Home Sweet Home

There is absolutely no place like home! After camping in the beautiful smokey mountains for 4 days I have never been so happy to drive on flat land, sit on my bed, take a shower in my bathroom, play the piano, and pet our adorable little dog, Rover. Home has never looked so good! The mountains is a great place to go for a vacation, but I was born a "flat lander" and I remain a "flat lander"!

Photo Tag

I usually don't do a whole lot of tags, but when Bethany sent me this one I thought it looked like a lot of fun so I thought I would play the game too. The rules are: go into your 6th picture folder and select the 6th photo. Post it and your done. There just happens to be a story behind my photo!

This picture was taken at the National Christmas Center in Paradise, Pennsylvania. This was one of the many places I visited with a church group while we were in the Amish Country. (You can see more pictures here.)When this grumpy old man came on our bus to give us an intoduction to the museum I asked Mr. Fred (the trip coordinator) "Is he Santa Claus?" He replied, "No, he's too mean!" I do have to say, if he is going to work at a Christmas museum he needs to stop acting like Mr. Scrooge!

I tag Amy @Under Southern Skies.

Family Fun

The past few days we have been living in the great outdoors! We've hiked a mini canyon, viewed a large lake, walked through an 1850's town, visited Plains GA, and drove down many long country roads. After a few days of this everyone but daddy and Ryan were ready to come home. So the rest of us gladly drove home and left them behind to fish a little more. It is so good to be home!

TRUE Country Living

This will be our home for the next few days. I can't wait! Pictures to come . . .

Here They Are!

Motorcycle at the Harley Davidson Factory


Very happy cows! They were massaged, fed 24 hours a day, slept on water beds, and milked themselves. Don't believe me? Visit their website.
Acres and acres of corn and other crops

Fun, Food, Fellowship . . . and 316 Pictures!

Okay, I know I'm late, but my trip to Pennsylvania was so wonderful that I have to tell you a little bit about it! Here's a few fun facts:

• On the bus was one baby, a dog named Spanky, a recent college graduate (me), and the rest were mostly senior citizens!
• Our trip coordinator was very punctual when it came to time. We often heard things like, "We will be leaving in about 10 seconds!"
• We went on 7 tours and saw 2 live shows
• We saw lots of Amish people and farms
• The lady who served us breakfast at the motel was Amish
• We ate lots of food and ice-cream. (A trip just wouldn't be right without ice-cream!)
• I took over 500 pictures but only kept 316
• Best of all, we had great fellowship among Christain people

Choo Choo Barn - a huge train track with everything imaginable! All antimated.

Everything Christmas!

Outside an Amish school

More pictures to come . . .

I'm Back!

Hi everyone! Sorry about the long delay in posts. I just got back from Amish country and haven't quite caught up with all the happenings of my family yet. It was the first time I have been away from my family for 8 whole days so I have really been deprived of family time!

Check back for an acount of the trip and LOTS of pictures. For now, I am working on finishing the story I have been posting. Enjoy!

Revines in Florida

Phillip and Amy coming off of the suspention bridge. We all walked across in a march style (left, right, left, right) and made the bridge swing! What fun!

One of the many bridges.

Another bridge.

Bethany swinging on the monkey bars.

Water inside of a fallen tree.

Home Sweet Home

Vacation is always a lot of fun, but sometimes I think it is just as much fun coming home! It is so nice to once again be able to sleep in my own bed (in my own room), take a nice warm shower in my own space, and have room to move around! For those of you who have never camped in a pop-up camper let me go ahead and inform you: they are not THAT big. With 6 people and enough supplies to last 4 days, there wasn't a whole lot of room to move around in.

Still, it was so much fun! We rode bikes, went on lots of nature walks, sat by a camp fire every night, made smores, did a lot of grilling, had a few picnics, and relaxed . . . a little bit! It was fun being outdoors so much.

Monday we went to the Ravines in Florida, for the first time. They were beautiful! There are so many pictures I want to show you, so forgive me if you get board! The captions are for the picture above.

A tangle of roots! Did you notice the ferns? They were all over the place!

Amy walking down one of the trails.

A more "groomed" look.

We Are . . .

. . . going on vacation!!! Can you guess what we are going to do?

(No, that isn't our camper, but we do have a pop-up.) I have been so excited about this trip! Maybe it's because it's been a while since I've been on one with my family, or maybe it's because I will see a good friend I don't get to see that often. But whatever the case, I am still looking forward to it with much anticipation!

Here's food for thought while I am gone: How often do we let the Devil steal our joy after a great victory? Yesterday I had a wonderful night, yet this morning I felt like something was wrong or like God was displeased with me. After searching my heart I started to think that it wasn't God that was troubling my soul, but maybe the Devil! Satan never wants to see us win a battle, gain hope, or live joyously in Christ. It angers him when he sees God's plan for your life start to take action. So be very careful to guard your heart against Satan especially when you have just been through a victory or have found a new joy.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7