Vacation Part 1: Adventures in the Smokies

Our vacation started early, 3:50 a.m. on Monday morning, to be exact. We hit the road at 4:15 a.m. bound for Townsend, TN and a quick visit with GiGi and Pappy. With two stops at McDonalds and two stops at Chick Fil A, we arrived in the mountains to loving and open arms at 11:15 p.m. Needless to say, we slept well that night and were thankful that GiGi and Pappy got up with the kids in the morning!

Josiah loves to attack an apple, so we would give him an apple when he got frustrated in the car. 
This particular apple somehow ended up all over him.

We spent Tuesday around the house and neighborhood. There was plenty of fun to be had, including walking down the driveway (aka a walk down the mountain) to a neighbor's swings and sandbox, a walk around the neighborhood pond, and a trip to the local natural spring.

There is lots for a girl and her Pappy to discuss on the walk up the driveway.

You aren't the only one, bud! We all left very well fed :)

On the path around the pond, after feeding the fish.

On Wednesday we ventured out a little further and took a nice hike to Laurel Falls. It was a paved path and about 2.6 miles round trip that yielded lovely views of the color and ultimately a nice waterfall. We were all pretty cold by the time we reached the bottom, so we hopped on over to the Sugarlands visitor center and enjoyed the unique displays of local wildlife.

I was telling her all about Niagara Falls :)

Trying to keep the babies warm!

 Thursday morning Sarah and GiGi made special cupcakes with a chocolate surprise in the middle. Then we all went for a leisurely ride through Cade's Cove, always a favorite. Sarah especially enjoyed the mill this year.

You'll have to ask Pappy who jumped the biggest when Sarah accidentally honked the horn :)

She was quite fascinated by the mill.

"Ummm, so you're telling me I can't have another?"

Friday morning we packed up and cleaned up. GiGi and Pappy were headed home and we were going to continue on to Niagara Falls for the rest of our vacation. A little last minute research turned up two troubles. 1) The high at Niagara Falls over the weekend was in the 40s with snow in the forecast. We weren't prepared for that kind of cold! 2) The two attractions we were most excited about, the Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds, had each just closed for the season. Also, Dave's passport expired six days before our arrival, so we would be bound to the American side of the falls. We did some quick thinking, lots of calculations, made a few phone calls, said goodbye to Pappy and GiGi, and headed toward Washington D.C. instead!

MegaTrip: Fun with the Cooks

Part Eight in a series chronicling our first big family road trip. 

As much a treat as the mountains were, the real draw was the family who had gathered there. We were able to see my parents (Pappy and Gigi), my grandmother (Grandma Lynda), my cousin Rachel and her husband Drew, my cousin April, my Aunt Faye and Uncle Jerry, my sister Jacki, her husband Mike, and our nephew Eli. 

Pappy leading Sarah down a path in Cade's Cove

I got to preside over the renewal of Jacki and Mike's vows

Jacki, baby Eli, and Mike

My parents with their children and grandchildren

A gathering of home beer brewers, for sharing purposes. Pappy brought his newest creation.

Pappy and his boys

At a stop along the road. Emily, Josiah, Sarah, Me, Pappy, and Gigi.

Pappy, Gigi, and the grandkids

Our nephew Eli

Buds

A Wise Dad with Dirty Fingernails

I don't remember my dad ever coming home from work clean. I'm sure he did sometimes, but it's tough to run a peat mine without getting a moderate to severe amount of dirt on you. You should have seen our house on laundry day.

I also can't remember any hobbies of his that didn't somehow connect him to us. Dad never withdrew to have his own time, though if I'm anything like him, I'm sure he wanted to. He would make music with me, take us skiing, sit with my mom, work on the house for us, work on my car, or take us to church. If he ever did slow down, it was to watch NASCAR, and he usually fell asleep. He worked more hours than an average dad, but I never knew that. Because when he was home, he was home with all his heart.

Eventually he took me to the peat mine and put me to work. I still enjoy bragging about having run a front-end loader as a young teenager, but I'm even more glad to have seen him in work mode. He plays in the the dirt like he means it. His employees respect him because he cares for them and knows what he's doing. He goes to survey a prospective site, shoots a cottonmouth in the face, and doesn't tell us about it. The environmentalists tell him to restore an acre of wetland, and he restores two. Then he invents a way to replace peat with compost and suddenly turns commercial potting soil into a renewable resource. Nobody knows dirt like my dad. And he works it with all of his heart.

We shared several adventures and misadventures that involved a ski boat. I've never seen anyone swim faster (and I watched the 2008 Olympics) than he did the day a ski rope turned into a noose and drug my neck behind a boat. He made absolutely sure I was safe. But then he waited and waited while he was coaching me through a deep-water start on a slalom ski. In the cockpit of a boat, and everywhere else, he is an aggressive lion and a patient lamb rolled into one.

It took so long, and so much renewal of my own mind through reading the Bible, for me to see what was really going on. Why does my dad love to work in dirt? Because he's a man, who, like Adam, was made to work the earth. Why is he so naturally like both a lion and a lamb? Because he knows the Lion and the Lamb. Why does he love his bride so consistently? Because he knows a Savior who loves His bride. Why is he so good to Jacki and I? Because he knows a Father who loves His children. Everything that makes him a great dad is rooted in one thing: he knows the Lord.

My point is this: my dad isn't awesome because he read a thousand books on how to raise children. He just fears the Lord and acts like a man. Because the fear of the Lord really is the beginning of wisdom, and a wise dad is a good dad.

Now I get to watch him play with his granddaughter in the dirt, and number myself among the many dads who are trying to figure this fatherhood thing out. I think it just might work if I can remember the big lesson he silently taught me: to love the Lord and be a man. It's an intimidating calling. But if you fear the Lord, He will give you wisdom, just like He gave it to my dad. And maybe (eventually) your children will notice it.

I'm starting to.

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Our Letter to Josiah

Our Dear Josiah Michael,

This is a story about a little boy who was a very good king. 

The people rejoiced when he was born, for it meant the line of kings would continue. God had promised Israel that they would always have a king to sit on the throne for them, and Josiah’s birth was a reminder to them that God always keeps his promises. King Manasseh had a grandson! The Lord saves! Who is like the Lord?!

But eight years later, things looked very different. King Manasseh had died and Josiah’s father, King Amon, was murdered by his own servants. Suddenly there was no king left to rule for them except this little boy. It must have been scary for everyone, but God was keeping his promise. Even if he was just a little boy, Israel still had a son of David sitting on the throne. But could a little boy really rule well for them?

Well, anybody can be a good ruler with God’s help. Josiah just followed the Lord, and it turned out that’s all a good king needed to do. The Lord does save. There is no one like Him. 

When the word of the Lord was brought to King Josiah, telling him Israel’s sin and imminent destruction, he wept. He was so sad he even tore his clothes! Because he wept over his sin, God saved him from that destruction. And once God saved him, Josiah turned into a new man. He destroyed idols. He got rid of the priests who allowed the idols in the Temple in the first place. He ruined the high places. He put away the mediums and necromancers. He brought back the Passover. He walked in the way of God, without turning astray at all. And he is one of the few kings in the books of the Kings whose epitaph says nothing bad about him.

King Josiah’s life made clear the meaning of his name: the Lord saves. 

We hope that happens in your life, too. You may not tear your clothes (at least not if we teach you well), but there is a coming day when we even hope you mourn like King Josiah did. One day you may realize that because of our disobedience and the disobedience of our fathers, we too deserve destruction. We hope the Lord brings you his word like He brought it to King Josiah. And, as much as we never want to see you cry, we hope you are sad on that day. That’s because, as your name says, we hope and pray the Lord saves you. He can. There is none like Him. 

We also hope His mercy molds you into a new man: a man who walks in God’s ways without turning astray at all, even a messenger whose life and lips declare the meaning of his own name. 

That’s why there is another messenger you are also named after, one who stands before the Lord Himself. He, of all creatures, knows that there is no one like the Lord. He is a very good angel- one who fights for God’s people and faithfully delivers messages.  Your pappy and daddy are proud to bear his name and to pass it down to you. That name, Michael, means, “Who is Like the Lord?”

So we hope that, like King Josiah, your life displays a simple and unfathomably deep truth: that the Lord saves. And we hope that you become, like Michael, a messenger of God’s truths who makes people ask, “Who is like the Lord?” May there one day be multitudes in heaven shouting, “The Lord saves! Who is like the Lord?!,” because God chose to work through you. 

You were also given a royal name, like your daddy (David- after King David), your pappy (Stephen- crown), and your sister (Sarah-princess), even though we all will probably go through this life without actually wearing a crown. We feel like royalty sometimes, with the good lives God has given us, but Pappy and Daddy know that the real crown is coming later. 

That’s because those who follow in the Lord’s ways are learning today how to be rulers tomorrow. And one day, when the only truly good king Israel ever had comes back, He promises to make us rulers in His new creation. Suddenly, a lifetime of training doesn’t seem like long enough! We pray that, like the Josiah and the two Michaels who walk before you, you will one day wear an eternal, unfading crown.  

So your grandfather is Stephen Michael. Whose crown is like the Lord’s? And your father is David Michael. Who is beloved like the Lord? Now you are Josiah Michael. 

The Lord saves. Who is like the Lord?

Your loving parents,

David Michael and Emily Elizabeth Cook

Trip to Florida

Well, life has finally calmed down enough to tell you a little about our trip to Florida, in which we got to see so much of the Cook side of the family!

It all started the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving, in which we rode up to Boston and spent the night in a hotel. Although we (especially Emily!) love staying in hotels, this was really so we could avoid driving up from the Cape to catch our 6:00 a.m. flight. By 4:20 the next morning, we were out the hotel door and on our way to the airport.

Wrap a couch cushion in a baby blanket, stick it between the hotel bed and the wall, and what do you get?
A toddler bed!

The sun rising over our beautiful Cape Cod

After landing, we spent the afternoon and evening with our family, having lunch at Chick-Fil-A and a dinner of my Mom's hamburgers. The next day, we took a trip to the Regional History Museum so Emily could be briefed and I get a refresher on Florida history.

A little playing in the car while we waited on Auntie J.

I was NOT going to let this stone alligator eat my wife!

Sarah picking oranges with Grandma Vicky. I think I was up in the tree at this point.

Wednesday was a real treat, as we went to Dunnellon to see my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Faye. We all took a trip together to Rainbow Springs, a beautiful part of what I call "the real Florida."

Rainbow Springs

Somewhere it turns from Rainbow Springs into the Rainbow River

On the way home, Sarah got to meet Molly and Amanda.

The rest of the week had some great plans attached to it, but instead the strangest thing happened. By Thursday morning, Jacki and Sarah were the only people who hadn't come down with a stomach bug! So we all spent a day or two at home in recovery- fortunately it was a quick one. By Friday evening, everyone was well again and a dozen or so of us had a nice dinner together before we flew back home.

Panorama of sunrise on Lake Louisa

Sunrise the next day

Playtime!

Reading with Great Grandma B.

It was a great and refreshing trip. Although we were sad to miss out on a few days of fun, especially on seeing our good friends the Kerrs, I think the easy rest of a sick day may have been just what we needed.


Epilogue: you may be thinking, "it's a good thing Sarah didn't get sick." And you would be right . . . if. As it turns out, she only managed to fight it off until the day we flew home. I don't suppose the details are internet-appropriate, but let's just say that plane ride involved several outfit changes and ended with a diaper-only baby and some stewardesses I feel very sorry for.

Sometimes, rather than just giving us patience, the Lord teaches us patience.