Labor Day Weekend - Life Light!

We decided this year that the whole family would attend Life Light this year.  In the past only Beautiful and I have attended. I haven't gone for 3 years (Beautiful has missed 2 years).  Here is a bit about the trip.

First, life has been crazy busy for us lately.  I have been working an extra day a week due to an increased caseload, Beautiful is in her Senior Year and is also taking 2 online college classes, it is "harvest" time for our little garden and fruit trees, my husband hurt his back and can't do as much (and mine has been acting up so I have been really careful), and...home school has resumed:)

I normally work 10 - 12 hour days on Monday and Tuesday, but have been working 1 or 2 more afternoons lately which is affecting the routine at home.  Then I had to figure out how to take a whole day our of our routine to get Grace in for a root canal.  Poor kid.  The root in the tooth that got chipped off during the cheering of the "hail mary" Husker win last year was dying and she was in pain.  So...we spent a day getting that done and doing some shopping.  By the way, did you know that Endodontists ONLY do root canals?  So, if you feel bored in your job, imagine ONLY performing root canals day in and out!  Anyway, while 5 of us did the root canal route which included clothes shopping, my husband took 2 kids to the state fair (we were all in the same town).  Our kid who NEVER gets sick said he didn't feel well so stuck with me as we went home early.  Hmmmm.....

The next day (Thursday) the other kid who never gets sick complained of a headache and vomited.  We were trying to figure out if we were heading to Life Light or not!  We hoped that she just ate too much at the state fair...

Friday we canned all of the apples.  They were already rotting and we knew we would lost a lot more if we waited another week until we had a free day to can again.  My husband had to attend a follow up appointment for his mother and didn't get home until 11.  I was supposed to have all of the apples picked from our trees and be started canning before he got home.  However...it rained almost 2 inches in just over 2 hours that morning...so I saved the apple picking for him;)  He and some kids went out and picked when he got home.  Grace hauled buckets of apples to the house constantly.  It was a great job for her and she did great (she was 100% from her root canal.  She heals quick!)  The rest of us were in the house starting the applesauce process.  We finally got done after 11 p.m.  We had less quarts than usual - only about 75 or so.  But since we haven't used up last year yet it will be fine.

Saturday we headed out to Life Light.  We weren't sure what to do since the forecast called for bad storms on Sunday and there had been a lot of rain Friday night already, and we didn't know if a kid would get sick.  But, we went.  We checked into the hotel and then headed to the grounds.

On the way we picked up Beautiful's boyfriend where he attends college.  I haven't talked too much about him.  I don't like the word "boyfriend."  That implies something very different than the courtship relationship that they have.  "Boyfriend" seems to cheapen how they are carrying on their relationship to something that the world had made to be...I don't know...uncommitted?  Anyway, we call him that for lack of a better word but we think of him as another member of our family, whom we prayerfully expect will be a member of our family one day.  They have been in this relationship almost 2 years and we have loved how they are conducting their relationship with us or with his parents.  They have only been allowed to go anywhere without any chaperones present twice (to public locations).  We are blessed that they don't rebel against these boundaries but actually seem to appreciate them.  But, I really like getting to know him as my daughter gets to know him.  This weekend he pulled a practical joke on her that had all of us in tears laughing.  He is a wonderful young man to deeply loves the Lord...and he is fun.  Anyway, he is usually a fixture at any of our family outings and Life Light was one of them:)

At Life Light the kids loved the music.  By the time we got to Skillet at night - wow.  Grace LOVED how the bass from the music just ran through her body.  She and JJ were dancing up a storm totally into the music.  I couldn't understand a single word the band said...but I guess that isn't the point at a concert;)

Sunday morning we quick ran through Kohls to buy matching shirts for our upcoming family pictures.  We have never done matching outfits before so this will be fun!

Then we went to the worship service - awesome music...followed by the sermon by KEN HAM!!!!!!!!!!!  He was one of the 2 biggest reasons I wanted to go to Life Light.  We have almost all of his videos and many of his books.  We went to the Creation Museum during our Disney World trip in March.  Love his ministry.  Love his speaking.  It was great!

The weather was hot during the day.  We wandered around, sweat, and some of the kids napped on the blankets in the grass.  The mud had dried out so we didn't need boots on Sunday.

In the course of 30ish minutes a bunch of things happened.  I was talking to one of my cousins whom I hadn't seen for 2 years.  My husband and big kids went to get food and look around before the next band.  Grace had to go potty.  There were rows of port-a-potties (the cleanest ones I have ever experienced).  Two banks of them were behind where we were sitting to each side of the entrance/exit.  We were toward the back of the crowd but there were a lot more people behind us.  We sat right on the "alley" between the left and right groups.  That made knowing where we were much easier and the kids could "dance" in the "alley."  Well, Grace had to go potty so I sent her to the port-a-potties that she had gone to many times.  However, I told her to go to the ones on the east side of the entrance instead of the west.  I watched her walk east through the scattered chairs rather than just walk to the back of the crowd and then over.  I thought that was probably a bad idea and would get her disoriented.  My cousin left soon thereafter.  Grace didn't return.  I ran back to find her and couldn't.  I came to our spot and she wasn't there.  I saw Buddy heading to the other bank of port-a-potties so went to get him to sit with the younger kids so I didn't lose them.  I went back to the other row and she wasn't there.  I was wondering where they took lost kids if they found them.  Would I have to head over to Lost and Found (I had found someones cell phone earlier and returned it to that tent so I at least knew where it was)?  Would they announce her name over the loud speakers to 100,000 people...in the middle of a concert?  Had someone taken off with her through the exit?  Then Superman said, "Hey!  Grace is riding on a golf cart!"  Whaaa?  Sure enough, apparently she had come out of the bathrooms and walked straight down the alley like every other time she had gone...but since she was disoriented it was the far east alley and not the central alley.  She stopped at a Pizza Ranch tent and asked for help (she did have my cell phone number on her wristband but no one called it).  They handed her off to volunteer.  And they put her on the golf cart.  I don't know where they were taking her since she didn't know where we were (I am assuming to the Lost and Found tent).  She didn't make a lot of sense when she got back (which is typical- asking her for logical, linear, chronological information is asking for tons of confusion) about what exactly happened.  However, since we were sitting right on the alley and I was standing in the alley looking for her...they found me:)  I started crying and was so relieved when they drove up with her that admittedly I didn't ask them many questions except to find out that she asked for help at the Pizza Ranch.  So, I snuggled up with her so relieved she was found when...

I was soooo excited to hear Big Daddy Weave and Michael W. Smith (the reason other than Ken Ham that I wanted to make this family trip happen).  The band right before them, Remedy Drive, was playing at 5 as we watched the heavy clouds roll in (also while I was searching for Grace).  I had packed up everything earlier and thought we could just brace ourselves under umbrellas if it "rained" on us - after all, I could see the back edge of the storm (eye roll...).  People started to leave.  We didn't.  Then...at 5:15 the sky opened up.  It didn't just rain, it down poured.  I am so glad that I had everything packed up.  We ran and Beautiful (somehow she had showed up during that as I had texted her to come help since Grace was lost - but the men still weren't back) spotted a tent for us to hide under rather than run to the van a long ways away.  We were all dripping wet and soaked through completely.  My husband and Beautiful's boyfriend were still off getting food.  Later we learned that they had headed to the van thinking we would be there...but were too soaked to get in so just got...soaked...  It seemed like it rained at least 1 inch in 20 minutes.  The ground had standing water everywhere and we just sloshed through it.  Life Light is set on a 1/2 mile square farm.  So the concerts are outdoors and the main stage is in a field.  It was ...wet.  After the men sloshed back to us it was a hard decision of what to do next.  We finally agreed to go back to the hotel and get dry clothes on (and warm up) and come back but stay in the van in the back field to listen to the last 2 bands (the ones I wanted to hear...and there would be NO problem hearing the band from the field).

But...we got stuck in the parking lot.  It was downright embarrassing that our 1 ton 12 passenger van couldn't get traction in the wet grass/alfalfa.  God provided an older gentleman with a truck and a towrope within 2 minutes of us realizing we weren't going to get out and he towed us a 1/2 mile -  completely out of the parking lot (field).

That, of course, meant that we couldn't go back for the last 2 concerts as we probably would get stuck again.  I really had to wrestle with God about that one.  I only wanted to come for 2 reasons - Ken Ham and Michael W. Smith.  God reminded me of my constant and innate selfishness and told me to knock it off.  So, we went out to IHOP for supper (which made Buddy VERY happy) and I fell asleep early in one hotel room with the girls while the rest of the kids stayed up later in the other hotel room.  JJ had fallen asleep soon after getting drenched and cold and slept for 3 hours.  I was really worried that he would get sick.  But, he didn't.  He had a restless night of sleeping that kept me occupied.  That wasn't a terrible thing for me as I was awake "wrestling" with God anyway;)

The next day my Dad drove down to see us.  We hadn't seen him since he came with us on our Black Hills trip last September.  We enjoyed a trip to The Falls and got lots of great pictures of him and the kids:)  We went out to eat at a buffet restaurant that he likes.  We always eat there with him as my kids are all so picky with their food that it suits everyone well!

While we were at The Falls the kids were climbing over rocks and such.  You can imagine Grace not slowing down for much.  I told her repeatedly to slow down, not run, and NOT jump over the small pools of water between the rocks.  But...she did...and lost her shoe...when she fell in...  I was a ways ahead of them and watched as she and the older kids tried to find that silly shoe.  I was trying to figure out how we were going to go out to eat with a kid with no shoes!  She kept wanting to reach in one spot and grab it but Beautiful couldn't see the shoe and didn't want her tumbling in and getting her clothes wet so stopped her.  I eventually went back and finally I told Grace I would hang on to her and she could grab her shoe if she thought she knew where it was.  The little goofball reached right in...and came back up with her shoe!!!  It was lodged in the...crud...in the bottom of the pond.  Just another adventure with Grace:)

We drove home and JJ vomited in the car.  He really can't handle much with his stomach and food and gets car sick way too often but usually it is only in the morning.  Anyway, we got home and settled in.

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked all day.  I was so tired lol!  I worked 1/2 a day on Thursday and got lots of other things accomplished.  It was one of those very, very rare days where the kids actually cooperate and we can all click.  I wish there were more days like that...  Friday was back to the frantic "rat in a wheel" that I hate but is the reality of my life.

This weekend I finally felt like, even though I have been very productive, I was able to take a breath again.  I am so thankful for our trip to Life Light even though the week before and after any such "extra" family activities brings me so much extra stress.  It is such a wonderful ministry and lots and lots of fun!  I will say that I was probably the most blessed (aside from Ken Ham) by seeing the shear number of transracial families.  I have never seen that many transracial families in one place before.  It made me feel like we were a little more...not atypical?  And, of course, I was so excited to see all of those kids who had been adopted into Christian forever home families.  We met one and exchanged numbers.  They live in our state and the boy and girl came from Haiti.  I have to laugh and share that the best way I have found to meet another transracial family (well, one with a child with African hair) is to walk up to them and ask the girl, "your hair is beautiful, does your mom do that?"  Faith's hair has been a conversation starter many times:)