Hot air balloon ride

Here is a flashback to our hot air balloon ride a couple years ago. It was really amazing! A newspaper reporter saw us go overhead and took pictures and then e-mailed them to us, so we actually had pictures of us in the balloon. The second picture is of us folding the balloon back up after the trip. As you can probably tell from the clothes, it was pretty cold.

Demolition derby

Jason's latest demolition derby car. Chevy Wagon. Pretty cool, huh?

More Massachusetts pics

Jason and I sitting on a park bench on a street corner in Salem, MA. Jane, Sarah, and Josh Posey are on the right.
Dawn and Sarah Posey

A beatiful church in Salem.

Jason and Josh and Sarah Posey right before we went whale watching.

Another old church in Salem.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Well, Tuesday night Jason and I had our big date night. We initially went to the Olive Garden, but they had a 20 minute wait and we were in a hurry, so we headed across the street to Cheeseburger in Paradise. I love their sweet potato chips there! We ate in a hurry and then headed to the theatre to watch Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End.
I will just say for the pirates movies- I never actually have any idea what is going on, but the humor really gets me. They are entertaining although sometimes a little too graphic. Anyway, we enjoyed it.

Devotion for June 26th

I just wanted to share a powerful verse that I read this morning:

Jeremiah 10:12-13
But God made the earth by His power;
He founded the world by His wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from His storehouses.

I am in awe of God's power and truthfully cannot fully
understand it. He is an amazing God that we serve.

Sidewalk

All afternoon Sunday, Jason and his buddy Dave (some of you know him as Smokey- and no, he doesn't smoke) worked on a sidewalk that will go from our house to the garage. I thought they did a great job. It looks really good!! These are all rocks that we found around our property.

Devotion for June 22nd

I have been reading a book called "A Graceful Waiting", which is about waiting periods in our life and how God uses them. The author compares our waiting periods to the Biblical time threshing and winnowing of wheat. Extended waiting periods she compares to winnowing, which is when they took a large pitchfork and threw the wheat up into the air. The chaff would get carried away by the wind, but the heavier wheat would fall back to the ground. This would "purify" the wheat. In such, we are winnowed by waiting periods as we are "purified." I decided to do some research on verses in the Bible that speak to winnowing:

Luke 3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Jeremiah 15:7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.

Jeremiah 4:11-12 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them."

From the verses that I looked over (more than I listed here) it appears winnowing was used by God as both a cleansing/purifying tool as well as a tool for judgement.
I am so grateful that God loves us enough to spend the time to purify and cleanse us, even when the process is painful.

Massachusetts Trip

June 6th- 10th, Jason and I along with our friends the Poseys drove 8 1/2 hours to Danvers, MA. We visited lots of museums and learned a lot about 17th century history. This was outside of the New England Pirate Museum where we learned about early pirate history. Very interesting.

On Friday, we went whale watching. Here is one of the whales. It was pretty cold out on the water, but we got to see a lot of whales. They didn't seem to be too afraid of the boat, as they swam right up to it.

The author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a book titled "The House of Seven Gables." This is the house that he wrote the book about. It has gone through many constructions over the last 300 years, but there is still a few sections of the house that are original. It is a 14 room house. We toured the house and got to hear all about its history. Now I want to read the book.

We had a great time, and New England is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to go back!