God's CONSTANT provision for my desires

I just love the way the blog ticker looks today: 2 weeks and 5 days until Lima. :)

Please continue to keep my family in your prayers. John's dad is still in the hospital (once again) and my step-father (Gary) suffered a heart-attack yesterday. He almost passed away, but the doctor's were able to save him and they performed a surgery (he has no insurance) and right now he is in ICU recovering. Please pray for my mom as she is not good at handling stress and is a little bit beside herself right now. She is wishing I could be there with her! Me TOO!

Okay, so one of the MAIN reasons that I didn't want to have anymore children after Parker and Ally is because I wanted to take nice vacations (especially Disney cruises). I figured if we had more children I could kiss cruises good-bye and seeing the world. Eventually, I gave up this struggle. Through that time, God taught me a lot about trusting Him in this area and one of the ways He has done that is by, over the years (especially since we had our 4th), giving us AMAZING vacations that were super cheap (often times completely free), beautiful and a ton of fun.

We were able to visit NYC a few years back for less than $1,000 for almost 10 days. We flew and took several children. It was one of our best trips.

God provided a trip to Arizona for a week to be with John's family (free).

God provided a 7 day all-expenses (except food) trip to St. Thomas Virgin Islands which was better than anything I would've given myself.

God provided a 1 week trip to Lima, Peru (just John and I).

God provided us with a 7 day cruise to Haiti, Bahamas, Mexico and Grand Cayman.

God has provided us with several opportunities in Costa Rica to take affordable vacations. We have seen waterfalls, volcanoes, rainforests and beautiful beaches.

We get to live in Peru and travel that country as well.

And in January, God is providing an opportunity (all-expenses paid) for us to stay a Yacht Club in Paraguay for our annual general meeting and we are hoping to take a week off and stay with our friends who will be missionaries there. And we will get to tour that country.

And NOW.......God has provided us with a 3 day weekend in AN AMAZING LOCATION for absolutely free. We had NO money (expendable) to go to the beach and there were no rooms available anyway. We have to save every penny to furnish our home in Lima, Peru. I was really feeling that I needed a vacation, but couldn't see how that was going to work out. I just desired to get away and lounge by a pool and watch the kids play. And out of NOWHERE, the day after I realized we would have to spend our 3 day weekend at home, God provided us with a Condo outside of the city on the side of a mountain. It is 4 bedrooms (with each room perfectly suited to the ages and genders of my children), 4 bathrooms, right next to a gorgeous pool and the view of the city is breathtaking. And did I mention there is a dishwasher, 2 bathtubs (I almost cried) and a king-size bed. We feel so rich!

But we are rich indeed - rich in God's love and his constant provision for things we desire (not even needs). I shared all that because for me it all comes down to the time when I was struggling to have more children because of the "vacations" I wanted to take. I'm really serious about that. And now to see how that is an area that God has blessed us in time and time and time again (and I have no doubt he will continue to do so) has made me all the more thankful that I surrendered that issue to Him. What He has given us is much better than what I would've ever given myself. I get to travel the world AND have 4 kids. How blessed am I?

All that said...I'm off to the pool!