the clouds are glowing...

About 12 years ago Dave and I discovered the most beautiful place on the Eastern Coast. Now I know there are many beautiful places, but to us this place tops them all. If you've never heard of Bald Head Island then you should check it out! If you've been then then you definitely know how beautiful it is! My Great-Aunt and Uncle lived in Hampstead, near Wilmington, NC, for many years and as a college student I spent many summers and spring breaks driving up and down I-95 visiting them. I fell in love with this area and on one of our first road trips to Florida we stopped at my Aunt's house to visit and Uncle Art took us out along the Coast in his boat and began to tell Dave about BHI. Dave had actually been here before a very long time ago with some friends, and so he was intriguied and the romance began...We decided to come here and instantly fell in love!

When we first came we stayed at Theodosia's Bed and Breakfast and met Pastor Gary (AKA realtor & restauranteur) and his wonderful wife Donna. We stayed there many times until he sold it and we finally, after much prayer, contemplation and a whole lotta ARC review, built our house. It took 4 go arounds with the ARC to get the design approved, right down to the roof lines and paint colors! Unfortunately after spending many happy times there...we were forced to sell it when we made some bad financial/life decisions. It was very painful for us and we were greatly wounded emotionally. Thankfully God healed us and we made it through, learning a grave lesson. We couldn't bear the thought of seeing someone else in our house, so we didn't visit BHI for 2.5 years. This past Spring we started talking about going again and the excitement grew, as well as the anxiety, but we decided it was time because it was a place we so dearly loved for our family.

Memorial Day was wonderful. The rental was OK but the kids were so excited, even Oliver couldn't wait to go to Bald Head Island. It's all he talked about and he didn't even know where he was going! The first and last time he has been here was when he was 3 weeks old and we had to clean out the house with the U-Haul. (Thanks Erin and Jeremy!!)

Anyway, our Thanksgiving tradition had been heading to BHI and making a huge dinner, putting up the beach Christmas tree for our holiday guests and going to the Club for crafts. The kids were pretty little at the time, but crafts at the Club was the highlight for Sophia. Dave and I decided that we needed to move forward with our tradition and so we made arrangements to head South once more. This time we rented a beautiful house that I had admired for a while, it just looks so quaint and inviting. We love the forest and the marsh and this house, Sea Hoy, is very much laid out like our home, Gift By the Sea. Incidentaly, we named our house 'Gift By the Sea' because we had seen it as a great gift of God to be able to financially afford it. It was a gift...

Through it all we learned that as scripture says, 'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and theives do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. Matthew 6:19-21 This scripture has been very powerful to us throughout the past 5 years...and it has taken on great new meaning. We are so happy that we can truly enjoy the beautiful treasure of God's gift of this Island without allowing it to "own" us...we have our true treasure that lies with our future eternity seated in God's graceful kingdom.

So...if you want to see a beautiful place where the clouds glow at night, as Oliver so joyfully yelled as we drove around tonight in the dark, seeing the beautiful glowing red clouds on the horizon, "look Mommy, the clouds are glowing!!!" you know where to visit...

We are thankful that we have healed, recovered, been restored, for our love, our health, the health of our children and for our family, friends and our God. Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!