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Vincent Vacation, The Grandeur and The Fear

June 16, 2015 by Gindi 2 Comments

Our introduction to Yosemite National Park was an early June afternoon at the northern Tioga Pass which only opens in late May because of snow.

As soon as we passed through the park entrance gates, snow began to fall. The kids have never seen snow since it’s not snowed in Houston since they were two months old. We pulled over so they could catch a few flakes on their tongue. The next day in the Valley it was 100 degrees.

Such is the grandeur and unpredictability of Yosemite.

El Capitan greeted us at first view when we drove in Sunday morning:

We ate on the Merced beach across from El Capitan’s trail with the rain beginning to fall:

We drove past the tiered Yosemite Falls on one side and Bridalveil Falls on the other:

At the top of Tunnel View we could see most of the Valley spread before us – from Half Dome to the falls to El Capitan with glimpses of Cathedral Rock and Three Brothers:

The wildness is breathtaking. Spectacular. Extraordinary. It’s also a little bit terrifying. The hairpin turns around mountain ranges with no rail or views beyond the next curve. The warnings of roaming bears and coyotes.

Truth be told, I’ve been scared by a lot lately. News reports are chilling. Headlines from Nigeria to our backyard have set me on edge.

I was acutely aware of my growing fear in the wilderness. I stood guard over the family picnicking by the Merced in case of a wandering bear (despite my husband’s chuckling that no person in recorded history has been killed by a bear in Yosemite). I gripped the door handle and pressed my foot on the invisible passenger brakes as he slowly inched up the mountain’s edge. I packed extra food and drinks in case of weather or misdirection.

Yet everything was beyond my control.

So much in my life is. Funny, those are the things I worry about.

I shared what I began to see about my fear out there in the wild with a dear friend, and she wisely remarked, It sounds like you are afraid of the big. But it’s in the bigness of God that we also find safety.

Sigh.

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.
As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God:
God makes her secure forever. Psalm 48

This wasn’t the vacation post I’d set out to write about the grandeur of Yosemite. There are plenty of words to fill a page to share the beauty of each nook and cranny. Not just the mountains and the waterfalls, but the flowers and the rocks and the dappled light through the trees.

I would have done them all injustice, but I could have easily written that post.

But I wondered if maybe there’s not someone else struggling with fear over the big. Fear which could easily take over even though it’s everything beyond our control.

I found tremendous peace in remembering the bigness of my God is the antidote to the bigness of my fear. {==> Click to Tweet}

You see, the God of all this grandeur, isn’t about fear; this extraordinary God is about extraordinary love. And as big and unpredictable as life, and my fears, are, He is bigger:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I Tim. 1:7

God is love… There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. I John 4:7

He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day…
Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways. Psalm 91

I know it’s scary when we can’t see around the corner, but He can, and He’s there.

Weekend Update

May 10, 2015 by Gindi Leave a Comment

We lucked into a weekend away at the Horseshoe Bay Resort in the Texas Hill Country.

While I was exhausted going up on Friday (my 5 am flight in from Minneapolis was killer), Saturday was perfect.

I’m only now learning something about traveling with my kids. I think I’m late to the game because we rarely take the kids anywhere besides the farm and the ranch. It takes 24 hours to get to bliss.

Have you parents found this? The travel is painful. The adjustment can be brutal as well.

We drove four hours straight and arrived at the resort for a late lunch. The kids were bouncing off the walls after being cooped up. And they’re past naps but still get tired, so they were cranky. By the time we arrived for the group dinner, Bray and I were both rethinking our summer vacation plans. If we can’t survive 24 hours away with the trio, then how will we survive a week?

But Saturday morning arrived! Everyone slept well Friday night and awoke ready to explore and swim. Despite the gloomy forecast, it never did rain, and the sun even beamed its lovely rays all Saturday afternoon.

Saturday was bliss.

After a big breakfast, we all five settled in down at the pool which was empty at such an early hour (they are EARLY risers). They ran from big pool to splash pool to hot tub without taking a breath. The boys decided to head down to the marina and rent a jet ski while little bit and I hung out with a girlfriend of mine for a few more hours until it was time to eat yet again…

The boys bounded into lunch with tall tales of speeding jet skis and near misses, and everyone’s words and laughter jumbled over each other’s. Then miracles of miracles, all FIVE of us napped. I am nap resistant. Naps theoretically sound amazing, but I never can sleep in daylight. And the kids have long passed naps. But we were all sundrained and found an early afternoon two hours to recharge. Ahhhhhhhh. (When was the last time you napped? It IS all it’s cracked up to be.)

Then little bit and I went down to the beach where we met up with a newfound friend of hers, the seven year old daughter of a friend of mine. Then of course more swimming. Oh yes we did live at the pool Saturday. The boys, on the other hand, couldn’t resist another hour on the jet skis. This time the lake was more crowded and Bray was a little more nervous, but all survived in one piece and ready to join us swimming.

In the evening, the event planner brought in “kid care center” workers and activities for dinner which meant the kids were all occupied with lots of fun projects while the grown ups actually got to sit down, have a drink, and catch up with one another.

The five of us wandered down to the beach after dinner to take in the water at twilight.

By bedtime, I’d completely unwound from the manic week. Little bit came in and crinkled up her cute nose to tell me she loved me and to have me help her spell out some words. When I went to get up to grab a pen, she held me at bay and whispered, “they’re writing on your mother’s day card, you can’t go in!!!” Once I made it in to the living area, the baby said, “you’ll never guess what I’m sitting on.” All of them looked like the cat that ate the canary because they were being so stealth in hiding my Mother’s Day card 🙂

This is the best gift ever. Their joy in writing me messages of love and keeping everything hidden for this morning. Our full day together of fun and sun and nowhere to be but with one another. Moments together and apart with no agenda and unexpected sunshine. A wonderful Mother’s Day away.

Just Another Weekend

August 25, 2014 by Gindi Leave a Comment

It came time to sit down and write today’s post. Late Sunday night, I collapsed tired but happy. I exhausted any amount of insight or profundity last week so today you get my weekend report.

1. My younger brother came to town.

My hubby was out-of-town, so my mom and my brother stayed at our house with me and the kids this weekend. My parents divorced when I was 12 and my brother was 8 which meant it was just us three musketeers for a really long time (I didn’t marry until I was in my 30s and he’s still single). So it was such fun to have the three of us under one roof again.

We kind of felt like we were on a mini vacation. Mom and I wore shorts and not a stitch of makeup. We ate Mexican food (poor boy lives in Oklahoma where you just can’t get the Tex-Mex he was raised on). We lived in the pool and met several rescue dogs.

Which takes me to the #2 on my weekend recap.

2. We adopted a dog.

Yes, we did that. Don’t tell me we’re crazy. It’s done. The kids love animals, no one more than little bit. She loves all animals big and small and they’ve all been begging for a dog for well over a year. So we started investigating rescues. Different groups and different breeds and all this crazy stuff I never did before I had kids and just took whatever rescue mutt needed it. After all that, we ended up with the very first dog we meet weekend before last. The kids loved her so much, and kept talking about her even after we met other sweet dogs.

No, I don’t have any pictures because she’s being fixed today and we can pick her up tonight. She’ll probably be my Wordless Wednesday. And no, we don’t have a name. Her shelter name is Sapphire. That sounds like a stripper to me so I think she needs a new name. The eldest selected Boots (or Freckles) which completely suit her. I’m fully on board. However, the other two want to stick with Sapphire. Except for the possibility Little Bit has of Dandelion which feels a little complicated to me. We’ll see. This may be the only blog post you get out of me this week.

3. We laughed a lot.

We just laughed. And laughed. And laughed. We had a play date with a school best friend and the kids laughed so hard I thought they’d fall over.

The kids adore my brother so much that they just laughed at everything he did and followed him around like puppies. His shoulder will never be the same. We laughed at all the dogs that visited and the funny things they did. We laughed about silly names and we laughed when we all tickled each other and we laughed at our funny homework assignment.

I loved all the laughing.

Hope you all had a weekend full of family and dogs and laughter too.