Day at the Beach

Huntington Beach Lighthouse...still functioning and open to the public.

We arrived at St Helena Island, SC yesterday and we are staying at a wonderful state park here called Huntington Beach St. Park. We went on a walk this afternoon along the beach, collected many shells, saw a beautiful lighthouse and even got to see dolphins playing just off the shore. What a delightful day it has been!!

 

Isn't this darling!! They love the beach!

 

Picture time, just before the dolphins came over to play!!

 

Walking back to our campground, we see this cute Christmas decoration and had to share it!!

 

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Downtown Tour of Charleston

The hotel where our tour started.

On our last day, we took a tour of historic downtown Charleston. We learned soooooo much that it will be hard to write it all in this blog, so I'll mostly just share pictures. I will share two interesting fact that we learned about George Washington along this tour...he had lost all of the teeth in his mouth except one so he had to wear dentures made from hippopotamus teeth which were terribly uncomfortable!! He never wore his dentures when getting his picture drawn...he stuffed his gums with cotton instead, therefore that is why he is never seen smiling!! The second things we didn't know about Mr. Washington was that under his infamous white wig...he was a redhead!!

One of the MANY churches in the downtown area.

 

 

Another church...an episcopal church...BEAUTIFUL!!

 

The "first" First Baptist Church of the nation!!

 

LOTS of the historic homes of Charleston had these porches of the side of their houses....but we were specifically informed that they are NOT porches, they are PIAZZAS!!

 

 

The boardwalk/beach front of Charleston.

 

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Angel Oak of Charleston, SC

The Angel Oak!!

I'm a bit behind in my blogging and we've done some wonderful things in the last few day, so I'll try to catch everyone up with what we have been seeing. The first is an amazing testimony to the Creator of the universe...the Angel Oak!! This is a "live" oak tree, which is a variety of oak tree that never looses its leaves...it's leaves never change color...the old leaves slightly discolor and then are pushed out by young, fresh green ones, so it has green leaves for its whole life! Plus once it reaches it's maximum height, then it begins to send out many, many large limbs. The Angel Oak is MASSIVE and is said to be 1400-1500 years old!! It was 65 feet tall, 25 feet in diameter and provides shade for almost an acre of land. Also, you must remember, that what you see above the ground with the limbs will be mirrored under the earth with it's massive root system!! It is one of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen!! You can't help but feel a sense of awe and worship as you admire this most magnificent creation!!

If you look VERY closely, you can see John and Madeline taking a picture in the bottom, right-hand side of this photo. That gives you a great perspective of the enormity of this tree!!

 

 

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Magnolia Plantation of Charleston, SC

I was so looking forward to seeing a real, old-fashioned Southern plantation on our sabbatical and yesterday was the day for me to treasure!! We toured to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and it was everything I'd imagined it would be!! It was absolutely enchanting...I can't even imagine how lovely it would be in the spring!! The pictures don't do it justice, but here are just a few...Enjoy!!

The romantic entrance, lined with trees that are covered with Spanish Moss

The second build of the plantation...the original was burned during the Civil War :-(

Some of the many "camellia" flowers that bloom in Nov and Dec.

A loaded pyracantha!!

More camellias

Only a few hydrangea blooms remained.

One of the several swamp lands and bridges.

Paige made me take this picture!! :-). She is missing her turtle!!

One of our favorite camellias.

Exquisite bridge and swamp.

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South Carolina

After about six hours in the truck, we arrived from Atlanta to Charleston, South Carolina yesterday afternoon and set up camp in the fabulous campground at James Island. The weather is a perfect temperature of 74 degrees and it is really beautiful here!! I will be taking lots of pictures to share in the next few days as we get out and see what Charleston has to offer. We also set up our home for Christmas yesterday, so we thought you might enjoy seeing what that looks like...much more simple than usual, but still festive!! If you look closely through the front door, you can see our tiny tree with blue lights :-). We even got to stroll through a light parade that they do here at James Island in the evenings of December for free because we are staying at the campground. We have talked about going every night right after dinner, just for something fun and inexpensive to do and it is certainly putting us in the holiday spirit!! Perhaps I will try to get some pictures of the fun things in the light parade? Hope you all have a wonderful day...we sure will as we explore Charleston, SC.

 

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Passion City Church

The outside of the church...a "non-church" looking building, don't you think??

Man, oh man, did we worship today!!?? We decided to go to Passion City Church in Atlanta, which is pastored by Louie Giglio. What an exciting place to be...this place was on FIRE!! Great music, great worship, great Biblical teaching, great kids program...made for a GREAT day!! The Lord is doing mighty things in the Atlanta area and using Louie, his wife and the body of Christ to ignite a passion for Christ in this generation. I believe a revival is in the making!! What a privilege to worship The Lord in His house today!!

 

Inside the sanctuary.

 

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Family Fun!!

We had the pleasure of meeting, cheering for Georgia Bulldogs and eating dinner together, and getting to know our Lionbarger cousin (and second cousins!!) on Saturday afternoon. Brian, Stephanie, Adeline and Jacob moved to the Atlanta area about a year ago and we decided to call them up and see if we could meet them. Graciously, they opened their home to us and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with their family. The kiddos were instant friends and I absolutely loved holding Jacob, who is 10 months old...what a snuggle bunny...it did this mama's heart GOOD to hold a baby again :-). Thanks again, Lionbarger family, for a special time yesterday...we enjoyed every minute of it!! Blessings to your precious family!

Pictures of their LOVELY home.

 

Their screened-in back porch...absolutely exquisite!!

 

 

The men in the kitchen!

 

Dinner time :-)

 

Cousins had a BLAST together!

 

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