I woke up during the night Monday to see and hear huge waves. When the sun rose, I could see that I wasn't dreaming...we really had 3'-6' waves at Navarre Beach! It was the beginning of the outer bands of Hurricane Dolly. Needless to say, the flags Tuesday and Wednesday were red, and purple for the lingering jelly fish. However, the water was even clearer than it had been on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday we spent the day on the beach, walking along the breaking waves, looking for shells as they rolled up to our feet, sitting in our chairs, sipping tasty beverages, and snoozing. What a wonderful day! That evening we decided to grill chicken--it was yummy!
Wednesday was extremely humid from the moment we woke up. It was too rough to shell, so we started digging in the sand just below the manmade sandunes. And we found nice shells! There wasn't much of a breeze, and by noon, we had to go inside for relief from the hot, humid Florida weather. Just as we were deciding to stay in for the afternoon, the thunder and lightening started....then the rain came....hard rain. You could actually watch it come in across the water towards us. It didn't last longer than 30 minutes, but it really rained hard. After the rain, the air was cool and so pleasant. We had decided to go into Pensacola Beach for dinner, so we got ready and went early. We took a few pictures on the sound side of Pensacola, watched the para-sailers, folks swimming in the water. A very pleasant evening. I had forgotten how huge the portions at Flounders are, so we had plenty of food to bring home for supper Thursday night. After walking around the boardwalk, we headed back to Navarre.
We woke up Thursday to continued high seas, though not quite as high as Wednesday. Shelling was much better--the water was even clearer, and we had a great day. That evening Phyllis was our photographer and took pictures of Jerry and I on the beach. She really got some nice shots!
Friday--our last day--can't believe the week is already coming to an end! WE were out shelling by 6:30. We found a place where the shore was protected from breaking waves by the huge sandbar out in the water. So, no waves were breaking on us. The jellies were still there, though the stings were litttle pin sticks and not the burning pain sticks I received on Sunday. We shelled until almost 9:30, when our shelling bag was so full I thought it was going to bust. Jerry headed back to the compound with our load and Phyllis and I kept looking. However, the tide was changing and the shells were disappearing! We needed a break anyway, so Phyllis and I headed to the compound as well. We couldn't believe the shells we had found...unusual shells that we never found in mass quantity at Navarre before. We considered it a great shelling adventure! After lunch, Jerry and I spent a restful afternoon in our chairs....until we decided to take the boogie boards out and ride the big waves. We had a great time! The water was perfect--we walked out about 30 yards into the gulf and the water was barely waist deep. We rode the waves, walked back out, and rode them again and again! What a great last day at the beach. There was nothing left to do but start taking the compound down, rinsing off the umbrellas and chairs, and getting them ready to pack. After dinner at a local restaurant, we started getting ready for our early morning departure. Friday night at the beach is always my least favorite time of all. But, we were just thrilled that we were able to go. We had a great time, made some great memories, and will look forward to out next trip. Want to come with us? You'd love it there....we're thinking the 2nd or 3rd week of June 2009! Start saving now and mark the date!
Jerry and I are hosts/facilitators for our CommUnity Group. We're a close group of friends, but more that, we have established an authentic relationship with each other through our common faith in Jesus Christ. We meet every-other Sunday in one of our member homes, do Bible study, a book study, or have in-depth discussion from the sermon notes from that morning. We've been doing this for about 3 years now, and I will tell you that there is nothing like having brothers-and sisters-in-Christ to spend time with, to study with, to pray with, and to share all the good and bad, happy and sad, easy and tough stuff in this life. We have such a level of trust within our group, each of us know we are "safe" with our friends. Later on today, 3 of our members will be leaving with a team of 7 others for a medical misson trip to Senegal, West Africa. They will be gone a total of 9 days, with 4 of those days being travel time. It's not an easy or quick place to get to! Last month, our church hosted a special Wednesday night dinner to raise money for the medicines, supplies, and additional costs due to "over the limit" luggage for this trip. Our group members served the meal, and fully participated in the silent auction of baked goods that followed. To say we have fun together would be a huge understatement. To say that we shy away from food, especially desserts, would just be untrue! These are pictures from that night. You can see that our table was not hurting for something sweet to eat! In all, the night brought in over $3500!!!! With 7 people going, and medicine and supplies for 5 days of medical treatment in the villages of west Africa, the money will be put to excellent use. We had such a good time, and now, as our friends are leaving today, we are prayerfully sending them on with anticipation and excitement for what the Holy Spirit will do because of their faithfulness to go.
