The Truth Comes Out….

Thank you so much for weighing in on mine and Luke’s lack of fun-having skillz. Indeed, we are excitement impaired. As a matter of fact, one of the more entertaining we’ve done today is laugh our heads off over your comments about what we should be doing!

We decided to go into Gatlinburg today and visit the various and sundry shops. Neither one of us had been there in years and thought there might be some new things there we’d like to see. My favorite shop was P. Graham Dunn where they have some stunning Christian art and laser-carved wallhangings. I particularly loved how they used scripture that isn’t oft quoted, if that makes any sense. Beautiful stuff.

We planned on going to Cades Cove the entire time we were in Gatlinburg. Luke wasn’t so thrilled about the prospect of going horseback riding but I figured he’d come around if I didn’t force him and somehow let him think it was his idea.

Don’t y’all act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.

So when we happened upon a booth on the strip where you could book a Horseback Adventure, I wasn’t totally shocked when Luke said, “Well, there you go. If you want to go ride horses let’s just set it up.”

I squealed on the inside but said, “Aww, honey. I know you don’t really want to go. It’s okay.”

And then he proceeded to beg me to ride the horses.

I love being a woman.

But, here’s the reality of why we have such a hard time finding fun things to do: We are just too stinkin’ cheap. Y’all, that horse ride was going to cost $50!

Fifty AMERICAN dollars.

Now when someone tells me something is going to cost me half of a hundred dollars I immediately start thinking of all the things I could have in it’s place. For example: Do I want to spend $50 on riding a stinky horse or getting a new outfit? $50 on a horse I couldn’t get to run if I stuck it with a red hot poker or a great dinner that my husband will also enjoy?

I picked the outfit and dinner and felt much the better for it.

We still planned on riding through the Loop at Cades Cove so we got a drink and settled in the truck looking forward to a nice ride through the park together – albeit not on horseback. That is, until we saw a sign that said:

Cades Cove – 24 Miles

And y’all, we just didn’t have that many miles of riding in us.

So, we ended up going back to Five Oaks Outlet. And, I am SO glad we did because I found some awesome shorts at the Gap for $6.97! And the salesgirl wasn’t even an obnoxious little snot.

Sound like a perfect day or what?

So tomorrow it’s back to business as usual. We’ll be leaving in the morning to travel back to some semblance of normalcy. Even though the days of having nowhere to be and no time to be there have been great, crazy can only be put off for so long.

And I can’t wait to put my arms around all four of them.

P.S. I should also mention I soldiered through writing a difficult portion of a chapter I’ve been working on tonight – so yay me!! I’ve accomplished something anyway?

April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | 14 Comments 

Our Second Honeymoon, or more accurately, The Adventures of Mamaw and Papaw

Luke and I are in the mountains taking a couple of days to belatedly celebrate our 18th anniversary. While here, we have come arrived at two overwhelming conclusions:

We are old.

We are boring.

Here are the highlights of our trip thus far:

1. We ate at Bullfish Grill.

We arrived at 3:40 looking forward to a nice meal full of uninterrupted conversation. Since it was uninterrupted, we were able to eat and say all of our words in 33 minutes flat. We left at 4:13.

2. We shopped at Five Oaks.

Found some adorable things for the kids at Old Navy. That’s where the pleasant shopping ended. Went to Aeropostale and I only have one thing to say: If my teenage daughter is ever working at a retail clothing outlet and rolls her eyes at you because you are obviously too old to be trying on a pair of shorts from a predominantly young, skinny people store? You have my permission to jerk her up by her ear lobe and pray some Holy Spirit fire down on her. I didn’t – but I wanted to.


And by the way, smart alec girl? They totally fit. I just hated the color.

3. We ate dessert at Marble Slab.

The inside of the place was packed and one particular woman was letting her kids tear the place down so we decided to sit outside. When I am childless there is no stinkin’ way I’m going to subject myself to someone else’s kids’ tantrums. It was quite chilly outdoors and because of this I discovered something interesting: The picnic benches at Marble Slab have the same effect on cellulite as on ice cream. Hence our taking the party to the peace and warmth of the truck.

Romantic stuff, eh?


4. We burned an hour’s worth of gas trying to think of something to do which basically means we can’t afford anything we might think of.


We really want to be fun y’all. We have racked our brains trying to think of what our young, cute friends would do if they were here. I had some great ideas but seems like everything we could agree on was closed because after all, it is a Monday night in off season. Which leads to…..

# 6. We are back in the room. It is 7:20.

So, the fact I am blogging should clearly indicate we aren’t cut out for this second honeymoon thing. At this rate, we’ll need to get up by at least 4 p.m. tomorrow to fit in all the fun we have planned.


But, here’s the cool thing. Luke has agreed that he will do at least one thing I want though he can’t decide which would be his worst nightmare. In the interest of making things easier on us both, which one would you pick?

L8r!

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | 41 Comments 

God in the Caves

I mentioned yesterday that I went with my 4th Grade Son on his end of the year field trip to the Sequoyah Caverns. I intended to come back and laugh with you about my own 6th Grade excursion to the Atlanta Zoo in which I somehow managed to change boyfriends three times in one day (thankfully I’m now over that habit) to the hilarity of one of my son’s classmates falling in the shark tank at the Chattanooga Aquarium. (It was only funny because the sharks were not the child-eating variety. Give me a little credit.)

My plans changed after having myself a God Encounter several hundred feet underground.
When I found out the trip was to the caverns, one of my fears was on how I was going to contain myself if the guide began telling us how many billions of years it would have taken for these caves to form. I was already rehearsing in my mind how I could conversate with the guide in such a way as to make sure the children understood the flaws in the evolution theory and then of course, talk about The Flood, people. I would be compelled to talk about The Flood!

At which point I am sure all the parents would have been rolling their eyes and the guide would have accidentally on purpose led me down a long-closed cavern and left me there for the bats to drink my blood.

But I was willing to suffer for Jesus, y’all.

I’ve never been to the Caverns before so I wasn’t prepared for them to be so stunningly beautiful. Would you look at this?

And that wasn’t all. The reflecting pools were my personal favorites but my camera just wouldn’t pick up in the dark. The water reflected the ceiling of the cave in such a way so that you felt you would fall hundreds of feet into an abyss and yet the pool was only a foot deep. Amazing.

Anyway, here’s the good part. Our guide, Rebecca, (who according to the website is a great-granddaughter to the 3rd power of the original owners) began to describe the difference between stalactites and stalagmites. As she went into the different phases of her presentation, I kept waiting to hear the billion year stuff because I was ready to take her down. However, Rebecca showed a glassed-in area filled with soda straws. She explained to the kids this section of straws was veing used to collect scientific data. Even though the straws began growing at the exact same time, they were very different sizes which baffled the scientists. So far, there was no way to calculate a rate of growth for the mineral tubes.

Which begs the question: If a scientist can not even figure the rate of growth for such a tiny piece of geology, how in the world can they dare presume the age of the earth?

I’m just sayin‘.

She then showed us fossils on the roof of the cave that were of sea creatures. HUNDREDS OF FEET UNDER GROUND AND ON A MOUNTAIN. She asked the kids to think about how there could be in skeletal evidence of both sea creatures and mammals in the exact same fossil layer. Her answer? A Huge Flood!!

And I was officially in love with this girl.

After the tour I talked with Rebecca and asked her point blank if she was a Christian.

“Yes, Ma’am!!” she said. She went on to tell me she had to be somewhat careful with school groups not to get too preachy but that she and her family never apologized for their beliefs about the origin of the earth and the beauty of these God-formed caves.

I smothered her with compliments and made sure she knew the impact she was having by sharing Creation with the hundreds of school children she sees each year. It was so great being able to expand on what she taught my group of four with more biblical truth instead of deprogramming them from error.

I can not express my renewed sense of awe at the fact that God is everywhere. From the expanse of the sky to the deepest holes in the earth, He is there. And when unbelieving scientists won’t praise Him?
Well, then even the rocks in the darkest crevasses of the earth will cry out in their stead.
In the words of David, my heart once again worships with Psalm 139:

“Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.”

Have a wonderful Saturday and Holy-Spirit-filled Lord’s Day!

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Devo's, Spiritually Speaking | 24 Comments 

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