Freedom!!!!!

Walk in Freedom and POWER starting TODAY!!  Make some changes in what you carry with you today.

Freedom and Power

1. Toss out the need to please.

2. Stop feeling like you have to explain yourself.

3. Don't pressure yourself to reply immediately to everything (hello, to emails taking over your life!).

4. Give yourself permission to be unavailable. It’s OK to say “no” to that event or party.

5. Cast away the thought that you need X to be successful. There is NOT ONE thing has the power to make or break us? It’s simply not true. There’s always another opportunity.

6. You Are Perfect just the way you are!!  You are enough.  There are people that will see you for who you are without you having to prove anything.

7. Stop trying to be accepted by everyone. Not everyone is going to accept you and that’s OK. Our job is to accept that. Joel Osteen says we should be a professional "Ignorer". Is that a real word?

8. Remember that you don't need to know every detail. Life is a Mystery. Embrace it.

9. Toss out the need to be “good” or “perfect.” It’s OK to mess up. It’s OK for someone to see you become a little crazy. It happens to all of us.

10. It's not your responsibility to hold up everyone around you. Trust God.  He can carry the heavy load.  

Tossing out the heaviness and the stress that weighs us down is the easiest way to feel light and free again. In lightness and freedom comes a sense of openness, expansiveness, and newfound energy.

And it is with this awakened energy that we can actually do better work and end up helping more people.

Carry On Warrior

Good Word for today:

"The voice that is telling you to quit, stop, give up, admit failure, you're too weak, its too late…" THAT Voice is a harassing devil assigned to you to hinder and block you. It is assigned BECAUSE THE ENEMY FEARS THAT SHOULD YOU PERSIST... YOU WILL SUCCEED. YOU MUST BE DOING DAMAGE TO THE ENEMY or he would not assault your mind so aggressively to discourage you.

Carry on. That voice of doubt and uncertainty is why you know you are on the right track!

You can't out argue each critic but you can bury him under a pile of evidence as you "out fruit" him.
Lance Wallnau

Viking River Cruise #1

Well, after two days in Amsterdam we boarded the Viking River Cruise ship and prepared for our trip down the Rhine River.

Our first stop was Kinderdijk Holland to see their 19 Windmills. It was a little overcast this morning.

The weather was perfect! They were having an early spring and every tree was in full bloom.

And the flowers were beautiful.  We didn't have time to go to the Tulip fields in Amsterdam, but we enjoyed them in small groups in almost every town we visited.  Lots of other varieties of flowers everywhere.

The Cherry Blossoms below frame a local church and the Castle at the top of the Mountain.
This top of a mountain Castle was one of our tours.   It was quiet a climb to the top -- but it was a very interesting working Castle. Quite a Fortress overlooking the Rhine River.

This is Marksburg Castle has stood for 700 years.  All the tour guides talk about whether it was destroyed during the war or not.  This fortress was never destroyed. 
http://www.marksburg.de/english/frame.htm

Cruising down the Rhine  .......
The Food was wonderful and there was always plenty of Wine and Beer.    

.  The Pastries were too beautiful to eat.  Although that didn't stop us.  

                   Pastries and Hot Chocolate -- amazing!!!

 

Back on the River -- cruising....   Many of the best vineyards in Germany are steep vineyards overlooking rivers, where tending with machines is impossible and a lot of manual labour is needed to produce the wine.

But of course we found a couple of Margaritas along the way... Obviously they "were" good. Didn't get a picture until they were gone.

                                                                                                                                                         





We Visited lots of  Cathedrals and the flowers were beautiful.

Last 4 days were spent in Switzerland.  Lake Lucerne and the Alps:

Our last night in Switzerland we went to a Fondue Restaurant with our Pet Shipping Colleagues. The food was great and we ate a lot of cheese and bread.  When we were leaving the Restaurant this Statue was along the path.  This is how we felt after eating so much....

What a great trip!! Thank you for taking time to check out my blog.  

Amsterdam

First stop Amsterdam -- my first trip to Europe.   Europeans must be so healthy.  They all ride bicycles and walk everywhere.  There are over 2 million bicycles in Amsterdam -- I think that may be a very conservative estimate.

Mendy and I went to dinner with Andy Baker -- he is the son of one of my oldest and dearest friends - He ha been living in Amsterdam for several years.  He rode his bike to our hotel and then we walked to an Indonesian Restaurant.  Great food, lovely visit and Andy was a great tour guide along the way. Mendy and I were ready for our group to do the walking tour next morning.

We were able to share some of Andy's tour info as we read the map and tried to find the Anne Frank Museum and Home.  We got a little lost -- 6 people reading the map - amazingly we did arrive too late for our pre-purchased ticket appointments, however, we Walk in a Lot of FAVOR!!  They were so kind to us and ushered us right in and started our tour.    The Frank family lived in two rooms on the second floor for Two years.  Very small quarters, hiding in fear of their lives. It was a very emotional tour and story.

We took a Canal cruise -- Lots of canals in the city of Amsterdam.  It was almost a House boat tour. There are 2500 Houseboats on the Canals within the city.  Every style and shape.

This was sort of a House boat parking lot?





Most of them have their special parking spot on the canal. Interesting way of life.

Amsterdam was an amazing city. Elevation below sea level - canals at every intersection. Beautiful Architecture, many churches and even a palace for the King and Queen.

Chandelier in shop window -- reflection of brownstone across street.

Chandelier from inside the shop.  

Discouragement

Discouragement is a wedge that keeps us from the abundant life. I pray that you walk in power. Speak it out... Tell the enemy to flee. Wield your sword. Speak the WORD to him. He knows the truth -- if he can keep us discouraged and keep our focus off the truth, off of the promises, off the Love of the Father -- then he holds the power. I can tell you, I don't want to give the enemy any of My Power. Just typing this gets me fired up.

Walk in Power - know who you are. A Child of the Most High God!!!  

Life is like a vapor...

Life is a like a vapor... A mist. James 4  

Sometimes it is so hard to ask for help.  I speak from experience.  After shoulder surgery last year -- I was unable to drive for almost two months.  I had to get to physical therapy three times a week.
It was hard for me to ask for help. I didn't want to be an imposition on anyone.  I sent out an e-mail
to a ladies prayer group that i attend. Several ladies responded and volunteered to take me to therapy.
It was such a blessing.   And all I had to do was ask.

Now I am doing great and recovered from my surgery... driving again and trying to be more aware of
the needs around me.  I recently had opportunity to take an old friend to therapy.  It was such a blessing  and to be able to help her like those ladies helped me.  It was a special time of reconnecting with an old friend that I haven't seen in several years.

Webster says: inconvenient means an annoying occurrence that makes you go out of your way.

Do you ever feel like an inconvenience?  Do you make others feel like they are an inconvenience?
What a blessing to be treated with such honor as the Samaritan treated the man who was attacked by robbers.  He went out of his way to help this man. A Samaritan who most likely had been treated as an inconvenience his entire life.    What an honor for Jesus to use the Samaritan as an example.


30 Jesus said,  “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

Another Catch UP Post ......

It was so Hot in Texas August 2013

-- I couldn't wait to get to Cabo again.  However, it was hot in Cabo too!!!  And it was a stormy two weeks.

The locals claimed that storms was not normal but they helped to make the heat more acceptable - Along with the Pacific waves crashing on the beach and a steady breeze.

Angela made a last minute decision to go with me for a few days.  We didn't go on the same flight -- and I didn't even know what time her flight would arrive. 

But Of Course --  When I finally made my way through baggage, customs, passport control and all the Time Share Salesmen -- there was Angela on the curb waiting for Cape Travel Van to pickup us up.    God works out all the details as we stumble through this life.  I love seeing His Hand guiding us along.  

We had a great room on the 5th floor with this awesome view from our balcony.

You could also call this view from my Airpets Office in Cabo. 

All Glory to God for His mercies are New Every Morning!!! 

November took me to Las Vegas for an Pet Shipping Conference.  We stayed at the Paris with the other 300+  Pet Shippers from around the world.  It was good to see all our Colleagues and we learned a lot from each other and from our speakers.    This is a very interesting job.  And Las Vegas was just like Las Vegas -- Casino's are smokey and the traffic was crazy.   

We were so busy with the Conference every day, there wasn't much time to do the Las Vegas stuff.  Just as well!   

When the conference was over we rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon.  

I have to say -- I love the Grand Canyon.  It is so Majestic and Amazing!!!  

God's Handiwork for sure.  

The GRAND Canyon

HELLO,  Grand Canyon.......
November 2013.....

We arrived at Sunset!!  We rushed to the South Rim as quickly as we could to catch the beautiful colors.   We wanted to make sure the Canyon knew we were there again and that we would be back in the morning for an all day visit.

The temperature was about 40 degrees when we jumped out of the car and started to run to the rim to take these pictures.    A young family was leaving and as we passed them the dad said, "It's Closed".
We were stopped in our tracks for a second and then we all started to laugh.  Such a mean man. :)  He was pretty funny.

God is so good!!  Yes, the South Rim was open and very inviting.  What an AWESOME Creator.  The Beauty is continuously overwhelming from one minute to the next.

GOOD MORNING GRAND CANYON!!!  

It was 19 degrees when we woke up this morning -- however by the time we had a cupa coffee and and made it to the Rim the sun was warming us at about 40 degrees and rising.  

Amazing formations.  Trees growing out of the rock.