Patience From Rowling

This past weekend my family and I went to Sanibel Island in Fort Meyers. The picture is of the sunset on the way home. It is a beach known for it's plethora of shells all over the place. It definitely lived up to that reputation. There were shells absolutely everywhere. Which was, of course, the reason we went there instead of any other beach. We wanted to collect shells to make into pins to take to our host country. In case you don't know, the Rotary Club has a tradition of exchanging and collecting pins from other countries and places you've been. So we picked up a little over 100 shells to draw American flags on.



This is the beautiful sky that we got to enjoy the whole day. We were there from 8 am until 3 pm and it felt like just a couple hours. We didn't do much besides sit in shallow waters and sift through the sand to find the right kind of shell. But, of course sometimes we got surprises. We saw a stingray at one point. And after about half an hour of sitting and gathering shells John said to me, "Would you believe me if I told you I just found the coolest shell ever?" Me and Dominic automatically said no. John fools around too much and says way too many things to throw us off every day for us to believe something like that. But then he pulls his hand out of the water and has a huge beautiful shell in his hands. Something like "I'll never doubt him again" should probably have popped into my head, but let's face it: I'll have every reason to doubt him all the time.

I also had the opportunity of finding a sand dollar. Sadly, though, it was still alive, so we couldn't keep it. And, of course, we had to take group pictures at the end before we left and I don't think we actually got a good one. Maria was too intent on making silly faces. But it was a very successful day. We found lots of shells perfect for pins. And that big huge black shell, that's the coolest shell ever.

So, although Maria missed out on a lot while she was watching the baby, we had a wonderful time swimming, gathering and laughing and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Cracker Barrel afterwards after eating almost nothing the whole day besides a hotel breakfast.

The next day we had a very long shopping trip to pick up the things we needed to make out pins. We picked up markers and pins at Micheals, along with Zoe's Hello Kitty mug and her shirts from Rue 21 for her birthday. We got some ribbons to make different pins as well. We also stopped at Joanne's to get the last of the fabric I need to finish my Nurse Joy dress and some buttons for Maria.

So, when we got home we plugged in the hot glue gun and got started. Maria didn't put flags on any of her shells. She just glued the metal pin on each one. I grabbed the sharpies and spent quite a while putting flags on my shells. And just like me, by the time I got two thirds of the way through I decided that that was enough flags and I could just leave the rest as they were.

So, Including the ribbon pins we made, this was the result. We put pennies on a lot of the ribbon pins. All except the bows. To us, it seemed a little strange, but people from other countries love foreign money. As do we, I guess. We get excited about coins from other places. I guess I'll just never wear my own pins, 'cause I don't find pennies all that cool. Even though I love the ribbons that we found, the shell pins are my favorite. It's probably because they took so much effort to make and because they're different than most people's typical pins.

So, I've sent all my papers in and my visa has been applied for, but I still don't have it and we still haven't made air arrangements. In the mean time I'll just wait and trust that the Lord will work it all out the way He wants it. I'll just keep the mindset of Harry. "There was no point in worrying yet.... what would come, would come... and he would have to meet it when it did." (J.K Rowling)