At Last...

I have been so busy, I have been putting this post together for several days. I have been up to all hours of the night working on graduate schoolwork. I am doing well, but boy! I have learned they don't call them detailed lesson plans for nothing!

Anywho, it seems that I must post these pictures from our recent beach trip today because we are leaving tomorrow to go again! No, we have not won the lottery or anything like that. It is sort of an accident that we are going, but hey I don't really believe in accidents!

First, just let me say that if you ever book a room using online services such as Hotwire.com be aware that you cannot {under any circumstances} cancel or change the date of your reservation. My brother made a reservation for this Friday and Saturday night in Destin, FL. Something came up that he cannot cancel, so we agreed to take the rooms for him. {Aren't I just be BEST sister?!?} Justin is setting this one out, and my mom and I are taking the kids down. We are headed out in the morning.

Second, I have had NO time to edit the pictures. I can see a thousand tiny things that would make them awesome. But I want y'all to see them and I am sure there will be more where these came from!

Sawyer has gotten really comfortable in the water as you can see. He will swim under to you now. He is so strong that I knew he would do well once we got that face in!

And of course, here is our resident fish!

Here is a shot from our balcony of the little swimmers!

And this hunk of a man is my darling husband!

I cannot take credit for this shot. Justin took this. We are, as all families with small children, all about some Toy Story. This is also a tribute as we lost Woody's hat in the sand:(

Can you spot Justin? We stayed in the Phoenix All Suite Hotel. It was really just a mini condo. We really enjoyed it for this quick trip. It is right on the public beach. The room was nice, but it would be noisy during a busy time as it it right beside the Hangout.

The overcast days made for some beautiful shots. Aside from my kids, nature is my favorite thing to shoot. You can't look at this and not see GOD!

We had a bit of a surprise awaiting us when we got to our room. We were expecting the kids would sleep on the sleeper-sofa, but there were bunks in the hallway and they were so pumped about them!

Okay, there is nothing particulary amazing about this photo; but there is a super funny story that goes with it. See the pelican? Well about two minutes after that pelican left, we decided to have a family sit-down and watch the boats in the bay. When I got up, I had the strangest feeling that something wet was on the seat of my pants. Let's just say the pelican left its "mark" on my pants. It was soooooo groooooooss.

This is what I have to resort to if y'all want to see a picture of me!

Next time we are out here, I am going to be prepared for a full out photo shoot! There were some awesome shots to be made. When we went "riding" this afternoon, I {for some crazy reason!!!} did not take my camera, so these are all with Justin's point-and-shoot. Man, It is so hard to frame a shot and get everything balanced without an eye-piece to look through!

By the way, the reason there are so many of Carys and not of Sawyer is because the boys left us to go exploring. I can't shoot them if they are not there!

Please pray for safe travels and good weather for our journey to FL this weekend!

Vote for ME!

Hey everyone! I have entered my first photo contest. Most of you know that I use the site Shutterfly.com to store and print a lot of my photos. They had this summertime contest and I entered two entries. Click below to vote for each.

The main reason I entered was for the 20 FREE prints they offered. Anyone can enter, so if you have some shots piled up on your card that you need to print, head on over and enter the contest!

Contest details

Contest details

Becoming Everything to Everyone...Paul's Challenge

<sup>1 Corinthians 9:19-23

19</sup>Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

This was part of our text for our Sunday School Lesson last week. It spoke to me so much and the challenge that Paul's words presents was very real to me.

In the preceding verses, Paul was explaining to the Christians at Corinth that although many things were permissible for them to do or take part in, not all things were profitable to them or for those around them. Just because you can do something, does not mean that you should do it.

As I prayed over these verses, I realized the greater truth that God was speaking for my life. I think that too often I am too concerned about what "I want to do." I often stop to consider if the action or thought is allowed by God. Because I have claimed the redeeming blood of Christ, there are lots of things that I can do. Lots of things that might not effect my relationship with Christ. However, this scripture reminds me that often my actions and thoughts impact others who are either lost or less mature in their Christian walk. If my actions present some sort of stumbling block for them, even though it might not be "wrong" I should not do it.

In this verse, Paul reminds us that he becomes all things to all people. This does not mean that he changes who he is or changes the rules he lives by when he is around various people. It does mean that he is prayerfully aware of the needs of others. He constantly keeps his eyes on the prize of winning others to Christ and by doing so puts himself, his wants, aside to become what other people need in order to show, to live, the love of Christ to them.

I had to stop and ponder on this for a while. Maybe you can ask yourself the same questions I asked myself...

Am I putting my wants above those of others and their spiritual needs?

In what ways am I becoming all things to the people who most need the love of Christ {the Lost}?

Is the focus of my life making me happy or following through with the Great Commission.?

Oil Spill

First, let me just say that we have had an amazing trip. I have taken well over 300 pictures in less that 24 hours! I decided to share some of them in groups. I just could not see posting the oil along with our happy trip pictures. There is no way you can grasp what it is like if I mix the pictures.

I want to share this with all of you who may not be able to come down. Someone has already told me they were waiting for the post because their pictures of the oil did not do it justice. Your mood should at least be somber after viewing this.

So we arrived late Thursday night. Friday morning, I took these from our balcony.

I would say that from a distance, it looked much like really bad seaweed. There were large brown patches on the beach and the water was a little brown as the waves broke.

What I did not really think about was that I was looking at a lot of beach from 7 or 8 stories in the air. I will admit,that Justin and I both thought that maybe it was not as bad as we expected.

Here you can see a "slick" out in the water.

Around 7am the clean-up crews began to arrive.

FYI, in Gulf Shores, AL double red flags indicate that the water is CLOSED. Swimming while double red flags are posted is illegal and you can be arrested.

Once I got down to the beach {and saw this} my heart just sank. It was all too real to me now. There were millions of these "tarballs." As best I understand it, when the oil is out in the cold water it forms "balls" but once these hit the beach and warms up, they look like these globs. This may be a horrible analogy, but if you have ever see chicken, duck, or geese poo, it looked like that. Some were dime-sized while some were the size of dinner plates.

That is a child's beach toy.

This is what is left behind when the surf hits the sand. This is impossible to clean up.

There were several of these crews along the beach. As I type, it is 11pm and there are crews still out there working with lights. They set up these huge rolls of "garbage bags" and go to work shoveling the tar and sand up. That huge tractor would take the filled bags down the beach to a pickup location. I am not sure where they took them after that.

I'm sure at least one person will call us bad parents for letting the kids go out on the beach. I thought it was so important that they see what had happened. They have a lot of background on the oil rig and the spill. They were both very quite and they concentrated on where to step to avoid the oil. Carys was absolutely heartbroken at how the water looked and that she could not go in the ocean.

We managed to find a place where the kids could sit and play in the sand for a while. They discovered that no matter how careful you are, if you go on the beach, you WILL get oil on you.

These crews worked in shifts. We were told that they only work for 20 minutes at a time and then swap and break and do that all over again. It is very hot and humid and they faced a daunting task. We watched them work all day, and I would say {this is my guess} they cleaned about 200-300 yards of beach that will be covered again in the morning after high tide.

From the balcony I could not put into perspective exactly how much of the beach was covered in oil. It was a lot.

This is one of the saddest pictures to me. This is a shot of the public beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. On a Friday morning the weekend of the Fourth of July. I am not sure if there were any other people out there or not. So sad. It did pick up a little bit later in the day, but still it was no where near a normal sized crowd.

More Tar Balls

The clean-up.
You have to SCRUB the oil off with soap. Justin took a great deal of time cleaning Carys and Sawyer's feet, but later in their baths they still had a tint to the bottoms of their feet. I scrubbed more and {just so you will not think we neglected them} they are completely clean now!

Here is another slick that you could see mid-day.

Helicopters flew all day. Before we could really see the above slick from our balcony, this crew arrived to try and keep it from coming ashore.

The remainder of these pics are from the Mobile Bay from Fort Morgan.

Here is an oil rig in the bay. Although the kids had seen pictures online and on the TV, it was great for them to get to see a real rig so that they could understand the accident and why the oil was leaking. There was a LOT of oil in the bay out here. It was very sad. We stood on the pier and just looked. The grandeur of how vast the bay looked and how broad and area that was {and will be} impacted is just well, sad.

Also at Fort Morgan we met a crew working on clean-up efforts. They were making absorbent contraptions {for lack of a better word!} They had these large cotton pads and they layered the pads and some sort of screen. {Ladies, these absorbent pads looked like mattress pads for a king sized bed.}

Here you can see the contraption.

Please pray for the people on the coast. Pray that an answer to the actual leak will come soon. Looking at the oil, it was easy to forget that it is still leaking. This is not the last oil that this area will see. Pray for the clean up crews, the local business owners, and everyone involved.

Other than praying, making a trip down and supporting the businesses of the affected areas is the best thing you could do.

P.S. This is the longest post I've ever compiled!

Post 200

This is my 200th post. I admit that I write mostly for myself. My blog only has 7 followers {for whom I am very thankful:} and I rarely get comments. I know others read, but usually, that is not why I write. I do not always find the right words, and even more often misspell the ones I do use:)

But today, I am writing to be read! If you read this and feel any connection, please, pass my blog address on to someone. What I have to say today, the whole world needs to hear. This will be a post about God's love, His grace, and His mercy.

As I type, my dear family and I are at the beach! Yes, the beach again. Justin called yesterday and told me that he would be off both Friday and Monday for the 4th of July and that we should get away. I have been asking for a short trip to the gulf to witness the oil spill and clean-up efforts. {I will blog about that later}. As usual, the plans we had for this trip turned out not to be the plans God had for us. I sat down and considered our $$$s and what we could manage for this trip. It was during this process that I cried for the first time.

As I was looking at our savings and checking accounts and thinking about what we could so, it hit me. Not that long ago, we had no savings and usually just enough in checking to pay bills and get us well fed. God as ALWAYS provided for our every need. I do not want anyone to think any differently. I have always been blessed. But, when I consider the point God has brought us to, I am simply amazed. I also do not want you to think that we have some sort of unlimited budget, ha! Come on, I am a public school teacher for crying out loud! But, after many money mistakes and praying for God to provide us with the discretion and wisdom to make better choices we are reaping the blessings {which we do NOT deserve} of following His plan for our family and our lives.

The second cry came later in the day. Sawyer had some sort of allergic reaction to something. His entire body is covered in this horribly itchy rash. Did I say his WHOLE body? It was at its peak Thursday around noon. I had just gotten out of class and we were all in Tuscaloosa and I realized (a) our doctors office closes at 12pm on Thursday, and (b) I did not have my insurance card with me. I called a local walk-in clinic and they were able to look up our insurance information via and on-line system {thank you Lord for technology.} Carys and I took him. Thankfully, even though it was a really bad reaction it seemed to be limited to his skin. So, he was given meds and we were on our way home.

At one point during the visit I looked over at Carys. I asked what she was thinking and she said it was strange for her not to be the one at the doctor. Amen sister! Here is where the tears came. I have no idea why God healed Carys. But I do know that it was a total act of mercy and grace. Then the new came of new occurrence of tumors in our dear friend Hannah Grace Harrison.

I do not know how to describe a heart {mine} that contains such joy and such heartbreak at the same time. There are no words. God's Word says...

Ephesians 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Every spiritual blessing. That is what I feel like I have.

Sawyer was so sweet about his rash. When I told him that we could not see his doc but needed to see a doctor he was a bit upset. He looked up with me with a heart full of faith and said, "Momma, I don't have to go to the doctor. We can just pray really hard about this and God will take care of it." Wow. How was I gonna explain this to him, when I cannot completely wrap my mind around how God works.

Later, Carys wanted to know if God "makes" people sick. I took a deep breath and we talked about Job and how Satan was out to get someone, and God said, Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." {Job 1:8}

I explained to my wonderful children that while God does not "make" us sick nor does He find any joy in our painful times, He does have a master plan. See, God knew Job's heart and in a way He chose Job to face what satan had in mind. We can apply this to our lives. It is hard to see loss, difficulty, sadness, loneliness, heartbreak, or sickness as a gift from God. But, if we find ourselves in difficult times like Job did we can consider ourselves chosen. God is waiting for us to show our faith and trust in Him and fully rely on His all sufficient Grace.

The blessings I experience today I could have never imagined when I started this blog. If you go back and look at my first post I talked about Jesus being the Rock. He has sustained me through so much and I want the world to know about all the spiritual blessings that God has provided through my simple and often inadequate faith.

I am going now, to swim in the pool with my kids. I pray that you will find something here that will speak to you. I am not sure why God allows all the "stuff" to come into our lives. In fact, that is not even important to me. But I do know that God uses these time to make the blessings in life so much sweeter!

I'm off to savor the sweetness!