A Joyful Heart

This post is being written by an extremely tired mama!  It's a good kind of tired though.  I took my daughters on a weekend road trip.  It was exhausting, but it was also wonderful.

We left our house after school on Friday, and we drove to St. Charles, Missouri.  We went out to dinner, and then checked in to the hotel so we could hit the hay early.  Meghan had to be at her dance competition at 6:30 the next morning.  Honestly, being anywhere at 6:30 on a weekend should be against the law.  Okay, not really, but Meghan should realize just how much I love her by getting up that early.

Her team danced their little hearts out!  This picture is of them in their hip-hop costume.  They also had a lyrical dance and a jazz dance.  They earned elite for one of their dances and diamond for the other two.  In my opinion, they got cheated with the elite, but the judges never asked me my opinion.  ;-)  All in all, it was a great day of dance.  We got done around 4:00, so of course, we had to go shopping!


St. Charles has one of the most historic, and cutest, Main Streets that I have ever seen.  We really only had about an hour to shop, but I know we could easily have spent several hours there if given the chance.  Maybe we will go back someday.  We all adored The English Shop.  Ali and I liked looking at the cute teacups and coffee cups, and Meghan had to buy some English candy.  The girls also loved Grandma's Cookies.  We practically ran to make sure we got there before they closed.

It might have been 5:00 on Saturday, but the weekend wasn't over yet!  We drove down the road to find a different hotel to stay the night.  We were flying by the seat of our pants and searching out a hotel that wasn't very busy.  Once we found one, we went down to the pool area, ordered pizza, and just relaxed together.

Sunday we headed out to go shopping for Prom dresses.  On our way there we had a low tire pressure situation.  I am trying to get used to handling these things without Jeff.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that I can't take care of myself this way.  It's not that I don't know how to check the tire pressure and add air.  I just haven't had to in a very long time.  I don't love being without Jeffrey for many reasons, and God knows how I feel.  I think that is why he put me at a gas station where a nice employee offered to help.  I'm getting better at accepting help from people.  I was told by someone that letting people help you is good for both parties.  The receiver is blessed with the help that they need, and they giver is blessed with a feeling of joy for being able to help.  Even though I love to help others, I had never really thought about it this way.

Once we finally arrived at The Prom Store in Festus, Missouri, we set out looking for THE dress.  We had gone shopping last weekend, which helped us narrow down what styles Ali liked...and didn't like.  She found a dress that she absolutely loved, but they didn't have it in the color she wanted.  The lady helping us looked on some website, but she couldn't find it in the color either.  They were super helpful and kind, so we thanked them for all that they did for us.  Then we went and sat in the McDonald's parking lot and ordered the dress online from a different store.  I felt bad that we couldn't give them our business because they really were wonderful, but I was so happy that Ali was able to get a dress that she adores.

After that, we started our journey home.  Of course, we had to stop and do a little shopping in Bloomington, IL.  What's a girls weekend without lots of good shopping?  Honestly, this weekend was everything a girls weekend should be.  We shared lots of laughs, ate tasty food, shopped a little bit, and bonded.

This weekend made me think of Proverbs 17:22 which says 'A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.'  This weekend made my heart joyful.  It's not always easy in this situation we are in to choose joy.  I mean, I cried in one of the gift shops when I walked into the room of hot sauces for Pete's sake.  Jeffrey liked hot sauce, and we would often buy him a bottle at a gift shop like that.  There will be those moments, and that is perfectly okay.  But we don't have to have a crushed spirit.  In my opinion, a crushed spirit is when you let the sadness, stress, and negativity take over.  A crushed spirit is when you don't try to look for the good or seek joy.

When you allow a crushed spirit, it says your bones will dry up.  Friends, you can't live without your bones.  They support you, protect your organs, and produce blood.  Without your bones, you will die.  That means that without joy you will die.  Don't let this happen.  Even in the difficult times, focus on the good.  This means you have to be purposeful with your thoughts.  Choose joy!