Camping..Another Adventure in the Land of the Pages

We embarked on our first Camping Adventure together Friday Morning. We dropped Roman off at his nanas house and hit the road.We made it to Lake Hartwell about 6:30. It took us forever to find our camp site but when we did we quickly tried to pitch our 8 man tent with the little day light that was left. Once we had lugged the rest of the stuff out of the car (which included two coolers of food, our portable dvd player, a fan, a grill, and a stack of magazines amongst others)we began the process of making dinner (it was now 9:30). Andrew made a feast of veggie burgers and baked beans while I completed the salad- it was sooo good! We sat up talking for a while before getting into "bed" The bed was another story initself.We supposedly had a queen air mattresss which we were going to sleep on. When we took it out to blow it up- we discovered it was only a single. So Andrew said I could use it, of course, and he would sleep on the ground. That was great until about 2am when I woke up because it had completley deflated and I was feeling nauseated because of the slight rocking motion of the mostly deflated mattress.
I decided this would be a good time to pee and so made my way out of the tent with the mag light about 5ft because I was terrified to go any further.(note: we are in the upper woods about 50 feet above lake hartwell in the middle of nowhere.)
I had at this point decided it would be better to try and crash on the floor next to andrew. And thus, is where I spent the rest of the first night.We awoke to some really annoying birds and some children screaming down on the lake shore. fabulous. Andrew had had a worse nights sleep than I as he had been sleeping on the lumpiest part of the ground. We made breakfast which consisited of bagels and fruit before we headed off to hike at some local water falls.Andrew told me "no makeup" so I bargained for lip gloss and we were on our way. As we were leaving the lake I saw a "yard Sale" sign, of course, we go camping and I can still find a yard sale - i think it was a God send! so we had to stop and check it out. We found roman this cute little pop- up basket ball hoop to bring home with us.We went to three diffrent hiking sites throughout the day. We love adventurous hikes so we hiked to waterfalls that wern't on "set paths" . This meant alot of step and rocky terrain. Walking on paths that were only a few feet wide above the falls! It was so much fun! We were continually reminded of the beauty and intricacy of Gods creation. On paths leading up the waterfalls there were tree roots that had grown in a way that created a perfect stair case....it made me reflect on the words of Psalm 8

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth

At one of the water falls, Andrew decided to climb down into the basin and take a swim. I, on the other hand chose to stay above the fall and watch. He is so crazy. I love him for it..that water must have been freezing. It was amazing being able to sit up so close to the falls with noone but him and I around! After that we went back to the campsite. We took the dvd player inside and snuggled on the airmattress and watched little miss sunshine. We made dinner and spent some time in Prayer. It is amazing how much closer you feel to the Lord when you have no distractions. It is surreal being away from the phone, email, tv, Roman etc. There is something truly beautiful about being in Gods creation with the man you love. We ended up falling asleep at 9 and waking up at 1am . We were starving so we stayed up at talked and eat a snack. (It was pouring outside. The rain hitting the tent was very therapeutic. Thank God we had bought a really good 8 man tent a few years ago- we stayed completley dry!) Andrew just happened to mention that if a bear ever came in the tent to play dead. I told him i really appreciated him mentioning that in the middle of the night! In the morning we packed up and headed home stopping for lunch in Columbia. It was such a beautiful weekend...although I am so dirty from not showering and my whole body aches from sleeping on the hard ground.