I am NOT in Florida!!!

              So, my brother-in-law got married at Ft. Myers Beach at 3:30 today. A beach wedding...it's about 87 degrees there... one of my top two all time favorite places happens to be the beach...one of our best-ever family vacations as adults with children was at (just guess, I dare you!) yep,  the beach...Ft. Myers Beach, to be exact.
      My husband flew out yesterday... but when we booked his flight in January we just didn't think we could swing the cost of three more tickets for the rest of us. We were right, and I know in my heart that this was really the only financially responsible decision, something we are far too often not so good at making. I had every intention of handling this quietly and gracefully.
     Someday I will succeed at acheiving my good intentions. Not so with this trip. As the day grew ever nearer, I felt something akin to panic within me as time passed and I had not yet found any last minute deals that would get me and the boys to the beach for this wedding for a realistic amount of money. I have exhausted every option and made a Herculean type effort at finding a way to justify us going to Florida, and being able to do it on a dime. My friends and family are all quite aware of where I would like to be today, and have been quite gracious as they listen to my moaning and complaining ( By the way, thank you, my loved ones, for continuing to put up with me these days!) 
     Finally, I have resigned myself to the fact that Isaac, Grant, and I are spending this weekend in Indiana, and, as I oh-so-often make my children do when they are acting ungrateful about their circumstances, I have decided to do my best to focus on my blessings rather than on Florida's beaches. Bear with me as I perform self-therapy and list a few of them:

1. The sun is shining here in Indiana today, and the temperature is actually 20 degrees above freezing.
2. No one in this house is either running a temperature or vomitting!
3. It is the weekend of the elementary school carnival, giving the three of us an economical way to spend the afternoon and distract ourselves.
4. With my dear friend and running partner's help, I was able to run 45 minutes without stopping, then continue for about 40 more minutes with minimal walking, for my longest "run" ever...while her husband kept track of the kiddos and delivered gatorade and sport beans at that ever so crucial 45 minute mark.
5. Spring break is just around the corner, and I get to spend it with another fabulous friend, one of my kiddos, and a couple of hers, while our husbands take the older boys on a big hiking/camping trip.
6. A youth from our church came over this morning to work at cleaning up my back yard because I  purchased his time and effort at a labor auction last spring that helped him go on a missions trip to Honduras. I hate cleaning up leaves and debris in the spring when I want to plan my flowers and landscaping.
7. I have not recently experienced a tsunami, and feel fairly confident I do not live in a  tsunami danger zone.
8. My children are currently spending a couple hours at a friend's house, and I get to blog and mindlessly surf the internet while they are gone.
9.  My mom purchased one of my all-time favorite types of pie @ the aforementioned carnival, and beofre I plugged myself in to the computer I enjoyed pie and coffee while I leafed through my brand-new BH&G magazine, alone.
10. My wonderful husband will be home on Monday...not even a week, month, or year from when he left. To all you women who have military husbands or husbands that are in a line of work that keep him away a lot, way to be strong! I am a pretty big wimp, and I miss my man.

Those were the first 10 blessings that came to my mind...and as I wrote them I realized I could keep going on, and on, and on...so although I am NOT in Florida, I am also NOT suffering the way I may have made it seem in the past days and weeks. Thanks for bearing with me as I used this spot in cyberspace as a little bit of therapy and a little bit of a reality check.
Have a great Sunday tomorrow:)