September 11-15, 2009

I can't remember when it was decided, but a girlfriend announced that we were going on a road trip and the road we were taking would lead us to the beach in Gulf Shores. We discussed dates and I threw a suggestion out there about weekdays being better than the weekend. However, I'm the only person who's schedule works that way. My friend landed on the weekend of September 12 and 13. I had little hope of it working out for me to go but did tell Bobby about the "mommy trip" and explained that I understood if he didn't want me to go. But what Bobby said was, "we could probably make that work." I was so surprised and very excited. We did work out the details that went like this:

Friday morning, September 11th, I would drive the car to the church where two friends would pick me up. (Sorry about being so vague. Names have been withheld to protect the innocent.) On Saturday evening, Bobby and the children would drive the van to the church and attend services. Following church services, Mr. Pat and his wife, Mary would abandon their car and take Grace and Faith, in our van and drive to their house, while Bobby, Landis and Hope would take our car home. On Sunday morning Bobby, Landis and Hope would take the car loaded down with guitar, equipment and CDs and drive to Lyles, Tennessee, which is near Dickson. There, they would minister at Wrigley Church of God of Prophecy and Bobby told me later, it was very strange to go sing without half the family. He also said that Landis and Hope did a great job of singing and playing. He had to admit they sound a lot better without Faith. (Oh, poor Faith! Give her a break y'all, she's only 3!) After the service in Lyles, Bobby, Landis and Hope would grab a quick lunch and then meet Mr. Pat, Grace and Faith back at Cornerstone. Mr. Pat would take his car home that he had left there on Saturday evening and Bobby and the children would get in the van and drive home, leaving our car there at the church so that I would have it to drive home on Tuesday evening.

I thought it was pretty good planning and it went very smoothly. Well, everything, that is, except the weather. The plans were to actually lay in the sun and work on my tan. However, you know this rain that's been with us for the past week? Well, it actually started in the gulf states 2 weeks ago and has been with me ever since, except for last weekend when we went to Michigan.

The theme for our weekend was "Expanding Our Borders." I have no idea where that came from but we just started saying it and because we couldn't lay in the sun, we decided to expand our borders and do some shopping. I'm tellin' ya', these girls know how to shop! We only made it as far as Birmingham and had to start shopping. Instead of it taking 7 and a half hours to get to Gulf Shores, it took us closer to 12 hours. We were blessed with 3 free nights at the HI Express in Orange Beach, thanks to my friends' husbands' points earned from his travels. Even with the mist in the air and the lightening in the distance over the gulf, we had a great time of relaxation and some guilt-free self indulgence as we soaked in the hot tub, shopped, took late-night walks on the beach, shopped, ate out, shopped, made sure my friend got her raw oysters, and shopped. Oh, and don't get me started with the texts, tweets, emails and phone calls that caused both of these girls' phones to constantly serenade our trio with cute and funny little diddies. I surrendered to them that they would only hear from my phone (with a more traditional ring) a couple of times a day. I confessed that I must not be as popular nor as outgoing because my phone does not chime and beep and play songs every 20 minutes (or less) like their phones did. Or...maybe I don't care to talk on the phone very much and if I don't make calls, I shouldn't expect to receive calls, right?

On Sunday, the three of us went to Dauphin Island where one of us ministered in music at Dauphin Island Baptist Church. The quickest way to Dauphin Island from Orange Beach, of course is to drive west on 180 and then take the ferry over to the island. It takes close to an hour to get to Dauphin Island going that way. However, because the ferry didn't run as early as we needed it, we had to drive north and then west toward Mobile and from Mobile, due south. Going this way required us to leave the hotel much earlier and it took us an hour and a half. But when we got to the island we drove the length of it to see what it was like since only one of us had been there before. Only seven miles long, the island doesn't have much on it but houses, a small restaurant and small grocery, two churches and two gas stations...and of course, the ferry.

We were introduced to Pastor Chris Schansberg and his wife, Lee. This is a talented young couple with three beautiful kids. There was a good-sized group that met for Sunday School, which was led by Mrs. Lee, and then the sanctuary was nearly full for the church service and after one of us threw down, Pastor Chris preached a great sermon.

After the service, we were treated to lunch and was able to visit with the Schansbergs to a greater extent. I was especially priviliged to sit near daughters, Sarah and Katie and learned many things, like, what a Webkinz was. You let the children talk and you can learn a lot.



That evening as we went back to some serious business of relaxation, the sun somehow broke through the clouds and we saw the most beautiful rainbow. It was too late in the day to lay out but we were delighted to catch a few rays and feel a little hope in our hearts.

As I said, we had three nights at the HI Express but we had planned our "mommy weekend" to include a fourth night away. Instead of staying on the beach (it was still raining, you know...and besides, we had pretty much shopped in every store) we decided to see what kind of damage we could do in Mobile. We packed up and moved up to the big city and began poking our shopping noses into new and unexplored regions. We wasted no time. We only stopped shopping to get a quick dinner and then shopped some more, never quitting until closing time. That wasn't so relaxing to me but it was fun and I enjoyed not looking after anyone but me.

We shopped so much that we almost shopped ourselves out of our car. Once we got into our hotel room on that last night, major moves of consolidation were made as we combined our treasures into fewer bags and smaller spaces. Still, when the car was loaded the following morning, we could not see through the rear view mirror. Yes, the car was stuffed to the gills.

We made it home in very good time and thanked each other for such a great time away. I was welcomed home with screams, hugs, kisses and cards. There's a tiny bit of temptation that comes when considering leaving my family for 5 days to fend for themselves (I did cook their dinners for them and write their school assignments ahead of time) but I'm reassured that I did the right thing when we're so happy to see each other again. Writing this post 2 weeks after the event, I can tell you that an observation I made after my "mommy weekend," was that this time that Bobby spent with the children really suited him well. I admit that I expected Bobby to tell me as soon as I walked in the door that he needed to get out and go...to the gas station...anywhere...just AWAY. I figured he'd be stir crazy. But instead, I saw a much more patient and loving daddy. Isn't that something? Perhaps not only did I need some time away from the kids, but perhaps spending some time with the kids was exactly what Bobby (and the kids) needed. And by the way, Bobby, Landis and Hope had a great service in Lyles, Tennessee that Sunday. Bobby told me that Landis and Hope sang beautifully, and that even though my 10-15 minutes of the service didn't happen, he transitioned through that and it went very smoothly. Of COURSE it did. He's a PRO! He doesn't NEED me to do what he's doing. We all just work together to enhance and compliment what each other does. Our goal is to work together to bring glory to God.