Bouncing back

Dear Readers,
What a day, first a freezing walk in the dark, then a long drive to Richmond, then on to Petaluma afterward a long drive to Sacramento and then dinner at a friends. An the day produced payment for 3 reports and what a boost that is to the old business account! For while I was out having fun today Blue Cross slipped in their monthly chit at the bank for $840 and turned the whole thing upside down, bummer!
The GPS faithfully guided me to about 20 locations today without a hitch. The drive this morning was through fog and very cold conditions, that is cold for California! But the trip went smoothly as I was listening to a great book. Its the one Nikki gave me for Christmas and is about the famous raising of the flag during world war 2. The book traces the lives and experiences of each of the men who ended up in the photo on the top of the mountain after so many days of terrible fighting and slaughter.
As I listened today I learned about how Marines become the special dedicated men and women they are once they arrive at the battle. Young people are punished and beaten down by long hard work, hikes, war games until they are puddles, exhausted and discouraged. Once down then the marines begin to rebuild them into team players and proud warriors with strong ethics, loyalty to country and incredible personal strength. How like what our king Lord allows us to experience. We don't even know we need the Lord until we are really down and beaten and then He lifts us and gives us depth that we would not otherwise learn. Are we sort of like Marines for our God in a way?
In Petaluma I found a perfect property with proud Greek owners. Every thing was in order, clean and updated. Then it was on to Sacramento where I found yet another perfect home. The owner had lost her dear husband about a year and a half ago and is still rebuilding her life. I enjoyed our visit so much and the house is perfect in every updated way. It has a huge back yard with rose trees, new sod and a large covered rear patio. Inside I found a new kitchen and restored antique bathrooms, hardwood floors, crown molding, new paint and new lighting fixtures. Once I pulled myself away and back to the car I found I had little time left for shooting comps so I hurried about finishing my work. Then in desperate need of fuel I found a station that had diesel for $3.19 a gallon. Well that is too high so I just bought three gallons.
Joyce had said she was having friends over for games and that I could stop by for dinner. What a feast it was, everything was perfect as usual and her friends were cute.
Now I'm home and to my delight I found two new orders. There would have been another one but you have to be sitting on the computer when it becomes available to grab it or someone else snags it so I lost that one. I've been delaying replacing my phone with one that has the ability to connect to the Internet, today it would have yielded a $500 fee if I had grabbed the order first. I may reconsider!
So this evening I just say thanks to God for a safe day with hundreds of miles driven, money coming in for a change and new orders.
Love to all,

Tim