Our Dream Trip

This blog place has been fairly quiet this past week, as I have been off in dreamland. Every spare minute I could find amidst a very busy week, I was sitting with my head in travel guide books, or glued to websites on my laptop. Dreaming, and planning ...

We've been dreaming of and planning for our big 40th Anniversary Trip. We had a short trip last weekend, with free lodging, over our actual anniversary. But we've been saving money for over a year now for a big trip, planning to go to Quebec City, a city with a European flavor. This was our dream until one of the last days of July.

And now - our dream of going to Quebec City has been replaced with a bigger dream of going to ...  Italy !! We are bursting with excitement and are full of thanks to God for opening up this opportunity.

Counting gifts today, and giving all the praise to God:

~ for how we started questioning (the end of July) if Quebec City was really where we wanted to go, after all.

~ and the next day, without even knowing about our questioning, our youngest son suggested that we fly to Italy for our anniversary trip (instead of going to Quebec City), and meet up with him while he is traveling through Europe! (He left on August 2nd for an extended visit to Europe.)

~ for encouragement from each of our grown kids, and also my brothers and sisters-in-law, as well as my elderly father - each one telling us to go, without a doubt.

~ for travel guides and maps sent to us from a sister-in-law, so helpful - in addition to Pauline Frommer's Italy guide book that we had already purchased.

~ for peace and direction from God with this big decision - not something we do just any year, but something that we should do for our 40th anniversary, a real celebration and a gift from God!

~ for money already saved up, and for extra needed taken from our retirement fund.

~ airline tickets purchased, and Eurail pass in hand already.

~ lodging being lined up - in place already for Rome, and Venice - working on Florence now.

~ passport arriving in record time, just two weeks. (mine, as my husband's was already current)

~ phone calls from our son, in France now, and anticipation of meeting up with him in Italy for our 17 day trip in September.

~ unexpected joy, and dreams come true. Even beyond what we dreamed of.

Thank You, Lord, for giving us the desires of our hearts. For this first trip to Europe for me, and for the opportunity to go to Italy, the country my husband has been wanting to go to for years. For this fun trip for the two of us together, and also for time we will spend with our son. 


(One Thousand Gifts #641-651)

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