Beaches, Buddies, and Blessings among Barfing

 Got your attention, eh?

haha.

Well I will slowly get to my story, but first enjoy some pictures of our time at the South Asian beach trip we take every year to spend time with fellow co-workers and are sharpened by our leadership.

We kept telling Levi we were going to the beach... and when we arrived at the hotel and he saw the pool he said, "BEACH mommy, BEACH!"

It took a few days before we finally made it to the real beach, so until that time the pool was officially named "The Beach", and he loved it!

Especially with his buddy, Gus. (above)

I could stare into these eyes all day long- LOVE him!!!

Our new buddy, Lucia Rose, with her mommy :)

 Such a big boy walking around the kiddie pool all by himself:

 

 Gus was having the time of his life, and we caught one of his awesome expressions on camera.

 While Levi had fun splashing with Papa, Riley snuck in some cuddle time with our friend in our city, Sarah:

I will take one of these hugs- any day, any time!

 Gotta get some girl time by the pool/ "beach"

AHHH- we finally arrived at the REAL "beach", so hopefully all confusion has been resolved :)

 Levi had a blast running into the water with Papa, jumping waves with Mama, and playing in the sand with his little buddies.

 While Levi and Papa played, Riley and I kicked back in the shade and relaxed as we celebrated her turning 3 weeks old, then.

My Guys:

Can you tell he was enjoying the sand ????

 And she was enjoying a nap by the ocean:

Precious moments I will treasure with my little girl by my side:

Ok ok ok... Now you want the rest of the story, right?

Here it is:

After a great time with friends at the beach, we packed up and were heading home.

We shared a taxi with some of our friends, and were on our way to what we thought was a smooth ride to the airport....

However, about 30 minutes down the road- our new little friend, Lucia Rose (pictured above), after just finishing her bottle of milk- decided there was no need to store that in her stomach- so UP it came.

Our sweet taxi driver pulls over, we all empty out of the vehicle (they, of course, were all the way in the BACK) and we "clean up" everyone and the seat as best we can.  Even the taxi driver assisted, bringing his water bottle around to help rinse stuff off.

Deep breath, ahhhhh- crisis semi-overted.

NOT! Just 2 minutes after loading back up, everyone shuffled all around into new seats, Levi decided to join the party- and UP came breakfast.

YUCK!

All over himself, all over my jeans, down one of Beth's bags, on the floors....

You get the idea, right?

Don't leave me yet-

So in the midst of repeating the drill all over again, everyone unloading, stripping Levi's clothes off, trying to clean the car, rolling down windows so an ADULT doesn't join the fun :)

A BLESSING comes walking up the hill from the slums beside the road we are on. 

This blessing is a precious Indian woman, dressed in a saree, carrying a huge container of water. 

Without hesitating, she proceeds to gently pour the water down over my jeans so I can scrub the "chunks" off of them.  (sorry for the weak stomachs reading) :)

At one time, I even started to gag, and she looked in my eyes and said "Take it easy, Take it easy" haha.

She proceeds to pour the remainder of her water out for us- on floor mats, Levi's clothes, our shoes, etc....

Wonder what makes this moment even sweeter?

It is most likely that this very woman had to walk, some distance, to fill that container when the "water came" that day, for cooking, bathing, etc...

Water here in South Asia cannot be taken for granted, especially for folks in this type of housing during the hot season. 

As water gets slimmer, there are certain locations where water will "come" for maybe an hours time, and people will line up to fill their buckets for the day and carry it back to their home.

However, on that particular day... this kind woman decided to turn her water into LOVE.

Love that she willingly and generously POURED OUT on us.

I began to wonder, am I always so QUICK to LOVE those around me every day like this?

 To push myself aside and be POURED OUT for others?

To LOVE as Jesus LOVED?

I'm afraid not always, but I pray the Father will continue to show me how my life is not by own and open my eyes to those He places around me, those to whom He longs to POUR OUT His LOVE on.

So that's my story :)

And I know my "Thank You" that day could never communicate the depths of my gratitude to that kind kind woman, who chose to be a BLESSING!

~Humbled & Grateful~