It’s been two years since we have been on a cruise. The last time our extended family went to celebrate my parent’s 50th anniversary. My mother is one of the most non-intrusive easy going people I know, but she made it quite clear to all of us our presence was requested! I’m not a big fan of cruising but we all said yes, all twenty strong of us!! The plans were set a year in advance. I worried and feared for an entire year that Sam would jump off the boat. I actually lost sleep over it!! The time came for us to go and I just prayed that God would help Sam not to jump off the boat. During the second day on the cruise, the kids were with my husband and I heard and announcement “Man overboard!” then came a siren. I was sure this was Sam, my heart sank. Then I quickly realized it was just a drill and no one (including Sam) had jumped off the boat. The rest of the cruise was great!
As we planned for the cruise this time it really didn’t occur to me to worry about anyone jumping off the boat. As we sat in the airport waiting to board our plane bound for Florida (where the boat was leaving from) Steve (my husband) turned to me and told me he has been terribly concerned that my five year old Zachary would jump off the boat! Now anyone who knows Steve knows that there is not too much in this world that Steve worries about. He went on to say that he lost two nights sleep over it. Being the “fixer” my man is we had to develop a plan of what we would do should Zachary jump off the boat! Steve was sure he would jump in after him but worried that Zachary would probably die and then Steve would get eaten by sharks (ugh!!). So there we sat planning for the tragedy. My responsibility would be to throw anything and everything I could overboard so when the rescue people came they would spot all the “stuff” in the water with Steve and Zachary. He told me to throw furniture, clothes, anything at all. I sat there utterly confused wondering if I would have the where-with-all to be able to throw all those things in the water. What if I just go into shock and can’t do anything?? The good news is Zachary did not jump off the boat and I did not have to throw our entire room off the balcony!!
I’ve come to realize cruising is a great way to travel with little ones. It is contained and fairly safe (unless of course someone jumps off). Everything is done for you and moms don’t need to make many decisions at all! The kids love going to the kid’s club, there’s so much for them to do. Emeline entered a talent show contest (right up her alley), Sam entered a Lego competition and his team won (what a thrill for him!), Zachary just flirted with all the cute little girls (Macy was his favorite!). The Formal nights are magical if you are an eight year old girl and painful if you are a seven or five year old boy (and dads too!)
Our first stop was the Island owned by the Cruise Line. The beach is beautiful and the snorkeling is fun. Sam and Steve rented a kayak and paddled up and down the shore line.
Our second stop was St Marteen. Going to an island for nine hours is not much time to get a feel for what it is like but you do the best you can. We rented a private taxi who took us all around the island showing us famous landmarks. We saw how cashews were grown and harvested. They actually sit on top of what looks like a pepper. One cashew per fruit. I now understand why cashews are so expensive. The seas were very rough so going to the beach or snorkeling on St. Marteen was limited. We did a little shopping and then went to a protected beach that was calm for the kids to swim. My favorite memory of St. Marteen was seeing Emeline negotiate at the flea market. She had earned money for the trip and her desire was to spend it on others. She has a special friend Reilly whom she wanted to buy a turtle. The price was $3.00. Emeline only wanted to pay $2.00. I followed behind her as she walked to at least eight tables until she found someone who would sell her the turtle for $2.00. My joy came in seeing my daughter interact with adults respectfully and kindly yet with a goal in mind. Meanwhile the boys were bored to tears with St. Marteen, all they wanted to do is swim. For some reason the driver took us through a nudist colony to check out a beach for us. Thank goodness the kids did not see and we saw minimal NAKEDNESS!!
When we arrived at St. Thomas it was apparent the boys would not fair another day of touring so we “Divided and conquered”. My mom, dad, Emeline and I went shopping and Steve and the boys went to the beach for the day. We met up with them later. My favorite part of the day was seeing Zachary catch his first lizard and then six more!! Life just doesn’t get any better for a five year old boy!!
The rest of the trip was “at sea”. Only two regrets: 1) I forgot to eat ice cream on Wednesday. 2) That Steve didn’t enter the “Sexy legs contest”. He could have won!!
When we arrived back in Florida we arranged to get off the boat early so we could rent a car and go to church (Easter Sunday). Our flight back home was not until late that evening so we had the whole day. Since the boat could not guarantee us to be off early we choose to carry our luggage off ourselves. Now Steve does not do well with a lot of luggage, he sees no need for all the clothes and suitcases. Because the suitcases were so heavy I could not carry or roll them so Steve had four suitcases, I had lots of carry on bags and Emeline wheeled a small suitcase. Steve (remember, he doesn’t get upset about anything) is visibly furious with me over the suitcase crisis. The kids are upset and tired and everyone is screaming at each other. Of course it’s Easter Sunday and we look about as ready to go to church as I don’t know what!! We finally make it off the boat with everyone (especially Steve) huffing and puffing. Meanwhile Steve the “fixit man” has set new rules for our next trip to insure he does not have to go through this again!
We made it to church, Calvary Chapel of Ft. Lauderdale. They had many services yet two were in a near by stadium, so we decided to go to the stadium for church, new experience for sure!! We all did the “Happy Empty Tomb” wave three times, it was a blast!! We were dressed in our bathing suits, shorts and flip flops which made church for the kids extra special. The worship songs were amazing and I could not help but fight back the tears. I’m not a teary eyed person so I was trying to figure out “Why all the tears?” Then I realized it was the power of the Spirit in the midst of the Family of God. As we sang Crown Him With Many Crowns “Crown Him the Lord of Life who triumphed O’er the grave. Who rose victorious to the strife for those He came to save. His glories now we sing who died and rose on high. Who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die”. Being with my family as well as the family of God was the best part of the whole week.
I hope you all had a blessed Easter!!
Sweet Dreams,
Debbie
3 comments:
We are all hysterical at the office. Had your husband considered throwing a life preserver??
It sounds like you had a wonderful adventure and something your children will remember for a long time.
I have always admired the way you incorporate The Lord into every aspect of the children's lives, including shopping at a flea market. I use your line of "be polite and be respectful" (as opposed to 'be good') when I leave my children with others. It emphasizes their responsibilities as Christians, and reminds me of my responsibilities.
Welcome back
All I've got to say is: I feel the same way about suitcases as Steve, and your teary description of the worship song words on Easter brought tears to my eyes too. Maybe I'm just tired, but I don't think so! Thanks for reminding me of what life is all about!
Love, Laurie
Wow. I'm still smiling. As a newly wed (well 5 years is still newish) and as a new dad (1.3 yrs...I don't do that 15 or 16 month thing), your stories inspired me and give me insight on things from a woman's point of view that I don't hear from my wife or maybe I haven't listened hard enough. But I guess it helped me see some things differently and hopefully will help me be a better husband and father.
And the Daddy's in charge one I can definitely identify with and laughed out loud while reading it 3 times. I'm very similar in that I was thinking, "It's never to early to teach kids the important things like driving a skid steer. Who knows when someone will be needed to do that and everyone will be standing around. Well my kids and yours would be able to rush to the rescue :)". Also because of the many things I did as a child that may have been considered dangerous (I didn't know any better sometimes and other times I did but thought I was invisible), I trust that the angels assigned to my children will do their job. It drives my mom and sometimes my wife a bit nuts, but I feel you can't be there to watch them all the time. But God can. I do have to temper that with wisdom, but at the end of the day my responsibility is to train up my children in the way they should go. According to the Word and make sure the Word of God gets in their hearts. If I do that, long after I can no longer make decisions for them, they will make decisions based on God's word. I am a living example of that as that is what my parents did for me. I sometimes call them (my parents) just to thank them for the foundation they gave me. I have no idea how people who don't know God do it. I don't serve him because it is the thing to do or my parents told me to. I serve him because it is the only thing that works and I have tried other things because I thought I knew better. I didn't. Well I digress, but thanks for sharing and you never know who you touch.
Utterly Chaotic, Yet Utterly Ok I think is a picture of what God wants for us. To those around us and even to us sometimes things are crazy. But the closer we get to him, the more we become almost like a bystander looking at our lives. Sure we are living them but we are able to step outside the chaos and look at things through God's eyes and feel through his heart and we realize that what seems like chaos is a carefully orchestrated plan to stretch us and show us that he works all things together for our good. So when we look at situations through those lenses, it is what is God going to do this time...not Oh MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON! Ok I have started to wrap this up 3 times now. I better go:) But again...thanks.
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