Sep 25

Sep 25 Road Trip 2014

Road trips are certainly not glamorous. They are not particularly comfortable. Only those stout of heart, quick of clemency, and iron of stomach undertake such travels. Well, those people and then us.

Mimi (Cathy) is the only one of us not pictured here...she is sneaky that way!

Luckily, I took off earlier with the two little ones and rested a few days with my parents at our halfway point – far east Texas, just shy of the Texas-Louisiana border.

Judah with his grandad checking out the birdfeeder I painted last spring break.

Kenzie didn't realize how good Grandad is at catching crawfish when she agreed to go hunt them with him.

Though our destination was beautiful Mobile Bay, Alabama, I wheedled my way into setting a prior destination: Biloxi Beach Mississippi. Our children had never before seen the ocean, something I desperately wanted rectified. So we stopped a few miles short of our final endpoint to play in the white sands and lively waves.

Mimi and Uncle Caleb lent courage to Kenzie in her first ocean "toe-dipping".

I think Judah was ready to jump the waves, taking his da-da with him!

While the Expositor’s Conference official start was Monday evening, we opted to arrive Saturday evening and take advantage of hearing two additional sermons by Steve Lawson the following Sunday. That gave us Sunday afternoon to check out the public beach within walking distance of our rental home.

Why yes, that is our rental house in the background!

Then Monday morning we touristed our way around the bay to Dauphin Island.

Kenz LOVED adventurously exploring the fort.

Our expedition to Alabama wasn't just for fun and games out in the sun and waves. The journey was specifically to attend the annual Pastor's Conference held at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church on Monday Evening and all day Tuesday. Steve Lawson and Alistar Begg spoke on Christ in the Old Testament...and while that whets your appetite you'll have to wait to hear highlights of their sermons! Suffice it to say, I am not a preacher - nor ever shall be - but I was convicted, encouraged, and thoroughly immersed by scripture over those two days.

Today we traversed four states, took 5 pit stops, and made it back home in 11 hours. Only 1.5 of those hours were accompanied by incessant crying, with the remaining ones full of laughter, singing, eating and (blissfully) sleeping. Enjoy the pictures today - I'll work up my conference notes for next time!