New Old Friends

There have been lots of adjustments for our the girls and our family over the last year.  Our closest pals moved to Tanzania, my husband moved to Tennessee leaving Yours Truly a single mom while he's away, and we are little-by-little getting rid of or packing up our world of stuff and moving away from the only place any of us have called home. 
So yes, this has been an exceedingly hard time, and we identify a lot with Hurnard's Much-Afraid character in Hind's Feet in High Places.  It is not a time entirely without blessing...but the entirety of what can be said about that is fodder for another post.  Making new friends, learning to navigate in a new environment and adjusting to a new EVERYTHING is just going to be hard.  (Not as hard as my friend Sally's move to Africa, but hard just the same.)  Funny thing is, there are little points of light along the way that make myself and the girls feel comforted in this little journey that we are on.  You can see some of those points of light in the following pictures.  These are Sally's sister Amy's sweet kiddos.  Get this: they just moved to Tennessee too!  How sweet is that?

We had to take a few shots in order to capture this one picture where all the kids were quite composed.

Yeah, they all had a good time together.  *snicker*

Taking Tennessee by Storm

We visited a number of places in the Nashville area this past weekend.  After looking at a bunch of houses to rent, we decided to kick up our heels and put that sort of business aside.  We went out to Long Hunter State Park and walked a lakeside trail, then we went to The Hermitage of Andrew Jackson for a time to find out more about the tours that they offer of Old Hickory's estate.  We'll visit that place again for sure.  We had some time to kill before our appointment for horseback riding, so we drove by the Grand Ole Opry.  That place is HUGE.  Correction: Ginormous.  Gaaahhhh-ly.  

Next was horseback riding, and the trail was lovely.  Lots of woods and creeks and streams.  Now for the not-so-lovely part-- my horse was passive-aggressive, and no one believes me that she wanted me dead.  Yes, 'Fancy' was plotting my demise from the moment I got on her.  The rest of the family had a great time, and even though I think Moo's horse was also trying to do her in, she doesn't believe me, and continues to say it was the best horseback ride ever.  Belle was in her glory the entire time, and even lead the group on the way back to the barn.  She's a natural.

After our torture session...I mean, riding, we went out to Fu Lin for chinese food (YUM!) and finished up at a bookstore (Books-a-Million). The perfect end to a good, long day.  

Belle was in charge of picture taking, so keep that in mind as you look through what a 9 year old finds picture worthy.  :)

Messages to Daddy

It Got Us: A Correction

My father wants the followers of my blog to be clear about one thing: it was NOT whiskey that he brought me in order to heal my stomach woes.  Let the record show that it was cognac.  Specifically, Courvoisier.  

There, Dad...now all who come across my silly little blog will know that you did not--and would not--bring your daughter just any old hillbilly hooch for her tummy. 

Thanks.  :)

It Got Us

It got us.  The crazy high fever bug got us.  It got Belle first and worst, Moo second and although not as bad, it is still enough to make her miserable (as I type this, she is curled up on the couch asleep with a red little nose), and I feel my body fighting something...and I don't know whether I want the pain of fighting or of giving in.  Not sure...I'll keep you posted.
My folks are taking good care of us.  They have taken several trips out here to drop off children's Tylenol, soup, milk, sprite...oh, and whiskey.  My stomach literally aches over the last couple of days, and I requested my Dad's cure-all that he introduced to my Mom some time ago: a good, stiff shot of whiskey.  He brought it over, I took a shot...then took a nap...and voila!  Tummy pain is gone.  Lest any of my tea-totaling friends get horrified over this, remember that Paul did encourage Timothy to "take a little wine for his stomach" (1 Timothy 5:23).  Wine, whiskey...to-may-toh, to-mah-to.  :)