Hey, y'all! Hope that you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas! Our family surely did! I could bore you with the 200 plus pictures that we took last week, but I will spare you all because you are my friends! We are still enjoying our Christmas decorations--the lights are twinkling away on our tree as I type! I hate to take down the decorations...I simply want to continue to enjoy them! One year, I decided to leave up the nativity scene--the really nice one that I previously mentioned--all year long! We also put our house on the market that year. Needless to say, the real estate agent highly suggested that I pack it away while we showed the house! Anyhoo...I will put everything back in the attic before New Year's Day.
My last post mentioned some of our Christmas traditions. One that we do each year AFTER Christmas is a family hike. Some years, we have almost frozen to death while munching on PBJ sandwiches! This year, the weather was just a perfect gift from God! Beautiful, sunny, and warm--temps in the 60's...couldn't ask for better! We did a hike that I haven't done in almost 20 years! Boy, does time fly! We are very fortunate in living in the upstate of SC. Gorgeous mountains are within an hour's drive. So, after packing PBJ's, crackers, granola bars, water, cheap Wal-Mart cookies, etc., we headed up the road! This is where we hiked today.
This is Table Rock, SC. It is a strenuous hike and took us several hours to complete. We went all the way up to the top. But, it is so worth it! God had a ball while creating this place!
So, do I look like Vanna?? Just kidding! I am sweaty, smelly, kinky haired, and loving every minute of it with my boys!
"Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom...They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works." Psalm 145:3,5 That, my sweet little bloggy friends, is what played in my head and my heart today while hiking.
Can you tell that there are some"steep" places around here? And, I am one Mama who is scared of heights! I was a little nervous with the boys bouncing around on those boulders and drop offs!!! Yikes! I felt like they were dangling off the mountain at times! The pictures do not do this place justice! So, all of you are cordially invited to join my family for our next hike, and we can all visit! Bring your families, too! I have plenty of cheap Wal-mart cookies to go around! 
I would love to hear...in your spare time-hee hee...what you and your families enjoy doing together. Or, what you enjoyed doing with your family as a child. We also have family game night at our house! We got a really fun game for Christmas this year! It's called Last Word! It's for older kids, but it is fun and pretty fast! Just an FYI!!!
I will be back posting next week. I hope and pray that each of you will be blessed this coming year by our awesome God.
Sweet blessings,
Sweet blessings,
14 comments:
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your after Christmas pictures! That looks like SO much fun! And how breathtaking to be engulfed in the midst of His bare creation like that. Thanks for sharing! I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Rich blessings to you Susan as you bring in the New Year!
Perfect day for the hike my friend! Hope Scott and I are as lucky on Friday.
Love the pics and that you where able to enjoy the trails even if it was not in running form.
See you in the morning for our run. Trails run on Saturday will be great as well. Bring your camera!!
I find it amusing that while we'll be shoveling snow to get out of our driveway tomorrow morning, wearing warm sweaters, coats, hats, mitts - the works - you're climbing mountains in t-shirts and shorts! Looks like you're having a wonderful holiday.
When I was a child we would play games as a family every Sunday night after church. We would keep a record of who won and at the end of the year the winner would receive the family trophy. I don't want to brag, but guess who won it every year but one? If they hadn't all ganged up on me that year I would have still been victorious.
Happy New Year my friend. So thankful the Lord blessed me with your friendship this year!
Love & prayers,
Joy
Love your hiking photos! What a great day.
What we do...hmmm. We play games, like Uno, we have a "movie night" with the girls and pull out the sofa bed and eat popcorn. We go for SHORT walks, but my youngest is 4, so she goes 1/2 mile or so before wearing out.
Oh my! Beautiful! AND...I think I've been close to there...we have relatives that have a mountain house at Ceasars Head!...all my girl in-laws and I went up this past July for a girls weekend and had a blast!...more shopping than hiking!:) Loved Bevard!
Have a wwonderful day!
Blessings!
Teresa
ps: will you e-mail me at teresabraden@aol.com...I want to share somthing with you.
Good morning! As a child, I truly enjoyed when we lost electricity. Because then and only then, my Dad would join the rest of us and play games and it was just a total blast.
I'm a card playing, game playing fool, let me tell ya!
Blessings and Happy New Year!
Yolanda
This does look like fun...shorts, sunshine, warm weather...
During our family time we had WAY more clothes on....hehe...we were all bundled playing in the white stuff, sledding...and drinking hot cocoa!
Hey Susan,
Just stopping by to wish you and your family a Happy New Year!!
It's been great getting to know you this year.
Now that hike, OH MY! I just can't imagine.
Pray God will help me get on the ball and get in shape for 2009.
You are such an inspiration.
Beautiful pics, Susan. The blue sky in the first one is gorgeous!
Thanks for sharing.
Love,
Paula
Happy New Year, Vanna..I mean Susan!
Okay...we've seen Table Rock...you know, where you DRIVE up the mountain and look at it from a distance...no hiking necessary. :)
hee hee...I know it would mean a lot more to do the hiking. Maybe someday. :)
Blessings to you and your beautiful family!
Love the pictures. Wow...you truly do live near some gorgeous handiwork of God! I love the one of the boys with the water in the background.
His blessings and peace to you in 2009, Susan! :)
Sharon :)
Such beautiful memories! Thanks for sharing your pictures. As I was looking at the beauty of your hills and mountains, I thought about the scripture I read this morning (my first to memorize in the Beth Moore challenge):
Isaiah 54:10
"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, who has compassion on you."
Now that's some strong love and peace to walk with us, whether we're enjoying the dare of mountain dangling or walking the safety of the straight path. Even if the mountains are shaking and the protection of our hills were to be removed, our God's unfailing love and covenant of peace remains.
(Can you tell I'm try to work this one into my brain?)
Are you doing the challenge? If so, I would love to know the verse you picked.
peace~elaine
Susan,
I don't happen to have your e-mail address, so I'm going about this through your blog. I asked some of the women I have come to know through my own blog if they would share their memory scripture with us at this posting. I would love and appreciate your joining us as Beth so encourages us for the next 12 months in this journey. Lovingly, Yolanda
http://yolandarogers.blogspot.com/2009/01/happy-new-years.html
That hike sounds great. Though I think I would have a heart attack doing it with my family. Not because of the heights, but because my 10 and 8 year-old boys would surely come too close to falling off the side...
I haven't been running for a while because of a bad knee. I've been taking a suppliment that's supposed to help replenish joints and tried running again yesterday. My knee is "OK," but my hip? Is killing me!
*sigh*
I'm too young to be falling apart like this!
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