Road Trip to St Simon's Island

I spent Monday driving up to St Simon's Island. Super smooth ride in the rental. 

South Georgia is cold this week! I got my room on the water, but I'm bundled up. 

I unloaded and unpacked and then walked for about an hour to stretch my legs and get my steps in. 

Sunset on the river. 

And for dinner, my cousin Russ and his wife Karen drove down from Kilkenny to meet me. We spent 3 hours talking over dinner - so good to spend time with them! 

 

Driving Practice

Davis is getting in more and more driving practice lately with his permit. This Saturday he drove us up to Seffner for Uncle Daniel's birthday party. He did well! 

 

Temporary Wheels

I had to pickup a rental car for a Cabinet trip to Georgia later this week. They gave me a choice between a 2026 Equinox and a 2026 Santa Fe. I'm set to get a new car later this year and I already drove a Santa Fe in the fall as a rental and fell in love. This one doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the model I want but the boys thought it was pretty neat when I brought it home today. The real test - there was enough leg room for Wesley in the middle row and plenty of room for Davis in the third row. 

 

Family Birthdays

We went to Seffner on Saturday night to celebrate Daniel's birthday.... he's 40 + 7 now!

 

Clergy Day Apart and Other Things

Lots of Zoom meetings this week for me and then I helped coordinate the Bishop's Clergy Day Apart at camp on Thursday. That night I was able to hang out with my covenant group for dinner. 

One of our South West district pastors gave the lunch blessing. 

A few of our South West district pastors who made the trip up! 

And Friday, I preached for the Deacon Retreat. 

 

Highlands Fun

On our last day in NC, Daryl took Parker and Wesley over to Highlands to ride the Scaly Screamer alpine coaster, do a little shopping and have lunch. They had a good time. Davis stayed home with me because he didn't want to ride the coaster and I wasn't feeling up to leaving the bed. 

These super cute decorations were in the back of Highlands Pizza where they stopped for lunch. 

 

First Day of 2026

We went to hike Whiteside Mountain for the first day of the year. It was cold - and parts of the trail were icy. And there was lots of ice on the sides of the trail too.