trip to the ocean

This past week we packed up our vehicle and trailer to head out on a four-day trip to the coast.  The kids have been asking to got to the beach since we first returned to Mozambique six months ago as their memories of Mozambique had most definitely included sand and water.

Cohen (now seven years old) has been enjoying more and more responsibilites and seems to sit just a bit straighter and taller every time he his given a man-sized task--like helping to lock up the trailer withe all of our food and supplies for our get-away.

Alex said her goodbyes to her very good friend, Jacinta.

Spirits high, the children pleaded for one "crazy" picture.  And then we were off...

...and this is not the beach.

This is us broken down on the side of the road.

Although a majority of the two and a half hour drive to the coast is pretty smooth, the last half hour the roads are quite terrible and on one particularly bad jolt, the trailer hitch broke.  Thankfully, it was ONLY the trailer hitch and nothing serious on the car.  And thankfully, we had friends who were only an hour and a half behind us who had planned to meet us at the beach.  So we made the best of it and the kids played in the sand on the side of the road while we waited.

Apparently our being stranded on the side of the road was THE sight to see for all passing by.  I kid you not, people count our kids every time they see us out as a family.  Although Mozambican families always have a passle of children, they are not usually accustomed to seeing "white" people--let alone "white" people with four children. 

We did finally make it to the beach, after our friends came along and picked up our trailer.

It was just as much fun as the older ones remembered. Alex got to experience the ocean for the first time as I got to re-live the panicky feeling of my babies being completely unafraid of the water.

We found hermit crabs and starfish and all manner of other sea creatures.

When not at the beach, we relaxed at a cabin while the kids explored.

Wesley and Alex found the hammocks and claimed them for our stay.  (Don't let this picture fool you--most of the time they were screeching at eachother for their turn).

We spent the evenings around a fire with our friends and co-workers.

There is nothing quite like huddling around a fire on a cool evening after a day in the sand and water.

We brought back little red noses, towels loaded wtih sand, and a few hermit crabs destined for an untimely end at the hands of over-zealous keepers. 

Love the ocean.

"daddy's chores"

The kids usually look forward to a family movie and home-made pizza on Saturday evenings, but halfway through dinner, their daddy got a call that changed our plans.  One of Stefan's Mozambican friends was going through a family crisis and needed someone to talk to--so in less than a minute he was gone. 

And there I sat with four children sitting around the table staring at me--their expectations dashed--not to mention my own...and a mountain of dishes in the kitchen.  So I put it to the children--their daddy was called away on an important task to help someone who needed help--what could we do to make that happen?  The kids thought about it for a moment then suggested that maybe they could do "Daddy's chores" so that he could go help his friend and wouldn't have to do them when he got home later this evening.  So glad they thought of that themselves (wink).

And so we began our evening of service.  Cohen (6) volunteered to wash the dishes and Christian (5) offered to dry.  Wesley (3) was given the task of playing with and caring for Alex (1 1/2).  We turned on some music and set to work.  Admittedly, the dish towel is a bit greasy this evening after cleaning off some food our volunteer dish washer missed.  And admittedly the volunteer dish drier got distracted when Steve Fee's "Glory To God" song played over the ipod and he dashed off to lead his two younger sisters in a jamming session in the living room.  And truthfully, Wesley has a very limited ability to corall and entertain her younger sister without simultaneously making her scream.  Between dishes and sweeping and drumming, it was soon bedime. 

I of course appreciated their help and cooperation, but mostly what brought so much joy to the evening was seeing that they seemed to grasp that they were doing it SO THAT their Dad could do his work.  It was not just a "salvaged" evening together--it became a purposeful and meaningful evening--right on down to little Alex clapping her hands and dancing to the music.

It also struck me that this kind of evening was possible because of who Stefan is.  I'm not talking about him being the kind of guy who will drop his home-made pizza on a Saturday night to go help a friend--although he is that.  The truth is, many fathers miss their dinners because of work.  Many fathers miss family movie night to go hang out with friends.  Many fathers miss tucking their kids in to bed because their "ministry" has called them away.  But my kids' father doesn't.  He makes it a habit to be home to share dinner with us.  He works hard and we juggle schedules so that Saturdays are spent together as a family.  He washes Saturday evening dishes (usually).  As a family we are "full."  And because we are full, when an emergency comes up, we can swallow our temporary dissappointment, wave good bye, and "do his chores."  We know that tomorrow we will have supper together and that chances are, next Saturday we will all watch a movie together. 

 And of course he'll do next Saturday evening's dishes...right honey?