Simple things!

Back in May when the virus appeared to be at bay, our family decided that renting a house at the beach in Emerald Isle, NC would be fairly safe vacation plan. So we all chipped in and booked a house for a week in July.

We made the 12-13 hour drive in one day to avoid the extra exposure of having to stay overnight someplace, and everything worked out fine. While at the beach, we knew we'd be keeping it simple. Most of the time we hung out at the ocean and our outings consisted of trips to the bait and grocery stores. On the last day of our vacation, we did something that turned out to be incredibly special; we took a 2 hour excursion to a place called Sand Dollar Island.

Our fully masked and hand sanitized family piled into one side of a sightseeing boat and another fully masked and hand sanitized family piled into the other side. The captain said it would take about 15 minutes to reach our destination; we had no idea that we were in for such a treat! A few minutes into our trip he called out that there were bottle-nose dolphins in the water to our right. He eventually maneuvered our boat to within 15 feet of the playful pod; we were delighted to see them in such close proximity!

When we arrived at the sand bar known as Sand Dollar Island, the captain suggested that we spread out and go away from the drop off point before we started searching in the water that gently lapped at our knees. We had been instructed to only take the sand dollars that were totally white, if they were purple or brown they were still alive and needed to be returned to the ocean!

Jim and our son-in-law, Dustin, hurried off to an area far away from other people and immediately hit pay dirt! They motioned us over and our 5 little grand-kids had a ball finding these treasures from the sea. Our daughter had made mesh pouches for the kids to carry their sand dollars and it wasn't long before they were bulging. It was a marvelous experience but the fun wasn't over.

On our way back to the dock, the captain spotted a wild horse on one of the barrier islands and took us over for a look. He told us that this horse was a male and was often sighted munching on the tender marsh grass near the shoreline. He also told us that there were around 40 wild horses on this island and that they were aware that two babies had been born this year. It was incredible to think of them surviving on this uninhabited and desolate island without aid from humans year in and year out. By the look of this guy, he appeared to be thriving!

As we approached the dock, we once again encountered a pod of dolphins. It was the perfect ending to a fabulous outing. I have a mentor that often talks about God showing up and showing off. It felt like He had pulled out all the stops to show us a great and glorious time! Yay God!

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

Loving Father,
Thank you for creating such a beautiful world for us to enjoy. Despite our present circumstances, help us to look around to see your lovely handiwork which is so abundant in nature. Lord, sometimes refreshment can come in a special outing at a beach, but more often it can be found in the friendly face of dog, in the fragrance of a flower garden, or in the twinkling of some fireflies on a summer evening. Lord, we are grateful for this marvelous gift that you have given us, help us take notice and to not take it for granted!
In the precious name Jesus,
Amen