Vacation and Thinking about Life

Hi, my sweet friends. I hope you all have been doing well. Our last day of school was June 5th, so we're out for the summer!

We took a vacation to Shenandoah last week. I've lived in Virginia almost my whole life, and had never been to this part of our state. Skyline Drive is so beautiful! We were wanting to see more of Skyline Drive, but the weather wasn't very cooperative, so we just had to enjoy what we could.

 We thought this was pretty cool. He was doing a great job painting.

Katie at one of the overlooks. What an amazing view!!

A deer right off the road just stood there and let us take pictures.

 This is the cabin where we stayed. It was a very nice place. It was so peaceful and quiet, except for the cicadas!! Oh my goodness, they were everywhere!

All in all, we had a nice vacation, though it was tinged with sadness.

A friend of ours was killed in a car wreck on Saturday evening, June 8th, two days before our vacation. She ran off the road and hit a tree. She was by herself, so it's unclear as to why she ran off the road. At first, we wondered if we should even go on vacation, but we decided to go ahead with it, and I think it was a good time to just relax and think. 

Emily was a sweet 19 year old young lady. Her memorial service was on Saturday...it was beautiful. The service was held at her church. Katie goes to their youth group. The church was packed, and people were just standing wherever they could find a spot. We got there about 45 minutes early, and were able to actually sit down. There were lots of pictures, and even some videos of her singing with some of the local Christian youth in our area. She had such a heart for missions, and had been on numerous missions trips around the world. Her latest project was that she had made an alphabetical list of all the countries in the world, and would pray for one each day, then cross it off the list.When I got home, I printed off my own list of countries so I could pray for them, and keep her project going. 

The last time I had seen Emily was May 15th. I had a doctor's appointment that morning, and stopped by the Lifeway Christian bookstore afterwards. I shopped for a little while and found something I wanted. When I got to the counter to pay, I noticed Emily was working there, so we talked for a moment or two, and then I left. Little did I know that her memorial service would be exactly one month later. Who would have thought that would be the last time I would see that young healthy girl?  It's times like these that really make you think about the brevity of life, and how we should enjoy each day and not take life for granted.

This is a picture of Emily. She had posted it on her Facebook page about a month ago. It was on the front of the program when we went to her memorial service. During the service, we found out that Emily's mother had asked her a few weeks ago what she wanted to do with her life. She was interested in a lot of things. Emily told her mom that if she had her way, she would spend hour after hour worshipping God, and asked her mom if she could get paid for that. I thought that was just amazing. Now that's what she's doing, and we all take comfort in that, and look forward to seeing her again in Heaven.

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 
~James 4:14

Well, I thank you all for stopping by. Make the most of your days, my friends, and be certain you're ready to meet the Lord. There is nothing more important than that.

Take care,

~Melanie

Field Trip To Washington, DC

Hi, everyone! I hope you're all doing well.

I'm trying to get used to this new blogger interface...not liking it so far, but hopefully it will get easier.

We're down to two and a half weeks left of school. I am really looking forward to summer break. I'll still have to work to get things ready for next year, but at least I won't have to be in everyday.

We took some of the school children to Washington, DC last week. It was quite an adventure! It rained some, but not enough to ruin the day. There were three adults and twelve children. One of our biggest concerns was keeping everyone together on the metro. All went well until we were almost back. It was about 5:00, and there were people packed everywhere! One of the boys thought we were supposed to get off at a particular stop, so he just got off the train! Thankfully, one of the students noticed him get off and was able to get him back on before the doors closed! What a mess that would have been! He won't live that one down for quite a while! At least the 'regulars' got some free entertainment! :)

Katie on the Metro- her first experience on a subway system :)

Katie at the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery

One of JFK's famous quotes

Katie at the grave of JFK with the Washington Monument in the background. I thought this was a great picture. :)

Grave of John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, with the eternal flame in the background

Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns

Tomb of the Unknowns

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Just a small sampling of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

My dad served in Vietnam, and I'm so glad he came home so he could be my dad!

Katie at the World War II Memorial

Kilroy at the WWII Memorial

For more information about Kilroy, you can click here

Cute little duck family at Constitution Gardens

Washington Monument

The kids had fun playing in this tree next to the Monument. They kept the day interesting for sure!!

Constitution Gardens

The Hope Diamond on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Katie at the Lincoln Memorial. It is huge!

I hope you enjoyed our little tour! Enjoy the rest of your week! :)

Take care,

 ~Melanie

Natural Bridge

We took some of the school kids on a field trip to Natural Bridge last Wednesday. We left at 8:30 in the morning and didn't get back until 9:00 that night, but we all had a lot of fun! We were blessed with such beautiful weather.

Natural Bridge is 215 feet high, and there is a 90 foot span between the walls. U.S. Route 11 runs over it. To give you a little perspective of just how huge it is, the Statue of Liberty (minus its pedestal) is 151 feet high, so it could easily fit under the bridge!

In 1774, Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres of land, including the bridge, from King George III for 20 shillings. His heirs sold it in 1833, but it has remained privately owned.

This is what it looks like under the bridge. I thought it was so pretty with the creek running through it.

The initials G.W. are carved in the side next to the creek. Many historians believe they were made by George Washington when he was surveying the area for Lord Fairfax in 1750.

My sweet Katie. She had a lot of fun. :)

This is a replica of a Monocan Indian Village.

We had a great guide for this part of the trip. He was very knowledgeable and funny. He told us that the Indians had to be good hunters in order to survive and joked that they invented the word 'vegetarian', which meant 'poor hunter'. I'll have to remember to tell that to my dad and brother. They both like to hunt. :)

The cooking area of the village. This picture makes me appreciate my own kitchen more!

This is the inside of the wigwam, made out of cattails.

This picture was taken not far from Charlottesville, on the way to Natural Bridge. It's such a scenic drive.

These last two pictures were taken from interstate on the way back home.

I hope you've had a good weekend. My husband had a pastor and leadership training meeting yesterday, so Katie and I went shopping and had a great time! We got a lot of Christmas shopping done, then we came home and wrapped it all up! I'm so glad to have that out of the way.

I hope you all will have a great week. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Take care,

Melanie

Arlington National Cemetery

Last week we went to a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

The man who passed away went to our church and was retired from the Navy. It was a difficult day for the family, so I'm glad we were able to go and be with them.

I'd never been there before, but it's a beautiful, peaceful place right in the middle of Washington, DC.
Of course we've all seen pictures of this cemetery before, but pictures alone cannot describe how massive it really is!! There are over 300,000 people buried on its 624 acres. Approximately 30 funerals are held there every weekday.

God bless all of our service men and women.




The three-volley salute.
It may be kind of hard to see
with the white uniforms and the white stones.




This was a different funeral,
but we thought it was a good picture.
Everything there is very ceremonial and precise.

~*~

The next two pictures were taken from our car
on the way to the funeral.




The Pentagon
This is the side that was attacked on 9/11.
What a sad day that was.
If you look closely above the pedestrian sign,
you can see the difference in the color of the wall.
The part that was replaced is a little bit lighter.




The Washington Monument

~*~

The weather was beautiful that day and we were able to get some great pictures. It was nice to see a few places in our nation's capital. America...home sweet home.
I hope you're all doing well. :)

Take care,
Melanie

Falling Springs

I just thought I'd start your week off with a pretty picture we took a few years ago.

This is Falling Springs in Alleghany County, Virginia, not far from where I grew up.

I think it's beautiful with the mountains behind it.

Hope you all will have a wonderful week!

Melanie

Vacation

We went to see my parents this past week, and had a very nice, relaxing time. We had not seen them since Christmas, so it was nice to 'catch up'. I thought I'd show you some pictures of where we were.


This is Humpback Bridge.
It's just outside of Covington, Virginia, where I grew up.
This was one of our favorite places.
We would get a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and go to Humpback. :)
It's only about a half mile off of I-64, so if you're ever in that area, it would definitely be worth your time to visit.


This is a picture of the inside.
I was very sad to see how people have spray painted it.
I remember seeing initials carved in it when I was little,
but the spray paint is just too much.
I'm so glad no one has spray painted the outside.


A sign with a little more information about Humpback.
It's also a registered Virginia historic landmark.


Can you see the ropes hanging from the bottom?
People like to swing from these into the water.


A bird nest Mom found in one of her hanging plants.


My parents' cat, Calaresi.
I know the name is odd,
but it's a combination of Callie and Reese cup.
She's so sweet. :)


Mom and Dad's front porch -
one of my favorite places to be
when I'm there.


This is their garden.
There are blackberry bushes in the front part of the picture, and all along the fence.
A few other things are in there too,
like rhubarb that Mom uses to make her delicious strawberry-rhubarb jam.
When I was growing up, there wasn't any grass there. It was ALL garden! I pulled weeds, snapped green beans, shucked corn, shelled October beans,... well, you get the picture. We didn't have air conditioning, so when Mom canned, the kitchen got mighty hot! We would retreat to the basement. :) Thankfully, they have air conditioning now.


This is a picture taken yesterday from Afton Mountain at an overlook on I-64, close to Waynesboro, Virginia. It was a little hazy, but isn't that a pretty view?

Katie and I have a party tomorrow with the ladies and girls in the church, and then Tuesday is my anniversary - 19 years! Where does the time go??
I would like to ask you to please pray for some friends in our church. They had a house fire on Friday night. Thankfully, they weren't in bed yet, so they were all able to get out, but they won't be able to live there for a while.
Hope you all will have a good week. :)

Melanie