Wastelands

Title: Wastelands

Author: Elisabeth Elliot


There are dry, fruitless, lonely places in each of our lives, where we seem to travel alone, sometimes feeling as though we must surely have lost the way. What am I doing here? How did this happen? Lord, get me out of this!

He does not get us out. Not when we ask for it, at any rate, because it was He all along who brought us to this place. He has been here before--it is no wilderness to Him, and He walks with us. There are things to be seen and learned in these apparent wastelands which cannot be seen and learned in the "city"--in places of comfort, convenience, and company.

God does not intend to make it no wasteland. He intends rather to keep us--to hold us with his strength, to sustain us with his sure words--in a place where there is nothing else we can count on.

"God did not guide them by the road towards the Philistines, although that was the shortest...God made them go round by way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea" (Ex 13:17,18 NEB).

Imagine what Israel and all of us who worship Israel's God would have missed if they had gone by the short route--the thrilling story of the deliverance from Egypt's chariots when the sea was rolled back. Let's not ask for shortcuts. Let's keep alert for the wonders our Guide will show us in the wilderness.

Vacation Day 2

So we didn't make it very far north after our first stop of the trip. We found ourselves checked into a Days Inn in Richmond Hills Georgia.
Yep broken down in Georgia, that's where we found ourselves.
I'm not really in a writing mood this morning but I wanted to get our pics posted.
We made the best of our vacation changes.
Here was the view from our hotel:

We ate at Waffle House, twice in a 24 hour period of time; while this was pure joy for Steve and Justin I think it certainly should be illegal in some states.

Vaughan's brilliant wife suggested he download a Mad Libs app. We played some Mad Libs!

We cheered up the overworked staff.

We enjoyed each other.

Here's what the day looked like when we weren't eating at Waffle House. We spent it in this room. If any reason to not have cable television, or satellite for that matter, is for vacation days in a hotel room- add some cable and our family is happy.

Getting the car fixed by a mobile mechanic in a gas station parking lot. Good times right here.

Stopped at America's Smallest Church so Justin and Uncle Jim could check it out, yes Uncle Jim made his way to us but that's another story.

So our family vacation 2010 was a 440 miles, 36 hour vacation for us. Good times.

Well, I did pout when we returned home and Steve went right back to work. And I did pout because it's what I do best when things don't go my way.

I did pout but eventually God changed my heart and I spent some good, quality, time alone on the beach.

Happy summer!

Vacation Day One

We pulled out of our yard around 9:30am to head to New Hampshire for our first road trip since 2004 and family vacation since 2006.
We almost had a stowaway.

I started out driving and the kids settled into the back seat.

Then, it happened. We pulled over for our first gas/bathroom/food stop when a small river flooded the ground under our car. We opened the hood and steam poured out just like in a movies. After further investigating we added coolant and then headed back out headed north unsure of the seriousness of our issue.

We didn't make it 2 miles before my fancy-shmancy Cadillac began to tell me the engine was too hot and I needed to idle the engine. I made it to an overpass where I pulled over to keep us out of the 110 degree heat index outside.

Again steam rolled it's way out from under the hood of our car.

Steve got out and checked whatever he checks and I encouraged the boys to get out and hang out up under the overpass. I mean how often do you get a chance to spend hours under an overpass? In our case it had been since 2004 when we were on our last family road trip and found ourselves broken down under an overpass, but that is another story.

We weren't on the side of the road but a few minutes before a State Trooper, who had pulled someone in the southbound lane over, crossed the median and asked if we needed help.

He then gave Steve a ride to not 1 but 2 auto parts stores so he could purchase the parts we needed for the car.

Meanwhile the boys and I spent our our taking pictures and watching the excitement that happens on the side of the interstate in Georgia.

I gotta be honest my mindset started off pretty positive. I was fine with where we were at, enjoying the here and now, but then somehow I let my mind go and I began to feel sorry for myself.

I couldn't believe we had not been away as a family in years and this is where we ended up just 220 miles from home. My husband who works incredibly hard was now spending his first day off in almost a year, working on the mechanics of our car. I sent out frantic texts asking for prayer. I eventually settled back into a rational mindset.

Then after being on the side of the road for over 2 hours we pulled back out into the northbound lane until....

People Working and My Hair

Random stuff:
Here's my friend Mary who just got a job! One day we'll all go to concerts that she has organized, until then: let us all eat chicken.
Here's the best looking kid at Chick-fil-A

Here's my head partially taken out of cornrows.

I really do love this style for me!!