Thankful February!

 Thankful on February 1st, we left for Texas!!

Backpacks and suitcases packed!

 Watching the airplanes

Thankful for the Beach house we are staying in!

Last year, we stayed in a condo....boy this year has been so much better in a house!

We have room to move around, room to have privacy, and it's just better to have a house!

(especially with 6 kids)

Thankful for our car rentals!

I haven't driven a car since before children!

(that's 16 years)

I'm loving this cool little car!

(we had to rent 2 cars to fit us all)

 

Thankful we are just a block from the beach and can head out there every day!



 Cutest little bird feeder. Ever.

 

 Thankful for hole digging

and shell finding.

 Thankful for Texas Grapefruit!!

It is SO good!!

(sweet and juicy!)

 Thankful our beach house has a high lock

 It makes having a heated saltwater pool, worry-free!

(the hot tub is not on, he thinks it's his own little pool)

Thankful we still have hot cocoa!

(little kiddos get cold after the pool!)



 Thankful for sunrises

 and my sunrise walking partner!

(and our tag-alongs!)



 Thankful for freckles on girls....

 Thankful for sunsets

Thankful for sun-kissed kiddos!

 Thankful

 Her masterpiece!

She worked for 2 hours making this one!

 Thankful for games on our porch!

(you know I love porches!)

 The kids love the porch too!

Suuuuperman!!



Thankful to see my kids be so care-free!

This is my favorite video!

 Thankful to be able to see my kids love each other so much.

 

Thankful for my in-laws that made this trip possible.

 

 

Thankful to be able to feel God's Love and Peace within our hearts,

and to see His beauty and goodness down here on South Padre Island!

 

 

 



Our Last Walk on South Padre Island

 As I type this, it's just after midnight.

 Everyone else is asleep in the 2 rooms we have at

the Holiday Inn Express Hotel

 in Marble Falls, Texas.

 

Just 18 hours ago, we had our last walk on the beach.

Tears fill my eyes as I type that.

 

In these past 3 months on the beach,

my very favorite thing was walking on the beach

with my 10 year old daughter.

I have a lot of favorite things about our stay,

but this is the most special to me.

We are on our way home to Minnesota.

 

 Almost every day for the past 3 months, just like this morning,

we'd get up before the crack of dawn,

go to the patio, feel what the weather was going to be like,

look at this beautiful view calling to us to enjoy even closer.

 We sneak out quietly, making sure not to wake anyone,

head to the elevator, hug and say "Good Morning!"

 

(that's me, my daughter took this picture) 

We walk through the patio area and say "Good Morning!" or "Buenos Dios!"

to the maintenance men working on the pool already.

 We walk down the boardwalk and are stopped by God's gift for us.

His painted sky, as if He painted it just for us.

We thank God for the day and

all the beauty and blessings He has for us.

(and we take a few pictures)

I love the ocean because I can't help but think of

God's AWESOMENESS!!

It's so vast and amazing.

We are so small, yet He loves us.

It probably sounds funny to say this,

but I feel humble when I'm at the beach.

 

God is everything.

 

 Hello Sun!

Hello beautiful waves!

 

We are on our way home now...but we turn around one more time,

trying to make this vision last forever in our hearts and minds.

 We take a few more pictures

 I can't explain how very Thankful and blessed I feel to have had this opportunity

to live here on the beach for the last 3 months.

My heart yearns already to go back.

It's like the waves are calling me back.

It is like I'm home when I'm there.

My new friend JC said something similar,

 how while driving across the bridge

to South Padre Island, she gets that feeling of "I'm home!"

 

It's silly to have tears as I type this.

Really it is. 

There is awesomeness in every day of all of our lives.

 

I'm looking forward to writing more about our time at the beach.

Not to make anyone jealous, but to share the beauty and the blessings

of life on the beach.