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vacation rental

Written by Joy
2 Comments
vacation rental

As many of you know, we were blessed to be able to stay in a very nice vacation rental when we first moved to Golden, CO.  It is located in a gated community on a mountain.  It really is a beautiful place and I do miss being out in the country.  Many of you asked to see pictures of the place, so I thought I would share some with you.  This place is also for sale.  If you are interested in it, let me know and I will put you in contact with the owner.  😉

This is the back of the house from the top of the driveway.

This is the front of the house from the main road.

Just click on a picture to look at it.  I figured this might be easier to do since there were so many pictures.  Also, the house was lived in.  I didn’t pick up any thing or clean the kitchen.  We had been doing school that day and we hadn’t cleaned up yet.  😉

2012, family, , , ,

from a country girl to a city girl

Written by Joy
5 Comments

I never thought this would ever happen, yet it is happening this week.  I, who grew up in the country, will be moving to an apartment in a city.   I grew up in the middle of one of the smallest county’s in the state of Florida.  My parents and grandparents owned several acres of land which was also surrounded by family who owned land as well.  We basically had free reign of all that land to roam and play on.

My family had all sorts of animals.  We has chickens, geese, turkeys, dogs and cats.  We raised on occasion hogs for 4-H.  We grew a garden almost every year.  My grandma lived about 100 yards from my house.  I practically lived at her house during the summer months.  We didn’t have a whole lot of money, but we had each other.  My parents loved us a lot.  I grew up with 3 brothers and loved being the only girl.

I got married at 17 and moved to a small town of about 350.  When our oldest was 4, we moved out to my husband’s mothers’ land.  Which was surrounded by more land.  We got us a dog and had a garden.  I loved it.

The time came though that we needed a change for our family and that is when my husband received a job in Sylva, NC at the local community college.  While we were moving to a larger area, it was still in the mountains and we still had a sense of being out in the country/mountains.  When we bought our house, we had wild animals come in the yard all the time.  Huge flocks of turkeys crossed our path often.  We saw bears and even a deer on occasion.

Times change though and we felt God calling us to move again.  This time, it was cross country to a much larger city.  This has scared me, but also has challenged me in many ways.  I love the openness and the freedom of living in the country.  I love seeing the wildlife.  Most of all, I love the peace and quiet that comes with being in the country. I feel like I am closer and more connected to God.  Life just seems to be at a slower pace in the country.

However, I feel like God is trying to grow me.  He is definitely pulling me out of my comfort zone.  I have already had comments about my southern accent. Sometimes I feel like people are making fun of me, however, I know they really don’t mean it and I need to just let it go. I can’t grow if I am in a comfortable place.  While I will miss this little piece of heaven in this vacation rental that is out in the mountains, I am excited about what God has planned for me.  Am I scared?  Yes!  Am I a little apprehensive about moving to the city?  Yes!  However, I know God will be with me every single step of the way.

One day, I know I will be back in the country because I feel like that is where I really belong.  For the time being, God has something in store for me and I can’t wait to see what it is.  In the mean time, you can take the girl out of the country, but can’t take the country out of the girl. 😉

 

2012, Faith, God, , , , , , ,

settling in and catching up

Written by Joy
2 Comments
settling in and catching up

View of Golden, CO from Lookout Mountain.

We have been in Golden, Colorado for 3 weeks now.  It finally feels like we are getting used to the area and the climate.  I think everyone is adjusting well and seems to be liking living here, so far.  Even though we are in a vacation rental for another couple of weeks and will be moving to an apartment in 2 weeks, I feel like we are settling in with our new life here.

We have been taking a more hands on approach with our homeschooling by doing field trips and a study of the state of Colorado.  We are just taking it one day at a time until we can get into the more permanent rental and I can get the rest of our books here.

Our oldest son has started the local community college, Red Rocks and has already gotten a part time job at a local grocery store.  Our girls will be starting dance soon and our youngest son is considering taking dance as well.  We are also checking into the local recreation centers for sports they can play.

My husband is enjoying his job a lot at the Colorado School of Mines.  He will also begin to take classes at this college next semester to further his education in his field.  One of the perks of working for this college, is the classes are free for him.

As for me, I am hanging in there and doing alright.  I feel like I am behind in everything.  While I know we will be settling soon in our new apartment, it just can’t get here soon enough.  I know what we will be doing for school, I just have to get it written down and get everything scheduled.

As for the blog, you can see I am still writing on “My Home In The Smokies”.  I am working on my new blog and hopefully it will be ready soon.  I am excited about the new name and the new design.  Honey and Jonah of Honeycomb Design Studio are working hard, helping me get everything ready.  I have several reviews coming up for different curriculum’s that we are using this year.  I am also still writing for The Homeschool Village once a month.

I have a lot of wonderful plans for the new blog.  I want to focus more on our homeschooling, as well as our photography.  I feel like God is leading me to help and encourage homeschoolers more than ever.  I just have to figure out how He wants me to do this.  I still feel like I have a lot to learn when it comes to blogging.

There are couple of conferences that I want to go to this next year.  One is the BEECH Retreat.  It is being held in Captiva Island, Florida.  I feel like this time with the wonderful speakers would definitely benefit me tremendously.  They actually plan to have classes where the speakers actually help you focus on your goal.  The second conference I would like to attend is the 2:1 Conference.  I was blessed to be sponsored by See The Light Art, to attend the conference back in April.  I learned a lot from this conference and can’t wait to go back.

I am looking forward to see what God has planned for our family.  I am also looking forward to see what God has planned for me and this blog.  I feel like I am heading into unknown territory, but know that God will be there with me every step of the way.  I hope  you will come along on the ride with me.  It is going to be another adventurous ride letting go and letting God.

 

 

2012, family, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

the trip to Colorado (part 3)

Written by Joy
2 Comments
the trip to Colorado (part 3)

If you missed the first two parts on Monday and Wednesday, you can read them here at part one and part two.

After we made it to Russell, KS and got us a good nights sleep, we were up and on the road, ready for the trip to be over with.  We still had quite a few hours left to drive, but I knew God was on our side and we would make it to Colorado.  At this point in the trip, Buddy was quite miserable with the poison ivy.  His arm looked really bad and he was just not well at all.   No matter what we did, or what we put on it, it continued to spread.  I knew we needed to get to Colorado soon so we could get him to a doctor.

I have to be honest, this part of the trip was the least eventful of all the days we were on the road.  The girls had started to feel better and the van was running smoothly.  It was just us and the open road.  With an occasional car or two.

We kept right on rolling along, until we stopped for a quick lunch (which was to-go).  Back on the road for more driving while looking at nothing but farm fields.  Having nothing but open space around really give you time to think and time to pray.  I know this trip I did my fair share of both.  I was thinking about all that we had to do once we got to Colorado.  Setting up a new house, making sure we get all the proper paperwork taken care of address changes, switching vehicle tags over and the dreaded driver license test and picture.  Most importantly for us though, finding a new church.  It is important to our family to find a group of fellow believers, to worship with.  I prayed constantly, too.  It seemed like from the day we left, that something bad had happened.  However, God has been with us every step of the way.  Through the good and yes, even through the bad.  He always provided for us when something went wrong.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I did my fair share of what now?  Why this? What is going to happen next?  Every time I did though, He always came through.  God never let us down.  Even through all of my whining and complaining, He was always there.  Yes, all those thoughts crossed my mind as I drove across this beautiful land.

Just when I thought we would keep driving and never get to Colorado, we saw the Welcome to Colorado sign (I was driving and was unable to get a picture of it).  The kids were thankful that not far after this sign, was the welcome center.  Since we had drove straight and didn’t even get out for lunch, we stopped for a few minutes to stretch our legs.  They had this cute visitor center that showed a lot of historical buildings and antiques.  We enjoyed ourselves for a few minutes.

Then it was back on the road.  We were all excited by now, since we were in Colorado.  It would only be a couple of more hours before we would be in Golden, CO.  When we started getting towards the city of Denver, I started pointing out little things that I had noticed on our trip back in May.  The kids really started getting excited.  Then, when I turned off the exit and started heading down town, this is what welcomed us.  This beautiful sign.  “Howdy Folks! Welcome to Golden, Where the West Lives!”.  Yes, we finally made it to our new home.

Like I said, the rest of the trip was not as eventful has the first few days.  I was really thankful for that.  Once we got into town and into our hotel room (we wouldn’t be in our rental for another 3 more days), Buddy did go to the Urgent Care Clinic.  They gave him a shot of an antibiotic, cleaned his arm really well, wrapped it and sent him on his way with a prescription for the antibiotic and steroids.  They were quite concerned and told him to come back the following day.  With the medicine in him, you could tell he was feeling better and the rash was starting to dry up.  He started work that Monday and hasn’t looked back since.

I also want to say thank you all for the many prayers.  It means a lot to know that you are cared for.  I have a few more stories to share of some things we have done since we have been in Colorado.  Hopefully, I will be able to start blogging more regular now that we are getting settled.  Continue to pray for our family as we find our place here in Golden, CO.  Blessings.

2012, family, , ,