Boldly Before The Throne! Hebrews 4:16: 2014

Another amazing story of Father's kindness to us on this trip! Yesterday we went to Mount Rushmore. It was very beautiful. I kind of thought that once you had seen the pictures, why would you bother going there? However, it was really neat! It is much better in person! It amazes me how they managed to alter God's creation, and it didn't turn out gaudy or misplaced. It actually seemed like it was meant to be there. We drove in hail as we were approaching. There was a warning out for golf size hail, but we never got in on that, ptl! It cleared off at Mt. Rushmore long enough to see it and get some pictures. After that we went to Bear Country, USA. The children loved watching all the bears play! Ephraim was feverish all day due to teeth. He was really lethargic and just slept all day. Hardly even nursed. I didn't really think it sounded like a good idea to sleep in the car with him so fussy. We had told the children we would take them to a waterpark in Rapid City, South Dakota that the Ausban children had told them about. When we went to check prices yesterday, they had doubled due to summer pricing. Now instead of 7.99 a person, they were 19.99. AAAhhh. . . . We were kind of in a predicament, because we would probably have had the money, but 180.00 seemed a bit wasteful. So, we told the children, and we all prayed. While we were praying, I felt like the Lord said to me that money is nothing for him, and relationships were important. Our word was our word, and we should keep it no matter the cost. So we told the children that we would just sleep in the van and then we would swim in the morning. I started thinking that if we could find a hotel that offered discounts to the water park and breakfast, that maybe we would be able to stay there. So we went looking. We stopped at Country Inn and Suites, and I went In to ask questions. They had breakfast and also said they gave two free passes to the waterpark. They asked if two queens would be good and never discussed how many people we had. They next morning when we got the receipt, they had taken 40 dollars off! When I went to the front desk to get our free passes, she got two out of her drawer and started to hand them to me. All of a sudden she pulled her hand back and leaned in close. She asked very quietly if we had gotten our passes from the day before. I looked confused and then she asked if we were there yesterday. I told her that we just got there last night. She pulled 2 more from the drawer. Then she said, actually, I am going to give you one more! By the time she was done, she had given me 100 dollars in free passes and motioned for me to ssshhhh. . .!! What made the story even neater was that my daughter had prayed the night before, when I was in Wal-Mart, that someone would give me money for the park. She had been upset that God had not answered. It was a really neat opportunity to teach her about Father knowing what was best for us, and knowing how best to answer! We had a fun, tiring day! We were there from 9am to 7pm.