It worked, Angela!

On Saturday night I was feeling down. It happens when Alexis arrives. I admit, I often get jealous that her mom gets more time with her than I do. I know, it's silly and I quickly snap out of it. Saturday night though, I was more depressed than usual. I know it's a spiritual battle and I will overcome it, but sometimes it's more than I can take. Alexis is being so manipulated but she is sensitive and tender and doesn't realize it. I'm not the kind of person to tell her either. Her mom has been putting on a show for her new boyfriend (manfriend? grandpafriend? He's twice her age) and she's being great to Alexis by spending special mommy time with her and doing more with her and buying her nicer things. I'd be happy for Alexis because she is so excited about this change, except, I can't help but feel like it's just a phase because she's done it before and Alexis ends up hurt. Alexis is super excited because they are going to Florida in the spring and going to some fancy resort. Funny thing is, Alexis always spends the whole week with Marty's parents and doesn't spend any vacation time with Alexis. I get so upset because I want to go on vacation SO BAD but we can't afford it. We spend so much on child support, daycare and our mortgage we don't have extra spending money for fun vacations. Plus, when we have her on breaks, we usually can't get enough time off, and the way the picking up and dropping off goes, we can't do a mini-weekend vacation, except for in the summer, but then we're missing church, and we are her only way to church! UGH! We also don't have cars that run well enough to drive to Mackinac or Chicago, or even Frankenmuth! Moral of my long story/rant...so I used the Angela technique of "open the Bible and point", and it worked! I used my Newlywed Bible, which also has pretty good devotionals and it was all about blessings and God providing. Ezekiel 34:25-31. It talks about God is our provider and He is our shepherd and will provide for us and bless us and make us a blessing. You can read it and get your own take, but the devotional was written by a couple who didn't have much money for things early in their marriage, but in their low time God reminded them that He is taking care of them and He is their provider and will bless them. It was SO perfect. And I am blessed. More blessings I am thankful for:
1. My free honeymoon- Debbie and Mike Terry gave me points from their timeshare program and we spent a week in West Palm Beach. All we had to pay for was airfare, food and activities, but you know hotels can be very pricey!
2. My aunt who let me use her frequent flier miles so I could fly to Missouri for my college roomate's wedding, April 06. Otherwise, I would not have been able to afford a $400 ticket!
3. My job I have now, making much more than I did at my last job. At the last one, I had nothing extra to save for a vacation, not even a weekend in Frankenmuth! Now I can save a little each week to my little vacation fund, and we are going to take a vacation this summer. It won't be exotic, and we can't afford to fly somewhere so it'll be local, but it'll be something fun!
4. Good friends, who will actually read this whole, rambling blog.