October 07, 2019

"Take Us Home Country Roads To The Place We Belong"

❤️Be Still My Heart❤️

"Take Us Home, Country Road.... 

To the Place...We Belong.... 

TENNESSEE... where there is FAM-ILY..

Take Us Home... Country Road."


As I sat in my 1970's pink bathtub staring at the broken tile & vise grip above my freshly pedicured Texas Toes... I had so many feelings.  Am I really gonna have to use a vise grip to take a hot bath in this place? Is this real?  Are we "really" here?  In this place?  In this temporary home to live in while we prepare to build... this old "lodge" that needed some love & some memories made by Our family.  We are so very fortunate to be able to be right here close to the land we will build our home on & grateful....oh so grateful.  But let's be honest here.  Ya gotta laugh after redoing your master bath in Texas, soaking in a clawfoot tub with a shabby chandelier & thinking YaY...we finally updated our bathroom...that had carpet in it!!!!  Ha! Ha!  WHO KNEW in a short time we would be taking pictures of this beautiful, memory filled home to SELL... & MOVE.... 800+ miles to where our hearts were born...Where WE were born, where we fell in LOVE & dated for 7 years....Tennessee..... Where there is Family...the Country Roads....that would take us HOME.  Sounds so great!? Such a dream come true & more than we could 'ever imagine' to have the opportunity to let the plans start to unfold in the place we prayed for years to be able to return to. 

THANK YOU JESUS!


Everyone has truly, truly done phenomenal.  Don't get me wrong... there have been moments of missing friends... missing what we knew... missing the best food in the world... TEX-MEX...AHHH

But somehow, the family we have here now & the creation God made that surrounds us, keeps us at peace.  This is something our kids will never forget.  They will carry this memory of moving & starting over in a new place with them forever.  I like that. But there have been & are still times I have certainly asked the Lord... "Are you sure? Is this the right thing? Obviously it took a sure fire miracle to get us here, you won't fail us, will you Lord?"  He has been holding my heart & my hand a lot for the past 4 months.  Wow... 4 months?  Did I just say that?  I keep putting off writing about our first summer in Tennessee.  I don't know why. Maybe it's because I have such an overwhelming amount of feelings? I ran all summer looking at the beautiful trails & crossing over creeks & green pastures staring back at me & even took picture after picture trying to capture what my heart felt as I ran in this beautiful place. I still don't know if I can pour it all out & maybe that is how it should be. Maybe some things should just stay between those trails & me & God whispering in my ear as I work in our home that all this He keeps revealing is to keep reminding me of His amazing promises. With that said, I don't know what I want to put on paper to reflect back on one day, but I do know I have a LOT of pictures from our June & July Summer & will hold them dear to my heart as they will be the start of a new chapter for our family!  


I wish I could write about every single picture because so many thoughts flood my mind as I look back.  But I will just keep it shorter than I would like so I can move on to us really doing life here!  Summer felt almost like a visit?  Were we here on summer break like we always were?  We knew things wouldn't really sink in until we started the kids in school & began our life here.  Summer was nice to just be FREE, no schedule, let things flow & us all adapt, go where the Tennessee Humidity would STICK us!!!  Ha!  


Our pictures begin with the signs... to welcome us.  Oh how they made us feel happy.  Late at night lights lined the fence to welcome us with balloons & color & even a funny rhyme that just made us laugh & feel so happy! We soon had the moving truck arrive & more balloons & homemade cookies from my Mama awaiting us at our home we would be staying in. All for us to unpack on Nathan's 42nd birthday.  Happy Birthday Honey! But...at the end of that day, we would eat cake & sing & celebrate...because that is what we do.  The days & weeks following were many more fun times, memories made & family... family....family.  I don't think you can get enough "helpins" of family when you been gone for 18 years.  WE would go back for 2nds & 3rds during the weeks hoping they wouldn't get sick of us!  Ha!  Our Friday night pizza nights turned into the kids asking if were were gonna see grandparents & cousins.  Oh how the heart felt full with this gift for our kids.  Something they have never known on a regular basis is now going to be the "new normal".  Something that no matter how hard this was or will be for us to adapt to.... it will ALL be Worth It!  I can still say that now without a doubt!  I am now gonna list some of the summer sweetness... cause I like lists!  


Our Tennessee Summer Continued On With...

WE....

-met our new donkey "Francis Rose' " (my mother's day gift)

-explored the land, the creeks, the swinging bridge

-went to vacation bible school & made new friends

-celebrated Emmie's 12th birthday, the electricity went out that night & we sang & she opened her gifts by candle light 

-celebrated Nonna's birthday, my sister's birthday & BOOM, BOOM, BOOM 'Merica!  

-fruit pizza & fireworks because 'Merica... and My Mama & Sister & her family came over for a sleepover.... Yay! More sleepovers please!

-welcomed a new cousin...little baby girl Cameron

-cooked with a beast of a stove that still might be make me lose my mind... It looks really cool in the picture but first you must turn on the gas, then the loud vent, then you must open the oven door, take out the bottom tray covering the pilot you light, hold a button down for 30 seconds or so after you light it & it should stay lit.  Is this 2019? What year am I living in? Rise up from the oven after returning the tray & slamming oven door shut...to be covered in black smoke? soot? I don't know?  I cleaned the oven for a whole day & STILL  I have black on my hands Every.Single.Time.I.Use.It

 I will Never Forget this Stove! 

-enjoyed days of nothing while kids played hopscotch & ate popsicles & I sat & watched them while looking at the big trees & blue sky in the quiet country

-the animals... oh the animals... lots of fencing...God bless my husband,  so much sweating & even a birth of a new baby goat!  The tiniest little one ever!  'Lucy' & her mommy 'Lettie' are new to the Orange Animals for Emmie's summer birthday

-bushhoggin... yep... my hubby on a tractor...lookin fine as can be.... even Noah did some bushhoggin.. taking care of land is a lot of work!

-summer swimmin in the creek & they decided to fill up the back of Nathan's truck for a temporary pool... kids can totally come up with fun & crazy ideas... Sure... Why Not?

-Noah even got to go back to Texas for a short visit to see friends since Nathan had to go there for work. He spent his summer practicing football in the TN heat & even made a little money working at a local compost company.... good stuff!  Love seeing teenagers workin!

-Lastly on these pics, Me & Nate celebrated 18 years of marriage and "Did Nashville"....Ha! We were total tourists... cause man... things have changed!  But we had a nice night out just the two of us because the kids were back at home WITH FAMILY...oh how nice!  That meant we could put on cowboy hats, listen to live music, eat hot chicken & walk down Broadway with all the craze. 

-oh & I must say my hubby fixed the tub so I didn't need a vise grip to turn on my hot water & updated it with some faux crystal knobs for my baths 🛁

-my lack of good phone service and Internet went from total frustration... to giving up on forms of communication.... to Ok... It gonna be alright. Just stand here or over there & you can talk on the phone. Go outside to send group texts if including a picture, if it doesn't work the first time it will probably work the 2nd or 3rd....or you won't care anymore...

& remember.... Just laugh...This too shall pass. 


This Summer was smores & sittin, freckles & popsicle lickin, country cousins & so much lovin!  I don't think we will ever forget "the Summer we moved to Tennessee".  I know with these pictures, the memories will stay alive & The words can remind us what the heart felt.... The Lord will continue to lead us... down these Country Roads that brought us Home.... and we will Trust Him without borders.

This sweet sign that sits in my kitchen window... is often sung & read by me to remind myself what He wants us to do.  I will end with a picture of that & the other sign that hangs in my kitchen that I also had in our TX home... Gah if it doesn't mean even more to me now.  Life has a funny way of doing that huh?  
























































































































































































































































































































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