Wednesday

On Wednesday, nearly the entire family headed out for a walk/bike ride on the Boardwalk. It seems like a couple miles away but that might be just because we had several pairs of short legs trudging along in our little group. After a little ice cream and souvenir shopping, we were headed back home for a late lunch. Most of us headed to the rooftop deck for some sun and hot tub time. The Talleys grilled hamburgers and hot dogs that night. Good stuff. We stayed up into the wee hours of the morning.

It's not something we planned to do, but the house and the time frame created the right environment for all of us to communicate about the next season of life for my parents. They were ready to include us in their plans, and we were able to encourage and give input to their process. It's been downright amazing. I'm curious to see how God will allow the pieces to fall in place as they prepare for some transition of some kind. You'd think that it would be hard to relax in the midst of several late-night "family meetings" as we called them, but it was obvious that God was orchestrating the circumstances in the midst of our week together.

It's fun to talk about doing this kind of thing again. The cool part of renting this place is that they allow you to come for a complimentary week in the following off-season. The only fees are a weekly cleaning rate, daily utility rate, and an optional pool/spa rate. That's one sweet deal. We're working on a week in early January 2010 that may take the place of our regular Christmas celebration. And, there are tentative plans to gather in the summer of 2012 for a week at the beach as well. As much as we all loved our time together and being in the "big house" under one roof was pretty ideal, it's probably not something we can do every year. Plus, we'll most likely have to rent another smaller house nearby if everyone could come the next time around.