September 11

What could our family do to help?!

The events of September 11th will be burned into our memories for the rest of our lives. Like many others in the days following the attacks, we struggled to find something,...ANYthing, we could do to feel like we were helping. Sitting around the TV and watching the news over and over sure wasn't making us feel any better.


So, Karen came up with the idea of us doing a family project. We decided to try and raise money for the Red Cross by selling items we made, then set about thinking of things each of us could create. The boys made patriotic bracelets, with red, white and blue beads. Karen made little pins with bows made of red, white and blue ribbon. We twisted pipe cleaners into little praying figures. We made gallons of lemonade. We each made posters. Then we packed it all into the car for the next day.

Bright and early on Saturday morning we headed over to the parking lot adjacent to our local super market and set up our little operation. We weren't sure what would happen.

The response was overwhelming! All morning long there were cars driving buy and honking their horns in support. Many people stopped just to see what was going on, but as the morning went along, more and more people stopped to give. The items we brought became "thank-you" gifts for donations, instead of sale items, and by the time we were done, folks had ended up donating over $450!

The next day we presented the money to Barry Porter, the North Alabama regional director for the Red Cross, who happens to go to our church. He accepted the donation with thanks, and several weeks later we received the certificate below. Still, for us the best part of the whole thing was seeing so many people express their patriotism and generosity.

God has truly blessed America!

Family Trip to Venezuela

In June of 2001 we finally made the family trip that Karen has been talking about since we first met,...back to her roots in Venezuela! For two weeks we traveled throughout the country, meeting old friends, saw places we'd been hearing about for years, and (best of all!) ate all sorts of exotic and wonderful foods.

The event that finally brought us south was the closing of Christiansen Academy, the boarding school that Karen and her twin brothers attended in Rubio, Venezuela while their parents were missionaries across the mountains in Colombia. The folks at Christiansen decided to make the final graduation an event to remember, and invited all former students and faculty to come down for the festivities.

Using Rubio as our base of operations, we traveled to Merida and the Andes Mountains (by bus), to Caracas, the capital city (by plane), and to Chichiriviche on the Carribean coast (by van). Each step was an adventure!

As we traveled around the country, we were able to see so many things that make Venezuela unique and beautiful. We also witnessed the disparity between the rich and poor there.

There are so many great memories from our trip that it would be impossible to describe them all here (for that, you'll have to come watch our 7 1/2 hours of video tape!). Some of the highlights included: driving up the highest road in the Andes to Pico de Aguila (13,000 ft); going to church at the downtown Caracas Baptist Church (all in Spanish), being guests in the home of the Canizales family (Karen's childhood friends), spending several days on our own little private island off the coast of Chichiriviche, and of course, Karen being interviewed for national TV while we were stopped at a little jam and jelly shop! It was a coincidence that they happened to be filming in the shop, but it seemed a fitting tribute to this native daughter :-)

All these great memories, and more, continue to bubble up in our conversations since our return to the states. And it now appears that we may be putting the experience to practical use, as our church starts thinking about organizing a foreign missions trip sometime over the next year or so. And you'll never guess where!

Look out Venezuela,
we're coming back!

Disney World

The Burke and Wilson Clans meet at the "Happiest Place on Earth"!

In February, the long anticipated trip to Disney World finally happened. We flew down to Orlando where we joined Dave's parents, his sister Amy and her family, her husband Eric's brothers and their families, and their parents.

We spent 4 days hitting all of the theme parks, meeting the characters (Philip has quite an autograph collection!), riding the rides and seeing the sites. With three boys along it's no surprise that the "theme dinners" proved popular. After all there's FOOD involved! We started with a "Villain" dinner, which was attended by Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, Prince John (from Robin Hood), and a few others. Then, on our last morning, we had breakfast with Chef Mickey at the Contemporary resort hotel.

The Animal Kingdom was an unexpected treat, both for the real-life sites during the safari ride and the high-tech thrills at the "Bugs Life" show. But the best part of the whole trip was that we practically had the place to ourselves! February is definitely the right time to hit the Magic Kingdom!



Captain Hook subtly shows his displeasure
with Dave's insistence on whispering
"Tick, tock, tick, tock" whenever he was around.

Washington D.C. Trip

Family Takes School
to Washington D.C.!

Home Schooling definitely doesn't mean sitting around in the house all the time! This Fall we took to the road and headed to Washington D.C for the ultimate learning experience.

As with so many other things in home schooling, we began our trip by first checking out the internet to get maps, information and details about Washington and the many sites to see. One of the best links was to the United States Information Agency, along with the official sites for the Senate, House and White House.


View from the FDR Memorial, back across the Tidal Basin. (you can tell this was Day 1!)

We did science experiments at the Smithsonian and the Capital Children's Museum, saw the actual Declaration of Independence, visited Arlington Cemetery and ALL the monuments, watched the new $20 bills being printed, and basically walked our way through American history for four days.

The whole trip was capped off with a tour of the White House on Friday, and then a marathon drive home.

Maggie joins the family

"Magnolia May" Makes Her Entrance

Major Changes in the Family!

1999 proved to be a year of great change for the Burkes. As the '98-'99 school year drew to a close, we made the decision to transition the boys back into regular school this Fall. It was a tough decision, given that we've home schooled for three years now and loved nearly every minute of it, but it felt right for us in so many ways. And it was certainly easier to make the decision knowing that we've got such great schools here in Huntsville.

Home schooling left us with at least one lasting stamp on our lives, though! At the end-of-year picnic for our home school group we were introduced to young Magnolia May and her siblings, a litter of half Lab - half Australian Shepherds which one of the families was giving away for free.

It proved to be an offer we couldn't refuse, so we added the first new member of our family since Philip arrived. Tigger and Piglet, our 13 year old cats, continue to be largely unamused by Maggie and her puppy enthusiasm, but they seem to have developed something of a watchful truce between them. Maggie attended puppy school to become the refined southern belle (with limited success), but she is most definitely one of the family now!

Camping Trip

Camping at Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee

Spring Break 1999 was kicked off with a family camping trip up to Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee. Not only was this our first chance to use some of the camping gear that Santa brought us at Christmas, it was also our first real solo camping trip as a family. We picked Fall Creek Falls State Park based on the recommendations of friends, having never even heard of the place before, and we were THRILLED with the place! There are actually several falls at the park, including the name sake, which is reputed to be second only to Niagara in height in the eastern US.

The campground was also wonderful, and we found a really nice site, where the boys quickly engineered a first-rate campfire. The weather cooperated nicely, even considering the short thunderstorm that blew through late on our second afternoon there. The rain and wind stayed around just long enough to give us confidence in the integrity of our tents, then blew away to reveal that Tennessee has WAY more stars than Huntsville!

A return trip is already in the works, and this time we're bringing our bikes!

Taking to the Slopes

Philip Gets Quality Time With the Grandparents
While the Rest of Us Head Sugar Mt. in North Carolina

In February, we threw caution to the wind and headed for the hills of North Carolina for a ski trip with the boys, while Philip stayed at home with grandparents for a week of undivided attention. Neither of the older boys had ever been skiing before, so it was with interest (more like awe!) that we watched them take to it immediately, and head for the black diamond slopes without a second thought. It was a great time, made even better by the fact that we got snowed on several times while we were there. Up until that point several of the local slopes had even had to close down for lack of snow!