11 kids, 84 crabs, and one glass buoy.

We had a fun day at the ocean with our visiting cousins.
As we were trying to rent some little motor boats to go crabbing in the bay, we heard about an opportunity to go crabbing in the ocean on a bigger ship.
1 captain, 1 first mate, 4 adults, and 11 kids (from 1 to 16)... headed out to sea.
i was certain that one of my children would end up overboard.
We returned four hours later with 84 of the most gigantic crabs we had ever seen and all of the children that we set out with.
The night before we were looking at a fish market just off the coast and the crabs were being sold for $20 a piece.
Mmmmm.
do you love crab as much as i do?

We had a chance to talk with our kids about our experience.
They all loved the boat, the crabs, the cleaning up, and the eating.
They are convinced we should buy a boat and go every weekend.

Drew thought it was funny that when we came back from our 4 hour cruise, we saw a few other families that had rented motor boats.  They would all say something like, “Oh, we had a really fun EXPERIENCE.  We caught 12 crabs but had to throw back 11 because they were female or too small.”  Drew recognized how blessed we had been.  He said, “I just know Heavenly Father was looking out for us that day.  It could have been us with the 'good experience'.  Instead, our boat was overflowing with crab.”

Anna mentioned that while we were on the boat she took the time to look around her at how beautiful everything was.  She said that the waves were so big and the earth was so beautiful she just felt grateful for a God that created such an amazing world for us to enjoy.

Ellie said she liked holding the crabs the best.  She said, “At first I was scared to hold them.  But, fisherman Shawn showed me how to do it and it wasn’t scary at all.”  She thought about how many things in life seem hard.  She thought that her experienced life fisherman were Heavenly Father, her parents, her church leaders, her teachers.  When she listens to them and watches how they do things, hard things can become easy.  She is less likely to get hurt.  Isn’t that a cool lesson?  {We laughed as we related this to dating... when you date the way our church leaders encourage you to date, you will not get hurt.  Then we laughed and told Jakob he needed to be sure to throw back the girls that are too young.}

The captain of our ship found a glass buoy floating on the waves, from Japan.

talking with the captain right before he spotted the glass buoy.

It was so neat and worth some money.  He hadn’t found one of those for four years.
He is always looking.
His son said, “Yeah, my dad has eagle eyes.”
I assured him that I was good luck!
As I thought about his excitement and the many, many trips he has gone out to sea, the hours he has spent looking in the waves without finding anything, I thought of my life (of course, isn’t everything in this world a lesson on mothering?).
So much of our life is just monotonous every day doing.
Seeking.  Hoping.  Teaching.
And then, there is the glass ball—shining proof that we are loved, that we have “eagle eyes”, that we are doing something good.
Our captain drove by other marinas holding up his buoy with pride as other captains hooted and hollered.  We all have those moments—every four years.
But it is the every day looking that creates the captain.
I was looking into the same ocean that the captain was looking at... and all I saw was water.
He was trained.
And, in my own way, I am in training too.
I am becoming a captain of my own.

I have a baby who has blisters all over her mouth (it’s a virus).  She was sad most of the day.
I also have a five year old who is busy and hard.
I juggled my life a bit shabbily.
Let’s just say it was a birth control kind of day... where I felt everyone looking at me was thinking “you do know how to prevent that don’t you.”  nice.
This day made me so grateful and so tired.
This day I came home without a glass buoy.
I came home with a spirit heavy with all I still need to teach and a spirit a bit beaten by the wind and the waves of my life.
I live a deep sea fisherman life... not a motorboat in the bay life.
But, I am hopeful and determined.
I have found treasures from another land before and I will find them again, maybe tomorrow.
I will have my moment of applause, and I am not alone.
There is an army of fisherman surrounding me.
We are all on our own ship trying to do the best we can.  We are SO blessed.
No one who goes out to sea can doubt the existence of a divine creator.
This earth is not an accident.  It is spectacular.
Life is beautiful.
And crab is SOO good.
Come on over and we’ll share some... 

 Sometimes i feel more like the Master Chris than the Perseverance...  you too?

we're friends now, seeing as i'm the captain's new good luck charm.

i couldn't help but think that 84 crabs means 84 guts...
just like having a large family means more sweat with more messy...
yes, mine is a life of abundance... in many areas.
God grant me patience to deal with my blessings.

life is good.
and crab is DE-LICIOUS!