Anniversary 21

Well, it's been four years since we've been out of town......alone.

The timing was impeccable.  I'm not pregnant.  Meredith is all but weaned.  We've paid off every lagging bill from last year, and had a bit to spare (rare).  The kids were enthusiastic to help make the plan happen, so we went!  I had kept this Arkansas mountain retreat in my favorites for several years now, and this year was our opportunity.  Hot tub, fireplace, kitchen, flat screen, and a breathtaking view.  Yep.  All we needed to create the warmest, most exhilarating memories yet.

At first, he wasn't sure he wanted to drive 8 hours to get anywhere, after all, he travels weekly.  But, after some kind and persistent pleading, he acquiesced, and we made reservations.  It was amazing!

    Donna, my midwife, who is a legend in her own time having delivered more than 3,500 babies, and counting, offered to come stay with her great-granddaughter at our home during our romantic rendezvous.  Her only available weekend was the end of January, because of the babies due the end of February.  We figured the value of having her here was worth the rush.  That way, should anything happen while we were gone, someone mature and responsible would be here to hold down the fort.  Curtis was more comfortable leaving the helm with her.  Not that our 18 year old son, or 16 year old daughter, or even 15 or 14 year old children for that matter, were not perfectly capable of keeping things afloat.  They are.  But, to ever have a need for authorities to get involved, such as a fire, or accident/injury, etc....Heaven forbid....Donna's presence is not only a comfort to us, but also to the children.  Besides, they beg for us to go, so that she can come! 

    She's light, she's easy, she's steady, she's true.  She knows the ropes, the values, and the children.  Most of all, she loves us....and we love her, too.

    So, with the house anchored down, the bags packed, and the office on hold (at least until we hooked up internet again), we were off.  There's no way for him to leave three companies on hold with some 97 emails an hour requiring his signature.  Even though he put in for the days off, he really cannot leave the helm of this monster if they are open for business.  I planned for that, too, by bringing my own stuff to do while he worked.  It was still much needed time away from the norm. We left on Thursday, January 30, and returned Sunday, February 2.

    We talked.  We were quiet.  I sang..... a lot, while he held my hand and drove.  We brought the ipod and old CDs.  I rediscovered the Judd's and Anne Murray. Curtis rented a car for the trip so we weren't lugging the 15 passenger van, or putting non-work miles on his company car.  It was clean, and nice. We picked apart subjects that have been revisited a thousand times, looking for loopholes we missed, from Madison to each and every one of the children, from work and his future there to where we want to be in another 21 years, from friends and how their lives are going to each and every family member we came from to be together.  

    I think I know him so well, until we've spent time like this.  Then, I find something else to love.  I think I've bared my soul to him, until in some random moment, I feel a vulnerability spill over my lips.  A thought I had previously kept tucked quietly beneath the surface for safe keeping comes bubbling up in the depressurized environment of solitude with only his listening ears.  I'm able to ask if I was wrong, I'm able to see myself through another's eyes, I'm able to breath awhile, and think without a challenge to the thought.

    Maybe saying the entire experience was "holy" dampens the passion of it for some, but not for me.  "Holy Matrimony" is what we entered into that day 21 years ago. I felt it for sure.  The hours together were sweet, in the most genuine and literal sense.

    What I hate the most about the world refusing Jesus and His ways, are the things missed that He so wanted to give.  He paid the price for it all, and it is made available in His river of life.  I feel so favored, yet all I did was jump in!  In obedience, we've proven we believe Him.  And what He created, what He instituted, He knows how to empower.

It is truly supernatural.

Inside our cabin.

Our private deck entrance. No need for window treatments.

We took advantage of the services offered at these cabins and had our first ever in room massage.  Curtis tells me I snore.  I knew I did when pregnant, but now???  I didn't want to fall asleep and start snoring, so I made him promise he'd wake me up if I dozed off.  

Well, it wasn't me who needed waking :)

We also had a personal chef come to prepare our Friday night dinner.  Filet Mignon, steamed asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, a fresh herb salad, and caramel drizzled orange cake.

O.M.G.  I couldn't finish the orange cake, so I had it for breakfast.

The entire experience was so much fun!

On Saturday, we ventured out.  I wanted to take Curtis to a special place sealed in my heart.

In 1987, my family vacationed on Holiday Island, six miles from where Curtis and I stayed.  I was turning 18 the next year, a hopeless romantic, looking forward to marriage and a family.  I had recently given up dating in hopes of God bringing my husband who would soon "court" me.  I was done with the frivolous pursuit of dragging a young man's heart (not to mention my own) through the mud as we flirted, kissed, went out on dates and grew emotionally entangled with little to no intention of marrying, at least not soon enough.  You inevitably hit a brick wall called morality that you either climb over and ignore, or sit by frustrated with all of life growing duller by the minute while you wait...wait for the release to grow more intimate in every way.  Not a happy existence.  Not a healthy lifestyle.  God never intended a boy and girl to stop once love was awakened.  Thus the warnings all throughout His Word.

So, in obedience to what I had been reading in the Bible, I waited.  Not always contentedly, but I waited.  When Mother and Daddy brought Nikki, Scott, and I up here, we stayed in this very unit.  I was trying to lay it all down.  I had broken up with my boyfriend, breaking his heart and mine.   I had dated another young man who was called into the ministry and old enough to marry, but once hearing how serious he was, I realized I wasn't.  I was stuck.  Either I was to break away from the constraints I felt from God's Word, or endure.  I had learned enough about God to know, or at least believe, He would come through for me.  I knew there was someone out there.  Mine.  So, I took a stroll down to the water by myself one day that week in Arkansas, and gave it all up.  

I prayed.  I prayed for me, and I prayed for him.  Not having a clue if I knew him already, or was to someday meet him, I prayed for him right then and there.  I mean, really prayed.  The tangibility of his existence became real to me.  God poured enough hope in me to last another 5 years.  

I wanted to show Curtis when and where he entered my heart, by faith.

The answer to that very prayer now standing where I prayed it, some 26 years later.

Then, we drove into Eureka Springs and did some sightseeing.  This hotel, practically an ancient relic, sits atop the city with unbelievable views.  It smelled old and musty, but that made it kinda romantic.

The highs were in the 40's and the lows in the 20's, so I was in my heavy faux fur and leather coat. It looks more like a parka in these pics!

 

There was a Catholic Chapel on the street just below, and the bells ringing from its bell tower sounded surreal in the cold foggy mist.

The rooms were just beautiful.  It'd be fun to plan a wedding up here.

Back at the cabin, he got caught up on the previous days emails.

I had settled in nicely, so I photographed our surroundings.

I kept them close.  Anytime I missed their faces, or went to pray for them, I grabbed the picture on my nightstand. And yes, I brought our electric blanket.  I love a warm bed!

The fridge on the first day.  Do we really eat that much?

We don't have cable or dish at home, so scrolling through some 432 channels kept us busy for an hour!

Finally, we miraculously found some good stuff.  I was starting to lose hope in America, actually in all of humanity.  Then, we found the "farm channel" and watched a vintage tractor show, and A&E with Duck Dynasty.  The only other boys I'm willing to share a honeymoon with!!  (Of course, I'm just kidding :)

    Well, by Saturday evening, we were getting reports of bad weather heading Texas way.  Freezing rain, sleet, accumulations, travel alerts.  It was to be in Texas by Sunday morning, 9:00am.  We weren't due to leave until Sunday, but we quickly changed our plans.  We were missing the children something fiercely anyway.  Our cups were full.  Our time was well spent, and we were sufficiently homesick.

    I promised myself I wouldn't leave early, and I'd take advantage of every minute away, knowing our time was limited, and circumstances in a family of 11 children can change on a dime.  But the weather threat is another ball game altogether.  After he had cooked us sirloins and steamed fresh green beans, we decided to pack up and drive through the night.  Whatever was to hit Texas would come through the roads home first.  He stopped in Springdale to buy me a large cup of coffee, and we set out on our all-nighter.  

    The first hour back we prayed.  I didn't want to leave the solace we had found in each other.  I didn't want some of the realities back home to re-manifest.  I wanted to stay this way forever.  Tender and in love, undistracted by life in general. I needed to hand it over, yet again, this time not the hope of a man, but the hope of eleven precious lives now procreated with this man, trusted to our care, and the bright hope of future plans that dangle with uncertainty in the balance, yet not so by faith.

    The drive, after a couple of hours, transcended into late night hilarity, and meandering through oldies but goodies, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Denver, Frank Sinatra, Don Williams, Wynonna, and on and on, five hours worth.  It was great.  

    We stopped only once, and made it in by 5:00am.  Donna actually went home then to beat the bad stuff, and we returned the car.  By 6:00am, we were sound asleep in our freshly washed sheets, doors locked, babies asleep, all well and good.  Such peace.

The freezing rain did come, but we were home safe and sound with laps full of boys and girls.  We sat cuddled up for a day, watching Shaun the Sheep, Kipper Dog, and AFVs.  We actually heard in a news report that on one of the bridges at the Texas/Oklahoma border, four people were killed that day in an accident caused by the ice.

The sadness of our departure was washed away in the reality of the dream I live. 

He said it had been worth every mile, and thanked me again and again for the idea and for planning the details.

So, the 27th rolled around, and we took off again, this time just for one night here locally.  He racks up value points with the hotels where he stays while traveling, so we take advantage of those free nights.  We went to dinner down in our old stomping grounds, Mac's Bar and Grill in Grapevine, and then by the bookstore to flip through farm and garden magazines.   I thank the Lord for this season of nuptial bliss we've gotten to enjoy for more than a month now!  God is so good.

Okay, I've done it.  My first selfie ever.