God is Good.

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Exodus 33:14

A few weeks ago I told Justin I wanted to take a trip. Anywhere was fine, I just needed to get out of the house before I started teaching (which is next Monday!) We talked about it and decided...the beach! Then we were left with several more decisions..like which one?

We finally decided on the Outer Banks, made our reservations a couple weeks in advance, and were excited!

After some unforeseen disagreeable vehicular events we thought about cancelling (and actually did) but immediately rebooked. We realized, now more than ever, we needed a vacation!

Saturday morning we left early with a kayak on our roof and a long day's drive ahead of us. We arrived at Cedar Island Ferry right at 11:30am in order to catch the 12 o' clock ferry to Okracoke. Thankfully we were the second car in the 'Cars without Reservations' line because we didn't know you could make reservations and the ferry was completely booked for that time. The guard said two or three cars with reservations usually don't show up, so we should be able to catch it. And we did! We were the last car they let on the ferry!

The ferry ride was 2 hours and 15 minutes--which I must say surely beat being in a car for that long!

Once we got off of the ferry we found our campsite and headed for the beach! (For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of the beach itself...so sorry!)  The temperature was fabulous the entire weekend. It stayed around 75 degrees F, which is a much needed break from the 100+ degree temperatures we have been getting in Augusta.

Sunday morning we woke up to rain. Heavy rain. (Which my dad always says is going to come anytime you pitch a tent.) So, we got up, got in the car, and explored as much of the island as we could (by car) while we waited for the rain to stop. It finally did around 9:30am and we found a spot to put in the kayak.

(This picture is for Tyson and Ben.)

Strategically placed (or not?) in the Pamlico Sound were duck blinds. Lots and lots of them. We could see them from the shore but couldn't quite make out what they were, so we decided that's where we would kayak.  Some were simple (comparatively speaking, this is a simple one), and others were not so simple. Some had glass windows, gas stoves, and a paint color-- not to mention the branches on the sides. We found this very interesting.

The sun never peaked through the clouds all day and it rained again while we were cooking dinner. We had been a little disappointed in the weather but it was still a vacation! After dinner we decided to walk down to the Pamlico Sound with our chairs just to sit by the water. We were wanting to see the sunset but it was so overcast we weren't hopeful. As we rounded the corner and saw water, it appeared as if we had just missed the sunset....however, after a brief moment we realized the sun was still above the clouds...and there was an opening just for us! With glowing excitement we set up our chairs and almost immediately afterwards the sun began to set! What a glorious sight! This view made everything worth it!

(This is God's way of saying He loves us!)

After a week of stress and down-heartedness, we found rest.  We had a fabulous time and couldn't be more thankful for God's beautiful creations!