Thankful Thursday

OK... it's totally late and I need to get in bed... see we are currently on Central time. We drove out of our Eastern time today which means although the clock says its 12:30AM.. my body says um no... it's 1:30 AM... AND it's been a LONG day in the car. However... had to take a few minutes for a quick Thankful Thursday post! Let's just say this week's gratitude focus is a no brainer... cause um YEP I am so thankful for this time away with my husband at this wonderful conference in a beautiful hotel! I am also SO thankful for feeling God taking care of us and how he has gently been showing me all day today and yesterday that he is protecting us and with us. I was struggling with the anxiety thing last night and this morning. Did pretty good all day after reading some verses in Psalms and then struggled with anxiety a bit again when we got to the room. We said a prayer though and prayed over our room and I've been doing much better yet again. I woke up this morning thinking I was supposed to read psalm 31. Wow.. when I read that, it speaks again and again about God's protection and how he cares for the Godly. This part is especially good: So be strong and take courage, all you who put your hope in the Lord! Psalm 31:24 NLT

The drive here took about 5 hours and we had an awesome perfect trip. When we got here, we ran around the towns we lived in before moving to Indiana and stopped by the houses where each of us grew up. I have pictures to share and other details about the day that I promise to get too... maybe tomorrow. The hotel is gorgeous! LOVE nice hotels. I have pics of our room to share too. The awesome desk clerk lady got us a King Bed which we were thinking we were not getting, and gave us a corner room which she said was a little bigger AND it has an awesome view. I was looking out the windows when Darrel was unloading the car and thinking how pretty the golf course was when suddenly I realize... you can see the Chicago skyline from here! LOOK! Can you see it in the picture?















I wish I had our better camera with the better zoom. You can see the whole skyline, Hancock building, Sears Tower.. the whole bit. PLUS are you remembering Chicago is special for us because we got engaged there? I wanted to go back and give the desk clerk a big hug. We took the top pic. trying to get us and the skyline but that didn't work so good. Still like the picture though.

Remind me tomorrow to tell you about Darrel's argument with the GPS.... some of the yummy food we ate today.... and um seeing too many TV shows regarding hotel rooms....

Before I go though... let's recap things I've been thankful for this week. They include:

• Safe travel on our trip!
• Gracie coming home last night so I didn't have to worry about her for 4 days...
• Not freaking out about meds I needed that we thought weren't getting filled that did get filled quickly and easily after all...
• Italian Beef Sandwiches from our favorite place
• Enjoying our favorite Pizza together.
• An awesome day together with my husband
• My pretty pink butterfly scarf (did you see it in the picture?) and the fact that my husband told me he realized he likes me in pink and black and remembered that today because of the outfit I had on and how it reminded him of one I had when we were dating. How sweet is that?
• 89 lbs gone!
• My new Vera purse which is SO cute
• My vintage train case. LOVE it.
• Reading in the car. I would go nuts if I just had to sit there for 5 hours... sooooo happy I can read in the car.
• Our fabulous hotel room.
• All the good memories we have from previous conferences, Chicago, our first home, etc. and the fun of talking about those today.
• Buying a smaller size pants this week!
• Being able to help a friend thru a difficult time.
• My awesome husband. Did I mention him yet?
• Going shopping at Woodfield Mall tomorrow and going out for our favorite poor boys for dinner!
• The fact that I was happy with 1/2 a sandwich and 1/2 an order of fries at lunch today AND that we are on a little mini vacation here and yet we just did push ups together, I brought my pedal exerciser with me AND we are right next to the stairs and plan on climbing them this weekend!

Time for bed... Darrel is starting to snore beside me.... I'll try to share more details tomorrow evening if time permits. Blessings!