Monday, September 29, 2008

A Change in Plans

Well, this weekend did not go as planned, but it turned out all right. It was our church's annual campout. T took Wednesday off work, and all that day we planned and shopped and ran errands and packed. Then we continued packing all day Thursday, and finally got out of the house, exhausted, around 4 (we had intended to leave at 1). We were the only ones able to make it for Thursday night; everyone else was going to come on Friday. The camp site was very shady and woodsy (as it should be...that's real camping to me--being out in the trees), so it was already cool when we got there, and the temperature just kept dropping after the sun went down. We bundled the kids up as warmly as we could, but they were freezing and miserable all night in the tent and woke up crying just about every hour. I was grumpy, too, because when they cried, I didn't really want to get out of my sleeping bag to change, feed, or comfort them, because I was so cold that my teeth were chattering and my toes were numb, and so tired that I couldn't think straight. It was awful. I count it among one of the hardest, most stressful days of my life. Finally, around 4 in the morning, we all piled into the car and cranked up the heat so we could thaw out. I vehemently declared that there was absolutely no way I was going to go through one more night like that, so we packed up the kids' and my things and T drove us back home. He helped us bring everything in, took a catnap, and then set out again for the campground.

It was actually good in a lot of ways that T was there by himself with the rest of the group. He was able to help others in ways he probably wouldn't have been able to if the kids and I had been there. He helped people set up and tear down and shared some of our blankets and other things.

I was so grateful to be home that taking care of the kids by myself for the rest of the weekend seemed like a breeze compared to what we had been through. We went to the library (twice!) and the park, read lots and lots of books, and D.L.F. watched a sign language video several times that we checked out from the library. I was able to spend some good time with the Lord, and I repented of my selfish attitude (still, we will think twice before going tent camping again in cold weather with small children!).

2 comments:

Candice said...

Oh my word, I can totally relate to your experience, sort of. You were very brave to take the family camping with your kids being so young! We went on our first campout this summer in July and it was freezing at night too. Fortunately our boys are a little older (well, no my youngest is the same age as your boy) well, anyways, they were so tired they slept through the night. But it's So much work camping with young children. It will be way more fun when they're older. My difficulty was having to pee in the middle of the night and having to walk down the dark path the bathroom! Ah the adventures, you will laugh later maybe.

Sherry Bowers said...

Incredible. I've never been camping in all my life. But I've driven 2 hours in the van over the mountain in the snow with a broken window and no heat and hit a deer in the dark - all with my kids in tow! I can totally relate in a weird way :)
Sis
www.sherry-seascapes.blogspot.com