Enjoying the beautiful winter...

Here are some pictures out Karen's window! What a change in one day. But it is beautiful, too.

Enjoying the beautiful fall...

but it is starting to feel like winter-- even had snow flakes this morning!
(This blog needs some activity!! )

Visit to Rockford

This is a bit late, but we wanted to share some of the joys we had during our all-too-brief visit to Rockford, IL. It lasted only one night and part of two days. Patience was recovering from sickness, but she was sweet and happy as usual, and it gave her one more excuse to stay home from school and visit with us. We also enjoyed a not-baby-any-more Corban--energetic yet very sweet.

Thank you Rockford Bixbys for letting us crash in on you! We are sad that we won't get to see you again (or our family north of you) before we leave for France in June.

Acadia National Park

Yesterday we took an afternoon excursion to Acadia National Park, one of the most visited of all of our country's national parks. In the wintertime, many of the roads are closed, but the ones that are open still offered us quite the breathtaking views! We thought we'd share some of the scenery with you in the short video below.

Our snow storm

Our Christmas tree

Monday, after we got home from Raleigh, we braved the cold and drove out to the woods of Home Depot and bought us a real, genuine, Fraser Fir Tree. We then had a good time as a family setting it up in the parsonage. Check here to see news about our time in North Carolina.

Grand Canyon!!!

While everybody else was busy watching the election coverage, we were enjoying the Grand Canyon! We're staying in Sedona for a few nights. Click here for more pictures.

Arizona State Fair

We've been in three different cities in the last few months that were hosting their state fair. This time, we decided it was time we try it out! So yesterday we packed up our PB & J sandwiches and spent most of the day in Phoenix at the fair, capping off the evening with a genuine Arizona rodeo. We had a great time together as a family (despite the 90-some degree heat)! You can view more pictures of our day here.

Traveling West on I-10

In western Texas

Along the border with Mexico in El Paso (notice the fence)

In southern New Mexico

In Arizona

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde

Here's a collage of our brief visit to New Orleans. For pictures of our day at the farm here in Houston, click here.

Greetings from Panama City, FL

We've just completed a weekend missions conference here in Panama City. We enjoyed visiting with the people of the church, our hosts have been fantastic, and we even got to visit the beach on Saturday morning! The jellyfish were out in droves on Saturday, so it was a great educational field trip. The kids enjoyed playing in the water, too. I don't know if I've ever seen such clear blue water before. It's a little hard to remember that it is actually October, but we are enjoying a different kind of fall.

Sunset over Chesapeake Bay

We enjoyed this gorgeous sunset in Maryland last Monday evening. Click here (Bixby News at www.HopeforFrance.org) to see a complete slideshow of our last trip. We returned to Spartanburg on Wednesday, and we will leave on our next 8-week trip (headed South and West!) on September 27.