Why does vacation...

Well, tomorrow I go back to work.  (big sigh!!!!)

Why does vacation have to be so short?  Seems like you plan and plan, wait and wait, and then you blink and it's over.  Doug & I had a great time hanging out together and actually ended up spending some time with another family (Doug's friend from work) who was in Gatlinburg while we were there.  Doug is always saying I run him ragged on vacation with my "I want to see everything" attitude, so this trip I decided to go with relaxing in mind instead of living up to my well known reputation.  

Well...Mr. Doug ran me ragged.  We saw it all!  I road in a helicopter for the first time in my life...very cool! (I felt like Magnum PI!!)  We saw Rock City/Ruby Falls, drove the Motor Trail, toured Biltmore, drove through Cades Cove, took in the view at Clingman's Dome, visited Cherokee Indian Reserve, hiked to Abrams Falls, and saw the 3 bears, 2 otters, and 1 ton of deer!  That's all I can remember at the moment although I am sure there was certainly more!  We took in God's creativity like never before!  Doug swears he heard banjos playing on some back road that "Dr Tom" (TomTom) led us down on the way to Biltmore.  Speaking of Biltmore, did I mention I FINALLY got to see it (LOVED it!)?  And Doug actually enjoyed it too (which I wasn't expecting).  We learned that gas shortages do not occur only in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.  People panic elsewhere just like they do here.  (ha!)  

I went on the trip expecting to hear from God, and well, to say the least, I heard Him loud and clear.  As I looked at our view the first morning, I felt God impress upon my heart that He didn't want me in the valley or on the slopes...He always wants me on the tip top waiting to hear from Him at any given moment.  When I'm in the valley or on a slope, I am not able to see what's around me from every angle, I'm not closest to Heaven (assuming it's above me), and I'm not on the highest point able to pull others up to the top too.  Needless to say, I kinda sat there in awe and felt as if I really needed to step it up...literally!  I have a lot of improving to do.  Yeah, I heard Him loud and clear! 

Overall, I give the trip an A+.  It leads me to this, why is it that we plan so much for vacation which is only about 1/52nd of the year (depending on how long you go)?  Why do we not plan our lives in the same fashion?  We research, pick out just the perfect places to see while we are there, perfect place to stay, save money to afford it, expect the best/most exciting and so on, but our daily lives are spent day to day awaiting the ordinary schedule of the day.  We float along expecting nothing unusual or exciting.  Why do we do that?  

I plan to change my outlook.  I plan to expect the unusual and the exciting.  I want the best out of every day life!!!  I want the God Adventure EVERY DAY!!!!  I want the mountain top view where I can hear God whispering from Heaven!!!!  Anyway, that's my 20 seconds of wisdom!  Hope it spurs you to think differently too.  Here are some photos of last weeks adventure...  

2 of the 3 Bears...  (I know, I didn't really get a good picture...  The one in the upper left was looking right at me.)

 Abrams Falls (an otter paradise)

After the Helicopter Ride...

Cades Cove as the sun was rising...beautiful!! (and where all the deer hang out!)

Oh yeah, we went shopping, ate out a LOT, played putt putt, rode the incline railway, took the ski lift, played pool/Ms PacMan & Galaga (sp?), went to the aquarium and pet a bunch of sting rays (way cool)!  I'm sure there's even more...but that's all I can think of for now!  : )