These are a few of my favorite things

April 20, 2011 steph Leave a comment

about our project here at Living Water Ministry (aka Camp Living Water).
The Front Yard

While sometimes this is just a quiet field, twice a week (at least) it fills up with local soccer players of all ages. Since we will rarely be able to enjoy watching our own grandchildren on the field (though we did spend a Saturday or two at the township field watching our own kids play), it’s been fun to watch the action from the comfort of our front picture window. Everyone from the little ones playing bumble bee strategies (swarm left, swarm right) to the older players really working on their skills seemed to be having a good time.
Here’s the view of the front yard on a quieter day!

The Backyard

OK, so this is actually on our side yard, but really, does it matter?! What a blessing to have Deep Creek flowing right through the camp. I understand that when it warms up a bit, this is a HUGE tubing and rafting creek. Maybe next time we’ll be here for that!

The Walk to Work

Even in the wet grass, it was always spectacular!

Painting

Wait. Painting is one of Steph’s favorite things? Well, I was reminded of some valuable lessons this month. First of all, in the life of a SOWER there will always be painting to be done. But at the same time, most of the painting is camp painting. Which means that by and large, everything is painted the same color. Ceiling, walls, trim, almost everything. So while there is some cutting in just because that wonderful roller can’t get into corners, there is little of the tedious don’t get the green paint on the white ceiling cutting in. It really changes the whole ballgame! Plus, as an added bonus, when there is a lot of painting to be done, you never have to think hard about what to wear in the morning. Painting today? Paint clothes it is. Simple. Love it.
Butterflies

I came across this butterfly party the other day-

That must be some yummy mud!
Community

As usual, it didn’t take long for our group of 4 couples to become like family.

We worked and played well together :), and just in case you think we’re just a bunch of old folks that just sit around in our spare time, check out Bill as he makes his way up the climbing tower!

Phew!

Here’s the bunch of us spring chickens! (That’s Bill next to me! Whadda guy!)
Watching Spring
The view when we arrived –

The view yesterday –

The green is creeping up the mountain – and it’s beautiful to see!

So those are just a few of my favorite things about this place. I’ve already posted about the beautiful waterfalls and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the wildflowers and the great hikes, so I won’t bother adding them to the list. But have I mentioned Oreo?

We love sharing camp dogs!

Tomorrow we pack up and head out. And as always, it seems like we just got here. We’re heading north – our next project will be in Egg Harbor, NJ at The Pilgrim Academy. In the week between projects we’re fitting in a visit with some dear SOWER friends, time with our son and bride, a visit with my sister and family along with assorted nieces and nephews, and a couple of doctor appointments (and all the fun stuff that goes with an annual check-up!). Should be a busy week! It’s always hard to say good-bye to our new friends, but we’re looking forward to what our next project will bring. As bonus we’ll be pretty close to the old ‘hood, so that should have it’s own brand of excitement!

Off to bed – one more day of those paint clothes!
🙂

Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

First, the weekend

April 17, 2011 steph Leave a comment

There has been some crazy weather in these here hills! Thankfully, we’ve been spared the tornado action that devastated nearby parts of the state, but we did get our share of heavy rain and winds. Friday we ventured to the nearby town of Franklin and enjoyed a wonderful local production of The Sound of Music. It was such a treat! But by the time we were headed back over the mountain, the heavy rain had begun. Although the next day cleared up (before it got crazy windy again) the rivers were high and the water was rushing. We figured it was a good day to check out another waterfall or two!
We hooked up with our buddies Bill and Sandy and headed for Mingo Falls on the other side of Cherokee. WOW!

Bill and Sandy had been there last week, and they were impressed with the increased size of the falls due to the heavy rain. It was quite spectacular!
After a picnic lunch alongside a raging river, we headed into the nearby National Park. Our first stop was Mingus Mill – a turn of the century turbine mill. It wasn’t operating, but it was very interesting and lovely. All the extra water even made the mill more beautiful!

(I was having fun with my Photoshop Elements. Think this is how it might have looked?)
From there we continued on to Clingman’s Dome – the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (6,643 ft.). You can drive pretty close, but the last 1/2 mile is all on foot. And trust me, it’s the longest half mile on the planet!

By the time we were climbing that last half mile, the clouds were moving in and the wind was whipping! Man, was it cold!

We were, in truth, a little disappointed with the clarity of the view (no seven states for us), but all and all, we’re glad we went.

If you’d like to see all the pictures from Saturday (instead of just the thumbnails in the collages), you can check them out HERE.

This is such a beautiful area – with lots to see and do! In my next post I’ll try to catch you up with our work here at Living Waters and how we’ve been spending our work days, but for now I’ll leave you with a collage of shots from the stretch of Deep Creek that runs right behind this camp. It’s been so lovely to go and just sit quietly on the banks of this “creek”.
Really, this is our backyard this month.
How blessed are we?!?!

Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

A Sunday Hike

April 10, 2011 steph Leave a comment

Today, after church, we joined one of the other couples here (Bill and Sandy) on another waterfall hike. This hike could be best described as a “local” hike. As in, if someone who lives locally doesn’t actually direct you to this hike you will never find it. Never. We were definitely back in the ‘holler. But it certainly was worth the effort!

As we made our way through a jungle of rhododendrons I could only think about how gorgeous this hike would be in just a couple of weeks.
But even without the flowers in bloom, this was still a beautiful hike!

I think we would have to call this trail “rustic”. There were no park wardens keeping the trees cleared off the this trail, so it added just a little more challenge than we’ve been used to. Not to mention the fact that is was “up” all the way (as is usually the case with hikes to waterfalls 🙂 ).

This is Sandy – when the trail pretty much disintegrated into climbing up the mountain without any trail, just following the creek, she decided to wait where the trail ended. See the knee brace – it was really a good idea!

The three of us continued on, but even we didn’t make it all the way to the top!

Yeah, it was pretty far up there, and after all we aren’t exactly spring chickens!
On the way back down, Gary pointed out a wildflower I had missed on the way up –

I think it’s called a trout lily, but if you have another suggestion, speak up!
What a beautiful hike!

Tomorrow it’s back to work at the camp. I’ll be posting more about that in the days to come, but let’s just say, that for ladies anyway, it’s been a rubber glove kind of project!

All good.

Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

In anticipation

April 9, 2011 steph 1 Comment

of the National Parks possibly closing at midnight yesterday, we made sure we got to the Oconaluftee Visitors Center and Farm Museum of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

There is a brand spankin’ new visitor’s center there (open just a week!) that we wanted to check out

along with the Farm Museum and riverwalk.

The day was certainly less than bright and sunny, but we enjoyed both the farm museum and the river walk.

And oh, the wildflowers just beginning to blanket the forest floor –

Here’s my best guess at identifying them –
Clockwise, from the top Left –
Great Chickweed,Fringed-phacelia,??,??,Louswort, Periwinkle?,Dutchman’s Britches, Foam Flower, Trillium.
This one didn’t make the collage because I liked the river in the background –

Yes, it was a lovely morning!
Later in the day we did a little bit of exploring in the Deep Creek section of the park, which is actually less than a mile from where we’re parked! Gary was mostly checking out the fishing situation (he just got a 10 day North Carolina fishing license), but I was intent on doing at least a short hike to one of the many waterfalls in this area.

Success!
Even without the sunshine, it was still a lovely day. We didn’t get rained on, we got in a fair amount of exercise (for us, anyway), and were blessed to see some of the beauty that is found here in NW North Carolina!

Pssst….there are some additional pictures here! 🙂

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

A Family Vacation

April 3, 2011 steph 1 Comment

It was a long time coming. Although we’ve gotten together at holidays over the years, we haven’t really been able to pull off an official “Family Vacation” since Ellie was 2. And that was 6 years ago. Two more babies and a new DIL later, we were all gathered at a big old log cabin in Gatlinburg, TN for a long overdue gathering. Even though the weather was quite uncooperative (it rained 4 out of the six days we were there) and by the end of the week a couple of us were struggling with bad colds, I still think it was a great success and filled us up with memories!
Here a just a couple of the highlights –
On the first sunny day, we trekked over to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park where we enjoyed the drive out to Cades Cove. The girls had never been to a National Park and really thought we were going to a big playground (sorry, kids!), but I think they enjoyed the day!

One of the highlights of the day was the special “guest appearance” of my niece Christiana –

What a treat that she could join us (from Chattanooga) for the day! And how fortunate that it was a sunny day!
More Great Smoky Mountain National Park pictures here if you’re interested.

Between showers one day we checked out a local pottery

and Toby and Ellie tried their hand at some mountain music!

There is a ton of “touristy” stuff to do in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area, and we chose Wonderworks as our big splurge of the week.

There were lots of activities to do, but I think the most fun was watching Hayley (age 6) climb the rock wall. It was a first for her, and she never hesitated for a moment.

She also went on the High Ropes Adventure with her Mom, Lara and Josiah.

That Hayley is certainly one brave 6 year old!
Everyone had a good time –

Ellie practicing her motorcross skills

Maddie taking on (and winning mostly) the air hockey challenge!

The big boys playing “Mind Ball” – to see who could think less the longest. It was a long match (really, about 5 minutes!) but Josiah finally won. Is that a good thing?
And Noah was a champ the whole time – just watching all of the activities!

(You can see more Wonderworks photos HERE if you’d like to!)
But let’s face it – most of our time was spent at “Mountain Dreams” – our home away from home for the week.

That’s Denali, our “guard” Great Pyrenees. She’s Lara’s dog, and she was wonderful with the kids and all of our inside time. Like when we celebrated Josiah’s 30th birthday –

the girls made sure she was part of the excitement!

Yes, it was great having Denali a part of the family vacation!
Then there was the day of the Jacuzzi and the bubble explosion –

Yep, Dad was in charge of that bubble extravaganza! (Just one more squirt, Dad, please?)
🙂
And even though it was cold and rainy most days, that didn’t stop us from using the hot tub on the deck!

You can find some more random shots of our “Fun at the Cabin” time here, and if you’d like to see the whole “Family Vacation” set, you can check it out here.

Ok, so I guess this was a little more than the “highlights”, but I tried to keep it short(ish), honest. The week had it’s ups and downs, but then with 11 people living in one house (with zero soundproofing!), I guess that’s to be expected. But all in all, it was a grand week, full of hugs and kisses, new adventures, and deepening relationships. I sure do love these guys –

Love. These. Guys.

RV There Yet?

These are a few of my favorite things

First, the weekend

A Sunday Hike

In anticipation

A Family Vacation

Seeing the country……Serving our Lord!

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Seeing the country……Serving our Lord!