Takin' a breather

Last night upon our arrival here at the Peter Dugulescu Guest house, we were served pizza.....no matter that it was 10pm and we just wanted beds, "you must please take two!" I think that was part of my problem trying to fall asleep.....did get to call Terry and talk for quite a while.....he mentioned that my sister Debbie had called him just to check on him! What a sweet sis to do such a thoughtful thing. I've been worried about him, because his idea of a balanced meal is a spoon full of peanut butter in each hand!
Thanks, Deb for doing that! As I've been opening one card a day.....how obedient is that? yesterday's card had a picture of a TV dinner on the front! I KNOW he's not eating that well! He DID tell me that all my plants are thriving.....Meisha (our "baby" - mini schnauzer) just changes the wall she stares at each day! Guess I'm thankful for the creativity she's displaying while I'm away!
If I haven't mentioned this before....next time you go on a tour, or just a long walk at home, make sure you're wearing Skechers "Shape-Ups" They are the best thing ever! Like walking on a cloud......
Woke up around 8am after finally falling asleep who knows when??? We had our own coffee maker so got that going really quickly. I have to say that my MAX has kept me healthy and very energized. Beni and Eugenia were so excited when I handed them 5 months' worth of MAX! Beni said he used to need 5-6 cups of coffee a day and now with MAX he just needs his first cup of the morning! Great stuff.....
When we walked into the kitchen and dining room area, there was a huge buffet table awaiting us! 2 chicks like us just cannot eat all this food we're being offered.....6 fried eggs, a "mess-o'bacon", 8 slices of toast, several quartered tomatoes, half a cucumber sliced up, 2 different kinds of cheeses.....THICKLY sliced......2 kinds of cold cereal, and the ever-present dozen or so of black olives! We're just gonna have to tell Ligia to tell Mihaela (the cook) to cut that down by about 9/10ths! Of course it's all delicious, but really! My slacks were actually beginning to feel looser on me. (or was it the larger size I had to buy? I can't recall) Of course there was also cream cheese, butter, 5 kinds of jelly/jam, and NUTELLA! Ok, that's my "secret sin". I can tell this is gonna be a test and I'm prepared to fail miserably. My idea of a balanced meal is a spoon full of Nutella in each hand!
When they told us last night that they were going to let us have some "down time" this morning, we thought we'd enjoy it, but now we're fed, showered and dressed, and ready to hit the road again. Ok, not literally.....these roads are WAY too bumpy! But we do want to get out and discover what God has for us today. Oops, maybe it's that everyone else needs downtime from Lisa and me. That couldn't be it, could it??? (don't answer that)
Well, whatever God has....Lisa and I are ready. We have so enjoyed getting to know each other, and even though there's an age gap (nope, even torture won't get me to tell you how many years!) we have discovered so many similarities of our growing up years, such as godly Moms who taught us piano (and lots of other practicalities of life), dads who took LOTS of pictures....she's the very first person I know who just may have more slides from her dad than I have from mine -we'll have to count to be sure - and also dads who knew how to use every tool in the toolbox.....AND hubbies who are not terribly handy! Well, I can't say that exactly, because Terry DOES know how to change the guts of the toilet.
Just when you thought this was going to be a clean blog!
We have also had some wonderful fellowship....oops, sorry, for the Christian-ese - I just mean some good old conversation about the Lord we both love and serve. She's got 2 sons who are growing up to be godly men, and both she and I know she is very blessed. We've talked a lot about our parenting, and it's amazing how alike we are in our parenting ideas, according to how we were raised. Prov. 15:20 says "A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother." My 11 sons probably have no idea how much I pray that for them....along with so many other verses as well. (my 7 daughters and 2 stepdaughters too, of course!) We as parents want our kids to be so blessed of the Lord, and it all starts with obedience to His word.....all parts of it, not just the parts they want to, or the parts that other people see. That's only for show. We all had to learn this (me, the hard way), and Lisa gave me a great translation of Eph. 6:1-3. "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother - which is the first commandment with promise - that it may be well with you and you will live long on the earth." She says that means, "if you guys obey, we won't kill you....that's how you'll live longer!" (I think she was kidding.....but it does give more understanding about the fact that lions sometimes eat their young! Maybe the cubs just didn't obey!)
So, as you can see, 2 moms together on an extended trip only beget more parenting ideas than just one can think of! Thank you Lord for putting us together for this time.....I'm learning an awful lot from Lisa.....she's definitely a wise woman....and I'm so blessed to now call her my friend. Ok, we're going to take a little walk around this compound and see what else there is to see.....we're locked in by a gate (or maybe it's just that everyone else is locked out!) so we can't go far or get lost. It's another beautiful day....a bit more breezy, but definitely sunny after the rain last night. I sure pray that all our Nashville "family" are experiencing some drier weather!!!!! I've been looking at some of the photos.....y'all are definitely in our prayers!