Summer Adventures

In case you're just catching up with me for the summer, I'll try to get you up to date. It'll be a bit of a whirlwind tour, but here you go!

I got home in early May and went to Teen Bible Quiz Regional competition with my sister's team that weekend. It was my first time officiating at that level of competition (I was a judge) and I got to see my lil' sister come in 4th individually in the Great Lakes region. Her team did great, too--they even had a teeny shot at making it to nationals!


I loved spending time with my family for a few weeks this summer. Especially my sister and I really were excited to see each other after I had been gone so long. One night, as the sun was setting, I grabbed my camera and shot some pictures out in the yard. The irises were gorgeous, the sunset was amazing, and my sister obliged me by letting me shoot some of her, too. She was my favorite subject that night!

I spent several weeks at home, just hanging out. It was glorious just to sleep in some days, run errands with my mom and sister, and have stories with dad every night again. I also started working on my swimming, because I knew that later in the summer I would start lifeguard training. I hadn’t really been in the pool for a long time, so I needed to build up endurance and strength again. The YMCA and I were buddies for several weeks. I also started a summer reading list, which so far has included:

1.      Dragons of the Watch by Donita K. Paul

2.      Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

3.      Of Men and of Angels by Brock and Bodie Thoene

4.      Epic by John Eldredge

I am now in the middle of The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, which is a business novel that teaches the concept of the law of constraints. It is an interesting book and I have learned a lot so far. (It would probably be rated PG or PG-13 if it were movie rated. There are some instances of language and other inappropriate behaviour. Just a heads up if you decided to read it.)

After dad finished most of his semester responsibilities, we took off on a camping trip as a family. I’ll highlight several places we went. (But I took like 700 pictures on the trip, so there will be so, so much I just skim over. It was a great experience!!)

First we went to Valley Forge National Historic Site. It was really interesting to see where the troops would have wintered over that fabled winter during the Revolutionary War. Between this stop and our adventures in D.C., I came to respect George Washington as a man and a leader more than I ever had before. He went from the man whose likeness is on every quarter and dollar bill I have ever touched to being someone I had explored the home of and come to know in a personal sort of way. It was a great experience!

Near Lancaster, PA there is a magical place called Sight and Sound Theater. I can't tell you too much about it, because what I really want to tell you is to go see a show there! Our family went and saw the production of Jonah, and it was incredible. It struck emotionally close to home with the dramatic retelling, and everything from the set to the costumes, the music to the dancing, and the message to the delivery was stunning and excellently done.  Seriously, if you or your friends live near either their Lancaster location or their new theater in Branson, MO, just go! It's not cheap by any means, but you will get your money's worth and enjoy it tremendously. I sure did.

Rachel and I outside of Sight and Sound

We went from PA down to the Washington D.C. area. We rode the metro all around and had a ton of fun exploring. I don't know (and don't really want to know) how far we walked.

The Smithsonian Museums are amazing places. We went to the Air and Space museum, the American History museum and the Natural History museum.

The Air and Space with the family

At the Air and Space museum, I saw so many neat artifacts from history. Usually, when you read history books or go to museums, the captions on things say: on display in the Smithsonian. There I got to see the real items. My favorites included seeing Amelia Earhart's plane, the original Wright Flyer, Apollo 11, and a real lunar landing module. So cool!

The museum of American History was really neat--we got to see the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner and several Stradivari violins. So many other amazing relics of our past were amazing to see; one of my favorites was the exhibit of the First Ladies' dresses.

I could write for hours about the Natural History museum. It was alternatingly delightful and frustrating. I enjoyed the exhibits with the dinosaur skeletons and the gems. I was frustrated by the deep seated belief in all things about evolution. I guess that most of my life I have understood that people believe in evolution as opposed to creation, but I didn't really understand exactly how pervasive that belief was in some places. I had studied evolution versus creation in school, but seeing it so stubbornly presented in a MUSEUM of all things was disturbing. I listened to a mom telling her probably 9-year-old girl, "See? Here's an ape's skeleton. This looks a lot like your earliest ancestors, because we evolved from animals like these." Suddenly, it wasn't just some stuffy science book going on and on about evolution, which I can easily laugh in the face. It was mothers telling their children they come from apes, which breaks my heart. I haven't finished processing this trip totally, but it sort of rocked my world. Oh, and we saw the Hope Diamond! Isn't it marvelous?

The Hope Diamond

(I just love the little kid's eyes behind it, which was a complete accident!)

Here's the family at Mount Vernon, which is George Washington's home. As my mom would say, "It's almost as beautiful as our Mount Vernon (OH)!"

We decided to try and get inside the Capitol building, even though we made no advance reservations or tour plans. God took care of us, and less than 5 minutes after we walked in we were on a tour. It was really neat, too.

We walked around and saw the Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and World War II monuments. My favorite part was all the amazing quotes, speeches, and verses inscribed on the monuments of our Nation. If you're wondering whether this nation was built on a foundation of Biblical values and where we stand in respect to that today, go and read the marble and granite in D.C. You'll be reminded of this country's roots. One Nation, Under God. It still is!

The Washington monument

Finally, we went to the Hocking Hills of Ohio. I had so much fun hiking and exploring! The lack of flush toilets and cell phone signal was a bit frustrating (to say the least!), but it was special time with my family in a beautiful location.

I climbed down these!!

After we left the Hocking Hills, I was home for about 48 hours before I headed to work at FaHoLo Camp for 8 weeks. I'm out of time to write today, but I will have to give ya'll an update on what I'm up to this summer at FaHoLo. It's crazy, but I'm loving it!