Davey Crockett State Park

On Tuesday, Erin Dunham took four kiddos (Eoin and Gen and Hannah and Zach) to Davey Crockett State Park. 

On Friday, the flood destroyed it. They don’t think the State Park will ever return. 

It’s gone. 

Ohhhh, this is sad ….

Abigail’s Sweetness

2024 Flood

Water will go off soon. I “believe” we won’t lose water because we are on “Russellville-Whitesburg.” Good old Mr. Billy, our neighbor, assures us that: “the Russellville Whitesburg system comes out of Morristown and it comes from Cherokee Lake so they are not dependent on Green County at all.” 

It would be so helpful to all of our friends if we don’t lose water so we can help provide laundry and showers and water to those who do.

If we DO lose water, we still have both our wells. Not as easy to access, but Grandparents’ house runs completely on the well. 

John is at the hospital. He filled up a huge tote of water on the back of his truck so when water at the hospital is turned off, he has some. The hospital has been evacuated, but they are going to try to run the emergency room the best they can without water. No clue what this means right now. 

They don’t know exactly how this will go down, but I will tell you that my military trained, wilderness-medicine fellow of a husband is the perfect guy to help figure it out!!!

365 Days of Rest #60

I wouldn’t say I’ve done a great job of finding intentional rest the last few days. Friday was flood day. And since then, it’s been hard to just BE. I don’t think I’d call the group above RESTFUL (although we did decide that in the entire group of people there — 19?) only 3 were probably considered extroverts. (And one of those is me who has switched recently. Ha ha.)

But last night, before JB came home from work, we had a dinner at our house anticipating our peeps not having water. We took the time to play a game and share stories and just be together and laugh a lot. It’s important. 

Here are some more pictures of our evening: 

What is EMDR?

365 Days of Rest #58

365 Days of Rest #56

Maybe today I think of the peaceful memories and things in my life. 

İncirlik Air Base, Turkey.

Our dog Ritter. 

Our farm. 

These three things just say PEACE to me. And yet, they aren’t perfect. 

But they are peaceful. 

365 Days of Rest #55

God has been revealing even more layers to the onion of my life — peeling back layers and facts little by little. This is HARD. I am super glad I am not in the bottoms and depressed while seeing this. I am working to do the work while still functioning pretty normally. But it ain’t easy. 

Finding time to rest isn’t easy. There is so much in life some days. I have to constantly work to build in more margin. To build in QUIET. To build in PEACE. To build in not trying to fill my life with someTHING. 

If it isn’t BUSY will it be FOOD? If it isn’t FOOD? Or PEOPLE? Or DOING? Or … what? What if it is just Jesus? A constant striving all the time, every day, to feel the God-shaped hole in my heart with God only. 

Today, I can feel the Lord saying this looks like: “Put the phone down. Quit reaching out. Reach up.” I’m realizing …. That doesn’t have to be something I do for weeks. It needs to be something I do TODAY. 

Take the call for rest on an hourly basis. What do I need RIGHT NOW to be who HE made me to be??

365 Days of Rest #54

Sometimes your planned REST gets side railed a bit. But it’s the right thing to do. 

Our friend Tammy Bowlin and her daughter-in-law, Hanna Bowlin, and granddaughter, Daisy …. Had to head to Bulls Gap after Hanna cut her finger at her family’s farm store. We love being able to share our lives like this with those we love. 

Hanna was our second babysitter many moons ago. Our first sitter when we moved here was Tammy’s oldest daughter, Kacey. Tammy also recently lost her husband in a tragic accident, and we are keeping her close to our chest as she heals. 

We didn’t get to take the nap we planned on. But we got to love our people in a beautiful way!

365 Days of Rest #53

Sometimes REST means asking for help. I asked Erin Dunham to help with the Pomegranate the other day. I was in town and could have done it, but it would have meant a lot of extra running for me. I was actually having a peaceful dinner with two of my favorite people: Gabe and Maryah …. And allowing Erin to care for Hannah meant I could chill on that. 

But in order to have that in your life … you have to have friends who can tell you NO. You can only ask if the partner isn’t afraid to say “not tonight.”

Being honest with people actually breeds freedom!

365 Days of Rest #52

On Friday, my friend Erin Law messaged me. Could I braid her daughter’s hair to look like the picture above? I thought I could. So Hailey drove over and I did the braids! Here’s my finished product: 

She was going to curl it all up when she got home. 

I don’t think this post was really about REST per-say. However, it was about the fact that I was home the whole day. And, when Erin needed me, I let them come to me. 

It’s getting harder and harder to find rest times in my day. Life is busy. It’s hard. I’m trying.

Turkish restaurant!

365 Days of Rest #51

Here is a little video of a small piece of day:

 

Peaceful Day

 

I've been realizing that I can't often get a LOT of peace in a day. It has to come in a small window. A short burst. Today it was just me taking my BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) Bible Study work outside, sitting in the grass, and paying attention to the quiet noises all around me. 

 

I have really tried to TOUCH the grass. To be IN it. Not just near it. To feel the sun. Feel the wind. Feel the peace. 

365 Days of Rest #50

This image above REALLY resonates with me right now. I am trying, hard, to do all the right things as I heal and change so many bad habits. But there just feels like there is SO much. How do I get it all done and get it all done well? I've also gotten pretty sick the last few days which has laid me out. 

In general I feel like there are certain things I should be trying to do everyday. These include:

• Time with the Lord
• Exercise time
• Eating well
• Taking specific time for rest.
  
• Spending quality time with each of my children and husband (when possible)
• Keeping up on my house and organizing/cleaning it
  

I also feel like I would like to do the following as many days a week as I can:

• Practice my Turkish
• Write
• Spend time with friends 

It's amazing that even though I am home all day, my time is so limited! 

365 Days of Rest #49

My cousin Josh’s latest sermon. I really love this series. This one was entitled: 

Anxiety to Peace

A few things to keep in mind: 

1. You are not crazy!

2. You are not alone! 

3. This will end!

This was my peaceful moment today. Remembering that the birds and the lilies are ok. So will I!

365 Days of Rest #48

Our family with my first cousin, Luke (in the green sweatshirt; yes, he's tall.) That's is wife, Sue, and their youngest son, Kody. He plays football for North Dakota State University.

Luke had actually contacted me almost two years ago when this game first went on the schedule. I booked the AirB&B property for them, and we all made plans to attend the game. It was at ETSU (East TN State University) in Johnson City which is about 45 minutes from us.

Luke and I (with one of his fellow parents)

A fellow fan/parent who helped us find where to get our tickets.

I put this in my "Day of Rest" because while this was going to be a busy day, I made plans to give myself some down time in preparation for the day. Luke and Sue came in on Wednesday. We had them over for dinner on Thursday, but then took Friday off before the game on Saturday.

I also managed a short snooze in the car while John drove us to the game. Continuing to work to find margin in my life for these "big" events!