vacation pics

We originally went to Arkansas last week to celebrate with my family at my cousin's wedding.  It was such a sweet occasion.  They were married outside at her parent's house, right on the lake.  The girls were barefoot, and the guys entered by boat.  The bride and groom are both professional musicians, so instead of a first dance they sang us a first song.  We ate fried fish and took sunset cruises around the lake.  It was really perfect.

While we were in Arkansas we decided to extend our stay a bit and stayed at a cabin on Lake Catherine, at the state park.

This was a great spot for kids.  The hikes were varied and full of wonder!  On one 2 mile hike we saw creeks, waterfalls, crawdads, tadpoles, fallen trees, turquoise dragonflies, and huge boulders.  Buddy kept saying that it was his favorite hike "ever"!  It really was great!

We also rented a boat for the morning and let the kids do some fishing.  We didn't catch anything, but they both enjoyed getting a chance to steer the boat.  A first for both of them!

This is what we saw every night right off of our back porch.

And first thing every morning...

The kids have decided that we should live on a lake.  

I'm game!

home again

We just returned from our trip to the lake.  We stayed in a small cabin, right on the water and had all sorts of fun!
We hiked to a water fall, boated, fished, S'mored, and swam.  We spent every moment that we could outside squeezing every bit of beauty out of the day.

And this is where it gets good...
It was just a few months ago that I couldn't get through laundry without really having to push myself.  That reading aloud to the kids was cause for rest time on the couch.  I'd watch a movie and a travel scene would come on and I'd wonder "am I ever going to have the energy to travel again?".
You better believe that every minute of our trip, I stood in wonder of the healing that has taken place in my life.  I'd catch myself grinning and I'd whisper to John "I wasn't sure if this was possible".
But it is.  It is possible to recover.  It is possible to move forward.  It is possible to sit in a season of illness and then be better.
Even in my darkest moments, my moments of doubting that healing could emerge, I could feel that whisper in my soul- when I'd ask "will I ever be able to hike with my kids again?", I could feel the whisper of "yes".  It truly was always there.  I just had to bend in to hear it.  Not into myself- but into the heart of Jehovah Rapha- the God who heals.