Summer at the Beach

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” 

Maud Hart Lovelace

In the long year since I've been gone, we actually moved to a new house. I haven't spoken about it anywhere, established blogs or otherwise, so I haven't had the chance to really get into the bittersweet event it was, to leave the house we thought would be our forever home, and make a new one, all in the course of a few weeks. But it was something that needed to be done, to put others' needs before our own. It was difficult, but we hope to be able to return to our Paradise House someday soon. It wasn't the best house for us, in terms of space (where we live now is much more spacious) but it was a house that had a lot of promise and dreams attached to it... with a lot of pain, now that I think of it, especially that last year, but nonetheless it remains a promise full of hope and we trust God for it's fulfillment. But I won't go into that here! Not yet anyway.

The house we moved to is just a hop, skip, and a boat ride away from the beach. (And by that, I mean a five minute drive. Wonderful, no?) So that's where we spent the majority of our summer. The boys taught themselves how to crab and even caught a few. We also (unsuccessfully) tried fishing.
Here are a few pictures to commemorate the adventures ♥



Look how big my little humdinger got! He's nearly eleven now - my sisterly heart could burst *sobs*

They found a whole little world of hermit crabs on this particular day and wanted to show me all of them. Pictured are the youngest of my brothers, including the baby of the family, who is just three and a half.



And here's a favorite of mine: the last glimpse of the sun on the dock and quiet waters right before we packed up our fishing supplies to head home.

And there you have it, a small tribute to our quiet, beach-filled summer which featured plenty of the smiling faces belonging to people that I'm privileged to call my family ♥

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 

1 John 4:9-11

 

My Happy Corner of the Internet

Hello, my wee little Sisterly Musings audience ♥

When I posted this blogpost on my sister blog, it had been a year from my last post. And what a year it was. I thought about coming back to write often, because I still absolutely loved the idea of this being my happy little corner of the Internet world, a little slice of cozy, where I can indulge in all the feminine, girlish whimsy my secret heart delights in.

I have had other blogs and because they were more public and established, I never felt the total freedom to be myself, to form my voice the way I wanted it to be heard, and to write about the things that I wanted to write about. So this is my escape, and I mean to keep whisking myself away to it as time goes on, because now I'm a world-weary twenty-two year old (I'm sure I'll be laughing at myself in ten years for that oh-so-melodramatic line) with stories to tell and worlds to build and this is the little world I want to build. Just for me, and whoever would like to come in and plop on my proverbial sofa, all curled up next to a fireplace with a cup of tea and a nice rainstorm swirling outside whilst I spin my tales as straw was spun to gold in that famed old fairytale. (How's that for a mental picture, huh? You're welcome *blows kiss*)

I guess I should say that since I live in Puerto Rico, fireplaces and curling up with hot cups of tea is but a daydream for me. And by this I mean to say, that this blog is where I'll indulge all my inner whimsy - and not where I will talk about the colder, grayer, tougher parts of existence. That I will save for elsewhere - private journals and angst-filled emails and day-to-day drudgery. (Life is not so drudgy for me as you might think after that line. How can it be, for a life surrendered to Christ? But it has it's storms and it's difficulties and it's not so easy to talk about those, so I will try to avoid it at all costs. One simply MUST focus on the golden, the sunshiny, the bright and the beautiful.)

So I mentioned that it had been quite a year. I think my last post was in May, 2016 and I began to have a pretty miserable time after that, which I won't be going into on here, but it was very difficult, and it led to several other difficult experiences, which I've only just surfaced. I think I might talk about them someday, because it could prove beneficial to other girls in a similar boat, but for now, I'm still learning and growing in those areas and while I've learned a lot, I'm still not all there yet.

But moving on! I've come back right on the cusp of another school year and thankfully, I have a lot of planning and plotting to do on behalf of my siblings. I've had to get creative as money is so tight (but shh! no grimness allowed!) so I will be trucking a couple bags filled to the brim with crime novels to a sweet little lending library we found and exchanging as many as I can for any school books I can get my hands on! We're also a part of a homeschool group and the lady that runs it has some books for us as well. That, coupled with the books we had in storage will comprise the basis of their curriculum this year.

Blogging, writing, homeschooling, and continuing to serve in my home are the circles the Lord has me running in, and while I went through a long season of struggle with that reality, I've found myself on the other side, slightly more battle-scarred and worn, but with a deeper appreciation for all that is simple, pure, pleasant, and sacred. I'm blessed that I don't need to be concerned with or tied to pursuing an illustrious career. I'm blessed that I am secure and well-cared for by the Lord. I'm blessed that I can pour out my love on my family. I'm blessed, that while I don't have a far-reaching ministry or an assembly in which I can immerse myself, I have this family, this life, this mission field. And because the Great Commission weighs on my conscience, I will pour out my love here as well, to be a sister and friend, to be a light-bearer and a truth-teller to all who will listen.

Nothing I do or say or can produce will compare with the beauty, the truth, and the wonder that is my Lord Jesus Christ. Of that I am certain, and I hope that truth is evident in every line I write, in every thing I do.

I hope I can write at least two more posts in this coming week, but I won't promise anything because I'm notoriously bad at keeping up with posting schedules. But I want to write a little more about some ideas I've had for the coming year and also share some favorites of mine - to further develop this whimsical little world of mine! Until then, adieu, and God bless ♥

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 5:2