Lighthouse Family Retreat: Take 2 (St. Simons Island, GA)

We were fortunate enough to go to St. Simons Island (SSI), Georgia for the second time this past June! If you’ve been following us for awhile, you might remember that in July of 2022, we attended a family retreat on SSI with Blue Skies Ministries. This year we were able to go back, but this time it was with Lighthouse Family Retreat (LFR—the nonprofit we originally vacationed with in July 2021). Once again, both SSI and LFR blew us away.

We flew into Orlando on June 11 and spent a magnificent day with my niece at Magic Kingdom. We were worried that it might be a bit disappointing going to Disney again after getting VIP treatment with Link’s wish pass last November, but their DAS (Disability Access Service) pass was great! We were surprised with how much we were able to get done. Lincoln’s favorite ride this time around was Goofy’s The Barnstormer. Logan’s fave continued to be The Haunted Mansion. No surprise there!

We got up the next day and were able to visit the wonderful Give Kids the World Village as an alumni family before driving north a few hours to Georgia. It was wonderful visiting GKTW again. Since we went there for Link’s wish trip, we can revisit the village for two days every single year. I’ve said it before, but this place really is magical.

When we first arrived, they greeted us by saying, “Welcome Home!” And that’s what it felt like. We got to eat ice cream, ride on the train, and play “DinoPutt”. We rode on the carousel and had lunch in the cafeteria. Probably more special than anything, though, we got to go “stargazing” and see where Link’s star is in the Castle of Miracles. 💛🥹💛
Every single star on the ceiling of this building (plus more stored elsewhere since there have been so many) represents a child whose wish was granted at Give Kids the World. It’s incredible being in that space. I recently read the memoir of Henri Landwirth, the founder of GKTW.  What an inspiration! He was a Holocaust survivor who turned the tragedy he experienced into motivation to help others. In fact, it was while reading his book that I got the distinct impression (again) that I need to be brave and go all-in on some projects that will help others (the Wacky Warriors softball tournament and my upcoming podcast, Finding Joy through Life’s Trials, which I’m launching in January).

Anyway, after we left GKTW, we headed to St. Simons Island, Georgia. This weeklong family retreat for childhood cancer families was the reason for our whole trip. We just tacked on some extra fun before and after it. If you’ll recall, we went on a retreat with this awesome nonprofit two summers ago. That time we went to Emerald Isle, NC. This year our Lighthouse Family Retreat was at Epworth by the Sea on SSI. It was breathtakingly beautiful, peaceful, and overall glorious.

Just like the last time we went on a Lighthouse Family Retreat, this week in Georgia was nothing short of amazing. LFR truly makes the retreat families (who have all dealt with or are dealing with childhood cancer) feel like royalty. We arrived to balloons and our Family Partners (the volunteers assigned to our family) holding up a welcome sign. They started out as strangers, but by the end of the week (or, really, by just the second day), they felt like family.

All of our Family Partners were wonderful. We love them!!! They truly spoiled us. They helped us get our meals from the cafeteria, delivered things to our room, did our room service, tirelessly played with our boys, took Lincoln on innumerable walks outside so he could watch the wind blowing in the trees, and so much more.

We spent the week doing all sorts of activities:

• Eating (always 😂)
• Relaxing
• Tie-dying 
• Crafting
• Talking
• Laughing
• Crying
• Sightseeing 
• Playing games
• Going to the beach
• Swimming at the pool
• Talking with other parents in the childhood cancer world who “get it”
• Attending devotionals/brief worship services complete with music (which Lincoln LOOOOOVED)
• Going to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center
• Seeing dolphins, sharks, and a MANATEE!
• Going on a date night (Josh and I)
• Having an “un-birthday” party (Lincoln and Logan)
• And MUCH more

I can’t believe it’s been so long since we left these wonderful people. No matter how much time passes, though, we will never forget the week we spent with them. We’ve now been blessed to attend three faith-based retreats for families going through childhood cancer, and each one felt like Heaven. I’m not exaggerating. All three made the list of the top ten weeks of our lives. The feeling of love, acceptance, and service felt at these retreats is indescribable. 

I’ve said this before, but the volunteers with both Lighthouse Family Retreat and Blue Skies Ministries (the retreat we attended last summer) truly serve with Christlike love, bending over backwards to accommodate their retreat families. If we could live in a LFR or BSM world, we’d jump at the chance. For now, though, we’ll just have to hold the memories in our hearts and look forward to the years when we’ll get to volunteer for these extraordinary organizations. 💛💛

After we left Lighthouse Family Retreat, we explored a bit more in Georgia and Florida before heading home. We ate breakfast at Palmer’s Village Cafe (delicious!) and drove around St. Simons finding a few of their famous “Tree Spirit” carvings. Then we went across the beautiful Sidney Lanier Bridge (again) to Jekyll Island and walked around Driftwood Beach. I’m so glad we took the time to go! I wanted to go there last year, but we ran out of time. As everyone says, it was very cool. We’ll go back and spend more time there someday.

Next up, we drove back to Orlando. On our way, we made a stop to experience Buc-ee’s for the first time. Oh. My. Gosh. We’d had several friends tell us we needed to go there. I KNEW it would be huge. I was not, however, prepared for how BUSY it would be! Insane! I was literally more worried about losing Logan there than I was at Disney World. It was fun, though, and everyone was right—it was impressive, fun, and worth the stop. Plus it provided tons of (too much 😂) yummy food for our drive.

That night we relaxed at our hotel. We enjoyed the pool and hot tub and got a good night’s rest. The next morning we ate breakfast, checked out of our hotel, and headed to Disney Springs. We met my niece there and spent the day shopping and (you guessed it!) eating together. Coke Zero addicts that we are, we went to the Coca-Cola Store and got their Around the World Tray. It’s a sampler of 16 of Coca-Cola’s beverages from around the world. Truth be told, I was NOT much of a fan of most of them. 😂 We had an AMAZING lunch at Art Smith’s Homecomin’ before driving to the airport and flying home. (Art Smith, BTW, was Oprah’s personal chef for ten years. I can see why she kept him around.) We finished up by getting ice cream at Salt & Straw. It was so good a squirrel even tried to steal some a few times. 😊

It was an incredible vacation, and we’re so grateful we were able to go. I highly recommend planning a vacation to St. Simons Island. You won’t regret it!