ALL joy

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when facing trials of various kinds..." James 1:2
I wish I could say that our trip has been ALL joy, but four people living in such close quarters 24/7 is trial enough even without the added challenges of a small crowded car full of frequent flatulence, tent camping in the rain (and no option for drying our stuff...we were having flashbacks from our camping trip in Maine where it rained the entire mth!), no showers or even warm water to wash your hands&face and the only "electricity" coming from our headlamps (that's national park camping for ya!) Every morning we ask God to "clothe us with power from on high" so we can have patience to face the days frustrations, but we've all done our share of snapping and grouching at each other. Oh that we could choose joy in ALL circumstances! James goes on to say in verse 3: "...for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness/endurance/perseverance" (depending which translation you use). Joey keeps saying that any "travel stress" we encounter is still better than the daily stress he faced in his classroom this past year. The fact remains we are on vacation, thank you Lord! And we always say the kids will either fight at home or fight on the road, so we might as well be on the road! One week down, 9 more to go....that's a whole quarter of school left to see God's beautiful creation!!! A big "whoop! Whoop!" from Joey :)