Thank You Lord

As I was thinking about Thanksgiving, and all the things that I am thankful for, the words to this song came to my mind. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friends!

Thank You, Lord
- by the Inspirations

For making the sun to shine, putting the stars in the sky
For the flowers that bloom, the ocean so blue, thank you Lord
For every sparrow that sings, and makes sweet melody
For the River that flows, the rain and the snow, thank you Lord

I just want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord
For everything you've done for me thank you Lord
I just want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord
For making me whole, saving my soul thank you Lord

For my whole family, For the joy my children bring
For shoes on our feet, plenty to eat, thank you Lord
For the church where I worship and pray, For the freedom I have today
For your spirit I feel, presence so real, thank you Lord

I just want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord
For everything you've done for me thank you Lord
I just want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord
For making me whole, saving my soul, thank you Lord

For being a friend so dear, Giving my sad heart cheer
For holding my hand when I could not stand thank you Lord
For giving your life for me on a cross at calvary
For taking my place, mercy and grace, thank you Lord

I just want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord
For everything you've done for me thank you Lord
I just want to thank you Lord, I just want to thank you Lord
For making me whole, saving my soul, thank you Lord

Into Everything!

He may look sweet, but don't let him fool you!

Since we have been home from this last trip, Judson has really been enjoying his freedom...that is not being buckled into a seat, and being at home where he can roam mostly uninhibited. He is getting into everything. He seems to move from one thing that he's not supposed to have to another that he's not supposed to have. He has perfected the art of climbing, and there are few places left that he can't get to. Several times I had to get him off the kitchen table. I think he is getting practiced up for the terrible twos!

A Post by Josiah

(Josiah has been asking me to let him write on the blog, so I decided to give him the opportunity. The following post is written by Josiah, the picture was taken by him, and it is all his own original work! I helped with the typing only.)

This is a castle. I made this all by myself. Daddy helped me a little bit, but I did most. Daddy thought this was the Taj Mahal. Daddy said the two tops, one on one side and one on the other side of it were coconut tops. That's all!

Amish Country

We had a good meeting in Dover, PA yesterday at the Lighthouse Baptist Church. The church provided us with some great meals and a beautiful hotel room to stay in. Jeremy taught the teen Sunday School class in the morning, and then talked to the kids in Children’s Church for a few minutes. In the evening service, I played an offertory and Jeremy preached. It was a good day, and we enjoyed our time meeting the people of the church and getting to know them and the pastor.

On the way to the York, PA area on Saturday we took a little side trip to Lancaster County, PA. Growing up I always enjoyed going to shop and look around in Amish country, so I thought the boys would enjoy it also. There are a lot of attractions in the Lancaster area, but we mainly just took in the scenery. We did go to a pretzel factory and watch them make pretzels. We even got to try twisting some dough ourselves! That is definitely an art that has to be perfected.

Then we meandered through the country to Strasburg. On the way we crossed a covered bridge. I think that was the first time I had ever been on a covered bridge! At least, I don’t remember seeing one in person before. Just before we came over this hill, all we could see was the top of it, and the boys thought there was a house in the middle of the road! The Amish farms are beautiful in a simplistic way. Josiah and Jonathan liked to see the buggies, and we saw a lot of them, but I didn't get any good pictures of them. I didn't want to look too "touristy!"

I always wonder what it would be like to be living your normal life and have tourists drive by and stop to look at you. Even try to take your picture. I was amused by a brochure I read that advertised a place where you could dress up in Amish clothing and have your picture taken…sort of like those Old Time photos you can get. I wonder how the Amish feel about that?

In Strasburg, we went to the Choo Choo Barn. The kids really enjoyed this place! They have a 1700 square foot model railroad display. The details in the scenery were amazing. There were about 20 trains running, and many of the scenes had moving objects. Every so often the lights in the room would go out, and the streetlamps and lights in all the buildings would light up like it was night. My personal favorite was the house that caught on fire and started smoking. The fire engine would come around the corner with sirens blaring and little firemen came out and sprayed real water on the house to put out the “fire.” Josiah was so excited about it all that he kept saying the same things over and over again. He could hardly contain himself! To top it all off we walked through the Thomas the Tank Engine gift shop which had all things Thomas.

I loved the little Sprite machine on the platform

Their hammers and saws were really moving!

At the end of the day they were all worn out, but we had a fun day and enjoyed one of the last warm afternoons of the year.

Lighthouse Point Park

Yesterday we went to New Haven, CT to Lighthouse Point Park. I really wanted to see a lighthouse while we were in New England. This wasn't a really big lighthouse and we didn't get to go inside it, but it was a nice park. There is a carousel, but it only runs during the summer. It was a beautiful day, although still cold. There was a playground there too, so the kids had fun running off some energy.

Josiah likes to take pictures, and does a pretty good job. He took this picture of Jonathan and Daddy.

Then Jonathan wanted to take a picture of Daddy and Josiah. He needs to work on his skill a little more!

Josiah can sniff out a book wherever we go!

At the playground they had a book stand (the yellow one you see in the picture) with books to read at the park. The boys found them, and then they didn't want to leave.

We had a fun time just spending some time together as a family and having a day without much of a schedule to keep! It was a nice break.

Connecticut

We were in Alabama and really enjoyed our time there, then we traveled to Connecticut, and just finished a great conference at Tri-State Baptist Church in Thompson, CT. This week we have a little down time, and we are looking forward to not having to take any "really long trips" (as the boys say) for a few days. We are going to try to do a little sight seeing while we are in New England. I have always wanted to go see a lighthouse in person. Maybe I'll be able to get some interesting pictures to post in the future!

Thankfully, we are all over the stomach bug (at least at this time!) and just battling some colds. We appreciate everyone who is praying for us!

Gas for $1.99!!!

This is a very welcoming sign when you spend alot of time on the road! I really thought we would never see it under $2.00 a gallon again. We were excited to see the sign in time to get off the exit and take advantage. Usually we buy gas and then two exits down the road it's 30 cents cheaper...or at least it seems that way sometimes. This is the cheapest we have seen it so far, and we have been from Alabama to Connecticut!