Go Ahead, Rain on My Parade!

...I mean, my vacation! :)  For security reasons I did not post that we were going away.  Here is something I wrote in the first few days we were away.  I hope you find it to be a blessing in your life, too!

Aug. 20, 2011
So here we are in beautiful Cancun, Mexico.  The flights went without a glitch thanks to our Lord and the help of the little man's comfy car seat, Curious George and his iPad...but with the lack of sleep, drastic transition, heat and cabin fever from being cooped up in a plane for hours, everything came crashing down on us upon arrival (literally, as we stepped off the plane!).  Something about extreme heat and wicked humidity transforms my adorable, loving boys into total BEARS!!!  We've seen how the little guy can get when we travel: tantrums that get the attention of even the laziest security guard, hunger strikes, messed up sleep schedules... but our last trip last summer had gone so smoothly that our guards were down.  I will spare myself from reliving the horrors of our first day here.  What's important is that in the end we got the most AMAZING suite (thanks, MOM!) with a gorgeous private wrap-around ocean-view balcony with even an ocean view from our shower!!!  After such a horrendously exhausting day, our little man literally passed out at the dinner table (never happened before in his life), which, ironically, allowed us to have a fantastic quiet dinner serenaded by live mariachis!  God ALWAYS has that long-distance vision and allowed us that peace before the storm...

But before that, let's backtrack a bit. After checking into our room we'd finally gotten the little man to eat a roll of bread which, technically, meant he had "eaten" and he'd earned a trip to the pool. At the pool, he had a BLAST jumping, splashing, dog paddling, twirling and, unfortunately without us noticing soon enough, drinking a TON of pool water (in a kiddie pool in Mexico, people!)... fast forward to midnight and waking up to my husband caring for our little puke machine!!! Our little man had terrible reflux as an infant and spat up like you would not believe, but he had never thrown up before... at least not like this! He was totally freaked out!  Yes, it was a looooooooooooooooooong night of lots of dirty laundry and diaper changes.  Everything seemed to settle down around 5am, just as we'd run out of clean linens... after about two hours' sleep we awoke to a tropical depression.

How can this story be a blessing for anyone, other than making you feel better about the bad day you just had that may have paled in comparison? Well, the little man's stomach bug pretty much ruled out any trips to the pool, beach or water park (cue the instant screaming and meltdown).  After the day and night we'd just had, I was ready for Round 3 of this match, but God had another plan.  The sounds of the choppy ocean, the stormy wind, rolling thunder and the rain hitting the windows were an exact combination of the nature sounds I use to relax at home! Add to that the dark skies and it was the perfect formula to FORCE my over-achieving, stressed out and exhausted husband to just sit and relax... but we still had this hyper 3 year old poop factory to entertain! Well, growing up in the Caribbean taught me a thing or two about warm rainy days... and water on outdoor tiled floors! ;) So, while my hubby slept in a completely ambient dark room with God's nature sound machine, I took out a small bottle of shampoo and we turned our flooded balcony into an instant slip & slide! My goal for this week was not very ambitious: to live in my bathing suit with no shoes on (well, occasional flip flops). I believe the little man's goal was water play: check!  And my hubby just wanted to relax: check, check!

So, in the midst of this horrible storm which probably would have ruined almost anyone else's vacation, we had the most amazingly fun but relaxing day of slip & sliding, cuddling, napping, recuperating, reading books and eating room service! So what if I'm not getting a tan? Who CARES?!?!? I am at total peace and rest and so are my two favorite people in the world.  In this moment I realized that I'll take a dark rainy day with my happy, calm and peaceful family than any warm sunny pool day full of tantrums and chaos! This is exactly what the Word refers to when talking about peace in the midst of the storm.  Isaiah 54:10 "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

It is the awfully horrendous days in life that have taught me to see the rainbows through the rain and I praise my Lord for that amazing gift!  Have a blessed day!