Today marks the end of summer unofficially as we attempt to start school. Wow....it never ceases to amaze me how fast it goes. We managed to end with a bang as we celebrated our 25th anniversary. It was a dream come true for me and such an answer to prayer as I had wanted to do something all summer, but there was just no way we could do it. Here's the back story....
For many anniversaries, we take the 40 days, or 6 weeks leading up to it, to pray, fast, give something up, in the name of seeking the Lord for our family, our marriage, our specific needs, requests, burdens. This summer we had so many. We were praying for two of our children taking the biggest exams of their lives. We were praying for better patterns in everyone's lives. We had taken a hit financially with covid impacting my husband's work, so we were praying for miracles in our making extra income. We were praying for godly spouses for our kids. The list goes on and on...and I was also praying for God to bless us in a way that only He could for our anniversary. That sounds so selfish writing it down. I knew I was acting somewhat entitled and so I surrendered it every single time it came into my mind.
I wanted the 6 weeks to look a little different this time. I didn't want it to be, dare I say, "typical". I wanted it to be a challenge in the sense that it was going to really force me on my knees to pray in a way I never had before. After meeting with a friend a couple of times this summer to swim and hang out, she described her most recent health changes they had made - the whole family had become vegan. I cringed. There is no way, I thought, but as I met with her the second time, I asked a million questions and got great answers. I walked away knowing that was it. I would attempt, in my most feeble way, to be vegan for 40 days. No meat, no dairy, just veggies, nuts, beans and fruit. It was almost funny as I thought about it. The funniest part of the whole thing is, I ended up loving it! There were so many recipes for all the things I loved and missed. I would literally type in butter chicken and then add the word "vegan" and suddenly a vegan recipe would come up for something that tasted almost exactly like it, but without meat. So I did this for every single meal, every single snack, everything. And, to top it off, I was the only one in the family being vegan. My husband was doing his own fast, but still ate meat. I cooked all the meat and just always had a separate meal on the side going on. I've never made so many veggie burgers. I would occasionally make the whole family eat vegan for a meal without telling them and they always liked it....every single time, so the food is very good. I will 100% keep cooking with less meat, maybe not entirely, but it is way cheaper and super healthy and just as delicious.
All that to say, with my new crazy lifestyle/fast, I was definitely praying all day every day. I cannot even believe all the breakthroughs we saw happen. The Lord answered so many prayers for our family from providing in so many creative ways such as through the garden, and selling things that never should have sold, to giving my husband super creative ways to make extra money on the side. Because of the garden, I felt like I was never at the grocery store and because of the meat birds we had grown and the chickens that were laying, I never had to buy meat or eggs (I must say I can cook chicken 1000 different ways now...) I learned to save money even more than usual.
As the end of August approached, I knew we had no extra money to go away. Leaving the country was out of the question and I couldn't see us spending any on going away even locally, but I just kept praying. I shared my concern with a friend of mine who understood and prayed with me. She had heard of a place that was up north that normally had a kids summer camp. They were renting out the cabins to families all summer instead of to kids. She suggested that to us. I said to her, "No, it's not an option right now for us." That was the end of that.
Later on that summer, she and her family went up to that camp themselves and enjoyed a few days there. While she was up there, she felt a tremendous prompting to call us and tell us that she and her husband wanted to bless us with a few days up there for just the two of us. I couldn't believe it. But as generous as it was, I immediately knew we could never go. How could we go to a fun camp with all sorts of fun things to do WITHOUT our kids!!! I would have been kayaking, swimming and paddleboarding the whole time wishing they were there. So we graciously thanked them for their kindness, but said no.
Then, a few nights later, I woke up and thought to myself, "Who do we think we are to say no to someone's kindness? Maybe there is a way that some of us can go...." Of course I hoped for the whole family to go, but the older kids had done a few things this summer, so maybe it would just be the younger ones? I spoke to the older kids and asked if they'd be ok if just the younger ones went away with us. They all said, "Of course!" They even offered to help pay to get us there. The days the camp was open for us to come was the first week of school, so the older ones couldn't really miss school anyway. I shared with my friend that we were now reconsidering going, but maybe with just the younger ones. But I told her how sad it was making me to leave behind the older kids. She prayed that day a prayer that moved mountains.
THE NEXT MORNING, I got an email out of the blue from the camp. I had told them we were not going and had left it at that. I never told them why or all the things that made it impossible to come. In the email, the camp said they had an unexpected cancellation ON OUR ANNIVERSARY DAY. Would we like to take that time slot. I have no idea what compelled them to even suggest it. This changed everything. Now my older kids wouldn't miss school. But could they all get the time off? Impossible. Each workplace was very rigid on not taking time off without a ton of warning. Each one asked and to my utter amazement they ALL got it off. They were all ok to contribute to the mini-getaway. The camp even knocked a little bit more money off because of the size of our family....how amazing is that?! We also got an additional night added on so it went from two to three nights....that doesn't seem like a big deal, but I really hoped for the 3rd night.
Suddenly, what seemed impossible was happening. We were getting away to a cabin up north completely last minute. We left right on the day of our anniversary which seemed to make it even more special. We were going to a place that had so many activities I can't even begin to describe. It was a camp after all for kids! The best part - we had the run of the ENTIRE CAMP with literally no one there except for one other family and a few adults that stuck to themselves. We took over 4 cabins. The girls took one, the older boys took another and then RM and I shared one with the little boys. We had one just for cooking......it was perfect. We overlooked the most scenic lake and had a private dock....the only way I could explain it was that all of us had our hearts full all week. We would look around and say, "I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE ALL HERE!!!" and say that over and over. I couldn't believe how God brought it all together. I never would have planned it or thought it or dreamed it. It was just perfect. The kids were busy all day fishing, swimming, kayaking, doing archery (that made me so happy that my older kids did the activities, too) or just hanging out. It was a gift from God. I ate meat all week and LOVED IT! We bbq'd most meals and enjoyed that so much!
After we got back, we shared with our friends how grateful we were to them and for their generosity. God used them in our lives and helped create my most memorable vacation/anniversary yet. I think because it was so obviously brought together by God made us appreciate it even more. I felt each child was that much more enthusiastic about being there. I didn't get the sense once that that weren't appreciating every single second of their time. Would I have preferred a Caribbean getaway? Not really....this was literally only 4 hours away, no plane ride, no passports, no stress. I didn't have to worry about thousands of other guests....this was our personal getwaway. The bonus? We did get to interact with the other family and I got to share with the mom about our faith as she observed our family all week. The camp wasn't Christian and so hopefully we were testimonies to them as well and to the staff.
So I'm in awe....God blessed us so much. As I surrendered my dreams and desires for something, I didn't even know what to hope for, I would sometimes take my hopes back and feel pity for myself, but then I would surrender and relinquish them again. God heard me and in His grace.....only His grace, He chose to bless us and it was just amazing. I'm so grateful.
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