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| We were in awe at the fireworks at Epcot. |
Today we are checking into Old Key West at Disney World. The nice thing about being on Disney property is that we have either water or land (bus) transportation to any place on Disney property. We have stayed at this location now for several years and even though this is the oldest property, it has the most room of all the resorts. The people here seem to really enjoy their work; they are always pleasant and courteous.
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| I wanted to capture Abby's realization that a princess was coming over to meet her. |
Anne and I just met a lady (Jennifer) from Virginia Beach who has just arrived with her family. During the course of our conversation with her we spoke about snow and the lack of it where she and her family live. When we told her that we were from Minnesota, our new friend said, “Oh, I am sorry!” She said this with a smile, but she was serious. Our new friend Jennifer from Virginia Beach said that they get about one snowstorm a year. It is strange sometimes how we perceive our living climates as difficult, or easy until we compare it to someone else’s that is much less taxing. All I have to do is think about North Dakota where Anne grew up, she talked about times when it reached 40-50 below zero. Speaking of temperatures, right now it is about 78 degrees F. It feels so nice to have the sun on our back, and being a normal Minnesotan, I find myself squinting in the sunlight.
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| Aeriel taking time to visit with Abby. |
As I sit here waiting for our rooms to be ready, I am relaxing in the library annex at Old Key West. I look up from a book that interests me and I observe a family heading to their building that they will reside in. The parents are older and their son is handicapped, he is going by in a wheelchair. All I have to do is notice the smiles on their faces and that tells me that they are happy. Happiness is much like how one looks at our climate. We adjust to our circumstances when the cold winter winds come, and we have a choice whether to complain about what is or has happened to us, or accept it and make the best choices and be happy, or complain and be grumpy and sad. The ability of the human spirit that God has made is unfathomable in what it can do to make life a better place for itself.
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| God is not a distant King that he does not come down to us and meet us where we are. |
For myself, I struggle at times to see the light beyond my small dilemmas and I wonder how I would fair if I were in such a challenging position as the couple now walking past me. As I watch this family disappear into the distance, I recall that it is God who is my strength (Phil. 4:13). He is the source of my inner strength that gives me hope in spite of my circumstances. In Jer. 29:11 God reminds us that our hope and plans that he has for us is only for good and not evil, and that God desires for us to have a future of hope. I look at the tranquility of the library around me now, and I think that no matter what the future holds for me, God has a plan that is filled with hope and peace that does not rely on my surroundings, but in him alone.
