??Bad Luck?? ~ Happiness found where the Ranch is made ~ Hidden Valley!

Long title, I know. Stick with me, I think it will make sense.

Instead of doing what I really should be doing right now, that is cleaning, organizing, and MORE cleaning, I've decided to actually take a break and write a little today. So, what's this about the bad luck and Hidden Valley? It's a story about our weekend. We don't really believe in "bad luck" but I've got to tell you that if there ever was a bad luck day in our life, last Friday was it. We got Jo off to school just fine, but after that... Well, lets just say maybe this heat has just gone on a little too much! Adie and I were both irritable and cranky most of the day. She refused to take a real nap and was just in one of those moods. We got to see Jeff for lunch and he said that things just weren't going too peachy at work that day (things are fine, it was just one of those days there too). We all tried to settle down that afternoon. When Adie and I picked up Jo, he seemed to be in a bad mood as well, but we all tried to get around it. Since it was Friday (we have decided that we would do something fun every Friday night, and not worry about bed time either), we decided to go to one last baseball game. We got ready and headed out. When we got to the ball-park, it was packed! Getting the tickets, they told us that there was lawn seating available so we thought that would be fun. Both kids were really looking forward to another game and so we went for it anyway. As soon as we walked through the gate, it became pretty apparent that we would have a difficult time finding a seat! It was crazy! After walking around for 30 minutes trying to find the lawn seating we were informed about, there was nothing available. We didn't know what to do! Everyone was ready to find a place to relax, ready to eat (yes, we waited until the game to eat - and the game didn't start until 7), and just wanted to end a frustrating day with something fun for the family. That was obviously not going to happen, so Jeff and I made the decision to go ahead and leave, we'd try again the next day. By the time we got back to the car, it was 8 and both kids were so sad. We finally found something to eat (late night, I know) and got the kids home and into bed. Just ended the day and wanted to try again "tomorrow." Oh, and I was wanting a Taco Salad from Taco Bell that night so Jeff was very sweet to head out and get one. One car in front of him...he pulled up to make his order and instead of hearing, "Welcome to Taco Bell, can I take your order?" he heard, "We just closed" What!? It wasn't even 10:00 yet! Hmmm... So, not everything went the way any of us wanted (okay, and so maybe a little more planning would have helped - we like to be spontaneous now and then!)...but then came the Hidden Valley.

After a meeting that morning for Jeff and me, we headed out to the ball park. We were going to buy tickets early for the game that night. All seats were sold out, but there was lawn seating available again! Ha! We learned that lesson "last night." Well, there are more games available at the end of the month, so there is the planning we made - two weeks from this past Friday, we will make it to our last game of the year. Whew! Got that done. Now, to just concentrate on now, do something fun for now. We kind of wanted to make up for the crummy day we had just had. Well, we figured something out and went out on a drive. We kind of got lost actually! It was quite funny though. We headed out to MO and found ourselves in exploring mode. We were looking for a street and kept seeing signs for it, but they weren't very clear. On one road, Jeff and I were talking and enjoying just being together and laughing at all the previous events. We ended up in a beautiful area, and still inside KC, but it didn't look like city at all. It was a beautiful area, lots of amazing homes, large lots, probably a few ranches out there. We'd love to live there. It was so great, it was like a "hidden valley!" We even kind of joked about it being the Hidden Valley. But we began to think we were going down the wrong road and thought we should turn around. By now, the kids had fallen asleep. But shortly after turning around, Jo woke up and asked where we were. Jeff and I looked at each other and said, "Hidden Valley." Finally, we came to an intersection and looked to see what the name of the streets were to try and find the one we were originally looking for. We could not believe what we read. The street we had been driving on, was indeed ~ Hidden Valley. Perspective came back to us and we realized that our drive down through the Hidden Valley, just getting back down on the ground, we had found our true happiness. It doesn't matter how much "bad luck" one may experience, how many or few things don't go our way. God has a "hidden valley" tucked away for us all to gain our perspective back.