Ocean Pictures

Finally....some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Lincoln City, OR.

More to come.



A sweet picture with Papa & Grandma


Asher catching for Reagan!




Sisters




Worshipping on the beach!




Daddy finally got Tatum's feet in the sand.

Cookie!

Oh, if only all of you could have been with us for this moment. It was probably the funniest 5 minutes of our week at the Oregon Coast. I'm not even sure how it transpired but my dad was trying to say something but had a piece of cookie stuck in his throat and all he could get out was COOKIE! It wasn't just that he could only say cookie, it was that he said it in this squeaky high pitched voice.

Oh. My. Goodness.

We all lost it for a long time. Funny Funny Funny.

Ummmm.....never mind.

Ya, so if you scroll down on my blog page, you will see the particular post I was just ranting about, titled Biscuits. Apparantly, blogger sorts posts by date (how smart) and since I first started writing that post at the end of June, that is the date still on there.

Ok, frustrations gone;)

What?!?

I just have to say that I have been trying to post a particular post for way too long now and I do not know what is going on. I'm giving up for now but I wanted to at least say I have not dropped off the face of the earth....just been a little frustrated with blogger these days!

I hope to get some ocean pics on here soon too!

addendum to Sandy Treasure!

I also wanted to say how blessed we were by three total strangers who took time out of their day to help us look for my ring. A husband and wife dug with us for over an hour, so kind, generous and encouraging! Another lady stopped to help dig for awhile as well. They were all there when the ring was found! It's a beautiful thing when people who know nothing about each other, come together for a common purpose. It didn't matter who we were, they saw a need and "dug in"! I will strive to be more like those strangers, now comrades.

Sandy Treasure

Have you ever tried to find something in the sand? Something that you REALLY wanted to find. Well, thursday morning, I had a chance to do just that.
We packed our beach toys up and headed down the path to the beach so the kids could play in the sand. It was a beautiful day and we were looking forward to some fun digging. Well...we did some digging all right.

At the bottom of the stairs, I stopped to take my shoes off, like always. I grabbed one of the shoes to shake some sand off and as I did that........my sometimes slightly too big wedding ring fell off into the sand. I stopped immediately and yelled for Keven. I explained what had happened and my very calm, cool, and collected husband went into action. We sent Asher off to play with Uncle Sean and Reagan and set Tatum down next to us (in the backpack). I knew the ring was not far from where I was standing so we at least had a good idea where to look.

Next time you are in some sand, drop something that has the same weight as a ring and see what happens. It's amazing to watch it just disappear. We did it with Keven's ring to see what we were up against. This was about 10:30 am. Keven drew a circle around our digging area and very methodically went to work. We wanted to make sure not to bury it deeper so we took our time and went section by section.
Time clicked by as we sifted and sifted sand. Sand is quite beautiful by the way, each grain amazingly unique. Just like our Lord made us....amazingly unique.

Anyway, you have some time to ponder while sifting through the sand with your husband, looking for this treasure that means so much to both of you. Keven designed my wedding ring and it's perfect and beautiful. But, this ring does not define our marriage. It symbolizes quite a lot, but it does not define us. We were both at peace the entire time we were looking, recognizing that it's "just a ring", thanking God we were not looking for one of our kids.

Two hours later, we were still looking. I had gone back to the house to work on lunch for the kids. While I was there, my brother-in-law, Sean, went to the Bella Beach office just to see if they, or anyone they knew, had a metal detector. Well, praise Jesus, one of their husband's had just gotten one...brand new, still in the box. She called him and not long after, he was down on the sand looking for my ring! I was on my way back to the spot where my precious husband was still digging, when I passed Larry, the metal detector guy, and his wife coming back up the stairs. I said, "please tell me you are coming back because you found my ring!" YES, he had found it. It was 1:00 pm now. Keven had been on his hands and knees in the sand for 2 1/2 hours.

When we got back to the house, Keven got down on his now sun-burnt knee to place my sandy treasure back on my finger. It felt good.

More than anything, it was nice to know that Keven and I are the same couple with or without that ring. We love Jesus and we trust him with our marriage.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my ring. I just recognize that my true treasures are elsewhere!


***The ring was found right where we thought it would be, about two feet in front of where I was standing when it fell off!***

We're back!

Well, we arrived safely home last night from the Oregon Coast. We came up via Hwy 101 which made it an 8 hour day for us. Our kids are amazing travelers so we had a great time!
Our week at the beach was fantastic...lots of great sand time, beautiful weather, laughter, and even some relaxation! I have not organized my pictures yet but if you would like a sneak peak, check out my very organized sister's blog to see some of her pictures!

We did have one exciting/scary/thought provoking morning that I will post about in awhile!

Vacation!

We're off or a week on the Oregon coast today! There are 10 of us that go... the four of us, my parents and my sister's family. We started this tradition last year and had a great time! We discovered a wonderful rental community right on the water, just south of Lincoln City. Look for pictures in a week or so!