I’m one of those Oregonians who has grown up thinking they live in one of the prettiest places in the world. I still think that. But since we’ve been married, we’ve been in two (and soon three) other places that might rank even higher.

Kaua’ii, Hawaii, fully lived up to its name as the Garden Isle. Killarney, Australia, was as breathtaking as I’d imagine its predecessor in Ireland to be. And while we haven’t yet been to New Zealand, I’m assuming it will soon trump all the rest—we’ll find out here shortly. 🙂

We have one week and two days left here at Jazam, two weeks and two days till we go home. That’s part of the beauty of traveling—looking forward so much to finally going home.

Another part is sharing bits and pieces of those travels with the friends and family who wish they could’ve come, too.

But maybe the biggest part is reveling in the beauty each place has to offer and glorifying the Hands and the Spirit and the Voice Who made it. So here’s a bit of His beauty that we’ve enjoyed in the past two weeks . . .Yes, we did manage to head back to Killarney (and of course, Oaklea) again. This picture was taken at Carr's Lookout, where we'd stopped without much sightseeing luck on our way out last time. Getting there just as the sun was setting this time more than made up for the fog last time.And of course, if we took a picture in the fog, we had to take a picture where you could actually see what we were standing in front of. 🙂We had a beautiful welcome back to Oaklea.Queen Mary Falls is just twenty to thirty minutes away from Oaklea, and we needed a hike, so off we went the next morning.When we showed Will pictures of it, he said, "They call that a waterfall?" It's apparently an NSW thing, which made sense after we later went and saw a falls near Armidale (pics later). But being from Oregon, where you can find pretty much any kind of waterfall you want to, I wasn't so sure either Queensland or NSW had but so much to boast about. 🙂 A friend of the Petersons told us that Killarney was settled by Irish settlers and that they named it Killarney because it reminded them so much of their Killarney back home.We stopped on our way out for a peek at Teviot Falls and then continued down the mountain, finally getting to see the winding, narrow road we'd come up before in the dark.I love all the pretty little flowers here.I'm not sure which of the mountains pictured is Mt. Alford, but I'm pretty sure one of them must be. 🙂 And the lake is Lake Moogerah. (The one in the back, not in the front. The one in the front is just a puddle.)After having been to Killarney twice and further north once, Will was sure we needed to see some of the sights there are to see around Armidale, so one afternoon Eric quit work early and we went to Dangars Falls. I have to admit, that's quite a waterfall. 🙂This cute little parrot was out in the tree behind the house, and I actually managed to get close enough to take a fairly decent picture before scaring it away. I wasn't so lucky with its mate. That one was a really pretty green.

And then of course you can't forget Jazam's twenty acres . . . After being here so long, we still hadn't really scouted out the property at all, so last Sunday afternoon Will sent us off with a few directions which were rather promptly forgotten for the most part and therefore not followed. 🙂And because there were so many pretty views of the house from out in the pasture, I just had to post more than one. 🙂While this wasn't an Easter post, Easter is just past, and the living beauty of the world around me turns my thoughts not just to the Creator but to the Savior. And that makes me think of a snippet from a certain poem about a little angel that I posted a couple years ago . . .

"The world awakes with beauty bright:
She knows her risen King.
And though men will deny Him yet,
The little angel sings.
Now years beyond the grave and cross
I, too, my voice would fling
To shout the praises of my God
And with the angels sing."

Let's not forget to praise Him.