Ordinary is extraordinary.

Make The Ordinary Come Alive. 

Do not ask your children

to strive for extraordinary lives.

Such striving may seem admirable.

but it is a way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples and pears.

Show them how to cry

when pets and people die.

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.

The extraordinary will take care of itself.

                                                     ~ William Martin. 

                                                                                

The afternoon that brought tears of joy.

It was a beautiful afternoon at the beach. 

We walked, explored, dipped and smiled. 

We looked up and down. We giggled, laughed and skipped as we moved along the rocks and sand. 

At some point I decided to write my one little word for 2014 in the sand. Sarah then wanted to write her word too. Her word??  I didn't even know she had a word.  But she did. In fact she has two. 

Courage and faith.

Timothy heard us talking and saw us writing and decided he too wanted a word or two.  He choose embrace and justice. We had fun writing our words in the sand and decided to add a few more. 

We discussed our words and what they meant to us. It was beautiful.

The kids wanted to take some photos too. I am so glad I said yes. 

They certainly know how to see beauty. The way they see and notice the world around them is inspiring. I sat and watched them roaming the beach with a camera and an open, in the moment, heart. 

Photo by Sarah

Photo by Sarah

Photo by Timothy

Photo by Timothy

We spent almost 2 hours down at the beach. It was special for so many reasons and in so many ways. 

I will treasure this afternoon in my heart. It brought a joy that I haven't experienced in recent days and this was comforting for the soul. It brought inspiration and encouragement and of course it brought the three of us together and connected us in a way that nature does so wonderfully well. 

                                                                                            Jo xx 

Exploring we will go

                                                                          

                                                                                       Jo xx

hello from us

Hi ,
sorry no photos today. Intended to last night BUT no internet connection. Then tonight, well we are completely worn out. So you will just have to do with a few brief comments.
WE are at the Grand Canyon .........and it is stunning. It snowed here yesterday so there is a covering of snow that took our breath away. Saw a sunset here and it was beautiful.
We are going for more of an explore tomorrow.
The past few days have been draining as we have spent quite a bit of time in the car. However we have 2 nights here so hopefully we will get our energy back.
The Captivating retreat was awesome and Jo is excited about what God is doing in her heart. She made some great friends, 1 from USA, 1 from UK and believe it or not, 2 from Australia.
Steve survived his weekend as a single parent and he and the kids had some great adventures. They went up the Cog railway to the top of Pikes peak mountian which is 14,000 feet. They spent some more time at the Garden of the Gods and the kids earned their junior ranger badges from the National Park. Yesterday Steve, JAck & Tom went mountain biking at MOAB which was fantastic .......BUT not long enough.

We had heard about the terrible tragedty in Vict on the internet. And it did make the papers here on Monday morning ...FRONT PAGE. SO very distressing. AND so unbelievable.

Well I might leave it there for tonight as we need sleep. Will endeavour to post some more photos tomorrow. Only 7 more sleeps till we are home...Yay. We are missing you all and our Kalbar.
Love Steve, Jo, Jack, Tom, Sarah & Tim