Summer Vacation

Another summer vacation has ended, all too soon. I enjoyed an unplugged week of relaxation in Missouri. The cabin at The Brook of Bethpage was incredible. I am excited that several couples in Southern Missouri saw the need for a free respite for pastors and worked together to create this beautiful retreat. I read through the stories in the guest book in our cabin and was moved to tears. So many pastors and their wives have slept in that gorgeous cabin, desperately seeking God's face after terrible hurt and burnout in the ministry. Many of them left renewed and refreshed. What an incredible ministry! I am touched that people saw the need to minister to pastors in such a practical way!

The retreat was created for pastors to be able to spend hours in quiet reflection and meditation. While it would be a perfect place to go as a couple to seek God's face, especially when facing a big decision, or even alone to be able to just sit and write, it was a little boring for the kids. They enjoyed reading, watching some movies, and swimming in the pool. However, we were in the middle of poison ivy season, so we were unable to do any hiking.

We drove the hour and a half over to Branson one day, did a little school shopping and watched the Noah's Ark Musical. Our four year old, Abby, loved the musical. She was excited to see the animals and hear the story of Noah. She was curious about why God was living in the big flashlights. (The spotlights were used to represent God speaking to Noah.) The older kids tolerated the show, but it was a little over dramatic for them. They have some hysterically funny impressions of the actors, however. (No offense if any of them are your relatives or friends)

Thursday was probably the kids' favorite day. We found a river a short drive from the cabin and took them swimming in the icy cold water. If we ever have the opportunity to return to the cabin, now we know where to find better hiking and outdoor activities. It was a beautiful state park, with great fishing and hiking.

I would say that Thursday was my favorite day as well. Thursday morning I was sitting in a rocking chair on the back porch having my quiet time. I was meditating in Ps. 150, 149, 148, and 147. I don't know why I randomly started reading from the back of Psalms, but as I was reading thunder began to boom in the distance. I continued to read about the God who forms the rain clouds and waters the thirsty earth as clouds rolled across the valley. I read about the God who controls the lightening as it began to flash over the hills in the distance. As the drops of rain hit the porch roof, I was captivated by the language of the Psalms and began to just sing those words back to my Creator.

Yep, it was probably a cheesy song. Most of you would have laughed at my off key voice belting out the melody over the booming thunder. But I was absolutely in God's presence Thursday morning. I enjoyed the time of worship, just me and God hanging out in the storm. I enjoyed a moment alone, to remember just how mighty a God it is that I serve.

Who blankets the heavens with the clouds
Sends down the rain to the thirsty earth
Who counts all the stars within his hands
Fixes their number and gives them names
Our God is great with mighty power
Let's sing to Him our joyful praise

Let the music begin
praise his name
Open up your mouth
give him thanks
Sing praises to the eternal one
Our Lord is great
Let's give Him praise

He binds our wounds and heals our hearts
Hears our cries and brings us peace
He raises us up and gives us strength
The Eternal One is listening
Let's sing to Him our joyful praise.

I would say that one of the other highlights of vacation was starting devotionals with our kids. We spent time every night around the dinner table talking about a Scripture and taking turns praying for each other. I loved hearing the kids' ideas and thoughts and prayers. My other favorite thing was visiting with my cousin today. It is good to rediscover family after many years of being away from home.

I am excited about what's next for The Crossroads and what's next for our family. I know that life is about to hit us hard and fast, but I am thankful to have had a week to catch my breath before the race begins. I am praying that God will use me this year in ways bigger than I can imagine for His glory and his kingdom. I am praying that our family will be guarded from evil and that we will find the time to create memories, laugh, and love each other.

Why Vacation?

Until recently I have never questioned the tradition of a summer vacation. Since I was a child, my family always took off a week or two and headed out on the open road. We primarily took destination vacations - seeing lots of sights and spending tons of hours on the road. As adults, Shawn and I have continued that tradition. We have taken the kids to Disney World and Disney Land. We have seen the Grand Canyon and the Sequoia National Forest. We have been to Sea World and multiple destinations in Arkansas, our home state.

This year, with finances a little tighter than usual and much to do with our home, school, and the church plant, I questioned that tradition of the family vacation pretty hard. Is it really that necessary for our survival as a family? I think that answer may vary from family to family, but I think for us, that answer is "YES!"

A few years ago we stopped doing the majorly busy, go, go, go vacation. A slower economy, a bigger family, and a smaller salary forced us to rethink how we vacationed. The turning point for us was 2006, the year Abby was born. Under great duress, we felt that we needed time away from the ministry, but Abby was too little to travel far. We rented an inexpensive Condo in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for a week. Our only agenda was to eat ice cream every day and go swimming. It was the best vacation of our lives. We relaxed, there was no rushing, no early mornings, no stress. I could sit and feed the baby without feeling like I was holding up the rest of the family. We returned to what was a difficult time in our ministry refreshed, renewed, and enabled to continue for another season.

Since that time we have stayed in a cabin in the Ozark mountains, road tripped to California with family, and camped in a variety of beautiful locations in Arkansas. We have amazing memories of lazily laying in cold mountain rivers and letting the water rush over us. We have great stories about the crazy stuff that happens to us when we are camping. We have spent many late nights roasting marshmallows over the campfire and laughing at our feeble attempts at ghost stories. We have hiked amazing trails to beautiful locations, using the opportunity to show our children the beauty of God's creation. We have invested long days and late nights into loving our kids and just being with them, without any distractions. Our kids love to tell our vacation stories, creating a sense of tradition for them. A tradition of magically beautiful moments.

This summer it would have been easy to stay home. We had originally planned a massive roadtrip across the West to Yellowstone, but our schedule didn't work out for the extended time away from home this year. With only two weeks left before I start back to work, I have tons to do here at the house, and many reasons why it would be more practical to just stay home.

However, I know from experience that on August 23, our lives will crank up to an entirely new level of crazy chaos with sports, school, fall church events and small group launchings. I know that I will not have a single extra minute to breathe for the next several months. So that is what this next week will be. An opportunity to breathe. We are staying in a cabin in Southern Missouri. We plan to swim, hike, lay in hammocks, read, strum the guitar, and play board games. It sounds boring - no amusement parks, no shopping trips - but it is an opportunity for our family to just breathe. It allows us to regroup, recharge, and return to ministry with the energy and focus that is necessary for success. It is possible for us to pour out our lives for others when we have spent time as a family getting filled up. We will spend this week doing lots of laughing, but we will also spend time praying together, reading God's word together, reflecting on the year past, and looking forward to the future. This week is one week that is just about us and our family and our God. I can't wait!

A Kemp Camping Adventure

Each summer we try to block off several days of vacation time to spend time with our family. We have had many adventures over the years. We have been to Disney World, The Grand Canyon, Disney Land, Hot Springs, San Antonio, and during years when funds are tight - camping adventures. What else can you do on $10 a day? We have a long, hysterical camping history. I thought that we had exhausted the realm of funny stories with storms, bob cats invading camp, broken tent pieces, crazy weather changes, etc. However, our past was no match for this camping trip.

We headed out early Monday morning to Albert Pike. This is one of our favorite camping destinations because it is close to Shawn's family, has incredible scenery, and is also close to Hot Springs which is one of our favorite cities to visit. We met Shawn's mom and grandmother for lunch in Texarkana and did some school shopping. Then we went back home with them for everybody to get their back to school haircuts.

We left Shawn's home early in the afternoon, because we wanted to allow plenty of daylight to set up our camp. Our past experiences have taught us that we need to allow extra time for our crazy mishaps. When we arrived at Albert Pike, we discovered that all the tent sites with electricity were taken. We had to use a primitive site instead. However, that's no sweat to old camping pros like us. No electricity? No problem. Who needs a griddle, electric skillet, coffee pot, and a fan. That extension cord turned into a great clothesline, and Shawn made super coffee in a pot on the camp stove!

We rolled out our tarp, then laid out our tent. We slid the poles in and raised the tent in record time. No glitches at all. We unpacked the car and set up for the week. Everything was still smooth sailing. We grilled hot dogs for supper then drove around to make sure we could find the trail head that we wanted to hike on Tuesday. We saw a deer and some beautiful scenery. Abby yelled that she saw a Tiger, but I think it was imaginary. We turned in early, and Abby settled right in, even though she probably didn't remember ever sleeping in a tent.

Tuesday morning dawned beautifully. It was pleasantly warm, but not scorching hot. We ate our pancakes, cleaned up camp, then headed out to hike 5 miles (round trip) to the Winding Stairs waterfall. This is probably our favorite trail to hike at Albert Pike. It is fairly easy and incredibly beautiful. I have not hiked that trail in at least 10 years, so I had forgotten a few important details. For example - to get to the waterfall you must cross many rapidly flowing creeks. We wore our tennis shoes instead of water shoes. We attempted the first crossing barefoot, but it was too slippery. Instead we waded across in our tennis shoes. I don't like hiking with wet feet, but I was not going to be whiny about it and kept right on going. We finally reached the waterfall, a stunning sight. The kids and I climbed up the waterfall and played on the rocks. Why not? We already had wet shoes. Shawn found a perfect swimming hole at the bottom of the falls. It had a huge rock that the kids could climb up and jump from. We decided to jump in. I hate hiking in wet clothes worse than I hate hiking in wet shoes. Being a country girl, and knowing the remoteness of this location, I left some of my clothes on the bank. We swam about an hour and then finally decided to head back to camp. I realized then that my impulsiveness cost me a sunburned back and shoulders. Lesson learned - either leave your clothes on, or reapply your sunscreen when swimming in a mountain river on a sunny day.

When we got back to camp, we decided to cook hobo pork chops for supper. Shawn seasoned the pork chops, then wrapped them tightly in foil with some onions and potatoes. Then he buried them in coals in the firepit to slowly roast. We an hour or so of spare time before they would be done, so we decided to head down to the river for a quick swim. As an afterthought, Shawn placed a can of green beans on the edge of the coals to warm as well.

We had a super swim. The kids explored the river, Abby threw rocks and watched them splash, I avoided getting my face wet, and it was the perfect ending to a perfect day. That's when we heard a really loud "BOOM." It sounded like a shotgun, but I couldn't figure out why anyone would be shooting in the park. Stupid hunters, somebody could get hurt! That's when one of our neighboring campers came running into the river to get me. He said, "Ma'am, your supper just exploded." Now that's something you don't hear everyday. That can of green beans was not vented, so when the liquid inside began to boil, steam built up and the can exploded. When the can exploded, so did our campfire. When we got to our camp site we found coals, ash, and pieces of firewood as far as 20 feet away. Our neighbor's quick thinking saved our tent from burning. They had put out the coals on the tent. We did eventually find the can, but not a single green bean. We are thankful that no one was injured. Our lawn chairs resembled swiss cheese from the rain of falling coals. However, since no one was hurt, it's a pretty funny story. Just picturing the can exploding and flying through the air got us tickled. Supper was ruined, but we ate anyway and headed to bed early.

Wednesday morning right before daylight, I awoke to Shawn shaking me and saying, "It's raining, get up. We have to put on the rainfly." Seriously, we checked the weather like fourteen hundred times to make sure it wasn't going to rain before we went. But then, where's the adventure in that? So in the rain, Shawn and I scrambled to find the rainfly and get it up. It cleared up right after we had it secured!

On Wednesday, we had plans to drive a few miles across the mountains to a small, beautiful lake. Shady Lake is tucked into a ravine just a short distance from the park. An old CCC project, it was quite popular back in the day. Now its remoteness keeps the crowds away. That's our favorite kind of place. Except for this day. When we arrived, we realized we had a flat. Not just a low tire, but a very flat, rim on the ground kind of flat. Shawn kept his cool, planning to change the tire real quick while I fixed a picnic lunch for the kids under the nearby pavilion. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work out that way. He didn't have an allen wrench to get the rims off. This place is deserted. Nobody. Nothing. Nada. But God did send us a park ranger with an allen wrench. But then things went from bad to worse as the tire wouldn't come off because we had the wrong size thingie that you unscrew the lug nuts with, and we couldn't get anyone to answer our phone calls for help.

I decided to give Shawn some space to take care of the tire, so I took the kids in swimming. (Forgot about sunscreen in the craziness of the flat. STUPID and I have the big blisters all over my shoulders to prove it!) The big kids had a blast jumping off a diving platform, and Abby loved swimming around in the shallow gravel bottomed swimming area. However, our fun ended when James sliced his foot open on a rock. I deemed the cut shallow enough to treat ourselves, but he had to get off it for awhile, and could not hike the rest of the trip because of the soreness.

Shawn and the park ranger did finally get the tire aired up with some fix-a-flat and an air compressor and get it to a service station for repairs. You'll have to get Shawn's impersonation of the guy at the first place they stopped for help. Great to hear his accent, and his story about how some of our tools were stolen! Be sure to ask him to tell you the story in person. I was relieved that Shawn's parents got our message that we needed help and came out to pick up me and the kids and take us back to camp.

We were getting ready to cook some hamburgers for some old friends, when a bad storm blew in. We secured everything as best we could and drove to a nearby town to meet our friends for supper instead. It was amazing that after being away for 10 years, we picked right back up with our relationship, in large part due to staying connected through facebook. After supper, we dropped by to visit another family and wait out the storm. When the storm let up, we headed back out to our tent. Fortunately, we only had a few minor leaks from where the coals had burned holes in the tent, nothing major. We settled down to sleep, when I spotted a nasty looking brown spider. I chased it all over that tent and never could get it. We had the creepy crawlies all night. The wind was howling, the tent was blowing, the thunder was crashing, the lightening was flashing, and all I could think about was that somewhere in that tent with me there was a nasty spider. The next morning in the daylight that spider was a goner!

Our last day of vacation dawned bright and clear. The rain was over and the temperatures were very mild. Because of James's hurt foot, and my sunburn making me very sick, Shawn hiked alone on Thursday up to Window Rock. It's an amazing hike up onto a bluff that overlooks the entire river valley. The kids and I read and played games. We ate some hamburgers for lunch, went to Hot Springs to play some miniature golf, ate ice cream, swam in the river, and grilled fajitas for supper. We finished up the night sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories. It was a good day.

Friday morning we packed everything back into the suburban and went for one last swim before we headed home. The kids had such a good time camping. They are old enough that they found the humor in all of our bad luck. They practiced telling the stories to each other and reviewing other tales from past experiences. My favorite thing about camping is spending time with the kids without any distractions. We visit, play games, and reconnect in ways that more elaborate vacations do not allow. Experiencing all of our camping misfortunes together creates a bond, a family tradition of sorts. We loved being outdoors and enjoying the beauty of God's creation together. I liked that my kids picked hanging out with their parents hiking and swimming over going to a nearby amusement park. It's cool that they know a good thing when they see it.

We had a great trip, we have added some more crazy camping stories, we relaxed and enjoyed our family, some friends, and our God. One of the best things about camping is seeing all the surrounding things in nature that are infinitely bigger and better than anything I could ever imagine. I spent some time really looking at the intricacies of some moss on a stone wall, and I examined rock after rock, each one unique. We serve a God with an imagination and creative ability that we cannot even begin to comprehend. I am glad that I had the opportunity to be immersed in His incredible creation for a few days. I hope that we make a greater effort to spend more time in nature with our kids this year.

Thoughts from the kiddie pool

Warning: Blog contains questionable content and/or language. Please read cautiously :)

Today the family was hangin' out at Schlitterbahn down in New Braunfels. Now, I am not a fan of water parks (see yesterday's blog about my phobia), however, I was impressed by this one. It was family friendly, and very different from other water parks I've been to. I spent all day in the kiddie pool with Abby while Shawn took the big kids on the scary slides and stuff. The kiddie pool is a great place to people watch. After 4 hours in the same spot, I came up with some interesting generalizations about women and their bodies.

Now girls, we are all born decently confident. We did not worry about our weight, hair color, eye color, stretch marks, sagging boobs, or anything else when we were little. But somewhere along the way, almost all women lose that self-confidence. Nowhere is that more obvious than at the kiddie pool. There were a few one-baby moms in the pool. A couple of those ladies still braved a bikini in public, but most wore shorts over the bottom. Now we all know that they are trying to cover up that tiny baby roll and probably a few stretch marks. Then there were the two-baby mommies - these moms changed to tankinis - typically with a skirted bottom. Still cute, but definitely covering up expanding hips and thighs. Then there were the other moms - three or more kids. These are the women who wear swimsuits under t-shirts and shorts or wear swimdresses. They no longer make eye contact with the other adults around them and pretend to be invisible because they are so self-conscious about their bodies. Now there were 2 exceptions to these generalizations - both were beautiful women who had obviously had some extensive repairs done. What was interesting to me is that many of the women trying to hide their bodies were very beautiful, slender, and attractive. My guess though is that they no longer view themselves as such because of the changes their body has gone through after childbirth. I am amazed that we as women are so self-conscious and find our value and worth in the mirror. It was most definitely interesting to watch and contemplate the attitudes of these women.  Really - life is short - who cares?!? I think I'm hot and my husband thinks I'm incredibly, amazingly, smokin' hot - does anybody else's opinion really matter?

The interesting thing is that I was telling all this stuff to my husband who says, "You know that's what makes you so hot." That makes no sense to me whatsoever - that he finds me more attractive after four kids than back in the day when I was skinny just because I'm comfortable in my own skin - But I guess I don't have to understand it to enjoy it!

Couple of side notes: Apparently men also change shape and have body image issues the more children that they have. It was really, really very funny to watch them as well but time is short and I can't share all of life's lessons tonight.

I did go down one big scary slide with my kids. It had to be a hundred feet tall with rushing water down the side of the steep mountain. They would not let anybody on who was not at least 3 years old! At the top, a small toddler began to cry with fear, and I felt led to join in, but restrained myself. My kids coached me through the entire process. "Mom, if you take a deep breath here, then you can hold your nose there, and really it's not as scary as it looks." I made it down in one piece, having only a moment of panic where I frantically tried to climb out of the shallow water and abandon the slide. They were very proud of me and promised that if we ever returned they would go with me on all the "safe" rides and help me not be scared! I love having kids - they do keep me from taking myself too seriously.

Now it's back to work for me. I have a crazy week ahead of me and need to get to sleep.

Fear puts you on the sidelines

Fear keeps us sidelined. That's what I realized tonight by the hotel pool. Many of you know that I have this horrible irrational water phobia thing since my brother Jon drowned several years ago. In particular, I do not get my face wet. Period. Ever. I even shower backwards to avoid accidentally getting it wet. It's one of those phobias where I panic and totally freak out in public. My family thinks it's hysterically funny. So tonight we were staying at a hotel and all went swimming. I use the term "swimming" loosely since my family was swimming, and I was sitting by the pool looking especially cute in my new coverup. (not getting my face wet) My family was having a great time splashing and swimming and racing each other across the pool. It was fun to watch them, but I regretted that my phobia keeps me from joining in the racing. Just in case you wondered, I am the only adult dog-paddler on the planet. Carefully swimming without putting my head in the water is quite the sight to see!

I was thinking about fear while I was looking especially cute sitting by the pool. It keeps us from trying so many things - many times things that lead to great and amazing adventures. Now my water phobia is probably not going away any time soon since it probably needs expensive therapy to cure, but I have found the courage recently to try many other new and exciting adventures. I have totally come out of my comfort zone in this church planting business to make new friends, start a new job, and try lots of new stuff in ministry. Not allowing my ministry to be held captive by fear has led to the greatest adventure of my life. I love the unknown and the unexpected things that are occurring in my life right now. God is at work and I am simply tagging along on this journey. I just can't hardly wait to see what God has in store for The Crossroads.

Tomorrow I am spending the day at Schlitterbahn with my family. Shawn won tickets for the family off the radio. He and the kids are so excited. I am sucking up my fear and will spend the day in the wading pools with the baby. (not getting my face wet) :)