C/S Trip Day 6: Sweet Reunions & Grace in a Screw

Monday morning we left Mt. Vernon, Illinois after our complimentary continental breakfast for our final day of driving. We chose not to fly (I was adamant I was not going to fly) because of the ridiculous TSA security procedures. I will not willingly submit to being personally violated through expensive X-ray photos or aggressive physical searches. Nor would I allow the gamble of purchasing expensive tickets with the hopes of avoiding these measures. Driving is just fine, thank you.

We crossed into Kentucky and then Tennessee. We met our friend Channing outside Chattanooga for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel. We love Channing. We all met in Louisville while mutually attending the Southern Seminary and have remained friends since. Channing is ministering in a Baptist church in Whitwell preaching, teaching & counseling. Being fully systematized in His theology, he addresses the serious implications of dangerous worldview philosophy from a Biblical framework, just as easily as he wins people over with his redneck charm & humor. He plays guitar, enjoys hang gliding and ballroom dancing. He is searching for the right woman.

Finally we arrived back across the Georgia state line. As we got closer to Atlanta the sky grew more and more threatening with dark grey/black clouds and rain. The wind began to pick up acceleration also and motorists reduced their speed significantly. As we continued to drive I noticed that those same black clouds appeared to be dipping down toward the earth in the distance on either side of the highway. I've never seen real tornadoes before and I was growing more and more concerned that I might be seeing them now! Then we crossed a point on the highway where a tornado had certainly passed through because the trees on both the right and left sides bore an obvious path of destruction and we had just missed it by about 5 or 10 minutes! That's less than 3 miles at the speed we were driving. Scary.

We finally arrived back to G'Wanda's house to pick up the girls. I was so thrilled to see them! After reading about the Edwards' and having a significant time of refreshment, I felt eager and energized to return back to my role of motherhood. The girls were somewhat distracted when we entered (Dora the Explorer). Moriah was the most exited of them all. "Hey Mommy!" She said quickly with a smile then her attention turned back to the TV.

Shiphrah was on the kitchen floor amused with the plastic storage containers and looked up at me as though I were a faint memory from somewhere that she just couldn't put her finger on. Either that or she was really thinking, "Oh, Momma! Where have you been?" Her expression was just an open-mouthed worry. I did my best to comfort her, though she did not cry or refuse for me to hold her. It took about 30 minutes for me to get her to laugh and smile again! Note to self: Don't ever leave my babies for six days again!

Lily was so preoccupied by Dora, she wouldn't even look my direction! When Dora was over, she finally acknowledged our return and after a little coaxing came over to give me a hug and kiss and sit in my lap. I guess some people just can't compete with a cute little Latino cartoon. :-)

We ate dinner and Jeramy replaced the car seats and loaded up the girls stuff only to notice that we had a flat tire! A screw had become lodged in our rear passenger tire at some point along our journey! I had not noticed it before, neither was I looking! We drove through our fare share of road construction, but we had no idea when or where we picked it up. We drove along in complete ignorance as to the condition of it. And we had just as much uncertainty as to whether we would make it home without an immediate repair (at 8:30 p.m.). We pumped it back up and prayed the whole way home and arrived without any problems. Can you imagine that tire blowing out in the middle of a storm or some other state far from home? God certainly showed us a great deal of grace on our journey!

C/S Trip Day 5: Heading Back

Sunday morning we began our long drive back home. We left Colorado, then Kansas, then Missouri and after a long day, we settled in a hotel in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

So, what did you do on the long drive?

We passed the time talking about almost everything. We spent a little time listening to music. It may have been more time, however our CD player is broken and batteries for a boom box are expensive. There was plenty of passenger doze off. Jeramy did some Hebrew/Greek flashcards. And while Jeramy drove, I would read aloud.

A few weeks ago Jeramy bought a book for me at my request, Marriage to a Difficult Man, by Elizabeth Dodds. This is somewhat of a double biography of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards in relation to normal married & family life. It is endorsed by many influential evangelical leaders of our day: John Piper, Doug Phillips, Don Whitney and R.C. Sproul just to name a few. This is an excellent marriage book because you can see how two sinners saved by grace covenanted together in marriage with 11 children made it work 300 years ago. This is a powerfully encouraging book because the reader sees their daily example. It's not just a typical marriage book that outlines 7 keys to marital bliss, but here you see their struggles, pressures, concerns, trials, triumphs and short comings. This is a very real couple. We were blessed to read and discuss almost half the book together on our trip. I highly recommend it for every married couple.

C/S Trip Day 4: Forest & Garden

Saturday morning Jeramy took me to Pike National Forest for a 2 mile hike down to the reservoir. The forest was very much secluded from the city, driving up into the mountains away from all the busy-ness. It was beautiful! No paved roads or constructed buildings here. The pale green grass was long and wispy. The tall and thin aspen trees abound here. There were plenty of inviting spots like this where sunlight peeps through the forest canopy with partial sun, partial shade.

Notice the steep grade!

I must be truthful and say that there are no restrooms here. (Duh!) And so I was a little concerned about meeting a bear while finding a spot to relieve myself. There are also elk, birds & squirrels. Snakes are not as abundant, but they have been spotted.

Along the beaten trail.

Pretty fuzzy purple flowers

After 2 miles of hiking downhill we come to the reservoir. Currently the level is low, but that will change when the snow comes and melts later in the season. I counted about 5 other small groups of people out here fishing & hiking, which is very busy for any one time.

Then we hiked 2 miles back, up hill.

This picture doesn't do the view justice.

(Nor do any of the ones I've taken.)

Finally, one together.

The sign, marred by bullets.

The following pictures are on the descent from the Forest. Notice how it looks so desolate. It is so peaceful there. You feel like you're alone, in the middle of nowhere. At first you're overwhelmed at the vast expanse, the splendor of it all. It's very humbling. God, the Lord, who created all of these things just out of the word from His mouth and it all came to be. And it's as if this great work were of no effort for Him. And how is it that God, who made all this marvelous wonder, would bother to create humans, as small as we are in comparison to all this?!

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:1-9

THESE are mountains.

After leaving Pike's Forest we set out again for The Garden of the Gods. I'm told that the name, "Garden of the Gods," comes from the old Indian name (Cheyenne?). It is kind of peculiar when you see these natural rock formations. The relative landscape around it is somewhat normal hilly, then suddenly giant, bare, red rocks jut out of the ground like sky scrapers. (Remnants of the worldwide flood.) This is one of the more tourist type sites.

Here is a view of The Garden from the highway.

The Balanced Rock.

The Garden has a Trading Post where we grabbed lunch, two Bison burgers made to order, and good souvenirs. I found this cedar plank very appealing.

After the Trading Post we visited the American Neumismatic Headquarters & Museum where they are currently displaying many Civil War relics and old coins. Jeramy found it especially interesting. We saw the old mint printing machines and balances. It's hard to believe that something so massive is needed to make such a small coin.

We ate a kingly dinner with the Bishops, including 1" thick grilled steaks, parmesan-crusted baked potatoes, sweet corn on the cob, and crunchy broccoli salad (with bacon, raisins & sweet onions). Jeramy and Paul enjoyed a cigar outside with peach cobbler a la mode while Jenny and I played Wii bowling & Mario Kart and watching Hello Dolly! the musical. We all had a lot of fun.

C/S Trip Day 3: USAFA

Friday morning Jeramy took me to the Air Force Academy. The Academy sits on several thousand acres at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs. Labor Day weekend has historically been "Parent's Weekend" where families come and visit after Basic Training is completed. There is a beautiful view of the campus and a beautiful view of the Rockies from the campus. The high elevation of this training facility makes physical activity especially difficult which is advantageous at lower altitudes when the body can produce better results with the same effort levels. One morning I went to run (on a straight away) and I found it more difficult than usual. The weather was gorgeous, moderate 70's, windy with wonderfully clear blue skies and scattered clouds.

This first picture is overlooking the Academy.

The dormitories were restricted to Cadet families, however the public was free to view the new Chapel. Here is looking from the rear to the stage/pulpit area.

This is the ceiling looking straight up. Stained glass shines like neon lights through spiked steel surfaces.

This is the vertical walls.

From the front of the Chapel, looking back, this is a picture of the grand pipe organ.

On the large platform in front of the Chapel.

We walked a long distance on and around the Academy and I couldn't help but notice all these beautiful wild mountain flowers. Daisies also grow wild and abundant.

After visiting the Academy we drove through The Garden of the Gods and ate at a comfortable local restaurant, The Mason Jar. They had a wonderful Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup which, after praising to our server, she gladly offered me the recipe! Whooo doggies! (Imagine my excitement!)

We left the restaurant right at about 3 p.m. when it rained. Jeramy says that you could time your clock by the afternoon rain. We walked around the eclectic souvenir shops in Old Colorado City before heading back to the Bishop's home for dinner. Jenny prepared a succulent Chicken Piccata - a lightly breaded chicken breast pounded thin, smothered in a light lemon butter & caper sauce, served with rice and garden peas. Yummy! After dinner we went to Culver's for ice cream.

C/S Trip Day 2: We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Jeramy and I enjoyed a wonderful baked oatmeal breakfast with the Zeiglers complete with cream and sliced peaches - Yum! Then we set out from St. Louis headed for our final destination: Colorado Springs!

Along the way we enjoyed minimal traffic exiting St. Louis, watching congestion pass in the opposite direction, only to be met with several 10-mile passes of road construction/maintenance in Kansas. *Fun.* However, we did notice many things about this greatly broad State, including blow drying hot winds about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, somewhat rolling hills against the wind, and miles upon miles of growing fields of corn, sunflowers, soy beans and sorghum. We couldn't see the end of the huge field from the beginning - they were so large and many of them had central pivot irrigation systems. Wow!

Then we saw hundreds of the "green" windmills. They are so large we could see them from almost 25 miles away. We found out that these windmills are most effective at producing useable energy if the power they create is directly pumped into the mainframe cells of the power plants during peak energy hours as a supplement rather than stored on batteries. If the peak wind hours are different or opposite peak energy consumption hours, then these mills are very cost ineffective considering that it takes more man-power to produce these mills than energy these mills can create. It's almost like a "shovel-ready job." But they are really cool to look at. Is there value in nostalgia? (Just so you get an idea of how large these pinions are, one of them is as long as the bed of a tractor trailer!)

We also saw several oil pumps, just like the ones in Texas except smaller. We found more of these than we expected in the broad State of Kansas.

We had a great brush with the grace of God after exiting Topeka. Our usual practice when driving long distances and encountering a major city is to press on to and through the city, then stop on the opposite side for gas, restrooms and/or food. I was driving and assumed that this would be the case after passing through Topeka. Jeramy didn't tell me anything different and neither of us knew quite how close we got to huffin' it in the blow dryer to get gas.

After getting out of the city I noticed we had a little more than 1/4 tank. The highway exits were getting farther apart and more infrequent quicker than anticipated. I prayed for gas at the next exit - the sign would come and said, "No services." Three or four exits like this we approached and passed with no signs of getting gas. We were 'getting' something else: nervous! Then the fuel light came on and we continued to pray more fervently, while sweating, that God would provide some gas.

Finally, an exit came, just in time that we could get gas. As we approached that exit Jeramy and I continued to get nervous about passing it. "Did we miss the ramp? Is it this ramp or the next ramp? DON'T miss the ramp! It's right over there! Don't pass it!" We only had about 10 or 15 miles left on the 1/2 gallon remaining in our tank! We were so thankful. We would have gladly paid $5/gallon for that gas!

We arrived in Colorado Springs about 5:30 p.m. and grabbed a Quizno's before reaching the Bishop's home. Here Jeramy and Paul, close old roommates, reunited and we got the privilege of meeting Paul's new wife Jenny. They will celebrate their first anniversary in October. Jenny is involved in Environmental Law & Paul in Financial Planning. It is from Jenny that we learned about the over-estimated efficiency of solar panels and windmills. We enjoyed their hospitality for the rest of our time visiting Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs Trip Day 1: St. Louis

Early Wednesday morning we left G'Wanda's house with all three girls still snug in bed. It was hard for me to leave my babies, but this trip would provide a much needed respite and a chance for a real honeymoon/vacation. We fought average traffic from Suwanee to I-285 via PIB. From there forward it was pretty smooth sailing. We stopped once for gas before reaching St. Louis.

The Zeigler family awaited our arrival in their apartment on the beautiful campus of Concordia Seminary. Jeramy trained Michael as a Fourth Class (Freshman) Cadet at the Air Force Academy and they became fast friends after the initial training period. Michael is attending the Seminary while serving in the Reserves. We were delighted to be invited to dine and lodge with them, gleaning encouragement during our fellowship together. It was truly a blessing for Jeramy and Michael to reconnect and for me to be able to meet them.

On The Road Again . . .

Tonight Jeramy and I safely returned home to joyfully reunite with our babies from a much needed honeymoon/vacation to Colorado Springs! Many pictures were taken and there are a good many stories to tell in these next couple of days as I begin to post the record of our happenings. Some of the highlights are reuniting visits with old friends; almost hiking for gas in No Where, Kansas; breath-taking views over vast distances; skirting tornadoes; and grace shown in a screw.

Stay tuned.