Our Relaxing, but Eventful Weekend Away

Hart and I left for Myrtle Beach, SC from Columbia in the midst of 5 o'clock traffic on Friday. I had a mini-panic attack driving away from our baby for the first time, knowing we would be gone for longer than ever before. I called Hart's mom to check on him about 4 times in just a few hours. Hart reassured me that we needed this. This time away to focus on each other and the Lord. These last months we have been so busy with life happening around us and a new baby and work and taking care of a house, etc.

We got down there with some daylight still reflecting off of the ocean and quickly changed into our suits and headed for the pools. Our "resort" took some warming up to, but got better as time went on. Let's just say that after being to Hawaii and knowing what a resort SHOULD be like, ours was very sub-par. In fact, I do believe that the owner's should just take "resort" out of the name, because it was more like a used hotel with a good many pools. While it wasn't the fanciest place we have ever stayed, it was just the place we needed, and to be honest we weren't in our room, but to sleep anyway. It was right on the ocean with this view, so who really cares that I had to double-check under the mattress to make sure there weren't any bed bugs:

Our resort did have a lazy river and Hart and I enjoyed floating around in it many times, but mostly we just parked it on the beach. We rented one of the life guard's umbrella and chairs and had our own day of paradise on the beautiful beach. I liked watching the people, reading, and going for swims. I am happy to announce that I finished Organized Simplicity! I got a lot of great things out of that one that I hope to put into practice soon! I also read about half of 1000 Gifts! It is SOOOO good and just an awesome book to help you focus your perspective on the right things: having a thankful heart! More on those later! It was so wonderful to just sit and read and after awhile, my bum was numb! I just kept saying to Hart, "Hunny, this was exactly what I needed! Thank you so much!"

We enjoyed a fancy date dinner out at Sea Captain's House. It was a little pricey, but right on the water and VERY good. Considering we haven't had a date night together in quite awhile, it was worth it! We enjoyed focusing on each other and making memories.

Perhaps my very favorite moment was walking on the beach holding my beloved's hand under the night sky. The sky was a beautiful black with twinkling lights and I loved the waves crashing down. I was expressing all of my fears to Hart as we walked along. Instead of making me feel foolish for having those fears, my husband told me some of the things God had been teaching him. He told me about King Hezekiah and how God had given him 15 years more to live after almost dying of a sickness. Instead of giving all of those years back to God and using them to help further generations, Hezekiah focused mostly on himself and what he wanted giving little regard to those that would come after him, even though it was promised to be terrible for his own children. I knew the story. Hart told me that it caused him to pray not only for Micaiah to know Jesus and to love him, but to pray all the way to his great-great-great grankids that they would know Jesus. That the Traylor's would be a family that always, across generations knew Him and loved Him. I wanted to cry.

So often, I live in my own world. The here and now. I get too caught up in focusing on my worries and fears or just my own wants and I forget that there is so much more that God has given. When you are too focused on those things, you can't experience the blessings God has given you in the place you are at. The timing of this trip, the reading of 1000 Gifts, what God shared to me through my husband, it is all just changing me to take each moment and find the good that God has given in those things.

We could have checked into our hotel and decided that this weekend wasn't going to be that great. We could have let crowded pools and beaches ruin our delight. We could have grumbled and complained and not even fully enjoyed the blessing that God had given, but there is always, always something good, and a way to make yourself love the place God has put you.

It's refreshing to live like that. Worries nag and tear you away from the true joy found in Jesus alone.

Sunday morning, we woke up to the sun shining on the ocean, and packed up and drove 15 minutes to my Grandpa and Nana's apartment. This is my Dad's dad. We had a DELICIOUS breakfast with them and enjoyed talking about my Grandpa's past and the work he did over the years. He gave me some of his famous canned pickles, relish, and jam! (I've already gotten into the jam and bread and butter pickles, Nana! Soooo good!) I'm going to have to post my Nana's Cranberry Bog Recipe, because it is to-die-for-good!

We left our visit and drove about an hour back towards home. That's when things got interesting. Nearing a gas station, I told Hart I had to pee. We pulled in and he decided to gas up. I came out with two gatorades and noticed a pretty good amount of fluid leaking from our car. Sure enough, we turned the car on and it was running hot. Immediately, we were in a pretty desperate situation.

First of all, we were, practically, in the middle of nowhere, but at a very touristy gas station called Sparky's. Yes, I did say Sparky's, the one with the puppy dog logo and famous moccasin shoes.

Hart pulled out from the gas pump and we got out of the car to hear it hissing and more water pooling out. He opened the hood to check things out and I just started immediately praying for God's grace over us. I headed inside to see who the mechanics were in this nowhere town, but it was Sunday and no mechanics were open. It was SO hot outside and I wasn't sure what we were going to do. The girl at the cash register told me to head outside to their produce stand and talk to Mr. Herbert. I started praying for Mr. Herbert to have some kind of compassion on us! Let me tell you that Mr. Herbert actually called me his own daughter by the end of the hour we spent at Sparky's. He helped us get a big pot of water from their kitchen and poured it into our radiator reserve pumps. It was dryer than Hades in there! Being 100 degrees and traveling, we should have checked the radiator fluid levels, before we headed home, because everything had just evaporated out of the tank. There were several moments where I felt so lost. There were so many people going in and out, but not sure who would help. And the fear started to well up in me. What if we have to stay in this nowhere town and I can't get back to my baby and there isn't any room at the inn and...?!?!? 

There was a moment where I had to choose to decide if God was going to be good regardless of our situation. Would I view him as the loving God that I saw earlier OR would I leave him and say he doesn't love us, because we were broken down in nowhere-ville? I decided to believe that, despite the fact that things weren't looking good, and why only one of our cars (not the one we were currently in) had roadside assistance, God would provided for us right then. And he did!

THANKFULLY, it was only a dry radiator and we were able to fill it up with Mr. Herbert's fine water and drive all the way home with no other problems. THANKFULLY, I had to pee RIGHT THEN and Sparky's was RIGHT THERE so we didn't drive any further and ruin anything! THANKFULLY, I bought two Gatorade's BEFORE I knew we were going to be in the hot hot sun. God had Mr. Herbert RIGHT THERE when we needed him. Mr. Herbert was actually going to let us use his truck and drive to get whatever we needed. Before we left he offered us money to make sure we would be okay to get home. I mean, really, we were so taken care of it wasn't even funny! We were back home two hours later to our little beach bum that we love so much.

Sunglasses bought at Sparky's!