A Mini Vacay to God’s Country

Hello, and happy Monday, tender friends!

I’m sorry for my lack of a post last week. We took a mini vacay, and I didn’t realize how limited my internet would be! At first it concerned me. But then I embraced it for the blessing that it truly was.

Last week we headed to the border of West Virginia for a magical stay at this house:

I never realized how luxurious it is to take a shower beneath the open sky until taking a shower here. So I’m adding that to my life goals for my own home. Maybe it’s a lofty goal, but it was just magic having the water run over my body while looking up at the high altitude light streaming through the skylight.

We hiked up to this lookout, which was technically West Virginia. Taking in this vista, I understood why people mutter things like “Sweet Jesus!” I couldn’t stop drinking in the beauty and thinking that God saw all that he had made, and it was good.

I had a similar experience when we visited Bath County, Virginia. I adore the mountain views where we live in Roanoke, but Bath County changed my sense of scale so profoundly that the mountains here looked small to me when we came back “home.”(I don’t consider Virginia home, so that statement feels weird. I’m not sure if I ever will. I haven’t lived in New Jersey for over a decade but still think of it as home.)

That doesn’t come close to doing the altitude justice, but everything looked black in the bright light when I looked at my phone and I couldn’t really see what I was taking a picture of.

We also experienced the healing waters of Bath County. I soaked my feet for as long as possible, then asked God if I could store up some healing by proxy for people who need it.

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that we don’t drink alcohol, so I didn’t buy anything here, but the cider made from local apples sure looked tempting.

There’s so much more that I didn’t take pictures of, including nights by the fire with a cup of tea. Is there anything quite as delicious as cold nights next to the fire as we await fall? Cubby ran along the brook right next to the fire pit and had a BLAST each night.

My heart is full. It was so special to have this vacation, and this guy was a hiking champion who made me proud by sticking it out without being carried at all!

Ok, that’s all for today, tender friends! Thank you for stopping by, and have a great start the week!

Thank you for sharing!

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