jonahbonah: Blessings and the Beach

Sometimes life has a way of putting you in places that bring you close to someone you never would've met otherwise. Really, we know it's God who does that. Read on to hear what I mean.

Last weekend we had a big weekend. It was Memorial Day weekend. Saturday was a busy day and we went to bed late. When the alarm went off on Sunday morning for us to get up and get ready for church we hit snooze. And then hit snooze again. We had decided before even getting out of bed that we weren't going to church. Enter the feeling of conviction and knowing we needed to drag our rumps out of bed and get to church...even if we were late.

On the way home from church we needed to stop and get gas. {because I'm notorious for letting my truck get to E...or, maybe below E. But, whatev.} As soon as we pull into the gas station I noticed a woman on her cell phone with a bottle of oil in her hand and her car hood up. Clearly, she wasn't just getting gas. After pumping our gas my {amazing and always helpful} husband asked if she needed any help. She was quick to say YES! Bless her heart, that car had given her more trouble than it was worth in the short months she owned it. Hubs poured the oil and the coolant into her car, closed the hood and sent her on her way.

Stick with me. I promise the story gets good.

So, we leave the gas station and head the few short blocks home. We weren't even a mile up the road and I noticed a car sitting on the side of the road. It was the same lady we just helped. Her car had over-heated and was not in any condition to be driven. Hubs stopped {because he's amazing} and walked to her car, offered to take her to our house to call a tow truck, have lunch and well, not sit in the nearly 100 degree weather just waiting. Remember, we didn't know her from Adam and she didn't know us. Helping her, in the only way we could, just felt like the right thing to do.

When we got back to our house an instant friendship was born. Ms. Cindy is a retired school teacher so she loved my wild and crazy kids. While she no longer lives in our area, her family all live nearby. Her and Hubs were able to talk about how much the area has changed over the years. She told us anytime we wanted to go to the beach we could come to her house on the beach...in ST. AUGUSTINE. {St. Augustine is my most favorite place on earth. Most. Favorite!} It's like God set up this divine appointment. We were absolutely meant to meet one another!

Sadly, the tow truck called and said they'd be to her car in just a few minutes so we needed to take her up there and say goodbye. How would she get home after that? Oh, she would take my husband's car. To recap, we met her just a couple hours prior, brought her home, became fast friends and was about to let her drive off with my husband's primary source of transportation to and from work. I mean, it's just stuff...and she needed it more than we did at that very moment.

God is so good, y'all! The next day we got up and loaded up the truck and, as a family, drove to St. Augustine to spend the day with our new friend, Ms. Cindy. She graciously opened up her home to my wild bunch and took us down to her favorite spot on the beach. She showed Jett, my animal lover, a fresh sea turtle's nest. She even spotted the turtle's tracks and explained them to Jett. McKinley and her went on a walk combing the beach for sea treasures. Jonah and Jake body surfed on a couple of boogie boards she let them borrow. She even held Mabry while I shot a bunch of great pictures of my kids enjoying their day.