New York Bound!

By: Erin

At the end of October we had to make a sudden trip up to Lynbrook, New York as Mom’s oldest sister, Christina, died.  It was a blessing to see family again, but we were sad that Aunt Christina died.  Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to comfort us and for the promise of heaven. We made the 15 hour trip in one day, arriving at our hotel at 2:30 in the morning!  We were glad to get on Long Island late at night since there was no traffic.  We are so thankful for God's protection on the road.  Many times we saw His hand keeping us safe!  Unfortunately, Dad was not able to come with us.

Heading in to busy Washington, DC traffic.

 

The next morning we got up rather late since we got in really late!  That afternoon we went to the Long Beach Boardwalk with our Aunt Geralyn.  We had so much fun!  When we got to the boardwalk, there was a really neat cloud formation.  I had a fun time photographing it.  God's creation is beautiful!

The boardwalk at sunset.

After the boardwalk we went to Uncle Hilary and Aunt Geralyn's  house to say hello to everyone.

Benjamin & Uncle Hilary

The next morning we exercised, then got ready to go to the wake.

This funeral home has been a blessing to our family as they are always so kind and understanding.  They do a great job!

After the wake we went to Uncle Greg and Aunt Tina's home for lunch.

Cousins!

The Becker family waiting outside of the church for the funeral.

Mom is the youngest of twelve, so there are a lot of Beckers!

The Autumn colors are so pretty!

After the funeral we went back to Uncle Greg and Aunt Tina's to have lunch. 

On Thursday, we went to  Theodore Roosevelt's home on Long Island.  The fall colors made everything especially pretty.  It's always so amazing to be out in God's creation!  Aunt Geralyn was our guide and we enjoyed our time with her.  She is such a blessing to us as she always takes time to show us sites in NY.  You can learn more about this park by clicking here.

Theodore Roosevelt's home.

At Sagamore Hill (the name of Theodore Roosevelt's Home), the National Park Service made a nature trail down to Oyster Bay.  Theodore Roosevelt actually owned a portion of this beach.

There were history signs along the way

A hermit crab

These trees were amazing!

Our lunch was very delicious--New York bagels and tuna fish!

Theodore Roosevelt's front door.

After touring the house, we went through the museum quickly as it was about to close. 

After walking through the museum, we walked back down to the the nature trail.  At the beach, the tide had come up a considerable amount, as we looked over the boardwalk, we saw two swans!

These stiles were made so they could climb over the fence instead of using a gate.

The next day, we started our long trek back home to Georgia.  This time, we decided to split it up into two stops: the first at our Aunt Terry's (Mom's sister) home in New Jersey, and the second in Culpeper, VA where we decided to attend church with some friends.  There is a lot of traffic getting on and off Long Island, that we felt like half our trip was over once we had gotten off of the island.  During a previous trip to Long Island, traffic was moving so slow, our GPS asked us if we wanted to switch to walking mode!

We love Aunt Terry!

Late the next morning, we drove to Culpeper, VA.  We stopped to take a short hike in Maryland

As always, the leaves are so beautiful in the fall!

God provided great weather to have Church outside. It was a beautiful day!

We drove the rest of the way home after church, and thankfully, we had very smooth travelling back!  We are grateful to the Lord for keeping us safe on the road and allowing everything to go well at all our different stops.

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”

(Psalm 31:24)