Category : Thrive

Tennessee has so many trees. It’s been such a treat to watch the leaves fall as the wind gusts or during the calm of the afternoon. I hope you have a chance to watch the leaves fall this autumn.

I love to share things that have improved my life, items that are beautiful, or experiences that have made me laugh. Here are some things that I have been wanting to share with you:

1. Since I now live in Nashville, on one Friday as part of our field trip, Dean and I went to Draper James. We got the cutest little glass of sweet tea at the door.
2. One evening the boys and I watched 100 Years of Brown Bag Lunches. They film kids being introduced to odd foods they have never tried before. There are lots of different episodes too, such as 100 years of Party Food and 100 Years of Candy. We all thought they were interesting and funny to watch.
3. I started using the Marco Polo app recently to connect with friends and family. It is a free video walkie-talkie app. SO. MUCH. FUN.
4. I met some gals here in Nashville that create a great podcast for moms. Check it out! I especially liked the episode about navigating your child’s dreams – episode 52. (more…)

So much has been going on around here. I have been making a list of all the things I want to share with y’all.

1. First, people in Tennessee are so nice, I mean they go above and beyond nice. Our neighbors invited us to a potluck right off the bat, another neighbor brought us homemade cookies, and another neighbor and I have weekly coffee dates. It feels so nice to already be making connections since we are so far away from our Oklahoma people.
2. The fences in Tennessee are so gorgeous. Full of history, made with beautiful materials, and so picturesque. Stone, picket, civil war style to name a few.
3. Do you have a budding little typist? My friend, Heather, shared an awesome website that teaches the keys to the computer keyboard.  It’s free, too.
4. I’ve been listening to the audiobook Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis. I recommend it. I also was able to watch her movie in the theater, Made for More. In her book, she talks about how important it is to not break promises to yourself. So many times we keep our promises to others but don’t follow through on the things we’ve promised ourselves. (more…)

In May, my husband, Brent, and I sat down at our dining room table with a yellow legal pad and wrote down all the steps it would take to move to Nashville. At that time we had no place to live, no job, and no school in mind for Grant. It was overwhelming, to say the least. We started researching more thoroughly and found the house prices to be 2 or 3 times more what we paid in Oklahoma. The promise for a good elementary school in a neighborhood we could afford seemed hopeless.

We took this leap of faith because we have always wanted to live near Brent’s family. We loved the years we spent in Oklahoma and when we got married we said it would be nice if we could spend some time living near my family and time living near Brent’s family.

Even though we felt at peace about the move there were many obstacles ahead of us. Brent would have to quit his job, we would live off of savings for a few months or until he found a job, we had to sell our Oklahoma house and all the details in Tennessee would have to be worked out. The funny thing is that this was not our first time to move to a new city without jobs. We did it when we moved to Los Angeles and when we moved to Oklahoma. Somehow since the Lord had provided for us in years past it was easier to trust that he would do it again. Although, I did have moments when fear and uncertainty got the best of me.

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