Excitement at Moore River

On Friday, the first day of Jeff's freedom from slavery to Theological College :-) we went to Moore River, less than an hour north of where we live, for a fun day at the beach. Moore River reaches the sea at the township of Guilderton, where another student was staying at his uncle's house. G invited us to join him for a day and we took him up on it.

We arrived mid-morning and after a chat, took the kids down to the beach. The river is not flowing at the moment, now it's summer. They have just sealed the mouth of the river with a sand bank so the end of the river, where many families take their kids to swim, does not get too salty. The kids loved it!Jeff played with the kids for a while but Sam was not too keen on the water, so I took some more photos while Jeff and the other guys walked a little way up the beach.I turned around to take a few photos of Jeff with Sam:And then, mere moments later, disaster struck! (Well, almost struck - God was definitely looking out for us.)

Having taken my eyes off the kidilets swimming, I didn't notice when Abigail got into water a bit too deep. Thankfully, Joshua did. Although he cannot swim well (it's been three summers since we owned a house with a pool), he was able to doggy paddle out to where she was and grab her. Unfortunately, she began to pull him under. His cry for "HELP!" was the first thing any of us adults noticed.

Jeff was up to his chest in the water with Abigail under one arm and Joshua under the other before I even realised there were two of them in trouble and not just one. I am so terribly thankful for his quick reaction! Not to mention Joshua's quick thinking attempt at rescue and call for help: in that moment he truly was our Rescue Man. [For more on Rescue Man, see here and here.]

Abigail was frightened but unhurt, so we moved to the beach and took her (holding both hands) a little way into the surf until she was able to get over her immediate reaction that all water was dangerous. After she settled a little we let her sit with towel around her while the rest of the kids dug in the sand and the adults took it in turns to go into the surf and have a little fun. Then we went back to G's uncle's place for a shower and lunch... Abigail was completely fine and Joshua was none the worse for the adventure, either.

Next time we visit the beach, I'll remember that just because I'm taking photos, I don't have an excuse to take my eyes off those in the water.