God Seems Closer at a House by the Beach

God Seems Closer at a House by the Beach.

That saying is sewn into a pillow on my Momma's couch, and she swears it's true. 

Often when we talk, she'll tell me how beautiful the sunrise was that morning. It seem to be one of her favorite times of day. 

Momma also has an added bonus to her sunrise, the view! My parents live on the end of a canal in the Panhandle of Florida. The area they live in is a beautiful combination of waterways and exotic marsh. Water surrounds the front their property and there is always neat wildlife to watch.  

Watching a sunrise is not a frequent occurrence in daily life. I try to squeeze out the last possible moment of sleep into each morning, so I miss most Sunrises. But on our past visit, I decided I would get up and enjoy some of what Momma seems so enamored with. I wasn't disappointed. 

 As the sun slowly crept up behind the marsh, small flecks of gold sliced through the dark. Night made room for rich blues and warm pinks, then those quickly gave way for a glorious golden ball to rise up and up. It was amazing how much the sky changed in just 15 minutes. Watching the darkness give way to light was a tiny taste of God's promise for the future.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Lamentations 3:22-25

As pretty as these photos are, they pale in comparison to the real colors and beauty that I witnessed that morning. This world pales in comparison of how great heaven will be too. But every sunrise is a reminder of our hope in the Lord, His never ending compassion and his great  faithfulness!

 The sunsets are not bad either :)

How we told the family :)

Normally we wait until we've past our first trimester to share our news of upcoming blessings. However, with us having the whole family together for Thanksgiving, I knew I would want to share the news. Plus, I knew as soon as my Momma gave me a good look over she would know.

We arrived in Tallahassee from Charleston about an hour before having this photo shoot. Thankfully, I had called Allen and had a plan in place to share our news.

We knew we would want pictures of the cousins. Because as we all know these are ALWAYS the grandparents favorites!

So you can see Shay holding the little sign that said "Cousins"

After a few shots, I told Shay to flip it over and the little blackboard read

"And Baby makes 6!"



My super fast Brother got it immediately. Abbey kept telling Shay to turn it back over, She didn't read it, she just knew it didn't say cousins. I found out afterwards she thought it was from another photo shoot!

In July, this baby will make the 6th grand baby in 5 years for our family. For my Parents who thought they would never be grandparent, glad we could make the past 5 years such a blast!

Great Grands

While visiting Larry's family in Charleston we had a chance to visit with Larry's Grandfather, Papa Joe. He is doing great and has adjusted well to living in a Alzheimer's home. I don't think he knew who were were, but he enjoyed the visit, especially the children.

Josiah started to fuss for the pictures. Papa Joe leaned over and kissed him. It stopped him immediately. I guess we'll have to try that in the future.
Josiah's response was priceless.

Larry's Parents, Jeanne and David, Papa Joe and Larry .

Uncle Brian

Looking back through our trip to Florida, I can't help but see why Eden loves her Uncle Brian so much. Some how he has captured her heart and she LOVES him. It's a running joke at our house that when it's time to be quite we say, "shhh" and Eden says "Brian's sleeping." She thinks he's narcolepsy :) He's not, he just works nights. When we visit we have to tell Eden to "shhhh, be quite b/c Brian's sleeping." Now the two are link in her mind. :)

While visiting Yaya's and PawPaw, Brian asked Eden if she wanted to go on a boat ride. Without hesitation she said yes and followed him. I think he could have asked her to go anywhere and she would have said yes, just to spend time with him. She thought she was such a big girl in her life vest and riding along side of him. She still is talking about her boat ride weeks latter.

So to my the man fortunate enough to have married my baby sister, You are blessed. My daughter loves you very much. And soon enough your daughter will be looking forward to going anywhere with you, just to spend time with you. If these women think of you so highly, there must be something special about you. :) I am happy that you have become a part of our family. I look forward to watching you grow into fatherhood as you lead Abbey and Peyton. You are a good man, and I'm proud you're my brother.

Cool Animals at Yaya and PawPaw's

One of the great thing about visiting Yaya and PawPaw is the wildlife they have nearby. Here are a few shots of Our tour of Wakulla Springs and a bird shot from this afternoon at the beach.

I know it's a little blurry, but this is an alligator checking us out. I wish I had a better zoom on my camera, because this is as close as I wanted to get to it. I think it was a young one, maybe 3-4 feet long. But it was plenty big for me.

This is a great blue heron looking for an afternoon snack.

This was the coolest thing I've seen in awhile. Manatees have migrated to Wakulla Springs for the winter. The water stays between 68 and 72 degrees year round. We were able to see ten or so. There was a pair of mommas and babies that were neat. This big guy was swimming right next to our boat. You can see the scar on his tail from a boat motor. They are curious creatures, and unfortunatly are often hurt by boat motors.

I love this shot of a seagull I took this afternoon. But it's always scary to take an overhead picture of a bird :)

The Whole Crew

Abbey posted these on facebook.

Abbey, I hope you don't mind, But I edited them.

The whole Kinsey-Smith Crew

Look Grandma, all 4 Great grandbabies in one picture :)
Dip and Kiss

1, 2, 3, Break....Go Team!

Sisters :)

All Smiles

Daddy's Girl