making the best of it...

So it's officially been a crappy vacation.

My poor wife.

She's been so jonesing to hit the beach for the past four or five months it's literally become something of a joke around our house.  She's just been plain crazy for some time in the sun, sand and saltwater.

So this week's trip south to see her dad and his wife at Hilton Head in South Carolina was to be her 'dream come true' moment for the year.

Then yesterday we hit a record low temperature for this time of year.  Seriously, rain for two days straight, gale force winds, the opposite of what she'd been hoping for.

And through it all I've been trying to stay positive and keep an upbeat outlook--for her sake if for no other reason--but today I've started to be worn down a bit.

When we did get a break in the rain last night, we rushed to the beach on our bikes and took some shots.  The one up top is my favorite.  My eldest son Jordan is in the foreground with Niki, Sarah, Sam and Zoe running up in the background.

Kinda' captures our experience this time round.

Crappy weather but still finding a way to have fun in the midst of it.

But this morning--at breakfast--I felt happy despite the cloudy misery.  And I don't think I was feeling happy for any particular reason other than the typical undercurrent of happiness that attaches itself to simple Christian folk like me.  At the root of my experience I'm happy because of Jesus--because of what's been done for me, what's been accomplished, what's finished.

I'm happy.

And it hit me like a small simple revelation that that simple happiness is quite the treasure. The kind of treasure that turns crappy vacations to good times away with the people I love and who love me.  People who've been given me as gift.  People who are contributing to my ongoing sanctification--people who are making me a better person.

Little people (four or 'em) and one lady-person.

My family.

My friends.

T