My grocery list in hand, items checked off, coupons pulled and I\u2019m at check-out with a brimming grocery cart. Only two cashiers? Ugh! I patiently wait in line. All those unnerved folks waiting behind me must be thinking: \u201cGreat! There\u2019s THAT lady who is going to take FOR-EVER with all those groceries! And to make matters worse \u2013 SHE HAS COUPONS!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been behind people like me. I try to grin and bear it, but it definitely calls for pulling the fruit of patience out of my Holy Spirit fruit basket! The elderly lady behind me is amused as she watches the total to $200, then $210, then $235!! She exclaims: \u201cI\u2019ve never spent that much on groceries!\u201d I reply \u201cOh, I don\u2019t either, but this is for a family fishing trip!\u201d Then she sees the cashier\u2019s final total of $175! Oh, yes, this girl coupons. I apologize to the grocery buyers behind me with their meager-filled baskets and thank them for their patience. They smile at me with clenched teeth. The little lady right behind me assures me \u201cI enjoyed watching this show!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This kind of shopping is not for the faint of heart. It is a quest \u2013 a feat of monumental proportions and it takes time. I ease into the entertainment value of imagining my family\u2019s excitement when I pull out some of the goodies. Hostess chocolate cupcakes! Chocolate-covered mini donuts! BBQ potato chips! Essentials! Family favorites we rarely indulge in, but this is our annual fishing trip and anything goes! So as not to cause you, veggie lovers, to implode \u2013 the bounty does include fruits and veggies. It takes precision and quality management to get these groceries home, unloaded, sorted and temporarily stored until we load up the cars and head out about 8 am! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This annual fishing trip is a tradition that started with Papa and me when we took the grands to a fishing location each summer. That tradition continues. We have carried on Papa\u2019s love for fishing. We are serious fisher-people. We get to our favorite fishing spot by daybreak. A picture of heaven (at least in a fisherman’s eyes) as we arrive at those quiet, calm, peaceful waters. The fish are jumping and saying (in our imagination) “Come get me!\u201d We are fish-whisperers. They’ll be greatly disappointed by the breakfast they\u2019ll go after because tomorrow they’ll be in our tummies! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I enjoy fishing but \u201csomebody\u2019s gotta\u2019 be the chief cook and bottle washer. I know the rest of the diehard fisher-people would rather fish than eat so I think of myself as sustenance-provider. I love it. I\u2019ll fish in the mornings, but I return to the cabin for my call-of-duty. Hopefully, this crew brings in lots of fish. It\u2019s a staple: Beer-batter trout. Yum! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what is my encouragement for today as we make our way to Beaver’s Bend in Broken Bow, OK? This scripture comes to mind: John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” I totally get it. The enemy of our souls wants our thoughts to be on everything but peace. He wants us all consumed about matters of the world and matters in our little worlds, rather than taking to the words of Christ to heart “I CAME to give you life and have it to the full”. My life is full and running over with God’s abundance and blessings. That’s what I purpose to fix my mind on — and NOT those things that the enemy purposes to use to steal, kill and destroy my good thoughts and good attitudes! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, until next time, I\u2019ll finish loading up all the cold rations into the coolers and get over to my kids\u2019 home where they have all the fish tackle, poles, and everything needed for a few days of celebrating my grandson\u2019s 19th birthday and living the abundant life Christ came to live us! I\u2019m not sure what the wifi ability will be in this very remote spot\u2026..so, just in case I have to be off the grid for a few days \u2013 be sure to come back on Saturday when I\u2019ll be back home in My Peace Zone! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My grocery list in hand, items checked off, coupons pulled and I\u2019m at check-out with a brimming grocery cart. Only two cashiers? Ugh! I patiently wait in line. All those unnerved folks waiting behind me must be thinking: \u201cGreat! There\u2019s THAT lady who is going to take FOR-EVER with all those groceries! And to make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13297],"tags":[143,13298,13293,837,2690,10629,13300,5744,8330,159,12060,44,4365],"class_list":["post-10195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fishing","tag-abundant-life","tag-annual-fishing-trip","tag-beer-batter-trout","tag-blessings","tag-broken-bow-ok","tag-essentials","tag-fish-tackle","tag-fishing","tag-grocery-list","tag-john-1010","tag-life","tag-peace","tag-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10197,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10195\/revisions\/10197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}