[north] Carolina

I’ve always loved flying. The take off, steep climbing to the tippy tops of fluffy clouds, looking down over a patchwork of earth tones, the city lights upon approach for landing at night.

These past few weeks I was able to take a couple of flights on my vacation to and from North Carolina. I had never been to either of the Carolinas before so I was pretty excited. That, and the fact that I was spending all my vacation time with my sister and brother-in-law J

I determined that I wasn’t going to pay the extra $50-some bucks to check baggage, so with a little help from some YouTube videos and some significant work, I stuffed everything into my carry-on suitcase and backpack. One last stop for a pack of gum and I was ready to go. How fun to fly to the land where aviation first began!

Over the next 10 days, I had a spectacular time. Some days were more eventful than others, but I enjoyed them all. A few highlights included touring the capitol, the executive mansion, spending time at the North Carolina Museums of History and Science, spending time on Duke’s campus and viewing Duke Chapel, touring Duke’s Homestead, visiting the North Carolina Art Museum, and weekend trips to Old Salem and the Outer Banks (Wright Brothers’ National Historic Site, Fort Raleigh, Jockey Ridge sand dunes). I was able to be there over Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter as well. It was wonderful celebrating such an important week of Christianity with my family.

Thanks to K & N, I was also introduced to old humorous episodes of Iron Chef, was educated in some classic video games, was able to explore the greenways and IBM’s campus, and played my fair share of Yahtzee, Nine Card, Uno, and Rummy.

Since my rigorous master’s program is fast approaching, it was great to just get away for a bit, relax, have my family pour love into my life, and be refreshed, valued, and supported. There will be many changes in my near future and, at times, it seems a little more than I can take, but one day at a time I’m trusting in God’s good plan for my future. It’s gonna be ok.

I'll close out this post with some pics from the trip. Enjoy!

The "Roman" George Washington, wearing a toga.
Raleigh, NC. Capitol building.

Tourist pic, North Carolina Museum of History

World traveler ;) North Carolina Museum of  Science

Duke Chapel

Winston-Salem, Old Salem. Getting ready to cross the bridge from the present to the past.

The "garden" and some houses in the background. Part of Old Salem.

Eating at the "tavern"

The apothecary. So glad medicine has made so many advances since then.
I would have hated to be a patient in the 1700s.

Working on our second 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the trip.
This one was a photomosaic of Van Gogh's Starry Night
 - so difficult. But, as you can tell, we're having fun.
And, yes, we did finish before I left.

Lunch on the Outer Banks. Found this well-rated gem online.
Would never have stopped here by the looks of it, but it was quite authentic.
Yay for seafood on the coast!

Someone was nice enough to take one of us all together.
Crab cakes, flounder,and shrimp split three ways made a delicious lunch.

Wright Brothers' National Historic Site Memorial. So cool.
We climbed a massive "historic hill" to get to this point.

Recreation of original 12 second first-flight photo.
Something in this pic is not like the original. Hmm?

Yeah, we were there on the original flight too.
The history books must have left that part out ;)

Jockey Ridge sand dunes. The largest active sand dune ecosystem in the SE USA.

Easter attire. 

Looking snazzy. So happy to spend my time with these stellar peeps.

 

Being silly!

 

Ready to devour K's yummy yellow/chocolate  Easter cake.

 [and that's all. the end. until next time.]

Easter is Coming

Happy Easter!

I love this time of the year. Spring brings with it the promise of new life. The days lengthen, the sun shines, the clouds pour forth rain, the buds blossom, and the birds start singing. The natural is reflective of the spiritual – new life is an ever-present reality for the Christian who lives in the fullness of the risen Jesus J

To kick off the holiday season, Kelly and I attended Evangel's presentation of the 2nd and 3rd movements of Handel's Messiah (the Easter portions). We enjoyed listening to the complex music and vocal lines. It is truly incredible to experience the result of such creative genius. Handel was one talented guy. After the concert was finished, we headed back to my apartment to continue our celebration of the Easter season...

Once Kelly and I returned, Nick joined us in an egg-dying adventure. After popping open our bag of Starburst jelly beans, we were ready to begin. If you were a fly on my kitchen wall, you would have observed a comical scene of three 20-something-year-olds trying to figure out how to hard boil eggs. Apparently, it’s not something we do terribly often. Haha. After a helpful Google search, we found directions on how to cook the “perfect hard-boiled egg.” Although we started with a dozen eggs, three of them cracked while boiling…so we had a tasty snack.

Everything is ready to begin dying the eggs :)

Sisters

By the time our remaining 9 eggs had cooled, our color tablets were dissolved in the vinegar, and we were ready to start dying! To this day, the smell of vinegar still takes me back to my childhood when my sister and I would color eggs. We all worked around each other to get to our desired colors, and a little later we had some spectacular eggs to show for our efforts. Kelly and I often dyed eggs together as kids, but it was fun to have Nick in on it this year too. He always makes things more entertaining. For instance, check out this pic. Yes, I have the coolest brother-in-law.

Our results were awesome.

In addition to the Starburst jelly beans and dyed eggs, I have also enjoyed this week of preparation for Sunday morning. First though, time was taken to remember the horrible, awful sacrifice Jesus made for our sins. Joining some friends, I went to Evangel Temple’s Good Friday service. Throughout my college years, I was never able to attend this service because I would go home for break, but I had heard wonderful things about it. As I entered the sanctuary, the lights were dimmed. The choir and orchestra sat ready in anticipation of the evening. During the hour of reflection, we took communion, sang a hymn, and heard Scripture read. The musical portion filled the remaining time and presented the last 7 words of Jesus at the scene of the cross. We left the sanctuary in silence. The somber mood only emphasized the extreme of the joyful Sunday morning we would soon be celebrating.

I am grateful for Jesus and his exchange - my sin for reconciliation with God. May we ever praise Him. Have a blessed day J