Hubs is Home!

Yes, after 9 long days and 8 nights my hubby returned home safely late last Friday night. PTL! (For those who might not know - PTL stands for Praise the Lord!) It was a long time away both at home and abroad. After almost 30 years of marriage and almost 5 years of dating before that - it's just no fun without my other half. We're more than used to his traveling for business over the last 26 years; his Platinum status with American Airlines is his traveling badge and reward. We and our family have the privilege of traveling free several times a year from hubs advantage miles. His travel normally consists of 1 - 3 nights away a few times a month within the US. This was the only the 2nd time he's traveled overseas for business. God has given us great trust in each other and more importantly we have trust in Him - He who brought us together and keeps us together. 34 & 1/2 years is long time, but it's not always been easy. Our motto is, "Stay & Pray" because life is hard, but the Lord is our strength and "A Cord of Three is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4.12.

On Saturday & Sunday we pledged to only spend time together & with the Lord. We worshiped together at church on Sunday morning and then hosted our Life Group that evening.

This morning hubs had oral surgery where he never had a permanent tooth. He's had 3 bridges and needed a replacement again, so his dentist recommended a dental implant instead because they can last up to 50 years.  The only real drawback is the cost which is not covered at all under medical / dental insurance and the cost is normally between $6-8K which is pretty steep; however, a bridge typically cost $2-3K and lasts 8 - 10 years; dental insurance covers 50%. So, the long-term costs are about the same, but the implant occurs only once and acts just like a real tooth without all the precautions required of a bridge. Great news is that once the oral surgeon began the surgery this morning he realized that hubs did not require the bone graft that he was expecting; therefore hubs only had a tissue graft today and was able to have the actual dental implant today instead of 4 months later that was going to happen after the bone graft healing. The cost isn't any less, but the healing is much less and the time period will be much less. So, PTL - YAY God!

After resting all day today, the hubs is very antsy and more than ready to go back to work. Doctor says he should rest 2 days, but could go to work if he feels up to it... so we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Tonight we're praising the Lord for His goodness in our lives!  I pray you find the goodness He provides for you even in the storms of life.

Hubby Lands Safely on the Other Side of the World

The hubs is safely on land after a 16 hr flight. He says it was a nice flight; especially since he got upgraded from business class (like our normal 1st class) to 1st class. He had a cocoon bed with his personal tv & internet connections and a 3 page menu for 4 meals. He says he actually slept 6-7 hours. When he landed it was 8pm there and 10am here. He's supposed to call me on Skype before he goes to bed. I thought he would have already called me; he must be out sight seeing or perhaps is having a late evening meeting.

Many people are praying for him and for me while he's away. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better than I thought I would be - prayer is amazing because we serve & honor an amazing God!  I also have a young friend visiting & staying with me for a few days which is a nice distraction.

Well, I need to get back to putting those Christmas decorations away. It's a nice day to stay inside - it was 15 degrees this morning at 7am when I let the dogs out. Make it a good day... let the warmth of the Lord's Light shine in and through you today!

Afternoon Additional Post:
We finally visited on Skype! Hubs is fine... we had a nice 15 minute visit. Our puppies kept looking for him when they'd hear his voice... it was cute & sad. Now hubby is going to try and get some sleep. He doesn't feel sleepy since he slept well for 6 - 7 hours on the plane and then was on the cellphone for a board meeting here in Dallas for an hour & half, so he feels like he's still still on Dallas time.  I'm praying that he can get some good rest; I think he will because he always goes right to sleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. Tomorrow he and the other 3 from the company will travel to a neighboring country for some sight seeing, so they have a fairly light day and will be able to get to bed early for their 1st business meeting on Sunday. Yes, business on Sunday - it's the 1st business day in that country. Friday is their holy day and Saturday is their day off, so next Thursday will be the last day of the work week and the hubs last meeting day. He leaves early next Friday morning (our Thursday evening). Of course it'll take almost 24 hours to get home after a 16 hour flight to Chicago with several hours on a layover there and then a 2 & 1/2 hour flight home; he's scheduled to land just before 10pm one week from today. I pray the time will be spent in God's will there on the other side of the world and here at home!

Just said goodbye to my hubby - he's off to the dark other side of the world

He's actually only on his way to the airport where he'll take a flight to Chicago and is scheduled to fly out of Chicago this evening to a dark foreign country. He & the chairman of the company he works for are flying together to meet with representatives of an extremely wealthy important family to discuss a possible business association. I am not happy about this possible business association, nor am I happy about this trip. It is just not in my comfort zone! However, I am trusting the Lord with the love of my life and trusting in the wisdom that He has given to my hubby. I believe God will bless my hubby with supernatural wisdom and discernment and that hubs will make wise decisions. I also trust God for hubs protection and good health and that He will return my hubby back home to his family safely on time, or even earlier than expected. I'm praying for safety and good health for me here at home as well since it's just going to be me and our 2 puppies for 9 days & 8 nights.

Hubs has been gone this long before and even longer than this trip several times. He was gone 11 days in February of 2008 while crisscrossing Central Europe on a business trip. That was an exciting trip for him and he enjoyed seeing all the beautiful architecture. Hubs also went on 2 very long Boy Scout backpacking trips in the New Mexico mountains with our sons in the 90's. On those trips, they were gone about 2 weeks, of which we had absolutely no communication for 11 days because the cell phones didn't work in remote locations back then. It was exciting for them, but worrisome for me because of the possible weather & wild animal threats. During each of those trips, one son was with their dad and one son was home with me. Having the one son home with me was a good distraction from thinking about the other half of our family hiking through the wilderness.

This time is different because hubs is going to a very foreign area of the world that is glitzy, yet still very backward with completely different views about the world and life and has completely different beliefs. I must concentrate on God and His will and His desires and His plans for my hubby and for our life together. I know the Lord has great and wonderful plans for us! I know He wants to use us for His purposes, so I'm trying to keep my mind on the good things He has in store for us after my hubby returns.

Okay well today - it's very cold and it's only going to get colder for several days, so since I despise cold weather, I will be staying home inside where it's warm and I plan to make the best of these days by getting all the Christmas decorations put away. I know that sounds simple, but we have A LOT of Christmas decorations and each has to be packed carefully before being put away in storage. And then I'll have all the regular decor to put back in the appropriate places. This is a really big job!

So, I'm going to lather up my hands with lotion and have prayer time then tackle all the Christmas decorations.  Stay warm and get your decorations packed away too.

Wonderful Wednesday & Today's Mission

Well, it is cold today and it's going to get a whole lot colder tonight, but it's a wonderful Wednesday and I'm going to try my best for today not to be a weepy Wednesday. I need some encouragement from the Lord to keep it all together because my hubby leaves this evening for a long business trip out of the country; to a country that I'm not happy about him going to, but I'm trusting in the Lord's physical, mental and spiritual protection. And secretively wishing that a major snow storm causes the trip to be cancelled... no really, I praying for God's will to be done.

I have an important mission today: Find the hubs original gold wedding band!
He cannot wear the one I gave him for our 25 Anniversary (almost 5 yrs ago) where he is going on a 10 day business trip. The new(er) wedding band has Song of Solomon 6.3 written all the way around the outside of the ring in Hebrew. I can't write, read or type Hebrew, but the in English the scripture reads, "I am my beloved and my beloved is mine." It's a beautiful white gold & yellow gold band. We've talked about him not wearing it on this trip for months now and wearing his original simple gold band instead. I just assumed that hubby knew where his original ring was because he's very organized and remembers everything very well, but I was mistaken. Yesterday, this trip suddenly got moved up a day because he has to fly to Chicago and leave the country from there and Chicago is expecting a big snow storm early Thursday morning, so hubs is flying up to Chicago this evening (Wednesday) instead of Thursday afternoon. This all meant that hubs had to pack last night instead of tonight. I frantically remembered the ring situation late last night after we had gone to bed, so in the dark I asked him if he'd exchanged his rings to which he answered, "No not yet, I'll do that in the morning."  So I replied, "Why don't you take off your ring now, so in the morning you'll notice it missing and you'll be sure to remember to get the old ring."  Hubs said, "Well, I guess that's a good idea, but I haven't slept without my ring on in almost 30 years."  But he did take it off and he placed it on his bedside chest then said, "Uuggg... this feels like I'm missing a finger." That was sad and sweet at the same time. This morning he tried to locate his original ring and was unsuccessful, so he's wearing a nice silver ring that we purchased before our 1st trip to Russia. We minister to orphans and their caretakers in a small village about 5 hours away from Moscow, so we don't wear any flashy expensive jewelry there. Today I'm going to try and find the hubs original ring myself... Will it be in the safe (where he already looked), in one of 2 chest of drawers top drawers (old furniture now in exercise room, or new furniture in our master bedroom), in our closet chest of drawers top drawer, in his velet in the closet, in one of his bathroom vanity drawers, or in one of my 4 jewelry boxes?  That is the question and I will try to find the answer ;=}

To be continued......