The Beach!

We are blessed by some kind and generous friends who extend our family an annual invitation to stay at their condo in San Diego. We first went 3 years ago and they have asked to come again and again; to which we gladly accept! It is fabulous to fly in, grab some groceries on the way, and move into their cityhome for a week or so. The girls share a room, which they love, and we set up Will's bed in the master bedroom closet. So everyone has their own space and it is truly fabulous! Its also a mere 5 minutes from Coronado Beach. We truly love it there...and we especially love the beach.This picture is the perfect "Katie" picture. It completely captures her care-free personality. This child is tenderhearted and compassionate and has a love for all of God's creation. What better place to experience God than the ocean...

These are the loves of my life. I am so blessed.

Will had no fear at the beach. Loved the water, loved the shells, loved the kelp on the shore, loved the toys, loved the sand. That is, until got it all in his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. He kept saying, "Help please," and "YUCK!" Yet somehow he managed to smile through it all.
Syd was a little hesitant about the ocean at first--not the beach and sand--just the ocean. I tried to get a hundred pictures of her but she was always running away from the ripples on the shore. So finally I had her sit down just out of reach from the water and she was happy as a clam.

Our buried treasure.

Something about the vastness of the ocean makes me feel emotional and especially contemplative of God--what He has created, who He is, His greatness... Also as I watch my beautiful children enjoying God's handiwork, I am reminded that we are all His handiwork, too. He delights in us and He created us in His image, to enjoy his creation, and to worship Him.

Psalm 139:1-18
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to ^[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.