Thanksgivng....

We spent our Thanksgiving at the beach! A very sweet and generous family here in Rock Hill offered us their beach home for free. And we invited our friend Ruth and her brother Eiji to join us. Ruth and Eiji's parents are IMB missionaries in Japan, so no going home for Thanksgiving for them. And we were to thrilled to have them join us. We had an absolutely wonderful week at the beach. The weather was amazing, the kids were great, Ruth and Eiji were great company, the food was yummy. We got to relax and enjoy one another. And Ruth even came shopping with me on Thursday night/Friday morning for Black Friday craziness. I can't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving.

Ruth and I have been reading One Thousand Gifts together this semester and we finished the book at the beach... so appropriate. A week filled with so many gifts. A holiday that we no longer celebrate once a year, but everyday, every moment, every breath. A way to love a God who constantly, faithfully, unconditionally, undeservingly showers us with His love.

"Crazy, I know, but until eucharisteo had me write the graces on paper, in my own handwriting, until it altered my mind to see the graces in the details of my very own life, I hadn't really known. With every grace, He sings, "You are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you" (Isaiah 43:4). "For you are a chosen people.... God's very own possession" (1 Peter 2:9)..... He chose me- us! To be His bride! True, that's the intellectual premise of the Christian life, but only as the gifts are attended, not as ends but as means to gaze into the heart of God, does the premise become personal, God's choosing so utterly passionate. So utterly fulfilling." One Thousand Gifts p. 204

 "Is there any greater way to love the Giver than to delight wildly in His gifts? (p. 219). So count the way He loves, a thousand, more, never stop, that when you wake in the morning you can't help turn humbly to the east, unfold your hand to the heavens, and though you tremble and though you wonder, though the world is ugly, it is beautiful, and you can slow and you can trust and you can receive each moment as grace." (p. 224).

376. warm sun on skin

377. the sound of the surf

378. the greatness of the ocean and sky

 

379. they can't resist the ocean

380. walking hand in hand on the beach

381. her first time at the beach

 

382. warm ocean breezes

383. nightly card games

384. three monkeys in a king sized bed

385. watching them love our kids

386. siah in the sand

387. the flavors of thanksgiving food

388. a generous family

389. a kind stranger named phylis

390. a hot pink sun hat

 

391. my four together

392. perfect, unadulterated joy

393. talking God on the beach

394. building sand castles

395. an explosion of color

396. reading a good book

397. the sound of their laughter

398. christmas music on the ipod

399. listening to guitar music

400. the three brothers at sunset