HE Can Fix It!!!

My husband sings/speaks several times a year at a conference called Time Out For Women.  He always comes back feeling so uplifted after spending his weekends with a couple thousand women and several amazing performers whose main goal is to uplift all those in the room.  Meanwhile... I'm home mopping floors and washing dishes feeling a twinge of jealousy at times .  I am, however, so honestly grateful for his amazing opportunities- even though it's called Time Out for WOMEN!!

... but this weekend I'm here too at Time Out For Women!!  It is pretty close to our home, so we all came together.  My parents came too- all the way from Missouri.  My mother is attending the conference with me while my father stays in the hotel to watch all 6 kids. 

It started today with several problems and blessings:

*After dropping Abe off at the venue, I went to the hotel and encountered a reservation issue** all fixed with better, discounted rooms and free breakfast vouchers for our inconvenience.

*My son dropped a glass jar of Salsa all over the lobby floor before we ever even got to our room.  The Salsa was in a bag with all of our other food; so red, chunky fluid and glass were all over the bread, apples, fig-newtons, and the lobby floor**all fixed with millions of paper towels and wet wipes... meanwhile proving to myself that I can keep my cool under ridiculous circumstances- even if I have to take several deep breaths to calm myself.   

*I had parking problems with our huge van right in the middle of downtown Indianapolis.  Realizing I couldn't enter the parking garage because my van was too tall, I tried to back out.  A lady in the car behind me yelled out  insisting that I could still fit and to keep trying. (She just didn't want to have to back up.)  I yelled back, "Are you sure? Because I really don't think I'll fit"  "Yes!  You're good!" She insisted.  Well... after I hit the over-head bar, I finally convinced the line of cars behind me to back up so I could pull out of the parking garage**all fixed because a police officer directed me to a hidden parking location at more than half the price.

*We were almost late because of our parking struggles**all fixed by an opportunity for my mother and I to run while holding hands through the streets of Indianapolis.  How often do I get to do that?  When the traffic light was about to change, I had fun clomping in my high heels while pulling my mom as fast as we could go.  What a memory hearing my mom yell, "I'm leaping and bounding like a gazelle!!  I have acid reflux from being a gazelle!!"...cute 72 year old gazelle... I was laughing so hard!

*I didn't have time to eat, so my blood-sugar was low** all fixed by 3/4ths of a Snickers bar left on my chair when I returned from the bathroom at the conference.  My mom was going to eat half of it but remembered she doesn't like Snickers.  Bonus!!  I got 3/4ths of it instead.  She didn't even know I needed the sugar and protein.

*I didn't get to see Abe much because he was performing for the teenagers tonight.  He won't even be staying in the same hotel as us tonight because he needs to be closer to the venue for his early morning mic check**Fixed!  We left my mom in the lobby while Abe and I went to get the car together... just the two of us.  We chatted uninterrupted and held hands while we walked!  We passed a bar on the way that was playing the music so loud we could hear it outside!  Abe and I danced together on the sidewalk as crazy as we wanted to.  It reminded me of our younger days. 

*I came back to the hotel room to the news that Jayden had thrown up 4 times!!  My dad pointed out each location where he had thrown up.  He had cleaned it all up and didn't even complain; he was just surprised Jayden had so much food in his tummy to keep throwing up!  I felt sorry for my dad as we told him that tomorrow we would be gone longer than he expected.  He thought we would be done by noon.  Oops!**fixed by the realization that my dad is a true champion!  Not only was he not worn out from so many hours in a little room with 6 kids, he had a hard time telling the kids goodnight, so he kept them up even later by reading more stories to them!  What a great time for the kids to bond to their "Papa" who lives so far away.

*By mistake, I erased my notes off my cell phone that I had taken down during the conference tonight.  I wanted to quote some of the amazing things they shared** fixed by the opportunity to apply what the Spirit prompted me in my heart instead of purely reiterating all of their exact quotes.  I was given an opportunity to look at my life from an uplifted perspective... as blessings not problems.

The theme for Time Out For Women is "Higher."  Talents and testimonies were shared tonight that made me want to reach higher, let go of fear, and to remember to live a full life of striving for and achieving dreams. 

There is one quote I would like to pass on.  John Bytheway shared it from a lady that shared it with him.  I think her name is Diana.  She said:
"From now on I'm not going to tell God how big my problems are... I'm going to tell my problems how big my God is!!" 

I realized all my problems today were not really problems at all... they were just opportunities for God to turn all things for our good to show me that HE FIXES ALL!