Calm Before the Storm

Since the 2 month mark has passed (yikes), let us fill you all in.  You may remember a few months back we blogged about winning a vacation from Lifeway magazines to Captiva Island, FL.  Well, 2 weeks ago we finally redeemed the gift certificates and made the 13 hour (give or take) drive down to the Gulf coast to enjoy South Seas Resort.  The coupon was only good for 2 nights at the hotel.  As the vacation approached, we wondered if it was even worth it to spend as much time in the car as we would at the resort.  But, with SBP approaching, we needed a little get away and, well, it was free!! 

    The Lord poured out His grace on us in so many ways during our stay.  The ride down was a great time for Clint and I to catch up, as SBP preparation has dominated his life the past few months.  We stayed about an hour outside of Captiva the night before, and drove over to the resort at 7:00 the next morning.  The island is quaint.  Little restaurants and gift shops are strewn about the main road, while thick vegetation dominates everything else.  We didn’t expect to be able to check in since our reservation wasn’t until 4pm.  The sweet girl at the front desk told us our room wouldn’t be ready until then but she had two rooms with 2 queens open.  Since we sleep in a full bed at home, it was no big deal to us, so we chose a Harbor-side room on the corner of one of the buildings. 

    Before we left for Captiva I jokingly told Clint that I was going to start praying to see a Manatee while we were there.  We have been to FL twice since being married and both times we have searched for them with no luck.  Its on my bucket list.  I will see a Manatee before I die.  As we arrived there were 2 maintenance men fixing a towel bar in the bathroom.  We asked them what were some must do’s and if seeing a Manatee was out of the question.  Thus the Lord’s first wonderful gift to us.  It was mating season in Captiva, and there are manatees all over the harbor and marina.  I then push Clint out the door and nearly ran to the marina.  At first, no luck.  We looked and waited, me with my Nikon in hand ready to catch a glimpse of the elusive manatee.  For those of you who don’t know, there are only 3000 of these things in the world.  Its a big deal.  And after about 5 minutes we saw something under a boat about 30 feet away.  Two manatees drinking the fresh water from a boat.  I almost filled up my camera card, and got a little teary-eyed.  Mission accomplished.  Later that day Clint saw one swimming about 20 feet away from us in the ocean.  Icing on the cake.  Thank you Lord!

    The second way the Lord smiled upon us was through the weather.  The forecast was thunderstorms the whole time we were to be in Captiva.  But, it never rained, not even once.  It got cloudy and looked as if it were going to storm but all we got was a light mist on a hot bike ride. 

    Which brings me to one of the best the parts of the prize we won: bike rentals for 2 days (cruisers of-course!).  The resort is about 3 miles long and a little spread out so we used the bikes to go to the beach, to other parts of the resort, and our favorite, out to dinner.  There is something quite peaceful and playful about riding bikes to dinner with your spouse.  I felt 12 again.  We biked to a quirky little place called The Bubble Room and had some delicious (note: pricey) seafood.  We biked back and sat on the beach to watch the sunset, one of our favorite things.  Again, the Lord is gracious.

    The second day we woke up a little later than planned (too much bike riding and manatee excitement from day one) and headed over to the beach to relax and read, then headed back to the room for lunch.  While we were eating we saw something out of our porch door.  Lo and behold, there was a dolphin, fishing, 25 feet from our balcony.   Dolphins are Clint’s favorite animal.  We have now successfully seen both our favorite animals, in about 28 hours.  He and a few friends stayed in the harbor the remainder of the day and into the next morning.  Talk about a view! 

    We were sad to leave Captiva, but felt so blessed that the 2 night stay felt a lot more like 4 nights!  We hope to have the privilege to return to this peaceful place, but if not, the memories will surely not fade anytime soon.  Thank you Lifeway magazines for this awesome gift!  The Lore surely used it to minister to us!