Birthday weekend

4:15am... my alarm clock goes off. Time for work- I had to be there by 5am, one hour before we open, 5 hours before I would like to be crawling out of bed. This particular morning however was brimmed with excitement as I went about my morning traditions. For one thing it was my weekend off, and the other was that shortly after work, Joel and I would be joining my parents and two younger siblings to go on a 'road trip' to Luray, Virginia- to visit the largest set of caverns on the east coast. So yes, it was going to be an exciting day. My little sister is turning 8 on Wednesday and one of her biggest dreams was to 1) Visit a cave and 2) complete a garden maze- both of which we could do at Luray- so there we went to celebrate her birthday.

We got about 20 miles away from Luray around 10:30pm on Friday. We had decided ahead of time to book a hotel for the evening so we could spend most of the day Saturday visiting the caverns and taking our time.

Saturday morning we headed out early to get to the caverns (early to me- seeing as it was before ten). Our first stop was the Garden maze. Pretty much from the start we split up, Callie, Mom, Joel and I against Dad and Chris. I'm proud to say that we were victorious in finding our way out AND finding the 4 stations set up inside the maze to complete the 'theme'.
After that we went to the caverns, there were a few cars there- but not a very long wait at all (about two hours later when we finally emerged the entire parking lot was full of cars and the line was SO long). When we first entered the cave Callie said "Is this stuff plastic? It doesn't look real at all" I had to reassure her that it was indeed real- the amazing handy work of God. She touched the roof (I held her up- and the ceiling was low) and she said "Oh- yea..... your right!" Let's just say God is amazing. To walk into a room descending steps in the middle of the summer and feel the air get cooler and crisper as you go down- pretty amazing. The air was clear- basically bacteria free (about 98%), you could tell that your breathing changed. People everywhere were looking at the immense rock structures that seem to be held up by nothing but a few columns here and there yet it's so hard to believe that anyone could walk into the caverns and NOT believe in God, sadly though, they do. Everyday people ignore the majesty and magnificent works He is/has created all around us.

Guys- God is real. He is Mighty, Just, Powerful, Eternal, Everlasting, Beautiful, Jealous, Awesome. Don't forget it.

Much later that day we headed home, stopping at a mall along the way to stretch our weary legs (funny isn't it that sitting all day can cause your legs to grow tired). It was an awesome day- God blessed us tremendously and we had a great time together. Heres a few pictures from the day. Enjoy!

Much love,
Carrie


Garden Maze- with a cool fountain in the center



Birthday girl! She was so excited to explore the maze



God is so creative



This one looks like a curtain



A plaque honoring the guy who built in an 'organ' which played tunes by hitting the columns- I love what it says "Mans genius and the hand of God are in perfect harmony"



An awesome tower where music was played throughout the square



My brother- yes he's pretty cool