Searching for Shells 🐚

I spent the weekend on an island off the coast of Florida with just my mom, something her and I haven’t done since Eleanor was born nine years ago. Our little beach rental was steps from the ocean, making it so easy to grab our chairs and catch the sunset or sit with our feet in the sand for just an hour. 

On the last morning of our trip we went out to the beach at 8am, when it was just us and some older people watching the dolphins show off. We walked the shore looking for some shells I could bring home as a souvenir for the kids. There were thousands of shells to choose from on this part of the beach. It was breathtaking. As I scouted for the best ones my eye caught something different. A shell with smaller shells seemingly growing on it. I didn’t know why but I felt so drawn to this shell. I had so many questions. 

Had I ever noticed shells like this before? 

How did this even happen? 

Why did I find it so beautiful? 

I found a few more like it and decided these would be the ones I’d take home to my family. 

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One month ago we found ourselves becoming a homeschool family. No one is more surprised by this than me.  How we came this to decision is a whole other story, but what I’ve experienced over the past month can be summed up in this picture of shells: a lot of time together and a lot of growth. 

At six in the morning when I wake up and make my coffee and sit at the counter to read my Bible and journal, Selah my early bird is right beside me. Usually coloring or doing her handwriting book, or most likely telling me about her dream from the night before. In the morning when we do school, we’re all sprawled around the bonus room and I bop around to each kid, helping them sound out words, teaching them how to divide, checking their work, and encouraging them along with our new mantra “hard is not the same thing as bad”. When I make lunch all of my kids shuffle around me, grabbing plates, peeling oranges, filling cups, and talking to one another. In the afternoon when I have errands to run, my backseat is filled with voices of kids’ chatting or requesting I play a song from the Greatest Showman or asking me for gum. At night when I’m bone tired and fall into bed, my two older kids ask if they can lay next to me. They ask me to tell them about the book I’m currently reading or they want to talk about whatever’s on their mind. And then it’s wash, rinse, and repeat the next day.

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So as I’m standing on the beach, staring down at this shell I see something more. I see our life right now. All the learning + growing that is happening. All the touching + bumping up against one another. All the questions asked + dreams spoken. And I’m here to witness. To absorb.  To serve.

I look at these shells and I see beauty. 

I look at our days and I see the same. 

One day they will leave. One day they’ll be out there doing all the things God has planned for them. But right now I get to be a safe place. Their shell.