To bring or not to bring your kids on a fancy vacation?

If not for them, for whom do we invest time and money for? 

The boundaries of rest and self-care do not apply to extraordinary making of precious memories. The fuel that we’ll keep us going in the seasons of drought and dark winter evenings.

We are in Croatia for 3 weeks serving at a conference. We are busy most of the time but we have large pockets of time to swim or sunbathe or kayak. 

We are rather self aware parents. And pretty authoritative. I realize we don’t let much nonsense fly, and our kids obey. They rest under our wing and take their cue from us. 

They are also goofy and brave and social. Both girls seem to be perfect children. Except when we close the door they Lauch uncontrollably they jump off beds, they sing gibberish and they build on each other’s energy. Even then we tell them to tone it down after a few minutes of expressing themselves.

My biggest concern when taking them on adventurous trips is that they won’t appreciate the experience and ruin it for us the parents by complaining about boredom or would be picky about food. I shrug their occasional complains about boredom and they find something to do if I don’t stress about it, and they’ve been too hungry to complain about the food, which is diverse and they have enough options to not starve. 

I can’t imagine going to these exotic places without them. They build character, resilience, joy and find pleasure in God’s creation. Our friends like spending time around them, with measure. We pull back easily and give people space so they miss us too and long for our company. 

If as a kid I was self aware and didn’t want to impose or burden people (though thar wasn’t my responsibility as a kid), you can be sure I’ll pass this on, even unintentionally to my kids. 

Here is to a great vacation, spiritual, encouraging, healing and social… god is generous. We’ve waited in the dark shed of social distancing, forgetting about the cycles of light and life. But we emerge. And heaven is engulfing us. As we let the warm sun kiss our foreheads and the clear blue waters of the Adriatic cools our toes.