Monday, May 30

What a Marvelous May 2011!


Having Fun in Santorini!
What a great month God blessed us with! As I look back at April's post, I think the saying "April showers bring May flowers" actually had to do with our life's circumstances this year. With a hard month of April, the beautiful flowers of May were well worth the wait! The first week of May we moved our little family to a new home. With lots of help, we were surprisingly able to get it all complete in one weekend!
Our New Home!
Our new abode is much different then our previous one, and we like it very much! The best part, I would have to say is the kitchen! :) I think it's the biggest I've ever had and every day I play in it, I think...wow! I love my kitchen! Kaepo seems to have adjusted pretty quickly. The first few nights he was very alert, but now as I type he is like his normal self, sprawled out and sound asleep. 

The Kitchen! :)

The same week we moved, P finished up his second semester at DTS. What a proud wife I was to find out that he made ALL A's!! Not only were finals the first week, the second week started summer school which P has bravely decided to take two classes. I also finished up my first semester and look forward to start back up in the fall. 

Santorini at Sunset
Not long (4 days in fact) after we moved to our new place, we left on an (what I like to call) adventure! P and I have been saving up since we first got married to go on a vacation. We decided a couple months back that we were going to make our 5 year anniversary a big one and spend our vacation savings on a real good trip! Our mindset was, this could be the last time we have an opportunity to do something like this for a long time. We chose Greece and looking back, I am so thankful we did! A dream vacation is what it turned out to be and if there was one thing we could change about our trip, we wouldn't. A few bumps in the road only added character and all in all the trip was absolutely glorious! We spent a total of 3 1/2 days in Athens and 3 1/2 days in Santorini. Athens was great for the historical sights and the typical things you are suppose to see when you go to Greece. The streets were crowded, we stumbled upon the changing of the guards at Parliament, and even ate a gyro as we hiked up to the Parthenon. However, Santorini was totally opposite. Every bit of the island was constantly picturesque and that's no exaggeration. It's hard to believe that something could be more beautiful when we were reminded what we have to look forward to in heaven! Every sunset left tears to your eyes, and every where you looked was a breathtaking view. We spent a relaxing time at the black sand beaches, walked around the "hustling" town of Fira, spent an evening in Oia, toured a vineyard, and explored the whole island on a 4-wheeler. The trip home was long one, when we finally got back, we found ourselves longing for the peacefulness of Santorini, or those yummy gyros! We are so very thankful to God that He allowed such an opportunity.

Our Main Staple in Greece! GYROS!
Something we both realized and reflected on while we were soaking up too much sun in Kamari was the fact that God had graced us with a vacation not only in a beautiful place, He also gave us a vacation from "baggage" that both of us seem to struggle with back at home. It was so wonderful to leave worries and stresses behind and enjoy the freedom that God gives us. I guess living in a familiar atmosphere there is rut we get into, habits that develop when things are always the same, and not much of a motivation to change. For us, being in an environment that was totally different from what we were used to, allowed for a new perspective, and a refreshing view on how our attitudes and actions can change.

Going back to work, I was reminded at what an awesome job I have here at home, you especially know this when you come back from a vacation, like one we went on, and don't have any reservation on going back to work. What a good feeling!

One other thing that God threw into this month was one of those things that I need reminding of a lot. After hearing and seeing all the damage that has happened through crazy tornado's not to far from home, I had developed an undeniable fear of it happening to us. A bad storm ripped through our area a few nights ago and I found myself shaking like a leaf! P reminded me that the "worse" that could happen would really be the best thing in our case, we would go to heaven! For some reason this didn't comfort me. It wasn't till the storm passed and I was able to evaluate through reflection during a sermon that my fear of the possible tornado was really a fear of death. Death only scares me when I develop the thought that I have not done "good" in God's sight and that could mean I was never saved, which would result in a death I would not want to face. If this were true it would definitely be something to be scared about. But after being reminded of the grace that God has extended through the death of Christ, I am saved not by my works, but by the shedding of Christ's blood. My works and goodness are worth nothing when it comes to my salvation. As the last words of Christ as he died on the cross proclaim, "Paid in full," my debt has been paid! I have no reason to fear!

God is so good! As I say at the end of every month...P and I are saying bye to May and HELLO to June, looking for God's provision in a number of decisions, and loving that we are apart of His plan.
The Parthenon From Our Hotel Room!

1 comment:

  1. Great post, Sis! Love your new apartment. We'll be up in July, so we'll have to come check it out! Love you and miss you!

    ReplyDelete

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