Manzanita Beckonded

On Tuesday night, after a day full of root canal fixings, a permanent, and out to dinner with good friends, I decided it was time to get out of town.....so my daughter Tammy and I left for the coast Wednesday morning. Manzanita has been my favorite beach town since I was a little girl. Fortunately I had the generous offer of the use of a home there, so it was a good and quick decision.

A trip to the beach is always a treat. As we get onto highway 101 we are treated to some spectacular views of the ocean between Cannon Beach and Manzanita. There is no place like the northern Oregon coast line. It is rugged and majestic, beautiful and inspiring, and has wonderful walking sand!

Manzanita is a sleepy little beach town much of the time, but it comes alive during the summer and holidays. It has one main street with a post office, a grocery store, several very interesting little shops, and a few eating places. It houses many, many cozy cottages, and up on the mountainside, many luxurious homes with panoramic views.

The grocery store, which has been there in some shape or form, since I was a child.

The main street coming into town off highway 101.

The view from the end of Main Street, with a path to the waves and sand.

My favorite activity is to walk along the beach and sing, "How Great Thou Art" at the top of my lungs, because with the ocean's roar, no one can hear me except the Lord!

My sister and her husband were at their cottage as well as one of their sons and his family.

Bill and Carol

The door is always open and the welcome mat is out.

My nephew's four kids livened up the week-end, with "boogie boarding", wet suits and all, on Saturday.

Fortunately the home where we were staying was only three blocks from the cottage, so we were included in lots of the "happenings", and the kids dropped in to visit.

We came home Sunday afternoon, as I didn't want to drive on Labor Day.

The closer we got to Portland, because I wasn't feeling good, all I could think about was getting to my home and my "comfort" chair. I felt an intense longing to be there. I cannot describe it, but my mind played with that feeling for a little while, and I went further with the thought.... how wonderful it would be to have that same longing for Heaven...and then I realized that the better we know the Saviour, the greater the intensity of our longing will be-- to be with Him.

....and so we begin a new month, September 2008.