Sarah Rivers has it all: successful husband, healthy kids, beautiful home, meaningful church work. Corinne, Sarah's sister, struggles to get by. From Web site development to jewelry sales, none of the pies she has her thumb stuck in contains a plum worth pulling. No wonder Corinne envies Sarah. What she doesn't know is how jealous Sarah is of her. And what neither of them realizes is how their frantic drive for achievement is speeding them headlong past the things that matter most in life. So when their mother, Maggie, purchases plane tickets for them to join her in a vacation on the Gulf of Mexico, they almost decline the offer. But circumstances force the issue, and the sisters soon find themselves first thrown together, then ultimately drawn together, in one memorable week in a cabin called 'Seaside.' As Maggie, a professional photographer, sets out to capture on film the faces and moods of her daughters, more than film develops. A picture emerges of possibilities that come only by slowing down and savoring the simple treasures of the moment. It takes a mother's love and honesty to teach her two daughters a wiser, uncluttered way of life---one that can bring peace to their hearts and healing to their relationship. And though the lesson comes on wings of grief, the sadness is tempered with faith, restoration, and a joy that comes from the hand of God. Seaside is a novella of the heart---poignant, gentle, true, offering an eloquent reminder that life is too precious a gift to be unwrapped in haste. TERRI BLACKSTOCK is a popular novelist who has written for HarperCollins, Silhouette, Dell, and Harlequin. Her books have sold over 3.5 million copies over the last ten years. Her popular Christian suspense series, the Sun Coast Chronicles, includes Evidence of Mercy, Justifiable Means, and Ulterior Motives Sarah Rivers has it all: successful husband, healthy kids, beautiful home, meaningful church work. Corinne, Sarah's sister, struggles to get by. From Web site development to jewelry sales, none of the pies she has her thumb stuck in contains a plum worth pulling. No wonder Corinne envies Sarah. What she doesn't know is how jealous Sarah is of her. And what neither of them realizes is how their frantic drive for achievement is speeding them headlong past the things that matter most in life. So when their mother, Maggie, purchases plane tickets for them to join her in a vacation on the Gulf of Mexico, they almost decline the offer. But circumstances force the issue, and the sisters soon find themselves first thrown together, then ultimately drawn together, in one memorable week in a cabin called Seaside. As Maggie, a professional photographer, sets out to capture on film the faces and moods of her daughters, more than film develops. A picture emerges of possibilities that come only by slowing down and savoring the simple treasures of the moment. It takes a mother's love and honesty to teach her two daughters a wiser, uncluttered way of life--one that can bring peace to their hearts and healing to their relationship. And though the lesson comes on wings of grief, the sadness is tempered with faith, restoration, and a joy that comes from the hand of God. Seaside is a novella of the heart--poignant, gentle, true, offering an eloquent reminder that life is too precious a gift to be unwrapped in haste. Terri Blackstock (www.terriblackstock.com) has sold over six million books worldwide and is a New York Times bestselling author. She is the award-winning author of Intervention, Vicious Cycle, and Downfall, as well as such series as Cape Refuge, Newpointe 911, the SunCoast Chronicles, and the Restoration Series. Chapter One Maggie Downing didn t like endings or beginnings. She preferred to keep things somewhere in the middle, where she could build her momentum no jolting starts or screeching halts. Momentum was critical, she d always told her daughters. Useful people didn t veer off course, and they never slowed at the hurdles. But she had been wrong. Why had it taken her fifty-five years to learn it? She sat on the deck of her split-level condo, looking out at the faint, foggy outline of the Rockies. She had photographed them many times, and collected the prints in a book that adorned thousands of coffee tables now. The Tourist Bureau of Colorado used one of her pictures for their advertisements, complete with her signature in the corner. But that was just one of the many successes she d had. She had the gift of turning beauty into bucks, a friend had once facetiously told her. Nothing was wasted. The brisk wind made her shiver, and she pulled her sweater tighter. She longed for the warm air, the smell of salt on the wind, the sound of foamy waves whooshing onto the sand. She had moved to Colorado to escape the heat and humidity of the South, but by March, she was always weary of winter. She knew her girls were weary, too, in their own corners of the world. But their fatigue had little to do with th