A Few Photos of Our Vacation Time

It was a sad, teary moment as I watched the plane turn on the runway ready for take off carrying our friends back to far away Mississippi. Two short weeks earlier we had not yet met in person... now we were family. Benji, Tammie and their daughter McKenzie had spent two perfect weeks with us. The weather was wonderful, both the week we spent in Whistler and the week we were at our home.

What a whirlwind two weeks we enjoyed together .... yet at the same time the most relaxed enjoyable vacation I have ever had.

What a privilege it was to show off our beautiful province of British Columbia to people who were in Canada for the first time in their lives.

We showed them the contrasts in our backyard.. ...... snowy peaks......

pleasant green forest trails.....
and the ocean viewed from the ferry to Victoria.
Of course we ate together.... We celebrated Mother's day lunch after church .....

Tammie's birthday.........
and loved the Gelato Ice-cream at a Vancouver shop..... only 218 flavors.
We saw lots of wild life...... including 5 bears.... we photographed the baby bear below, hoping his mother wasn't lurking near by.

and we laughed .... and laughed.......

Benji realized his life long dream of meeting the Sasquatch !!

We laughed at the man carrying a whole pig down a Vancouver street ....
and we saw this white dog in a white convertible when we came out of a Whistler Market Place. He was a beautiful dog but ohhh... how he made us laugh. He refused to acknowledge that we were even there ... his whole demeanor communicated his wish that we simply be gone. "If I don't look at you , I can convince myself that you don't exist!"

This Sniffle Station made us laugh... but what a thoughtful idea !! Strategically placed to accommodate that unavoidable runny nose in cold weather.....

We also made time to serve. After Benji and Tammie planned their 25th Wedding Anniversary year with a trip to BC, doors opened for ministry. I will tell more in the story I am saving for my next post .... but here are a couple of photos depicting opportunities God gave them.

Benjy singing in our church.

and in Gateway church the next Sunday. (I was thrilled to hold this little Sudanese baby. The girl standing beside me is the baby's mother's cousin. She arrived in Canada only two or three weeks ago. )

Everywhere we went we were surrounded by the beauty created by God's hand. We were thrilled looking up to see the awesome mountain views but didn't miss the little things we had to bend down to enjoy. Tammie was especially impressed by the buttons and the huge tulips.

We enjoyed the wild beauty of the Othello Tunnels. We did not know until we spoke with a Chinese tourist looking for the Tunnels that Rambo was filmed there.

We also saw amazing architecture built by man. The Parliament Buildings in Victoria, the famous Empress Hotel as well as innovative designs of homes in Whistler.

We loved the water falls.

Bridal Falls.

Shannon Falls

Brandywine Falls

Nairn Falls



On the last Saturday we wanted to take them boating on Lightning Lake in Manning Park. To our surprise that was hardly possible. The lake was still frozen solid and snow patches still on the ground. The ground squirrels were out but must have been surprised that many of their tunnel entrances were still covered by snow. McKenzie enjoyed feeding them... they were sooo hungry!

The day was warm, (26' at the Lake and 34' a short distance away) warm enough to be out in shorts and t-shirts and to get a burn. We all did something new ..... had a picnic beside a frozen lake and snow a couple of feet from our picnic table.

The memories we have .... depicted by some 1,300 photos between us ..... will be processing for some time. We are all so aware of God having orchestrated every detail of our time together and we are so thankful for the gift He gave us.

It is hard to come back down to our normal day to day routine. Our two weeks were an experience we could easily have become accustomed to !

But mountain peaks are not places you can live .... we can only enjoy the high for a time and let the deposit of the experience give strength for the ordinary days.