Vacation Flurries

And so we flow into the last weekday of Keith's vacation. Boy, what a week it's been.

Early Monday morning, I took the three campers to church to put them on the bus for Camp Sonshine. Kathleen, Kylie and Kade all went this year.

When I got back, Keith and I took the entire day (thanks to the great babysitting efforts of our eldest children) and celebrated our 19th anniversary. We ate brunch at Cracker Barrel (Keith LOVES Cracker Barrel), we saw two movies, stopped by a few stores, and we stuffed ourselves silly at the Golden Corral for dinner. All in all, it was a relaxing day. I do love that husband of mine. I think I'll keep him.

Then, early Tuesday morning, Keri Lynn and Kristofer accompanied me and we left to California to visit my Grandma -- Thank God for flying privileges. She is 90 years old and her heart is failing. The timing couldn't have been better for this visit, with Keith on vacation, three of the kids at Camp Sonshine and Keith only having to watch out for Keva and Konner at home.

I hadn't seen Grandma in a year, so it was good to see her and talk with her. I don't know if it will be the last time we talk here on earth, but the moments were sweet. When the Lord does decide to take her, she will leave a big hole. She was in emergency when we came, so we could only see her one at a time. First I talked to her for about an hour and a half. I cried a little, but kept it together as best as I could. She did most of the talking!

Then, Kristofer went in. All of his life, she has always come right up to Kristofer, whenever she's come for a visit, and stuck a shiny state quarter or half dollar in his hand and closed his fingers over his newly acquired treasure. This time, he brought a quarter of his own. He put it in her hand and closed her fingers over it. (May I say at this time that I'm glad it was just one-at-a-time visiting because I would be just standing there SOBBING at that point.) Kristofer came back out to the waiting room shortly after with a soppy face of his own.

Then, Keri Lynn went in and stayed a lot longer. She says Grandma had her crying through the whole time. (Hmmm? Wonder where she gets that from?) When I saw her face, when she came back out, I had to compose myself once again. I DID NOT want to go back in. I was emotionally spent and not ready to say good-bye, but some things one just can't back away from no matter how cowardly one is!

So Grandma is more than ready to see the Lord, but she'd just as soon skip any of the painful part of getting there. In fact, she'd be happy if we'd just all get raptured up together and she wouldn't have to die after all. Wouldn't that be something!

Anyway, whether the rapture comes or not -- which is another entirely different pet subject of mine -- we all need to be ready. Grandma reminded me of how she wakes up each morning and gives her day to the Lord in prayer and scripture reading. She also told me that she prays that each of my children will be strong warriors for the Lord. In fact, she's told me every single time that I've ever seen her or talked to her on the phone that she prays for us "morning, noon and night." It got me to thinking that I often take it for granted, but really shouldn't! How thankful I am for that godly heritage and for the intercession of a grandmother on behalf of my family.

Then, when she says good-bye, she always says, "See you here, there or in the air" How perfect is that? So, Grandma, to you I say, "See you here, there or in the air!" What would we do if we did not have the gracious love of our Lord?!

After the visit with Grandma, we headed back to Mom and Rich's place, for some family fellowship. Mom cooked up an extravaganza of food. Connie did the serving of young ones and the clean-up. Beth came later after work. We all talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. I was so tired, though, by the end of the evening, that I was ready to just fall into bed and sleep for a hundred years. I was physically and emotionally spent!

But morning came along with God's new mercies, and we had a few hours to hang out with the kids' cousins, Grandpa Rich and Beth. I took pictures that I'll put on the blog -- hopefully soon. And before we knew it, we were back on a plane heading back to Georgia.

It's the oddest thing to wake up in Georgia one morning, in California another morning and in Georgia again the morning after that! Keith was happy to have us safely home. Keri Lynn walked in and told him, "So, I see the house isn't burnt to the ground." And Keith said, "I'm glad you have such high expectations of me."

Then, on Thursday, we went off to see the Camp Sonshine people for lunch and a tour of their activities. All were glad to see us, but didn't appear to miss us one bit. In fact, Kade saw me and said, "Hi, Mom!" with food tray in hand and walked right on by to go sit with his group. I had to track him down for my hug! What is this world coming to?

Keith went fishing with Kade after lunch. The camp has a 10-acre lake. It's down a good five feet because of the drought, but because it's so shallow, it's easier to get the bigger fish. So, the kids have been catching fish left and right. Keith tried to add to the total, but Kade beat him to it, and caught himself a 14 incher -- his third fish! Whoo-hoo! Way to go, Kade!

Meanwhile, I watched the girls in the pool. Kylie the Fish was jumping off the diving board along with all of the big kids. Kathleen was practicing a new swimming technique. I kept an eye on the lifeguard to make sure he was keeping an eye on everyone else! Yikes, what a job!

In a few hours, I'll be on my way to go pick up the campers and we'll begin Decompression. They'll have to deal with boring home with its boring rules and chores. Poor things.

Keri Lynn leaves tomorrow morning for her missions trip to the Florida Keys. She's really looking forward to her time there. The group will be mainly working with migrant workers' kids. I was worried about her taking the digital camera with her because it's so humid and she'll be doing a lot of snorkeling and swimming. Someone suggested she use a waterproof 35mm camera and then when she gets home get the pictures transferred to a disc in digital form. I didn't even know you could do that! You got to love technology.

Now, I'm off to the laundry room. I've been avoiding it all morning, but the dirty clothes are STILL there.