Let's always have fun!

January of 2007 Bill and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! It was also Bill's 10th anniversary as pastor of First Baptist Church. Our wonderful congregation and deacons surprised us with a special recognition of this occasion. They gave us a trip to a place of our choosing! We chose Disney World in Orlando because we love the golf courses, spas, shows, and the parks! We had taken the kids there in 2005 and that was the first time Brad and I had ever been. Melissa had been once with my brother Blake and his family. Bill had been once as a college student with his brother Keith. We loved our time there with our kids and stayed off property in 2005. This time, in 2007, just the two of us, we wanted to stay on property and enjoy the perks that go with that (early and late park hours, Disney Dining packages, bus transportation, etc). We found a special at the Saratoga Springs Resort for a week. This resort is right on Lake Buena Vista Golf Course and has it's own first class Spa on site. It is also within walking distance of Downtown Disney. The weather was perfect all week, and in January! We had just called a new minister of Music and a new Youth minister and things were finally settled down, peaceful, and truly "fun again" at the church and in the ministry. We had endured several difficult challenges over several years, very stressful, yet we never doubted God and His purpose throughout the ordeal. The timing was perfect! We were truly ready for a much needed get away to relax, reflect, and recharge. My darling Mom came and stayed at our house to be sure Brad was fed and the house was watched etc. We had an absolutely wonderful, magical, time at Walt Disney World with lots of golf, spa, shows, Disney Dining, Parks, recreational walking, (we love to walk and walk! Seriously!), and just time together. We went to the Disney Vacation Club sales presentation just to get our reward and guess what! We bought in! When Roland Lammers, our sales associate, said to Bill that there were golf and spa perks for members only, we were sold! When we returned home all refreshed and renewed and ready to plan our next trip, Melissa, our tax accountant daughter, looked at our paperwork and Disney Vacation Club points and she said, "this is the smartest thing yall have ever bought!". Now we have to make ourselves take a vacation regularly and we can even treat other family members as well! We took my Mom on one trip along with Melissa's now husband but was fiance at that time. Then we took all Bill's siblings and kids and had a family reunion there! Such fun we had! We had tried to get Bill's father to join us but he felt he just wasn't up to it. His brother, Marty came to Cottonwood, AZ to stay with him so Becky could leave and go to WDW with us all.

We were so glad we took Mom and even did the "behind the seeds" tour with her so she could see all the specifics of the property flower works and gardening. She was diagnosed with Leukemia shortly thereafter and we had to say goodbye to her in November of 2008. Then a bit sooner than we expected Bill's father, who was on dialysis, took a turn for the worse and we had to say goodbye to him that December of 2008. It was strange to both become "orphans" but yet we knew we had a heavenly Father who would sustain us and help us grieve and keep living for Him, even though our earthly parents were all gone now.

We were next able and delighted to take our Education Minister and his wife for a trip just the 4 of us! Then last December before Christmas, and after Melissa's wedding we took a trip there with Melissa and her new husband, his parents and Bill and Brad and me! We got to be there for all the Christmas decorations, shows, and parades! What an amazing blessing God allowed us to add to our list of unmerited but much appreciated and unexpected things!

We look back over the last decade, since we moved here in 1999, and we see how hard and extremely stressful the first 5 or 6 years here were. We can see now, in retrospect that God was at work and all the trials we endured were necessary and a part of His plan to get us to where we are now. I can truly say, it was worth it all and i did not doubt God nor lose my "joy" even in the darkest, toughest moments. God is so good.

Last summer we used our Disney point to spend a week in Sedona, AZ at a golf resort an spa. We made some wonderful new friends, Ken and Ronna Sorenson, from California. We shared a jeep when we did the "Pink Jeep" sunset tour there in the beautiful red rocks. We got to spend time with Becky, Bill's baby sister, and her family. We had planned to have time with Irv, Bill's dad too, but the Lord had already taken him. We decided to keep our plans the same and go anyway. We had the best trip ever! We even got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time for each of us! (Our kids are too grown up and busy with their own lives to join us on all our trips now, but that's ok. We include them whenever they can fit us in! Lol! That is the goal, right, parents? )

Bill and I learned together that we chose to "always have fun", that's what we say alot to each other, but deep down, we each know that really means, we are making a conscious choice to "choose joy" even when in the midst of a tough trial. We can do that, you can do that, God will give you the Grace, Strength, Reassurance, and under girding "joy" that keeps you hanging on until it gets fun again. I promise! He promises this in His word! Isaiah 60: 7 ,"...Everlasting joy will be yours".

Make a choice to always have fun, be joyful, be positive, allow God to work in you and through you and trust Him to bring you through trials you may face. You will have victory and wisdom gained after you endure whatever you may face.