On What The Pictures Don't Tell You...

It's true our vacation included plenty of sand and sun, but what none of us saw coming was the hospital admission and miracles.

Our trip started off normal enough, full of traditions, farmer's markets, water play, and late night movies with brownies.

But two days into it my sister, new mom to my adorable, and gloriously chunky nephew, started dealing with leg pains.

She'd been battling the symptoms for awhile but it suddenly got to a point that couldn't be ignored.

So instead of a huge family dinner, laughing over games around the table, or going for a late night swim, she was rushed to the local hospital.

Our vacation was rewritten in a way none of us would have chosen but honestly wouldn't have changed. Because between trips back and forth from the beach house to hospital, between the tears and the unknowns, it accomplished an incredible purpose.

God became glorified in a Nags Head hospital before the eyes of doctors and nurses, specialists, and staff members and we as a family witnessed a miracle.

My sister's legs were filled with clots, and as tests began to show, horrifyingly, so were her lungs. She shouldn't be alive, but God is the Great Physician. I watched my sister and her husband spend the next long days live God loud to doctors and nursing staff.

Their vacation for sure wasn't the long days of laying on warm sand, but by my sister lying in that bed hooked up to monitors and IV's more people saw Christ. 

We spent time distracting worried little nephews with skim boarding and wave jumping. We spent time driving back and forth for visits and hugs. 

But in the end, what the pictures don't show, is the miracle of my beautiful sister whose big heart made the beach a mission field and a testament to our mighty God!