Greers Unplugged

Have you ever driven 12 + hours with three kids in the rain where you hit a huge pothole every 5.8 seconds?  I have.  With white knuckles, I navigated from Brentwood, Tennessee all the way to Roanoke, Texas last week.  My sister invited me to come and share my testimony with her women’s group.  Since the kids were about to start their Spring Break, it was a no-brainer to bring them along.

Well a no-brainer except for the whole driving 12 + hours with kids.  I heard a few grumblings about why couldn’t we “just fly” there.  I said we could ... if they had a couple of thousand dollars in their piggy banks.  After rolled eyes, I assured them that even though hopping on a plane was quite commonplace in our area, for the vast majority of the world flying is a luxury that most do not have.  Eric loves to remind them that his first flight was in college to Cancun for Spring Break.  Preemptive Parenting:  No!  You cannot fly to Cancun when you are in college!!!

After Matthew asked 26 times if we were in Texas yet, we finally pulled into my sister’s driveway.  We had such a sweet visit with their family.  We don’t get to see them often, so we packed as much as we could in our two-day visit.  We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards, made smores and played games.

Sunday night I had a chance to visit with her friends and share my testimony about the near ten-year journey I endured while battling infertility.  It was such a treat to meet some of my sister’s fellow prayer warriors.  I got a chance to say thank you for all of their prayers for me.  It was the prayers of them and many others that sustained me through many dark times.  As I recounted my 12-week hospital stay when I pregnant with Ethan and Ella, tears came to my eyes.  It was evident that the only way I had the strength to face another day was on the wings of prayer.

Before we knew it, it was time to load up and travel back to Tennessee.  We had already scheduled another short trip for later in the week.  Every Spring Break we rent a cabin with some of Eric’s childhood friends and their families.  I desperately needed a couple of days to recover before we headed out of town again.

As we were loading Eric’s truck up with all our supplies for the cabin, Ella came up to me and told me that the kids had all decided that they were going to leave their Kindles home.  They wanted to be 100% electronic free while we were at the cabin.  I was shocked.  Although I try to limit their electronics, Minecraft is still one of their favorite things in the world!  I reminded her that we were driving her Daddy’s truck and that meant that there wouldn’t be a TV to watch on the drive either.  She shook her head resolutely.  They were ready to “rough it.”  I told Eric and we planned to stow them away just in case.  Then we promptly forgot to pack them as we loaded what seemed like the rest of our house in the back of his truck.

Eric’s friend, Patrick, is always in charge of scouring VRBO to find us an awesome cabin to call our own... or at least for a long weekend.  He did not disappoint us this year.  We had a sprawling house that was built in the early 1900s complete with a water wheel on the side.  It sat nestled between a mountain and a huge creek that you could hear rushing from the inside of the house. 

There was a huge yard where the boys got a baseball game going with all the kids.  The kids didn’t care that it was cool outside and that the creak was even colder.  The stomped and splashed until they were all soaked.  When the sun came out, we finally agreed to let them put on their swimsuits.  At night, we sat by a fire, roasting marshmallows, and took turns telling scary stories.

But the best part was the cave that was on the property.  I assumed when I saw that on the description, that it would be a little cave.  I was wrong!  We hiked almost an hour one way into the cave before we turned around and came back out.  We saw stalactites, stalagmites, bats, and several underground creeks.  It was by far one of the coolest things I have ever done.  I was excited that we were able to take our kids on such a unique adventure.  This was something that they would remember forever.

There were a lot of good reminders for me on this trip …

Lifelong friendships are to be treasured and nourished – even if you have to wait until Spring Break each year to visit.

God blessed us with an amazing, beautiful world that should be treasured too – you don’t have to get on a plane to see His beauty.

The memories that my children will treasure are the times that we spend playing ball, creek stompin’, and exploring a cave – all of which are free and unplugged.