Girl's Night

Saturday night Claire and I had girls' night. We ate chocolate dessert, I let her paint my fingernails and we watched Sound of Music. We had such a good time. I love having little girls and can't wait until Keeley is old enough to do these fun things and join us for "girls' night". While Claire and I had some mommy and daughter time, Nathan and Keeley got to have some daddy and daughter time. He took Keeley to the park and let her play. I love that they were able to have some special time together. Nathan is such a wonderful dad and makes it a priority to take Claire on daddy-daughter dates. This is a tradition he started when Claire was 2 and now he is beginning to continue with Keeley. We love our girls so much and enjoy being with them so much!

Our visit to the Biltmore Estate

Whenever we go to "daddy's office", Claire can see the Biltmore in the horizon. She screams and gets really excited...there's the "castle". A few weeks ago, we had lunch with some friends and when she found out they were going to the Biltmore that afternoon, she was crushed that we couldn't go with them. We promised that we would take her soon. Well, being the bargain shopper that I am, I noticed this week they were running a special. Buy one ticket get one free! I knew we had to go! We didn't tell Claire at all. She didn't know we were going to the Biltmore until we drove right in front of it. It still didn't click with her that we were going inside. She was thrilled when I told her and could hardly contain her excitement! To her, the Biltmore is just one big "castle". In her mind it was the castle that is in all her fairy tales. I can still remember visiting the Biltmore when I was her age. It is pretty amazing to see as an adult, but there is something really magical about seeing it as a child. I loved watching the joy and excitement on her face as we toured each room. She LOVED Mrs. Vanderbilt's room. (It was pink, purple, and yellow.) I asked her today which room was her favorite and she replied "The mommy's room. It was pink and purple. And you know I like yellow too."

The Biltmore house is still a privately owned home that has been open to the public since 1930. It is the largest home in the United States. It boasts 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, and 35 guest and family bedrooms. It includes a bowling alley and an indoor swimming pool. Currently there are 8000 acres of land that belong to the estate, but originally Mr. Vanderbilt owned 125,00o acres. It is quite an awesome sight when we think about how state-of-the-art this home would have been in 1895 when the home was completed. We truly enjoyed our tour and look forward to many more visits in the near future. We are hoping to purchase a year pass so that we can go and experience it anytime of year. Our friends who have a 12 month pass, say they do something different everytime they go. There is just so much to see and enjoy! I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures from our visit. My plan is to post as many tourist attractions as I can on my blog in hopes that all my friends will come visit :)

Summer Days

This summer we have spent A LOT of time at the pool that is within walking distance from home. Claire, Keeley, and I would spend many of our afternoons playing in the pool. Claire and I both have made some great friends as well. Laurel and Abel have been a Godsend to us. Abel is five and the girls play so great together. Laurel, her mother, and I have really connected. She is a wonderful christian lady with a lot of the same interest as me. We have enjoyed watching the girls and just talking.

Last Sunday was the last day the pool was open, so we decided to all go as a family. Claire FINALLY went under and just a few days before had FINALLY decided she was brave enough to jump in by herself. (Well, at least into the 1ft.) It has been a great summer. (I am already ready for next summer!)

Cinnamon Playdough

The other day I finally found a recipe I had been searching for! When I was little I loved playing with playdough, but hated the way it left my hands smelling. My mom would often make cinnamon playdough for me. I LOVED it because it smelled so good! I have so many fond memories of helping my mom make the playdough and then the two of us playing with it together. I had asked her a few years back for the recipe and she had lost it. Finally, thanks to the internet I was able to find the recipe! Claire and I made our first batch last week. I hope Claire one day has as many sweet memories of cooking and creating things with me, that I do with my mom!

Bittersweet Trip Home

This past weekend, Nathan, the girls, and I went to Illinois to celebrate my brother's birthday and to say goodbye. It was so good to be able to spend one last weekend with him before he deploys. We originally were going to go home the weekend that he deploys for his send off. He requested we come earlier, because he will not really get to spend much time with us that weekend. He will have to spend most of his weekend with the families of the men he oversees. He said he would rather have us come when he would be able to spend time with us. I really hate I am missing his send off. It is hard knowing I won't be there, but I am thankful for the quality time we had together by going up this past weekend. Saturday we spent the day in the pool and then we celebrated his birthday that night with my parents, Rebecca and Rebecca's parents. Sunday night was his going away party. He had a really good turn out and it was good to see some familiar faces from high school. Sunday morning we had to leave :( It was VERY hard to say goodbye, but hopefully the year will fly by and he will be home before we know it!

Family Visit

My family came to Asheville July 2-6th. My brother is being deployed to Afghanistan next month and we wanted to take a family vacation together before he left. However, since Nathan just recently started his new job, taking time off was out of the question. My family decided since we live in a great vacation spot they would just come to us. We had a wonderful time while they were here. We went shopping, hiking, and white water rafting. It was so good to have this special time with my brother before he leaves. Please keep my brother in your thoughts and prayers. He will be infiltrated into the Afghanistan police. He may or may not have access to clean water or internet. These are two major concerns for him because he doesn't want to be sick while he is there and he wants to be able to communicate with us on a regular basis. Please pray for his safety too.

Asheville Living

Nathan and I have officially been residents of Asheville since Memorial Day Weekend. This journey begin a year ago this past June when I begin to feel a stirring in my heart. I wanted our family to do more for Christ. I didn't want to have lived my life and realize I had not lived it for the Lord. I began praying that God would use our family. Little did I know where that prayer would lead us. Soon after, we began to feel like God was calling us to join two of our ministers in Asheville, with a church plant. I could not believe God had softened my heart towards this idea. It had been brought up before in conversation, but I was dead set against the idea. I moved around a lot as a child and didn't have any desire to move again. Jackson had become home. We had close friends, a wonderful church, Nathan had a wonderful job. Life was full of riches in Jackson that I didn't want to leave. The Lord made it very clear through an entire sermon series that this was what we were suppose to do. Every doubt or question I had, the Lord addressed, through our pastor, each Sunday. Nathan contacted Farm Bureau North Carolina, "just to put his feelers out" and see if there where any openings. At the time there wasn't, but within a month the manager contacted Nathan and asked him "Do you still want to move to North Carolina?". Little did we know what a rollercoaster of emotions we would be on for the next several months. The interview went great, Nathan was offered the job on the spot, but there was a lot of "faith leaping" we were going to have to do. We prayed for guidance and clarity. Boy did he give us that. Nathan moved here Feb 1st. Our house had not sold yet so I had to remain in Jackson with the girls. There were so many times during this difficult time that I questioned our decision, or questioned why God was allowing our family to be apart, but now looking back it is so clear that this was his provision. He protected our family and he met every need we had. We are excited to be here now, together, starting this exciting adventure! We are excited to see what God has in store for the people of Asheville.