A Real Vacation!

We have had the best summer in years.  There were no major surgeries and not many doctors appointments.  We have spent most of the summer resting, playing, swimming and doing inexpensive or free outings with the children.   It has been most rejuvenating and relaxing!

The most exciting part of summer this year is that...Praise God!!!..we were able to go on our first real vacation in five years!  We saved our money carefully over the last many months and had a few kind and generous donations from people.  May God bless them 100 fold!

I can not tell you how much planning and preparing it takes to go anywhere, with our crew, especially on vacation.  We have so much that we need to bring for each child and their special needs.  We also travel with several companion/therapy dogs, so we have to bring everything they need as well. 

Then there is making sure we have people all lined up to come to the farm and take care of our many animals.  It took three people, coming daily, to care for all our animals, from doing the milking to feeding the fish.  My most heartfelt thank yous to my dad, who stood patiently out in the field feeding a very old, slow eating pony, twice a day.   To my neighbor, who came and bottle fed two baby goats every evening.  To our dear friend "J", who came and spent two hours a day here, doing everything from milking,, to picking vegetables to gathering eggs, to misting lizards!  Each person refused any payment at all, though I persisted and insisted.  May God bless them abundantly for their kindness and donations of their efforts and time.  I am so grateful that everything came together so smoothly and all went so well.  All the glory to God!  Amen!

We packed up, loaded the bus and headed on our way to Jekyll Island.  Even though we drive a bus as our normal daily vehicle and you would think we had a lot of room, it was packed to the gills.  We made great time and got to our destination in about six and a half hours.  We rented a house for a week so we could have a kitchen and plenty of room for all.   It was also the most economical way for us.  It was all one level, great for Antonio and his wheel chair.  It allowed dogs and had a very nice yard.  William took his dog for long walks around the neighborhood almost every day.

 

The older children had been to the beach before.  I loved hearing them plan and prepare for their trip.

They had the greatest time.

The younger children were so much fun to watch because they had never been to the beach, seeing the wonder and fun they had, as they jumped in the waves, sunk in the sand and played was just precious.

We spent every morning but one on the beach till lunch time.  Some of my children burn very easily, so I tried to not have them out in the hottest part of the day.

In the afternoons, Tim watched the littles while they rested and I would take the older children down to the beach to spend time doing whatever they wanted, without having to help keep an eye on little ones.

We brought Antonio's old stroller with us for use on the beach.  We learned from past vacations not to take his good wheel chair on the beach, as the salt water rust its parts very quickly.

Tim and I would take walks on the beach alone in the evenings, once the little ones were in bed.  The older children would play games and watch movies, in the evenings and hold the fort for us.  :)

We did a few fun things while in the area.  We took the children to the local water park one day.
There was a huge bucket of water that would fill and dump every few minutes in the baby park area.  It was a great hit for our crew.

Tim and I stayed in the baby park with Antonio and the littles and the older children stayed together, as a group and went on all the water slides all over the park.  They would check in with us every once in a while.  We took the little ones home at lunch and left the older kids there for the rest of the day.

Antonio was in the midst of one of his bad spells while we were on vacation.  Weeks of emotional and physiological issues.  I was however able to capture a few pictures of him with a smile.  I took about 30 pictures to finally get a smile like this.

Antonio loves reptiles so we took him and the whole family to the turtle sanctuary.  They do surgery on and rehab injured and sick sea turtles there.  He was showing off his shirt he got there in the above picture.

We went to a playground on a nearby island several times while on vacation.

Some of the older children climbed to the top of the light house nearby.

It was a fun and relaxing vacation that we will never forget!  Thank you God and all that help to make this possible!

James 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Blessings!
susan