amazing fall colors in PA

I really love the fall.  It is an incredibly beautiful season because of all the colors and crisp cool weather.  I’m so grateful I got to see many of the colors when we visited PA and also while driving on our road trip!  Here are some of my favorite pictures. 

Amber and I also went trailriding on horseback Tuesday afternoon in the Scranton area.  We had a blast enjoying the scenery and the wonderful horses!  It was cold and windy.  Both of the horses and us loved it!   

 

Amber and Chiron

Jenn and Hickory

Amber riding Chi

Gorgeous fall colors

pretty mushrooms

 

 

 

I debated about what to title this post for awhile and finally settled on pretty mushrooms.  I’m not sure the words “pretty” and “mushrooms” go together.  Perhaps “unique mushrooms” is better?  How about this: the fungus in my neighbor’s yard is fascinating?  Just kidding.  My neighbors do have some very interesting looking mushrooms growing.  I can’t get over how translucent and oddly shaped they are.  Some of them look like flowers!  I am always on the look out for all things unique about Texas. 

If you have a better adjective to describe the mushrooms, please let me know.

beautiful monday clouds

Here are some pictures of some lovely clouds on our drive to the airport!  It was a beautiful morning!

tuesday sunset

I like this picture of Tuesday’s sunset.  The clouds in the foreground seemed to really stand out, and it was pretty as we drove back to Galveston.  It really is a lovely area.

beautiful texas clouds and sunset

Wednesday evening as we drove from Galveston to Webster, we noticed an amazing sky.  The light coming from the clouds was several different colors, mostly due to the fascinating cloud cover.  When we came out of the Cheddar’s restuarant after dinner, the sunset was incredible too.  Look at how the brilliant white clouds seem to wrap around the fiery orange ones!  I am completely captivated by the beauty and variety of the sky and give praise to it’s awesome Creator! 

friday sunrise

Friday’s sunrise was once again beautiful.  I spoke at the Thursday night worship service about Psalm 19 and experiencing and responding to God.  I talked about my experience of God as creator in the sunrise and how the color, variety, and light remind me to worship him.  So I was looking forward to seeing it today and was not disappointed.  The group of high school students from Nebraska that I spoke to was hoping to get up to watch it, but I didn’t see them on the beach.  Wonder if they made it?

monday sunrise

“You are resplendent with light…” Psalm 76
There was such a contrast on the beach this morning between the beautiful sunrise and the awful state of the beach. After the fourth of July weekend, the sand was covered with trash spread everywhere– evidence of poor stewardship of creation.  I couldn’t help thinking about the beauty of our creator and how we have been entrusted with stewardship of the earth and how we fail so miserably to do that well.  It’s amazing to me that people would not clean up after themselves on a public beach, especially with trash cans lining the roped parking area.  It would not be that hard to clean up!  The most nasty thing is seeing the dirty diapers in the sand or the sidewalk.  What causes some people to care so little about their environment and also those around them?  Surely it is a result of the fallen state of the world that we live in. 

I want to maintain the beauty of this world because it points back to God.  I don’t want to look around me and only see the remnants of poor stewardship.  I want to see the glory the creation brings to God because of the way he made it.  As in Psalm 19, the heavens are telling the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  May the earth and his people reflect his glory even in this fallen world.  Looking forward to the day, when God will restore everything to what God intended when he created it.  May his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. 

tuesday sunrise

Amber and I woke up early Tuesday morning to see the sunrise.  It started off very pale with all the clouds along the horizon, but the color by the end was beautiful.  It’s lovely when the sun reflects off of the water.  We walked along the Gulf for a bit and then watched the rest from the lifeguard’s chair.  Can’t help but think what a beautiful creator God we have!

guest blog- amber’s trip to brazos bend state park

WOW!

Brazo’s Bend was one of the coolest places ever! I thought that hiking the trails around the different lakes were really neat, but some of the coolest things were found in the neat types of birds and other wildlife that we saw. Some of the birds were so beautiful, but I wish I knew what kinds they were. We did see a few gators, four at least, but most of them were out swimming. There were a bunch of people that thought they needed to throw rocks at one to get it to move, but that didn’t work out very well for them (It moved after they went away…HA!) Anyways, it was a really cool place. I spotted an armadillo, and it was a big one, but sadly, it was dead (we discovered this by Tim throwing a stick at it…it didn’t move.). I always wanted to see one! I think one of the reasons why the place is so neat is because we don’t have anything like this in PA, and there are so many cool things to see there. It would be a great place to go biking!
After the park, we were pretty hungry so we drove to a great Mexican restaurant called Luna’s. I had one of the best chicken tacos ever there! :O) We finally got home very late, but it was a great day!

Posing at Brazos Bend State Park

O my goodness!

Elm Lake at Brazos Bend

Pretty colorful birdie

Swamp gator

Flowering vine

Pretty trees and water

Black bird spreading its wings

Amber at Brazos Bend

Gator at Hale Lake

How does one molest an alligator?

I don't know what type of bird this is, but it's neat.

Another pretty bird

Wonder who these fun people are? :O)

It's dead...but the only REAL 'dillo I've ever seen!

Very dry ground at Brazo's Bend

A Cuddly Raccoon!

saturday sunset

Here are two more pictures of the pretty sunset last night.  I love the way the light touches the clouds and changes colors so frequently.

Pretty sunset

Disappearing sun