VBS

We've finished Day 2 of Cave Quest VBS and sitting with my feet up feels so good.


It's lots of fun, lots of running around, lots of problem solving, and a good bit of faith stretching.  But I totally get a walkie-talkie, and that makes my job pretty awesome.

Ready or not

So it begins.

-King Théoden, The Two Towers

Tomorrow is set-up day for Cave Quest VBS.  

Hundreds of children are about to descend upon our church.  Hundreds of volunteers have been mobilized and trained.  We are about to walk the thin line between control and chaos.  

Since most of leadership is just acting like you know what you're doing, I'll be fine.  Plus, I heard that I get a walkie-talkie.  That counts for an awful lot.

Lazy, hazy days

I'd say it's been a pretty good summer so far.

We've visited with family and celebrated some boys' birthdays.

Here's Caleb immediately after unwrapping his remote control dump truck, 60 seconds before he dropped it in the swimming pool:

We've spent time on beautiful Hilton Head Island.

We've played at the beach.

We celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks.

Ada and Caleb were, justifiably, concerned for their safety.  Caleb nearly backed all the way into the lake before making a run for the house.

We've ridden bikes.  We've played in the park.

We went camping.  Yes, even I.  

Despite my post-traumatic stress about ticks and poison ivy and sleeping in a tent with my children, we survived.  (Guess whose idea camping wasn't.)

Caleb was also concerned about getting burned in the fire.  He backed his chair up until he was in more danger of getting eaten by a bear in the woods than hit by a stray spark.  See his chair in the extreme left of the picture above.

Jeddy was the self-appointed stick-sharpener.

We camped at a lake with a wonderful swimming area and amazingly clear water, as well as a sandy beach.  We caught salamanders and tiny fish and made them a lagoon.

Caleb rides on the Daddy boat

The kids were hyper excited after setting up a tent and having a fire and roasting food on sticks and eating s'mores and swimming, and it was hours after dark before they got to sleep.  Then of course they were awake very early in the morning.  I pulled Caleb into the sleeping bag with me and tried to snuggle him back to sleep, but he was far more interested in staring at the campers at the next site--in between asking nine hundred times if it's wake-up time yet.

Another day, we picnicked at a different park with a river running through it.

Besides all this, we've been to the pool, we've had a slumber party, we've walked to the library, we've gotten ice cream, we've lain in the cool living room reading, and we've visited the best kid's castle in town.  I've been racking up the hours preparing for Vacation Bible School the week after next.

In general, we've thoroughly enjoyed this summer, and it's only mid-July!  Long live summer.

Aaah, summer--that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility.

-Darell Hammond

Great mercies

And I get turned around

And I mistake my happiness for blessing

And I'm blessed as the poor

Still I judge success by how I'm dressing

-Caedmon's Call, "Faith My Eyes"

Last year it was a major victory to climb this lighthouse.  I'm glad to say it was much easier this year, what with full use of my legs and all.  It's still a lot of steps.  We were still sweating when we reached the top.  And approximately 1.2 minutes after we reached the top, Lizzy told me she was bored and Caleb told me he had to go potty.  At which point Jason snapped this picture.

We made it home via a looooong car ride which included a whole lot of squabbling, a fair amount of screaming, and liberal complaining; but no vomiting, however, so we'll call that a resounding success.  We have it down to an art now:  line 'em all up and stick a spoonful of Dramamine and sugar in each mouth.  Repeat at the halfway point.  Follow with candy if necessary.

Cartoons at the end of a long hard day of beaching.

This being our first return to Hilton Head since I've fully recovered from Lyme, I'm naturally inclined to reflection on these last two trips.

Caleb went around the table and wrote down everyone's orders.  "What you want?"  Scribble, scribble.  "What you want?"  Scribble, scribble.

Here he comes to Grandma, who ordered crab cakes.  He informed her she wasn't allowed to have that yet, because "that's dessert."

This year I made dinner for 15 one night.  I dove in the water.  I biked seven miles for kicks one day.  I wore 4-inch wedges.  I carried my fair share of beach toys.

Last year we carried a handicapped parking tag.  I couldn't put on/take off my shoes.  I couldn't feel the sand with my fingertips.  I lagged behind on beach walks.  And that was when I was dramatically better.

A few weeks before the beach last year, all I could do was lie on the couch.  Jason would help me into the shower in the morning and wash my hair for me, then help me down the stairs.  He would deposit me on the couch for the day and the first of three shifts of helpers would arrive in time for him to go to work.


The helpers would take care of the kids all day and provide food for our family.  I myself could only eat a few bites because my jaw was too weak to keep chewing.  Because of my weakness, vision problems, and lack of fine motor control, I couldn't read, I couldn't type, I couldn't text, I couldn't watch videos, I couldn't hold a pencil.  There was, in fact, very little at all I could do.


Often the helpers had the kids out in the park to play, so I lay alone, gazing out the window (rejoicing that we went with the extra-large kitchen window, which was directly in my view from the couch).  The helplessness, and the pain in my head and neck and shoulders, reminded me constantly of those who suffer much worse than I, and with very few other options, I spent a lot of time in prayer.


Lying still, looking at the window, and praying.

 

This year, praise God, I'm healthy.  I could fully participate in every pleasure the beach offers.  If I lay on the couch, it was out of laziness and leisure.  I ate enough to gain several pounds.


There was very much besides prayer that I could do.  So I spent the time indulging in pleasure, not so much feeding my soul.

The kindness of God's providence is clear to me in both the relief of restored health, and perhaps especially in the desperation of need.  I know which one I prefer, but which is the better blessing?

There is no greater mercy that I know of on earth than good health except it be sickness; and that has often been a greater mercy to me than health.

It is a good thing to be without a trouble; but it is a better thing to have a trouble, and know how to get grace enough to bear it.  I am not so much afraid of the devil when he roars, as I am when he pretends to go to sleep.  I think that, oftentimes, a roaring devil keeps us awake; and the troubles of this life stir us up to go to God in prayer, and that which looks to us ill turns to our good.

-Charles Spurgeon, "The Simplicity and Sublimity of Salvation"