Bits: Couldn't Be Earned

How you know it's been a good, full day.

Where do I start?  Perhaps with where we are right now.  It's a rainy day, perfect for unpacking and settling back in.  The girls are still in jammies we found by our front door thanks to the generosity of a thoughtful high school friend.  Alysse is taking care of babies, Hope is writing cards to all the people she misses, and Maddie is playing kitchen.  And me?

I am turning the past twelve days over and again in my mind.

We traveled no less than twenty-seven hours, by train and car to be with family these past weeks.  We had such a sweet and refreshing time, even if that last train leg wore us out.  Bookended by stays with Joe's oldest brother's family, we hit up almost every major Rhode Island beach in between.  We relived many of Daddy's childhood memories in these same beaches and spaces.  Joe and I reconnected deeply, the kind of reconnection that made him grin really big one night after the kids were happily tucked into beds and ask, "Hey, do you feel like we're on our honeymoon?"

I thought for a split second, and the answer was obvious as I motioned toward the sleepy room where we could hear the steady whir of a fan over small browned bodies, "Yeah, but even better."

Best of all, I quieted some of life's extra noise and connected deeply with God.  Early mornings spent reading my Bible or some seriously great books, mornings with my girls curled up next to me asking questions and Joe genuinely wanting to know what I had learned.  Mornings that would lead to chocolate chip pancakes or homemade egg mcmuffins, surprise trips to the nearby Dunkin Donuts for sugary holes and iced coffees. Mornings that held great promise for the adventures with family ahead.
I was sharing some of this joy with a dearest friend of mine who sweetly responded, "I am so glad!  You guys deserve this break after all you've been through."  And though I know just what she meant, it got me to thinking.

Truthfully, we don't deserve it at all.

Which is precisely why the trip was a gift.  Bigger picture: it is precisely why life is a gift.  I cannot earn the right to experience the Lord's presence, I cannot endure enough to have deserved the kinds of days that were just given to me.  All I can do is take it in thankful gulps, hold my hands open wide and receive such lavish outpourings from my Father God.  Pile them up in my heart as fuel for life's journey.

All I can do is be acutely aware that every good and perfect gift is from above.  Including these, some of our grateful vacation bits.
******
 :: Exciting first {long} train rides. 

Almost back home.

::Family.  So much love in all our quirks and in all our awesomeness.
 All aboard the choo-choo train! 

:: Water, sand, sunshine, sky.


:: Food for the belly and soul.  Joe introducing his girls to clam cakes and chowder, New England staples.  He and I pulling off our first shrimp boil, a new holiday tradition.  
What happens when you say, "Yes, it's our last night. You may eat up the rest of the cake!" 

:: The Fourth of July.  We rented out a house made up of four apartments and caught the most a-mazing fireworks show from the grandparents' deck.  As the kids kept shouting, "Unbelievable!"

:: Exploring, discovering. Creating mermaid sisters.
 :: These smiles.  These smiles.



Nah. Couldn't have earned all this if I tried.
~Katrina