..restoring the years the locusts have eaten...

do you have early childhood memories? .. I don't have that many and sometimes I think I am remembering something when really it is the pictures I have seen from way back when..

heading to Holland, Michigan tomorrow...  a place I feel God has shown me to touch a place in my soul, to restore in me a deep feeling of security... the feeling I have lost along the way, only to find it again in my relationship with Jesus Christ, my Saviour and friend..

I have seen pictures of our summer vacations when I was 3, 4 and 5 years old.. and, I have memories of walking on little brick walls, along sidewalks, balancing.. I remember a light blue big sweater, and rain boots... summer vacation in Nordwijk, Netherlands.. I remember colourful sugar sprinkles on toast for breakfast and Herring on a bun... ( not for breakfast.. duh )

I remember riding in little bumper cars at the Boulevard... the market place...
my fondest and most important memory though is walking to the beach... with a wagon made out of wood, filled with all our toys, towels and all the rest of the stuff a family with 3 little children would need... walking on a pathway built with some kind of brick-like patio stones ( sorry, but I just don't know the right English word ) ... the path leading through the sand dunes of the coast of the Northern Sea... coming closer to the beach more and more sand would be on that pathway.. eventually we would stop and take our shoes off... that meant that we were almost there...
the wind and the smell of the sea and the sand under my feet has been burnt into my soul never to be forgotten... feelings of joy, happiness and excitement are eternally attached to these scents and textures and sights..

the Atlantic coast here in North America used to be what would remind me the most of this and I felt such a need to go there, at least every 2 years..

through some plan of my Father in Heaven I found out about the East Coast of Lake Michigan... seeing the pictures of the beaches and sand dunes made my soul jump for joy... there it was, my "Eden" of my early childhood, only about 5 hours away from home, and I never knew about it...

so tomorrow, I am embarking on a journey to recapture some of that giddiness and pure bliss... long before I learned about parents fighting and father's letting children down, long before I felt the pain inflicted by thoughtless people, cruel and selfish people, early childhood...mine was sheltered and filled with love and excitement...

going on a road trip down memory lane... I am going to reflect on how blessed I am to have such memories, I am going to share them with two very special companions... and I am going to enjoy the feeling of the sand on my feet, the smell of the sea and I will take it all in... the beauty of God's Creation... maybe there will even be a Dutch store that has those sugar sprinkles.. :)