Vacation! What a lovely word because it conjures up all kinds of pleasant feelings: getting away from it all, no work, relaxation, having fun, contentment.

I had been looking forward to this vacation since January. I must confess, that eight months ago, August seemed a lifetime away, like it would never come. But it did and now it's gone and in the past. 

It was bittersweet because it was another first to be experienced: the first time I was on vacation without Andy. He always added that element of fun and craziness to our vacations, and I couldn't help but miss that. But the sweet part was being with Christy and her gang. I am so grateful they invited me to join them.

I like to keep a record of each day's happenings while away. As the memories fade, we can refer back to that record for details we may forget.

I left work on Friday, August 11, finished packing, then drove to Harleysville to stay overnight at Christian and Christy's. We all went out to eat and while sitting at dinner, Christy mentioned that she couldn't find Claire's passport. It suddenly hit me that I had not packed my own passport. It was still in the safe at home. There was nothing to be done, but drive back home and get it. Fortunately, it was still early enough, and I was so relieved that we had thought of it before leaving the next day or when we got to the Canadian border a week later. 

Saturday morning, August 12, we woke early and left at 4:00 am, stopping at 8:00 for breakfast and at 1:00 for lunch. I drove my own car the whole way and averaged 59-60 mpg (I'm happy to say!). Several of the kids rode with me which helped to pass the time. We finally arrived in Eastport, Maine at 6:00 pm, to a house Christy had reserved through Airbnb.

Eastport, Maine...looking across to Canada

On the way to our house, we passed Cornerstone Church, so we decided to attend on Sunday morning. I'm glad we did. It was a small church but with good preaching and friendly people. As the pastor was saying Amen to his closing prayer, my phone buzzed. (Fortunately, I had put it on silent mode.) When I looked to see the caller id, I was somewhat apprehensive to notice it was Care One. But I answered and the nurse said everything was ok, but Andy wanted to talk to me. I guess he wanted to hear my voice because he didn't say much, just answered my questions. I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to hear from him throughout the two weeks I'd be gone, but as it turned out, he didn't call again.

After our lunch on Sunday, we spent several hours on the beach. It's a rocky beach, typical Maine, with no sand. The kids spent time in the kayaks but didn't have a lot of fun on the beach itself until they got the idea to build rock castles instead of sand castles. 

It's not a very comfortable beach to lie on. I'm very glad I brought my own chair.

The next day we drove into Canada across the International Bridge to spend the day at Roosevelt's Campobello "cottage." We did an interactive fun tour of the house and grounds and ate our lunch there. It was a beautiful spot. 

 

The kids and Christian played croquet on the front lawn. On the tour, we learned that FDR was quite a pianist and loved music. In one of the neighboring cottages, there was a Bluthner piano, a rare, exclusive piano made in Germany. The Bluthner family has hand made these pianos for more than 160 years. It is the piano of choice of many of the great late 19th century/early 20th century classical composers including Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Ravel, and others. As part of our tour, the guide asked if one of us in the group would like to play something on the piano for the rest of us. We all encouraged Asher to do the honors and he did - beautifully.

After the tour, we explored more of the island, found a beach and camped out there for a while so the kids could throw rocks into the water. There was no problem finding rocks.

The next day, Asher said his muscles ached and he thought it was from all the rocks he had thrown the day before. I can believe it.

Our second day of vacation began with thick fog, so thick we couldn't see the beach from our house. It was also damp and dreary so we decided to spend the day in town. Our first stop was the Mustard Museum. Ray's Mustards is the only cold pressed mustard processing plant in the US and possibly the world. I personally am not a fan of mustard, but Christy was excited about all different flavors that were available.

By the time we left the mustard museum, the fog had lifted but it was still cloudy, so we went to the Eastport Library for Christy to check her emails on their wi-fi. The children's section of the library was a hit with the kids who were all too ready to settle in.

The following day was gorgeous and we fit a lot into it. Shackford Head State Park was close by with the promise of a nice hike through woods. But the area was infested with red fire ants, even the parking lot was covered with them. We started hiking on the trail but after one or two of us got bit by those pests, we decided to leave and try a different place.

We drove an hour to Cobscook Bay State Park - much better - no ants and beautiful views right on the water. We hiked about 1/2 mile through woods with the smell of balsam, coming out to the sea which then added the smell of salt water. We ate our lunch looking out on the water. Christy finished first and decided to hike over to another higher rocky area.

After she got over there, the rest of us decided to join her. What we didn't know until we were well on our way, was that the lower in-between section was deceptively wet. The mud sucked at our shoes and it was hard to get our footing. I was pretty nervous that I was going to lose my balance and fall, getting not only my shoes muddy but the rest of me, too. But Christian was helpful and gave me a hand. Once over there, we all had a good time watching the kids, what else? - throw rocks into the water! Of course, we did eventually have to cross back over. Christy had worn sandals, so her feet as well as her shoes were caked in mud!

We were grateful that the house we were staying in had a washer and dryer, so when we got back, everyone's shoes got thrown in and washed.

Our next stop was the Quoddy Head State Park. There was a picturesque light house with a visitor center and a lovely trail down to the beach where we had such fun playing on the rocks and getting some good pictures. 

One of the things that we all were amused by was the boast of the area as the "eastern most...in the U.S." Eastport is the eastern most city, Lubec is the eastern most town. We passed a sign for a campground that maintained it was the eastern most campground. In town, we stopped at the eastern most candy store. The kids had a lot of fun picking out tasty ways to spend their money.

On Friday of our first week, we stayed close to the house, playing games with the kids, reading and sitting on the beach. The kids kayaked and threw rocks in the water. In the evening we decided to check out Old Sow, supposedly the biggest whirlpool in the western hemisphere, caused by high tides. It was difficult to get a good view because of private homes on the shore.


"The shape of the Bay of Fundy between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick acts like a funnel. When ocean water flows through the mouth it gets funnelled to the far end of the bay where the water steadily rises as the bay narrows. The gravitational pull of the moon also affects these tides. The Bay of Fundy has one of the greatest range in the world between low tide and high tide -- up to 17 meters."  

This makes for interesting and unique phenomena in the area. Another of those is the Reversing Falls. Because of the significant rise and fall of the tides, the water goes in one direction going toward high tide, then reverses direction as it goes toward low tide. We got up early on Friday, August 18 so we could go witness when the tide changed. There are several places to watch this happen, but we went to a spot that was remote. When we got there, seals were diving and cavorting in the water, eagles were flying from tree to tree and calling to each other, and we saw several loons, as well. We were the only people at that location until a man and his dog joined us.

It was a fitting end to our time in Maine for the next day we continued north to Prince Edward Island. We had been hoping to stop along the way at the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy but the weather did not cooperate. It was rainy and windy the whole day long. We were happy, though, that we were in the car and didn't lose out on beach time!

Christy had reserved another Airbnb house on Prince Edward Island and it was very nice, right on the beach with an unobstructed view of the ocean. The kids didn't waste any time in exploring the beach for critters and playing in the water.

We visited a couple of touristy places during the week, the Bottle houses, the Anne of Green Gables site and the potato museum.

Anne and Diana accommodated us by posing with us!

Lake of Shining Waters

Lover's Lane

White Sands Hotel

 

But other days we were happy just to stay put enjoying the water, sand and relaxing. Prince Edward Island is a magical place with its red sand, green grass and dazzlingly blue ocean and skies. The sunsets over the ocean were amazing.

All in all, it was a wonderful time away, and I am very grateful for the Lord's gifting me with family, time away, adventures and his beautiful creation.

I was concerned in how Andy would be affected by my being gone so long, but when I continued my visits this week, he didn't mention anything about it. He doesn't seem to have a concept of time, so this was another gift to me.  

Kira's birthday was last Friday and she was excited about spending an overnight with me at my house. We arranged for me to go pick her up after I visited with Andy on Monday night. It is so nice to have another person in the house to interact with. We watched a movie together, then cuddled while I read several stories to her before bed.

On Tuesday morning we drove over to Target for her to pick out her birthday present, then went to visit with Andy. Dawn met us there with her other kids.

Andy and Cole really connect. Andy is still the "helper," jumping in to meet the needs of the little ones. I love how his personality bent still manifests itself in spite of his illness. He saw Cole struggling to feed himself and was right there to help him. It's also amazing that Cole "let" him because he typically wants to feed himself. I love this picture of tenderness and sweetness.

 

I brought Kira back with me for the rest of the day and spent the afternoon at our neighbor's house so she could play with the little girls next door. Those girls often ask me to let Kira have a play date with them, but I'm not Kira's mommy so I don't have much say in whether or not Kira can play with them. But this time, it worked out that they could play and play and play. I hung out with the mom - which was a treat for me, as well.

Andy is finally starting to feel better after getting the med situation resolved. He has been on antibiotics now for a week, and in fact, should be finished with that round today. He will now be on a maintenance drug to keep the bacteria under control. 

He looks better but still has the significant tremors. I'm not sure that will ever be resolved but the doctor is trying a different med for that, as well. We'll see how that develops.

I've really resonated with the grief share emails I received this week. Earlier I read the following:

Can you truly say that God is good?
“One of the worst things you can do as a Christian is to go around with this plasticized mask on saying, ‘I love God, and He’s so good,’ when your heart is breaking inside,” says Dr. Joseph Stowell.
“Sometimes you may say, ‘God is good,’ with tears running down your cheeks, but He is good, and He will see you through, and He never wastes your sorrows. He didn’t waste the sorrows of His Son on the cross. He won’t waste your sorrows. He, by His magnificent power, will transform them into that which is good—that which brings gain to the kingdom and glory to His name.”
Everything God does is good. Believe this with your heart, and hold on to this truth for unfailing strength in times of sorrow.

Oh yes...I've been there with the tears running down my cheeks, even though God is good. I could write pages and pages on how good God is to me. Just one example from this week is the way he took care of something that was nagging at the back of my mind. Earlier in the summer, Tommy had trimmed my bushes along the driveway. They looked so good when he was finished. But by now, several months had elapsed and the bushes were looking ragged again. So I'm wondering if I should ask him to come over again or if I should ask someone else. You know, spread the wealth! I mulled this over for a couple of days and finally the Lord reminded me that Andy's friend, Dan, had told me that any time I needed any help around the house, just call him. Then my next thought was the memory that one time, Andy had told me that Dan loves to trim bushes. It was like a light bulb went on in my head. I texted Dan and he gladly and promptly made arrangements to come over to trim those bushes. He brought his 10 year old son and they did the job in a matter of an hour or so. The bushes look so much better and every time, I drive in and out of the driveway, I am reminded of God's provision: in friends who are eager to help, and his ideas on how I can get the jobs done that I can't do myself.

Another evidence of God's goodness is the ability he has given me to get outside, the strength and health to be able to work on my property. The last couple of days have been so pleasant so I've spent hours out there, picking up sticks, and "cleaning up" - happy things for me.

And several mornings ago, I looked out my back kitchen window and thought I saw a deer in the neighbor's yard. I grabbed my phone and went out to see how close I could get. 

That was a blessing. I love to see deer. At least, I did that day. The next day as I was opening my shades, I was shocked to see my hosta plants that were now leafless. I guess the deer found them during the night and had a little snack. So let me edit that statement about my loving to see deer. Actually, I do still love to see them, I just don't love when they eat my plants.

My poor hostas. :(

I don't know if anyone else struggles with guilt like I do. I hear about other people doing certain things and I wonder if I'm doing enough. I know there are people with loved ones at Care One who are with their spouses all day long. So that makes me wonder if I am with Andy long enough. Then there are others who care for their loved ones at home in spite of unbelievable obstacles they deal with daily/hourly: changing diapers, dressing, changing clothes, bathing, hand feeding that takes hours per meal, etc. 

Then the Lord led me to a wonderfully freeing verse in Scripture: 1 John 3:19-20 ~
"This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

How often have I read 1 John but the truth of these verses never hit me like they did in this my specific hour of need. I can rest in his presence, even when my heart condemns me because God is greater than my heart. I need to remember that Jesus is not the Accuser, he always lives to intercede for me and on my behalf. I need to trust that he is leading me in my situation and not comparing me to others. It was so obvious that he led us to place Andy in Care One when we did, and if I experience doubts and self-condemnation, I need to remember that those do not come from the Lord. 

Every year I read through the whole Bible and this year, I decided to read with a red pen handy. Every time I read about God's love for his people, I underline that phrase and thought in red. I've noticed that often God's love is not only mentioned, but is described as unfailing. God's unfailing love! So far I'm still only in the Psalms but I have lots of red lines to remind me that God is love.


Yes, God is good. I believe it with all my heart, even though sometimes the things I experience in this life don't feel good. It's hard to explain to someone else, but it's in hard times that we experience God's all sufficiency. He is the Rock on which we stand, our firm foundation, our Hope, our Shelter in the time of storm, our Strength, our Joy, our Peace, our All in All.

Psalm 119:68 ~ "You are good and what you do is good."