Great Quote

"Covetousness is a result of us failing to make God our chiefest pleasure and treasure."

-John Piper

The Continuation of Yesterday's Continuation

Day 70

Jewel Fly on a Flower 

Two of the days we were at the Creation Museum I took a photography class taught by Martin and Deb Minnard. The class was on basic exposure and equitment and shooting flowers and shooting in stage lighting. I learned alot in the class.This is one of the pictures I took in the Creation Museum's gorgeous gardens. The first day of the class we spent three hours in the gardens and it rained several times.

Day 71

Two of a Kind

The main exhibit and one of the best parts of the museum is the history walk through. This exhibit walks you through the seven C's of history (creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, consumation.) I did that all by memory :]  My favorite part is the creation room and that is where these deer are.

Day 72

The Road Goes Ever On and On

And that is exactly what it felt like on some of our long driving days. After the Creation Museum we drove to Fort Smith, Arkansas. We had to stop there for Wings Stop (an amazing wings restraunt we found last year in October) Then we drove to Amirillo. I love Texas and all, but that city is definately not a place I would want to live. From there we drove to Phoneix and then to San Diego where we stayed with my mom's sister and her family. I will tell you about our visit in a later post.

Our Trip Goes On

Day 66

This is the Church. This is the Steeple

After Williamsburg we drove to Lexington, VA. I absolutely fell in love with this charming, historic little town. We spent two days walking around and touring the different important locations including Lee Chapel, Washington and Lee College, Stonewall Jackson's House and VMI. The church in the picture is the Episcopalian church that Robert. E. Lee attended. While we were in Lexingon we visited General Lee's grave and General Jackson's grave.

Day 67

Light in the Doorway

One night we walked around Lexington and I brought my tripod because I have always wanted to do a night photoshoot in a city. This is a picture of Hannah and Scott in front of Lee Chapel. Traveler (Lee's horse) is buried very close to where they are sitting.

Day 68

ESCAPE!!!!

When we were in Lexington we stayed in a Sleep Inn. On the second night we were there we went swiming in the hotel pool. Afterwards mom was going to take our wet swimsuits to the dryer but she didn't have enough quarters. When she tried to open the hotel room door to go down to the car the door wouldn't open!! She tried several times but with no success so she called Sean over to see if he could get it open. He couldn't do any better so they had Dad try still without success. So mom got the room phone and tried to call the front desk but the phone wouldn't work!! Thankfully our cell phones still worked and the lady at the front desk came up to see what she could do. She tried unlocking it and wiggled the door handle but she couldn't get it open either so she called someone and did the same thing. Then she called the maintnance man to come get us out. At this time it was around 9:30 at night. The maintnance man did everything he could think of to get the door open but he couldn't get it either. He assured us repeatedly that he would get us out and that "never, never in all his years had he seen anything like this and that's the truth." (great comfort to all of us) Finally he realized that he would have to break us out so with screw drivers, files and a saws all, he and daddy set us free. It was now 1:00 in the morning. At the end of the process the door looked like this.

Day 69

Hooray for the Creation Museum!!!!!

After Lexington we went to the Creation Museum in KY. That place is amazing!! Everyone should go there at least once before they die. It will strengthen your faith, teach you usefull science facts and give you an answer for the hope that is within you. We spent three days there and that was barely enough. This picture was taken by daddy. And while I am on the subject I will say that dad is wonderful. He did pretty much all the driving on this trip and he funded the entire thing :) He also lugged his gigantic extra laptop all over the country with us so that I could post pictures on my blog even though I only used it twice. Isn't he great???

Pictures Continued

Day 60

 Dixie!!
Saturday night our family was leaving the hotel where the conferance hotel and heading back to our hotel when our car began to beep at us. When we were stopped at a stop light Daddy turned the car off to restart it the problem was that when he tried to turn the car on it wouldn't start!! So here we are sitting on the ramp that enters the freeway and we can't move. Also there was no shoulder so there was no place for us to get out. Dad turned on our blinkers but our batteries died so we had no lights. That is when mom called the police so they could help us. We also called Mr. Brown to see if there was anyone who could come get us kids and bring us back to the conferance center. He sent a young man named Micah to help us. Micah helped us jump the car because our insurance company wouldn't tow us. We were able to get back to our hotel safely and our car started the next day which is a good thing because we had to drive down to Williamsburg to meet Grandma.

Day 61

Let's Take the Trolley!

With Grandma we toured Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg. We spent one day at Yorktown, one at Jamestown and three at Williamsburg.

Day 62

This is a me and a sailor I met named James. I met him on board the Susan Constance. The ships were probaly my favorite part of Jamestown. I think old ships are cool (this ship isn't really old but it is a replica) Also at Jamestown I learned how to fire a cannon for the third time on the trip!! :)

Day 63

Cracker Barrel!!!!!

Here we are eating at one of our favorite restraunts in the country :):) Their berry pancake breakfast is awesome. I had it all four times we went :):) 

Day 64

Gazing into the Smoke

Williamsburg is one of my favorite places on earth. I could live in Colonial Williamsburg. The history there is amazing. I was so glad we got to spend 3 days there. We met my aunt and cousins there and we all had a wonderful time together. One of the days it poured rain several times through the day. It was nice to have it cool off but it made us all soggy noodles ;) One of the days we took dance lessons. That was really fun even though I already knew the dance we learned.

Day 65

Let's all Match :):)!!

When we were in Williamsburg in 2007 we met the guy on the right. Then he was in the fife and drums now he acts several different parts. He is a really good actor and Hannah wanted her picture taken with him, thus the picture.

Home and 313 pictures!!

Yesterday we came home after exactly 5 weeks on the road!!! It was an awesome trip. We learned so much, met alot of people and had some new adventures. I documented the whole thing with about 2000 pictures so I have plenty to catch up on my 313 project with. Also Hannah and I are making a slideshow of the pictures and I am going to try to post. In forewarning this is going to be a very long post so it might take a while to read.

Day 47

Packing for the Trip

This  is a very exciting part of the trip. It is also a very crazy, disorganized and busy part of the trip but Hannah and I love it anyway. We brought a ton of food with us on the trip but discovered that it is easier to simply buy what you need along the way at grocery stores.

Day 48

Elianna and I 

 She obviously is not interested in the camera. The day before our trip was CRAZY!! I had a lot of food prep to do and I hadn't even begun packing anything. Hannah was very sweet and packed everything for me which was a huge blessing otherwise I probaly would have forgotten some very necessary items. We finished packing the van at 10:30 p.m and we were all exauhsted.

Day 49

Shadowy Heart

On the first day of our trip we drove to Flagstaff. We were really happy to be able to stay with the Gindorfs. Our drive was pretty much unevenful except for Nathan throwing up in Coarsgold because of either food poisoning or over excitement. We aren't sure which but it never amounted to anything.

Day 50

WooHoo I am half way to 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maddie, Elianna and I at Chick Fil A

Poor Elianna, she looks horrified :)

Day 51

At Vons!!!
On Thursday Maddie, Emma, Sophie, Hannah and I walked to Vons and got coffee and ice cream. We walked backwards all the way home. It was very fun and we got some very amusing responses :):)

Day 52

Hair Cuts

Hannah and Emma donated their hair to Locks of Love. They were very brave and I think they look lovely.

Day 53

 On Friday we went to church camp with the Gindorfs. It was great to meet all the people we have heard so much about :):)

Day 54

 Chili Cookoff!!!

Day 55

Hello in there

After the camp we drove like crazy across the country in order to get to Pennsylvania by Tuesday evening. This included driving for 15 hours straight, pulling into a rest stop and sleeping in the car for 3 hours then driving 18 hours more. 

Day 56

Music Night

In Pennsylvania we attended the History Of America Mega conference. It was awesome!!!!!! I loved every minute of it. We listened to imformative talks by many different speakers. There was music every evening. We watched a childrens play and topped off the event with a gala.

Day 57

 FIRE!!!

On July 4th we went to Gettysburg for a reenactment. There was a ton of people there and there were thousands of reenactors. They did a live mortar fire demonstration which was really cool. 

Day 58

 "My name is Belle Edmondson"

At the conference there were about 50 historical reencactors playing different people from American history. Between sessions we went and met them, heard their stories and collected their signatures. On Mr. Phillips blog you can see a video introducing many of the reenactors.

Day 59

Jonathan Edwards

There were several reencators who did such a good job playing their part that I forgot I was talking to an actor and felt like I was talking to the actual historical character. Jonathan Edwards was one of them.  

O.K. I need to take a break from the computer because my head is begining to swim. I will continue posting later.

Words to Remember

"No day should be lived unless it is begun with a prayer of thankfullness and an intersession for guidance."

Robert.E.Lee

I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 69:30

Update

Hello from Virginia Everybody!!!

My family and I have been traveling around the country over the past few weeks and we are currently in beautiful VA.We have been doing alot of different things; church camps, driving, conferences and sightseeing. Needless to say I haven't had a whole lot of time to get to the computer (I have only checked my email once in the past three and a half weeks!!) Also finding a place with a wifi connecion has been sketchy. That is why I haven't posted anything for the past 4 weeks. But don't worry I have been taking a TON of pictures for my 313 project and I have been cooking up alot of new things for y'all :):) (you get a lot of good ideas when you are driving for 36 hours strait =}) I don't have time tonight  to post my 313 pictures from the past weeks or tell you more about our trip but I promise that when I get home I will post a whole boatload of everything I have been preparing for y'all (and I assure it is a boatload) but I will show you a couple of pictures.

This is all of us at Gettysburg, all dressed up yet melting in the heat. It was incredibly warm that day so wearing multiple layers of longsleeves wasn't the greatest idea.

 

This is Hannah and George Washington

 I took this picture yesterday. We were at Washington and Lee University (in case you couldn't read the words behind them)

Well, it is 11:00 p.m here and I really need to get some sleep.

The Lord bless you
    and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26