Flashback Friday - Gatlinburg/White Water Rafting

Last summer right before Jon started his new job we needed a little family vacation together. We were so very excited and decided to take a vacation to mark something off our bucket list.

We decided to go to Gatlinburg, TN, and then head to white water rafting in NC.

First stop, though. . . The Varsity. . . This was actually a chain and not the original. The chili dogs and onion rings were just as good though.

In Pigeon Forge we decided to see a show one night. The Jon Dee hypnotist show had great reviews. . . . and since we all love to laugh. . . we decided to give it a go. . .

Jon Dee. . . He hypnotized people and made them do all sorts of silly things.

Isn't that hilarious?

We walked around downtown Gatlinburg and took in some of the sites. The boys, of course, loved this cool car.

And, if you are apart of our family, vacation always resolves around eating good food!!!

The girls loved the candy store. . .

My pictures all out of order. . . This is at the Jon Dee hypnotist show.

Don't worry, none of us volunteered to get hypnotized.

One of the funniest things about our mini-vacation was our hotel. We use priceline a good bit and really find some nice hotels really cheap. However, we knew we were in trouble when we drove up to our hotel. . . The Vacation Lodge, I think is what it was called. You know it is bad when the remote control is held together by duct tape :) Alec had to sleep on a pallet on the floor. We took the sleeping bag. However, it was full of Jon's stink and sweat from when he was working on a house. Poor Alec. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw this. . .

He is our germaphobe in the family. Every inch of his body was covered in clothing.

Check out his sleeping mask!!! I was laughing so hard I was afraid I would wake everyone else up.

We decided to go and do a little hiking. Faith was so sweet to lend me her hiking bible. We are all about some accessories, so we all got a hiking stick. Alec had some leftover birthday money and go him a camelback.

This little house was at Cades Cove.

Up the stairs of the little house

The room where the children slept. Reminded me of Little House on the Prairie.

Here we are inside the little church at Cades Cove.

Beautiful Smokey Mountains

We decided to hike Abrams Falls.

Poor Ash was so upset. Her camera fell in the river. Thankfully it still worked.

Alec was hilarious. He had his new camelback, but drank all of the water at the beginning of the hike. Not only did have have to go and use nature's restroom, but he also didn't have anymore water left. This was July and it was HOT! We loved hiking and are so thankful our friends Faith and Steve recommended it.

As you can tell, Ash had a blister on her foot and hiked the last part of the trail with her shoe off.

As we were leaving Cades Cove, we did get to see a bear. Hanna was scared and so I stayed in the car with her. Jon and Alec and Ash went to get a view, but not too close a view. They snapped this picture. However, there was this lady who started trying to get reallly close to the bear. Jon said he and the kids decided to leave. They didn't want anything to happen based on her stupidity.

That night. . . we ate somewhere. . .don't remember where now, but I do remember it being good.

Jon wanted to get his feet wet in the river. This was outside the restaurant.

Ash followed her Daddy's lead.

This is a cute picture. . . I can't remember why they were posing this way, but Alec's face is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!

The next morning we were up and at 'em to head home and on the way go white water rafting. I've been wanting to do this for so long. Our old church used to go every year, but I was either pregnant or nursing, so we never went. It was actually very chilly the morning we left.

Beautiful Smoky Mountains.

Unfortunately, I dont' have any pictures of us white water rafting. The things I remember though:

The water was freezing cold.

We had a BLAST!!!

I want to go again!

We laughed like crazy!

On the way home from rafting we did not want to get stuck in traffic so we decided to take the kids to the park where we ran Sweet H2O (50K) that same year.

This was actually a mill used during the Civil War.

Alec is so funny posing!

We all had such a great time and made lots of wonderful memories!

301 to 350

301. For "miss mommy bites" . . . mosquito bites on Hanna that she named "miss mommy bites."

302. The sound of my children's voices.

303. Hearing Jon call me "baby" for the first time in 8 days.

304. Hearing Lydia say, "I've got four bars." (meaning our cell phones had service after 8 days of not).

305. For the sound of my mama's voice.

306. For all of those who loved on my children and family while I was gone.

307. For those who lifted me, my family, our team, and the Guyanese up in prayer during our trip.

308. For many, many opportunities to share the Gospel. . . starting at the Atlanta airport waiting to leave.

309. For seeing what "trumping people with love" looks like.

310. For the flood of text messages that came into my cell phone once I turned it on when hitting U.S. soil.

311. For my daily "I love you texts" from Jon even though I was thousands of miles away and unable to get them everyday.

312. For knowing I was missed.

313. For the Guyanese children.

314. For the tears that flooded both my heart and my face all week.

315. For being broken.

316. For the power of prayer.

317. For the opportunity to see spiritual warfare. . . literally. . . with my very own eyes.

318. For a precious welcome home party. . . complete with chocolate cake, a kitchen timer, new pot holders, a candle, "to go" coffee mugs, a clean house, and even clean bed linens (Jon knows how I love the smell of fresh sheets).

319. For the opportunity to go and tell.

320. For a piece of my heart that was left with the Guyanese.

321. For the many gifts and cards the Guyanese children gave me.

322. For the family of God.

323. For hearing Jenn. G's voice when I answered the phone in Guyana . . . so very nice and soothing to hear a familiar voice from home.

324. For Angela checking on Melissa.

325. For Faith loving my kids like her very own.

326. For the Scriptures Jenn B. sent with me to Guyana. . . she will never know how much I clung to them.

327. For the sweet notes Jenn B. had my children write to me and hide in my suitcase.

328. For new friendships.

329. For all the many things the Lord taught me that I'm still trying to process through.

330. For hearing Melissa's voice after we landed in Miami and her making me laugh.

331. For Pastor Andy and Kathleen and all that they are doing to spread the Gospel and disciple the people of Guyana. . . so amazing to see a modern-day Paul at work.

332. For realizing American is one of the greatest mission fields there is.

333. For love. . . because at the end of the day that's what it is all about. . . loving God and loving others.

334. For playing phone tag with Kristen. . . it seems to be our favorite game :)

335. For hugs and kisses from my children.

336. For Alec come laying his head on my shoulder telling me he was glad I was home and he missed me.

337. For Ashley's hugs and enthusiasm.

338. For Hanna's kiss on the lips.

339. For the smell of Jon.

340. For Jon's arms around me.

341. For cuddling up so close to Jon the last 2 nights.

342. For grace.

343. For being known as the "mushiest team" Andy and Kathleen has ever had in their home. . . the fact that our families called us and we talked about our families was rare to them.

344. For being from the South.

345. For being flooded with flowers from the children. Pastor Andy told us they had never given any team as many flowers as they gave ours.

346. For Christ living in us that allows us to be a good example and shine forth His light. A Guyanese woman told Renee, "We are watching you from the USA. We see how you are loving on our children."

347. For seeing the Guyanese women serve us joyfully and without complaint.

348. For being apart of Team USA Gospel Singers. . . it gave us so many good giggles and chuckles.

349. For seeing the hand of God move.

350. For (hopefully) never being the same and changed forever.

Same Kind of Different As Me

My sweet friend, Bethany, has a GREAT book review blog. She and her hubby are in a contest over who can read the most books in a year. . . sounds fun, doesn't it? I'm pulling hard for her for the win. Anyhoo. . . when she asked me to be a guest blogger, I was thrilled!!!!! I've read "Same Kind of Different as Me" TWICE!!! Head over there and check out my review. While you're through have a cup of coffee or hot tea and visit for awhile. . . check out her other book reviews. They are great. . . but don't just take my word for it. . . go see for yourself. Oh, and I know she'd be thrilled if you left her a comment.

Leading Up

Well in just a little over a week I will be heading out of the country for my first mission trip. I'm experiencing a ray of emotions, and I could probably blog about something different everyday. I believe this is normal. . . or at least I hope it is.

Tonight, however, my sweet Ashley broke down. It was just she and I in the kitchen and she looks at me with those big blue eyes and big, gully-washer tears just flowing from her face, "I don't want you to go."

Oh, how my mama's heart tugs and tears at me. I really wanted to cry with her. I almost did. But, I knew I needed to be strong for her and reassure her. I was telling her all the things I've been telling myself when I think about missing my family so.very.much!!!

• "It's a little over a week out of the whole year. That's nothing in the scheme of things."


• "You'll be so busy you won't have time to miss me."


• "It will be so amazing to tell of all the Lord is going to do through this trip."


• "This will pave the way for our whole family to go one day."

My sweet one just sobbed and sobbed. . . I don't think I will ever forget her big eyes and big tears, telling me how close she is to me, and she doesn't want me to go, she doesn't want to miss me.

This is different, different from anything or anywhere I've been before. I tried to remind her of when Jon and I were in Nevada. . . and she did fine with that. . . that it's really no different. She knows, and I know. . . it is totally different.

To be continued. . .