Girls Getaway Cruise Contest Entry

***My husband has decided I need to be entered into this contest. I'm wondering if he's just trying to get rid of me for a few days :-) I cried when he sent this to me. Here's his post:

Amy Wyatt, my wife of 15 years and mother of two, needs to win the Girl’s Getaway Christian Women’s Cruise Giveaway. Despite encouragement from her family and friend’s, Amy has been unwilling to write her entry into this contest because she feels other people are more deserving. We are a very blessed family and I love my wife dearly (and I am talking Fireproof type love) but she is wrong on this one: Big Time Wrong! She needs a Getaway Vacation with a girlfriend and other Christian women so she can relax, rest, and recharge.

John Eldredge in his best selling and life changing book, Wild at Heart, got it right when he wrote, “women in the church today are tired.” Well I guess so - if you spend every waking moment in service to Church, your husband, children, and community. Combine this service with the task of always sleeping with one eye open, and the thought of having a true vacation where you can fellowship with other believers, have fun in the sun, and sleep all night long without interruption starts to fade.

If you are in a hurry and want the Reader’s Digest version then this is for you: My son has epilepsy and is headed for probable brain surgery within the year, he has a seizure response dog, Lucia, that we love dearly but usually wakes Amy at least once a night, my daughter is 5 and usually wakes in the middle of the night a couple times a week, I am a Sales Manager so I travel a good deal (80 nights in a hotel so far this year) and while I try to help, Amy carries most of the responsibility of the work at home. Amy speaks to patients and caregivers with Epilepsy at least once a month, she leads a Tuesday morning Bible study at Church that is reviewing EVERY book of the Bible, she helps co-teach a Sunday morning class for recently married couples, my daughter is taking dance lessons, my son is in Tae Kwon Do, and has a physical therapy and occupational therapy appointment every week and in her free time (laugh to yourself) she is working on becoming a better speaker and writer so she can share the hope and love of Jesus with other women. The most amazing part of all this work and service is that she does it with a cheerful and eager heart to serve others.

I try to take my wife on short 2-3 day mini-vacation getaways every 3-4 months so that she can recharge but she doesn't like the thought of us both being away from my son without being able to drive home or catch a direct flight at a moment’s notice. She needs a Girl’s Getaway vacation so she can unplug from all the stress and connect with other Christian Women having fun. I will try to cover while she is gone for a week, but I am not sure I can do all that she does even for just 1 week. The truly scary and intimidating part for me is not the above, but the thousands of little things she does every day that no one appreciates or understands; like putting my daughter’s hair up or what she packs in my son’s lunch every day. Those are the things that are intimidating and make her and most mother’s I know deserving of a Girl’s Vacation Getaway. I think Anita Renfro got it right when she put this sequel together about What Dad’s say in a day.

What makes Amy’s situation truly unique and the biggest challenge contributing to her physical and mental tiredness is our 8 year old son, Spencer, who has epilepsy. Since June of this year, his epilepsy has not been under control and we have made at least 3 Emergency room visits and called EMS at least twice a month. We are now in the beginning stages of the process for our son to have brain surgery. This extraordinary step is necessary because my son has a type of epilepsy called Status Epilepticus, which basically means that once he starts having a seizure it will not stop without significant medical intervention. During the summer of 2007, he seized for so long at the hospital that they had to airlift via helicopter to another hospital in the Atlanta area. This thought and fear is always on her mind and as a result she always sleeps with one open on the video monitor watching my son while he sleeps to make sure he is not having another seizure.

One last thing, Candace spoke at our church (Hebron Baptist) over a year ago and my son wanted to know where Amy was going for the evening. Amy explained there was Women’s Speaker at Church that she was going to hear. Spencer asked lots of questions and then responded with, “Tell DJ I said Hello and make sure you have your picture taken with her for me.” Amy was encouraged that evening by Candace’s talk but she missed out on that picture opportunity. Winning this contest would give her a second opportunity to get that picture with Candace that my son wanted.

Please select Amy as your Girl’s Getaway Cruise Vacation winner so she can have some fun with God, other Christian women, and rest without the every day stresses on her physical and mental condition and sleep with both eyes closed for at least 4 days in a row.

Submitted by Greg, Spencer, Mary Lyndsey, and Lucia.