Ladies & Gentlemen, we have returned!

We have plenty of pictures to share from our wonderful beach trip, tomorrow, but today, I’d like to talk a little bit about another side of our “Family Vacation”.

As a married couple, Craig, myself, our kitty cat – Miss Daisy, and our puppy girls – Lucy Eliza & Caroline Elise, are our own little family. We go on trips together, have meals together, have our own home, celebrate our own mini-Christmases and Thanksgivings, and make the best and most responsible decisions we can for our little family – together. But sometimes, it doesn’t seem as if others see us in that light – and one of the most glaring instances of this is when we are in a family-oriented vacation setting.

Picture yourself on the Florida beach. The sun is shining brightly (some of the time anyway – on this trip we had 2 days of rain and clouds!); the waves are crashing on the sand at your feet. You lay on your towel, soaking in the rays, hoping for a tan, and yet every time you glance up from the book you’re reading (The Harbinger in my case – I could NOT put it down!! Read it!!!!), you see couples your own age with 1, 2, 3, 4 – or more – children, running and splashing in the water, giggling as their dads hold them over the waves. You remember going on a ‘family’ vacation when you were a child, and never considering there was a time your parents might have gone on their own, before you were born. You decide to venture inside to the indoor pool, and are aghast at the 57 children crowding the water. (Surely, that’s a hazard of some kind?!?) You find a pair of lounge chairs just inside and right next to a floor to ceiling window, and figure you’ll relax there for a bit and get the best of both worlds. A family of 4 follows in behind you and noticeably scoffs that you and your spouse are taking two lounge chairs and have no kids in the pool (We couldn’t fit them in if we did!). When you’re done reading and relaxing, and head up to the room, you find yourself gazing longingly at the family on the elevator with you – realizing later that you probably seemed creepy. Everything to do on the beach strip is either geared towards young single people or families with children.

There is no middle ground.

And although many of you may have just rolled your eyelids farrrrr back into your skull, when you have been trying to conceive for nearly two years with not even ONE positive pregnancy test, this entire scenario is really. heartbreaking.

Even when you know God holds the blessing of beautiful children for you in His promise. Even when you know with certainty your little sweet baby girl is on her way.

It’s devastating when your husband taps you on the shoulder and points out a father, mother and little girl on the beach – splashing in the waves, and whispers, “I can’t wait until that’s us!”

It literally makes me want to cry.

But this is where faith comes in. Without it, where would I be? I’ll tell you where – In a padded room, wearing an I-Love-Me Coat. Without the knowledge that ‘all things work together for good’ (Rom. 8:28) and that my God ‘so loves the world he gave His only Son’ (John 3:16) and, as was whispered to me shyly after a Bible Study I led a few weeks ago, ‘I hate to barge into your life like this, but the Holy Spirit won’t stop putting it on my heart that I need to tell you something – Don’t worry – Olivia is going to be Jonah’s sister.’, I don’t know where I’d be…

So today, two things to keep in mind and thank Jesus for:

1. Remember that everyone’s family doesn’t look the same – Some of us are childless (by circumstance or by choice) and others have several children with only one parent. One more modern definition of family is: “Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another and reside usually in the same dwelling.” Be kind.

2. As D.L. Moody said, “Faith makes all things possible…Love makes all things easy.”

Until Tomorrow,