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Here are the little elves after celebrating Kaia's 6th birthday with a Christmas themed party(top-bottom: Doodle, Mator, Muffin, Merek, Kaia):
The spa at the hot springs- The five of us in one tub along with my parents and Aunt Susie. They heated the spring water to about 102 degrees:
Outside the spa were the actual "hot" springs including this one where our first President liked to come and bathe:
The springs were channeled through these canals for the public to play in. Here the girls were fishing for minnows and craw-dads.
There were several factors that contributed to our decision. First, we talked to some ladies who had done that part of the river and they hadn’t even gotten wet. Also, although they highly recommended that we not take that part of the river, the company did not prohibit it. I think what did it for me was the fact that I tend to be a pretty…hmmmm…what’s the opposite of conservative parenting? I’m the one who rolls my eyes (out of sight of the kids) when someone tells me my child is too small (by 1”) to ride a ride. I don’t let my child’s tears get them out of doing something they’re afraid of. When their swim coach gives them a hard time, I don’t speak ill of her, I simply tell them that is her job and it is my job to tell them how great they are doing. I stopped cutting the hotdogs into fingernail sized bites when they were 18 months. I am someone who does NOT want the merry-go-round removed from the playground because someone COULD break their arm on it. What's one broken arm compared to thousands of fun rides? In other words, I don’t want my kids to have irrational fears of this world so I make my decisions that way. This time, we were wrong.
We entered the river at a very calm point and decided that until we had a good grasp on what to expect, I would tie Muffin up to me and carry Mator and Andy would tie Doodle up to him. The first set of rapids was fun but Muffin was nervous. The second set of rapids were tough. Muffin bounced out of her tube and I grabbed her life jacket. But as I held her for that split second, I knew that I was holding her down in the rocks and rapids and if I let go, she would simply float the twenty yards down the river to the slow current where we would catch up with her. But there was no time to explain that to her. And as she floated away from me, her terrified screams were heard by all the campers on the side of the river who were watching. They were also heard by a young lady (probably 11 or 12) who was swimming in the river, looking for her dad’s glasses. She grabbed Muffin and pulled her to the side. Andy got to her first and heard the young lady's comforting voice calming Muffin, “Is that your dad? Here he comes. He’ll be right here.”
The adults nearby came down to check on her and noticed that her shoulder was scraped up pretty good. It turned out that it was a group of Boy Scouts that were camping and, naturally, they were prepared. I left Mator with Andy on the side and followed Muffin up to the camp where a U-Haul trailer was filled with medical supplies. They cleaned her up and sprayed a liquid bandage on it. As we climbed back into the rafts, I yelled up to them a final thank you and said, “You were an answer to a prayer I didn’t even know I had to pray!” Needless to say, Muffin was not excited about getting back on the river but we were assured that we had gotten through the roughest part. There really was no choice but to continue to the exit of the river because our only other choice was to walk down the road to the business where we had started and we had no idea how far that was.
So we continued down the river and I was beginning to second guess the choice we had made. The next set of rapids surprised me. I reached over to try and steady Muffin and calm her and then hit a rock with my tube. I fell out of the tube and Mator went with me. The next 45 seconds were a blur for me. I grabbed Mator’s life jacket with one hand and the tube with the other. I kept going under but everytime I came back up I could hear Mator and Muffin screaming. When I pulled Mator close to me, the current pushed me over her, forcing her into the rocks below us. So I pushed her away from me, still holding onto her jacket all the while trying to roll over the tube because it was upside down. I saw my sister in law down the river and wondered if I let go of Mator if she would be able to grab her. Finally the river calmed and my brother had floated up next to us. I threw Mator up onto his lap and she quietly shuddered. I pulled myself onto the tube and looked at Mator. I thought that her leg was broken. From her knee down were gashes in her leg and it looked limp. Muffin was just terrified. We made our way to the side and saw that the river exit for another company (River Rat) was right there.
At the same time, Andy and my dad’s tubes had all but completely deflated and were worthless on the river. I took Mator and Muffin out of the river and gave the others our tubes. We walked up to the River Rat (the other company) exit and I was a little nervous to find that they were closed. So we went to a campground next door and they volunteered to call our company for a ride back. By this time I knew that Mator’s leg was not broken and both she and Muffin were in good spirits, happy to be out of the river. As we waited for the ride, we talked to the campground owner who told us, basically, you get what you pay for. Our deflated rafts were one thing, but she said that the other company would never have allowed kids as young as Mator (and probably not even Muffin) to go on that part of the river since a recent rain had really swelled the river. I don’t blame River Rage, ultimately it was our decision. And it was a bad one. But I would recommend paying the extra $5 and going with the other company.
The one funny thing that happened as we were waiting for our ride was Mator. She looked at me and said, “Who was that girl who saved me?” I said, “That was me, honey”. “OHHHH! I wanted that girl to save me!” She was mad because she wanted the girl who had pulled Muffin out of the river to save her too!
Now, having put it all down for the world to see, maybe someday, I'll close my eyes and not see the river rolling in front of me, see my child floating away and hear her screams and feel completely helpless and guilty at the same time. 
And what a week! Our house was huge, 8 bedrooms, 4 floors-and we used every bit of it with the 16 of us. The indoor pool was freezing the first couple days and then they figured out the heater and it was amazing.I’m waiting. I’m waiting on you Lord and I am peaceful.
I’m waiting on you Lord, though it’s not easy
But faithfully, I will wait. Yes I will wait.
I will serve You while I’m waiting; I will worship while I’m waiting.
When June 30 passed, so did our window of opportunity to travel overseas next year with the Department of Defense. They can still hire through August but for us, we need to know earlier to make plans for our house, Andy’s leave of absence from LHS, pack, etc. So we wait. The beginning of this story is here.
So is it disappointing? Not to me. There is a relief in knowing where we will be for the next year and being able to make plans accordingly. There is no question to us whether the Lord has laid these plans upon our hearts so I am at peace that it will happen in His time. I’m even a little bit excited to find out what plans He has for us here that He wanted us to stay (at least) another year!
We have to acknowledge that there haven't been many times in our adult lives where we've had a desire for something and had to wait for it. At least not something that we believed was worthy and of the Lord. At one point, we were ready for a second child and we had to wait 5 months for that to happen. That seemed like forever but I knew even then that God has a purpose to His timing. I've learned that so many times in my life. In some of those cases, the hurting or sadness of having to wait was still there but numbed by a knowledge both in my heart and head that God is Sovereign. So, this exercise of waiting another year is nothing but good for us and as we look ahead to this coming year I know these words will continue to be in my head...
"I will serve you while I'm waiting, I will worship while I'm waiting..."
And just because I find it difficult to post without a picture:
I took this in Cosby, TN while on a hike through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was looking back into the old growth forest where some of the trees are hundreds of years old. I guess that is a lesson in waiting.
I grew up at Buckeye Lake (well, not literally but I spent A LOT of time there) and had many years of sailing camp-some fun, some not. It is a very long day (9-4) and being an introvert, it was exhausting for me. Plus I usually didn’t know anyone very well and it always seemed like everyone else knew each other. Really, all kinds of camps were a pain for me. I was always anxious to get back home. So I was really hopeful that things would work out for Muffin because she is a lot like me. The weather was great except for one day and having so many friends there seemed to make the difference because on Thursday when I told her, “Don’t worry, we still have one more day!” She replied, “What?!! It is only ONE week?”
Here she is getting an Opti ready to sail. She is putting in the centerboard.
Here she is sailing with one of the instructors. It was a very windy day so she ended up being one of only a few to take the tiller. Most of the other kids just went out with their instructor at the tiller.
Here she is with my cousin's daughter, Olivia. She even stayed at our house for a few nights during the week and the girls had a ball together.
Some days, while Muffin was out on the lake, the rest of us would hang out at the Yacht Club pool. Here is Mator making herself at home with someone's sun glasses!
Way back in June, Muffin was baptized at our church. At our church, baptism is an outward symbol of faithfulness (Matthew 28:19- "Go and make disciples...baptizing them..") and a testimony to others about your faith. Muffin has asked for about a year and a half to do this but her new confession of faith made it the right time.
