Beautiful and Blustery Beach Trip

Recently, Ashley, Amanda, Ryan the little girls and I were able to accompany Nana to the beach for a few days. (Grant got to stay behind with Daddy.. which he LOVED!) Nana had reserved for us a three bedroom three bathroom condo right on the beach! An amazing view.. hot tub.. three stories.. and a view of the rocky jetty in Ocean Shores.. we were spoiled indeed! We had planned on rainy and windy weather but to our joy and surprise, we had one full day of moderate weather and clear, sunny skies.Nana and I had so much fun in the apartment; visiting and caring for the little girls. Our oldest three precious children spent most of the day exploring tide pools on the jetty. They had such a wonderful time together.. as I watched them from the windows of the room I felt so filled with joy.. that our children are truly one another's best friends. They are always provoking one another to love and good works.. encouraging the others to persue the Lord with thier whole hearts.. to stay on the narrow way, ready to lovingly admonish the other. I praise the Lord that we are such a close family. As we continue to diligently seek the Lord and as we grow closer to him, we also grow closer to one another. We definitely have our good days and our not-so-good days, depending on how surrendered we remain in the Lord. Currently on our fridge hangs this handwritten question and reminders:

AM I SURRENDERED TODAY?
Yield Youself To God (Romans 6:13)
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Present Youself a Living Sacrifice to Him (Romans 12:1)
I beesech you therefore, bretheren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable sacrifice

Abide in Christ (John 15:4)
'Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of it's own, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

Walk in the Light (1 John 1:7)
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one anohter, the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin.

may we, the McDonald family and you, the reader also, continue to seek to know Christ and to live a life abiding in his love and obeying the commandments of him, our King.

 

Try as we might, we were unable to get the kites up in the air!~

 

The girls with Nana

 

 

A view of the condos from the beach

 

 

 

 

 

'He that would be my disciple must take up his cross daily and follow me'

There were pelicans everywhere! Maybe migrating?

 

 

More Pelicans

The Gorgeous Washington Coast

Precious Ashley, Age 21

Darling Mandy, age 18

 

Beloved Ryan, age 14

Winsome Gracie, age 4

 

 

 

Adorable Laura, age 2

 

Late Summer Memories

 

 

~Fun Summer Memories~ 

 

 The girls had a ball playing in Nana and Papa's tent which remained

set up in our back yard for a week or so! The boys had fun sleeping out there at night.

 We had a fun picnic with Grandpa Mark and Grandma Barb.

We have so enjoyed spending time with all the grandparents

this summer! The kids missed them all so much while in BZ!

 

 

Fetchin' some sticks for s'mores..

Grandma Barb is the S'more queen! :)

 

 

The girls enjoying time together in our temporary rental

 

 

We have been so blessed with all of the things that have been given to us!

We have a house full of necessary household items.. we are so grateful!

♥

A bountiful box of yummy plums that we were given!

We have been so blessed to have gotten lots of garden left-overs from friends this year!

 



Ashley and Susanna at their work picnic

 

Mandy and Susanna

Ashley's boss and co-workers.. all are such great friends to her!

Ashley has since stopped working there.. she

misses seeing the ladies but does NOT miss the hard labor and chemicals! :)

 Amanda and Ashley with some very special friends

 

♥Best Friends♥

P*R*E*C*I*O*U*S Baby Girl!

We had a fun summer, checking out many of the local parks

 

Playing Frisbee!

Watch out Daddy! Mama is throwing this time!

 

 

 

 

Our boys! Such wonderful blessings from the Lord

And, they're off!

 

The Lord bless you and keep you--the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Numb. 6:24-26