The good, bad and ugly

There are a few things parents should know about traveling with more than one kid. First, it's never as fun as it seems in your head. Two, everything takes about 4 times longer than it does at home. Three, it's imperative that you prepare for the worst.

Friday, January 29 Craig, Steph, Lily and Ben took a trip to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for Steph's grandmother's funeral. We returned Monday afternoon, February 1. Here are the low and highlights of our trip in no particular order.


Lowlights

• We left 30 minutes later than we thought and got to the airport much later than we thought
• When attempting to go through security the TSA gentleman informed us that even though Ben was sitting on Steph's lap he required a boarding pass. Whatever...so Steph and Ben go jogging (seriously, I was hard core running) back to the check-in counter for them to print me a boarding pass. Ben was my "proof" that I needed it.
• Got to the gate as the last folks were boarding and struggled to get the stroller undone for them to store it at the entrance to the plane.
• Steph unknowingly left her new winter coat (Christmas gift from Craig) on the plane...major bummer. We thought at the time that her cell phone was in the pocket of the jacket but later discovered that was not the case.
• Plane landed way late due to storms in Houston and we ALMOST missed our connecting flight. Seriously if it weren't for my Phil & Teds double stroller (shameless plug) we would have been outta luck. We ran folks...and probably looked line baffoons but who cares...
• Didn't eat lunch on Day 1 of travel until almost 4 pm. Ugh.
• Had to wait a good 30 minutes at the car rental place to get them to install the pathetic, albeit functional, carseats we rented.
• Ben slept TERRIBLE almost every night we were there, leaving two sleepy sluggish parents behind in his wake. *Sigh*
• Weather turned colder than one would expect for the deep south. Steph was missing her jacket bigtime!
• Ben almost fell to his death when Craig and Steph made the stellar decision to let him sleep with Steph in their New Orleans hotel room (Craig and Lily in the other bed) that did not have cribs for infants. Despite the pillow mountain that was created the little guy crawled over to the night stand and proceeded to BANG Steph's cell phone on the table so loud that it woke Craig and Lily up. Did Steph wake up? Um, no. Not until Craig yelled her name. Wow. That was close.
• Ben choked and threw up on two different occassions. The first on our way to the viewing and the culprit was a sticker he'd found on one of Lily's toys. Second was crawling on the hotel conference room floor and the culprit was a piece of plastic torn off a plastic bag. Awesome. 
• Parking at the airport was way more since we were running late and couldn't do the economy parking.

Highlights

• Ben and Lily were AMAZING kids on the planes with minimal crying and fussing. And people noticed and mentioned it to us as they breezed past us at the exit.
• Seeing family is always fun for me. 8 aunts and uncles. 16 cousins. 15 second cousins. 
• Pack-n-play was set up in our hotel room when we arrived. Only thing that went well that first day, or so it seemed. Hilton Garden Inn in Hattiesburg rocks my face off. 
• Free made-to-order breakfast every morning that included GRITS. Yippee skippy.
• Donated food for our family on two occasions and a giving family who took us all out to dinner at Mack's on Saturday night.
• The Hilton let our family use their conference room that weekend for FREE. We had ourselves a mini family reunion. 
• Lily and Savannah Chao are BFF. Photos are forthcoming.
• Getting to go to downtown New Orleans on our last night; eating chickoree coffee and beignets at Café Du Monde and then getting to have yummy jumbalaya.
• Getting to the New Orleans airport early enough for our return flight to eat breakfast

So you can see it was healthy mix of good and bad moments. Things that made it easier were the CARES seat belt for Lily we borrowed, the Lori Berkner Band CD we burned for the 2+ hour drive from New Orleans to Hattiesburg, the action figure toys in Lily's bear backpack, and combining my purse and diaper bag into my hefty North Face backpack for easy transportation.


In conclusion, the key to a successful vacation is taking lots of photos that you can laugh at later...or perhaps use as leverage with your kids when they are older. One or the other.

Stepping Back

My children are precious. They will only be young once. And while very cute, they are far from innocent. In fact, despite the very calm looking photos posted here, my children are quite naughty. And seeing as they live with a mom who's got her own share of issues and defects, we're a match made in heaven. I constantly find myself praying, "Lord, help me honor you with how I treat them." "Lord, help Craig and I to raise them to love you with all their hearts." And yet I fail. I fail miserably almost every day.

It occurred to me that perhaps I am too fond of my agenda and less interested in God's. He brings interruption after interruption into my world. And how do I respond? With annoyance. Attitude. Frustration. Tears.

Will I ever learn to step back and see the bigger story unfolding before me? Will I ever see the hurting people around me who need answers to basic questions about faith and life and love? Will I train my children up to be sensitive to the world around them in a way where they can be, as Saint Francis of Assisi says, "instruments of peace"?

We recently returned from a trip to the deep south for my Mamaw's funeral. It was quite sad as so many people will miss her, including me. It was quite joyous since she's with her Maker and pain free. I can only imagine what joy she experiences right now. My dad was blessed to give her eulogy. He did an amazing job. He told funny stories. He told odd stories. He spoke about her love for her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. He spoke of her committment to keeping up with her family so they felt loved. I know I did. I know I could always count on a card from Mamaw with a dollar bill for my birthday. I know she prayed for me. I know she desired to give herself to others unselfishly.

I want to be like that. I want to extend myself to others...to give unreservedly of my time and talents. To love until it hurts. To offer grace through tears of heartache. And only Jesus can help me do that.

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (I Corinthians)