It is a rite of passage for every family - the first road trip with all members of the family. When planning such a trip, one believes that it will be filled with wonderful memories, photo ops, times of great love and affection, and, if you're headed to the Southern Baptist Convention, a whole lot of Jesus. That was what we expected when we made plans to head to Columbus, Ohio this year.
That was what we expected.
There were times that this trip met the expectations we all had. The convention was great! We experienced times of awesome worship and great preaching along with wonderful fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We loved getting to spend part of the trip with Gram and also Stewart's Uncle Vance and Aunt Theodora in West Liberty, Ohio. We relished the precious time with our boys and watching them experience new things. They both got to eat things they've never eaten before and do things some kids never get to do - like tour a train from 1920s (Zach was in heaven!) or see where Smucker's works their magic and makes all the yumminess they make. That's the good stuff!
But there were other times that I felt like we were on the struggle bus. We had a very hard time getting out the door in the morning - especially during the convention. Getting everything packed up, getting the boys dressed, getting ourselves dressed, getting breakfast, and getting out the door was something we struggled with the entire trip. I saw a friend at the convention who said her family (of 6 children) was struggling with the same thing. However, she has SIX children. We only have two. Then I never felt like I looked good. My hair was just nasty most of the time. My clothes never seemed to be right. Zach broke two pair of shoes. TWO. And then the shoes we bought him rubbed huge blisters on his feet. Every meal time seemed to include whining and complaining by BOTH children. With Evan, we always worried about if he was eating enough or drinking enough. And being gone for 10 days meant that we started running out of things about day 7. Why hadn't I packed enough? Then there was rain. And traffic in every large city we drove through. It just never seemed to end. Then there was this day...
I have waited MY ENTIRE LIFE to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Yes, I know I am a girl, but I am crazy about football. We will discuss this at a later date.) We had been having issues all morning with Zach, and as we entered the hall, refrains of "I really don't like football" were exiting his mouth. So when the nice people at the entrance took our picture, this is what we got.
Folks, this was the only family picture we took the ENTIRE TRIP. When I saw it, I thought, "Well, this is about how the trip has gone." Stewart said, "We will laugh at this some day! Just not right now..." It is a priceless memory we will never forget!
I was worrying last night about whether or not we all still loved each other after such a trip. I had not been at my best, for sure. Do my kids still respect me? Are we all okay? Well, the first thing Zach did this morning was hand me this:
Then I knew. We were all going to be okay.
That was what we expected.
There were times that this trip met the expectations we all had. The convention was great! We experienced times of awesome worship and great preaching along with wonderful fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We loved getting to spend part of the trip with Gram and also Stewart's Uncle Vance and Aunt Theodora in West Liberty, Ohio. We relished the precious time with our boys and watching them experience new things. They both got to eat things they've never eaten before and do things some kids never get to do - like tour a train from 1920s (Zach was in heaven!) or see where Smucker's works their magic and makes all the yumminess they make. That's the good stuff!
But there were other times that I felt like we were on the struggle bus. We had a very hard time getting out the door in the morning - especially during the convention. Getting everything packed up, getting the boys dressed, getting ourselves dressed, getting breakfast, and getting out the door was something we struggled with the entire trip. I saw a friend at the convention who said her family (of 6 children) was struggling with the same thing. However, she has SIX children. We only have two. Then I never felt like I looked good. My hair was just nasty most of the time. My clothes never seemed to be right. Zach broke two pair of shoes. TWO. And then the shoes we bought him rubbed huge blisters on his feet. Every meal time seemed to include whining and complaining by BOTH children. With Evan, we always worried about if he was eating enough or drinking enough. And being gone for 10 days meant that we started running out of things about day 7. Why hadn't I packed enough? Then there was rain. And traffic in every large city we drove through. It just never seemed to end. Then there was this day...
I have waited MY ENTIRE LIFE to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Yes, I know I am a girl, but I am crazy about football. We will discuss this at a later date.) We had been having issues all morning with Zach, and as we entered the hall, refrains of "I really don't like football" were exiting his mouth. So when the nice people at the entrance took our picture, this is what we got.
Folks, this was the only family picture we took the ENTIRE TRIP. When I saw it, I thought, "Well, this is about how the trip has gone." Stewart said, "We will laugh at this some day! Just not right now..." It is a priceless memory we will never forget!
I was worrying last night about whether or not we all still loved each other after such a trip. I had not been at my best, for sure. Do my kids still respect me? Are we all okay? Well, the first thing Zach did this morning was hand me this:
Then I knew. We were all going to be okay.
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