This camping trip was a venture of faith;
A triumph of God’s grace
& strength and of the love & prayers of all those who helped Marguerite
overcome all the obstacles & difficulties of suddenly finding myself facing
a trip with faulty/dismantled equipment and without a handyman husband, driver….
Thankfully Jay still got the van ready and
across the border in time, and John & Betty filled in from there to transport
my trailer to the park, after they and kids (& even Lori) helped to make it
livable again!!
Family members
& friends were able to adjust their schedules to join me for enough of the
2 weeks to make it possible for me to still go ahead with this leg of the trip which had become part of the grieving & healing process.
By the time
I had to leave home to begin my trip, many things had fallen into place but
there were some major things that hadn’t!
Like, I still needed a site for the weekend (campgrounds were already fully booked for weekends by the time we could book 4 months before), or
somewhere else to go. And I couldn’t even find anyone to move the trailer even
if I had somewhere to go! (I had never
even driven the van before, let alone hitched up or towed a trailer!). And, somehow, EVERYONE was
busy that weekend and all possible Plan B or C options were ruled out!
So, I went, trusting that the Lord, who had
taken away my husband, would be a Husband to me and provide for these pressing needs.
Thus I cried out to Him and thus He provided! - And just in time before I had to leave my site! (I'll share more about that a little later on, now back to the beginning of the trip).
June 19, Monday afternoon Kara & I headed off to Long Point PP in our red van with Zoey &Tia sitting quite nicely together in the back :). They had a great time camping together and were quite amusing to watch and I could tell you stories but I hear that Kara wants to write a kids book "Tia & Zoey Go Camping" so I'll leave that to her. ;)
Cottonwood campground is aptly named with all its cottonwood trees which snowed cotton for a few days while we were there!
John & Betty and 3 kids, Lori and the younger twins were already there enjoying the beach...
Our site was close to the beach! We got another site for Lori - right across (we were 1 kid over!)
The sand was really dark with red streaks - lots of iron apparently and the waves murky and brown.
It was shallow for a while and warm enough to swim
yes, there are many giant turtles in LP (nice shot, Sarah)
Special times with special friends!
Wed morning Maurice & Rachel's family arrived to set up in their site beside mine!
The Stels also came for the day! Rachel's friend,Valerie & Brian & kids camped across the road by the playground which turned out to be a hit for the many kids we now had altogether!
(thanks for these photos, Rachel)
Wed, Kara left taking the dogs with her, and Lori after supper taking the 4 kids. Anna then moved into my trailer with me which was nice for both of us.
Thurs, the night before my site reservation was ended and M&R would be leaving me all alone, the Lord provided a cancellation in the next campground (Turtle Dunes) close to where my 2nd week’s site was! So Maurice was able to hitch my trailer up, tow me there, and set me up before they headed home! So thankful for all their help and company.
(Their spot now empty, looking thru the trees to mine also empty except for the van)
The first week turned out much busier than I expected and provided good distraction but now it was time to face my heart-ache, loss... head-on and release some pent-up emotions.
My weekend provision was conveniently close to the Comfort Station and had electricity which was great as it was very buggy and rainy.
If we found the bugs bad at the beach-side
campsite in Cottonwood, this was 10x worse, bordering on the marsh! Esp that first day after the rain! (Even Linda, who had lived in the jungle, said it
was bad!) But I was just thankful to have gotten a site at all on that fully
booked weekend! And thankful for a
vehicle so I could explore the campground and beach.
There were times when the awful ache & sick-feeling in my heart & gut from "hope deferred" and loneliness, and the "wrong-ness" of the whole situation (being there alone on what should've been my Honeymoon trip) threatened to overwhelm me. But then as I cried out to my Heavenly Husband, He put His everlasting arms around me comforting me with the Holy Spirit's comfort and sometimes by little tokens of His love & presence.
One such token came via a pretty little
yellow bird (Oriole) who landed on the window cocking his head and looking at
me for a long time as if to say, "Its OK, you’re not alone!" And he kept coming
back every time I was by myself at that site!
It comforted me as I realized that the Lord God who sent ravens to minister to Elijah in his
time of need, was now sending an Oriole to me to remind me He was there watching, caring for me. "His eye is on the sparrow
and I know he watches me”. Blessed be God!
And it was truly a delight to wake up in the morning to the
most beautiful and varied bird chorus I have ever heard! (The marsh is home to
a proliferation of birds and further down the peninsula there is a bird
sanctuary!) And my heart couldn’t help
but leap up to join in their praises to our Maker and my Heavenly Father!
Rebecca & Linda came Sat afternoon until Sunday noon and thankfully the sun was mostly shining again. And what a treat to be ministered to by these 2
sweet, encouraging friends!
We found a lovely spot in the dunes overlooking the water and the fields
Linda brot her hymn-book and we worshiped our Creator in this beautiful setting!
Maria & Bethany came Sunday night.
Mon morning Maria helped me hitch up the trailer and move to my next site. Having watched Maurice and found that the van wasn't hard to drive, I decided to give it a try myself with Maria providing the man power!
(That's heavy work, especially when you try to lift the trailer and the van! Silly me forgot to lift the latch when unhitching after!)
So far, so good, but then I couldn't back it in to the site properly and was getting stuck in the sand!
Tired and stressed, I gave up, but before I could wonder who to ask for help, Maria said, "Let me try!" She had never driven my van or towed a trailer either but, why not! So she did, and she got it in place!
And yes, you guessed it, we got a beach site - yay! no bugs! Another answer to prayer! "Lord, those poor babies will be eaten alive, please let there be a beach site cancellation" And there was - just in time for Heidi's stay!
Maria and Bethany frolicking in the waves and warming up in the sun before she had to go again leaving Bethany behind with me.
Bethany was a great help and playmate for the girlies too when they arrived later that afternoon.
Not so easy to go camping with 2 little ones without her husband so I very much appreciated Heidi doing that for me. It was a special time and the cheer & snuggles & love they brought was a balm to my heart.
Cutie-pie Cloe!
There was a playground within view of this site too which the girls made good use of.
Cloe just loved the swing, laughing so exuberantly when given a little push.
Enjoying Heidi's Quiona stuffed tomatoes! (I didn't expect such exotic/health food from her! ;)
Heidi and girls cozily set up in the van - tho poor Heidi didn't get much sleep with Lydia hogging the bed...
Cloe loved splashing in the water and "jumping" the waves!
Lydia preferred to stay safely on the beach - until it was almost time to leave and then she discovered how lovely it was! Too late, too bad. (I can relate - I've done that with things I've been fearful of!)
My dear friend, Lisa, came later that Wed afternoon (giving me time for a good much-needed rest).
Her sympathetic ear helped me unburden my heart a little more and her strength and servant-heart was a blessing camping (also during the wedding & immigration planning, she was such a help!)
Thurs, we were just relaxing on the beach when I looked over and said, "Hey, that looks like Emma! Couldn't be!" Until I spotted Brenda coming a little ways behind! What a surprise! How nice of her to drop in for a visit!
They stayed for supper since we had plenty of Lisa's roast beef dinner left as well as other food and the electric fry-pan at a vacant electrical site made short work of heating it up :). Lisa made sure I was all set for the night before she too left. And this final night alone went better than the previous ones and I had a good peaceful sleep!
The next morning John & Betty and Sarah came back
The sun also came back again and we wanted to stay...
but we had to follow John, my home-away-from-home was gone
Good-bye Long Point, it was good to meet you!
A very nice park but I have to say, I still prefer our old stomping grounds!
It was certainly a venture of faith considering
how many people and things I had to trust the Lord to bring together! And He did not let me down! This is our God!
