Summer Vacation 2014: Tender Mercies at the Lake

A favorite memory and activity of when we came to visit Grandma & Grandpa as missionaries was going to Legacy Lake.  

  

 

This is the area of the camp where Grandma & Grandpa were assigned to work for two summers; helping girls, groups & families in and out of their boats.

 

So this was a much anticipated part of our weekend.

 

 

We had the choice of either going in a canoe or paddle boat.

 

Jacob fell asleep minutes after he sat in the boat
and remained asleep until it was time to disembark.

Everyone chose to go out on the lake in a paddleboat.

 

There was a little switching of paddling companions . . .

 

. . .but everyone stayed on the lake the whole time!

So where does the Tender Mercy come in, you ask?  Two years previous we had come to the camp and went out on the lake with Grandma & Grandpa.  John would have nothing to do with the boats.  He had it in his mind that the only reason you come to a body of water was to throw rocks in it.  Nothing we could say or do could change his mind, not to mention I think he was scared to walk onto the dock and get in the boat. After all this wasn't an amusement park ride where the water was crystal clear and you could see the track underneath.

 

As we were headed to the lake on this trip I had a thought . . . tell John to collect some rocks and that we were going to get in a boat so he could throw his rocks into the "middle" of the lake.  As soon as I made the suggestion he was more than happy to don his life vest, and get into the boat.  He carried his precious rocks in a baggie as Paul paddled them to the middle of the lake. Once there he happily threw them, plop, into the water.  He didn't ask about going back, or about getting more rocks.  He was perfectly content to paddle around the lake.  He had so much fun doing it, letting his finger tips glide across the top of the water as they went.

 

This may seem inconsequential to most but for me, and John, we experienced a "tender mercy" of a loving Heavenly Father that day.  John was able to step outside his "world of autism" and experience the lake in a new and wonderful way!