Things I Missed

I'm just getting back in town from vacation with the family this past week up in Gatlinburg. We were there with Jack's family and had a lot of fun... and I'm headed out after while with the girls to go to Rainbow Omega for a couple of days with the teens. The good news here is that all I had to do last night was pull my dirty clothes out of my suitcase and throw the clean ones in a smaller suitcase and my packing was done! ;-) The bad news? I really wanted to be home for more than 12 hours before leaving again! ha...

I don't have time at all to start posting pictures or recapping the trip just yet, but I will get to that over the next week. On the way home, I had the whole gang in the car helping me put together some of their 'best moments' from the week, so you'll see them soon.

But I thought I'd share this because it was on my mind this morning - "Things I missed most while I was gone..."

1) My bed. I can't tell you how nice it was to come home and sleep in my own bed last night. I will never take it for granted again. :)

2) ESPN. Yes, I know it's sad, but we're big soccer fans over here and we so wanted to watch the World Cup semi-final matches this last week - AND, the Tour de France started this week and you know that if the cable didn't have ESPN, they didn't have VERSUS either, so no cycling either. :(

3) Internet. OK, yes, I now admit I am addicted. I really didn't do well without computer access to the internet this week. I have access on my phone, but you can't blog from a phone (well, maybe you iphone people can, but not on my phone!) and I couldn't get my email - facebook was my lifeline to the world. Sad, isn't it? But seriously, it made me realize how much I rely on this means of communication to keep up with the world....

4) Sleep. I don't think it was entirely the bed's fault, but I didn't sleep very well this week. And I like to sleep. Especially on vacation. :)

5) My dog. I wish we could have taken Mandy with us - she would have loved the mountains - and maybe even have gotten to chase a bear or two!

I think that's about it... so in one of those nights I was lying awake an idea for a peom materialized in my brain and this is what came of it:

Playing with Proverbs

A look in the mirror

Friend, what do you see?

Loves face staring back at me

At once, beyond reason

All to Jesus I surrender

Times given to remember

I have to post one picture because when I saw it, it was just so beautiful and is a great representation of all the beauty we saw up in the mountains this week. God did some great work when he created the Great Smokey Mountains! This is from our hike up to 'Chimney Tops.'