It's official

Well, it's official - I've started to train as a barista. Yesterday I worked on my steam wand phobia while trying my hand at a little steaming and frothing of milk. The whole tamping of the espresso with 30 pounds of pressure to "pull a shot" makes me feel p r e t t y cool. I also have a really nifty Lincoln Perk t-shirt and apron.

Now, on a completely different train (of thought, that is). I have to share an amazing "God-thing" that recently happened in our lives.

I am really looking forward to taking Abby away for a "Passport 2 Purity" weekend. This is a great one-on-one mini conference put out by Family Life Today for a parent and preteen to go on together. This is where The Big Talk happens, but it's so much more too.

I'm going over all of the material with great anticipation, and Greg and I planned the weekend to a tee. The idea is to go somewhere that would be fun for the child you're taking, have a great time together, make memories, and cover important stuff. Abby enjoys Kansas City. She wants to go to the science museum and the Moon Marble Company store, etc. We found the ideal hotel where we can stay and go over all of the material we need to cover in between outings; the one problem was that this particular trip wasn't really "in the budget." We have a travel budget, but currently gasoline about drains it.

Greg and I each decided to pray specifically about the amount of money we needed for the trip depending on the Lord however He would choose to provide (being perfectly willing to wait until my new, small paychecks could cover it). However, we had talked about trying to make this trip a priority this summer...

We came home from our whirlwind Dallas trip and found a card in the mailbox with yep, you guessed it... the exact amount of money we had discussed needing for this trip with Abby. It came inside an encouraging note from a source we never would have imagined receiving such a gift.

I share this, because I can't keep quiet about it. God is good; His faithfulness is far too often overlooked by me. I'm too busy focusing on my disappointments most of the time to see the Hand of Grace that sustains me. It was interesting that Greg and I had both been praying that God would provide in such a way that we would know it was Him (again however He saw fit to do that); we just wanted to acknowledge Him - to see His provision and not gloss over His gifts as if we actually did it on our own. We know our tendencies...

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above;

Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of The redeeming love.

O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love:

Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

The trip is on the calendar - in August.