Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts
After what should have been about a 6 hour day turned into a nearly 18 hour day of a plane diverted to a different state, multiple delays, and hours upon hours waiting and trying to get on standby, and sitting on the tarmac, I was so happy to see this view as we approached landing in Burlington, grateful and thankful to arrive home last night from Tennessee. Yesterday was a tender day... and it was definitely not how I had planned to spend it but am so grateful to be home safely.
My time in Tennessee was truly wonderful, and I am so thankful for that brief 48 hours back there. More to come and more to share, but I am so grateful for the time.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend friends! Happy Saturday!
.jpg)
.jpg "leaving for tennessee")
Happy Wednesday friends! Today I am leaving for Tennessee to go to a wedding and I am so excited! Follow along on my instagram page and I can't wait to connect with y'all more over there! You can following along by clicking HERE!
It is delightful to be heading back to a place where I spent most of my childhood, but more than that to see so many dear ones to my heart!
I hope y'all have a wonderful day! Happy Wednesday friends!
Tennessee is one of the best states in the country to visit, and with a little something for everyone you should definitely make it a priority. While music lovers have always flocked to the state, there’s more to Tennessee than just Dolly Parton and Elvis Presley (although they’re both amazing too). If you're looking for somewhere new to visit, then it’s definitely worth having a closer look.
No matter what your interests are, no matter how long you;re planning to stay, here are the top seven things that you can do in Tennessee that might make you want to relocate there on a more permanent basis.
1. The Great Smoky Mountains
More people visit this national park than any other in America. Considering the incredible views, that’s not really a surprise. With hiking routes for beginners and experts, top of the list for places to visit in Tennessee has to be the Great Smoky Mountains.
2. Perfect for skiers
Ober Gatlinburg could be your dream destination if you like the slopes. As well as the stunning views there are also a wide variety of beautiful cabins to stay in, all located in and around the city of Gatlinburg. Use VacationRenter.com and pick somewhere close to the tramway.
3. Don’t miss out on Dollywood
No visit to Tennessee is going to be complete without a passing trip to Dollywood. It’s not just a house either, with Dollywood spanning 150 acres, host to 15 shows, and over 40 rides as well. Remember to take your swimming costume, because there’s a water park too!
4. The Smithsonian of Country Music
Tennessee is obviously famous for its musical history, which is why you should definitely check out the Country Music Hall of Fame. The exhibitions change on a regular basis so always check the schedule before you buy your tickets. Anyone with an interest in the history and traditions of country music is not going to want to miss this.
5. Going Greek
It might seem strange to find a slice of Ancient Greece in the middle of America, but that’s Tennessee! The full-scale replica of the Parthenon was built way back in 1897, and it’s now used as an art gallery. There is a great permanent collection of 63 pieces of art, and absolutely worth checking out.
6. The Presley Residence
Obviously, you’re going to have visit Graceland if you’re even close to Tennessee. Elvis is one of the most recognized icons in the world, and there’s a lot to fascinate when it comes to a tour of his former home.
7. Going Green
It’s not all about music and mountains. Cheekwood Botanical Gardens is a great place to spend a few hours, and even if the 11 gardens and the woodland trail aren’t enough to pique your interest, then the fact that there’s also an art gallery attached might. The gardens themselves are filled with contemporary sculptures, making this the ideal spot for a relaxing afternoon.
With its blend of history, cultural importance, and modern feel, Tennessee is the perfect place to visit any time of the year.
*contributed post*
As I shared this past weekend on instagram, we headed out on Sunday morning from my favorite place on earth to embark on several different adventures of my precious sisters wedding, seeing dear friends, a fun writing job, speaking engagements, an intensive treatment schedule, a mandatory meeting with my main medical team, a new book release, and an amazing opportunity to visit the set of my favorite TV show.
I have tears because despite the difficult treatment days, sickness, and pain I still experience in this journey of healing I realize how far how I have come. Truly I feel overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord for so many things. Thank you for all of your prayers for my continued treatment, our safety in travels, and for wisdom and grace to meet us each and every step in the days to come.
On Monday evening we safely arrived to the south and our home after 18 months away. We encountered several issues but also our sweet neighbors welcoming us home, the kindness of strangers helping us, and this beautiful sunset over the mechanic's office when our car battery was dead.
As we waited for the car battery to be worked on Monday evening, I walked the parking lot with my mom admiring the beauty of the sunset. All at once I had a memory from two years ago in the same parking lot. At that point I was so sick that it was hard to ride in the car for any length of time so my mom brought me to the parking lot to see the beautiful fall colors in the trees that surrounded it. We sat in the car, cried deep tears, and begged once again to the Lord for healing.
To be at this point two years later, able to walk that same parking lot, and see the healing progress that is taking place is a beautiful encouragement gift to my heart.
(The above three photos were taken by Katie at Always, Katie)
And then yesterday was absolutely perfect in every single way! Having the opportunity to meet in person one of my best friends was such a God-thing. It was absolutely lovely. I can't wait to share more about this exciting and amazing time with y'all very soon!
I hope y'all have a wonderful Wednesday!!
As I shared last week in my post, "Notes from the Porch: Wasted Time", these past couple of weeks have been some of the most difficult in my health journey emotionally. I shared several things and reasons why this has been the case but in addition to everything I shared there are some private, behind the scenes and personal things that have been going on. I have found myself having tears throughout the day on more than one occasion because I have just felt so discouraged. I have often just felt like shutting everything out and curling up with a soft blanket and crying my eyes out.
Ian Maclaren who was a Scottish author and minister is widely believed to have said, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." This quote has come to my mind in a thousand different situations that I have been encountering and I have noticed with startling accuracy the impact of this quote. Words have incredible power - to either destroy or to give life. This past week after I announced that I would be starting a "go fund me page" for my upcoming medical treatment to California I received many emails from people who were incredibly critical and harsh. In addition to this I have had to deal with criticism and skepticism as I have been going through my necessary doctors appointments here in the south, where Lyme Disease is not believed to be a real thing. Third, this season of the fight for my health is extremely intense and difficult and finally, as I mentioned there have been some behind the scenes, difficult personal battles that I have been dealing with. But it really doesn't matter what is all going on, because as Ian Maclaren said, everyone is fighting a hard battle.
In the midst of all of this I received an unexpected gift and surprise from a sweet lady who I have interacted with only a handful of times. Betsy, from "Heavens to Betsy" blew me away not as much with her generosity financially during this difficult time, but her kindness through her words. She spoke God's precious love and hope to my little heart through her words. And Betsy's actions and words have gotten me thinking about my own words and the impact that my words have.
Betsy's email was full of love and kindness and her words were "life-affirming" and had "redeeming" qualities. She spoke of hope and physically lived it out with her words. It was amazing how much of an impact her words have had and how many times I have re-read them in the last several days. Without knowing anything that was going on (except for my last post) she stepped into my brokenness and with her words she changed things around.
Y'all the power of "life-affirming" and "redeeming" words has the opportunity to shift an entire situation and an entire life. We may not know or understand the depth to which someone is dealing with a situation and we may never know all of the story behind something that someone is going through, but we have the power to change the story with our words.
There are so many people in my life who live this well and I want to model their examples. Last week when I was speaking with Carina her sweet words and her love were so encouraging. The time that she took to pray for me over the phone was a gift that had me in tears. My beautiful friend Jen is always quick to be sending love and kindness through their words and text messages. Katie's love and words of encouragement are such a gift and Kaara's beautiful encouragement through her cards always seem to come "at just the right time". Caroline always leaves the sweetest encouraging comments on posts that brings a smile to my face and Zoey's messages are a beautiful gift from the Lord. And where to begin with Katharine's beautiful understanding about not being able to attend her wedding is beyond me.
I have been so challenged in this to examine my own words every time I speak recently. I have realized that a lot of the times I am not even realizing when my words could be potentially hurtful. Maybe instead of rejoicing with someone who is rejoicing I am more quick to be like, "that is so nice" instead of truly rejoicing with them. Sometimes I have found myself being unintentional critical without really meaning to be. I have been thinking through things that I say in greater degrees and trying to examine each thing I say and write to make sure that they are redeeming words that I am living. And I have realized that my own potential to speak life-affirming and redeeming words is something that I want to do. Every single day.
I choose to believe that there are people out there that are just trying their best. That each person is genuinely just trying to be the best that they can and we have the opportunity to speak words of life to them. I choose to believe that each of us can change things with our words and that with our positive words we can truly make a difference. When we see with love we see the heart. We can see that people are human with flaws and brokenness but we can still see in love that people are trying their best. In that, we can rest in the positive and understand the impact that we can have on others. People all around us are broken and hurting and need the love of Christ spoken through our words. Let us spread the power of life-affirming and redeeming words today friends!
These past two weeks have brought beautiful springtime weather and the reminder that Spring is truly here and winter has left us. Flowers and trees are showing buds and beginning signs of gorgeous views ahead. Many flowers and bushes are already blooming. Truly Spring reminds us of the truth that it always arrives no matter how long or dark the winter.
One of my favorite passages of scripture in this health journey comes from Song of Solomon 2:11-12: "For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come."
The beautiful knowledge and truth that Spring is an example of God bringing "new life" to all situations comforts and encourages my heart each and everyday.
This has brought such comfort to my little heart as it has been a difficult couple of weeks. The hope and truth of these verses has encouraged this little heart of mine greatly.
I pray that as we enter into this Easter weekend that you feel the comfort and grace of our Lord meet you for each and every challenge you may be facing. May you be strengthened by the truth of Song of Solomon 2:11-12. Spring will come friends- in all areas of our lives.
With Love,
Well, we have officially entered into the frozen movie. If you haven't heard, some of the south was hit with a winter storm and here where I live, we are literally still "trapped" in our neighborhood. Because of the hills and the decision to not treat "sub roads" we are stuck.
To be perfectly honest, not much has changed in my life because I am primarily housebound, but I can see by the number of walks that my neighbors are doing that they are starting to get antsy to return to "normal" life. *smiles*
Honestly, I am so incredibly grateful that while we did lose internet power for a couple of days, we have not lost electricity! SUCH a blessing that we are thanking the Lord for!
The view outside my window has been gorgeous. I have spent hours marveling at the Lord's creations and the beauty that has surrounded us. It looks like we are embraced with a glittering and crystal woods. It is simply gorgeous.
I will definitely share with y'all additional pictures taken on my camera, but in the meantime now that we have power I just wanted to say a quick "hello" with y'all!
I hope y'all are having a wonderful day and are staying warm!
“Is God really at work in the ordinary?” is
a question that I am often asked (especially after I wrote a post about delighting in the beauty of ordinary this summer) and have thought through these past years in a variety of different ways in
many different situations-from my bed,
from a hospital floor, in a classroom, from a
hotel window, on an airplane, and most recently
looking out over the wide expanse of a precious place that I fondly call “camp.”
I recently read an article on
healing by a young woman who survived (against
the odds) an open heart surgery as a baby but has been
struggling with a chronic illness “in the prime of her life.” Oh, how her story could be my story. I have shared my endometriosis story and
remember with fondness the relatively quick and mighty healing that my precious
Savior did that year.To be truthful,
it was the same type of healing that I expected to happen once again with these
health issues that I have been struggling with. I presumed that my Heavenly
Father would want to use a story like that again for His glory. THOSE are the
stories that people like hearing. THOSE are the stories that people want to
discuss and clap their hands at a conference or
a gathering. THOSE are the stories that have the happy endings with the nice and
neat bow wrapped around it.
But the reality is that whether or
not people like those stories that is not my story right now.This
story that I am living is still in the middle.This story doesn’t
have an end right now in sight.The story right now is messy
and painful.This journey has
been long and has cost me (and those that love me the most) a lot. Physically,
emotionally, financially, spiritually, it has cost us almost me everything.
On certain days, it is tempting
to wallow in self-pity of all that has been lost these past years due to illness. It is tempting to focus
on the bad instead of the good. It is tempting to focus on the difficult things
that are so numerous that if I let them, they would be
the sole focus of life. Because many days it is tempting to wallow in all of the negative and dark and all of the things that can make our lives seem like night. If I let them, they would wrap around my soul like
a dark moonless night and harden it.
Because, sweet friends,
let us be honest, our lives, no matter how we alter or edit it, are not
going to always have a bunch of instagram pictures with whatever we are longing
for. On my feed I am not going to have a bunch of instagram pictures of me
traveling around the world, as much as I would like it to. It’s not going to
have me doing something exciting every week. I might dream of it, I might long
for it, I might long for anything that is different, but it is not reality.
My feed on a variety of social sites is not going to show me with the love of
my life and a hoard of happy babies. I long
and yearn to be married and be a mama, but right now, life is not that
way. I might dream of it, I might long for it, I might
long for anything that is different, but it is not reality. Life is full of ordinary and everyday
disappointments and moments that can start to appear that there is nothing
glamorous, or lovely and that the dark is every present. And maybe you feel that way too... but sweet friends, I am learning in a
whole new way to find hope in the beauty of the ordinary as
well as the miraculous. I am learning that we can use whatever stage we are at for His glory. To reach someone for the Lord.
As I have lived
these past years with Jesus my faith has grown exponentially. I have cried
tears of pain but also tears of joy. I have seen and can testify that despite
the bad, there is so much goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I can
testify without a shadow of a doubt the truth that the Lord is close to the
brokenhearted. I can share His love more freely as I have experienced and see
in new ways the Lord’s abundant love for me. I see a broken world and instead
of wanting to protect myself or my heart from that hurt I want to run into it and
share God’s love that He has given me. There is no fear for myself or caution
of what the world may think, there is only a deep and burning desire to wholly
serve the Lord in everything I do.
Because
y’all, the precious people that you and I love who are hurting and broken don’t
need anything but the Lord’s love. Look around you sweet friends and see who
the Lord has set in front of you. Who in your life can you sacrifice the life you envisioned for the life that is
before you and who desperately needs you? Who in your life can you pray for,
love on, and remind that they are important and loved by God dearly?
These past years have also taught me a whole new way to pray as I have stepped out and seen the ways that the Lord has answered time and time and time again. I have seen His mercy in the most difficult moments and His beautiful grace in the good moments. I have seen His incredible love through so many people including my family, my best friends, and strangers. I see His goodness in the miraculous and also in the ordinary moments of each life. I move on from the past with such gratitude for the thousands of precious memories but I have found peace and acceptance in the present and in the future. I trust my little heart with an unknown future to a God who is known and makes Himself known everyday.
His unfathomable love has covered every doubt and has brought
the truth that it is the Lord that has assigned me my cup and
portion and I am content for His will to be done. Sweet friends, let us abandon every single thought of ours
for His glory. Let us give up everything to the one who loves us more than
life. Let us make this prayer the prayer of our hearts and souls:
"Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my
own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life,
my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever.Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy
Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. Work out Thy whole will
in my life at any cost, now and forever." (Betty Stam)
This dear friends is anything but what the world may call
“amazing” or “glamours” but there is beauty in learning to delight in the
ordinary as well as the miraculous. The beautiful ordinary that so many people
fear having or living can bring the miraculous.
Because that, my dear friends, is also where HOPE lives. In
the dark places. In the days that seem like night. In
the long nights of the cold winter of December there is a light that shines in
the darkness. In that month of December hope springs forth to birth a beautiful
story of redemption and restoration. There is hope. In
the ordinary and the in the miraculous. In the everyday moments where our
hearts yearn and long for something that we don’t have but we desperately want.
The yearnings and the longings that catch our breath and when it is hard to
breath. The yearnings and longings that bring our teary and messy selves to the
heart of God and back to the cross.
If you were to ask me six years ago
if I knew what the coming years would be like, would I still
embark on the same journey that the Lord has laid out in front of me.
I can honestly say (with tears) “yes.”
While I can’t share the miraculous healing or how the story will end (like I
could with my endometriosis story), I can say a
deeper “yes”
with humility because of how faithful my God has
been. He has never let my side and His mercies have truly been new every
morning to faithfully meet every need that I have- physically,
emotionally, financially, spiritually. My prayer for
you friends is that you would experience this same precious God and find the
deep peace that comes with knowing the Lord. He is so good. Good
beyond words. And everyday, I see glimpses of joy in the land of
the living.
The reason?Because in the
night lies hope.
I am so thankful for my life. I am seriously SO blessed. My family moved to the south (from Pennsylvania) when I was nine years old and as I have mentioned before I spend life split between two incredible cultures. If I say I love the South I follow it up with: and I love the North. But if I said, I love the North I quickly follow it up with: and I love the South.
Today I am going to share just a few reasons why I love the South.
(Forgive me in advance: you will quickly notice that sweet tea and grits are not listed. I could blame a variety of reasons but the honest truth is I am allergic to both. *smiles*)
Reasons I love the South
* love of family
*warm weather
*big front porches
*delightful community
*high school football games
*pretty magnolias
*respectful men who still hold doors
*the sweet ladies who always want to give hugs
*the way everyone talks with you - even in a grocery store
*the laid back feel of life (on some days!)
*love of community
It is that last reason that really resonates with me. I love community and desire to make my blog a place of community and friendships. There are so many lovely southern ladies whose blogs are charming. Honesty this is just one more reason why I love the south!
I turn thirty-three on Sunday and I am excited! I truly believe that there are good things in store for thirty-three! I am excited to see what the Lord has planned for this coming year!
I know some people reflect on New Years but I have always looked back on my "new years" in two different ways: (1) at the start of a new school year and (2) on my birthday. As I am about to turn thirty-three in a couple of days I look back on thirty-two with so much thankfulness and gratitude from the past year. Here are thirty-two moments of extreme gratitude from this past year.
one: having the opportunity to celebrate my 32nd birthday in Hilton Head with my sis
two: starting my birthday off worshiping my precious Savior at the ocean.... perfection
three: Having dear friends stand beside me this past year when I was diagnosed with a serious chronic illness. One friend even provided money for medical needs. I am so blessed.
four: Of students who lavished their love exponentially on me everyday... especially on my birthday.
five: Perhaps the most perfect cake ever.
six: Moments of grace for each day. Truly Psalm 68:19 proved true.
seven: Catch phrase for AP US History- it was a classic *smiles* {yes, I did leave my birthday decorations up for weeks...and weeks...and weeks...}
eight: Witnessing the "first" senior prank. Classic. {Poor Jordan :(}
nine: Discovering the joy that comes through change.
ten: High school basketball game memories
eleven: Having three years of ice talks with IBFL
twelve: My mom's surgery being successful.
thirteen: The "soccer goal"
fourteen: The opportunity to be around these ladies everyday for months.
fifteen: Graduate school blessings
sixteen: Cherished friendships and three amazing ladies who were awesome chaperone's
seventeen: Abundant flowers (my favorite thing) that I received in the spring -my desk was never empty.
eighteen: Having wonderful Middle East History classes where we celebrated everything
nineteen: The day that all that happened in room 214 was ballroom dancing
twenty: An extra week with this amazing friend on the senior trip
twenty-one: The gift that left me speechless
twenty-two: Quiet moments of kind words and love
twenty-three: A perfect last senior trip
twenty-four: Precious cards that said goodbye and then hello again in the fall
twenty-five: Laughter
twenty-six: Three incredible months on my lake.
twenty-seven: The boat that had been prayed for
twenty-eight: The miracle of her car accident and thanking God for more time on this earth with this amazing woman and friend.
thirty: The beautiful rainbows that brought beautiful promises.
thirty-one: Celebrating seven years
thirty-two: The unconditional love, support, and help of my parents
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
