July 24, 2016 Candice taught my little 6 1/2 year old Clover to surf.
What a memory! That day started with the girls standing in the water with an impending storm, somewhere in Hollywood, FL and I thought …
“To have someone to stand in the storms with you is one of life’s greatest blessings”
Sometimes God writes a dream on your heart from your tiny years. And then He orchestrates making it a reality in the most incredible ways. Cheers to this girl who caught wave after wave today like she’s been doing it her whole life! I vow to forever be in search of your next wave with you.
It began there … Clover’s love of surfing. (It is still amazing to me that we now live in a place where she can surf whenever she wants to.) So many things changed that trip.
I will forever be thankful to Candice and Betsy for that week at the beach. It became a pivotal point in my life.
- I learned to take care of myself and ask for help
- I learned healthy boundaries and how to teach my kids the same
- I realized I could live alone and not be lonely
- I awakened my understanding of who I am and who I strive to be
- I re-discovered that I am more than a mom and wife
- I could name dreams and make plans to achieve them again
- I realized that Haiti was not a safe place for our hearts anymore
This trip became the beginning of the end of our time living permanently in Haiti. We knew we needed a break from it, but it would be another year and a half before we took one. The things I learned in that July 2016 trip would carry me through so that I could carry my kids through. It challenged me and changed me.
God does beautiful things in the middle of hardship. But sometimes we can’t see that until it has passed and we are on the other side.