"Spur" Of The Moment Vacation

SO... where did we go this weekend?

Here are some hints:

Yes, we headed to San Antonio! It's been rainy everywhere, but we decided to take our chances and head south. Luke and I realized a few months ago that our kids have seen the world, but not much of our fair state, so with work being slow due to the rain we decided it would be a fine time to take them on a "San Antonio Spur"-of-the-moment trip to Sea World and the Alamo. We had a great time! I was finishing folding some laundry when he called from work to say, "Hey, let's do it!" so I just diverted laundry into some duffle bags and off we went!

We arrived late after taking the dogs to be boarded and sitting in rush hour traffic leaving town. Once we arrived to our hotel we realized that the only room available was a smoking room, which didn't work for us at all. SO, here we were on a weekend, in the summer, looking for a hotel room in a major tourist town. We drove from hotel to hotel, Luke would go in a ask what they had and I would be on my cell phone calling the ones in the travel guide. On our way to one that seemed okay, he happened to pull into one we hadn't seen. Just what do you think the Lord provided? A beautiful Marriott Courtyard that had only been open for four days! We had a beautiful suite and more than likely, we were the first people to ever stay in it. Instead of smoke, it smelled of fresh paint, new carpet, and fresh linens. Heaven.


Ready for a fun day!

A theme park is a busy place on a summer Saturday, but way more fun than being home doing chores, which inevitably happens if you're around the house on the weekend...

Feeding the dolphins

A mother-daughter "myspace" picture and a family picture on the way to the waterpark. where we had fun floating around the lazy river and splashing around before heading back to some of the shows.

How do they DO that???

Shamu was so fun, we went to that show twice. (The second show was a different one.) Am I the only one who cries when they play that music and Shamu and the trainer swim around together?? I'm such a sap!

It was a perfect day!

Breakfast on the Riverwalk the next morning on our way to the Alamo.

Visiting the Alamo was a perfect cap-off to our study of Texas History this year. It was a great weekend!

I hope you had a great weekend as well. Isn't summer spontaneity fun?

It's been rainy and dreary here for days... SO, we're kidnapping our kids and taking them on a surprise trip for the weekend! Just for fun, I'll surprise y'all, too. I'll be back Monday with some fun pictures of where we went!

Freedom From... Freedom For

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Let freedom ring! Yes, today we celebrate our country's freedom. Our hard-won independence. Our patriotism. When I really begin to think about it, my mind automatically thinks of the Revolutionary War heroes who gave all. I found out last year that I have a patriot in my ancestry, which qualifies me for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. I remember reading through all of the research and seeing my family tree leading me to him and seeing his name, rank, and location. All of a sudden I felt a... connection. A connection to something historical and fascinating. Yes, today I'll be thinking of my Great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas.

And today I'm also thinking about being set free. I remember in Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" study years ago, coming to grips with the concept of being truly set free. If you haven't done that study, I highly recommend it, or at least reading the book. (Even if you're not particularly "Beth Moore-ish," the information it contains is so beneficial and straight from the heart of God, it'll be worth your time, I promise!) I'm not sure if it was in that study or in subsequent readings that I really began to ponder the fact that I've been set free from... and I've been set free for.

Freedom from one thing leads to freedom to do something else. So, today as the firecrackers are popping, I'm going to be thanking my Heavenly Father that He sent His Son to set me truly free- free from the eternal consequences of my sin, free from sin's bonds while on this earth, free from thinking that this life is all there is. And I'm going to be thinking all day about what I've been set free for.

As one of my favorite Ginny Owen's songs says:

You're free to dance

Forget about your two left feet

And you're free to sing

Even joyful noise is music to Me

You’re free to love

'Cause I’ve given you My love

And it’s made you free

I have set you free!

My mind finds hard to believe

That You became humanity and

Changed the course of history

Because You loved us so

And my heart cannot understand

How You accept me as I am

But You say You've always had a plan

And that's all I need to know

So when I am consumed

With what the world will say

Then You're singing to me, as You remove my chains

Free from worry

Free from envy and denial

Free to live, free to give, free to smile

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's true freedom.

Don't you feel a connection to something historical and fascinating now, too?

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

If a picture's worth a thousand words...

how much is a slide show worth?

I feel like I've got so much to say about what we've been up to, but so little time to write! So, here is our "summer-so-far" slideshow!

I'm back!

Did you notice I was gone?

It's a fun and busy summer for so many families... ours included! We just returned from a fabulous four days at the lake with my husband's family. His sister and her family have a wonderful lake house and were our hosts. We all had a great time--- lots of sun, lots of rain, lots of food, lots of laughs, lots of pictures (some of which I'll share once I put them on my computer) and now that we're home... lots of laundry!

I hope all has been well with you while I was away. Once I get the laundry whirring and my email answered, I plan to go blog-hopping this afternoon. (The days leading up to our trip were busy, too, with my son at fencing camp and preparing to go out of town, so I know I haven't posted much. If I get to your blog and see that you haven't posted much, either, I hope it's because you are out and about with your family, too.) I just love summer!

Confessions of a Slacker Mom

"Hi, I'm Cyndi, and um..." (looking down, shuffling my feet, kicking at the dirt) "I'm not working in VBS this year."

There, I said it. Whew! I feel better.

I just returned from my second morning of dropping off my daughter at our church's HUGE Vacation Bible School. (And I mean huge, as in literally thousands of kids will be coming.) And then I did something strange for me. I drove off. I came home. Here I sit.

Somehow I guess it would sound better to say that I dropped her off because she's working at it, not participating in it, but I guess that really doesn't matter. I rationalized all the way home yesterday. I drove her up there, pulled into the parking lot, saw the hubbub of activity of those faithful volunteers herding kids inside and setting up games outside, mentally imagined the activity converging on the inside of the building, kissed my daughter good-bye and told her I'd see her in awhile, then drove away feeling burdened. I felt partially burdened that I wasn't working, while simultaneously feeling burdened by the part of me that doesn't feel burdened in the slightest. :::sigh:::

I used to always do VBS because, well, that's what you do if you're a mom at home with kids in the summer and even slightly involved in your church. So for years I took various roles in our (did I mention that it is mammoth-sized?) VBS. Helping with the music on stage. Running the souvenir shop. Running an art room. Bringing a Suburban-load of kids from the apartments we lived in while we were building this house. Year after year. Then we began coordinating our Awana program and I was... tired. By June, I just couldn't do it. Uncle. In past years I've had the convenient excuse of "Well, I would, but we'll be in Africa." Last year I had just put my 12 year old on a plane for China, my 10 year old didn't want to do VBS anyway, and I didn't have the mental energy to do it. (Besides, what if I missed a phone call from China??? Oh, last summer was tough.) This year, I didn't commit because I knew that I would've only been back in our time zone for less than a week, and I never know in what condition I'll be returning home from a trip (at the very least, jetlagged, but sometimes quite ill.) I came home fine, but I still didn't volunteer. And that's okay. Isn't it?

I realized today as I drove away and saw the faithful volunteers all dressed in their western "Avalanche Ranch" garb that if I did this, I couldn't do the Awana stuff I need to do this summer. I just couldn't. I would be so burned out. Those who are doing what they do don't do what I do. And I don't do what they do. And that's the Body of Christ.

But, oh, I'm praying for those precious souls who will be reached with the gospel in VBS's all across this nation in the weeks to come. And I'm praying refreshment for the many, many volunteers it takes to pull off a successful VBS, of any size. God bless y'all.

And now I'm off to spend some much-needed alone-time with my son. Yee haw!