Sorry for the week-long blog hiatus. We've been on the road again. Specifically (although in reverse order bc blogger is not cooperating with me today) to...
Rosemary Beach, FL to sell our Olivia Charles items at the West Indies Market. It was VERY slow on Saturday and we were worried that it wasn't going to be worth the trip. Thankfully Sunday brought fresh vacationers ready to buy and we ended up doing GREAT. Thanks to everyone who came out, purchased and placed custom orders.
Tappy came to help us set up, sell and watch Parrish and we were so relieved to have her there. I have to say that her displays at the market far surpassed mine. And merchandising wasn't the only thing I got tips on from Taps while we were there! Did you know that you can get a stain out of clothing with liquid hand sanitizer?!? Parrish was beating the heat with a blue (of course) snow cone and 50% of it ended up on his t-shirt. Tappy pulled out her hand sanitizerand had the whole shirt clean in 2 minutes. It worked better than any Tide Pen I've ever used so I am pretty excited about this tip.
Although I never managed to snap a picture of us on our bikes (probably because I was too busy trying not to fall off or get run over by a car), we spent our days there biking everywhere from Alys Beach, to the pools, shopping, the market, and the beach. I love the community atmosphere and the carriage house we stayed in was like our own little tree house.
While we were there I had to take some pictures of our little man. If you'll notice, in several he has climbed a tree. Just the fact that he can do this with his little foot was worthy of documentation. While we were away he started wearing his Keen sandals without socks (yes, this means that he did look like a old man beach comber there for a while sporting socks with his sandals so they wouldn't rub his incisions)
We spent the 4th of July in Andalusia visiting my grandparents Glorio and E and Aunt Susan, Uncle Lex and cousin Ada. I wish Ada lived closer so I could hire her to come hang with Parrish. He adores her and she is so good with him. I heard her say, "What do you want to do, Parrish? The decision is yours." I know those words were music to Parrish's ears. We played with lots of play-doh, set off some kid-friendly fireworks and ate lots of Glorio's yummy comfort food. (Cannon and I fought over the friend okra as usual-that stuff is like popcorn-a race to reach the bottom of the bowl!)
And we spent the first half of our week at Navarre Beach with our friends and neighbors, The Johnsons. We could not stop gushing about the condo (water view from every room and walls and walls of windows...amazing!), the water, and the "unspoiled, old-Florida" feel it has. There is little commercial business on the island and the green water reminded me of St. John. It is by far one of the prettiest beaches we have been. It only made it better that we were there with great friends who love a good adventure. We rented a stand up paddle board (also know as YOLO boards) and gave it a try for the first time. The kids mainly used it as a surf board, and the adults didn't have a ton of luck staying up in the choppy surf, so we moved over to the bay side and all gave it a whirl. After I took a spill and cut my hand on seashells trying to turn the thing around we decided to try the wider board and this was much more our speed. The whole family could fit on this bad boy and we tooled about in the bay.
As usual, this trip was not without it's heartaches. Everywhere I turned there was a little girl about the age Livy would be now. I would watch them and think of all the things Olivia never got to do...try ice cream, swim in the ocean, or toddle around, and life would seem so unfair.
My good friend Mary and her family are moving to Huntsville later this month and I met her for one of our last "in-town" lunches together today. She has encouraged my walk with Christ like no other and I know that God placed her in my life during this season for that very reason. She and Jeff have been a source of biblical comfort, strength and encouragement for us and we will miss them so much. While we were together we were sharing our high's and low's and she said something that will stick with me. That some discontentment in life is good if that discontentment pushes you to seek Christ and walk with Him through your trials. If it causes you to stop depending on people and material things to give you security and happiness and start depending on Christ...the only one who can truly give you peace and contentment.
{Olivia & I last 4th of July. She DID get to see fireworks!}
In my devotion last night I read that many people think Godly people should be exempt from trails and conflicts, but if the life of the disciples is any example, it's pretty certain that the power of God actually brings conflict and struggles. The good news is that these struggles are always overcome with the strength of Christ. "God has nothing worth having that is easily gained, for there are no cheap goods on the heavenly market." I like that thought.
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:8-10
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