On Thursday, we just decided kind of last minute to go somewhere. I googled, "places within 2 hours of Greensboro, NC" and Roanoke came up. We left the 'Boro around 2:30 on Friday and headed north on 220. I came across a website for Natural Bridge Va. I had heard about this place before but thought it was probably some cheesy tourist trap, which it kind of is (note the putt-putt course below), but we decided to go anyway.
We figured we would go to the bridge on Saturday. We checked into our hotel around 5:00 and decided that since it was so nice (70 degrees and sunny) we would go to the bridge that night instead of Saturday because it was going to be cold on Saturday. We went to the bridge and it is actually pretty dang neat. When we got there, the lady at the desk said, "make sure you stay for our show tonight at 9pm." We had Maddie with us, but decided we would see how she did and decided to stay there until the 9 o'clock show. We sat on these green benches and someone read the Book of Genesis while a light show against the rock bridge was going on. They didn't read the whole book of Genesis, just the story of how God created the earth. While I was sitting there with Kelly and Maddie listening, I was reminded that the God that created the universe loves each one of us. That's a crazy thought, but one that I've been trying to pass along to high school kids for the past 9 years. Next weekend, I'm taking a group of freshmen camping along the Appalachain Trail.
It's kind of a transition weekend for these guys as they have been led all year by seniors at Grimsley High School and this will be my first trip with these guys as their leader. This will be my third group of freshmen at Grimsley since moving to Greensboro in 2002. Last week I met with some of my favorite guys in the world--Todd, Chris, and Eric who were in town for Easter. I was their YL leader when they were in school and now they are each getting ready to be seniors in college(wow time flies!). Each of them is involved in Young Life, either as leaders or working at the camps during the summer. Each of them is spreading this same message of how the God that created the universe is crazy about them. 
Ok back to our trip, we left the natural bridge at 10:00pm. Maddie did great. Kelly and I stopped and grabbed dinner on the way back to our hotel. On Saturday morning we headed to downtown Roanoke. They have a small outdoor market that we checked out and then ate lunch.
We then headed to the Roanoke Star! Its the biggest star in the world built by man. Here are a few pictures. 
One thing I noticed about Virginia. There is a Zoo on just about every corner. The Natural Bridge Zoo, the Roanoke Star Zoo, the I-81 Zoo, the Dodge Store on US220 Zoo(they do have great corn-dogs), the Zoo that is Martinsville-especially on race weekend. Here's a picture of Maddie with a real bear just outside the Natural Bridge Zoo.
A totally unrelated picture from Easter.
No, its not Ansel Adams, its a Charlie Heritage original out my back door!
I was cleaning up the living room last Sunday afternoon, picking up all of Maddie's toys. As I was picking up her toys, I accidentally picked her up and placed her in the toy basket. I kept looking for her and finally I found her in the basket. She loves sitting in her basket now.
Kelly and Madison went to Chick-fil-A and saw Mr. Moo Cow in his pajamas-what if real cows wore real pajamas..
Maddie and I played dodge ball for the first time a few weeks ago.
Speaking of football here's a picture of myself and a few of my friends playing Madden 08 on the nintendo wii...i had no clue what I was doing, but it was awesome. The key to getting a nintendo wii in your own house is telling your wife, "honey, its excercise and we do it together as a team." or so I'm told.
We had a great first Christmas with Maddie Grace! I gave Maddie a dvd of Elmo and friends singing great country songs. I'll put up some pictures of us watching it when we watch it...I told Maddie that it is ok for her to be a country girl but not a redneck (yes, there is a big difference). Country girls like stuff like cows and horses and trucks. Redneck girls like Jack Daniels. Here is a picture of Maddie, riding her rocking dinosaur. People would ask us what Santa is giving Madison and we would tell them, "a rocking dinosaur." Most of the time people would move on to another topic of conversation because they probably thought we were crazy or they would say, "you mean a horse right?" What lil' girl would want a rocking dinosaur. Well here is a picture of Maddie's rocking dinosaur and I say, "what lil' girl wouldn't want a big lime green rocking dinosaur!" 
Is this not the cutest Maddie Grace in the world!! And no, that is not Kelly's garter from our wedding.
My beautiful wife and baby on Christmas Eve. It is a Heritage tradition to eat hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, and other stuff on Christmas Eve at my parents' house. I guess we've doing it for a long time because I can't remember not doing it. 
Maddie can pretty much take care of herself now. I walked into the kitchen and found her drinking her milk all by herself!!
I had my ten year high school reunion last weekend. I had to go because Kelly was the class president(i said it was because she was a nerd, she says it was because she was popular) Anyway, we had a great time catching up with the people we graduated with. One girl came all the way from Alaska! Here I am with my hot high school girlfriend!
Kelly and I took Madison to her first ECU basketball game. They won the game, but haven't won again since.
Here is Jonathan Smith, myself, and Justin Smith after a long hard day of shootin'
It was a very emotional time at the game as this was the first football game at VaTech since the shooting last April. The ceremony before the game to honor the victims was something I will never forget, capped off by a fly over by two F-15's. This is one of the coolest places I've ever seen a football game...nice background!
ESPN's College Gameday was at the game. ECU's defense held VaTech to 33 yards rushing. East Carolina's backup QB threw an interception on the 6 yard line that Tech walked in for 6 and that was pretty much the difference as ECU lost 17-7. Even though they lost, I am very excited about this year's team. Here's a picture of Jimmy and I at our tailgate after the game.
Last week, we went to Ocean Isle with three other couples. We had a great time and the weather was awesome.
Maddie and Mommy in the pool...
UNC visited Greenville for only the second time ever on Saturday and wow what a game! We hit the tailgate lots around 1:00pm for the 6:00pm game. My dad, mom, brother, sister-in-law, in-laws all went to Carolina...so we had a "divided" tailgate. (Kelly was the only one at the tailgate who didn't go to either school, but she is also the only one that went to a school whose football team just beat Michigan in "The Big House" and has back-to-back national titles)
UNC was up 17-7 at one point only to have ECU come back and tie the game at 17-17. East Carolina went up 31-23 and things were looking great. Then UNC returned a punt for a touchdown and made the two point conversion. ECU's kicker missed three(!) field goals before finally nailing the game winner! Below is a picture of the teams setting up for the final field goal.
The crowd was the fourth largest in ECU's history and it was loud. I can't believe I'm about to say this but UNC has a great football team. I was expecting us to beat them by double digits. Their RS Freshman QB burnt our DB's a few times for quick TD's. 
Any of you Carolina fans reading this: You can use this picture as your desktop background!
Jay Ross--ARRRGGGHHH!!
With this game behind them, the real test comes this weekend when we host Southern Miss. USM has won the last 7 contests in Greenville. If ECU wants to turn the corner in college football, this game is a must win. ECU beat Southern Miss down in Hattiesburg last year--so we're looking for two in a row. 
