First observation:

God is God, regardless of where I am and what I am doing.

Isn't that just exhilerating to know?!

Second observation:

I am not a good swimmer. Out of shape entirely; although I'm not sure I was ever in it. Swimming out to that little "rope with floaties on it" today was quite the workout! And the experience of being out in the ocean alone... in deeper water... was interesting. Still, I love the ocean. Especially this corner of it. (Do oceans have corners?)

My life right now is very interesting. It involves changing diapers, making bottles, rocking restless babies to sleep when they wake up at night, taking them on little walks, playing with them, laughing at their antics and expressions, taking them swimming... motherly things, I guess. Don't get too jealous, girls. I know, it sounds like a dream. I have it good.

And yet, it has been so evident to me this week, again, that it is not the place or the circumstances or my opinion or emotional status that makes life good; it is Him. Jesus. The Author of life and beauty and music and laughter and truth...

There are challenges to life here, too. Things like getting up in the night, having an adorable little bumkin share some of their lunch by spitting it up on your clothes, and having to do treatments and house-purging to get rid of scabies. Being so far away from everything I know and love is an interesting experience, too; though of course I am well taken care of and have excellent company in Gerda and Annie and the babies. But in all of this, Jesus keeps drawing me back to what has seemed to become a major theme in my life:

It's all about Him.

Really, truly, seriously. He is the one who gives life, and the one who sustains it. He is my joy and the lifter of my head. He is my song, my food, my drink, my friend, my Father. When I get tangled up and turned around, it's because I have taken my eyes off of that fact. But if I keep my eyes on Him, abide in Him and He in me, then I cannot be shaken. By anything.

1 Peter 2:6 says it well: "...he who believes in Him will not be disappointed."