I'm back!  Good Morning Girls!  I would like to say it's good to be back......but, I'm telling you, there is no where I would rather be this morning than back on the floating dock drinking my coffee, and having a quiet moment with the Lord.  In a couple of days, when we've settled back in to our routine, I'll be glad to be home.  To be honest with you, I imagined I would come back with some seriously profound truths I had discovered over the last week; but that's not what happened.  Instead, I found myself looking at the little things about our vacation, and how they relate to our everyday life.  We might as well start with the drive.  A four year old, a six year old, an 82 pound yellow lab, and 21 hours of drive time.  Sound fun?  We've done this drive four times now.  We know the roads, the highs, the lows, the best truck stops, the worst rest areas, the distance between gas stations (crucial across Montana), and most importantly, we know as we know as we get into the car that it will take us 22-24 hours to reach our destination.  We mentally prepare ourselves for this.  We are packed, we are ready, we are driving.  It never fails that within about 3 hours, Tom and I start discussing how crazy this is.  What were we thinking? We start talking about alternative ways to get there.  Should we fly (what about the dog), should we look into a train (that would be longer), what about the bus (yuck- no way).  We entertain these alternative paths, all the while knowing we are in fact doing the best thing for our family.  For some reason it seems therapeutic to run through them, year after year.  Once "therapy" is over, we take a deep breath, settle in, and drive.  Why do we do this year after year?  Why do we go to a cabin 1400 miles away when we live in the land of 10,000 lakes?   Let me sum it up by saying that it is worth it.  It is the most relaxing, beautiful place to be.  It is the one time each year when we get to see Tom's family.  It is the place where Great Grandma gets to school me and whip my hiney in cribbage.  It's the place where the time of day doesn't matter, where the only concern is which dock to lay on to get the most sun.  It is the place where you feel God's presence around you at all times.  It is, to us, a glimpse of heaven.  When we get in the car, and start driving, we are confident that we will be rewarded at the end.  We cannot see the end, but we know it's there, waiting for us.  We know that there are good parts(everything from the Bozeman pass to Couer D'lane sp?), and the long, grueling parts (pretty much all of North Dakota), but none the less, it is there, waiting.  It is this confident hope that gets us through 5 states and no sleep.  It is the belief in what is waiting for us that keeps our spirits high, even when we have listened to the SpongeBob SquarePants CD 300 times.  It is knowing that there is homemade apple pie, and a cribbage board waiting that makes even the drive, part of the best memories of the summer!   Our daily walk with the Lord is not all that different than the drive to the cabin.  There are Bozeman pass times, and there are North Dakota moments.  The best thing to do is buckle up, and know that in the end, it will all be worth it!  

Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Love you all-
Jen