Happy Friday!

A couple weeks ago, someone asked me to share a blog post detailing some of our recent travels and I thought that was such a fun idea! My husband and I just started deputation to raise support for a church plant in Pennsylvania. While we are not on full-time deputation, we do have meetings spread out throughout this year and next… with this fall being the busiest. It will be a busy and exciting season in our life I’m sure!

Our first missions conference was back in March with our sending church here in PA. In May, we had four meetings close together as well as a little trip with my family. In just two short weeks, we had our first four deputations meetings and the mini vacation with my family.

While those two weeks were busy, tiring, and a bit nerve-wracking (for me) we also had a blast and made some wonderful memories. Now, I sitting at my desk in the comfort of my own home, counting down the days until out next trip!

We took lots of pictures and visited many new places… so here’s where we’ve been in the past few weeks!

Antietam Battlefield, Maryland

We left for Virginia early Saturday, May 18th and decided to stop in Maryland for the afternoon to visit Antietam battlefield.

There’s one thing you must know about my husband and I – we both LOVE history. Growing up, I visited many historical places on the East Coast but have since forgotten them (I was pretty small!). My husband on the other hand is a huge history nerd but hasn’t visited very many historical spots. Because we both love history, we’ve made it a goal to make some tourist-y stops while we travel.

That particular Saturday was a beautiful day to tour Antietam. We enjoyed the Visitor’s Center, the personal driving tour, and all the beautiful landscape. However, it was sobering to realize that 23,000+ men died, were wounded, or went missing on this battlefield in less than 24 hours. It was the single bloodiest day in American war.

→ If you ever decide to tour Antietam, just be prepared for the $15 fee per car. Obviously, that’s not a lot, but we weren’t expecting any fees – silly us! Everything else was free though! Except for the $1.00 postcard I bought for a souvenir. 😉

Richmond, Virginia

After touring Antietam, we finished our drive to Virginia. There we stayed with some friends and had a wonderful stay in their lovely guest room.

On Sunday, we had our first meeting at Mt. Victory Baptist Church – a fellow church plant. We were excited to visit this small church again, and my husband was able to glean some valuable information and resources from the Pastor. It was great seeing our friends from this church again!

Sunday evening, we had a meeting at Gill Grove Baptist Church (also in VA). To be honest, I was really apprehensive about this particular meeting. While we had visited the grounds of this church before, we had never been to any services there, nor did we know anyone who attended! Thankfully, we found it to be a very warm and welcoming Southern church. There were lots of young children who appreciated our table because of the Hershey Kisses we had available. 😉 Adam was able to present our ministry, share his testimony and give a challenge. We met so many kind and generous people and we left that meeting feeling very, very blessed!

On Monday, my husband had a meeting with one of the Pastors, so my friend Sarah, took me to the lovely Maymont Gardens in Richmond. We toured Japanese and Italian Gardens, smelled and tasted unique herbs (including our favorite – stevia!), saw a black bear up close and in person, and learned the history behind this lovely estate. Everything was beautiful and it was such a fun outing with lots of laughs… we truly made some wonderful memories!

I felt really sad saying goodbye to our friends in Richmond… but we had another fun adventure about to start in the beautiful mountains of VA!

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

On Tuesday, we met up with my family in the mountains… this trip was a Christmas gift from my parents, and one that we all had fun planning at the beginning of this year.

We stayed at a very nice cabin which had enough rooms and sleeping space for all 7 of us. The first day we just got settled in and went for a nice walk around the property, touring other cabins and adventuring around the immediate area.

On Wednesday we hiked to the top of Crabtree Falls. It was a 1.7 mile hike (uphill of course). While the hike was somewhat difficult, the views at the top was worth it. The falls and the mountains were beautiful!

On Thursday, we went and toured beautiful Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson. When we arrived, we were delayed in getting to our tour because of a VIP Presidential group that was also touring the grounds. We never figured out who it was exactly, but we did see the man and all the extra security that was there just for him!

It was fascinating to tour the inside of Jefferson’s unique mansion, as well as walk around the blooming gardens. We got to go underneath the house and see the cellar, we learned about the slaves he owned, and toured the tiny house he and his wife lived in while Monticello was being built. It was such a beautiful place with so much rich history. We loved it!

Throughout our four day trip, we spent lots of wonderful time together as a family – chatting, sitting around the campfire, playing games and making wonderful memories! I’m already looking forward to the next family trip we take – whenever that may be! 🙂

Stafford Springs, Connecticut

On Friday, we headed home. It was wonderful to be home and rest up for just a few hours. The next day we hit the road once again – this time for Connecticut. That Sunday, we had a one day missions conference at Galilean Baptist Church. Adam was able to preach for all three services and he and I sang a duet in the evening. We also had a lovely time staying with the Pastor’s family for the weekend.

On Monday (Memorial Day) we headed back home again. By this point we just wanted to get home, so we didn’t bother to stop at any touristy spots in either Connecticut or New York!

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Wednesday night right after our Connecticut trip, we had a meeting in Philadelphia at Calvary Baptist Church. This is where my husband completed one of his pastoral internships and he was very excited to go back! This was the first time I had ever visited so I loved meeting some of the people and seeing the church where my husband served for a summer.

There also happened to be some really bad storms the night we were there. Back home, the towns near us had rain and hail, and in Philly there was drenching rain and flash flooding. It was an memorable evening for sure… but we came away feeling very blessed and excited about a wonderful meeting!

Looking Ahead…

As I mentioned before, we are not on full-time deputation, so we aren’t traveling every week (or even every month). Our next trip will be in July, and after that our Fall months are filling up with meetings! However, we are still contacting churches every week and praying that the Lord will continue to open doors for us. Lord willing, our goal is to raise the amount of support we need to plant an Independent Baptist Church sometime next year!

This is an exciting season in our lives and your prayers for us are greatly appreciated! ♥

I hope you enjoyed reading about our travels and seeing a few of the pictures from our trip. Thanks for reading! ♥

With Love,