Fall Fun

Now that it's December, I realized I had better post these pics from our fall adventures!
Mid-October, we took a day trip to the "mountains of NC" and drove a little over 2 hrs to Asheville, NC. I think it was before their "peak" color weekend, but there were definitely more colorful leaves than we had here in the southern part of North Carolina.
Our first stop was the North Carolina Arboretum. Adam had found this online as a very inexpensive location to check out. We were impressed. We paid $8 to park and that was it, no admission fee, no fee to use the binoculars or nature trail back pack. In fact the whole nature trail back pack was quite a blessing b/c I had forgotten to bring a bag for the kids to collect leaves in. This nature trail back pack included binoculars, magnifying glass, bug box, and much more. All we had to do was go to the information desk and ask! And then you had to leave your driver's license w/ them in order to ensure that they would get the pack back when we were done.





In addition to all the nice flowers, plants and trees in the arboretum itself, we were right on the edge of the Blue Ridge Parkway, so we could see some great view of the mountains w/ the colorful leaves in the distance/background.
We spent about an hour walking thru the NC Arboretum, but then the boys were getting hungry. I had packed a lunch, and we had driven by a nice picnic area right before turning into the NC Arboretum. We drove about 3 min. "back" to that spot and had a great lunch right by a river.


Then we drove to The Grove Park Inn. It is a historic resort hotel on the western-facing slope of Sunset Mountain within the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Asheville, North Carolina. We were able to walk all around the resort inside and outside. Very beautiful, original stone-work throughout the building, huge and I mean HUGE fireplaces, and lots of smaller buildings around the property w/ antiques. There were even one whole building of full-size antique cars. The curator of the antique cars let the boys try out his "squirrel rod" (as opposed to a fishing rod). See the pics of Wyatt below! The bait was a peanut! We tried to get a nice family picture, but the boys weren't cooperating!





Then in mid-November, we we went to Aw Shucks which is a local farm that has an old general store, corn maze, hay ride, animal barn and many other outdoor fall activities. Here Wyatt is trying out the slide on a burlap bag.
Running across the bales of hay!
Coming down the steps from the tree house.
By the animal barn. Levi did not want to stop feeding the sheep and goats to get a picture with me!
Practicing lasso skills!
I got this one!
The picturesque General Store

Seasons (Part 2)

Last month I wrote Part 1 to this post about the Season of Change(s) in our life over the past 4 years. Here is the rest that I wanted to share about what the Lord has taught me. Please go back to the other post if you have not read it yet to catch up on the changes that I am referring to!

First of all, I was reminded by some close family and friends of all the people that had been praying for me thru those difficult months and years of change. And I want to say THANK YOU! Prayer definitely makes a difference and is a huge encouragement! Also, there were so many family and friends that gave of their time, which is a HUGE gift, to help us with the many moves...including packing, unpacking, watching the boys, cleaning, meals, etc, etc. I specifically remember 2 families who helped us with 2 or 3 moves. And by "moves" I mean, the whole nine yards, from boxes to furniture in and out of a u-haul, up and down stairs, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning! And after all that, they helped again with the exact same items when we had to move less than 12 months later. That my friends is an unforgettable gift, and we will always remember that generosity! We were blessed by their self-sacrificing actions and it turned our eyes to the Lord who was shining thru their hearts!

The verse that has been most precious to me over the past 4 years is
Isaiah 58:11--And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Satisfying your desire in scorched places...scorched made me think of desert, dried up, too-far-gone, dead, no feeling. At times I felt like that...that there was no way we'd find a church family, no way I'd make close friends, no way we'd get to buy a house, etc, etc. But God said that he would satisfy my desire where it seemed "too-far-gone".
Then the verse goes on to say, give strength to your bones...boy did I NEED strength. Physical strength! I was very uncomfortably pregnant w/ a Ureteric stent (google it), a very, very big-for-his-age 12 month old who couldn't walk and had to be carried, lifted, etc. I needed strength!
And the last 2 lines of this verse talk about a picture of happiness...a watered garden, a never-ending spring of water. I didn't think it was possible, but this verse was an encouragement to me that the Lord would satisfy my desire even if I thought it was too far gone. The Lord would give me strength. And the Lord would make me look like a picture of happiness despite my circumstances.

"Disappointment happens, but discouragement is a CHOICE"

And finally, Psalm 37:3-5, 7--Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him and He will do it. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;

When I read this verse I was really challenged to change my way of living in NC...I was to dwell in NC. Not just get by day-to-day and say woe is me, I have no friends, I have no room to invite friends over... Not to think that our time in NC might be only temporary b/c we might have to move to FL, and if it's just temporary, why should I even try to find a church or get involved or make friends? No, no!! I was to dwell here and become faithful. Even if our circumstances didn't get better and we had to move back to FL, I was to be faithful and dwell where I was while I was there. It wasn't an immediate change, but I started at least "trying" to like NC and let myself admit the things that I did like about it. We started going to church faithfully and making friends and getting involved. I just had to commit, trust and wait like those verses said. And I did...over a period of 4 years. I wasn't very patient about it, but the Lord kept bringing me back to this passage and I would be encouraged and challenged and keep trying to change my way of thinking and with the Lord's help, I did!

And I have to include at least one picture in the post...This is the best we got for a family picture when we went to Asheville, NC a few weekends ago. The boys are stinkers now about smiling for pictures. At times you can get a smile out of them if they are promised a silly pose/picture after the nice one! ha!