Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me

I had never heard of the hymn "O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" until I heard a bunch of my Russian students singing it acapella soon after I started teaching in Hungary long ago. It is my favorite, and will be forevermore. Let's just say that you haven't really heard a hymn sung in a minor chord until you've heard a bunch of Russians (there might have been a Romanian and a Ukrainian in there too) singing it with their beautiful harmonies. Then you find out their stories and it makes it so much more achingly lovely you might just weep every single time you hear it again for the rest of your life.

Anyway, we went on a little vacation to the beach this week. We stayed at this perfect house:
in a little town called Surfside, south of Galveston.

We were with these friends, who so generously included us in their vacation:

The kids skittered and flitted about like sandpipers. There was digging, splashing, boogie-boarding, and general delight:

The whole time was pretty much perfection, but if I had to pick, I'd say my favorite moment was going out into the water by myself and standing about waist-deep (which I've probably not done since I was a kid, because the waters of the Gulf coast are generally a touch murky) and letting the waves pound into me--almost knocking the breath out of me numerous times--while I watched my husband and kids and dear friends and their kids all busy in their own happy pursuits. It made me feel loved with the kind of love that is vast, unmeasured, boundless, free. Yes, it did.

Hard to fathom, but true.

Thankful. Deeply, deeply thankful.