Visit to North Carolina Friends

First stop on our trip to North Carolina was a visit with Maryanna and David who are living in a sweet little log cabin and expecting their first baby. We also got to see her sister Joanna! It was such a nice visit. We had a little scare with Gideon and his asthma while there since we had colds but the Lord was merciful and everything was okay!

 

Next stop was a wonderful visit with Mark and Bekah Reese with their four sweet little girls!!! We had seven children four and under! It was so fun! The kids had so much fun and us parents were encouraged being around each other. Here are a bunch of the kids listening to the Bible story.

Joshua was so popular!!! The girls kept wanting to sit on his lap and let him read to them!

Then we moved on to Joshua's cousin's house Michael and his wife Katelin! They bought a house last year and are renovating it...the kids loved the big bear they had. We had a nice visit with them.

 This is their house!

 

We then moved on to Richmond where Joshua was speaking and on Sunday we got to visit Wanda and TJ's family and it was so fun! The kids loved that there was so much room outside to play and a trampoline and so many kids! 

 They built their house many years ago, it's so pretty!

Trip to Lancaster

As part of Gideon's birthday celebration and an excuse to finally visit my aunt and uncle we took a trip up to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

We drove among the Amish

Admired their clotheslines

Visited a Train Museum

Where they have a steam locomotive you can ride...sadly we couldn't that day.

But it was fun to watch steam in and out

We bought some local fresh made root beer

And pumpkins for $1

The main reason for being there was to see the Sight and Sound production of Noah which was spectacular! You got to be inside the ark with lots of animals--live as well as fake.

My family was also up there to see the sights and play

We had so much fun!

The other thing we saw while we were up there was a life size replica of the Tabernacle...it was quite amazing and had a wonderful tour. Well worth seeing if you're up there.

Weekend in North Carolina

Our last couple days of Joshua's spring break were spent in North Carolina where we got to visit with family. We first attended a grand prix awana race which was super fun! Joshua gave a little gospel message and then we got to enjoy the races! Gideon was a judge for the designs of the cars, he loved that job! We then stayed with Joshua's cousin Michael and his wife Katelin. We had a fun time and were even able to go on a double date thanks to cousin Heather babysitting! Then we got to visit Benjamin and Jamie and cousins Judah and Ellie on the way home! It was lots of fun playing outside in the 70 degree weather!!! My how little ones grow so fast!

Cars ready to race

Gideon watching them take off!

Playing in the nursery

Chloe can now sit up!

In the tunnel

Uncle Joshua and little Ellie

Brother and their nieces

Visits Up North

Last week was Joshua's spring break from school and we spent most of it visiting friends which was lots of fun! We went up North to Northern Virginia and spent some time with two dear families. Kirk and Kristen and their little man had us over one evening where the kids had lots of fun playing and we even got a fantastic game of Settler of Catan in...and then we stayed with Bobby and Bency and their little man and got in another game this time of Ticket to Ride. Joshua was the reigning champ in both cases. We enjoyed fellowshipping and catching up with both families and they were both so hospitable! Here are a few pictures.

Joshua and Liam

Kristen and Chloe

Gideon being silly

Zach and Chloe

Being silly again...

Zach and Chloe

Creation Museum Trip

Our family has been planning a trip to the Creation Museum for some time and this past weekend we were finally able to go!If you have never been to the Creation Museum let me urge you to plan a trip there, it is a powerful testimony to God's Word and the truth of it and is very impressive with all their displays, dinosaurs, movies, planetarium, walk through of the creation and fall of man and the ark section. The planetarium cost a little more but was quite impressive!  The museum emphasizes the importance of having an absolute truth as found in the Bible as the foundation on which all of our understanding of ourselves, the world, nature and science is built. The evidences that support creation found through the museum are so amazing! It is appropriate for all ages as we discovered since we weren't sure how our three little ones would do but they loved it! Even with it being cold and not being able to enjoy a lot of the outside things (they have a petting zoo, gardens, camel rides) although Gideon did go with Joshua for a quick peek at the animals the children enjoyed all the displays and seemed to learn a lot! You never know how much they are taking in at this early age so we want them to start their education with a firm Biblical foundation. Also on a side note they are building a life size ark that will be nearby and will be a testimony and way to teach the world God's salvation--we are super excited about that project and look forward to many trips to see that as they build it, more information can be found here. Our trip was quite a long one as this is located in Kentucky--overall everyone did pretty well in the van for over 6 hours there and 6 hours back...

Chloe and I were the only ones brave enough to hold this snake as we walked into the museum--so cool! They were having a workshop on them later that we didn't go to.

Tirzah looking at the "dews" as she fondly calls deers, notice the antlers how it shows when God first created animals he created them as distinct kinds with the capacity to have great variety down the line.

Aunt Lydia was able to go with us which proved to be a great help as the the children love her very much and I think she enjoyed the experience as well!

I loved how they had displays that you could touch and that for children it wasn't all--no touch!

I felt drawn to this display of the Eve with child...I just feel like I look like that a lot lately...this is where it all started!

Chloe and I at the ark display--it is so fascinating, it is my favorite section of the museum!

Model that Gideon was looking at and commenting on the different animals!

Imagine our surprise and joy at finding out that Buddy Davis was at the museum to do a concert the day we were there! We have several of his dvds and Gideon recognized him immediately when he showed up saying "there's Buddy Davis". We had the opportunity to talk to him and of course get a picture. He is the man who sculpted all the dinosaurs in the museum and does dinosaur digs as well as writes great children's songs. Our favorites are "Billions of dead things" and "Behemoth".

Being able to "ride" a dinosaur was definitely a plus.

Chloe and a dinosaur as we waited for the rest of the family going through the displays...