Jonathan Dickenson State Park, Hobe Sound, Florida
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those (Herod the Great and his son and heir, Antipas) who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up and went to the land of Israel, but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea (where Bethlehem is) in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. ~ Matthew 2:19-22a Joseph’s fear was well-founded as Archelaus was likely to follow in his father’s footsteps. You have to wonder why Matthew would tell us that Joseph is afraid now, when he’d followed God’s previous instructions seemingly without question. Maybe Joseph wasn’t quite as confident as Matthew portrays him. And this is faith. Obeying and trusting, despite our fear or hesitation. Joseph may have been fearful, but the prophecies regarding Jesus’s place of origin have yet to be completed.
We enjoyed a fabulous two weeks with Blaine’s sister, Sandy, her husband Eric and several hours with their son’s family – Adam, Jessica, Eliana (aka Ellie), Tobias (aka Toby) and Adelaide (aka Addie)! What a joy to spend time with family that we only usually see for two weeks every two years!
In fact, there was so much fun, I’ve decided to divide my post into two equal parts. Easier for me to put together, easier for Blaine to edit, and easier for you to read. 😊
Because I’m a person who does well when my life is organized into bite-sized pieces, I actually put each day’s pictures into it’s own folder. Since I’ve already done that, I’ll lay out the commentary to match.
3/10 – We arrived at Jonathan Dickenson State Park in the late afternoon. After setting up, we headed to Eric and Sandy’s. Traffic is always pretty awful in the Jupiter area these days. Hard to believe that when they moved here 20 years ago there wasn’t much at all. Well, now, in just three days, the city’s closing one of the main thoroughfares in order to replace a bridge. The project is scheduled to take 20 months, which we all know in construction time means even longer. It will make getting to places on time a challenge for those who live here.
Sandy was planning on feeding us fish tacos today, but Adam called and asked if we wanted to join them at a local burger place called “Burger Shack”, so we ditched the fish and opted for beef. None of us really cared that Sandy and Eric were making burgers at home for all of us on Sunday. 😊
3/11 – Today was Saturday, so Eric took the four of us out on their boat. There’s a bridge you have to pass under to get from their canal out to open waters. Eric watches the tides very closely, because you can only fit your boat under the bridge at certain times of the day. Today, we were very tight! I laid on the floor of the boat listening to Eric, Sandy and Blaine debating if we’d make it or not. Blaine pushed the front end of the boat down a bit by pressing on the underneath of the bridge – that enabled the windshield to clear, which is the high point. Sandy put down the awning. And Eric captained – very slowly! I did nothing except to stay out of the way and try to capture a photo for posterity from the floor of the boat.
He was kneeling on the bench in front.
Once we hit open water, we were met with gorgeous aquamarine-tinted water and a cerulean sky! And of course, the myriad of sailing vessels of all shapes, sizes and quality. Eventually, Eric brought the boat to a stop, ordered the anchor dropped by first mate, Sandy and we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch. What a lovely time we had on the water!
To tell the truth, he’s just a good dog, period. : )
Then it was back home again (in time to get back under the bridge), and we hung out around their pool and ate the fish tacos that’d been waiting since yesterday. Yummy!
Just before sunset, we took the boat back out to enjoy a lovely sunset over the now quiet waters. Some type of fish were having a marvelous time frolicking (or eating, or whatever they were doing) as they repeatedly flung their entire bodies out of the water!
I was glad I’d brought along warmer clothes.
Naturally, huddling with Lex helped as well. : )
3/12 – Sunday was church with the Gambles, which was quite nice. We enjoyed the music and teaching very much, and nearly everyone was dressed in something other than jeans and sloppy clothing. I’m talking all ages from the youngest to the oldest, teens and everyone in between. We’ve been in a lot of churches on the road over the past six years, and this was a first for us. So grateful to see a body of believers who believe it shows respect to the Father to dress for worship!
Back home, it was a lazy day around the pool, adding Adam’s family to the mix. So fun to see the kids! Ellie especially enjoyed my “magic ring”. It’s a ruby star sapphire my mother gifted me with when I turned sixteen. She was fascinated with how it was just pink in the shade, but when you add sunlight, a bright six-point star appears! (I shared a picture of it a few posts back)
My answer?
They don’t sit still much. lol
3/13 – Eric and Sandy are still in work mode this week, but we’ll still see them every evening. Eric owns his own engineering company and Sandy is the office manager for a dentist, who closes his office during Spring Break, so she’ll be off our second week here and we’ll have to find ways to entertain her. 😊
That left us with a day to ourselves and we took that opportunity to paddle out to Trapper Nelson’s place. We visited here about five years ago, so it was good to head out and refresh our memories. It’s still exactly the same as it was five years ago, but since they’re attempting to preserve it, that should come as no surprise.
If we’d been much later, they’d’ve been gone.
We left Trapper’s and turned left instead of right, into the mangroves. We didn’t go far, but what we saw was spectacular!
There may not have been any surprises at Trapper’s place, but there sure was one on the way back!
Winds picked up significantly and when the Loxahatchee River pointed us in the right direction, the winds literally pushed us from behind like a boat with sail! We could actually feel it! Woo Hoo!!
3/15 – This was a cleaning up day from our time driving to and from Kissimmee Prairie. I spent 2-3 hours in the bathroom alone, digging dust out of nooks and crannies. We also made a batch of crack. Everyone loves the stuff and it’s a bit addictive. Hence the name. 😊
I can’t believe it didn’t break apart!
Blaine sent this picture to Sandy, just to make her drool. : )
3/16 – Still entertaining ourselves during the day until the Gambles were done with work. Today we visited the Jonathan Dickenson Museum, and on the way to Sandy and Eric’s, we stopped at a local park called “Blowing Rock”. We enjoy the pleasure of their company so much! And I enjoy cooking for more than just Blaine and myself.
Thus ends Volume I. We can’t believe our visit is already half over!