2008JeffJourney

He Has Risen!

He has risen indeed!

April 12, 2009:  A Day of Celebration:  Easter

Our Easter breakfast highlights.
Happy to be reunited (C and J had come home from FL early).
Flowers were gathered from our yard to make the center pieces.
The chocolate eggs were preferred over the natural ones.
A's red Christmas sweater and M's red tie (gone are the days of Mom dressing everyone in cute matching Easter outfits).
The Love Amoeba.

Worship filled with inspiring music and a message on Phillipians 3:10-11.

...that I may know him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

A Family Hike at McIntosh Reserve Park
 
**A crosses the stream the first time without getting wet.

**L made a hobo pouch to carry her water bottle.

**Hiking

**By #4 crossing A thought nothing of stepping in the water as much as keeping out of it.

Skipping Stones

Whittling
 
Posing (some willingly, some not so..)

Collecting

Resting (Phew! We can't hike like we use to!)

Picnicking

Bug hunting?

Let the games begin!

Long jump contestant #1

Long jump contestant #2

And the winner by a long, long jump!

And to end the day...
A quick surprise visit with good friends who welcomed us enthusiastically.

Are you an Uniformitarianist or Catastrophist?

 

Hmmm… Since most of the museums we’ll see will be influenced solely by the uniformitarian view, we toured one of the few museums in the U.S.that wholeheartedly embraces the catastrophist view - the Creation Museum in Northern KY (http://www.creationmuseum.org/).  On the car ride north, we boggled our minds with the audio version of the Apologia General Science chapters on geology.  This museum presents an abundance of information favoring the catastrophism view.

One of our favorites is the fish fossil caught in the act of eating a fish.  Could this have happened in a catastrophe or in a slow process over time?

 

 

**Phooning on a suspension bridge on the grounds during our lunch break.  The kids' enthusiasm was caught by my sister's family as well.

Trial Run

The camper stood in our cul-de-sac for a day and we couldn't stand it anymore.  We took our first trip Easter eve to F.D.R. State Park.  Being able to flip on the heater when the temperature dips to a chilly 28 degrees does shed a new light on the meaning of camping.  For our family it did what we envisioned.  We enjoyed being together hiking, stargazing, campfire-ing and learning how to live in the new camper. 

Picture:  M finds what he is sure is the spot Jesus gave his sermon to his disciples.

Hiking Days

60 Hikes within 60 Miles by Randy and Pam Golden has led us to many adventures exploring Georgia and conditioning our hiking legs.  At the beginning, 5 year old M cried at every incline.  Now in February, he is able to hike happily and even climb (more happily than not)!

 

Kids playing on a log across a creek in the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area in Palisades East.

A dream of mine was to climb Springer Mt to see the terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

C leading the kids over Little Bear Creek on the Cochran Mill Trail.

L studying a beaver dam at Reynolds Nature Preserve.

S, A and M on top of Stone Mountain.

Photography continues to grow as an interest in our family.  J getting an unique angle on top of a bridge at Sweetwater Creek State Conservation Park.

Wild Days

Inspired by the book, Wild Days,  by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe we began bi-monthly hiking days.  Partly it was to get our bodies in shape for the more rigorous out west hikes and partly to work on our nature journals. 

As the author writes,"We need time away from our hectic lives, to connect with ourselves, our world, our creator and one another.  Where in our planners do we fit the nourishing expansive delights of writing down our thoughts about life, watching a spider build his web, praying, or looking into the eyes of a child to find who lives there?"

For more info about the book see www.pennygardner.com/wild_days.html

*photo: E working on her nature journal near the Chattahoochee River.