blessings!!