God has blessed Matthew with friends that have walked with us through some very difficult years. I am forever blessed by these friendships and the opportunity we have to spend time with them, draw closer to them, have true fellowship with them, and love on them.
Going away for the 4th of July weekend was a Godsend. God knew that we all needed this trip, all for our own reasons. Every year we try to take Cooper (Matthew’s friend from middle school) camping with us at least once and this was the weekend that we knew that we could bring him along. I loved watching Cooper build a relationship with Mason and Lily… they loved being around him and inviting him to join in all of their activities. What a blessing it was to everyone.
A weekend is not complete unless Chris has a couple escapades… this weekend’s adventures included getting his suburban/trailer stuck in the mud and having to create a plan to get it out. It took a few hours but, in the end, he did succeed with the help of Cooper and expensive tow ropes… thankfully no vehicles were damaged in the process. The other adventure was his boat trip with the cat… of course, this one brought on some tears as the cat disappeared for a while. Thankfully, Sarah finally found the rascally cat hiding in the tall grass near the shore… silly thing had jumped out of the boat and swam across the water. The cool part of the story is that Mason and Sarah had stopped to pray that they would find the cat and that it would be alive (FYI the cat is on its last leg as and dying… making this adventure even more dangerous)… their prayers were answered and tears were turned to joy.
Most of the weekend we spent hiding out down at their property away from civilization…and in a sense the real world. There are times that you just need to escape. Life is hard… it throws you curveballs… and getting away into nature, spending time with God, with God’s people, and living in the moment is needed.
We did join the town in celebrating on the 4th of July. In the afternoon they had a parade. The whole town came out to celebrate and participate in the event. Mason and Lily loved the parade and collecting all the candy. Matthew stayed back at the trailer to save up his energy for the evening festivities. We went back to the property to relax for a few hours and then went back into town to watch the fireworks show at the school. It’s crazy how in a small town everyone shows up and participates. We arrived early and ate whatever hot food the guys could find left in town (which wasn’t much). It gave me time to visit with Sarah while Mason and Lily were playing. The fireworks show was fun… though a bit slower than we were used to.
Before we knew it the weekend was over… we had to return to reality. I don’t think any of us were ready for it. Sometimes I wish we could stay at their property forever and not have to face the pain this world throws at us. Thankfully we have a God who walks with us through it all and gives us grace to endure all things. He also has perfect timing as our Yellowstone trip was just around the corner.
Of course, before we could leave for Yellowstone, we had to celebrate Cooper’s birthday. Matthew and I brought him an ice cream cake, which is what he requested, and a present, on his birthday. He kept telling us we didn’t have to do it, but everyone deserves to be celebrated for their birthday.
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