Sadness can be a good thing

Robert left tonight to start working out of town again some. We're all really sad about it. Especially when he has to leave while we're awake. (It's not so bad when he leaves 5AM b/c he's leaving a sleeping house.) It's so hard to load him up and watch him leave!

We were talking about our frustration with it today and I remembered something I often tell Jacob when we're leaving visits with extended family. Being sad when we say good-bye just shows us how much we really love someone. I am glad that I hate to watch Robert go. I am so glad that we're both sad when he leaves! I am incredibly thankful that we'd rather be together...every day. What a blessing the Lord has given us in this richness in our relationship. I see how much better it's gotten year after year, and I can't even imagine how much better it will get as we enter the golden years! The Lord is so good to us!

Our Family Vacation

We are finally settled after being gone for a week. I think vacation is a lot of work! (Actually, I've also been readying our house to get it back on the market. I enjoyed our three week break- because of a burst pipe in our basement- entirely too much, and now it's time to get it back in shape again.)

We went to Destin...officially Santa Rosa, I suppose. We stayed at Topsail Hill State Park with our friends in their camper. We had a great time! It was a bit cramped in the camper, as we felt like our kids were constantly in the way, but our friends were incredibly gracious and seemed to be fine.

Our gracious hosts, Pam & Eddie


This beach was absolutely incredible! Topsail Hill has three miles of private beach, and since it's a preserve, there are no buildings. (I never realized how much the buildings detract from the setting.) So it was the dunes, sand, and water. Oh! It was absolutely beautiful! I felt like we were on our own private island. The beach was virtually empty all the time.



The one time we went down at the busiest there were a total of 12 people in sight, and 6 of them were our party! The water was clear (I could see my feet clearly at 2 feet deep) and sea grass free, the sand was beautifully clean and soft, and the sky was enormous. It couldn't have been more beautiful.

See what I mean?


Apparently the winds were blowing in the wrong direction, so we had biting dog flies to contend with. That was a major bummer that drove us off the beach several times. The kids and I just started staying covered up if we were out of the water and the flies were out. It was cool enough that this worked out okay. Actually, this time the kids enjoyed the sand more than the water...completely different than in St. Pete Beach a month ago! (Maybe the 15 degree temperature difference explains that!)

That girl loves her paci and blanket!


Jacob enjoying his sandbox.


This campground has tons of space for bike riding, and we spent many hours doing that, Jacob and Robert especially! Jacob would wear out several adults and be asking for more! We have fulfilled our entire first grade year of PE, that's for sure!

Jacob waiting by the curb for a grownup to ride with him...again. (He and Robert had just come in from a long ride.)

Robert had a couple of great fishing days about 100 yards out in the gulf. One day he saw a long gray shadow that seemed to be a shark, so he came in. The next day, this long gray shadow started coming directly in his direction. Not so good... Thankfully, at the same time a Coast Guard helicopter on patrol saw it as well (okay, kinda scary!) and started circling and finally hovering low enough to scare the shark off. Wasn't that nice of him? The third day (uh, yes, he went back out, much to my chagrin) he managed to avoid the shark.

Mattie enjoying the sand.


One of our other favorite things was searching for sand crabs after dark. We'd go down as the sun was setting and look for them for awhile. It was beautiful walking on the beach by the moonlight! (Would've even been romantic if the kids weren't there!) Robert was quite brave and caught several of them. I was the only weenie who kept shoes on to be sure I didn't step on one by accident, much less catch one on purpose! Anyway, the kids both loved chasing them! Mattie would squeal and squeal as she found one and ran it off.

I love it when little ones crouch down like this to look at something! She spotted a crab!


Jacob on his crab mission.


And Robert with one of his catches.


After looking we'd ride bikes back to our campsite (a mile or so) in the moonlight. This was a beautifully peaceful way to end our evenings, and a great review of the moon phases!

My handsome boy, getting waaaaay too big in so many ways!





On the way home we stopped overnight in Pensacola to visit Robert's grandparents. They really enjoyed the kids, and we got a night out to dinner without the children! (Their maid watched the kids so we could go out without them. Ahhhh!) They treated us to a local high-end restaurant where we sat at a table once enjoyed by (the first) President Bush and his wife. While we were there we stayed in Robert's mom's childhood bedroom and Mattie slept in her crib! That's kind of neat, I think.

All in all, we had a great trip. Robert enjoyed it more than any other trip we've taken, I believe. That's worth a lot since it's his vacation, after all!

You know you're at Taco Bell too much when...

The manager remembers a request you made over a year ago!

I pulled up at the drive through window today, and the manager says, "Didn't you request a Nutritional Brochure a while back?" So, in spite of my efforts to not eat out while I'm running errands so much recently, she still knows me! Oh well.

Oh, and they still don't have the brochures! That was what she wanted to tell me after all.

"Nice Matters" Award

I have been awarded this award by two different people now, so I suppose I'd better acknowledge it! Thank you Michelle and Michelle! (Yes, two Michelles.)

Here is a description of the award:
"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

So, what a compliment! I do hope I can be an encouragement to others who read. And ten years ago, who would have thought that we'd even have a "blogging world!" When I first began reading blogs, I wouldn't have thought there'd be anything other than nice ones, but boy was I wrong! There are many blogs that are incredibly nasty, inappropriate and my biggest pet-peeve...cynical. Maybe I can be the opposite and lift someone up! (Though I must say, I think the line about "inspiring good feelings" is a bit cheesy.)

Because I've waited so long to do anything about this (maybe I'm not so nice!), almost everyone else around me in my blogging world has already received this award. One other blog that is excellent and quite meaty is Sally Clarkson's blog, Whole Heart Moms.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

I have been wanting a new storybook Bible for the kids for a couple of weeks now. We've read through our other story Bible four or five times now and I'm getting tired of the same one. Anyway, I found this one at the Christian bookstore and I LOVE it! It phrases things in wonderful ways and explains little things like I've never seen in another story Bible. If you click on the picture, you can go to the CBD site and read the Creation story. There is also an entry at the beginning explaining what the Bible is... "But the Bible isn't mainly about you and what you should be doing. It is about God and what He has done."..."There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The story of how God loves His children and comes to rescue them."

There are just little things it explains that are left out of our other Bibles...like that Satan was God's terrible enemy and where he came from. (Instead of just telling us a serpent appeared.) And each story makes a connection to the grand scheme of things and draws a connection to Christ and His ultimate rescue. It's just an excellent story Bible. Anyway, I am so excited about reading through this with the kids and wanted to share it with you!