orange beach. and more of 'the change'.

this morning i woke up 'full'.

i guess a cup of pumpkin spice coffee will do that for you.

we've had a few "big ticket items" looming over us in regard to the change i spoke about last week.

one of those big ticket items is moving.

yup. we're moving. and it had to happen quickly.

and i was so sure that the Lord would make it happen in MY timing. but, as i was so clearly reminded with each passing day, with each yucky house after the next, His ways are higher than my ways... and His thought higher than my thoughts.

ugh.

i should tell you that i wasn't being picky. i wasn't. in fact, jeff & i had both settled on an unkept house {that could be super cute with a little money and a little love, i might add} because it was down the street from two of our best friends. and when i say that it was unkept... i mean an INCH of insulation in the attic. an overgrown back yard and front yard... a plastic yellow 'chandelier' in the kitchen with white clouds on it. all the interior doors had been 'touched up' with paint that was five shades different than what was actually on the door. {actually, it might have been a totally different color.}

but i was willing. so was jeff.

my criteria were safety & function. that was it. i'm serious.

and yes, i was a designer for four years before having brady... and yes, i like pretty things, but in this case... the Lord has been teaching me what's TRULY important.

and with the loudness and clarity of this call on our lives, i was willing to sacrifice 'pretty' for His plan.

anyway... this house fell through. on saturday evening. and it was... to be honest... confusing. i questioned the call on our lives. i didn't understand... i wasn't, i thought, being materialistic. i wasn't trying to get the nicest house out there... i wasn't. so why, would a house that had been on the market for 90 days suddenly be taken off - for no reason - as soon as we go for it?

like i said, His ways are higher than mine.

and boy, did He have a blessing in store for us.

so thankful to serve a God who's knowledge is Infinite.

anyway -------- onto a more blog-friendly topic.....

over a MONTH ago {that's how behind i am} we went to orange beach, alabama with jeff's family.

just in time for the tropical storm!!

we had a great time, though. it was a very very nice change of pace for us... staying in our jammies all day... eating like kings... and doing little bits of nothing all. day. long.

loved it.

when we were getting off of the plane, the pilots asked brady if he wanted to come and sit down with them. {the hubbs thought they were talking to him at first and got super excited.... then realized they were talking to brady....}

we made up fun games to play.

this was our version of 'minute to win it'.

another wave of the storm.... seriously. i can't imagine what HURRICANE force winds would be like.

it was opening weekend for college football. yay.

uncle bubba is a huge 'fighting irish' fan.

too bad he's had a rough start to the season....

that's all i have for today. maybe actual BEACH pictures tomorrow next week?

happy monday.

destin. part two.

the beach this year was amazing.

we had so much more beach than last year - due to some 'rebuilding'. {actually there is a technical term for what they did - i just can't get the fog out of my head long enough to remember what it's really called...}

we sat next to the same people everyday on the beach.

the 'lsu crew'. they flew their tiger flag proudly. every day. in fact, the last day it was incredibly windy so they took extra precaution and got the drill the umbrella guy uses to dig the hole further in the ground.

the leader of the pack was lyle. lyle style is what they called him. it was very interesting being next to them. they could have been loud & obnoxious, if you get my drift... with 15 college-aged kids and three 'adult's {and use that term loosely} but they weren't. they were super fun... and just had a good time. and wanted everyone around them to have a good time too.

we loved it.

joanna & lyle had a special bond going on. hahaha... he always said "Jo-AANNNEEEE..."

one of our favorites is baytowne wharf.

after our fancy dinner at the marlin grill... we walked around baytowne.

if you ever visit destin - especially with littles in tow - i highly recommend it.

they had this little 'booth' on the 'sidewalk' {or is it a boardwalk?} that was sort of a music video thing... we could 'try' it for free... so we picked out our song and did it.

i love jocelyn's face in the picture {below}.

what song did we choose??? ummm. yeah.

baby got back... {we had selective memory of the lyrics, hence, jocelyn's face...}

almost every day a storm would blow through... or look like it was going to pass us by.

this day we misjudged the storm. we thought it would be a little shower... but instead it was a quick, but noteable downpour that pelted us as we sat on the beach. so we ran up to the pool deck to wait it out.

not even 10 minutes later the sun was out and we were back in the water.

we had little visitors every night & every morning at the house.

little green ones.... and i mean they might as well have been minature. they were that tiny.

a storm rolled through at dinner one night. so. cool.

if you ever need destin recommendations - hit me up. we love it. the drive is what i dislike the most but this year, like i said, was not bad at all. maybe it was because i had such low expectations? interesting thought.

happy tuesday.