The Rest of the Trip Down South Part 2

The next stop on our trip was to visit the McCarty's in Tennessee.  We met their daughter Grace in Israel and then their oldest son, Aaron, moved to Port Alsworth, the nearest village to our Northeast.  We finally got to meet the whole family at Family Week.  We had a great time visiting them.  They've got the cutest goats and lambs and they were getting a greenhouse started.  We had a cookout with the neighbors, many of whom we had met in Israel or at Family Week.  In fact our next door neighbor, Erin, lived with us in the Warren Palace in Israel.  Below Paul and Casey McCarty are visiting.

Nate and Katie Waller live close by the McCartys. Even though they weren't home, we went and checked around the outside of the beautiful yurt Nate built.  He did an awesome job.

The kids found a deer stand nearby and had fun playing on it.

The next stop was the Waller's for an Israeli Day Celebration.  Below Josh Waller entertained the kids by rolling them in the big tire.

 The food and the fireworks were great.

We had good fellowship sitting around the campfire.

 Then we were off to North Little Rock, Arkansas to visit my brother John Mark, his wife Sandy and daughter Catherine.  We missed their daughter Elizabeth who is newlywed to Evan.  Below we're heading to the zoo.  The kids took turns riding with Aunt Sandy in her cool convertible.

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time at the zoo topped off by an awesome meal at Dave's Burgers.

Not wanting to leave any corner of the lower 48 unturned, we next drove all the way down to San Antonio, TX to visit my sister Carole, Uncle Chris, Callie and Carolina.

We got to do a little homeschooling in historical San Antonia.  We visited the Alamo and took a boat ride along the river walk.  Uncle Chris is a chaplain in the Army and he took the kids to see the horses stationed with him at Fort Sam Houston.  We also learned that Uncle Chris is something like the Post ping pong champion.  They had a ping pong table folded up against the living room wall and we were naive enough to believe Aunt Carole when she said they bought it for the girls to play with.  We set it up and everyone had a great time playing.  When Uncle Chris stepped up to take his turn it was all over.  I'm not sure if anyone ever scored another point.

After a very nice visit we continued our journey due North to the Warren's Oklahoma Farm.  The kids found out what red Oklahoma mud looks like.  The Warren's have a pond and what started out as a swim turned into a mud fight.





This year as we once again :) studied how to determine the Feast Days.  Paul felt that we should wait for the equinox to happen as the sun is the greater sign in the heavens and then the next new moon would be the first day of the first month of the year.
Gen 1:14  Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 
Gen 1:15  and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 
Gen 1:16  Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.
Normally it doesn't make a difference, but this year if you waited for the equinox and then the new moon it puts you a whole month behind the generally accepted day for Passover.  It does however, put Sukkot in the fall like it should be.
The Warren's and the Davis' were celebrating on the same timeline as us so we planned on being at the Warren's for Passover.  The Davis' came up from Texas and we had a great celebration together, made all the more emotional by the fact that Dayton had just asked for Abigail's hand in marriage.  I thought it was cool that their betrothal was held the day after First Fruits (I think she actually had made her decision the day of First Fruits and she is our first born) and their wedding was held on Shavuot (Pentecost).

There was a powerful storm far enough from the Warren's to not be a danger to us, but was an awesome sight and Abigail was able to get some good pictures.

Below we're all having fun at the makeshift ping pong table.

Below Paul and the kids are all running in the same direction to get a whirlpool going in the pool.  It was quite effective.  (Paul put himself in charge of getting all the debris out of the pool)

The visit to the Warren's was highlighted of course by Abigail and Dayton's betrothal.

The next stop on the trip is back to North Dakota to Grandma Effie's.  The Warren's went with us so Paul's mom could meet the crew :)