simplest plans

I know I haven't blogged in a long while. God has been doing some amazing things in my heart and in our marriage, and I have been learning SO MUCH! I love that having babies is such a spiritually growing experience. Anyway, this is worth a blogpost:

Jarrad and I are fairly responsible. While we aren't mega-planners, we do like to have an idea of what major occurrences are in the works for us. On Sunday, however, we got in the car to come home from church. The weather was beautiful--and HOT. It felt so much like summer that I found myself saying, "I wish we could go to the beach." Silence. "We could," said Jarrad. Silence. "Can we?" says I. We did. We got home, threw everything together (after I rushed to wash the diapers...no one wants to come home to stinky diapers! My wonderful friend/neighbor, Theresa, agreed to come over and let them dry after we left), and we left for the beach within 3 hours! I think that's impressive, considering we have two little ones in tow. We passed through Jarrad's grandparents' to visit with them and to get the key to their wonderfully peaceful [and free] beachfront condo.

And that's when the purpose of our trip began to change. We found out that a close friend of the family was going through a really difficult time, and, wouldn't you know, she lives close to the beach. So today, our only full day here, we took the girls, and visited her.

If I had known what was going on, I would have called and offered to be there with her. But she would have said, "No, no, you don't need to come," and I would have respected that and stayed home. So God worked it out for us to take a "random" trip to the beach so that we would be here for her. And then, when we got to her, God worked it out that her neighbor has a wonderful little swing set, where Jarrad and Rachel occupied themselves for almost the entire three hours we were there, as Carly and I gave our friend a much-needed distraction and a listening ear.

I could write it all off as an inconvenient coincidence. After all, we came for a break--a vacation! Instead of wiling away our time on the beach, we found ourselves consoling a friend. But I find it most humbling and exciting that God clearly had a purpose for this short trip. I love how He works things out like that. In the meantime, our little family of four have had a wonderful time together. Rachel and Daddy have spent a lot of time on the beach, playing in the sand and low-tide pools, and Carly and I have done a lot of playing and snuggling indoors. She had her third ear infection last week, and she's still not quite well. We've been outside some, but I'm happy to mostly keep her in and enjoy the quiet together.

I'll post new pictures soon (I know...it's been awhile). And I'll write more Godstuff soon too. Promise.