Niagara Falls Video

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls was spectacular! The falls were beautiful, powerful, strong. It's amazing to think what took place with the rivers and rocks to create something so massive. God is so creative!!

Psalm 42:6-8
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me -
a prayer to the God of my life.


So...another 'interesting' story from one of our excursions. I decided that we had to go over to the Canadian side but we were stupid and forgot our passports. However, there was a gate that you could walk through and a sign next to it that read "Non-US Citizens must have a valid ID". The gate led to the bridge with the pedestrian walkway over to Canada. I said "We're US citizens...should be no problem!" HA!! Coming back over, we had to stand in a long line waiting for homeland security officials to look over our measly driver's licenses. What a lovely and kind look they gave us when we said "Uh, what are you talking about? What new rule about passports?" Sorry, hard-working customs officers!

A view of the Horseshoe Falls - the Canadian falls
This angle looks like thousands of gallons of water
dumping into an abyss.

Horseshoe Falls
It was an overcast day - lots of gray color

Up-close shot of one of the American falls

American Falls w/ Horseshoe in the distance

View of the American Falls from our boat ride - 'Maid of the Mist'
Smaller one on the right is called Bridalveil Falls

My favorite pic of J! I'm sure he's glad I'm adding this one:)
We wore these stylish ponchos on the boat

It's windy down at the bottom of the falls!

Cheesy tourists!

Cedar Point

Being the adventurous type, we decided to take a detour from our Niagara Falls trip last weekend and visit Cedar Point - the "Roller Coast Capital of the World" located in Sandusky, Ohio. It was awesome! 6 rides in 6 hours...you can imagine the lines! The point being made in this post revolves around fear. If ever there was a time where I felt as much anxiety and panic as my patients, this last Friday was it! Jason drug me to Top Thrill Dragster and I had to literally drag myself to sit down inside the rollercoaster car. Sheer terror was all I can describe the experience as...I don't think I've prayed "Jesus help me!" that many times in a row before. The only thing that helped to keep from screaming before the ride was the reminder that it only lasted 18 seconds - you ask "what kind of ride is it for only 18 seconds?" Well, it catipults you straight forward at 120 mph in 4 seconds, for starters. In my opinion, no human should be going that fast in only 4 seconds! Then you jolt straight up 420 feet, over an arch and straight down 420 feet. I can honestly say I've never heard my husband scream until the moment when we took off:) But we survived and, I must say, it was a rush. So here are some pics from the Cedar Point website...

Women of Faith

This past weekend I was grateful to attend the Women of Faith conference in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, Jason went camping with a friend and wanted to take the camera...so, I have no great pictures to post. But I suppose this allows me to focus on content. When I got back home, Jason asked me what I learned. I racked my brain and thought "I don't think I learned anything new." I was encouraged and reminded of many truths important to women and Christians...faith, hope, promises of God. But the speakers actually did teach me something that I often overlook...everyone hurts. Each speaker (strong in their faith & walk with the Lord) had (or still is) experienced a deep wound - deep depression, loss of a child, loss of a spouse, family illness, sexual abuse, eating disorder, divorce. Each one of them had such an intense story, but yet each woman gained a wealth of wisdom and faith through their trials. I left thinking "If it takes pain to grow in faith, I don't want an easy life." Yikes! Maybe I'll one day regret that prayer, but for now, I know that real testimony and real ministry comes from real pain (and the willingness to go through real healing.)

The Never-ending Project

It's finally finished!! The new patio that should have taken a weekend to complete (in Jason's mind) took three months. But the finished product is spectacular! Mom has been chomping at the bit to see pictures of Jason's masterpiece. She was supposed to have seen the completion of his vision in April, but instead saw a big mud pit. Oh well, better late than never. We saved a chair just for you Mom Nixon!

DC Fireworks

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but we love living so close to so many different places. We decided to brave the traffic and check out the Washington DC fireworks at the Mall (Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial). We were astonished to find that there was no traffic...what a blessing! The fireworks were spectacular - Jason said he's never seen better. They were displayed right behind the Washington Monument. Funny story...we had driven to the last subway stop and taken the metro in to avoid a parking disaster. The metro station after the show was unlike anything we've seen before. If ever there was a time to let personal space not be an issue, this was it! Right before the train arrived, a group of people started singing "O beautiful, for spacious skies..." J and I looked at each other and just rolled our eyes....but ten seconds later were joining in with the chorus! The whole throng of people packed in like sardines sang the whole song - it was hilarious! Then we spent the next 15 minutes holding onto a poll in the subway train with every side of us being touched by some other poor schmuck who thought that the metro was the way to go that night. But in the end, it was a fun adventure!

Part of the finale

The Capitol in the background

Jason's Birthday!

I surprised Jason with a cool dinner at The Melting Pot. It was SO much fun...wow, what a lot of food! Definitely recommended for special dinners - bring your appetites (and your wallets!) Happy Birthday babe...here's to year 31!

Cheese fondu

Meat & veggies fondu

Yummm...dessert fondu!

DC Zoo

We drove up to DC on Saturday to visit the Smithsonian National Zoo - nice thing about Smithsonian locations are that they're all free! Many of the animals seemed to be lounging in their "houses" since it was hot and humid, but here are some pics of the cool creatures we saw. Jason's favorite part was the hippo that literally 'spewed' a huge dump in front of the all spectators and sent us all running for cover...boys!

I LOVE hydrangeas!

They even had a triceratops at the zoo!