Home, Sweet Home!

After driving 4,022.7 kilometres through 8 American states in 10 days and stopping to be tourists in 5 cities, we are back home! Our family summer road trip was a lot of fun but as my son said: "It's nice to be home!". I agree with him --- there's definitely no place like home!

Here are some highlights...

We stayed at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton, PA. The building is the old historic Lackawanna train station. The architecture is beautiful and the interior is 'fancy' according to the children! We visited the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton where they have the largest collection of steam train engines and rail cars in all of North America. My son was 'in heaven' as he is a train fanatic. It even has a working roundhouse and we were able to see workers in action restoring an old steam engine --- a Canadian National (CN) one, I might add!

We stayed one night at an old Victorian guest house owned by a Christian couple near the Creation Museum in small town Petersburg, KY. It is one beautiful house! We visited the museum the following day.

The Noah's Ark exhibit at the museum is most fascinating. It is a lifesize replica of a section of the ark. It's amazing to see its scale and to think that it was built without the aid of heavy construction equipment! And to think of how long it took Noah to complete the ark; all throughout that time, he believed steadfastly that God would do what He said He will do. That required authentic faith and pure obedience! I wondered how I might respond if I were in the same situation?!?

Needless to say, it was an awesome experience. It is utterly amazing to me that the museum opened debt-free because of financial contributions from Christians all over the world. It is a world-class museum, a must-see!

The Tennessee Aquarium was also very fascinating. My son's favourite are the sharks; my daughter loved touching the stingrays; hubby's favourite are the jellyfish that look like they have an electric light/current running through them; and my favourite is the leafy seadragon (a type of seahorse). The aquarium definitely showed us God's artistic touch in the underwater world as we saw an array of wonderful sea creatures, some for the very first time.

Lookout Mountain was gorgeous. Being on top of it at Rock City and looking down at seven states was really cool. But the coolest thing was being inside and underneath Lookout Mountain, in the caverns where Ruby Falls, an underground waterfall, is located. After walking behind the tour guide for about 30 minutes, sometimes squeezing through narrow rock crevices, we arrive at the 145-foot waterfall, which is 1,120 feet underneath the mountain. The look on the children's faces was priceless --- even to me, it's unbelievable that something so magnificent could exist underground amongst solid limestone rocks and crevices. It is definitely another example of the greatness of our God.

The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty;
Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice.
He wraps himself in light, and darkness tries to hide;
And trembles at His voice, trembles at His voice.

How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God;
And all will see how great, how great is our God.

Age to age He stands, and time is in His hands;
Beginning and the end, beginning and the end.
The Godhead Three in One --- Father, Spirit, Son;
The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb.

Name above all names, worthy of all praise;
My heart will sing, how great is our God.
How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God;
And all will see How great, how great is our God.

So ... we are home now for the summer. Home, sweet home! When my son said: "It's nice to be home!" --- it made me think that one day, that's what we will be saying when we get to heaven! Wow, what a thought!