Vacay, Day 1, Which Started At Night and Took a Sharp Right

I always say life is going by in
a blur, and here's a picture to prove it.






Steve is 20 already. My third-born. The boy who was our baby for ten years. The child I wasn't sure I could handle when I already had children ages 2.5 and 1.5. The one a fellow crisis pregnancy center counselor assured me would bring great joy and fun, a child whom God had prepared from the foundation of the world for His glory and our delight. How right she was! Steve is young man wise beyond his years, with a terrific sense of humor, and a loving, encouraging, peaceful demeanor. He handles the truth of scripture with skill, discernment, and passion. He goes out of his way to help people without complaining. He uses his God-given gifts of speaking, writing, music, leadership, serving, and teaching at every opportunity. People older than Steve have said they want to be like him when they grow up. I'm one of them. We celebrated his birthday with simplicity on our family vacation in Myrtle Beach this year.Well, not the whole family. Ben couldn't go because of work, nor Dee because Ben wouldn't be there. It would have been ideal to have all eight of us together, but this is one of those things a parent of young adults has to come to terms with. You raise them to be responsible, hard-working citizens of society, and when they become those citizens, you can't have them with you whenever you want. When they're little, you sacrifice "me time," and when they're older you sacrifice "us time." Time with them. It's hard both ways, but I found myself longing for the days when they were about 12 when I got both "me time" and "us time." That stage after diapers and before driver's license was nearly blissful, as I recall.

Anyway, back to the story...

Steve was on a physical low but a spiritual high. He said there is nothing as exciting in the whole world as to lead another person to Christ. He had the joy a few times this summer, and each time it reinforced his desire to be in ministry.

Ambrey had been away, too, in ministry, having spent five weeks in Zambia. She returned August 4th, Steve the 6th, attended her future sister-in-law's shower on Sunday the 7th at 4 pm in Pennsylvania, and came back down to our house at 8:45 pm. We were loading the van for vacation (which resembles putting a Rubik's cube together if you want any legroom at all). Poor girl, she was ex.HAUST.ed. We left at 9:15pm --only 15 minutes later than we planned, so a record for us!


Sarah drove the first three hours, Paul the next three . I took my driving shift from 3:30 to 5:00 (when I am normally asleep, so that should tip you off as to what a wild ride we had on them thar country roads, honey.) We would have taken a straight shot down I-95, but someone put the wrong address in the GPS. (I can't stand those things, so it wasn't me. I prefer printed directions, but I chose to shut up and drove.) I just followed the directions around twisty turns in the night, scared stiff the whole time, thinking surely a deer, bear, or redneck was gonna jump into my path. But I only hit one thing: a dead possum. At least I think it was a possum. A very gutsy move to re-hit a pre-hit.

I was no more comforted when I wasn't driving until I took a second row seat where I couldn't see what was in front of me. God used the obstruction to show me something: that not being able to see the road ahead is a good thing. Sometimes seeing what's in front of us would scare us out of adventures with Him. And besides, even if we get hurt or frightened, He is there.

That nervous energy kept my reflexes sharp even when my ears weren't. Somewhere after the 834th row of pine trees along a narrow stretch of asphalt, I didn't hear the drone of the GPS lady say, "sharp right turn in point 2 miles." Woops. Sorry, folks. Didn't mean to startle you awake. Are we still all together?

After some necessary stops to relieve both bladder and bones, we checked into our condo
without incident. Paul and I slept three hours until the house phone rang like a smoke detector. Grrrr. The kids slept through it, of course, the kids who had slept most of the car ride, too.

I grabbed my requisite cup of coffee and settled into a chair on the balcony. The view of the Atlantic Ocean, though distant beyond the adjacent campground, refreshed my soul. The sound of lapping waves, the smell of salty air, the sight of gleaming sun in the sky..."it's all too wonderful for me," as Emily from "Our Town" would say.


We enjoyed views from our 4th-floor balcony. Our condo overlooked a campground adjacent to the resort. (I hope no one in a trailer below could see me in my nightie above when I went out to sip coffee and read in the morning. If they did, I'm sure they're home now blogging their disgust.)



When we were finished lazing around the house, we hit various other places to laze around--lazy river, pool, beach. "Wherever and whatever."

Steve the Birthday Boy got to pick where to have dinner. Being too tired to head out, he opted for a simple meal in. So Paul and Sarah hit a local grocery store and fetched a rotisserie
chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Ambrey, his always-thoughtful girl, had brought along a Happy Birthday sign and some HB napkins. Steve didn't care about cake. So that was that. A wild ride, a day of nothing but sleeping, sunning, fun, rotisserie chicken,
and I think a walk on the beach before a movie on the sofa.

That was Vacay Day 1.

Stay tuned if you dare, and grab that second cup, as only I can write a post longer than the vacation itself.