More NC Exploring

We spend a lot of time in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  We love riding around looking at wildlife and nature.  There is lots to explore in the park and we have been taking advantage of it almost every weekend.  A few weeks ago several friends from back home were camping in Elkmont in the park and we decided to go visit them.  On our way there we stopped and hiked to Laurel Falls.  It was really beautiful, but it was Labor Day weekend and it was super crowded.  We continue to see elk almost every week.  They are in their rut right now which means they are a little more active.  The bulls are battling for territory and cows, so its been neat to see them in action.  

 Laurel Falls

 Nomes enjoying her smoothie.

 The weekend after Labor Day my sisters along with our friends Samuel & Rachel came for a visit.  We had a blast.  Friday we explored Cataloochee Valley and the river park while Saturday we went rafting down the Nantahala River.  We also spent quite a bit of time at Clyde's restaurant.

 Beautiful sunset view from Cataloochee.

 I'm pretty sure the highlight of our weekend was the impromptu hide-and-seek game we played Saturday night.  We had a blast, and Samuel gets points fro the best hiding spot.  I'm not sure how he got in or how he got out.  So glad you guys came up for a visit.  We have the best friends anyone could ask for!

 While we had visitors our kids with were with my parents.  I found this T-Rex hat at the Dollar Tree and had to get it for my T-Rex obsessed little boy.  He literally wore it the rest of the week.

More Pinterest Recipe Verdicts

So I've tackled a few more Pinterest recipes.  I'm determined that they will not just sit in cyberspace so I've brought them to our dinner table.  Some good, others...well I'll just say it could be the cook. Here is what we thought.

1.  Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken

So this recipe was everything I was hoping, and is probably one of my most favorite Pinterest recipes I've come across so far.  I grilled it rather than baked it which means all the credit goes to the hubby.  It was delicious and really didn't need anything extra to go with it.  In fact I'm making this again tonight!

 2.  Italian Fires

Truth be told we haven't been eating a lot of potatoes lately and when we do they are baked potatoes not fries.  We tried this a few weeks ago with some left over potatoes I had.  This is a Martha Stewart recipe, so you know its going to be good.  My concern was would it be easy and be as good in my kitchen as hers.  The verdict:  Yes.  These were good and takes just like fried fries rather than baked fries.  Everyone gave these a good thumbs up.

3.  Crockpot Pizza Casserole

This was a so so hit.  It gets points for taste, but the outsides got a little overdone.  I omitted the bell pepper since my kids are keen on it and I really made this for them.  I used ground sausage instead of hamburger meat as well.  This is one of those recipes I'll have to tweak and work out whats best for us and my crockpot.  Not horrible.  Not amazing.

4.  Pumpkin Fluff Dip

This was a huge hit with the family.  I made this last week to take with us on a picnic in the park.  Everyone loved it.  I served it with graham crackers and apples.  To be honest I was a little disappointed in it.  It wasn't quite what I was expecting (and I'm a big pumpkin pie lover).  I don't know if it need more spice or what, but the kids and husband loved it.  So to each his own.  I'd definitely say give it a try if your curious.

5.  Baked Zucchini Fries

We have been eating a lot of zucchini.  A lot.  I thought this would offer a new spin on something we've come used to eating, but it didn't turn out quite a lovely as I'd hoped.  First it was a little more difficult to make than just tossing them in the oven.  Not hard just more than I was expecting.  I couldn't find the planko crumbs she used so I used regular old bread crumbs which changed it a bit I think.  I also didn't have a cookie rack to cook them on so I cooked them right on the oven rack with a pan underneath.  All that goes to say that mine didn't turn out quite as nicely as the ones pictured above.  I felt they were a little bland so I'll add more spices next time.  I did serve them with marinara and that added lots of flavor and is probably a must for this recipe.

Extended

We received the official word this week that we will be staying in NC for a few more months.  Originally the word was the end of the year, but the official contract is December 17th, which means we may be home for Christmas!  Honestly we could be extended another few months after this extension, but I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be back before year's end!  While I am anxious to be back in familiar surroundings around some pretty wonderful people I am looking forward to a few things through our extension.

• Fall.  Everyone travels to the mountains in the fall to see the changing of the leaves.  We'll be leaving right here among it which should be pretty awesome to see.
• Cooler weather.  Supposedly it get cool here in September and it already seems to be heading that way.  I'm so looking forward to crisp cool days.
• Perhaps a nice snow.  They are prepared for snow here unlike in GA where everything shuts down, so it would be awesome to get to see some snow and play in it.  I'm sure the mountains are just beautiful covered in it too.
• Homeschool.  Wait, did I really just say that?  Seriously, I think living here and doing homeschool will be much easier to transition into than if we were back home.  It should be relatively easy to get a schedule in place for us to stick to and hopefully we'll have it quite established when we move back to GA.  Guess we'll know soon as we start next week.
• Family time.  I have to admit we have had more family time living here than we ever did before.  We aren't constantly running here and there (which I do love most of the time because I like to be doing something or going somewhere all the time).  I'm sure my kids are loving it as well.
• Small Group.  We just joined a small group at our local church and are looking forward to meeting some new people and growing deeper.
• Football.  I'm really hoping to get in a football game at WCU this fall.  I'll have to go buy my Catamounts shirt first.  However, I am not too thrilled about missing most of the football season (we have no TV here).  ESPN 360 will probably be my best friend for Bulldog action and I"m going to have to rely on dad to keep me up to speed with the NFL & Peyton Manning.  
• Visitors.  One of the greatest gifts we have had since moving is all the visitors that have come to stay with us.  Sometimes our lives are so busy, but we have had the awesome privilege to spend some wonderful quality time with lots of family and friends though visits.  It has made our bonds deeper and our hearts closer, and I'm truly grateful for all the little moments.
• Adventure.  We have been able to do so many cool things since moving here, and I'm excited about what else may be in store over the next few months.

Death

Yesterday I had an 'aha' moment.  Of course it came through the children's curriculum at church, but however God chooses to reveal Himself to me I'm good with.  Let's face it sometimes I need the elementary teaching to "get it."  I hope I can convey my thoughts clearly enough for what few readers I have.  I am in no way a theologian, so this is simply my interpretation of scripture and what I felt the Lord was trying to show me.  I pray that it benefits you and brings you closer to Him.

The children at our church are doing The Gospel Project on Wednesday evenings and today's lesson was about how sin entered the world.  When put in the garden, Adam is warned not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil for on the day he does he will surely die (Gen. 2:15-17 KJV).  If you are familiar with the story you know that the snake comes and tempts Eve, she eats the fruit and then gives some to Adam who also eats the fruit.  Put simply, they disobey God and sin enters the world.  Jumping ahead a little they are confronted by God of their sin and He punishes them each and then in Genesis 3:22 God sends them out of the garden so they may not eat of the tree of life and live forever.  

That is were the WOW comes in.  God loved them enough that He gave them death.  I know, where is the good part in death?  Here is the beauty of it.  When they ate the forbidden fruit they became sinners.  If they were to eat from the tree of life they would have been sinners FOREVER.  Eternal separation from God.  What could be worse?  By eating the fruit of the tree of life it wouldn't have made them better or erased what they had done.  Instead it would have made their spiritual condition permanent.  God loved them far too much for that to happen, so He sends them away from the garden, which was a sentence to death.  

Growing up death was probably the scariest thing for me.  The eternal separation of someone I loved sounded terrifying to me.  The Lord has delivered me of that fear, and while I am not eager for death, yesterday I saw the gift that death offers.  God's presence.  A chance to be reunited with Him.  A chance that would not have happened had He not sent them out of the garden.  Do you see the correlation?  God couldn't stand the idea of being separated from us, so death is the way back to Him.  A chance to leave a sinful world and be covered by the blood of Christ, another necessary death for us to be reconciled to Him.  A chance for forgiveness.  Romans 8:35 says "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?" NOTHING!  Not even death (Romans 8:37-39).  It is through Christ's death that our death has any meaning at all.  Any purpose.  If we are covered in Christ's blood then with our death comes reconciliation to the Father.  What a beautiful picture of His love for us.  He sent Christ to die so that our death would bring us back to Him.  

However the ball is still in our court.  Christ offered the perfect sacrifice, but we have to receive it and believe on Him.  If you are unsure if you are covered by Christ and whether you will be eternally separated from God or eternally reconciled to God please check out the following here.  May I see you all in His presence that glorious day!

When Your an Addams

This past weekend I went to GA for a visit.  While I was there I had the awesome opportunity to see The Addams Family at the fabulous Fox Theatre.  I went with my sisters, mom, and aunt, and we had a blast!  The show was hilarious and we had so much fun!  If you get the chance to see it I definitely recommend it!

Homeschool

In the weeks ahead our lives are going to change dramatically.  That's right, school is starting.  Homeschool that is.  I am honestly completely freaked out about it.  I know that is crazy since I am a certified teacher and have taught literally dozens of students, but this is different.  This is my child.  I know that should excite me, but if terrifies me.  I want my children to be brilliant, creative, and wise.  I want them to listen to instruction and follow directions.  Knowing what I want and that it is going to be my responsibility to get them there is a little overwhelming.  I keep telling myself "Its just pre-k.  How hard can it be?"  But the truth is I know how hard it can be and the challenges that are likely to arise.  On the bright side, Levi is completely excited.  At least every other day he ask me if we are ready to start school.  Right now we are schedule to start right after Labor Day, but with his excitement we may start a week early.  We've bought him some school supplies and he is absolutely dying to cut and glue something.

So...Why homeschool?  I've gotten that question a lot.  Well, first there is simple logistics.  We are temporarily in NC and not sure when we'll be returning to GA.  Public school isn't an option right now (we'll discuss that in a bit) and with little time to find something in NC that we liked before it was full was the second problem.  It is also very likely that we will be moving back to GA by the end of the year so we'd have to put him in one place and then find something once we moved which is highly unlikely since for most places there is a waiting list.  That being said the main reason is we love our kids.  I've was a teacher for 3 years and saw too much to put my kids in that environment.  I'm not saying all schools are bad, and almost every teacher I met really wanted to make a difference, but there were too many issues that had me questioning if this was the best place for learning.  I'm sure they would get a decent scholastic education, but a social education is something we want to make sure comes from us.  We want to be the first people to educate him on some of the truths of life and I would feel terrible if he learned some of those things from kids at school before hearing them from me.  That doesn't mean that public school will never be an option, but for now we feel it best that he be taught by us and not his peers.  My goal is not to keep them locked up away from the world, but rather expose them to things on my time table rather than the worlds.  I've spoken with far too many kids that know far too much about the world at their young age.  I want them to be free to discover who they are in Christ before someone else tells them who that ought to be.  My prayer is that the will discover their identity in Christ - their talents and gifts that He has given them - and that through those they will impact the world around them.  I read another blog this week that really said how we feel better than I could put into words.  As I start this new journey it was really encouraging.  If you really want to know how we feel you should check it out here.  

As I said Levi is super excited to "do his letters."  I found this notepad at Wal-mart and he has been working on it while he waits for us to actually start school.  Below is his first attempt.  The pencil sharpener is his favorite.  He has to have it when he practices, and I'm certain he sharpens his pencil after ever letter.

Going Beyond the Pin

You know we all do it.  Log into Pinterest and go pin crazy with everything we see.  In your head your like "that is so cute" or "I can do that" or "one day I'll learn to sew."  I have hundreds of pins.  Some are for the future, but most of them are things I could actually be doing today.  So I decided to actually do something about my pins, and by do something I mean do them.  I haven't done much, but I have cooked...a lot.  Below are some of the pinterest recipes I've tried out lately and my honest opinions of them.  If your interested in the recipe just click on the link for each.

1.  Garlic & Lemon Chicken

 This was really good, but if you aren't a fan of lemon it probably isn't for you.  My chicken didn't cook up as nice as this picture, but that is probably because I covered mine with foil to keep the veggies from drying out.  The result was awesome green beans and potatoes, but the chicken was a little dry.

2. Limeade Pie (once you click on the link you'll have to scroll down to find the recipe).

I made this for a church function a few weeks ago.  It was AWESOME!  I'm a key lime pie lover and this tasted just like it.  Not to mention is was so simple to make.  You can also make variations for pink lemonade and so on.  Definitely a keeper for me.

3. Grilled Mozzarella with pesto, tomato, & avocado

I didn't really follow the recipe.  I mean its a grill cheese how hard could it be.  I simply just put the ingredients together and wallah!  I didn't have any avocado, so I can't comment on that part, but my sandwich was yummy.

4.  Roast

On the pin I repinned, one pinner had written "the most amazing roast ever."  I will agree.  It was delicious and so easy.  We LOVED it!

Up next on the pinterest recipes to try is zucchini fries.  I'll let you know how those turn out soon.

Now beyond the pin.  The following is not a pinterest recipe, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

5. Phyllo Chicken Pie

My mother in law gave me this recipe.  It's a Publix Apron meal and it was wonderful.  We loved it.  Definitely worth a try if you are looking for something new and delicious.