24 Hour Vacation

As usual, I can't believe it's already December!  The summer flew by and it seems this fall went by even more quickly.  Life has been busy but full of amazing friendships and memories.  God continues to teach us so many things and we are in constant awe of His grace and working in our lives.  Our summer was wonderful, but as it came to a close, we realized we never had any time away just for our family and we could tell we needed it. :)  But the fall calendar was busy and it's difficult for us to get away on weekends.  So we came up with a new idea that we all fell in love with and can't wait to repeat... the 24 hour vacation!

We picked up the boys early from school on a Friday and informed them we were going on vacation... for 24 hours. :)  Thanks to Brian's jar of change, some leftover birthday gift money, and support from our LINKS churches, we were able to have a short but very meaningful and fun get away. :)
 
So we checked in to our hotel and immediately went to the pool.  It was a little cool outside but we had just enough sun to still enjoy ourselves. 
 
 
We had a wonderful dinner and evening walk on the beach. 

The next morning we greatly enjoyed the hotel breakfast buffet (always our favorite part of staying at Japanese hotels... and we were way too busy eating to take any pictures) and spent our last hour in the pool again.
 

After we checked out we enjoyed a special treat for lunch and then went to a fun nature park we hadn't been to before. Then we made it home in time for supper and church the next day. :)

 

 

 A few years ago, I probably would have never been okay with us doing something like this... we should have had more time away, the hotel was too expensive, we missed an event and had stuff we should be doing, etc., etc.  But thankfully God is so patient with me and is teaching me to look at things differently.  There are always things that need to be done, and He is teaching me to not be so concerned with all those things... every day we have together is precious and wonderful.  It's important to work at what He has called us to, but it's also extremely important to obey His Sabbath commands and rest, get away, and play together... even if it's just for 24 hours.  :)