The Rest of the Story

"There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord." 1 Corinthians 12:4-5

Just as Paul Harvey has dug deep for the rest of the story since World War II, so too do bloggers seek to reveal the "rest of the story" as life swirls about us.

Last weekend, while at the beach I proclaimed that one evening we would be going to the beach, dressed for the occasion and that Mommy would be getting some summertime pictures to get us through the dreary days of winter. Not meeting with the usual groans and eye-rolling, I felt this was the beginning of a successful endeavor.

And so, after a day filled with sand in our suits and surf on our faces, we retreated to clean up and ultimately land ourselves back on the very same rocks to capture the magic. When we arrived we were among literally thirty to forty others seeking that very same magic for their families. There were grandparents with grandchildren, babies crying, newly engaged couples, small families, big families, most easily distinguished by the tell-tale matching shirts and short sets.

We settled into our little spot, happy...comfy as Hannah put it. Emily is usually my muse, posing, laughing, playing. She enjoys the camera and loves to mug for it. This was not so from her two year old birthday until sometime after she was three, but as suspected her fear of the lens was conquered and now, she is a most willing subject.







Nice people stopped and admired our little family. We stopped and admired other families and at the beginning all went as planned. Now, I am not a great photographer. I am not ashamed to admit this and know that now, I will probably need to join a little blogging help group, "Hello, my name is Heather and I have very few great shots to post on my blog..." But, my ambition was in high gear and our first pics were really quite acceptable to me.

We got a good family shot, which I would have loved were it not for the little woman growing out of Rob's shoulder



Hannah was particularly compliant (after several lollypops and a big fat dinner) for a feisty two year old.







Remarkably, the girls even enjoyed one another, sitting together without the usual, "she's touching meeeeeeeeeeee" and Hannah pulling on Emily begging her to walk with her.







The sun was setting...it was beautiful. The waves lapped quietly up onto the beach, so inviting - and this is where the story takes a bit of an unexpected turn...There were five or six families behind us as the girls ran into the water to frolic. Em was loving life. Hannah loved it until she realized the three tiers of her dress were very heavy when wet. As she emerged from the sea, disgruntled and slightly miffed that the water would have the nerve to make her wet, she shouted, "Hannah, dress OFF!" To which we responded, "No, Hannah dress ON." I assure you, I turned my back for one brief second to get my lens cap on, when I hear uproarious laughter. Emily and all five families broke into hysterics as we viewed this



The picture is considerably blurry because I had to scramble to catch the moment before capturing her and dropping her back into her soggy dress:) Hannah has the gift of tenacity and apparently, the beautiful gift of humor. Several of the families thanked us, admitting it is the best picture they have gotten of their kids in years.

Hannah will begin preschool this week, she is in a tiny class of playgroup students one morning a week. Emily began in this same class, what seems like yesterday. There was a parent meeting this morning and her teacher was bright and bushy-tailed citing "what a fun year this will be". Oh, Mrs. Miller, you don't know the half of it!!

And that folks, is the rest of the story:)