my trip to Boston, part 2

}Sunday- went to church and Sunday school at the First Presbyterian Church of Ipswich. in Sunday school they were studying the names of God and this Sunday it was El Shaddai. the song "el shaddai" by michael card is one of my absolute favorites. together we looked at different translations of el shaddai and examined several passages in genesis, exodus, and ezekiel to come up with our own "translation." our "translation": the Promise Maker, who is powerful and mighty enough to be the Promise Keeper as well. wow. then we ate a quick sandwich before heading to the museum of fine arts, boston. i took a few pictures in the museum on my phone, but haven't got them on my laptop yet. there was a neat musical instrument exhibit and i thoroughly enjoyed the impressionistic art exhibit. my favorite. :) later we all played soccer until dinnertime. it was a blast. i slept really well that night!!

}Monday- i slept in until 11:30 and had a wonderful quiet time. one of the best i can remember. feeling so close to the almighty God and in communion with Him is an amazing thing. for lunch we drove to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to a cute little restaurant on the river that we were told was one of the best places for chowder. i ate my first ever seafood chowder on the outside deck of the restaurant, with the breeze blowing my hair. then we drove to Kittery, Maine for shopping at some huge outlets. i bought a cute eddie bauer denim skirt and hiking shoes. i'm hoping to put my hiking shoes to very good use very soon now that i'm in the mountains of western nc! i fell asleep on the way home after only being awake for barely 7 hours! i had some sleep to catch up on...

}Tuesday- was my friend abi's 17th birthday. we were lazy together in the morning, reading on the couch with the morning sun streaming in the living room windows. abi and i went for a 2 mile run and then headed inside for much-needed showers. we finished making french toast and scarfed down breakfast for lunch so we could leave for an afternoon of fun (although we didn't know where we were going yet). we arrived at the dock and ended up on a whale watching boat. it was an amazing trip. the best moment of the trip happened near the end when we were heading back to land and 2 calves and 3 mother humpback whales swam right up to the side of the boat. they were so close we could see their eyes and markings. unfortunately, i didn't snap any pictures. i think i was too excited! :) after we got back on land, we ate at a mexican restaurant called jalepenos. shrimp fajitas-delicious!!

}Wednesday-my last day in Ipswich. i had another good quiet time with hot tea. :) mmm. i finished one quilt block and completed 3 more except for sewing on 1 more strip in between packing up my things and baking pecan pie bars for my friend. we played soccer again before dinner. we had grilled swordfish, Mirini's corn on the cob, and bruschetta for dinner. i went to bed early because we had to leave for the airport at 4:40 am the next morning.