Amber and I were blessed to be given a cabin for the weekend in Gatlinburg. I took a 1/2 day from work on Friday, got a rental car, we loaded up and headed east about 3 hours. I always like putting miles on someone else's car if I can ... especially 700+ miles for ~$80. Love Enterprise. Anyways .... unfortunately, there was a car show going on in Pigeon Forge (where Dollywood is) and we were driving through it ... more on that traffic debacle later.
We made it to our cabin ... it was huge for just 2 people ... and, of course, forgot to take pics of the cabin. Friday night we went to Bennett's Bar-B-Que for dinner to fill up on our red meat. We then walked the Gatlinburg strip and had to stop in to Ben & Jerry's for dessert and then to our favorite store on the strip. We purchased the perfect item for the nursery that I'll reveal once the nursery is complete ... hopefully in early May. We then went back to the cabin and relaxed for the rest of the night.
Saturday morning we got up and went to go grab the breakfast of champions at Flap-Jacks. Breakfast included peanut butter and banana stacked pancakes ... perfect combination. While walking to the restaurant, a guy yelled across a stream from his hotel room.
Guy: "Excuse me, are you from Murfreesboro?"
Me: "Umm ... yeah."
Guy: "Do you go to World Outreach Church?"
Me: "Umm ... yeah, we do."
Guy: "I have that same shirt..."
I had totally forgotten I had a long-sleeve t-shirt on from a men's event we had at church... how awesome that guy picked us out? It revealed to me that no matter what, God is always with us, no matter where we are ... I wish I remembered that later...
We then went to hike Rainbow Falls. The weather was PERFECT ... mid 70s and mostly sunny. The hike was a 5.5 mile round-trip hike. It was a decent hike and Amber and I were feeling it this morning. After hiking, we needed a salt-fix so we stopped on the Gatlinburg strip and got some nachos and a pretzel. Back to the cabin to shower and get ready for the evening.
We had plans to meet Jeff and Christine who adopted their 5 year old boy from AGCI and got home just a month ago. They were nice enough to open their house up to us. Schedules didn't allow other adopted families to make it over to their house. We were excited to see them and headed out in plenty of time ... well, remember that 'car' show? It turned into the 'big truck cruise show'. The bigger the truck, the higher it was jacked up, the more people riding in the bed, the more black smoke it showed, the better. It took us 3 hours to get to their house ... over 1.5 hours to get through Pigeon Forge ... we felt terrible for being late but it was great to hang out with them. Meeting their son was AWESOME. He's transitioning GREAT ... his accent was so cute. He warmed up to me quickly and I LOVED playing with him. It gave me visions of playing with our son soon. We ate dinner, they showed us pictures of the trip and before you know it, it was 10pm and we wanted to get out of there so they could put their son to bed.
We left, headed back to the cabin, and hit the 'cruise' traffic again ... which resulted in us not getting back to the cabin until 1am ... was SOO tired, especially after hiking, big meal, etc.
We tried to sleep in this morning, packed up and headed back home ... same fun-loving traffic heading home. We did take a back way suggested by Amber's aunt that lives over there ... it definitely helped ... thanks Darlene! It poured all the way home ... we got stuck in traffic from an accident on the interstate. More traffic. Ugh. We got up there and noticed it was a 6-7 car accident. It got me thinking that it could have been us if we didn't get delayed in the earlier traffic. It's so easy for me to forget that God always has our back and His best intentions for us.
I bought a new camera for our trip to Ethiopia and for taking pictures of our boy ... I have no idea how to use it so I apologize for the pics but wanted to share...
Our beautiful view from our cabin...
My beauty in front of that view
The hiking trail sign...
Amber on a log bridge on our hike...
A nice fellow hiker from Arkansas taking our picture on the hike ... on one of the non-sturdy log bridges.
Rainbow falls...ooooohhhhh....aaaahhhhhh
Me trying to figure out focus, etc with the camera ... this is the water coming off rocks from the waterfall...
Amber in front of the falls...
Check out this guy! The little squirrels were so friendly and would probably eat out of your hands! A hiker gave him some food and I got him chowing down on it ... he was probably 5 feet from me but gotta love the new zoom lens :)
11 comments:
Thanks for sharing your great weekend! I'm curious about the 5 yr old boy... do his parents have a blog site?
Enjoy your camera!
You're going to love love love taking pics of your boy in action!
I want a cool camera like that!!! :)
I am glad that you guys had fun. I can't even believe how much traffic was there. You wouldn't think April would be hoppin' in Gatlinburg!
Our family loves Gatlingburg...We will have to get together and plan a trip when we get our babies!!!
We absolutely LOVE Gatlinburg! Lookds like you had the perfect trip! I am soooooo glad that you some how found a fellow Murfreesboro'er in the Ethiopian adoption world. I am so excited for you guys' court date and we would love to get together and talk adoption and travel plans!!!
great pics..good job!! Glad you guys had a good time, kj
Hey Troy,
That sounds like a plan. That would be so much fun for everybody to get together and we also know a couple from St.Paul (Kami Meade). That will be GREAT!!! Oh and by the way I really know how to spell Gatlinburg, yesterday just seemed like Monday all over again...HA HA!!
Sounds like a nice getaway...enjoy being just the two of you a little longer. I'm so jealous you got to see Belks!!! Isn't Kaleob adorable. They are a great family.
Take heart, May is almost here:)
That's a great idea to take a get-away. It's going to get much more complicated very soon! Sounds like you had a great time...except the traffic part!
guess who spent lots of time with your little man?!?! ME!! i'll email you when i'm not half asleep. but, he's doing good! and SO cute.. but you already knew that part.
Hi Troy and Amber. I can't tell you how I've loved reading your blog!! What a blessing it's been as my husband and I are about to embark on our own Ethiopian adoption journey (deep breath to stop my heart from beating so fast). We've wanted to adopt for years now and have had some disappointments along the way. We were trying to adopt a little girl from the Philippines that we met while on a missions trip. After two years of desperate attempts, we've finally accepted that it just isn't the Lord's will for us. Ethiopia is where we feel to try now, but I wasn't sure about an agency. I looked into "All God's Children", but the fees were higher than another secular agency that had been recommended to me. Afraid of the future costs, I decided to go with the secular agency even though I had my reservations. Last night I found your blog and was immediately sucked in :) When I realized you were using AGCI, I felt it was confirmation that I trust God for the extra money and go with an agency that's run by believers. I told my husband and he said that he'd been feeling the same exact thing. Now, you're probably wondering, "Who in the world is this woman who writes unusually long comments?" But I just want you to know that your blog has inspired me and made me that much more eager to find that precious child the Lord has already set apart for our family. God bless you guys and I pray the rest of your journey goes smoothly so little Silas can be home at last!
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