Sabbath Moments - Vacation

Sabbath Moments is a weekly meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace. These are the times when we remember to "live in the present moment" and "let go and let God". This has been  fairly easy to accomplish this week as we are on vacation and surrounded by the beauty of God's creation. I'd like to introduce you to a little fellow who has been keeping us company at the beach this week:

This adolescent seal has been keeping us company for the past few days. He'll take off for hours but keeps coming back to the same spot on the beach. The picture is not very clear because they roped off a section of the beach so that no one would disturb the little guy. You can't see his face well in this picture but he is adorable.

Here's a picture of my favorite girl playing in the wet sand close to the water. Each day when we get back to the cottage a pound of sand pours out of her bathing suit before she steps into the shower  : )

As for me, I formed a daily routine during my vacation that is working out very well. I leave the cottage at 8:00 to pray my Rosary and attend Mass at a nearby Church. They pray the Rosary daily at this parish before Mass and on Wednesdays have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. After Mass I return to the cottage and we head off to the beach. I like to read on the beach and am now reading a book called Consoling the Heart of Jesus. Great Book!

 One of my sisters is here with her family and my brother and parents are back and forth depending on their work schedule. We have all been having a great time! Family, fun, and laughter...you can't beat that!

"Jesus! Take the wheel! "

My family goes to the beach for a few weeks each summer, we love the ocean and my husband loves to go fishing. This year my huband and daughter left about an hour before me and I said that I would meet them at the cottage. I decided to pray the sorrowful mysteries on the way, I've always enjoyed praying in the car. Sometimes the Lord and I just chat, but I love meditating on the sorrowful mysteries. As I have spoken about in http://openingthefloodgatesofmercy.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-suffering.html I unite everything with Jesus, even every breath I take. This day was no different and I was praying with my whole heart when suddenly the skies opened up and rain started coming down in buckets. I couldn't see more than than ten feet in front of me [I don't like driving in heavy rain and of course there was a huge truck in front of me to top it all off.] I kept praying and uniting the sufferings of the moment with His but the rain got so bad I said "Jesus! Take the wheel please." Immediately, the song "Be Not Afraid" started going through my head and a feeling of immense peace came over me and I actually started enjoying the ride. By the way, Jesus.... you drive quite well for somebody who never had lessons!

It's funny, I had just checked out a blog called " Be Not Afraid" just the day before so maybe that's why the song came into my head but what was really odd is that when I switched lanes to get out from behind the truck, the license plate in front of me read "xesus" with a few numbers following it [Xesus is the Galician form of Jesus.]