Jesus at Adventure Island

I've been reading a book entitled Walking with God, by John Eldredge. In it, he encourages us to include God in our day-to-day mundane lives, in every little detail and to really listen to Him (our schedules, small daily decisions, etc.). I thought about this and why not? I mean God wants to truly lead us, and our lives would be a whole lot easier if we let Him. So Adrian and I have been trying this lately. Just a couple weeks ago, we asked Him if we should go to the beach with friends that we've been trying to get together with for ages or stay home to mow a neighbor's lawn who just had a baby. God told us to stay and cut the grass. Although I was glad to help our neighbors, I fretted about the decision for the next week because I felt we had let our friends down and knowing how busy everyone's schedule is, thought the opportunity had completely passed until next summer. It turns out our friends had gone to the beach anyway, had a blast and asked if we wanted to go with them the next weekend. We were so excited, God worked everything out.
Last week, we decided to take Mali to Adventure Island Water Park (yep, we asked God first and he said we should go) and on the way there I was fretting about the fact that we would have to pay for parking and we were only going to be there a few hours. I don't know why I was fretting, but I was. I hate paying $10 to park for 3 hours. So, I prayed that we wouldn't have to pay for parking (it seemed like a silly prayer, but I did it anyways. It felt good to cast my worry on Him). So we pull into the park and the parking booth attendant leans over and says, "Go on ahead, you guys are good to go." I couldn't believe it! Free parking, just like I asked. I was thinking maybe I should ask about our mortgage next . . . haha, no, God is not a genie, but the point of all this is, life is so much easier and more worry-free when we live in God's schedule rather than drag Him along with our schedule. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me." John 10:27 (NLT)

She's All About Kikis

So my daughter, Mali, Adrian and I were sitting at the table the other night waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Because I had already eaten earlier, I was munching on a cookie (in front of my 2 year old daughter . . . what was I thinking?!) Of course, Mali says in exclamation, "KIKI!!" (her word for cookie) This means that 1) she has noticed it so there is no use trying to hide it or pretend otherwise and 2) she would like one. Immediately I realized the error of my ways in eating a cookie in front of her right before dinner and said, "Ok Mali, you can have one right after dinner." I then proceeded to take the cookies back in the kitchen and put them away so they would be of no further temptation. She seemed to be ok with this and dropped the subject (amazingly). The great thing about having little ones is that they have short memories (or so I thought). So fastforward about 20 minutes . . . we had just finished dinner and were sitting at the table chilling. Adrian and I were in a conversation, and Mali was quietly sitting eating her last few bites. Then Adrian says to me, "Oh Babe, do you think I should get her a . . . " and before Adrian could even finish his sentence, Mali turns to him and says, "Kiki" in the kind of voice that says, "Yes, I am paying attention and don't even think for a minute that I've forgotten about those cookies." Adrian and I burst out laughing and Mali got her precious "kiki." The end.