Peaceful Saturday

Today was such a peaceful day!  It was so beautiful outside that Chris and I decided to take a walk. We ended up walking a little over four miles and it was beautiful - the weather,  the scenery,  and the company. :)

YHWH has blessed me with the sweetest friend ever! 

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my fit bit? :)  

A Clean Heart

It never ceases to amaze me when a scripture will hit me like it's brand new yet something I've heard a thousand times in my life.  There is always something new and beautiful to be learned.  We had a bible study recently and Bro. Randy used the verse Psalms 51:10 ~ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  

So, you know what I'm thinking, right?  What is a clean heart?  Do I have a clean heart?

To me, having a clean heart is important.  Why?  Well, think about it - isn't your heart the most important muscle in your body?  If it isn't working properly, nothing else is going to work the way it should.  If my heart isn't clean and pure, nothing else in my life is going to be pleasing to God.  I don't know about you, but pleasing HIM and making it to heaven one day is my first priority.  

A clean heart. . . keeping my thoughts and intents pure, loving others as I should, working without grumbling or complaining, loving YHWH above all else.  

I can't help but to also think of a recent study of love and the fruits of the spirit.  When we have a clean and pure heart, good fruits will be produced! 

If I have a clean heart, then I will have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Okay, let's be honest ~ do any of us have ALL of these things ALL of the time?  I know I don't!  So, it looks like I have some work to do!  

Walking the 5Ks

One of the adventures on my 40 for 40 list is to walk 4 5Ks this year.  I have no idea why I chose to walk 4, but I did! :)  This morning was the first one of the year - WSMV 5K at The Opry.  I love the Opry and thought this would be a fun one to do - it was!  Chris joined me today - he is the best! Who else would get up at 4:00 A.M. just to walk with me? 

It was early and we were having some issues making sure that the Opry sign was behind us.  Okay, okay - I was having issues! ;) 

Hey. look, it's Opryland Hotel!  We walked all the way around it.   

 

So, maybe I wasn't too excited this morning before the sun came up! 

The Old School House

I have been past this old school house hundreds of times in my life, but yesterday I actually stopped and looked around.  I just love old school houses!  I can imagine the teacher ringing the bell to call her students to class on crisp fall mornings.  I can almost hear the children playing and laughing in the yard and then settling in class looking for their "tablets" to write on.  When two passions collide - my love of teaching and my interest of times past, it's a cool thing!!

Restful Ridge

I woke up this morning to the tip-tapping of rain hitting the metal roof of the cabin.  It's not always been that way - a metal roof - but rather, one of the many new changes we have made recently.  As I laid there and listened to the sweet sound, I thought of all that has changed in our lives and with the cabin.  11 years - we've been blessed to have our "Restful Ridge" (as we named it so many years ago) eleven years.

The cabin has been a place of comfort for my family.  A place of refuge when we need to be alone and a place of great joy when we take our friends and extended family along.  We have celebrated and mourned, we have laughed and we have cried at the cabin.  There are times we go to rest and other times we go to have an adventure.  Some trips (most trips) we are anxious and can't wait to get there, and still there have been trips that we had to make ourselves get in the car to go knowing that our hearts would hurt as we walked in the front door without loved ones.  The kids once played ON the pool table (don't ask) and now play a real game!  Toy Story, Nemo, and Cars have played on the DVD player more times than we can count.  We have transitioned form the older kids riding their tricycles around the porch to riding go-carts on the track.  We have gone from putting the portable baby cribs away in the basement to pulling them back out for the new babies.  Life has changed, as it always will, but one thing remains the same - we are a blessed family.

There may be changes and new additions to the family and the cabin,  we may have to hold memories in our hearts of friends and family once with us, but I am thankful for our many memories and times shared in the mountains.  Having the cabin is not a necessity, nor is it something we could not live without, but it has certainly been a blessing to my family.

This photo was taken in December of 2009 - one of my  favorite cabin picutres!

I found buttercups! :)

It is such a beautiful day!  Crazy world ~ ice storm last week and 70 and sunny this week!  

Spring Break is a great time for me to get away for a few days and chill.  Kellye and the girls couldn't join us, so I brought a couple of Andy's buddies to the cabin.  I had to BEG them to go on a hike this morning, but once I got them out there it was awesome.  I found a book for Chris (I promise you will get it - only slightly used now) about some Scavenger Hikes in the Smokies.  The boys thought it was so cool to look for the clues as we walked the trails.  They actually wanted to do another short hike after we finished the first one! :) In total, we only hiked about three miles today but the boys sure thought it was more.  We had a blast. . . 

Andy, Derek, and Jacob
This is a super old and neat bridge on one of the trails we hiked today.

You can't tell from this picture, but Mom and I are sitting on a huge rock right in the middle of a beautiful creek!  :)  Sweet memories made today! 

I just love my momma!

Look - I climbed over the rocks to the middle of the creek!

Andyman is getting so big. 

We hiked to an old cabin.  It was super neat!

We "clued" our way to a place that was once an old homestead.  You could see what was once their landscaping, their garden area, everything. . .  It was sooo neat!  But, when I found this patch of buttercups in bloom ~ I was happy!  LOVE IT!!!!!  

Buttercups. . .I found buttercups!  Now I'm happy!!!!