August 6 – “Quiver-ing”

Whew.  I’m already tired and it’s not even 7 a.m.  We had a really long day yesterday with our out of town guests from Waco.  Josh and Christi and their kiddos Zak and Caleb and Luke (And, of course, AnnaGrace, who we got a picture of, by the way.  Ultrasounds are amazing things) came into town for their last fling before school starts for them on Monday.  I  know it sounds early, but they homeschool, so their schedule is more flexible than most.

We started the day at the beach, of course.  Had to get that one in right away.  After all, Waco has nothing comparable to the Gulf of Mexico, and we need to make sure those guys have sand between their toes at every opportunity.  It was pretty choppy again, so the boys spent most of their time on boogie boards riding the waves.  I made a few casts with a lure just to make sure there wasn’t a stray spec swimming around who might bother the children.  Can’t have that sort of bullying, you know.  I guess my protection was effective.  All the specs stayed away from them … and from me.  Luke and the ladies did some sand castle construction, but the most impressive beach accomplishment was the Tri-Wizard Tournament at the Beach that Caleb and Zakary held.  I know, there were only two of them, so how could it be tri-wizard?  Well, I just assumed it was because the third competitor was using a cloaking spell to hide himself and make it easier for him to sneak ahead.  It didn’t really work, though.  Zak and Caleb ran three laps around a particularly large washed-out spot of beach while Daddy filmed the proceedings.  The memory card finally ran out of space, so you’ll have to wait for the final release of the movie to see who won.  Ah, the joys of a youngster who has discovered the Harry Potter series. 

After the beach we met up with Nathan and his crew for a chicken enchilada pie lunch.  Nathan made a … well, to use Chris’ words … “A very pretty salad.”  It had tomatoes and broccoli and bell peppers and onions all spread in nice, neat piles.  I was the first to get to it, and I immediately noticed something was missing.  The salad.  Wasn’t there supposed to be some green, lettuce-y type stuff in there somewhere?  I was assured that it was hidden beneath the mounds of foreign matter on top, so I did some excavating, and sure enough, the lettuce was there after all.  Of course I had to endure an undignified level of persecution for “destroying the beauty of the salad.”  I thought the beauty of a salad came in the eating.

After a rest period in the afternoon and a slice of pizza for supper, we headed out to Jamaica Beach for some fishing.  Caleb caught a red fish on his very first cast (Undersized, so we had to throw him back.  But Caleb completely understood.  In fact he gave us a brief lesson on endangered species and how we have a responsibility to give them a chance to repopulate the ocean).  CCA would be proud of that kid.  Unfortunately, his red fish, a big croaker that Josh caught and a sand trout that I caught were our only trophies for the trip.  Well, unless you count the tiny crab that Zak and Cailyn found in the bait bucket.  He provided some fun as well.  We left around dark and headed back to the house with a quiver full of tired, but somewhat happy children. 

The rest of the cousins are coming over for a while this morning, so the energy level will rise to fever pitch again.  Guess I’d better get another cup of coffee …

Psalms 127:3-5 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.  How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

Father, thank you for the quiver-full you have blessed us with.  We love ‘em all.  Amen.