Happy Birthday To Our Fearless Cy

Our Sweet Cy turned the big 8 today!

We celebrated with his favorites.. Pizza and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yum! Then he opened his presents which included a special delivery from Grandma and Grandpa Castillo. 

 Here's the Birthday Boy with his cookie cake... My dad commented that it looks like the whole cake is on fire. Funny Dad, real funny. But really, it does distract from my sandwich bag, piped, Nutella frosting, don't ya think?

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy.. you are a breath of fresh air and you find 101 reasons to make me smile every day! Love you, my Cy.

Being Late To Church And It's Benefits

This past Sunday morning, we were running late for the first service at church because I was having a fat day and changed three times. We arrived just in time for the offering. I listened to the verse being read, but I really didn't listen to the words. After  the service ended, we were visiting with friends and before we knew it, the second service was starting.. so we stayed (since we'd missed part of the first). 

The same young man came back up to read the verse for the offering.. this time I heard the words. He read this passage:

Psalm 112

1 Praise the Lord.t
Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
who find great delight in his commands.

2 Their children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever.

4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.

5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
who conduct their affairs with justice.

6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
they will be remembered forever.

This next one really jumped out at me-

7 They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.

9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
their righteousness endures forever;
their hornt will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked will see and be vexed,
they will gnash their teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

At this point, I was sobbing on the front row.... God knew that I needed  to hear this, right then. It was such a gracious reminder to my troubled, doubting heart of His guidance and protection. He knew that we would be facing challenges this week and He helped my heart to be settled and secure in His timing and His will. He understands our concerns and all that He asks is that we trust Him. How easy and pain free is that?? 

Lessons From A Road Trip

Today we took a short trip up to the high country (yes, even higher than where we live) to see the changing foliage. It was gorgeous!

On our way, we stopped to eat lunch at small town restaurant. It was delicious! As we got ready to pay for our meal, we realized that we had mis-communicated and that instead of putting our debit card in the purse that I had brought with me, it was left in the purse that was at home.. sitting on the bed. We had not one penny with us. Not good, not good at all. We went to the register and started to explain our situation and the waitress immediately told us that we could call when we got home with our credit card number. Woo Hoo! Thank God for small town businesses!!! 

In the midst of this little episode.. I thought, "Here we go again, why must our lives have a hiccup every day!! God do you even care about what happens in my daily life?" As we got to our bike, a gentleman from inside came out and said, "Here, we overheard your conversation and we want to make sure that you have at least a little cash on hand to get home." At first, we refused it, but he insisted and wanted to be sure that it was enough for us.  I was in AWE! I knew in my heart that God had sent this man to renew my hope and faith. 

The rest of our afternoon was blissful.. lots of gorgeous scenery. I'll share a few pictures:

Gorgeous Views

I'm so blessed to live in this 

If he loves it, I'll try it..

I'm so in Love with this man!

Yes, folks.. we were above 12,000ft

See this storm we were trying to outrun!! Yikes!!