Christmas Snow

Christmas Eve snow!

This is just the beginning.

They are predicting

3-12 inches.

Shawna painted snowmen on the windows and we thought that would be our snow for this year. Right now they are saying 1-3 inches an hour for the next few hours. It is blowing though so driving is not a good idea. They were telling people to go home and not shop or they may end up spending the night in the stores. Zeke does not like it much!

I will post more pictures later.

We love you , Have a merry Christmas!!!

Christmas lights

We drove to the Chesapeake facility and drove through their lights. They were amazing.

November and early December

Kacyn Mathia born December 4, 2009 This photo taken December 20th at the church childrens Christmas program

Joanna and Carter

Joanna and Kacyn

Kacyn was baptized Sunday morning, December 20 at church

Progressive dinner first stop at Jonathan and Nathan's house. Yum!!! Jonathan had sausage balls, cheese dip and cresant rolls with little sausages cooked in them.

Katie, Dave, and Isibella at The Christmas store the day after Thanksgiving. Isibella loved the lights.

Visit To Georgia

Katie and Isibella

Katie Dave and Isibella

Isn't she precious

I have enjoyed being in Georgia. It has been fun helping with Isibella!

Fall

Thought you might like to see some fall color!

Our street

This is the tree in the neighbors yard

another view from our street

Ok, so these pictures are in no order at all. Above is from the museum we visited near the airport in DC. I hope this picture will help your friends in Africa understand what a bear is.

These next two pictures are from our September camping trip to Red Rock Park. Dad is talking to you on the phone in the one below! Ryan and Amanda went with us and we had awonderful time. We did come home a day early because they were predicting rain and none of us wanted to put the camper down in the rain.

This next one is from Christian and Amy's wedding. Our two beautiful girls!!!! I love this photo of you both. It makes me smile!

Family camp aat Lutherhoma and a raft trip!!! We could hear you laughing before we saw the raft!

Another photo from the wedding It doesn't seem possible that you have been back in Africa for a month now!

Another photo of a bear. He makes you two look small!

We love you and pray that God will keep you safe and in His care. It is exciting to think ahead and wonder how He will use all your experiences from Africa in your future! He knows the plans He has for you!!!!!

Great Smoky Mountian National Park

The Lookout in Great Smoky Mountian National Park is amazing! It was .5 mile hike on a blacktop surface, but it was all uphill. we gained over 300 feet in that half mile! We could really feel it in our legs! But it was so worth it!

another view of the tower

us at the top. This is the highest point in the park.

Just a little further up the road we came to the state line.

It was a fun day. Tonight we are in Pigeon Forge Tn. Tomorrow we plan on taking a short hike (about 2 miles ) to a water fall in the park and then heading west again. Tomorrow night we plan on being in Huntsville Alabama, then on to home Thursday.

Pa to NC

Sunday Morning we left Wilimington Delaware and headed south on Highway 1 along the coast. Our first stop was Dewey Beach, Delaware. Because of the danger of riptides people were not allowed to get into the water so it was not to crowded. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the waves splashing our feet and legs.

Then we continued on to Ocean City, Maryland. Ocean City was bussier and more touristy than Dewey Beach. The tide was out so people were allowed in the water and we watched several surfers. The waves came in pretty big because of Hurricane Bill that had just passed.

Then we continued on and came to the Chesapeake Bridge and tunnels. It is considered the 7th engineering wonder of the world. This photo was taken ot the end of the second tunnel where they have built a fishing dock off the bridge.

We Spent the night in Virginia beach and this morning (Monday) we continued on. Our first stop was First Landing State Park. It was beautiful and very nice facilities. It would be a great place to come back and camp!

They had a walkway over the sand dunes to the beach It reminded us of Destin, Floridia. Since we were here pretty early there were not many people on the beach yet.

This park is on the Chesapeake Bay so the waves were not very big, but we saw lots of horshoe crabs and many small shells.



Our next stop was the Cape Henry Lighthouse. It was built in 1791 by the order of President Washington! Pretty cool. We did go to the top. It had a great view of the Fort Story Military base; and where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay.

Then we drove to Virginia Beach beach area. This photo is of the boardwalk along the ocean. It is very clean and well maintained.

The beach was pretty busy. It was hard to get pictures without a lot of people in them. We walked several blocks down the board walk then walked back along the edge of the water.

We ate lunch along the area where all the shops and hotels are and then headed west.

It made for a late evening, we didn 't get to our hotel till 10pm. But the beach time was so worth it!

Tomorrow we will visit Great Smoky Mountian National Park.

Philadelphia

This is a view of Independence Hall as seen from the Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell

Independence Hall

We left Pittsburgh before 8 this morning and made it to Philadelphia soon after 2. We went to the visiters Center and picked up our tickets for the tour of Independence Hall. It is free but you can reserve tickets ahead of time for a small fee. We had time before our tour to eat a late lunch.

The tour was very well done. It was amazing going into a building that George Washington once walked in! After the tour we went to see the Liberty Bell. Visiting here is a great reminder of how blessed we are to live in the USA. We the drove around the city a little and walked along the river before heading out. We had not been back in the car more that five minutes when it started to pour! (the rain bands from Hurricane Bill)

We are now in Wilmington Delaware for the night. Tomorrow we will drive part of the coast south.