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......

Terrific Tuesday - a Beautiful Sunny Day

Today is a beautifully sunny, chilly day. The weather report says today is the last day our temperature will be above freezing for several upcoming days. An Arctic Blast is on it's way across 2/3 of the country. So, we better get those errands done and fill up the gas tanks today.

This morning was interrupted at 8 AM with a phone call from my ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat Dr) allergy tech; she informed me that there had been a cancellation and asked if I could come in early at 10 AM for allergy testing instead of at 1 PM as previously scheduled. I was enjoying a cup of tea with my wet hair still up in a towel, but responded, "Yes, of course!" Who wouldn't want to get things done 3 hours early?  So, what I found out is this - if it grows &/or molds in North Texas, I am allergic to it!  And I currently have some major red, inflamed reactions on both upper arms. Uggghhhhhh.... this is not fun; not fun at all ;={  Good new is that the CT Scan revealed no sinus structural problems, so surgery is not needed to combat my recurring sinus infections. The doctor says, Allergy Immunotherapy is the recommended treatment for me, so I'm researching the new Sublingual Immunotherapy that is used daily at home instead of weekly injections at the doctor's office. Of course, there's always a catch. Sublingual Treatment is very expensive and it hasn't yet been approved as a home treatment for allergies here in the US (even though it is widely used across Europe & Canada), so this form of allergy treatment is not normally covered by medical insurance. The doctor's office is contacting my personal insurance company to learn what sort of coverage I will have if I choose the sublingual immunotherapy. So, in the meantime I'm off to the drugstore for some cortisone cream hoping to get these quarter sized red welps to settle down a bit... yes, I'm already taking 2 Benadryl tablets every 4 hours.

Make today, January 5, 2010 a good day for yourself and for those God has placed in your life; after all, it's a brand new year - let's make it a good one.

Wow - God is sooooo Good!

After much time in prayer this morning for many, many things. God has answered a long, tiresome prayer request! YAY God!!! Yes, Your mercies are new every morning; I praise You Holy Name! Thank you for lifting the load my hubby has carried at work for so long. This is a great way to start the new year and a fabulous way for the hubs to start his new official position in his career. Thank you Father - God!

Now Lord, please be in every conversation and plan for this (possible) upcoming trip to You know where. I trust in You completely with my hubs - the love of my life; You are his Provider, his Protector and his Salvation.

God is good. Draw near to Him and He will show His Presence and His Faithfulness to you!