sore thumb

There are certain foods that sound so amazingly good to one person and horribly nasty to another. I am blessed to be a person that feels affection well up in her heart when I think about biscuits and gravy, especially from Cracker Barrel. And this morning I'm going there with Phil. Just Phil. :-) Today is the 29th, it's the day we were to be flying back to Chengdu. If that were still true today we'd already be at the airport in Cleveland and boarding for our flight to Newark. I'm glad that I'm still sitting here in Dover with plans for the week.

I am so glad that I'm saved. I love having a Savior that gets me. A Savior that holds me and carries me and walks with me and cheers for me. A Savior that doesn't care that I'm weak and tired and so inclined to doubt but instead he gets excited in my weakness because then he can be best understood. I also love that he doesn't want me to be weak. So he gives me strength. I remember the first time Phil told me that he loved me. I felt shocked and astounded. That this guy that I thought was so awesome, loved me. And he told me! He didn't have to. He just couldn't help it. He loved me so much that he just had to let me know. And then there's my Savior. Jesus. He loves me. He loves me so much that he just had to tell me. He didn't have to love me but he does and he told me. He told me this morning, too. He keeps telling me over and over how much he loves me. Jesus loves me. I'm astounded.

Yes, I'm sitting in Dad and Mom Steiner's house this morning. It is so nice. I love looking out at the neighborhood behnind the house. I love hearing some birds tweeting happily as the sun comes up. I love having Maddie lying on the floor watching cartoons. I just love knowing that we're here. I love that we're going out for breakfast and then doing some shopping at Dutch Valley store. Yesterday we shopped all day. I had forgotten how wonderful thrift stores are. In fact, I know that I have a whole new appreciation for them now that I haven't had one anywhere near for almost 4 years. Honestly, why would you shop anywhere else? I got almost everything I had on my need list from a Salvation Army and a Goodwill. Ok, you probably aren't going to be impressed because you may not know the horror of shopping for hours in an itty-bitty sized jeans world (aka Asia) and only leaving with the impression that your butt can't even fit in an XXL pair of sweats but I got 2