Homeschooling - A Learning Lifestyle

Out West Adventure Part 4 YELLOWSTONE

2013-09-21T22:43:00.001+02:00

We have finally reached our destination and the real reason why we have travelled Out West - To see Yellowstone National Park!!!

Yellowstone National Park, the oldest national park in the United States, spans parts of three states: Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It is famous for its geothermal activity, including 10,000 hot springs and 200 geysers, including ‘Old Faithful.’ There are also mountains, including one of black obsidian (volcanic glass), cooled and hardened basalt lava flows, deep valleys and canyons, rivers, lakes, forests, petrified wood (wood turned into rock), and wildlife.

Yellowstone Lake

Beautiful!

The boys and myself.

Yellowstone National park is situated in a massive extinct volcano so there are many geysers all over the park. You can see the steam in the back ground...........but you ain't seen nothing yet! Oh yes, and I hope you noticed the Bison in the background?

At the lake.

Duncan enjoying the view.

Look at those colours!

We were all having a sauna with all the steam!

Stunning Colour!

Beautiful colours! Green = algae growing, yellow = sulphur, orange = arsenic, grey = manganese. If the water was very blue, then you knew that the temperature was above boiling point and extremely hot.

It looks like a paradise Island!

The white was calcium carbonate

Old faithful erupts every 1hr45min and we had the privilege of seeing it erupt.

Our first Elk!

The Canyon Falls

My Boys!

Luke

There was a lot more Calcium Carbonate here (white)

Elias and Duncan - wishing he was back in Cowboy land! The land of Cody!

Stunning!

I just loved all the colours!

The Mud pots

Goofy kids!

Another Family photo - just missing dad!!

A petrified tree. No, it was not scared!

We were so sad to say goodbye to Yellowstone. It was an adventure we will never forget! Thank you Lord for your goodness and for revealing yourself to us in your creation! It is truly magnificent! This is not the end of our adventure but I will only be able to update in the next few weeks as my time allows. Until next time.......

Out West Adventure Part 3

2013-09-21T22:08:00.000+02:00

We stayed in a lovely Big wooden house in the Woods. It was a wonderful change from the usual hotels and some space for all of us to move around in! It was probably our favourite house out of all the four houses we stayed in.

Linda and I.

Going for a walk.

Murray and Abigail enjoying a rest.

This was the town of Lead in South Dakota.

We visited an Old Gold mine in Lead.

Then we went to a little town nearby called Deadwood. It was a typical western town and I loved the Western vibe it gave!

These actors were doing an act - very entertaining.

I loved all the signs!

They are closing the street so that they can act out a "SHOOT OUT."

Here are the baddies playing poker and they have a disagreement and someone is caught cheating.

The Shoot Out!

Both Baddies die over a lousy game of cards!

The Victor and the Sheriff. This was a true story in Western times but I cannot remember the names or any other details.

On the road again - Linda with the Indian Village, as our boys were known for! Linda and I would swap places and we would read aloud to all the kids in the van. We read little House on the prairie novels, creation v.v evolution about Yellowstone, Economics - "what happened to penny Candy," a historical novel about Lewis and Clark and others. It was such fun!

Devils Tower.

The View walking around Devils Tower.

All of us except Linda. Curtis (Patricia's husband joined us for part of the trip)

We saw quite a few rock climbers attempting to climb to the top. It is not for the faint hearted.

My Big Boy!

The Indians in the Indian village! Go to part 4 - Yellowstone. The best is yet to come!Click on:
http://frosthomeschoolzim.blogspot.com/2013/09/out-west-adventure-part-4-yellowstone.html

Out West Adventure Part 2

2013-09-21T17:59:00.000+02:00

Our travels have been such an experience for our boys, seeing the world, learning from different cultures, and the History, learning about ourselves, God and others and how we should relate to the world around us. Our travels as a family has been a very rich experience. We always learn best from real life and this is an educational philosophy that we hold, so it has been a real privilege to be able to travel together.

We went to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and then headed off to Wyoming. We are getting close to our destination - Yellowstone National Park!

Climbing rocks again. Such fun!!

This is the 'Needles Pass' as you can see - like going through the eye of a needle. Will we make it in our Big van? I was so pleased that I was not driving!

We did make it, if you were wondering? Linda was actually filming while driving through and Elias (her 13 yr old son) thought that this was so irresponsible. He thought that we would surely die! hahaha

We drove through a few hundred Bison. They got so close to the van.

Farm lands on the way to Cody Ranch in Wyoming.

We stayed at Cody ranch and this was their communal area where you could play chess, draughts, make puzzles and just hang out. The kids loved being here when we had some free time to rest and just chill.

Duncan and Levi playing chess.

The lounge area.

We went on a horse trail ride.

And we had a real cowboy look after us - with his western look, bear spray and weapon. We didn`t see any bears though.

This picture looks so like a scene from a Cowboy and Indian film, with the country side and river.

Sitting around the camp fire cooking........................guess what?

.......Hamburgers......what else!

The horses relaxing after their mornings trail ride.

Some lichen that we came across.

The houses that we stayed in.

We went to a Museum.

Can you see Cody? We were heading to Yellowstone and that was our next stop!!

Nearly there!

Outside the museum.

An old Trail Town.

Inside one of the little houses.

Of course the boys could not resist making a movie! The owners were very friendly and allowed them to make a movie. They had so much fun!

An old store - it was just like the movies!

Bill Cody, known as Buffalo Bill. He was a soldier, Bison hunter and showman. He became famous for his Wild West shows and was instrumental in founding Cody.

I wonder who is shooting and who is dying?

Some very old wagons, very old.....

Some even older sleighs!

A Saloon - also just like the movies.

Goodbye Old Trail Town.

We went to a Rodeo! It was one of our Highlights!

This sign says "All things are possible with God." We were very encouraged!

The THREE MOST HANDSOME Cowboys in the Rodeo! Murray, Duncan and Levi. They enjoyed that Western look!

The Whole gang - Good Bye to Cody! We will miss this place! More news coming - Part 3- here is the link:
http://frosthomeschoolzim.blogspot.com/2013/09/out-west-adventure-part-3.html

Out West Adventure Part 1

2013-09-21T00:10:00.002+02:00

We went on a 3 week trip out West in America with two other Home School families. We hired a 15 seater van and off we went on an adventure of a life time! We went through 14 different states, drove nearly 7000 miles and learn`t a great deal about American History, Science, (God`s creation as opposed to evolution), Geology, Geography, relationships, communication and life skills in general. I have over 1500 photos so I have tried to include the best ones I have, with writing these posts in a few parts so that this will not be one very long post. This is Part 1 and I hope to complete all the parts in the next few weeks. It will take a great deal of time. So, here goes.......!

All the States we drove through! We did not count Arizona and New Mexico as we only went to the four corners (where 4 states touch) so we "touched" the states but didn`t actually enter them. Maybe next time?!

Our first stop was the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead in Wisconsin! It was a wonderful place and we had so much fun there!

All the kids! 7 boys and 3 girls.

The look out.

We didn`t realize how small the wagons were - so narrow!

The brave mums - Patricia, Linda and myself.

Luke sweeping in a Sod house (made of mud and straw)

Trying out the pump.

The beds felt so hard - made with straw.

Time for washing - it looks like an old fashioned washing machine!? So that's where it came from!

The school house.

We were given a little History lesson. We all behaved ourselves!

Imagine wearing these today?

Our transport to the school.

Making corn dolls.

The little church.

On the road again to our next stop - Badlands National park.

At the site where Louis and Clark made peace with the Indians.

Linda and me

Sunflowers - we saw many of these!

Heading towards the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

Now in South Dakota on the way to the Badlands. The scenery is changing - no more trees, very flat, grasslands but then.........

.....but then.....we spot some mountain peaks....we are coming closer to the Badlands.

This was a wonderful place and one of our highlights of the whole trip! The boys felt a renewed sense of freedom, climbing on all the rocks and soaring like eagles! It felt like we were back home with all the open spaces!

It kind of looks a bit like the Pyramids?

Mum and boys - How special!

We didn`t see any!

The Badlands offered such interesting landscapes! It was very different to what we had ever seen. We were just having such an amazing time together! Part 2 is next - here is the link:

http://frosthomeschoolzim.blogspot.com/2013/09/out-west-adventure-part-2.html

Myrtle Beach

2013-08-16T21:01:00.001+02:00

We have just spent a week with Jono and Trisha at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. We had very hot weather to begin with, over 40 degrees, so we were grateful when the weather cooled down for our last two days. We had such a great time with friends and family! We will be heading back to Ithaca tomorrow which will take us about 12 hours, so it is a long way but we really do enjoy driving in the States and we really do get to see many places.

Luke

Duncan and James

Cool Dude!

Trisha in the Lazy River!

This was a water park we went to. We all had a great time!

Duncan and James coming down one of the slides.

Luke at the end of this big monster purple slide. He didn't enjoy it.

Having our picnic lunch.

The wave pool.

Luke, Duncan, James and Megan.

Splashing in the waves!

A lone Jellyfish on the beach!

This murky picture shows how hot and humid it was!

Murray making a movie!

I am guessing that someone dies in this movie!?

Playing mini golf.

This is on the waterfront - there were so many shops and so many people!

Murray trying to get a few photos before it was dark.

An upside down restaurant.

A Zip line across the water.

Feeding Fish Frenzy!

Phil trying to solve our country`s problems! It will take a life time.

This is where we stayed. It was a 3 bedroom apartment and really spacious.

And that concludes our Beach experience! I will post again at the end of September after we get back from our trip out west to Yellowstone.

More Travels

2013-08-08T19:58:00.000+02:00

We have been very busy this Summer so far. The weather has been either extremely hot and unbearable or raining day after day. Nothing beats African weather! I guess, when you live so far North in the U.S, there will be such extremes of temperature. I am just grateful that it is warm and no snow for now!

We spent time with friends in Stamford and Old Greenwich, which is about 20 minutes from New York city, about 4 hours from where we live. Murray had a squash camp and Duncan and Luke managed to get to the beach but they pretty much swam all day as it was scorching.

We went blueberry picking at a farm - well, let me re-phrase that - I was the camera 'man' and all the boys went blue berry picking. I watched and took all the photos! This was on the way to a place called Sodus, about 2 hours away from us. We were meeting some ex-South African friends there.

After a hard mornings work! Yummy Berries!!!

On the way back and then into the car to the lake!

Elephant Garlic!

Putting up the tent and getting our camp site ready. It is great to have boys!!

Fishermen taking a break!

Murray boiling water for early morning tea!

The boys fishing from the pier and the girls were canoeing. I wonder who worked the hardest?

Having a game of cards with our friends. Where am I? Oh, yes, I am the camera 'man!'

We have been praying for our country (Zimbabwe) as we have all by now received the results of our election. We need to continue to trust in eternal things as we do not know what is happening on this earth.

During this time, I have had to remind myself that God is my El Elyon, the Most High, the sovereign ruler over ALL the universe. That means nothing happens without His permission as He is the MOST HIGH. He has authority over ALL things and He is in control over all that happens.

Sometimes it “seems” that evil and Satan are winning on earth but God is allowing calamity, good and bad situations - He is working His good plan, and using the ‘seemingly’ bad things to bring His plan to pass. We need to just trust in what He is doing – actually, I want to re-word that – we need to trust in WHO he is as we will not understand what He is doing!! We need to “Look to Jesus and look to really knowing WHO God is” – as He restores/resets/rewires our thinking so that we can accurately SEE HIM, then we will not be too overly concerned about WHAT is going on but we will be more concerned about serving and glorifying Christ (because we see Him above the circumstances)!

We do not understand the WHAT (He is doing or allowing man to do) and the WHY (He is doing and allowing man to do) but we can sure understand more about the WHO - as we spend time in His word, in His presence, understanding more about WHO we serve!

Hab 3: 17-19 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savoir. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

Luke`s 13th Birthday

2013-07-12T22:38:00.001+02:00

Fishing at last! This is at Stewart Park, about 15 minutes away. A friend has lent the boys some fishing rods so they can finally go fishing!

I haven`t got photos of the pond where the boys go fishing in our neighbourhood, but it has been a great 'getaway place' for them when they need a break from school and some time out doing what they love to do. The neighbours have been great letting them fish in their pond.

We celebrated Luke`s 13th Birthday at Lower Treman State Park. We had a great day and invited about 5 other families. Luke has made some really good friends and we have met some great like-minded families.

We had a picnic in the Park.

Phil saying a few words and praying for Luke.

The Gang - some of the boys` friends.

Murray relaxing with the men!

Anyone for cake?! That`s me in the green shirt.

Now time for the fun part! The kids were swimming and jumping off from a really high diving board near the waterfall. They had so much fun!

Waiting their turn to jump!

Amazing fun! Luke jumping off!

Aiden`s turn.

And now for Duncan..........

Just about the whole of Ithaca also had the same idea as we had that day. The Summers here are very hot and temperatures can reach 45 degrees celsius.

Time for cake......again?

After our picnic, we drove to "music in the park."

Everyone brings their picnic dinner and drinks and we all park off on the Park grounds and listen to live music. They do this every Saturday evening during the Summer. We will definitely make this a regular family outing over the Summer.

The boys were playing in the play ground while we listened to the music.

The day was enjoyed by all! We are enjoying the Summer and trying to get out as much as we can to enjoy the lovely weather. We are yet to explore and discover all the trails but that will be for next time.

We miss all our friends back home in Zimbabwe and we know that this is a particularly hard time at the moment with elections on the 31st July. Please know that you are all in our hearts and prayers and we do pray for peace and an end to all the atrocities and intolerance of certain groups! We love to hear from friends so please send us an email now and again and let us know your news.

Romans 12;16-21 " Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Neighbourhood

2013-05-25T21:18:00.001+02:00

Summer is here at last! Everything looks so different in the Summer. Here are a few photos of our neighbourhood and the Lake nearby.

This is looking out from our house to Marie`s house, our neighbour.

Across the road from us.

The boys playing crochet at Marie`s house.

Here is our house from another angle. Lots of space to run around!

The front side.

This is at Cornel Plantations.

At Caguya Lake

Murray is dying to fish!

This is from Marie`s verander.

and overlooking our house........

The weather is very strange here and we get extremes in weather temperatures. This week it has been around 35 Degrees but in the last 2 days we have experienced 6 degrees and it will continue to be cold until early next week. The temperature in the mornings at 7am starts at around 22 degrees and continues to rise throughout the day to 35 degrees and only after 8pm does it start to cool down slightly. So during the day, it is very hot and humid but it is still better than winter!

Taughannock Falls

2013-05-25T00:50:00.001+02:00

Our ex-Zimbabwean friends, Johno and Trisha Robart Morgan came to stay with us for the weekend. They now live in Canada. We went for a walk to the Taughannock Falls which looked so different in the Summer! I have included some winter photos so you can compare the differences.

I personnally prefer the Falls in the Winter. I think that it is so much more beautiful!

Luke, Duncan, James, Megan and Murray.

Trisha and Myself. It was so good to catch up again!

Phil and Johno enjoying their walk.

The boys just couldn`t resist! No matter how cold the water was.

There are many beautiful waterfalls in Ithaca and we are yet to still explore them all.

My Beloved and me! Phil was so chuffed to hear that he received all A`s for his exams! I didn`t know that I had married such a Boffen! He worked so hard and deserved those marks!

There were many deep pools. It reminded me of the Eastern Transvaal in South Africa.

It was so good for Johno and Phil to catch up and to be able to speak politics! They always enjoy trying to solve the worlds problems, especially Zimbabwe.

We had a great time and it was so special to spend time with 'old' friends! There will always be a special connection, especially being from Africa! We look forward to seeing Johno and Trisha again when we head off to Myrtel Beach in South Carolina in August. We haven`t seen the South of the country, so we are looking forward to travelling down to that part of America.

Until next time - STAY SAFE, STAY BLESSED AND STAY TRUE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE ACCORDING TO ETERNAL VALUES THAT REALLY COUNT!

LEAH Homeschool CO-Op

2013-05-10T02:13:00.000+02:00

On Mondays, the boys go to LEAH CO-OP where they participate with about 30 other Home School families in various activities. LEAH stands for Loveing Education At Home.

The entrance to our church where we go to LEAH every week.

Beautiful Summer Flowers!!

Duncan and Luke in their Lego class. There is a Lego League competition coming up in November where they have to build an electric robot and program it to follow certain instructions, so that should be fun!

Some of the LEAH kids.

A picture with all the LEAH kids ranging from 5yrs - 18yrs. There is a really nice bunch of teens in their group so the boys have made some good friends.

Murray and Duncan`s guitar class. Travis (in the red) has done a great job! He is a pastor from another church.

Practising diligently for LEAH Co-Op night later that day where they will play for parents and relatives.

LEAH Co-Op night! The kids had only been playing for 10 weeks and they did really well!

The Literature class receiving their certificates after studying the book Silas Marner. Murray was unsure of this class to begin with but actually he quite enjoyed it.

It has been great to meet other Home schoolers and there is a big community of Home schoolers in America. Home schooling in Zimbabwe is also growing and there are many young families who are starting to homeschool their children. If you read this and live in Zimbabwe, we have a support group that you can join. Send me a message if you would like to know more about this group!

Philadelphia

2013-05-10T01:40:00.000+02:00

We went to Philadelphia for the weekend as Murray did a squash coaching certificate level 1 course. This was a great opportunity for him to be able to not only coach squash but to also learn all the various drills and improve his game at the same time. Hopefully, he will learn some new skills to take back to Zimbabwe!

Below, this is me and I didn`t have to cook the whole weekend! (Thanks to the Super 8 Hotels!) Actually, Luke made the choc chip muffins!

Murray practising his drills with the other participants. There were about 20 other people who came to do the squash coaching level 1 course. Murray was the youngest and there was a great difference in ages, from 17 to about over 50, but mostly College students.

Discussing drill lessons, strenghts and weaknesses together, learning from one another.

The course was the whole weekend, with many lectures, drill practise and demonstrations. Saturday was the whole day from 9am until 7:30 pm, so a great deal to learn and remember. Murray has completed his practical training and now he still needs to complete 3 exams in order to receive his certifciate, a referee exam, squash thoery exam and a CPR course. So, he has quite a bit of work ahead of him in the next few weeks.

The city center. Drexel University has buildings all over the city.

Drexel university - where Murray did his squash course.

Walking up the stairs to the squash courts.

A smiley face! :) He thoroughly enjoyed the course. Welldone Murray for all your hard work!

An Advert for Drexel University.

Driving to Philadelphia, some of the country side

We were very Thankful to our faithful GPS!

Driving to our Hotel which was about 30 minutes out of the main city center towards Atlantic City, which was about another hour away.

Driving back into the city the next day.

At the waterfront.

Phil, Duncan and Luke

Walking along the waterfront. It was very quiet but still early in the morning after we had dropped Murray off at his squash training course.

We mostly walked around the city but did not go into any museums THIS TIME! The boys have had enough of museums for now so we just looked from the outside.

This is part of the Old City - a very Historical area.

Walking towards the Liberty Bell Museum. This was the only museum we visited.

The Famous Liberty Bell!

Beautiful Summer flowers coming out!

Taking a break from all the walking!

This is a real post office which has kept it`s historical look on the outside.

We really enjoyed Philadelphia city. It reminded us of Boston, our favourite city in America.

Little cobbled alleyway.

Part of the Old City!

Walking back to our car at the waterfront!

We were told when we went to Philadelphia, we should try their famous cheese steaks. So, what do you normally think about when you think of a cheese steak? A piece of steak filled with cheese! Right?! Wrong!

This is a Famous Philly cheese steak! It did taste good though but I couldn`t have too many of these too often. (The cheese is squeezed out of a bottle!! Imagine all those harmful chemicals and preservatives in your body, if you ate one of these every week?!)

Ready, Steady, Eat!!

Yum Yum!! It didn`t take long to wolf it down!

On the way out of the city, there was a fire but we still do not know what caused it. We were a little concerned especially after the Boston Bombings, but there was nothing on the news so we were sure it was probably just a factory fire? There had been a running race in the city earlier that morning?

On the way out of the city. We really enjoyed our weekend. Back to Ithaca now which was about a 4 hour drive.

Until next time again! I will start posting some Summer photos of Ithaca. We have been having some lovely warm weather!

Our lives in America

2013-04-06T20:35:00.000+02:00

We have been in America for over 2 months now but it feels much longer. We have missed the warm weather although we have also enjoyed the snow and had fun sledding and skiing. The weather is warming up so Summer is just around the corner.

The Things I Love about America:

friendly, helpful people
meeting new people/cultures
opportunities for the boys
sledding, skiing
cost of living and expenses LESS here
clean environment, services offered to communities, everything works!!
GREAT library!
Burger King with enough burgers to feed our family for $10 (no cooking for me)!

The Things I Miss in Zimbabwe:

friends, hearing from friends
coffee in a REAL mug at restaurants and not in a disposable
Summer days, being outside, sun sets, sounds of the African bush
the Zambezi, camping, fishing
the bush and animals and all our pets we left behind (I so miss all our furry creatures)
our Ladies Bible Study
the elderly folk at Borrowdale Trust
living in a small community - being involved, interacting with people as you go along in your day
cleaner food - grass fed cows, cage free chickens/eggs/ fresh raw milk, less perservatives/chemicals in our foods

Duncan playing cards. He has grown so much and his jeans are tight on him – he is so chuffed!! Must be all the hormones and chemicals in the food here??! He drinks loads of milk everyday – I think he thinks that is what is making him grow? I won’t talk about how Phil and I have also grown!

We went to a Maple Syrup farm and museum with the Miller family and 2 other familes. Phil also came along as it was during Spring Break and he didn`t have to go to lectures.

It was a freezing cold day and we really didn`t go prepared. The boys didn`t even have their gloves so they all froze. It was all outside except for a few things.

Lyn and her girls and a friend who also joined us.

We were all waiting to do the Virgina Dance! Levi with Murray and Duncan and Linda and Noelene, Lucien and thier children.

So, we were doing our thing!

That`s me in the brown jacket with phil opposite me.

Linda filming again!

Maple Syrup bucket with tap in the tree.

Dancing again. Once we had it then it was fine but it took me awhile to figure it all out. We had many laughs!!

We also had a pancake breakfast which I don`t have photos of. The breakfast consisted of pancakes, maple syrup, sweet sausages (made with maple syrup!) and juice and coffee. The Americans love their sweet breakfasts.

The village with their little houses.

Sugar Camp where they boiled the syrup.

It was such a big job! You can`t see the very big pot behind the lady - but it was enormous. She showed us how to test when the sryup was ready and once all the water had evaporated. One batch of syrup can take more than a day to boil depending on the wood used and the weather. I sure would not want to stand over a pot for that long!

Outside demonstrations showing us various activities.

Maple syrup blocks which can be ground up into syrup granules when you are ready to use it. They were transported in blocks.

Marie, my next door neighbour. She took me cross country skiing. It was more difficult than downhill skiing!

This is Marie`s house and this is what everything looks like now - NO SNOW!

Duncan playing in the play ground after visiting the waterfall.

A visit to the Science Center.

The Cornel Squash courts. This is where Murray is playing squash and plays with the Cornel team once a week during their practise sessions. He plays other guys on various other days. I have just joined as well as I need some serious excercise!

Luke having fun!

One of the many puzzles the boys have done, borrowed from Marie.

The troop after a great day at the Science Center, the waterfall and play ground.

Luke and me walking to the big tree house. I couldn`t find a photo of it. It was HUGE!

At the nature center. We went with Marie.

Murray and Marie.

Going to church. The boys go to a teen Bible study at the youth pastors house on Wednesday and then have Sunday school at 9am on Sundays and then youth group at 5-8pm on Sundays. Sunday is a real busy day with study groups for them. They really love it and go willingly every week.

Inside our church - Bethel Grove Bible church. Our church has a great youth pastor who has been so good to our Boys. He has also given Murray some filming work to do at the church where there are musicals and other events happening. Murray is also going on a media- filming training course with a Christian film company in May and will be involved in a real live production, called “In His Steps,” (based on the book) so he is over the moon. I am SO NERVOUS for him as he has to catch 2 connecting flights, one in Philadelphia and one in Denver, so I am anxious but hopefully there will not be any delays or problems. The Christian organisation is a non profit and being Christian too, this is just an amazing opportunity for him. A real God send.

School. The boys do quite a bit of school on their lap tops. Duncan does an online English and math course where I help with his assignments but it is great as it is all set out for him. He has a spelling course on disc called Excellence in Spelling. Luke is doing Saxon math, various English workbooks and an online computer course. Then I do science Apologia with both Duncan and Luke where we study science from a Christian perspective as well as looking at evolution. We all do History and Bible together. We are studying Christian History and I read historical novels like "the Apostle Paul" told in a novel. So we have been reading Acts and then will go on to studying Revelation again, which we took a break from because we were studying Christian History, this brought us to the book of Acts.

Murray is preparing for his SAT so he works on tests and videos for Math and English. He is also doing a Diploma called Electrical Fundamentals through the U.K. For his Filming course, he needs to complete 5 modules of theory before he completes his practical in May. I love being able to choose according to his interests and that`s why I love the flexibility and choices that we have as home schoolers. He is not sure what he will do after his diploma but possibly a trade, so he can begin that in the next few months.

We also watch lots of movies on various wars, especially World War 2 and the Haulocast. These bring many discussions about the many intolerances in the world. So, what we go through in Zimbabwe is really happening all over the world, so we shouldn`t be surprised. Intolerance of people groups is still going on and will continue until man`s attitude changes and people start to see people the way God sees people.

We only have one race and that is the HUMAN RACE. We all have the same skin colour, just different shades of colour. There are different cultures, not different races. We are all ONE BLOOD. Adam and Eve had variation of skin colour so in one generation they had all coloured children and relatives. If you know a little about genetics and science, recessive genes and dominant genes (you can research how this all works if you are not sure – it is simple science) All genes come from the same pool, just different variations depending on what gene is recessive or dominant. We have the same ingredients, just different amounts, so groups of people will have different variations of skin colour.

There is no such thing as inter racial marriage as we are all one race – from one blood!! God did not make black, coloured, indian. he simply made one Human race and because of genetics, we get various shades of skin colour! We have all been so indoctrinated about 'race' and when we see humans from God`s perspective, it changes everything! God changes everything!

Murray barely managed this snow man as the snow was melting away. One last one for the end of Winter!!

This has not been the coldest day. The coldest day has probably been about -14 Celsious.

We look forward to some letters and feedback! (either email, skype, blog) Miss you all and pray for all our friends as you go through another election in Zimbabwe. God knows. God is in control. Trust in Him Only!

Zimbabwe - Our Favourite Places

2013-03-23T22:30:00.000+02:00

We are a farming family and we also enjoy the outdoors, camping, fishing and travelling, seeing new things and learning about different cultures and countries as we travel and meet different people from all walks of life.This post will include photos of our beautiful country and the places where we love to go in Zimbabwe!

(This is a long post. If your internet is too slow to download all the photos, then let me know and I will divide this post into more posts) Some of these photos are taken a few years ago so they are not recent!

KARIBA:

I think I will stick to being an observer when it comes to fishing!

A Typical Kariba scene

This was the House Boat we went on.

No, we are not fishing for Hippo!

You can get very close to the elephants.

One of the many beautiful sunsets!

OSBORN DAM:

This was the boys best catch ever! They went home Happy Chappies that week.

GONAREZHOU:

Chilojo Cliffs

Baobab Tree, they are massive in this part of the world!

MANA POOLS: (with friends)

Fishing is our thing!! Boys are up at sunrise and only put down rods at sun set!

Duncans first Big Tiger fish ever!

Our friends!

Dad and youngest son!

Cards, whose keen!

Murray never gave up............he can fish all day long without even catching anything, thats true fishermans patience!

As for Luke - he tries too!

Our Camp!

Look at that view!

NYANGA:

Church Camp.

HONDA VALLEY:

Beautiful Tea Estate

Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

This is our beautiful land!
Africa has so much to offer despite all our political problems. Every country has its own different set of problems so we need to live in such a way that will benefit others in a positive way and make a difference for our God and country!

I will be posting more about our travels in America and life here compared to life in Zimbabwe. That will be an interesting one?!

Our Home in Zimbabwe

2013-03-10T05:27:00.000+02:00

Our hearts are in Africa, our beloved country and home in Zimbabwe! We have had much political strife in the past 12 years but God continues to be faithful and we trust that He will continue to be with us, to be in control of all that happens in our lives! Whatever we have belongs to Him anyway so it is no use worrying about who is going to take our farm or house from us, that which actually really belongs to God anyway! We continue to trust in HIS ways and not our ways.

Psalm 56:10-11 "In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise - in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?"

I have included photos of our life in Zimbabwe - our home, children and animals. It is a priviledged lifestyle to be able to live on a farm, to enjoy the wide open spaces, nature in the wild bush and all the animals.

Duncan doing a balancing act in our Garden!

A huge Bull Frog which Duncan found on the farm.

Wild Flowers that are found in the natural bush.

Our Garden.

Duncan and Luke looking after the sheep.

Our many dogs. When we left Zim, we left behind 7 dogs and 1 cat.

Our garden has many rocks which the boys have climbed ever since they could walk.

Murray, our 16 year old is responsible in filling up the farm vehicles with fuel. Having three boys on the farm is a great help and support to both Phil and myself!

Duncan enjoying a swing which all the boys made.

Duncan checking out the soya beans grown organically.

Some of the many rocks enjoyed by all of us!

Phil and Murray on the tractor.

Rocko, our bird helping Luke out with his piano playing!

A baby rabbit found in the bush after being deserted by its mother. Luke decides to take it into the school room with him.

Our Home.

We keep praying for peace in our country and that all the political turmoil will come to an end. We continue to pray for all our freinds who live there, for their protection and that God will heal our land and heal our people! God has us in the palm of his hand. We just need to turn to Him, acknowledge who He is and experience a life of eternal peace.

Proverbs 29:25-27 "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that one gets justice.The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright."

I am preparing another post on "OUR FAVOURITE PLACES" we love to go to in Zim.....until next time!

Sledding

2013-02-17T19:17:00.000+02:00

We had about 12 inches of snow last weekend so of course what was the next best thing we needed to go and do..............SLEDDING! So off we went on Saturday we went to Cornel plantations and then on Sunday we went to Rice Hill. I only have photos of Rice Hill.

Phil helping Duncan

Luke and myself getting ready! Hats, gloves, glasses, all set!

Duncan and Luke lining themselves up. They loved racing each other.

Rice Hill overlooking Lake Cayuga! It so so long and steep. Going down was great fun, coming up was exhausting but good exercise!

Phil and I just before we went down....................

...............And.....................ready steady...................go!

It was great fun! We felt like teens again!

A half frozen waterfall at Taughannock State Park. There are many waterfalls, hikes and trails in Ithaca so I can`t wait for the Summer when we can explore all these places. There is a tour this week, walking in the snow to the waterfall. We may go but depending on how cold it is and if the wind is blowing, then it can be really unpleasant, so we will see?

It was a beautiful sunny day.

I will be posting about our lives in Zimbabwe as my blog does not have anything on Africa. I originally started this blog so that our friends and family could follow our adventures in America, so that was my purpose (as well as to encourage those who home school). Our hearts go out to our Beloved country as Zimbabwe faces another election and political turmoil. We have been praying for our friends who live there and for their safety and protection during a time of robberies and attacks. Our hearts go out to you all! We may be far away physically but you are constantly in our hearts and prayers!

We pray that God will give you the strength to perservere in times of trials and that you will come out stronger in the Lord as your faith grows and as all people in Zimbabwe seek the Lord and come to KNOW HIM as their Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Isaiah 51:7-8 "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will LAST FOREVER, My SALVATION through all generations."

American Adventure 2013

2013-02-09T02:46:00.000+02:00

We are living in America for a year as my husband will be studying at Cornel University in Ithaca, New York State, so this is where we will be for the next year, until January 2014! (I think?)

We will be sharing our adventure with you, our happy memories; our frustrations; our challenges; what we have liked and not liked, so just having our friends and family follow our journey and share it with us, will mean a great deal to us and remind us of friends and Africa back home!

We would really appreciate your comments and contact through this Blog or emails or skype as we will miss you all and will love to hear about how things are back in Zimbabwe (and South Africa, Ausie, New Zealand and the U.K)!

Phil and Duncan at home in Zimbabwe, Leaving for our Year Long Adventure in America!

Our entire belongings and off we go!

From Sunny Skies to Shimmering Snow - The boys` first day of sledding! Phil giving Duncan a push start!

Phil and Luke trying to keep each other warm (jokes). I was FREEZING and went inside. I dont think I lasted more than 10 minutes!

In Ithaca, New York State! We finally found a sweet little Duplex after much looking around and viewing some really interesting houses. It is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom (for now, as another bathroom is being built) a lounge, dining room and sweet kitchen. The place where I spend much of my time! Feeding 4 boys is hard work and they just don`t stop eating and I just don`t stop shopping! It is a pleasure though not worrying about power cuts and the convenience of a dish washer and shops that have whatever you need. The boys have slotted in well though and they each have their chores that they are responsible for. Murray sweeps, mops and vacuums all the floors. Duncan empties out the trash, keeps the dustbins clean and sweeps the steps of snow. Luke packs and unpacks the dishwasher and helps tidy the kitchen with me after meals. They all help fold laundry, pack it away and shovel snow. Phil washes pots and pans, helps clean the bathroom, where we all take our turn. All my 4 boys are a great help! Oh and I do everything else! (cook, clean, wash, teach, discipline, disciple, shop, drive, organise, manage, delegate ......... there is more but I will stop there) :) :)

The coldest it has been so far -16 Celsious which is 3 Farenheit. Note, me driving! One of the obstacles I am learning to overcome. I know how to get to the library, Walmart (shops), post office and bank, so I think that just about covers it for me.......for now!

Duncan finally gets to shovel snow! The boys have been dying to get stuck in and do some shovelling. I`m sure they will have their fair share of that in the weeks ahead. There has not been much snow at all and a very mild winter so we will see what the weather holds for us in the near future?

This is our lounge and where the boys also do their school work. Phil is not there during the day so we have enough space. His office is down stairs, so nice and queit and out of the way for him. We have since bought another desk and Duncan`s desk is now in the other corner so they have more space.

Our first sun rise taken from our front door just in front of the car overlooking the neighbours. No fences!

Well, I guess there is a first time for everything - my first run in -10 celsious. I didn`t want to run far just in case I froze on the way out and then couldn`t get back! Actually I was quite warm with my thermals on, just my chin and nose felt almost frozen, so next time I will go even more prepared.

We are still trying to find our feet and as we meet new people and become more familiar with our surroundings, then we will begin to feel more settled. We have joined a wonderful church with a great youth group so I hope the boys will be making some new friends soon. They miss their friends in Zim! Murray was involved with helping the youth group doing up a shelter for homeless single men which he enjoyed.

This is the end of my first entry. I will try and add posts every 2 weeks. You can sign up and then you will recieve emails when my blog has new updates.

Lots of love xxx

Inductive Bible Studies

2012-04-25T12:55:00.001+02:00

This post will be about PRECEPT MINISTRIES and how to do an INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY.

Precept Ministry was established in 1970 and is operating in 165 different countries today.

THEIR MISSION:
To establish people in God`s word

THEIR VISION:
People living as exemplary followers of Jesus Christ

studying the word inductively
viewing the world Biblically
making disciples intentionally
serving the church faithfully in the power of the Holy Spirit

THEIR PROCESS:
DISCOVER the Inductive Bible study method and transform the way you study the Bible.
GO DEEPER WITH OTHERS through small group inductive Bible study living as the body of Christ.
DISCIPLE toward spiritual maturity and multiplication using the inductive Bible study method as the tool to know God and his word.

WHAT IS INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY? http://www.precept.org/about_inductive_bible_study
This is when you study the Bible in depth, using the Bible as your primary source to study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. This is what it means to study the Bible inductively, learning truth for yourself, step by step.
You discover Truth Himself by using these three skills:

1. OBSERVATION:
Observing the text, looking closely at key words will help you to slow down and pay more careful attention to individual words used. This includes skills like marking words, making lists and asking questions using the 5 W`s and an H (who, why, what, when, where and how)

2. INTERPRETATION:
Careful observation will help you to discover what the text means in its context. Paying attention to repeated key words will help with interpretation and avoiding taking scripture out of context. The more accurate your observations is, the greater your understanding of God`s word.

3. APPLICATION:
Applying what you learn from what you have studied. It is no good just studying the word without thinking seroiusly about what you have learnt regarding what you can practically apply in your own life and for future change in your life.

Ephesians 1:15-23 "God the Father, Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, get to know Him and grow in Knowing Him."

Here is a PDF on How it all works!
http://www.precept.org/data/sites/1/PDFs/PMI_IBStudyOverview_v2%20(1).pdf

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO REALLY KNOW THE WORD OF GOD?

so that you will really know who God is, his character and understand His ways
so that you will stand firm in the truth and not be decieved or led astray
so that you can give an answer for the hope that you have
so that you can grow as a Christian to bear fruit that will last and extend the kingdom for the glory of God

NOT Studying God`s word is NOT an option for Christians. We need to BE IN THE WORD so that we can be firmly established in the truth (2 Peter 1:12).

How do I begin an inductive Bible study?
You can either study on your own, join a Bible study group or join an on-line Bible study group if you are not able to get to a Bible study.
So, there is no excuse!

1.Decide if you will study on your own, join a Bible study or an on-line Bible study. If you would like to join an online ladies bible study click this link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TruthHimself/

2. Choose material:
- take a look at www.precept.org as to how to choose the right material
- If you would like something light to start, I would suggest the 40 minute Bible studies. They are topical and easy to follow. You can also use these for family study time together or study together with your teens but I would suggest studying along with them and not just giving them the book to do. We need to come alongside our children when we study God`s word.
- if you would like an indepth Bible study, then you would choose the precept upon precept studies
- there are also Bible studies written just for ladies - Sweeter than chocolate (Ps 119 and Heb 11) and Mindset (Romans 8)
- Studies for Teen weekends include the TRANSFORM series (In the Last days - 2Peter, Resolve - Daniel, Dirty Jobs, Problem with evil - Job)
- Studies for little children include the Discover for Yourself series.

3. Order material from:
www.precept.org (international)
www.precept.org.za (for South Africa)
http://www.precept.org/international_overview (select your country)
http://www.christianbook.com/

4. Support:
If you would prefer not to mark in your Bible, you can download the chapter/book from the internet, save to a word document and then change it according to exactly how you like it (font, size, spacing).
You can use the following links:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/site-map/ (download your preferred version)
http://www.blueletterbible.org/ (for word studies, commentaries, Hebrew/Greek meanings)

If you would like to become more involved or go to a Leader workshop or other workshops, check the website for your country. If you would like to get more involved in Zimbabwe, please drop me a line in the comments box.

If you have any questions regarding what to study or about Inductive Bible studies, please drop me a line.

Psalm 119:102 "I have not departed from your laws for you yourself have taught me."

Boys comments

2012-04-24T20:32:00.001+02:00

The boys have written up their thoughts on their travels to America. You can read what they have to say about their adventure. (I have not edited their letters - it is all their own work)

MURRAY:

The trip to America was fun and very different to zim. Skiing at Bristle Mountain was one of the really fun experiences. It was hard at first but after about two hours I could go down the slopes. At the end of the day I had gotten pretty good at it and the day after we went again. After that day I thought that I could do the harder slopes so the third day I went down a red slope. At first I thought I was going to die. Then after a few goes on the red, I moved onto the black. Pretty hard but I lived.

Another highlight was six flags America, a theme park. I first tried THE WILD ONE, a roller coaster. It was a small one but it was scarier that I thought it would be but it was so much fun. I then did a stupid thing. THE SUPERMAN RIDE OF STEAL. It was so high that it took about one and a half minutes to get to the top. That’s high! It was the highest one at the park. You go almost vertical and you ride down that for about five seconds, sounds short but it took a life time. Scary, but fun. Then there was THE ROAR. I would rate it about 8.5 out of 10. There were too many bumps. Then..... THE TOWER OF DOOM! Scary, scary, scary.... but fun. You go to a height where you can see the whole park and more and then they just drop you! Free fall. You can’t even scream it’s so scary.

Going to a base ball stadium and watching a game was a really fun experience and one in a life time. Seeing NYC at night was a beautiful sight and also seeing the place where 9 11 happened. The world trade center and the empire state building are the highest buildings in America. The statue of liberty is smaller than I expected but still beautiful. America was a once in a life time holiday!

DUNCAN:

When my family and I went to America, I thought it would be a bit different than it was because some parts were like South Africa, for example the shops seemed the same. When we went to six flags (theme park) I went on the tower of doom, it takes you up then it just dropped me it was really fun. We went to Canada and we met friends that we haven’t seen for a while, it was quite fun.

I didn’t enjoy Boston that much, it was to big. New York was very dirty and there was a lot of pollution. When we went to Rochester we met some nice friends that my mom had met over the internet, called the Millers.

I wouldn’t like to live there because there is no place like home. When we went to ski on Bristol Mountain, I thought it would be harder than it was. In the beginning, I could not get how you turn but after a while I could do it. We went on all the ski slopes and all of my family fell a few times. America was fun!

LUKE:

One of the best parts of my trip was meeting and making new friends. Like the Millers who lived just outside of Rochester, were nice people. The rollercoaster’s at a six flag theme park were also fun and also the travelling part of our trip. The skiing at Bristol Mountain was very fun as well except for the second last day which on the last slope, which was a double black diamond, (the hardest kind of slope), I fell and bruised my knee and wasn’t able to ski any more so I missed a day.

I enjoyed Boston and all its history, especially that only a few original Boston buildings are still standing because all the buildings were made of wood and Boston had so many fires in those days and almost all of them were burnt down. Washington DC and New York City were also fun except New York was too crowded. Washington was also quite crowded although not as much as New York. When we were in Washington we saw the White House, the Lincon memorial and the Washington monument.

My brothers and I went to a baseball game with my dad’s friend who lived just outside of New York and that was an amazing experience. I think our whole trip to America was fun, exiting and new and I already miss all my new friends that I made.

MANDI:

America was all that I hoped it would be and more! It was an amazing experince and I really feel that, as a family, we learnt a great deal about life and people, we came away inspired and had a once in a life time experience that will be treasured for all our days. We will hold many memories, especially memories of the special people whom we met and the friendships we made.

One of the treasures of having our children at home, is that we can experience life with them, without having a restrictive time limit. We can provide them with opportunities to experience life and other cultures under our guidance and discipleship. Phil and I can teach them about life from a biblical perspective, helping them to accept different ways or cultures of other people, accepting that other cultures "DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY," having an understanding that we are all individuals, created by God, having different gifts and talents but God has the same purpose for all of us. And that is to give Him the glory in everything that we do! This is not always easy to live out as we so often fail (we all fall short) but through God`s grace, we persevere and try to live out His principles in our lives as best we can, trying to bless people along the way.

So, as we settle back into African life, we thank God for an amazing adventure, for protecting us along the way, for providing places to stay and new friends to meet, for inspiring us to pursue the things of God, for reminding us that life is about blessing others and for his constant love, care and guidance in our lives.

PHIL:

We drove 20,000 km, on the wrong side of the road from the wrong side of the car and I didn`t even kill anyone (or not that I know of) with "Tom" giving me instructions, even through Manhatten, N.Y city, downtown Torronto and the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania! I was really pleased that I didnt have Mandi giving me directions from a map! The closest we got to dying was on the roller coaster!
What I enjoyed most about America, were the friendly people and going to a baseball game. We all had a great time!

Homeward Bound

2012-04-24T20:12:00.000+02:00

New York City

2012-04-13T22:53:00.001+02:00

Our final stretch of our journey was visiting NYC. We stayed with friends whom I have not seen for about 20 years and they stayed in a place called Old Greenwich which is about 40 minutes from NYC.
It was great to see Sally and Bobby again and to meet their 2 girls.

The traffic was so bad and there was a long queue waiting at the toll road and we had not even enteres N.Y yet................

There were lots of bridges that we crossed.

Kent Island.

Getting closer to N.Y.

Just outside N.Y city, the traffic was unvbelievable!

The traffic brought us to a stop and even Tom Tom (G.P.S) was confused and lost us. Well, I panicked abut Phil kept his cool. He has done so well getting us around! Tom Tom has been such a help (except this time)

We arrived in old Greenwich and took a drive to the beach. It was across the way from N.Y city. It was a bit windy but beautiful all the same.

There were some really big houses in the area.

This is Bobby and Sally`s house.

Another huge house.

There were so many skyscrapers!

At the station. We toured the city on foot and then caught a water taxi to see the city from the water. It was spectacular!

The Intrepid is an aircraft carrier which served in World War 2 and Vietnam, making seven trips around the globe and surviving five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike. She then served as a NASA astraunaut vessel before being retired in 1974. She is now docked on the Hudson River.

Can you see the aircrafts?

We were waiting for our water taxi. It was very windy that day and I hadn`t bought my jacket with me as the days had been so warm.

Here comes our taxi!!

The new Trade center being built. It is the tallest buidling in the photo and when it is complete, it will be the tallest building in the cirty after the Empire State building. It will have 104 floors.

The view from the water.

These peole were waiting for their water taxi`s but luckily, not ours! They were boarding the water city liners, which were HUGE boats.

Another stop at he harbour where we stopped to receive more passengers.

The Brooklyn Bridge which connected Manhatten to Brooklyn. It takes 40 minutes to walk across it.

The Brooklyn Bridge.

And finally, we came to the famous Green Lady. The staute of Liberty is on Liberty Island, near Ellis Island.

Murray has the statue in the palm of his hand!

Good Bye!

The 9/11 memorial. It had a North and South pool with the names of the deceased all around the walls. The oldest man to die was 85years old and the youngest to die was two years old. More than 400 were first responders who died performing their sworn duties. 2,977 people died in total. It was very sobering to be there.

At the South Pool.

Two very tierd boys after lots of walking and at the end of ther day!

More walking...................

China Town.

There were so many people! We have never been amongst so many people before. We all had to be alert and keep our wits about us - the boys had to make sure they stayed close all the time.

The train station - it was huge!

Murray had his photo taken especially for his friend Levi who loves anything to do with the military. Levi, this is for you - hope you see this!

And a tour of America is not complete without watching a baseball game! What a way to end our trip!Phil and the boys went to a baseball game with Bobby - what a high light for them! The NY Mets were playing against a team from Washinton D.C. It was such a highlight for the boys and Phil!

Hot chocolate from Duncan Doughnuts! That kept the chill out...........................

Wow - a night to be remembered!

What a great ending to our stay in New York! The boys LOVED the experience of going to their first baseball game, even though they didn`t know who the players were. We have done so much during our time in America - it has been such amazing fun, educational and inlightening! We will cherish the special people and friends whom we met and the time we sepnt with friends from long ago.

It has truely been even more than we ever had expected and we feel so inspired and enriched through all our experiences we have had.

We feel so blessed.

Thank you for travelling with us - we so appreciated all those who sent us comments and words of encouragement - it has mean`t a great deal to all of us!

The boys will write some final comments in the last post as we head off to Dubai in less than a few hours. Then we spend one night in Dubai and then we will be back in Zim on the 15th April.

Please pray for our safety and protection on our final leg of our journey - thanks so much!

God Bless!

All our Fondest Love

Phil, Mandi, Murray, Duncan and Luke

xxx

Six Flags Fabulous Fun

2012-04-12T18:53:00.000+02:00

We went to Six Flags America just outside D.C. It is a fun theme park and the boys were asking us if they could go and so this was a good opportunity to take them as it was the beginning of the season and they were only just opening, so we were here just in time. They had all been closed for the winter.

The boys standing near an imitation of the Liberty Bell.

Ready for some fun?! Well, Phil and I told the boys that we were just taking them into the park but we were not going to go on any of the rides ........................yeah right?!

This ride comes down so fast - you feel like you are going to hit the floor. I went on this when I was a child, but not today.

The boys loved this ride - awful.

Well, after phil and I telling the boys that we were not going to go on any rides - we were persuaded to go on this roller coaster in white.

It didn`t look too bad when we compared it to all the other rides so we thought that it would be ok. We were seriuosly mistaken! On our first down-hill, suddenly our memories were awakened and we remembered why we didn`t want to go on this ride in the first place! I said to phil, "I really dont like this." He said, "Oh, well it is nearly over." I thought I was going to fly out of my seat as I kept lifting off slightly and I was terrified. When we got to the end, Duncan shouted to us, "that was fun hey mum." I laughed with nervousness and said NO.

I still can`t believe we went on that!! Unfortunately, we don`t have a photo to prove it or we would have definitely flown out of our seats trying to take a photo!

OOOHHH.................we survived!

This was an even higher one the boys went on. It was so crazy high!

What madness!!? (for some)

That`s not high - hey?

At the end - they were shrieking with joy/fear?!

This was another roller coaster called roar. They also loved this one. It looked really bumpy and it seemed to turn really fast.

After their hell ride. And they call this a fun park?

This was one that the boys did not go on - thankfully. It went upside down, twisting and turning. It looked horendous!

We all went on this one - it was such fun!

You go to the top and then come down in the water - it was really good fun and you just got a little wet.

The view from the top when Phil came with us.

Another picture with animated characters.

We loved watching this and seeing other people get wet! They got soaked doing this one. The boys were not keen to get wet after seeing all the soaking people.

And splash at the end!!

Another water ride which I also went on. I felt like a kid again!

Phil was a kid again - waiting to spray them as they came down. You squirt these sprays and it wets the people on the ride.

Oh dear, Phil missed! The boys laughed histerically at him - shame!

The drive back home after a wonderful day had by all of us, except for the roller coaster. I was happy to have survived the day.

Drving back to our hotel. It was about 7pm and the boys wanted to go to the easter fireworks but we thought that we had done enough for one day. We had given them the choice earlier on, to either stay at the park later or leave earlier and go to the fireworks and they chose to stay at the park.

Another fun day enjoyed by all of us. My next post will be New York city.

Until next time, these posts are coming fast now as our time draws to an end!

Hopefully we will see some of you on the 16th when we are back?!

Stay dry, stay safe and stay blessed!

xxxx

Washington D.C

2012-04-12T18:38:00.000+02:00

This was the drive to D.C but we went a roundabout way as Phil needed to stop over in Fredericksburg for some business.

On the way....................some small farms.

My quick "moving car" shots again.................I tried to get some of the trees which looked gorgeous with all their many colours.

The road was quiet.

Just coming out of a tunnel. We went through many tunnels that day.

We went past Harrisburg.

This is Harrisburg in the distance.

Finally, we came to the Fredericksburg turn off.

And then finally we arrived just outside D.C. We stayed in a "not so nice" Travellodge about 30 minutes from D.C. We felt that it was in a very dodgy area but after the first night, we felt more relaxed and it was fine.

We went for a drive after checking into our motel. Downtown D.C was not safe - well, we didn`t feel that safe so we drove back.

Downtown D.C.

The next morning, we caught a train to Union station to do some sight seeing in the city. This is the second biggest station in the world - apparently.

There were lots of shops and amazing things to eat!

We waited outside Union station for our trolley tour bus which we hopped on and off all day and had a tour of the city. We waited awhile and the 2 buses that went by were full so we wanted to give our tickets back as we were concerned that it was going to be a long wait at every stop as there were SO MANY people!! (Easter Friday) The stops were suppose to be a 10 minute wait. Anyway, we were told that we had to wait at least half an hour before we could give our tickets back, so we went outside to wait again. After about 10 minutes, the bus came and we were just about to get on when we realized that Duncan was missing. My heart skipped a beat! Phil ran back into the station and found Duncan waiting just where he had been with Phil earlier. He realized we were gone and just waited for us to find him. We told him that that was the right thing to do instead of trying to look for us. He got a big fright and so did we but thankfully we were all together again. (I feel like I aged about 2 years after that!)

Christopher Columbus - he was not the first man to discover America, the indians were the first. He was the first European to discover America!

The US Capitol in the center. To the left of the tower is the house of representatives and to the right of the tower is the Senate.

We went to an art museum which was part of the Smithsoneum museums. It was very interesting.

This was at the entrance.

We walked through some kind of rope type hanging things, not sure what they were. It felt weird.

This could have been Duncan`s drawing at 5 years old! Just because it was painted by some famous artist - it must be good art? Maybe the artist painted it when she was 5 years old?

The view from the art museum.

This was made with emty paint containers squirting paint out. I thought it was really clever.

This was made with nails. Amazing 3D art.

And bottles...............the boys loved this kind of art! Thanks to their auntie Margie who gave them an appreciation for 3D art and they did some 3D art in the garden with her when she came to visit us.

We had to walk a long way to get to the Washington monument.

This was one of the Smithsoneum museums. It is a group of museums funded by Smithsoneum who was a Scotsman and died in Italy but he never actually visited the U.S. There was a space museum, art, history and an American museum. We didn`t have time to go to all of them.

The Washington Monument has 50 flags around it, representing the 50 states of America.

This was the World War 2 memorial.

Walking to the Lincoln memorial. It took us ages and it was about 4 km.

The Vietnam Veterans memorial. The wall of remembrance which had the names of all those who died in the Vietnmese war.

And finally we got to the Lincoln memorial.

We have finally met old Abe! There were so many people inside that you could hardly move, so we just took a photo and left.

The view from the Lincoln memorial where we had walked from. It was so far and it was very deceiving as to how far it really was when we started walking. Phil kept complaining that I walk too fast, but I wanted to see EVERYTHING!

Phil had just been into the Reseve bank of America but they wouldn`t cash in his hundred trillion zim dollar notes!

The White House! It was so different being there and a bit of an anticlimax, not sure why. I expected more security and I didn`t realize it was right in the middle of the city and hussle and bussle. I would think that the presidents house would be a bit more out of the way?

Yes, been there now! Christian Americans are very worried about their country which is moving away from Christian principles with Obama. America is in a serious state at the moment.

The oldest hotel in the U.S. Abraham Lincoln also stayed here for $2.50 a night. Now it is about $500-$600 a night.

The Old post office. Apparently Donald Trump has just bought it and he wants to turn it into a hotel.

We didn`t really like D.C. It was probably the least likable of all the cities which we had been to. Boston was our favourite city by far. We just felt that D.C was very showy, too big with enormous buildings and just everything kind of in your face - trying to make a statement of power and strength. It was just too much for us.

The second day in D.C, we took the boys to the six flags theme park and that will be my next post.

They had so much fun!

Lots of love

all of the Frosties

xxxx

Charleroi Good Bye

2012-04-11T05:16:00.000+02:00

This will be a short and sweet post and the next few posts will probably also be short as time is short with our last few days here!

After the Creation Museum, we went back to stay with Linda`s mum (Nuni) for 2 more nights. We so enjoyed staying with her. She is such a warm, loving and huggy person so lots of hugs were given all round. We spent a relaxing day just staying at her house after having had such a busy 3 days in Kentucky.

The boys played in the stream near Shirley`s house (Nuni). They made boats and sent them down the stream to see which boat would make it to the end first. We had such a beautiful sunny day and it felt so good to be out in the sunshine.

Shirley (Nuni), Linda`s mum chatting to Phil.

Duncan and Murray perfecting their boats so they could float them down the stream.

Luke trying his boat out?!

And, finally they are off, racing down the stream to the end!

I`m not sure whose boat was the fastest?

The boys eating supper with the Millers cousin, Bree-Anne.

Having Spaghettie Bolognaise with Linda`s brother Gary, his wife Rose-anne and daughter, Julie-anne.

The view from the top of the hill which we climbed.

All of us at the top of the hill.

We had a wonderful relaxing time with Shirley and it was so good to get to know her and her family.

My next post will be D.C and then New York city and then we will be home on the 15th April!

Please drop us a line until next time!

xxxxxx

Creation Museum

2012-04-11T02:42:00.000+02:00

On the way to the creation museum, we came across this at a fuel station. I wonder where these clothes go? My first thought was the Dombotombo market in Marondera or the Mutare market? It would be interesting to find out? You can get very cheap clothes in the States, depending on where you shop. They also have some second hand stores where you can get clothes which are sold as "almost new."

This post will be a really long one but I really hope that you will take the time to read it, even if you do so in a few sittings. Sorry to take so long to get it out to you but there has been so much to say about creation and how God`s creation points to a living God who wants us to serve and acknowledge Him as our Lord and Saviour. I hope you will see this post as an encouragement in your spiritual life and hopefully a challenge to you to get right with God.

We all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God. Our righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ and we are justified freely by his grace because of what JESUS has done for us (died on the cross). There is nothing we can do or can do or will be able to do in order to receive salvation, it is all about what Christ has done for us! We cannot earn eternal life/salvation. (Romans 3:21-24)

Crossing the Ohio River. We drove through Ohio to get to the Creation museum which was in the very Northernest part of Kentucky, so it was about another 5 minutes after entering the Kentucky state from Ohio.

We took the Cincinnati turn off to get to the museum, although the museum was in a little town called Petersburg.

I was too late in getting the sign that came before this one that said something like this: "If you died today, do you know where you will be going?" This sign above says, "Hell is real." It sure is. "Do you know where you will be going when you die?" If you have accepted Christ and His word as truth and believe that God sent Jesus to die for your sins and you have a relationship with Jesus, then you will have eternity with Him one day in heaven. It is not about being religious, or going to church, or being committed to a church, or singing in the choir, or reading your bible, or praying, or giving to the poor ............Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship.

The one thing about Christianity, is that we serve a LIVING GOD who rose from the grave! With all other religions, these so called gods are dead and they are worshipped as idols. Christians can have a living relationship with a living God through the Holy Spirit. John 6:47, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life."

Psalm 119:30 "I have chosen the way of truth, I have set my heart on your laws." Have you chosen the way of truth?

In the world today, it is believed that ALL roads lead to Heaven. The Bible tells us that "there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus his son." There is only one way to God. John 14:6 Jesus answered,"I am the way, the truth and the life. Noone comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus said in John 10:7-18 "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep..................I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved..............I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep................I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me...........I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.................." Are you one of the sheep that know God`s voice? Or do you know his voice but you have not come into His pen yet - or accepted Him into your life?

Here`s the sign as we entered Kentucky.

Kentucky was the birth place of Abraham Lincoln.

We passed this electrical power plant on the way.

A photo taken from the parking area. They had 2 police guards near the entrance, watching the traffic as to who drove in and out. I felt safe....................I guess there is always the threat of some radicals who are against creation, coming in and causing trouble?

There is less Christian influence in the world today and sadly more secular influence. There is a numbing of Christian influence and I believe that this is because Christians do not know the word of God. Christians are not spending time in Gods word and we do not know the scriptures, so we are also being decieved and led astray. The Bible warns us in Mathew 24:24, "For false christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect."

Christians are blending in with the world, we are suppose to be different, set apart, we are NOT suppose to fit in! Fitting in is comfortable - we can just go with the flow and not be challenged because we are conforming and doing what others are doing. It is so much easier to live like this. What does God expect us to do as Christians?

When Peter speaks to Christians, he refers to them as"God`s elect, strangers in the world" (1 Peter 1),1Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect.."

We can`t call ourselves Christians if we are living like the world, going with the crowd, blending in and not being different. In 1 John 1:5-9 "...God is light, in Him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But, if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness..........."

God does not see degress of sin like we do. So, no matter what you have done, if you come to him and repent, he will forgive you - no sin is too bad to forgive! Remember the murderer who was crucified on the cross beside Jesus? He was forgiven and Jesus told him that He would see him in paradise! Wow - what a promise we have if we accept Jesus as our saviour and turn to Him! Then, he sees our sin no-more! We become right(righteous) with Him and acceptable to Him.

The beautiful flowers in the car park........................but you ain`t seen nothin yet.............more photos to follow.

It was so refreshing and inspiring to finally be going to a museum that speaks the truth - Creation and not evolution! Phil and the boys standing near the entrance. We are ready to be amazed. "Be prepared to Believe" with us!

We went to a "Snakes Alive" workshop. They had all sorts of snakes there as you can see them in containers in the back ground. This man is holding up a python.

Some of the kids went up to the front to hold some snakes. This little boy was very entertaining. He had this corn snake wrapped around his arm and as it wrapped tighter and tighter, he was getting a little worried and tried to get the attention of the 2 men, but he was also being brave but his face showed his uncertainty as well as masking his fear.

Putting on a brave face but he did relax after awhile and he was fine.

This girl had plats in her hair and the snake was camophlaged in her locks. It was slowly wrapping himself around her neck but she kept her cool. Rather her than me!

The little boy was trying to unwrap the snake! Notice the snake`s whole body around his arm. His mum was sitting right at the back of the room and she refused to come close to the snakes but she was happy for her son to be holding one!

The man took all the snakes from each child and wrapped them around his neck.

He was having "trouble" unwinding the snake from this girl`s hair.

A little bit of comedy....................the little boy was in his element and wanted to help - now that he was safe without "hiss" snake.

It was such a great talk and this snake man`s ministry is telling young children and parents about God through snakes. It was so refreshing to get a Christian perspective instead of the usual evolution that we always hear.

The seven C`s. Creation (God created the earth in 6 literal days, not millions of years), Corruption (sin of man-Adam), Catastrophe (The flood), Confusion (Tower of Babel), Christ (His Birth as a man), Cross (Jesus dies for our sins), Consummation (Jesus` second coming).

Genesis is foundational to understanding the Bible! Genesis is quoted many times in both the Old and New Testaments. For example, in Math 19:4-5 talks about God making male and female and so that is why a man will leave his father and mother.........(marriage and divorce) and in Romans 5:12 talks about the first Adam when sin entered the world, In Exodus 20:11 talks about God creating the world in 6 days, in Job God speaks about His creation which He created........................to name a few.

All the models in the museum were hand- made so everything you see is fake. At a glance, they looked almost real and for a second, you thought they would suddenly come to life. Some of the people and animals moved and even spoke to you. This archeologist moved his hands and arms.

The dinosaurs were all hand made by Buddy Davis, an archaeologist living in Kentucky. You will see more of him later.

Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in earlier times, was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope."

There is hope for all of us! "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves - it is the GIFT of God - NOT BY WORKS, so that no-one can boast." Ephesians 2:8
So, if we give to the poor or get involved in the church or do good works - this does not save us! We need faith in God and believe that Jesus died for us - it is faith that saves us. The result of this faith should be good works (fruit), so the faith comes first, then the good works, but not the other way around.

1. 40 authors, writing over 2000 years, spoke the same message
2. Scrolls, discovered in the last century, confirm that the original words have been preserved
3. Archaelogy has repeatedly been confirmed that the Bible`s historical details are accurate.
4. Hundreds of Bible prophecies have been fulfilled and none have failed!

Above all, the God of truth, the creator of heaven and earth, inspired the men who penned the words!

Proverbs 30:5 "Every word of God is flawless, he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."

These are some of the prophets who spoke the word of God to the people. Look how real they look!

A printing press. This was a "revolutionary" invention and thousnads of Bibles were able to be printed. Constantine (A "Christian" Emperor of Rome) printed hundreds of Bibles and also built many churches in Rome.

Charles Templeton was out to disprove the Bible and Christianity. There was a court case held which he lost but the damage had been done - the Bible had been discredited and this caused people to doubt. Men have always tried to disprove the Bible and this is where evolution has come in - to cause doubt in people`s minds as to where they have come from, how they have been created and whether there really is a God. Man does not want to acknowledge the one True God.

Evolution is NOT fact! What a lie. It is very sad that evolution is presented in our schools and written down in text books as factual. Every museum you go to, states evolution as fact. The more our children hear about it and see it and see other people believing it, the more they will believe it, and believe that it is true. Something has to be proved first before you can call it a fact! This is a basic requirement for science and scientific research, so why does evolution get away with it?! In fact, if it cannot be proven, then it is a hypothesis, not fact, but a theory.

We are being deceived, and that is because people do not want to believe the Bible because believing the Bible means that you have to accept Christ, believe that Jesus died for us and that we were created by God! It also means that people have to stop living their lives the way they want to and live a life according to the principles of God set out in his word. People do not want to live for God but they want to live for SELF.

It all boils down to not wanting to accept that God is our creator and his word is true! Then, we don`t have to make a choice, it is made for us (by the majority) and we feel safe believing what everyone else is believing? Following the crowd gives us confidence (acceptance by others) and security (false security). BUT, man`s ways are not God`s ways! Isaiah 2:22 "Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?" God is the giver of breath. (Gen 2:7)

Sad picture. So not true. Knowing Gods word is the key to knowing the Truth! When you read and study and know Gods word, then you will understand more about who God is. Through his word, He will give you the answers. If we really seek God, we will find him and he will make himself known to us!

This is so true! In the days of the Judges, man lived how he wanted to and each man did what he thought was right in his own eyes. Isn`t that the way the world is today? We are no different to the people living in bible times, men who rejected the prophets, then the judges, then God`s only son himself and even put him to death. The world is still rejecting God today. We see this in the way people are living and behaving today, and the way our governments are running our countries and legalizing abortions and gay marriages etc. These things are not part of Gods plan for us.

Have you abandoned God`s word in your home? Do you read the Bible to your children? Do you pray together and speak about God in your home? Is God a part of your everyday language? Are you living out His principles with your family? Do your children know God`s word? Is God`s word real to you?

Even in most church`s, God`s word is not being preached. Preachers want to increase their congregation numbers so they preach what people WANT to hear, not what they need to hear - the Truth. I have a friend who was told to step down from the youth ministry because her and her husband were "Bible bashing" and they were told to just make it fun, not too much Bible, otherwise the teens would not come to church! How sad. The church has failed us.

Above, there are consequences when the word of God is abandoned by the church!

This was quoted by someone in Britain.

We watched a 10 minute DVD on the account of the six day creation. It was great! Exodus 20:11 "For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth......................"

The many names of God.

Paul speaks to Timothy and says, "Neverthless, God`s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his, and Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

God created the world. He is our creator, not the big bang! Genesis1:31 "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day." God created the world in six literal days.

Because of man`s sin, work has become a burden. God mean`t work to be a blessing.

Adam and Eve in the Garden. Sin came into the world when the first man, "Adam" sinned and the earth was cursed. Genesis 3:17-19 God said to Adam, ".....Cursed is the ground because of you, through painful toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

Before sin, God created the world and it was good. Sin and corruption came into the world when man willfully sinned and chose to disobey God. This was not part of Gods plan for us.

Sacrifices were made to God in the Old Testament for the forgiveness of sins. After the death of Jesus, He paid the final sacrifice for our sins. We need to respond to what He has done for us - Acknowledge that we are sinners, repent and turn to Him, believe that he died for our sins and that Jesus is the son of God. Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

This dinasaur actually moved and looked so real.

The Dragon above the book shop - I only spent a very short time in here as I knew that I would buy something if I stayed too long! I just love books!

Evolution versas Creation. The earth will show us and teach us the truth about creation. We just need to look and pay attention to all the wonders and miracles of Gods creation.

The flood was something that happened and the earth was buried in a very short period of time. Evolutionists do not want to acknowledge that the flood happened.

This was because of the flood, just as God told Noah it would be.

All man sinned. All were wicked except Noah. All had turned away from God. In God`s grace and mercy, he chose to save not just Noah but Noah`s family too, so eight people were on the ark when the flood came. Everyone else laughed at Noah and mocked him. The people at this time had never seen rain before so when they were told a great and mighty flood was coming and they need to turn to God, they laughed at Noah. I often wonder how this must have made Noah feel - having EVERYONE laugh at him - all against him. Even his own family didn`t believe him, yet he continued to follow Gods plan. He was not swayed by man. Wow - what a man of faith.

God is our creator. If we reject this, then we reject God and we reject the Bible. We also need to believe the ENTIRE Bible and not just parts of it. The whole Bible is God`s word that he spoke through his prophets and messengers..

Genesis 1:24 "And God said, let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals each according to its kind." In verse 24,25, the word "kinds" is mentioned five times in two verses and this tells us that this key word is significant! Living creatures are grouped according to their kinds. eg kinds of dogs (border collie, wolf), kinds of cats (cheetah, lion, domestic). There are mutations within the varies kinds or species but you will not have a cat mate with a dog as they are different "kinds."

You need a great deal of faith to believe that we all originated from a primordial soup. This states that all life was created in a warm pond or ocean which needed rain and lightning. From this, little bugs or amoebas are formed. There is a problem with this already as who created the pond or ocean? Who made the lightning? Exodus 9:23 "When Moses stretched out his staff towards the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt...."

This is John, an apostle of Jesus. He wrote the book of Revelation while he was on the Island of Patmos, where he was exiled.

Martin Luther was a monk who read the scriptures and realized that you were saved by FAITH and not by works! This was a great problem for the catholic church as people had to pay penance for their sins and this was money for the church, so Martin Luther played a very important part in educating people about how they could receive salvation. After this, many Bibles were printed and they were not just in the hands of the church any longer but people could freely study the scriptures for themselves and not be dictated to as to the meaning of the scriptures. The invention of the printing press made this possible.

No, this is not your ancester! Well, if you believe in evolution, then this was your great great great grandmother/grandfather. Wow - that takes a great deal of faith to believe!..............way more faith than what you need to believe in the Bible! Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, He created him, male and female He created them." God even makes a distinction - he made us into either a man or a woman.

This was the view across the little lake overlooking the botanical gardens.

The boys were feedfing the fish over the edge.

Psalm 42:1-2 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"
The garden in Eden. Isaiah 48:13 " My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together."
Only the creator can say this to His creation!

There are so many examples in scripture where God speaks to and commands nature/creation to do His will. (In the book of Jonah, God caused a storm on the sea, he made a large fish swallow Jonah and then caused it to spit Jonah out on the beach exactly where he wanted him, parting of the Red Sea, providing the Israelites with quail from the sky when they were in the wilderness...................just to name a few)

1 Corinthiuans 3;10b,11 "But one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."
We should build for God`s glory, not for our own glory. So, whatever we do, we should check our motives and make sure that we are doing things for the right reasons - to give God the glory, not so that we can be praised by men.

The flowers above are fake - they looked so real! And Adam and Eve were so artistically made.

Toiling in the garden. Mathew 11:29-30 "Jesus says, "Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and burden is light."

Methusaleh - the worlds oldest person ever to live - 969 years old!

Hebrews 11:7 "By faith, Noah when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteous that comes by faith."
You are made righteous when you accept Jesus and believe in Him. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave his only son and all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life."
This is the wonderful hope that we have! We either accept it or reject it? We have a choice.

Noah, building the ark.

The creation museum is in the process of building a real life size ark and this will be complete in 2014! There was ample space on the ark and even space left over. One of the boys made a comment and said that Noah must have hoped that there would be other people who would be saved at the last minute and turn to God before the flood came! And, no-one else did turn to God. Even Noah`s family were not serving God but because Noah was a rigtheous man, God saved Noah`s whole family.

Noah spoke to us and answered our questions - all done with computers and the latest technology!. This was one of the boys favourite exhibits.

This was a model of the ark. It was sad to think that Noah`s sons did not turn to God after the flood, even after seeing all the people and animals drowning around them - it must have been a terrifying sight to see dead people floating about! This did not even make them believe. Are we also like Noah`s sons? Where do you stand?
We have God`s "whole story" to read and it will give us answers.

And this one...............................these are not pictures, they are all 3D models!

Inside a large hand made 3D model! It was amazing.

Plants and vegetables growing inside the ark.

Another model! The ark on Mount Ararat.

Noah makes a sacrifice to God when they were all safe and sound on dry ground again!

Genisis 9:9-12 God said to Noah and his sons, "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature - the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you - every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will ALL life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

What if Noah had disobeyed God (and listened to man)? Would we be here today?

We can know the truth and understand who God is by looking at God`s creation! The creation will reveal the Creator! Unfortunately, we look at the world and praise man instead of praising man`s creator. We look at man`s acomplishments and praise man. But, who made man so he could do these things? Jeremiah 17:7 The Lord says, "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him......."

Jeremiah 17:5 The Lord says,"Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depend on flesh for their strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord."

Man wanted to be more important and stronger than God so they built a Tower to try and reach up to heaven. Genesis 11:3 "They said to one another, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."God confused their language so they had to abandon their project and that was the start of different languages and cultures in the world. After the Tower of Babel, Noah`s sons went their different directions - to Europe, Africa and Asia. Man was not concentrated in one place anymore.

This is the entrance to the museum from the road. We just LOVED our time at the museum! We spent 2 full days there and we could have spent one more day. We stayed at a "Days Inn" hotel in Ohio about 25 minutes from the museum, which was in N. Kentucky.

The flowers were gorgeous!

They had just started blooming (especially for us!?).

Over the bridge, walking through the gardens to the petting zoo.

In the garden.

Duncan petting a kangaroo.

These two lamas were quite amusing!

Duncan with a Zonkey and a Zorse! This is an example of ONE KIND with variations within a species! A zonkey is a cross between a zebra and a donkey. A zorse is a cross between a zebra and a horse.

This is evidence of a living God who created all things unique with a purpose. He designed all things the way he wanted to, for his pleasure and for our enjoyment to take care of.

This was a kind of racoon.

Don`t you think I am gorgeous?! Do you think you can find me a dentist? They don`t seem to have any here!

The view from the side where we were petting the animals.

This was great! Buddy Davis (archaeologist) gave a presenation about the dinasaurs. They lived with man. There are about 20 referenes to Dinasaurs (Dragons) in the Bible. The word Dinasaur means "terrible lizard" and the word was only invented in 1841. In the book of Job, he speaks about dragons.

The boys did some crafts after the presentation. They had to mould a dinasaur on a piece of card board. They LOVED this and had so much fun!

Concentration!

Our craft table. The little girl kept breaking up her mum`s picture - she just wanted to play.

The final product - a job welldone!

Inside the museum at one of the little cafe`s. We enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate after a full day`s program.

Some more dinasuars made by Buddy Davis himself!

A real live one - only kidding! But it sure looks like a real one!

On the way back to our hotel - the power plant again.

A prayer for you to pray: Proverbs 30:7-9

"Two things I ask of you Oh Lord; do not refuse me before I die: keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty or riches, but give me only my daily bread (Jesus). Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or, I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of God."

"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 1Ch 28:9

Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. Psalm 119:2

I hope you will continue to follow us for the last remaining days of our journey! My next post will be Washington D.C and then finally New York city! We will be back home on Sunday the 15th April so sadly our journey is coming to an end.

I hope I can keep up with my last few posts!

Love to you all and we miss you all, please write to us!

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Pittsburgh

2012-04-04T01:48:00.000+02:00

We spent the day sight seeing in Pittsburgh. This is a typical toll road above. We passed many of these on the roads. Some of them were automatic, so that was new for us.

Pittsburgh was about 40 minutes from Shirley`s house (Linda`s mum) and we were surprised that the road was very quiet driving in. Pittsburgh was named after the Prime Minister of England, William Pitt.

Travelling through a tunnel just before we got to the city.

Coming out of the tunnel and into the city.

The city center. Phil managed so well with his driving in these large cities, although Pittsburgh was not as big as Boston. When we went to Boston, we didn`t drive through the city center but parked at a station and caught the train in.

Crossing the Smithfield bridge to go to the other side where we parked at Station square.

After we parked on the other side, we went up Mount Washington in a "trolley car."

The view from the station where we parked. You can see the Smithfield Street bridge and the PPG Place (glass buidling) in the background.

The view from the top of Mount Washington. It was strange to think that George Washington walked here once......................This is Liberty Bridge.

This is the Monongahela River. The one thing about Pittsburgh is that it has so many bridges. Pennsylvania was named after William Penn who fought for religious freedom as well as fighting for the rights of the indians. Pittsburg is in PA state (Pennsylvania).

A better view of liberty Bridge at the very top above. The next photo is of the Fort Pitt Bridge which runs across the Monongahela River just before the 2 rivers meet with the Ohio River. You can also see the Heinz Field in the background where they play football but don`t ask me what the teams are called as I have no idea.

There were many view points along the way. This was taken from one of our view points looking back up to the Mountain.

From another view point.

The street as we walked up to the next point.

Some houses along the street.

See the city center in the background and the sign above saying "Mount Washington."

This is a closer view of the Fort Pitt Bridge and the "trio Rivers."

Some more houses above. The houses were really big.

Murray and Duncan standing on one of the view points.

Just showing some more big houses in the back ground............................

.......................and the beautiful flowering trees...................

Pittsburgh also has much history. The Pittsburgh area became a battle ground when the French and British fought for control in the 1750`s. The rivers Allegheny and the Monongohela River meet to form the Ohio River and this area became a strategic junction. Can you see where the two rivers meet in the above 2 photos? The top one is more clear. Note the many bridges!

After quite a long walk, and after stopping at all the view points, we all enjoyed some yummy ice creams! I think Duncan thought he was going to have two. Not sure what Phil would have thought about him eating his ice cream........................!?

Spring has sprung - just showing a little path where the flowers were starting to bloom. Luke has taken off his jersey. It ended up being really hot that day.

The trolley car came back to fetch us and took us back down the mountain.

Duncan and Phil with the city in the background.

A bit of sight seeing at the bottom of Mount Washington at Station Square. There were some water front shops and many restaurants and it looks like this is the place for the locals to go in the evenings.

This building is a called PPG Place (Pittsburgh Glass Place) and it is all made of glass. We didn`t get to take a closer look.

Later that afternoon we were invited for dinner by a South African family who now live here. On the way to them, we came across many massive homes. This area used to be farm land that was sold off as individual plots so the drive there was very beautiful.

I called this "the castle." It was absolutely massive - in fact the photo doesn`t really show how big it really was. Apparently it cost 17 million to build.

I was trying to take photos from a moving car again, but hopefully you can see this house?

Gabriel and Petro from South Africa, now living here, Bonnie (whom I met at the precepts conference), Phil and myself. It was such a lovely evening and we all so enjoyed sharing our African stories and spending time together.

Another big house above.

We have already been to the Creation Museum in Kentucky and so that will be my next post. We are driving back to Charleroi later today and then we will be in D.C. I have so many photos to upload for the Creation Museum, so this one will take me awhile. I am trying to keep up with all my posts as we are so busy and so there is not too much time. Phil and I are being so challenged, inspired and ready to begin some new chapters in our lives! This journey has been so good for all of us.

Look out for my next post on the Creation Museum! We had an awesome time there!

Love to you all

xxxxxxx