Vacations

  Sometimes on my blog I like to advocate for things. Today I advocate for vacations. Yes, vacations. 

Soon my family (Lord willing) will whisk away to the sand and sun surrounding the beautiful ocean that God created for us to enjoy. I can't wait. More than ever in our life we need a break so we are taking one. We can argue later over if that word should be need or want, but I am going with need. 

When we tell people we are going to Florida their response is "what for?" I'm not talking like 2 people, I mean like 11. What for? There is no reunion, or wedding, or event of any sort. This is what for: 

1. For a break. Turns out we have a lot of kids. Those kids have a lot of needs. I am the one to meet most of them, at least from 7:30-5:30 Monday through Friday. Poor Brian works all day long only to come home to help me with all these babies' needs, lol. We strive for a peaceful home, but somedays we just barely make it to 5:30 and then daddy comes to the rescue. We love our children and we want them, but they are work. They must be fed, cleaned, trimmed, mannered, disciplined, entertained, taught, and loved. It takes a lot of energy and it can be monotonous. We do the same things over and over, and we love these things, but we need a break.

2. For family  time. Oh yes, we are all 6 going. So while we will still spend our time cleaning them, feeding them, mannering them, disciplining them, entertaining them, and loving them, we will do it somewhere else. Somewhere that we don't own! Somewhere fun. Somewhere beautiful. Somewhere warm. Somewhere together.

There won't be the distraction of alarm clocks, car pools, work emails, meetings, news feeds, the iPad, neighbor kids, or chores. We will still cook but I won't be mopping, dusting, vacuuming, doing laundry, folding laundry, putting laundry away, making beds, shoveling snow, mowing the lawn, or doing any sort of improvement to our home. We will simply BE TOGETHER and do what we want because nothing but eating (and of course napping) will need to be done. 

3. For fun. Turns out fun isn't a sin after all. Well, some fun is... but we shouldn't be going there.

4. Because we want to. Travel is something we value. I love that in life we all get to make choices. We all get to prioritize our spending and decide what we want to do with the funds God has entrusted to us. Larry Burkett used to say, “Show me your checkbook, and I’ll show you your priorities". Travel is a priority for Brian and I, so we PLAN to spend money on it. Some people PLAN to spend money paying interest.  Some people plan to spend money on really nice furniture. I may plan for that in 10 years but for now every piece of furniture I own has been destroyed by a sling shot, hammer,  markers, pens, food, water, dirt, mud, jumping- you name it. So instead of a new living room  ..... Ill take a trip. 

5. To see the sun. Again, we live in a snow globe people. The sky is WHITE here, not blue. It is the end of a long, cold winter and I want to see the sun and the blue sky for more than 1 hour every 6 days. 

6. For memories. We only have an allotted amount of time before these kids are grown and gone. Now is the time. 

I loved vacations growing up.  I love those memories and no one can take those away. Sometimes they were big trips to California but a lot of times they were smaller and just to Texas.  We have spent our fare share of vacation time camping in South Dakota and I am sure we will continue to. Vacations don't have to be far or fancy to encompass all of the above. 

 I expected the transition to four kids to perhaps over take me. It has been great for the first couple of months, but it's getting harder. When babies first come home all they do is sleep and eat.  Now they have awake time (which is sooo fun) but its a lot more work. Eventually babies don't just fall asleep anywhere... or even in their car seats. Eventually your life revolves around nap time at home, three nap times EVERY single day!

As an added bonus, we are meeting my parents in Orlando. They need a break too and it will be sooo much fun to "break" together. Plus, I'm not pregnant. Pregnancy sorta taints vacations because your body isn't your own and you are all tired and stuff. Not now, my body is mostly mine and in fine working condition, thank you Lord!

So.... Take a vacation. Make a vacation. It can be 100 miles away or 3,000. As long as it doesn't follow you home on your credit card, I am confident that you and your kids won't regret it!