Sea glass hunt
/The boys and I have fallen hard for life on the island. One of our most recent favorite adventures that we take is sea glass hunts. There's a particular area down off the board walk that is a glass deposit. It's clear which glass has been recently discarded and which of it has spent it's due time being tumbled among the relentless waves and brushed against rocks time and time again. They are soft, smooth and have a beautiful frosted look to them. Our rule, if it's shiny or sharp you don't touch it. Everything else goes into the bucket.
The winter months here are infamous for their "pre-hurricane" storms. Incredible winds and side ways rains take away months of the year. But we have been blessed to experience two very unusual winters here. Very mild, with little wind and just enough rain to keep the vibrant green alive all around us.
Last night we had a storm that I believe it the worst we've had in well over a year. I was startled awake in the wee hours of the morning by our bedroom windows springing open, allowing the sheets of rain to pour onto our floor. The house doesn't move a bit, being composed of concrete, but the waves and the trees and every crack in every door and in every window make it clear that the wind is howling outside. I woke this morning to a calm ocean, a serene sunrise, and no effects of the wind to be seen. A perfect morning for a sea glass hunt!
The boys and I ate breakfast and headed straight to our jackpot spot to get some hunting in before Luke's morning nap. The sun was low in the sky, so the hunting was more difficult as the shadows were still long, but we made out well considering the adverse conditions. :)
Joel makes sea glass deposits every now and then, but spends much of the time playing with Luke or picking at snail shells that are clamped to the wet rocks.
Judah was in charge of the bucket today
Luke typically descends the slight slope backwards. He eats handfuls of sand along the way, and I've given up trying to stop him
we have another climber on our hands - he's taken a few hard tumbles off these rocks - something I would have freaked a bit about with the two olders, but it's more familiar ground now. :)
it was such a beautiful morning to be by the water!
Elijah has a shelf above his bed where he puts his "treasures". Today he spent most the time finding things to put on his shelf.
at high tide the water comes all the way up to the wall you can see in the background there
Thank you, Jesus, for this surreal place!
in the foreground is the glass from this morning's hunt
we ventured over to a different beach yesterday to find these pieces. The little area by our house typically produces large, jagged pieces, but the beach where we got these makes beautifully smooth and rounded pebble size pieces. I find it so fascinating.
I was lamenting a few weeks back about breaking this beverage dispenser by pouring boiling water directly in it to make iced tea. The glass around the spigot developed a long crack - I set it aside for a vase, but my dear friend Hannah, knowing our love for sea glass, suggested we try to fill the entire thing with glass before we move. We are well on our way!
I treasure these memories with my boys in my heart. I'm always struck by the verse in Luke 2:19 about Mary treasuring "these things" in her heart. While I know the "things", the memories, the feelings that I am treasuring in my heart are vastly different from Mary's, since her son was the Savior of mankind, I take delight in knowing that it's a healthy mama thing to do - to love and treasure and cherish these memories with my sweet, precious little boys.
Our time here is dwindling quickly - just over 2 months and we'll be off to a new season, leaving the ocean and our home by the ocean behind. All the memories that we have made here as a family will forever be treasured in my heart.
Here's my challenge, and I'm SO grateful to finally have the spiritual growth under my belt to grasp for and strive for it - my challenge is to treasure these while anticipating the perfectly designed next season our Creator has in store for us. I wait in anticipation to see what he has for us while drinking in every possible moment we have left here. It hurts my heart, almost physically, to think of leaving (just as it has with every home we've had), but I must focus on being thankful for the time we were given here and how God orchestrates things so beautifully! I never imagined when we first got here that I would love it so entirely!