Sunday, January 31, 2010

Got ? About Our Trip....


I'd love to answer them.



Just ask away in the comment section.



And I will answer them on Wednesday!


Thanks for following us along on our adventure!






Out In The Middle Of Nowhere!







As we drove into Indiana....






we hit a little snow storm...






and decided to stop at a campsite in St. Paul, Indiana.
Out in the middle of nowhere!

We parked and watched the snowflakes fall...





Have you ever seen a snowflake up close?


Us Californians haven't!




Each one is unique and different. Isn't God amazing, even in the little things.




(zoomed in)




Then I did what any homeschool mom would do....


a lesson on snowflakes.




Then we finished our lesson making paper snowflakes.




We decorated the inside of the RV. It looked like a winter wonderland inside and outside.








(perfect for these two who insisted we have a wedding for them)




Then we shortly welcomed their baby.




(this "love" only lasted for a very short time. ha!)





We stayed 5 days at this little campsite.

Out in the middle of nowhere.


We were the only ones there!

In the middle of nowhere!





We played....





and played...




and played....




got sick.... (look at Farrah's face ha!)





and played some more.






The kids ran silly after a long drive.....






This was our backyard for 5 days. The kids loved the playground.































We did a little exploring.......(in our car)




I love to just drive and see what there is to see...



No plans..just time on our hands:)






We followed the sign that said buffalo and soon came to a farm full of buffalo.

Out in the middle of nowhere!





Lots of Colts fans!


It's fun being in a state that is in the Superbowl! Everyone and everything is decorated in Colts!

even the barns...




A small blind school in the middle of "nowhere."


But it's not always fun and smooth sailing....
Late one night Finley was having trouble breathing. Remember we are in the middle of nowhere and it's snowing! It's a good 40minutes into town. Her chest was caving in with every breath. I called the 24hour nurse from our insurance and explained what was going on...she told me to call 911.
So we did......

The fire department and ambulance came out. They came in their normal clothes. They were really nice and professional, but looked like they just stepped out of a rodeo. They all knew eachother well. No uniforms. Just jeans and sweatshirts with colt caps on.

Finley's oxygen levels were low so they took her to the hospital. Justin rode with her and I waited behind with the other sleeping kids.
It was hard to watch my baby drive off not knowing where they were taking her......

Where was the nearest hospital in nowhere land?


One thing good about a small town, Finley was the only one in the ER. So they did an xray, gave her breathing treatments and she was discharged in 3 hours!


3:00AM I got the call from Justin to come pick them up. He gave me the address to the hospital.
It's snowing and all the kids are asleep.

The roads are snowed over and I have no satellite reception on my navigation.
I woke up all the kids...

bundled them up...

Austin (sweet boy) scrapped the snow off my windshield and side windows, while I got the other ones dressed in layers. I didn't even ask him.(such a cool kid)
Then we prayed...
No street lights, snow falling, and no paved roads.
I had no idea where we were going.
I started to tear up when I realized not even my phone worked.

I had no reception.

We are in the middle of nowhere! On the back roads of Indiana.
We see lights from a far and follow it....

this leads us to the main road and now we have satellite reception.
20min later we are picking up Daddy and Finley.
Finley is on an antibiotic and needs an inhaler. She has no RSV or phenomena.

Thank God!
We are back to smooth sailing......


Still in Indiana.

Headed to Nashville, TN.

YeeHaw! Get back out the boots and cowboy hats!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

She's A Doll!

Struttin' her stuff on the Barbie runway!
@
The Children's Museum in
Indianapolis.







Friday, January 29, 2010

Look On The Tree...

Do You See It?

On the trunk of the tree....
I took this picture at the Creation Museum as many people walked by and didn't even see it...

Frank from Troy's Creation House was our tour guide and pointed it out...
This wonderfully captures the image of Christ that has been sculpted into the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The scene includes Adam & Eve standing by a beautiful waterfall, the serpent hanging in the tree, and the image of Christ on the cross. He developed a little rhyme to describe what I see as the message of that exhibit: Paradise Found, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained cause Christ went to the cross. Paradise Found is represented by Adam & Eve; Paradise Lost by the serpent in the tree; and Paradise Regained by the image of Christ on the cross.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

You Guessed It......

Tonya at Live the Adventure guessed exactly where we were. (a FOTR friend)

Just to let you know I usually post a , "Where Are We Wednesday" a few days after we left the spot. (for our families safety) and for the fact I can't keep up with all the exciting things we are doing.



We were crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky from Cincinnati... I actually took this picture from the Underground Railroad Museum.

We learned how the Ohio River played a big part in helping slaves escape.

Slaves who dreamed of freedom secretly crossed to the north side of the Ohio River.

This is a picture of the kids in front of a "real" slave pin. It was owned by Anderson a slave holder. We met a man that took the time to teach the kids about how Anderson did business. Very sad.
We learned about Henry "Box" Brown.
A slave that devised a plan to have himself shipped to a free state in a box.

Daddy trying to see how Mr. Brown felt in the box.

Runaways would often hide........here is the kids finding a place to hide.
We read about Rosa Parks.


These cute girly twins would of let Rosa share a seat with them on the bus.

Daddy....

to the rescue.
pull over Daddy....


we all stayed inside where it was warm...
and watched Daddy change a flat tire...
in the freezing cold...
in 2 minutes flat!
I knew he worked at a tire shop for a reason...
to help those along the way on our adventure:)

Do You See?


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Ignorance Is Bliss......

Or is it?
As I sat there and looked up the nutrition information on the pumpkin muffin I'd just shoveled down my throat.
Yikes!!!
It had a whopping 530 calories, 20 fat grams and 80 carbohydrates! Stunned, I wondered why I would ever want to know this information?
Why did I look this up?
Now I wouldn't be able to eat my pumpkin muffin in good conscience ever again!
Ignorance is bliss. Or is it?
If I didn't know this nutritional information I would eat the muffin thinking that because it contains vegetable, it must be good for me! Yes, I'll keep telling myself that.
Just like Juicy Juice is 100% juice and is good for my kids ha!
But the truth is, eating a pumpkin muffin every day for the rest of my life might lead to some serious consequences.
Heart disease, obesity, lack of energy and diabetes could be in my future. Now that I'm in the know, I can't deny the potential negative affects this could have. I have a responsibility and a decision to make, whether I like it or not.

Same goes with the information we get from movies like Food Inc.
We can ignore it or we can do something about it.
While visiting with Frank and Sue in KY they gave us homeschoolers a little lesson on health.
S.A.D
(standard american diet)


Frank explained how most of the stuff I've been feeding my kids isn't good for them. Which I do try to feed my children healthy, but I must admit I wasn't fully educated. I am started to read up and educate myself in eating and living more healthy!
We don't drink coke. Except my husband, he drinks it like water. Which I have always hated!
Well after 10 years of nagging him to stop. Just one lesson and demonstration from Frank..Justin is coke free:)
He had his last coke on Saturday! It's a miracle!




and I'm always trying to get more fruits and vegetables down my husband....I try to hide veggies in his food and all.
10 years of fighting and what does Frank do....
Gets him to drink a spinach shake! And he loved it!

Similarly, for some people it's easier to pretend God isn't real, hell is made up. But when we are faced with the reality that there is a God who we are accountable to, there is a hell, and evil is present, we know we have some decisions to make. Instead of living in denial, we need to accept that ignorance is not bliss and it's not doing us any favors. So we need to search for truth about God in the pages of His Word.
Scripture is the one place where we can be sure we will find all we need to know about God. However, many folks try to figure out God without the Bible. They want a god on their terms.





This reminds me of diets that promise extreme weight loss while eating whatever you want without exercising. We would be in denial if we believed those promises. To lose weight, you have to know the nutritional value of food, work out regularly, and not eat pumpkin muffins every day! It's a conscious decision to daily invest in our health and there are no short cuts.

"Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused." Romans 1:21-22

Denying God's existence is not going to change the fact that He is there either. Ignorance is not bliss - it is ignorance.
We must make a conscious decision daily to invest in our spiritual health through learning about God through time in the Bible. We must connect and remain with Him. With God's Word lighting our path, we are armed with truth, so we can make informed decisions that will help us grow, not lead us into deception.
Which this world is full of deception!!!

We are in the know and will strive to work on our spiritual health as well as our physical health.

Now, I'm off to go make my family a spinach, avocado and strawberry shake.

Love, the new juicer:)

If you have any information you would like to share on eating more healthy or any blogs you have come across...please share in comment section!

Where Are We Wednesday?