Gatlinburg Pictures

Been dreading writing this post because I knew it would come with my reflection on the end of summer, and I am in denial that it has actually ended, even though Chris and MC have been back at school now for 3 weeks. I have included the last of our summer pictures, from our family trip to Gatlinburg, which was an absolute hoot. We could not have asked for a better cabin and better company. We enjoyed so much being with family and in the mountains. it worked out so well fro Chris and I, as it was about 1/2 way home for us and we finished the drive after our 4 days there. We hiked, we ate together, we explored downtown and enjoyed time at the pool and int he hot tub at our cabin. We had a movie night for the kids and all around I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

That said, it was quite sad to see summer come to an end. We enjoyed having some down time this summer. Having Chris home a lot, and NOT moving! Because there was no transition we had very little schedule, which was such a change for us. We got back to Bradenton with a few weeks to enjoy watching a lot of olympics, catch up with friends and continue to swim a lot!

Although we are sad to see it come to an end the new year holds a lot of excitement for us. We did a lot to NOT commit last year to much, and enjoy the peace, after what seemed to be a few crazy years for us. It was really nice and now that another year is coming up we are ready for some new things.....so a lot is in store for us, and we cannot wait to see how God will use our family to help others. That begins with fostering....we took classes about 2 years ago to be foster parents, and then never really did anything about it, being we were in so much transition ourself. When we returned from our summer vacation we knew that the time was right. We are about a month out from finishing up the process and then we will be liscensed to foster two children under the age of 4. The girls have both been switched to a new room and Maggie is doing great in her big girl bed. We have the 2 cribs/toddler beds available for 2 more kids if need be. We will mostly like start with one, and make sure that this is something we are cut out for.....so we'll see. I am also starting to get involved in Young Life a bit more. THe high school where I was on staff with Young Life no longer has it on campus. I am going to do my bes tto try and help bring it back with some others. Chris and I took the girls tonight to a football game, and had a blast. I am excited that it is something my kids can do with me and am looking forward to what it will look like.

That is about all for now. Enjoy the pictures from Gatlinburg, there are way too many for me to caption them....so just use your imagination!!