In the name of love…

I heard a saying recently: “Days go by slow but weeks go by fast.” How true that’s been for me in the last 15 to 20 days. It seems like yesterday I was watching deer in a neighborhood yard…

…and that’s already been 4 weeks ago! Since then I’ve been around the southeast from Birmingham to Tallahassee, Memphis, Branson, Montgomery, Nashville, and lots of little towns in between.

In the name of love.

On the way to Missouri we stopped at the Civil Rights Museum, the site where MLK gave his life for freedom and love.

My brother and two of his kids at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee.

Then we went on to Missouri, where my brother and I could do our part to serve in the name of love.

In Branson (actually it was Lampe, Missouri), we volunteered at a camp where we worked when we were in college. I’m sure I’ll post more about our time there but for now I’ll say it was a really great, exhausting, learning, fun week with him. We did a lot of manual labor type work, lifted weights, ran a 5k every day for 5 days, played whiffle ball homerun derby, and lots more. We got there on a Saturday. When my body felt like it had done all it could do, and I was ready to pack up and head out, “It’s been a great week, y’all!” I came to realize it was still Saturday. Dang. Long days, for sure!

Straight after that week was Wilder beach week back in Florida, at a little beach just south of Tallahassee called St. Teresa. This is the week all the Wilders meet up for a week of fun with 8 kids, 8 adults, and 3 dogs. Lots of love in this family!

Exhausting was this week, too, but mostly because we’re all having fun on my dad’s boat (tubing, skiing, dolphin watching, etc), playing soccer on the beach, knockout on the basketball court, volleyball on the beach, and other random fun things that don’t include flying a kite. More on that later!

I returned to Nashville two weeks after leaving. It was nice to sleep in my own bed again, to watch Leverage on Netflix again, to play sand volleyball with my friends again. But this trip was so great.

-Out of the Wilderness

A beautiful rainbow at sunset

I’ve never seen a partial rainbow quite like this. The colors were amazing, bright and wide, almost straight up and down… and it occurred nearly at sunset. I love this beach!

SUP: A daily ritual at the beach

I spent a week at St. Teresa and each morning, along with breakfast and reading from the Bible, I had a ritual of paddle boarding around Alligator Bay. Such a good way to start the day, wouldn’t you agree?

Video of a wild dolphin feeding

We were out tubing when we saw a lone porpoise trolling along the shore line. We think he was going after mullet with a quick surprise attack. Here’s the video from a GoPro camera.

Lantern floating in the beach sunset

The tide receded later afternoon, so we stood on the St. Teresa Beach sand bar to release the American flag lantern. Watch it float away into the sunset!

A retreat on early evening tides

I recently returned to Nashville from a 7-day trip visiting family in Florida. It started with a few days at my favorite beach where my dogs can explore, the ocean recedes but leaves small pools of water across newly exposed sand, porpoises feeding nearby, sugary soft white sand where crabs make their home, birds chirping above…. and this, magical time floating on the early evening tide:
-Out of the Wilderness

Dolphins at Play (recorded above and under water with a GoPro Hero3)

My favorite beach. My favorite ocean creature. An amazing experience to see these dolphins swimming and something I won’t ever forget! This makes me so happy, and I’m so glad I got it on video… enjoy!