How’s everyone doing? I know it’s been a while!

I wanted to share some pics from my road trip to Rockford, IL in September.

One day, I was looking through my AAA magazine and it recommended Rockford, IL as a place to visit because of their art museum and Japanese Gardens. I’d been wanting to use my camera (the photography classes I’d signed up for were canceled months ago due to the pandemic), so I thought I’d take a road trip and take some pictures.

On the days leading up to the trip, I kept having thoughts from the enemy to cause me to fear and worry (i.e. was it safe to take this trip, especially with these police shootings occurring? What if I get lost and have horrible anxiety?). I absolutely HATE getting lost but whenever I do, I just pull over to the side of the road or in a parking lot of a store/gas station and use Google Maps. As for the police shootings, I think it was a legitimate concern, but the Lord had already told me that I was “safe” and had nothing to worry about.

The Japanese Gardens were beautiful, peaceful, and serene! There were so many trees, plants, and waterfalls; it was amazing to see the sunlight dancing on the ripples of water (it looked white) but when I’d turn my head to the right, the sunlight looked blue! Couldn’t capture that with the camera, though.

I also saw these cute, plump ducks who came out of the water; one of them tried to grab a small fish that was trying to get away. The other duck didn’t seem shy about posing for a picture.

I also visited the Rockford Art Museum and saw paintings of rabbits; these were not your typical cute, snuggly rabbits and they looked like something out of a horror movie! There were replicas of birds and reptiles (not sure if they were “stuffed” or not, but they sure were creepy!) and other interesting paintings/sculptures. I won’t post pics that I took (I’m not sure if there are restrictions to posting other artists’ works) but if you’re in the area, you should definitely check them out! They have free admission for the remainder of the year.

After going to these two places, I went to a few craft stores for sewing supplies (needles and pinking shears) and a chain and pendant to make a necklace.

Overall, it was a great trip and was something fun to do in the midst of this crazy pandemic. I wanted this trip to be about me and my God—to focus on Him and not worry about anything, to trust that He was with me and would protect me, to enjoy what He created (nature) and to enjoy myself overall. I found myself thanking Him for so many things—for finding and reaching each destination safely, for having an enjoyable experience, for helping me to find things I wanted to buy, for strength, and for peace.

In these difficult times, we need to stick to God more closely than ever.