My thr3e weeks: Tennessee Hobos ( Final Part )

I finally got around to posting my final post on our vacation in the hills of Tennessee, and I must warn you that it will be a rather random post, using up the last few pictures.

One day we all just went into Gatlinburg to go walking/shopping down Main Street. And somehow all of us ended up taking a picture as this mountain man, and I figured it was the perfect set of pictures to show us off as the Tennessee hobos.

:: GRinddddd :: Every time we started the Expedition up and started driving this is the sound that we heard coming from the rear right side tire. I guess a vacation is never complete without a break down of some sort. The truck was still drivable but it made horrid grinding noises that made you cringe and wonder when the tire would just fly off. Knowing that we needed to find out what the noise was, Dad, during on of the sessions at the conference, went out with Micah to pull off the tire to find out what was wrong with it. It ended up being the wheel bearings which they would have been able to fix themselves if they had the right tools and parts... but we were on vacation and obviously didn't have any of the tools needed. So, Dad asked at the conference where we could find an auto shop, and ended up finding a guy who was local who recommended a good place. So having only Christine's car to work with we were kind of in a pickle, for you see it was lunch time, the truck was in the shop, and we had eight people and a five passenger car. Now, don't get me wrong, we were still very thankful we had a car, but we could only fit five people at a time into it. We couldn't eat at the conference center, they didn't allow outside food in. And Mom had packed us stuff for sandwiches but we really didn't have anyplace to eat it. Especially since it was 90+ outside and there really wasn't any shade around the conference center. So it was decided that five people would climb into Christine's car to go find a place, and three people would stay and wait to be picked up as the second load. Now I was among three people that stayed at the center so I was not a party to the group who was driving around trying to find us someplace to eat. I was able to stay in the nice air conditioned building, while the other party sweated to death in the non-air-conditioned car. I really do think us three got the better end of the deal. Forty-five minutes after leaving us, Christine came back all wet and very weary looking to pick us up, and she said that after searching for a food court at the outlet malls which they found out didn't exist they had finally decided we were eating at Wal-mart. Hmmm... I don't believe I have ever had a picnic lunch at Wal-mart but I suppose there is a first time for everything. When we arrived I gave Dad a call to find out exactly where they were we finally found them outside a little bus stop in the Wal-mart parking lot. The lady inside Wal-mart said it was the only place she could think of that we could sit down and eat. Apparently they didn't even have picnic tables for their employees. So, she had recommended the bus stop, but it was about the temperature of a greenhouse and smelled worse then a cigarette pack. So, looking very much like homeless people we ate out of a Wal-mart grocery cart. It was an adventure to say the least, and provides a lot of memories.

After our picnic lunch was over we visited Chic-fil-a and got a few milkshakes to cool us all off, and then we started Christine's tram service back up. Five of us went back to the conference center and three decided to go shopping at Wal-mart. This time I was in the first five to go back. Upon arriving back at the conference center we all found a couch or chair and made ourselves comfortable and took a nap. When the second "tram" run arrived, we found out they had gone and rented a car so we could go home that night without Christine having to drive for three hours to get us all back to the cabins. Thankfully we only had to rent the car for 24 hours 'cause our truck was fixed and ready to be picked up the next afternoon.

After spending four days in the conference center the plan was to take it easy on Friday, our last free day before heading home. Our plans changed very quickly when we were given 7 tickets to Dollywood. We would only need to buy one ticket for all of us to go and they were selling them for a special price at the conference. So, we all got to go to Dollywood for thirty-eight dollars. It was a fun theme park with several roller coasters and a few water based rides. One of the last things we did there was ride on their steam engine/coal powered train. This was the perfect ending day to a very nice but busy vacation. The next day we loaded the truck and trailer up and drove 14 hours straight home. Thus ended my three weeks in Tennessee which were exhausting but awesome.

My thr3e weeks: The Hike (Part 3)

It 'twas a fine day for a hike and one of the only opportunities that we would have to go... So we all loaded up into our Expedition and went to the nearest State Park headquarters to get some maps and figure out where we wanted to go hiking. After looking at some of the maps we realized that we'd better find a hiking trail that was nearby as it was getting later and later into the afternoon and getting lost in the Tennessee mountains at night on vacation did not sound like fun. So we chose a trail that had an old homestead somewhere along the way... that is if we could find the right trail. Finding the park entrance was the easy part... being in Tennessee was a little bit different then being at home where every trail is marked with many different signs and arrows showing you which way to go. There were no signs telling you how far to go or where the trail started. So we just drove, and drove, and drove. Now the road that we were on seemed to get narrower as you went on. And it was a two way road, so occasionally we would come upon an oncoming car or truck and sometime I think I could feel our car cringing as we squeaked by the other cars with just inches to spare. But needless to say we finally got to a gate blocking a pathway and a parking lot, so this must be the spot. It had to be the spot, wherever we were, we were going to go hiking, whether we found the old homestead or not, we would at least get our hike in. It was a beautiful day, only slightly humid... which is better then other days when it was unbearably humid. And so on this beautiful only slightly humid day we took our hike.

There were a couple very cool trees that I had to get pictures of... (Above) A tree that was right by the creek and because of the rush of water all of its roots were visible. (Below) A tree that Dad said probably grew on top of another tree stump that had over time rotted away, as there was a big cavern that the tree grew on top of.





A spider web that I nearly wore as a mask, thankfully I ducked away before I met the web and its maker.



After all the wondering and wandering we finally found the old homestead, which was actually a barn that was built in 1875, and over a little stream was a hikers club cabin that was built in the 1930's and a little cold spring cellar that they must have used for refrigeration. The cabin was actually built using logs from a nearby Whaley family cabin. Our hike was successful and was pretty cool to boot.

"Located along the Porters Creek Trail, the John Messer Barn was constructed in 1875 by Pinkney Whaley. The only remaining structure of the pre-park community of Greenbrier Cove, it was added to the National Register in 1976. The Messer Barn is a type of double-cantilever barn unique to East Tennessee and rarely found outside its immediate vicinity." ~ Wikipedia

My thr3e weeks: The Cabin (Part 2)

This post should be labeled "The Cabins," for we did have two. One cabin was a three bedroom and the other was a two bedroom. Christine and I stayed in the master bedroom of the two bedroom and Isaiah and Nathanael had the second bedroom. Mom and Dad had the bigger cabin, where Micah and Colin both had there own rooms.



A lot of our time was spent in the bigger one mostly because they had most of the food... but we did have the snacky type food in the smaller cabin, and we had the pool table.

It had beautiful pine interior and exterior. It was gorgeous.

The cabins looked about the same with a few differences in layout and furniture set up.

The Master Bedroom, had the most comfortable, huge, ginormous bed. It was like laying on pillows, you literally sank down into it... Christine said she had to really look for me the first morning, only my head was partially visible.

I didn't get a picture of the back porch which had a hot tub, and I also didn't get a picture of the super cool pool that they had at the resort, or the huge hot tub they had right next to the pool, which because it was so big, was pretty much a hot pool. It was a truly beautiful vacation spot. To bad we couldn't pack it all up in our suitcase and bring it home with us. But then it really wouldn't be special if it was normal, so I suppose we will have to leave it where it is. :: sigh ::
But anyway, enough about how wonderful the cabins were, forward to the next post...

My thr3e weeks: Summit (Part 1)

How do you sum up three weeks of awesomeness? You cannot do it in one post, I can tell you that much. So I will be doing a few posts on my last 3 weeks. Some of the content will be taken directly from my journal, so bear with me.
July 4th, Day 1: (Diary entry 1) "Chattanooga, T.N. here I come... Christine's alarm went off at 5:15 this morning. Dad greeted me with a "Happy Birthday!" and an omelet at my bedroom door. I donned my red, white, and blue star-spangled shirt, Dad grabbed my 48 lb. suitcase, Mom grabbed my really heavy carry-on, I gave Christine a hug and we were off. We made it to the airport by 7:00 am and I was through customs and at my gate waiting at 7:30. The flight was uneventful which is good. The only thing that happened worth some notice, was, as I sat down in my seat in the very back of the plane, I looked down and I had egg and cheese clinging to my shirt, breakfast left-overs. I quickly wiped them from my shirt and thought, "is this as embarrassing as egg on my face?""
~~~ Making it to the college campus late afternoon on Sunday, I then settled into the dorm room
met my room mate, ate dinner, and then I headed to orientation. Looking at the schedule I knew the two weeks were going to be exhausting. This is what the first full day looked like:

• (Diary entry 2:) ~ "5:40 - get up, get stuff out and be ready to take your shower at six. Read your Bible, take a 12 minute shower. Get ready to go to breakfast.
• 7:00 - Walk down to breakfast in cafeteria
• 7:15 - eat breakfast.
• 8:05 - Classes start. Ben W---'s does a couple sessions with a couple of breaks.
• 10:20 - Scott K---- does a couple of sessions
• 12:00 - lunch
• 1:00 - Another session with Ben W.
• 2:00-5:00 - free time to join in with the group activity or whatever you want to do.
• 6:00 - Optional-open forum with Scott K. I go play pool with a girl in my small group.
• 7:00 - Worship with Josh B---'s then last session for today.
• 9:00 - Get out of session, and walk to dorm to take your contacts out, that are starting to bother you after wearing them since six-something. Write in journal.
• 9:45 - small group meeting, which goes to 10:30
• 11:00 - Lights out."

Pretty much this is what everyday looked like, just different speakers and different topics. Over 72 hours of teaching and many different topics were covered. It was a truly awesome challenging time.
~~~

On Saturday after being at Summit for almost a week, Kami (my room mate) and I decided to join in a hike through Pocket. It was a beautiful day for a walk/run in the heart of Tennessee. I think it was a six mile hike, and it was extremely warm for this northerner. It was fun though... and Kami and I realized we were dressed alike which was pretty funny.

The two weeks went by very quickly... and before we knew it we were sitting in the last sessions... Friday night they had a graduation ceremony which we got to dress up for, which was cool. Kami and I were reunited with our families, and we both stayed in the same hotel Friday night.

This was my small group... we would meet every night and discuss the stuff that we were learning. Jessica (the one standing next to me) was the small group leader, and she would direct stuff and ask questions. We had fun together, they were a cool bunch of girls. It is weird to think that our paths might never cross again, after spending two weeks together I feel like we should live closer... it is kind of a strange feeling, knowing that they live a long way away, and I might not see them on this earth again. I am thankful for the time we had together though.

Well, that just about sums up my time at Summit... there is a lot more I could write about worldviews, and post-modernism... but I think that is better in person, and it would take forever to talk about even half of what was taught there. So this will be my last post on Summit, but family vacation (part 2) is coming shortly...

;)

Goin' Courtin'

Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Oh it sets your senses in a whirl.
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Dudin' up to go and see your gal.
Oh, it's fun to hunt and shoot a gun,
Or to catch a rabbit on the run
But you'll find it's twice as sportin' goin' courtin'.
Now there's lots o' things you gotta know
Be sure the parlor light is low
Y' sidle up and squeeze her hand
Let me tell you fella's that is grand.
You hem and haw a little while
She gives you kinda half a smile.
You cuddle up she moves away
Then the strategy comes into play.
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
If you find it hard to break the ice
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Here's a little feminine advice.
Roll your eyes and heave a little sigh.
Grunt and groan like you're about to die.
That is what's known as emotin' goin' courtin'!

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"

Our Home: My Bedroom

A very big "hello" to all who read this. It seems like ages since I posted last but it really has been less then a month. In that time we have had Christmas, New Year's, and we have moved into our new home! We don't have Internet in the new house yet, so I am sitting over in the old mostly empty house blogging. It is slightly chillier and sad feeling over here in this old house, it almost feels like it was abandoned, with its few furnishings here and there. Anyway, this post is mostly for my Grandma who has been asking for pictures, so without any more ado here is,

My bedroom

(which is pretty much my bed ;)

As I was flipping through a magazine after Prayer and Praise one night, I came across instructions for a built in bed and bookshelf... I showed it to Dad and he said that we already had the wood that we needed to make it... Green light #1 I got permission from Mrs. G--- to steal (or borrow) her magazine... Green light #2. I also had the perfect window in my room to build a bed around as my bedroom used to be a kitchen. Green light #3. Three green lights... I believe that made it a go. I drew up my own version of the original magazine drawing, (which I scanned in below) Dad did a lot of the actual measurements and stuff... I just knew what I wanted it to look like, he did most of the math. ;) I drove a couple of nails into it, but Dad did most of the hard work, thanks Dad.

Before bed...

Viola, After Bed... and thus you have my bedroom and haven.

I hope to do another post on the house soon, but you never know... My next post will probably be about the kitchen. We are still working on the basement level, Mom and I painted the utility room today. So some of the house is still labeled under construction and thus can't have anything blogged about it as of yet.

I am getting very cold sitting here so I think it is time to sign off. There is something very chilling about sitting in a cold empty house, it almost feels colder then the outdoors... almost. Well, goodbye y'all I am off to warm up.

The day my hair turned gray...

Yesterday my hair turned gray,

For a day.

I was over with the boys cleaning the house and the vacuum was not working quite right, so I decided to check and see if the vacuum was full. It was not full, that was not the problem, but the filter looked like it had about 10 lbs. of sheet rock dust ingrained into it. So I promptly took it outside to shake it out. And as everyone knows this little town that we live in is prone to windy days especially in the winter... and yesterday was no exception. The wind was blowing and blowing and blowing, and I even made sure it was blowing away from me. But the next time the boys saw me, they asked what happened, as it looked as if the vacuum had blown up and then sucked everything including me inside it. As I was sitting at the supper table last night, the boys were commenting on how dirty I was, and we were talking about how I had taken the filter out to shake it and that the vacuum was working much better now, and Dad made the comment, "Three accidents happened today on Main St. in O- because of low visibility." For a second I looked at him in shock half believing him, until I remembered what we had been talking about and that the wind had been blowing towards the road, and that there probably were people wondering what in the world the white dusty stuff was pouring out from behind that house.

That was the day my hair turned a whitish sort of gray.

Yesterday was also Dad's birthday, and I would just like to say,

"Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!"

Another Update

Phew! Back to blogging and back to the people who faithfully check it to see if anyone has posted anything "new." As you all probably know we have been keeping extremely busy working on completing the house. We also have had Thanksgiving and a couple of birthdays and now, ready or not...
Christmas is coming!

Nathanael and Claire both celebrated their birthdays in the last couple of months. Nathanael turned 9 and Claire turned one... How time flies!

One of "my projects" in the house was painting a medieval looking shield display on Isaiah and Nathanael's bedroom wall. It turned out pretty good, and it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. The boys like it anyway, and that is what counts.

And this final picture is the first box that made its way over to the house today, it even managed to get unpacked onto the bookshelf it is sitting on. Exciting! This bookshelf is actually the foot board on my bed, and hopefully I will soon be able to post and show you the whole bed.

I have been taking pictures for the whole house project, and I really want to do some "before and after" posts on different rooms, it will just be a matter of when I will have the time to do it. But for now this post will have to do.

"Hanging by a Thread..."

As I was waking up to one of my favorite Cd's this morning, this song really stuck out... It kind of describes the way I feel sometimes.

• Hanging by a Thread
• Wayne Kirkpatrick and Gordon Kennedy

There's a kind of emptiness that can fill you.

There's a kind of hunger that can eat you up.

There's a cold and darker side of the moonlight.

An' there's a lonely side of love.

• With you here, Jesus, I am strong; no sign of weakness.
• With you gone, Jesus, I am hanging by a thread.

There's a certain kind of pain that can numb you.

There's a type of freedom that can tie you down.

Sometimes the unexplained can define you,

And sometimes silence is the only sound.

• With you here, Jesus, I am strong; outside of weakness.
• With you gone I am hanging by a thread.

A Progression...

Our house project started over a year ago, and at that time we didn't know that it was going to be "our" house project. At that time we were planning on using it as a guest house for friends and family. So with that plan in mind we started by putting new shingles on the roof. It was a fun job, Joanna, Anja, Olivia and I did a lot of the work with the guys helping out when they could.

Several months went by and the plan was changed, my family would be the ones moving next door. So with that change of plans came another change of plans, instead of just patching and painting up the walls and fixing the floors we were going to gut the whole place. We will be forever grateful that we picked the gutting instead of the patching route, as we found major problems with the structural soundness of the house.

(a picture of our soon to be kitchen)

After putting in beams and supports to insure that the house would not collapse on top of us, we were finally ready to start studding in new walls. Next came electric, plumbing, inspections, insulation, and dry wall.

Our 2" tongue and groove flooring was now ready to be put in, which involved measuring, marking, sawing, nailing, sanding, and three coats of the same stuff that they use on gym floors. The floor turned out beautifully!

We are finally to the finishing stages such as painting, putting the kitchen in, and putting trim boards up. We still have quite a bit of work to do, but we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are trying not to put a time on when we will be able to move in, but hopefully I will soon be able to post that we are moved in, and give you some before and after pictures. But until then I will try to keep you updated. ;)

(the beginnings of our kitchen.)

The "eyes" have it...

Mark Shultz wrote a song, it is called "Running just to catch myself " right now that is the story of my life, and the lives of those around me. We have been running and running and sometimes it feels as if we are running in circles... or at least painting in circles. ;) Yes, we have been painting an awful lot! But through all this painting I have learned two things:

1. Make sure paint can lids are tightly secured before tipping paint can over...

2. Do not wear contacts while painting ceilings without wearing the proper eye protection, or this might happen to you. Little droplets of paint all over your contacts.

A big "Thank You" to Mom who finished painting the ceilings for me!

Well, I was kind of posting this as an excuse for why I haven't had time to blog lately, but hopefully it will also motivate me to blog more with updates on the house and such. So, goodbye for now and I hope it will not be as long between posts next time... ;)

Oh, and here is a sneak peek of our new kitchen cabinets being safely delivered to there new abode.

The Sky is Falling...

Have you ever heard the story of Chicken Little, Henny Penny and all the others? Well, if you have then I am sure that you know when something drops from the sky it is no light matter. Well, I have my own "Chicken Little" story.

Once upon a time, (a time not much different then our own.) Little Girl waking up from a long nights rest, was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, when suddenly she saw something on her floor that made her gasp.

"What is that?" cried Little Girl.

You see Little Girl wore glasses and therefore without them on she could not see very well. Now Little Girls glasses were not anywhere nearby so she squinted her eyes to see if she could see what was on her floor.

"It looks like I must have broken something last night!" said Little Girl to herself. "I wonder what it could have been? It looks like it was something glass, I don't think I have anything that big in my room... Maybe I was sleep walking and broke one of my lamps." All these thoughts went through Little Girls head. But none of them made any sense...just as she was getting a bit puzzled over what was on her floor she looked up at her ceiling. " Ah-HA, that is what is all over my floor, it is my ceiling!" she said relieved that it wasn't something else.

After climbing out of bed she went running through the house telling everyone that her sky was falling. She told Mother Brother, and Brother Other. Mother Brother went and told Daddy Paddy and they all went to inspect the hole in the ceiling. "The sky really is falling today." said Little Girl and that was all she said. Chicken may have been wrong when she said those famous words, but I think Little Girl was right, don't you?