Saturday, April 17, 2010

As Vacation Ends


 Today is Saturday.  I love Saturday, it has quickly become my favorite day of the week as a day set aside to rest physically from the things of the week.  Every Saturday is different and this Saturday marks the end of a vacation time.  During our vacation we worked on the garden, the animal shelters and fences and many other small 'must dos'.  There is so much more to do...but without play we would soon experience burnout.  Our plans had fallen through on a trip with some friends and our second choice didn't work out either, so we made a decision and went to the ocean for a few days to end our vacation time with play. 


The first day at the ocean was sunny and in the low 60's, by sunset it had become quite chilly with the wind blowing.  The kids were building sand cities and sculptures behind me as I sat and watched the sun set on the first day, knowing the weather forecast was for rain for the next two days at least and hoping it would be different.


Sunset on the first day...lovely.


We were awakened by the pitter-patter of rain on our travel trailer the next morning, but after breakfast it had eased up enough to venture down to the beach.  Our oldest son had already taken a walk when the sun rose so he stayed behind to read while we enjoyed watching these little birds skitter across the sand stopping only long enough to eat something in the sand (probably those pesky sand fleas) or sleep.  If they weren't running full speed to their next meal, they were hopping or standing on one leg, it was quite funny to watch them.


Our youngest son brought his bike down and he had some fun chasing them.  They would fly up into the air and come right back down behind him.


Love how she is so often in her own world.


Later we took a drive up the coast 16 miles to another beach, our oldest had a good time getting the dog totally wet.


Oldest and youngest spending a second together watching the waves.


Sunset of the second day.


The third day at the ocean was my husbands birthday, we went for a beach hike out to Damon Point, this sign says it all.


The deserted washed out roadway.


My husband found a door, possibly to the old Catala ship wreck that used to be here, the boys had fun digging it out of the sand and setting it up to document there find with the camera.  It was a great example of archaeology.



Coal washes up on this shore quite often and there are lots of wonderful rocks and shells too.


The waves here are especially loud and very beautiful, the boys had fun running from them.


As we were heading back to the truck we noticed that our way was quite covered by water as the sign warned it could be...I had to overcome my fear...it wasn't as deep as I thought it would be but we did get our feet wet except the dog who was carried by our oldest son. I was very relieved to get across and too overwhelmed by the experience to take a picture.  We had a nice dinner out at the Galway Bay Irish Pub and went out to watch the sunset...what a wonderful day for my husband.


Wednesday was a windy chilly very sunny day, I walked to the beach alone it was very peaceful and so beautiful.





At the beach we flew our kites...





...and played in the sand.



Then we drove to town on the beach and saw this coyote...

...that is the Shilo Inn in the background.

Later that night we walked down to the beach, it was kind of scary after seeing a coyote, it's one thing to know they are there, another thing entirely to have seen one in broad daylight with people around.


The next morning was very rainy, we didn't go back to the beach...before we left it had stopped raining and we got one last picture.  This is the tree in our campsite, the kids had a great time climbing it.


We had a great vacation together but had to get home for one more birthday on Friday...our youngest son is now 14...time really has gone by fast and I am so glad to have this vacation to remember.

~Blessings

Have Courage!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 Unleavened Bread

1 Corinthians 5:7-8
 
Therefore purge out the old leaven,
that you may be a new lump,
since you truly are unleavened.
For indeed Christ, our Passover,
was sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

It is the Feast of Unleavened Bread and I have been dwelling on the thought of being unleavened (without sin) and what that means right now for me.  What has been brought to my mind and heart is that I am quite indecisive and suffer from a lack of confidence in who God is making me to be.  Setting me free from the fears that surround me, such as the inability to make decisions or communicate because of the 'what if's'...

Many times I think of coming here to write, but nothing comes to me, so I push the thought aside and busy myself with mindless things, Facebook...or on good days exploring the endless expanse of the internet searching for some answer to some question lurking in my mind with my Bible opened beside me and praying for direction from the Holy Spirit.

Today is a mixture of all those things as I try not to be too discouraged about the weather and my husbands massive headache.  UGH!

In the last three days we have accomplished virtually nothing we were planning to do, doing things that were not on the 'list' and trying to figure out and make 'semi-commitments' for the rest of the vacation time.  Realizing I don't like commitment...when it comes to planning I would rather wing it or have someone else plan it, and we don't like doing things alone, we like to be with friends or family...oh well, God had other plans for us, we just had to commit to His plan and go.  So, with a deep breath...sigh...we made a decision....and that decision has led us to going somewhere alone as a family. 

I know how silly this all sounds, really I do, which is why I am writing about it.   It parallels my life... these small seemingly impossible virtually unimportant decisions I have to make.  However, it all comes to this...if I can't make commitments on the unimportant matters...how can I commit to the most important matter of all?  Following Jesus...am I following or am I indecisive in my following doing what seems right but not doing what is right?  Have I truly committed myself to Him as I have said or am I as wishy-washy as I feel I am with life choices?

So no matter how silly these daily decisions may seem, they ultimately define who I am and where I stand.  Will I continue in my indecision?  Or, will I choose to make decisions and stick with them with confidence that even if the decision is wrong, God will direct my path? 

The path He chooses for us is most often not what we would choose ourselves.   

As for our short vacation...I really believe God has directed this path and have peace with the decision made and am looking forward to this quiet time with God.