My weekend was supposed to be about getting away and relaxing…

leaving all the stress (including the stupid computer and cell phones at home) and spending time with friends, family, and most importantly God…

I had it all planned out…

I was finishing my work at noon…

I was packing until 2:30…

When my children got off the bus we were leaving and we’d be at the lake by four… at the latest…

yeah… right…

I didn’t finish working until 1:30… shelly went and did my grocery shopping for me…

the kids got home at 2:30 but I wasn’t ready…

they didn’t want to help…

I lost my cool… they were mad at me… shelly was trying to be very consoling for me and we finally rolled out of here at 4pm…

We got to the lake at 5…

Off everyone went and there I stood to set up camp..

by myself….

now, most of the time I enjoy my singleness…

I like being alone… i embrace it… i don’t have to deal with a bunch of crap…

the downside? no sex… and having to set up camp all by myself…

A few people skirted in and out and helped here and there with the tents.. but who would want to walk all the way up to my site… and i wasn’t close because I didn’t leave until late..

Cue pity party music….

the dog came with us… she wasn’t supposed to… but we had a little mishap last week with the normal dogsitter and I didn’t ask again…

and that shouldn’t be a big deal because Rhoda is FANTABULOUS when she’s camping… i have an awesome dog….

So I’m working on setting up… and every one tells me it’s time to eat (we had one central point for eating with the 9 families there)… but I was hot… I didn’t want to eat… I wanted to get set up before dark…

I finally get set up.. and I’m just not feeling like I found my groove with everything… oh the pity party was bad… there were tears and everything…

i gathered myself together and went to help another gal from church set up… she was there with her boys sans hubby and i knew that she didn’t camp often and i helped her… that made me feel better…

but we heard something in the woods…

it was Rhoda.. she’d gotten loose… so I sent matthew up to get her collar and he goes, “mom… it’s broken…”

so we rigged something and made it work for the night… i was determined to have a better day on Saturday and went to bed…

Unfortunately, I didn’t determine hard enough because Saturday was filled with more tears… I did go to Wal-Mart and bought two dog collars… a pretty pink one with rhinestones and a hunting dog collar… blaze orange.. i’m not sure why, but I did…

when i got back we took the kids to the lake to swim and I sat with the dog.. they were having a grand time and I sat to think… about what?

everything… some happy things and some sad things… some that were both…

for example, i was with my favorite people and that made me happy… but i just wasn’t right…. i kept trying to pin point the problem… the devotion that morning around the campfire was about how God can pick us up from the chickens and make us fly with Eagles and about surrounding ourselves with like minded Christians…

I was doing that… so why was I so sad? Why couldn’t I get out the events of last year’s Labor Day weekend? When I told the man that I loved to leave? I’m sure that had something to do with it…

I’m glad that I did… it was a bad relationship for both the kids and I… and I’m much better off with the new people that I hang with… and I love my church that I didn’t have when I was with him… I guess it wasn’t a matter of missing him as it was so much of missing someone…

We had a lot of good camping memories… but I digress…

Later on that evening… our devotion was about how no matter how big of a mess we are, God loves us… well I lost it… and then I felt Myra’s hands on my shoulders… she knew… (Myra and I are the single gals in our group… we stick together)

A little later, when I went up to light my lantern, it blew up… it was the latern that I camped with as a kid… it was old… I got Dad’s money out of it and then some… but I was without light… Pastor Man loaned me one of his and I left the dog tied up at Myra site to go and get changed.. when I came back Myra told me that Rhoda saw a critter in the woods and took off… BREAKING HER NEW BLING COLLAR!!!!!!!

What else could go wrong? Geez… Thank goodness I had bought another one…

We made s’mores… and I made my famous Reeses Peanut Butter Smores… I made one for everyone before i made one for myself… and when I ate it, it was heaven… and something changed… because from then on… life was good… I was back to being me… I was social again, and laughing… and boy did I laugh…

We had such a good time.. Myra and I went on a hike… and boy am I sore… we went back to the lake and Miss Laura watched my kids in the water while Myra and I played cards on the lawn while sitting with the dog and we treated ourselves to ice cream… we ate, we laughed.. and after dinner… we all sat and made pies in the fire an played cards and laughed some more…

it was good to be back…

My lesson this weekend was loud and clear… I’m with the people who raise me up… I’m with the people that I love… and it doesn’t matter what goes wrong… everything is going to be okay…I just have to have a little faith…

I am kinda bummed that it took me so long to get over myself… but I’m so glad that I didn’t pack up and go home Sunday morning like I was debating about…

And as I packed up today by myself I started to get bummed but quickly snapped out of it.. and then Pastor Man came up to help me and we chatted a bit…he’s a smart man…

Then after everyone else left, a few of us sat around and roasted one last hot dog on the grill… prolonging the inevitable… coming back into the real world….

but we’re home… and I drew just a little closer to God this weekend and some others at my church that I wouldn’t have gotten to know had I not gone.. and that was good…

and pictures? just a few…

Here’s Myra, Jason and I playing cards…. we’re playing go fish… yes… we’re all adults…

And there’s Miss Laura with Hannah and Samara.. she was so great with all the kids (guess that’s why she’s our youth leader….)

And there’s the lake… and all the people swimming… somewhere out there, you’ll find my kids…

I’m glad that I went… I did have fun… Laura talked about taking the teens one more time before the end of the summer and I’m ready…

Just need to tackle this laundry first….

Until next time…

Heather

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