I have been asking Nancy if we could go spend a while at a mini vacation in the woods at my parents cabin. The 200 mile drive, the 1/4 mile walk, no electricity, outhouse, and prospect of very cold temperatures did not phase us as being miserable in any way. And to be truthful neither did the flu we all got, Anna on Friday and Nancy and I Saturday night. I am now much more hardened in the use of an outhouse when the temperature is 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
The only real disappointment I had was the number of cell phone calls that we got and made. A couple were needed, like asking my parents where more TP was, but others... It is a harsh contrast to the peace usually felt at this little place in the woods where I grew up on weekends. But Nancy and I did get to spend time talking to each other, reading, praying, etc. that we wanted to do.
When we first parked the car at the side of the road I was amazed at how many people stopped and asked if we needed help getting out. Josh, the neighbor's son plowed a right good parking spot so that my dad or I did not have to shovel our own. (I do so think my dad loves to shovel snow.)
It was not that much of a challenge to trudge in and taking trips with the sled quickly brought all our stuff to the cabin. Anna kept falling off the sled so we put her in a box, she looked so cute and small. We got the cabin up to 80 degrees inside quite quickly, which was nice.
And while the purpose of our trip changed greatly from the first half to the second, we are almost all better now.
We spent the weekend at Ryan's parents cabin in Manistee Michigan. We needed a retreat so we went to a quite place with no power, an out house, wood stove heat and a hand pump so that we could actually dwell and pray there in the 0 degree temperatures. We got there on Thursday and on Friday Anna started throwing up, which is what is still happening now. Ryan and I got her flu and were tag teaming the out house for a while. 
We are home now and recovering. We did thankfully have some good discussions and with being sick it helps you get more centered on what is important, our family and our future with God.
