I Will Not Let the Devil Steal My Joy

Ever since I've been young I have been embarrassed to wear a swimsuit. I don't know why or where this insecurity stems from. I remember being a teenager and loving the pool but hating having to wear a swimsuit. When I bought my first home I purchased a pool so that I didn't have to go to the public pool anymore. Being in a swimsuit in public just made me uncomfortable.

It's not that I'm insecure with how I look. My weight has fluctuated over the years but I've always been happy with my body regardless if I was a little bigger or when I was most fit training for a marathon. 

I sold my house over a year ago so anytime since then I've had to swim in public, which meant being seen by people in a swimsuit. I love my body I just hate swimsuits on my body. Always have. So swimming is always my least favorite thing to do. 

I don't want to be a downer when I'm with the kids so anytime they want to swim I suck it up and put on my dreaded swimsuit and a happy face. The whole time I'm not as happy as I could be. 

I started to ponder why I let myself feel this way. Being insecure in a swimsuit was affecting how much fun I had with my kids. That's when I decided that I WILL NOT LET THE DEVIL STEAL MY JOY.  

The insecurities I had were not coming from God, they were thoughts the devil placed in my head when I was younger and I let those thoughts manifest so much that I was unhappy wearing a swimsuit. No more. I decided I would no longer care how I looked in a swimsuit.

That was almost a year ago and although I still hear the devil try to convince me to care how my arms look a bit flabby in a particular swimsuit or another makes my thighs look big I instantly tell myself that I'm perfect how I am and I will not let thoughts from the devil make me feel any different. 

I WILL NOT LET THE DEVIL STEAL MY JOY!

Myrtle Beach to Charlotte, North Carolina to Homer, Illinois

Thursday was our last morning at Myrtle Beach. We left at 10am and headed for Charlotte for a work meeting.   We went to see one of our manufacturers that we represent and took a tour of the plant that is located in Charlotte. The kids went to a daycare in Charlotte during that time.

The trip from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte was only 3.5 hours but from Charlotte home it was about 11 hours.  Lots of driving but luckily the kids are so well behaved while traveling that it is just long, not stressful.

Our trip was amazing.  We had so much fun.  Thank you Lord for giving us this opportunity to travel and make memories.

We are Engaged!

Cody finally asked me to marry him. He asked me on the beach one evening while in Myrtle Beach. 

 

Myrtle Beach

There are so many fun things to do at Myrtle Beach. Mostly we loved going to the beach at the campground we stayed at. 

Lakewood RV Resort was pretty neat. It has around 1000 camping sites. Two pools. It is beach front so we avoided the public beaches. There is a trading post, a coffee shop, several cafes, mini golf and water slides. It was pretty busy but not so busy that it was uncomfortable. 

We went to Fun Warehouse where the kids played arcade games, laser tag, jumped on inflatables and rode go carts. 

Hudson's Flea Market was like most flea markets, you buy things you don't really need but they are pretty cheap so you buy them anyways. 

The Seafood House was a Buffett style restaurant that had live mermaids. They food was amazing but the atmosphere was the coolest part about it. It wasPirate  themed. The kids thought it was neat. 

There was also the Pirate Voyage. It is a show that serves dinner. Think of Medieval Times but Pirate themed. So much fun. 

We went to Hollywood Wax Museum. It also has a mirror maze and a haunted house in it. 

Broadway at the beach was delightful. We went to Wonderworks. Ate at Senor Frog. Took Old Time photos. Went to the Ripley's Aquarium. 

The boardwalk was also fun. We went to the mirror maze, a 6D movie, Ripley's Believe it or not, rode the Ferris wheel, and watched Polynesian fire dancers at Sharkey's. 

 

Knoxville to Myrtle Beach

Today we got on the road at about 9:30am. We drove for several hours before we stopped for lunch. After getting lunch we were on the road for maybe 15 minutes before we heard a loud noise. We thought we blew a tire but when Cody checked we hadn't. He climbed on top of the camper and saw that the canvas on top had started ripping off and that was what we heard. That is not a good thing but we can temporarily fix it until we are able to take the camper to a a specialist who fixes that sort of thing. 

We stopped at a Camping World and Home Depot to get supplies to temporarily fix the roof. After about 15 minutes in the parking lot with Cody on the roof he fixed it enough that we could keep on the journey. 

We didn't get to the campground at Myrtle Beach until about 7:30pm. We set up and headed for a walk on the beach, which turned into Cody and the kids not being able resist themselves and getting in the water. I loved watching them. 

Thank you God for getting us here safely and for not allowing minor problem to turn into major problems. 

Home to Knoxville, Tennessee

We got on the road at 8:30am. At the first exit we had to pull over because our youngest left the window open that's inside his bunk and the screen almost flew out. In order to get to the window from the inside the slides have to be open so there we are on the exit ramp with Cody messing with the hydraulic slide system to only open the particular slide he needs to get in and close the window. After less than 10 minutes Cody was done and we were back on the road. 

For this trip we decided to give the kids a small present every two hours. We put them in brown lunch sacks with their name on it and if they were well behaved for the 2 hours they got to pick one of the sacks and open it. 

To keep the kids busy we made activity binders. I printed and laminated different activity pages to put in the binders with dry erase markers and colored pencils for drawing on blank paper in the binder. 

I also made travel board games. Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders and Sorry. I put the dice in a Tupperware container so that they could just roll them in that and not lose any dice in the truck. 

A little after noon we stopped near Cincinnati at a truck stop for Subway for lunch. We fueled up and used the facilities then got back on the road. 

We got to the campground at Knoxville at 6pm. We went swimming for about an hour after getting set up. After dinner we watched Big Brother. We had a simple day of driving. Thank you God for getting us to our destination today!