Vacation?!?!?!

Most of you know that we are going to the beach in a few weeks! This will be our first ever Family Vacation! We are really excited, but I for one am also feeling extremely guilty! We have NEVER done anything like this, much less for a whole week!

We found a GREAT house, right on the beach, in a small community called Alligator Point, Florida. Here are some of the pictures that were on the owners website:


This is the place we will call home for an entire week!


This is a look at the inside of the house!


And my favorite...a sunset from the porch!

So, everything looks great, right? So you might be wondering why I am so apprehensive! Well, it's the fact that we are spending more than we ever have before to go somewhere we have never been and I am not even sure my kids will appreciate or enjoy it! I know I can be a worrier sometimes and I am trying just to stay excited, but it is hard. Or it was until yesterday!

Again, God is SOOOOO good! He reassures me all the time that if I just trust the Holy Spirit to guide me and rely on the instincts God has given me then all we be fine! And that brings me to the reason for this post! I wanted to share my devotion from yesterday! It was exactly what I needed and with everyone getting ready for vacation, I thought some of you might benefit as well.

"Ephesians 5:15,16
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time.

It is the wise man who recognizes that vacations can give us time to invest in the relationships that mean the most to us. Vacations can be a time where you build strong family values and make memories.
As Barbara and I look back over more than 20 years of vacations, we'd have to say this is an area where we don't have any regrets. Vacations represent adventure, discovery and shared experiences with our children.

We have made vacations a priority. Both of us work hard, but we've shared a commitment that our children would not remember us as driven workaholics.

Edith Schaeffer calls a family "a museum of memories." If that's so, then our family has racked up enough vacation memories to fill several buildings at the Smithsonian:

We've seen traffic jams created by buffalo crossing a crystal clear stream in Yellowstone and by a herd of taxis at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
We've soaked in the solitude of Yosemite Valley (in the off-season), and we've sat in Wrigley Field cheering the Cubs with 35,000 other fans.
All eight of us have shivered through the night in a tent camping at 8,500 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and we've sweated on the beaches of northern Florida making sand castles and tossing a Frisbee.
We've driven 4,000 miles to visit Crater Lake, Oregon, and we've vacationed at home when cash was in short supply, walking 400 yards from our back door to fish and picnic on a public lake.
I was recently in a small group of moms and dads who were discussing family vacations. After our time together, it suddenly hit me: Not a single person mentioned a theme park (Disneyland, Sea World, etc.) as one of his or her favorite vacations. Leaky tents and murky swimming holes outdistanced the computerized roller coasters, Mickey and Minnie as the favorite memory makers.

Think about it. Tonight at the dinner table share your favorite vacation memories as a child and as an adult. Then talk about what you really want to do this summer.

Prayer:
Ask God to help you build relationships and make memories this summer with your children.
Discuss: What can you do to emphasize relationships during your next vacation?"

My moms big thing when I was growing up was "We are making memories!" And she was right! I have tons of vacation memories from when I was a little girl. And most of them were not from big fancy travel destinations! My fondest memories are of the journey to get where we were going! So I urge everyone out there to enjoy your kids and your vacations this summer! Even if you can't afford to do anything elaborate, Make some memories with your kids!