Lake Vacation and the Fragility of Life Part 1

We just returned from a weeks vacation at Lake Murray, staying in a cabin owned by some church friend's parents.  Lisa White's parents, Charles and Nancy Roof, allowed us for the second year to stay at their lake home near Prosperity, SC.  We were priviledged to have our nephew and niece with us, Kenley and Lexton Hardwick, as well.  So Joli and I loaded up 11 kids and 2 dogs in our van and my truck, and headed to the lake.  After arriving, we unloaded everything and waited for Mr. Roof to get there to help us put in his boat.  He is such an awesome guy; he showed up with 15 gallons of gas and the key to his house and boat.  Well, we got the boat in the water and there was nothing stopping those kids from going tubing!  So off we went.

We tubed and tubed and tubed, until the tube needed a vacation!  We had a great time though.  Joli's mom and dad and brother and nephew came up Friday evening and left Sunday, so I got a chance to pull Joe on the tube at least once, even if it was rather gingerly. :)  Monday afternoon, my mom and her good friend Sandy came with Sandy's grandson Parker.  We had a good time with them as well for a few days, and I even got the chance to pull my Mom on the tube. :) :) What fun that was.   The tubers that you see above, Hunter and Noah, taunted me all week with "you can't throw us off", or "throw me in the trees dad".  Needless to say, sometimes I won, sometimes they did.  I think I let them win a little more than they would like to think simply because by Saturday afternoon I had gone to the ER already and I really did not want another trip.  The ER trip is part 2. 

Lexton and Anna Grace

If we weren't on the water with the tube, the kids were in the water, many times swinging off of a rope swing into lake murray from the cabin's dock.  They loved it and it kept them busy for much of the day. 

Lexton

Isaac

Noah

Kenleycephus

I forgot to mention that our good friends the McKoys let us take their jet ski with us.  Of course that was a hit with all of the kids, with Hunter being the chief chaperone. 

Getting it ready for Hunt

We cherished our time with the kids and we used much of the time to reflect on God and our relationship with Him.  Christ has done so much for us before He ever poured out blessings upon us, He gave us His life.  We wanted to use the time away to reflect on Him and His work in our lives.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides of all of the time in the water is that our oldest two sweet hearts have been suffering from a severe case of swimmer's ear.  They have been in a great deal of pain over the last two days, so much that they haven't slept much at night.  (You know it's bad when they won't sleep.)
But they are troopers and will have it licked before you know it. 

Sweet Peyton

Our Handsome Hunter

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention the little feet that kept all of the adults hopping all week; you know steep stairs, deck, dock, lake, boat, etc.etc. :)

Tyson

Little Parker

Farah Beth

Josiah - the Heavyweight Boxer

Eden Joy

They definately kept us on our toes!!

We finished the week going to Riverbanks Zoo with the kids on Thursday as we were all just about "Laked Out" .   We had such a blessed time and know that there are many memories that we all had together to cherish for a long time to come. 

Finally, before I post Part 2 on the Fragility part of the post, I had to put a little before and after fun at Joli's expense.

Why did you do That!?!

Do What?  :)