..."2nd Annual Peterson Prairie Camp-out..."

The fellers and I have been on a prairie sojourn. We drove the 16+ hours to Grandma's little house on the prairie; pit stopping in Kansas City for the fellowship of a couple 'dear young' friends & mentors.

Spring has sprung on the prairie.  Last spring break, the fellers packed their pup-tent & sleep cells. They wanted to camp out in Grandma & Grandpa's wind break... they felt deprived from their lack of camping in Indiana.  Last years camp-out brought a morning waking up to a frosty tent... 23 degrees, and a second night in nature we endured 50 mile-an-hour winds, blowing the canopy off.


This spring has been unseasonably warm in the Midwest, when packing we had to trade shorts & tank tops for the usual jeans & sweatshirts. The night before our departure, the fellers loaded their camping gear into the land yacht.


The morning after our arrival at the grands, the fellers got everything set up.  They rested in their sacks (that's comparative to a snake in a pillowcase), set up and swung in Grandpa's portable hammock.  They were ready for their evening in the great outdoors.


That afternoon my mother, sister and I hosted a baby shower for my brother's wife, anticipating the arrival of our little McBaby this summer.  The fellers got hauled to the cattle pasture to work on putting up fence.  They returned in the late afternoon, sun & wind burnt.... tuckered out. After feasting on Grandpa's BBQ and left over baby shower cake, they were rejuvenated & wanted to camp.

The camp ground they had so carefully made had been blown over by the high Kansas winds.  We un-steaked the tent, drug it to the north end of the house hoping it would act as a wind break and prepared to camp.  The shortest feller was so pooped out he drifted off to dreams as soon as his head hit the sod.  The tall one is the worrier.  He worried about the wind.... hearing a coyote (which was actually a squeaky nearby oil well), thought he heard footsteps ( the farm guard dog just keeping tabs on us).


To calm him and slow the gears of his brain I engaged him in chatter.  We talked about life and dreams... until finally he said, "Ok mom, I've had enough talking." And he drifted off to dreamland as well.


I took a Lunesta to try to catch some shut eye.  The Western Kansas wind picked up.... it flapped the tent all night.  It is no wonder all of my bedtime dreams & childhood memories are extremely windy!


The fellers slept through sunrise, the morning greetings of the meadowlarks... not arousing until 7:30 a.m.


The tent looked like a refugee camp.  Everybody was cockeyed in their sacks, caddy-corner on the airmatress' we shared.


The next afternoon I asked the taller feller if they were going to campout that evening.  "Na, I think I need a good nights rest tonight,"he retorted.


The last few weeks have been some of the toughest for our family... on the fellers, the hubs & me.  I am on the road to recovery, seeking the Lords healing for the wounds.  Our prairie campout reminds me that if we rest fully in the Lord, we will see the joy in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

New International Version (NIV)

⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment,
   but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
   but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Life is about enjoying the small stuff.... about finding the joy in the journey & appreciating the little things, because one day when I look back they will be the BIG things.