Great Day!

I apologize that I haven't updated the blog for awhile. I was on vacation and then the week after vacation just got away from me. I hope that you were able to control the craving for my postings during that 2 week absence. I imagine it was tough for many of you! Not sure I should mention this our not, since it is salary discussion time around here, but I just spent the better part of this morning with the family at the Omaha Zoo. It was a gorgeous day, the kids and Tracy behaved themselves and we had a great time. We could have spent the entire day watching a baby gorilla and the baby orangutans playing with burlap sacks. It was also funny to watch a couple gorillas eat. Both were in the same cage and there was two of everything for them but they would hold as much as the could and eat as fast as they could for fear the other might get something of theirs. Good times.

We decided to go to the zoo with the kids because Tracy is going back to work on Wednesday so our amount of free time will be cut and we won't be able to just pack up and go as easily. We wanted to spend one last day at the zoo just strolling around before the hectic schedule of the holidays picks up and life begins to whiz by. I spent the entire day just relishing the time and laughing at Isaac and the stuff he comes up with. What I wouldn't give for the ability to know what a 3 year old is thinking.

I'm sure in the years to come we'll look back on times like these and wish for them again. When the pressures of school and sports and all that comes with growing up makes us wish for the "good ole" days when our biggest worries were colds, keeping sight of the kids, and hoping they learn to share. I find myself torn between the excitement of wanting the kids to grow and watching them learn and mature and the sadness knowing that we can never get these days back again.

You really do have to stop and smell the roses if you will. As life continues to flash by at light speed I wonder if we need to slow down and enjoy our relationship with the Spirit more too. I've spoken and written a lot about our need to make sure we have devotional time with God. I also think we need to make sure we enjoy the relationship with have with God. What I mean by enjoy is that we need to stop comparing our spiritual journey and life with others and be thankful with what we have. Of course our relationship could be better, and we need to be diligent in strengthening the relationship, but we also need to learn that our relationship is ours and not to be compared with others. When life is going good and cruising along we need to recognize that and be thankful and just soak it up. Because, we know that eventually life will turn and we'll be longing for the "good ole" days. I also believe that if we take the time to acknowledge and enjoy our relationship with God, when we can, then when the tough times come we'll have memories of the better times and be reassured that they will come again. Just like we can miss great chances to experience wonderful things with our family if we get lost in the busyness, we can miss chances to strengthen and enjoy more fully our relationship with the Spirit if we only acknowledge it and use it when times are tough. So I urge you to spend some quality time with loved ones, and to spend some quality time with God. Both are wonderful chances to recharge and get us ready for the daily grind that is ahead.