A look back...a couple of weeks later! :)

I realize that it has been almost two weeks since we have been home, but I am finally getting to some pictures from our trip to the beach! Stay tuned for next week...I have had so many thoughts and emotions in regards to our beautiful adoption and I am ready to start sharing it with you...Samuel is starting to share more and more about his past, my feelings on being a mommy to children who already have a mother and a few other bits and pieces (I am praying the Lord gives me some good time to write)...and it's especially fitting as we will be kicking off next week (Monday at 1 pm to be exact!)with a trip to the courthouse to finalize our adoption here in the USA!!!!! But, for now...here is a look back on our vacation:

We were so blessed with unusually warm weather the first two days we were in Lincoln City...low 80's...so we hit the beach!!! It was such a delight to see the kids enjoy being IN the ocean for the first time. There were lots of laughs, a few tumbles, a couple sunburns, some sand castles, getting washed away by the tide creeping up and having to quickly relocate all our stuff, a walk down the beach to see a baby seal, shell hunting, trying to drink the salt water (you should see Caleb's face when he shows you what it tasted like!), whiffle ball games, writing in the sand and just fully enjoying the sounds of the ocean, the smell in the air and the the sand in our feet!






Wednesday was a "down day" both in what we planned to do and in what the Lord allowed the weather to do!:) It was at least 15 degrees cooler and cloudy!


Thursday we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium...what fun!!!! It still blows my mind that 70% of our earth is covered in water...a "world" that we only get glimpses into like we did that day...and God made it ALL for His glory and to bring Him praise. Same with the universe...it's mine boggling just how great our God is and how amazing His creation is...and we only get to see a fraction of it!!!




Friday we made a valiant attempt to go crabbing...long story short...it didn't happen.:) But we still got to enjoy the day...a bit cooler...but who can complain when you are looking at the ocean?!


Saturday was picture day. 180 pictures later and I think we all were wondering just how crazy we really were. I started to giggle about it while we were on the beach...there we were, trying to get this picture perfect photo with 10 kids who could have cared less and let us know that about half way into things. What does not get seen in all the smiles is all the "behind the scenes" talk..."You WILL smile RIGHT NOW"...."LOOK at the camera and smile...I said SMILE"...tee-hee. I am giggling sitting here typing. So, we end up with these precious pictures and, hopefully, over time we forget everything that led up to getting those pictures!:)





We are SO thankful for the time away, thankful for friends who are like family, thankful for the addition of 4 more precious kids since the last time we were together, thankful for the gift of laughter, for our "girl's day out" shopping trip, for the freezer section at Costco that made up our dinners and made us ladies happy campers:), thankful for a rental home that was more reasonable than a hotel, thankful for husbands who "role with the punches" and don't get worked up easily...but, most of all, so very thankful to the Lord. For us as believers, life here on earth is the WORST it is going to get (Heaven awaits!)...and yet God graciously gives us precious moments, days, weeks, months and years as we delight in Him and in the world He has made and get to share in this sweet blessing with our families and brothers and sisters in Christ! Truly it IS amazing grace!