Memorial Box Monday: The Family Trip

Memorial Box Monday was created by Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity.  She keeps a memorial box filled with mementos reminding her of God's love and faithfulness. Each object in her box has a story to go with it. These stories of God's faithfulness support and carry us through life. The idea came from Joshua 4:1-9. You can read more about it at Linny's blog. Please go there and link up to share your own MBM posts, or read those of others.

Today I am going to repost a story about the time our family went on a 4 week vacation from Minnesota to Washington and back. We took 6 kids, ages 17- 7, and our dog, along with our pop-up camper, our clothes and food, and an extra tent. Our nine passenger station wagon carried us and pulled our camper.
It was so unusual for us to have the funds or go anywhere but to visit family on vacation, that our children call this adventure "The Trip", and it stuck.  Those two words immediately identify and bring fond memories to mind for us. We sold one of our vehicles to be able to go. We had $1200 to spend for the whole month and knew it would be a challenge, but we also believed this trip was important and we could do it.
We visited friends and family, and a former 3 point parish we had served 3 years before. Sometimes we stayed in campgrounds, and other times we parked our camper in the driveway of those we were visiting! We toured a couple of colleges,too, as our oldest was going to be a Senior and was thinking about where she wanted to go.

We only dined "out" 3 times in the whole month, other wise buying our food at local grocery stores and cooking on our camper stove. Between those meals and the meals our friends graciously served us, we ate well!
This trip included wonderful fellowship and seeing several sights including Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, the Pacific ocean, and Seattle's Space Needle. We were able to see where I was born in Pasco Washington, and visit the Black Hills and Deadwood where I lived as a young child. The Trip was wonderful and having 6 kids of various ages did not seem to create a lot of sibling rivalry. We even came home without spending the whole $1200.
Where is God's faithfulness is this story? Certainly the whole trip was a blessing, but the amazing abundance of God came when we returned home, and through another unexpected source, we ended up receiving a check for $1200. The exact amount we took on the trip! Thank you Lord!

I think I will put the small travel journal I kept on this journey we took in 1985 in our Memorial Box to remind me not only of all the blessings The Trip brought our family, but of how God provided the money we needed for the trip, and then replaced it when we came home! Amazing Grace!!