Control — Grace to be Imperfect

This really spoke to me. I bet it will speak to most of you. Follow Hannah today for honest, real life writing. I appreciate her openness about her shortcomings. I also appreciate her ability to share what she’s learned in a humble way.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” – Psalm 37:7a I’ve always been a careful planner. I like to know what to expect. As a result, I love organizing things, making lists, and creating plans. Although these are good qualities, I think that sometimes control is actually a coping mechanism for my anxiety. […]

via Control — Grace to be Imperfect

Advertisements

Vacay Days 5,6,&7

Day 5: Shopping day. We found an awesome thrift store outside of the main drag. We had Bojangles for lunch.

Day 6: Family day in Knoxville, Tn. My mother in law’s cousins put out a spread for us and welcomed us with open arms. Down home cooking, down home hospitality.

Day 7: Two of our party left us today to head back early. My oldest and my mother in law. My husband and I took the two little ones for mountain coasters, shopping, go-carts…oh and one more mountain coaster ride! Mountain coasters take you up the side of a mountain and when you get to the top you get total control of your speed all the way down using. gravity. It is such a smooth quiet ride. If you come down here, ride the Rocky Top Mountain Coaster. It’s brand new and is ten minutes in length which is longer than the others. Well worth your money.

The excitement is just too much! No a/c means hang your head out the window and get the full experience!

Quick stop to the candy store. Yearly tradition.

Artistic flare. A poor butterfly lost its wing!

Healed Enough

Mark Rackley asked if we made our way where the forest fires were a couple years ago. We haven’t gone to Gatlinburg this vacation but did stay there last year. Here is a repost of my observations of the fires and the reconstruction from last year.

Last week my family and I had the pleasure vacationing in Gatlinburg, TN. If you’re from the United States, you most likely heard of the tremendous wildfires that ripped through the Smokey Mountain areas in November of 2016.

Vacay Day 4

Today was my birthday. My family woke me with breakfast in bed, including coffee and fresh picked flowers. I’m blessed.

We went to Pigeon Forge. We had lunch at a fish place called Huck Finns and spent the rest of the day on the Island. The Island is tucked back behind the main drag and has a little bit of all the area has to offer in one place. Well except for for mountain coasters and go-carts. 😊 The kids got to ride rides for 30$ unlimited and the wristbands are good for 48 hours after purchase, we are going to try to go back in the morning.

They even have a free tram to bring you in from parking

That’s a good deal! There are little shops you can meander in and out of to get out of the heat. The ferris wheel has air conditioned cars, but…no way am I going in that thing!

What if?

Renee! The lion and the lamb

Paintings in a gallery. So cool

Artistic flare of the day

My daughter cried because she was so nervous getting on this ride…then she rode it 4x in a row!

Shops

Vacay Day 3

S’mores time!

Dusk on the lake

Photography artistic flare

First fish

He’s wiggly which made her giggly

Not a Keeper. Gets another day at life

My favorite photo. Father and daughter making memories to last.

Vacay Day 2

We took the kids to Kentucky Splash located Williamsburg, KY. It’s a clean and wonderful park. Only 10$ per person per day. After that we traveled to our rental home on Cherokee Lake in Tennessee.

Hawk (I don’t know your first name) these pics are for you! I know you haven’t traveled in a long time. I thought of you when I took the mountain pics while driving. The view of the lake out of the livingroom door is breathtaking and the camera doesn’t do it justice…so here’s Day 2.

Outside hotel room this morning. See the fog coming off the mountain. Smokey mountains!

Beautiful Myrtle Trees Everywhere

Very tired girls

Tennessee Y’all

Firepit…smores tomorrow night!

Vacay! Yay! Day 1

Travel day today. Our trip today is from northern Indiana to Corbin, Kentucky where we will stay the night. The drive has been uneventful, as most of Indiana is flat and cornfields. We have made a tradition of stopping for lunch at a really nice rest stop where we enjoy a picnic of my Mother in Law’s homemade chicken salad! It’s full of yummy chicken, red grapes and pecans. But our rest stop was closed. I mean torn down type of closed. We were able to find a community park in Saint Leon, Indiana. A town found way down yonder, Indiana almost into Ohio.

Next, we crossed over the Ohio River. This is the big event for the day until we reach the mountains as far as sight seeing goes.

Miami Fort Power station

At this point in our drive we go from Indiana into Ohio and end up in Kentucky.A couple hours after that, our a/c pump went out in our car! Luckily I have a smart mechanic of husband who didn’t panic and knew right away what the problem was. So basically we don’t have air. But we have an engine that can go and wheels to take us.

This will be a fix for when we return home. So the little ones rode with their grandma while my husband and I rode with the wind in our hair. It was nastalglic in a way, as it reminded me of being a kid in the backseat of some really cool cars…wind blowing. We even got to a town that had already had rain. That was nice in the sense that God got the rain out of our way. I was reminded that troubles do come, but God leads the way and clears our paths now and then….if we let him.Tonight we sleep sound in a hotel in Kentucky. Tomorrow…waterpark and we travel to our rental on the lake. Vanessa and Leola...here’s my one photography attempt, hope you like it. My daughter picked it for me.