Em toting Asa. Note to parents: both of our kids have LOVED our LL Bean metal-frame kid carrier. Thanks Peter & Carrie! 

We stayed in the staff quarters at Marsh View Bible Camp, a Christian camp owned by a local church in Midway, GA (about 20 min from Savannah). Grampa Ficek is taking the older boys to feed the camp's pig (a very homely and quite inert pig, I might add). 

Cousins Ian, Ethan, Micah, & Asa playing in their jammies 

Big Smooch 

Lance & Julie cutting the cake 

Cause... 

...and effect 

Ethan played tetherball with Emily's uncle Vance after the wedding. 

Emily's grandparents on her dad's side, Rudolph and Mary Jean Ficek 

Emily's grandparents on her mom's side, Robert and Dorothy Houghton 

The whole family at the wedding! Back row, L to R: Jeff, Emily holding Asa, Sarah (married to Em's brother Roy), Ian, Roy, Rachel (married to Em's brother Ted). Front row, L to R: Mom Ficek, Dad Ficek, Julie (just married to Lance!), Lance, Josiah, Ted. Bottom: Ethan, Micah 

The cousins (L to R): Micah, Ian, Asa, and Ethan holding Josiah. Micah, Ian, and Josiah are Roy (Emily's brother) and Sarah's kids. 

Ethan 

We thought this was kinda funny 

Ethan views the jet we're about to board when leaving Savannah 

Our boys

Remodel Update

The only thing left to do on the cabinets is to install some "filler" strips that fill in a 1" gap between the body of the cabinet and the drywall. 

Remodel update

The bathroom is mostly done except for the trim. I also need to finish the drwall in the hallway, as you can see from the area around the doorway in this picture.

Put a lid on it!

You take your eye off them for a minute, and... 

Asa loves riding in the baby carrier. 

Rosy cheeks after a long walk

Today I took a break from finishing up our bathroom renovation and we all went on a walk up a dirt road across from our house. When we reached the end we continued up through a couple adjacent blueberry fields. We saw several interesting things, including a half-eaten deer carcass, a very old fieldstone house foundation, an old well, and some incredible views of the surrounding areas (the road goes up the side of the small mountain we live on). 

By the way...

Speaking of creation, have you ever reflected on the magnificence of the creation around us? Of course. Who hasn't? A breathtaking western canyon vista, the roar of the sea along the Maine Coast...people experiencing similar sights are always impressed--regardless of whether or not they are willing to acknowledge where it all truly came from.

But there's a side to God's creation that sort of takes me by surprise. We were created by the same God that created the deep sea angler fish. Yikes. I suppose that one could argue that such creatures bear more obvious marks of the curse than men do. But somehow I'm dissatisfied with that explanation of the magnificently homely and ferocious creatures we find in every corner of the earth.

Have you ever uncovered a sand worm at the beach? It kinda gives me the willies just thinking about them. Ever look up close at a tarantula? How about a flea? Check out the huge, lizard-like Komodo Dragon that lives in Indonesia. How many of you have walked out of the water after a refreshing swim only to be horrified by a nasty leach stuck somewhere on your body. Hmmm. It seems that God is into more than snow-capped mountains and puffy clouds--as beautiful as they can be. Who is this One who can imagine such beautiful ugliness and then create it?

The only satisfactory answer I have found is that we have a Creator whose motivations cannot be guessed. His creativity, power, and desire to glorify Himself cannot be adequately defined by men. He amazes and humbles me.

The scrambling continues

The other day I came across an interesting article posted on the Answers in Genesis website: The scrambling continues. Apparently someone found a T-Rex bone in Montana about a year ago that doesn't fit current fossilization theories. It seems that the bone "still retained well-preserved soft tissue (which included blood vessels and cells)." But you gotta see the pix. Evolutionary theory will always be a shining example of how men will do anything to support their refusal to acknowledge their Maker. The blind religiosity of evolutionists reminds me of Romans 1:18, that men "suppress the truth by their wickedness."

Nice hat.

 

Snow tubing

Today some friends of ours invited us to go snow tubing at the ski area 10 minutes down the road. Although I've lived here all my life I had never been there. Wow! I didn't know what I was missing. The only bad part was walking back up to the top. :) 

Here's a frame from a video Emily took of me riding down the hill with Ethan's friend Joshua. 

Asa