"Our Grand Adventerous Trip!!"

So, I've been meaning to write about David and my adventure recently to The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. I just haven't taken the intiative to do it. My Blogs are written to encourage, give hope, give light, as well as to entertain. I wonder does sharing a Blog about an amazing trip fill any of that for anyone? Maybe....hopefully. I guess that's why I've put it off.
So here's hoping . . .

About 2 weeks ago, give or take a day, David and I had the opportunity to take a trip. And this trip came about because David was not paying close attention to the man on the other end of the phone conversation. As he was booking reservations for another trip we took, the man on the other end talked him into committing to a timeshare spill. Yup....just give us two hours of your time and look what we will give you! Um...yeah.
Regardless of THAT part of the trip...we had the most amazing and wonderful time!! So sit back and come along and enjoy our trip with us won't you. :)

Tuesday morning came bright and early - we saw the sun rise as we traveled - something I never see. Such an awesome thing to see how God orchestrates this world He has created! As we traveled, we saw many weather conditions. The chart topper of the day - RAIN. As I mentioned in a previous Blog, rain seems to be the order of the day when we are making a big trip. In fact, there was a stretch of 145 miles of almost solid heavy rain at one point....never seen anything like it. Even our cell phones were sounding off the Emergency Alerts of flash flooding! I decided not to tell my Mom how our drive was going until the next day when all was well....much better that way. :)

So God washed our little Green Ark safely into Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at 11:58pm, after traveling all day for 17 hours! All of 950 miles!! What a trip! As I've said....David loves to drive and I love to ride....but 17 hours IS a really long time.

Wednesday morning was upon us and guess what else was too? RAIN. This was the day that we had planned to hike. Our options were to stay in town and decided on a show or activity there OR go ahead with plan A and hike. Plan A it was!! We traveled to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Rain or not we were determined.

Once in the park, the Ranger was surprised, when David told him we were going hiking, due to the rain. I would say most of all the people there, at that time, were there to only go on the car tour of the historic "Cades Cove" loop. O we were too....but hiking was in our agenda as well. :) We like to be different.

Below, is some of our first sights of the park. How little did we know that those sights would only become much more beautiful the farther we traveled and hiked!

We entered the "Cades Cove" 11 mile loop. This National Park was once a home to many early settlers long ago and there stories and homes have been preserved through time. History is a chart topper for David and I!

There were stops along the loop that you could get out and walk up to the homesite. Many cars were passing that opportunity up due to the rain. Not us! That just meant I got to try out my new raincoat my sweet husband bought. I didn't understand WHY we needed to buy me a raincoat before we left home on this trip.....and now I did! He's so good......

He also made sure we had stay dry hiking clothes and hiking boots.....which all came in so very handy! :)

This was the home of the very first white settler. He lived there 200 years ago! Can you even imagine being the very first white settler on a giant mountain?! We were the very first settlers of our cul-de-sac almost 19 years ago....I'm thinking this was just a littttle bit different. Ha!

And on we traveled......



Next stop? One of my favorites! Old churches and graveyards! Of course!

Someone had a really NICE green Camaro there...I'm just sayin'. ;-)

I found these old tombstones to be interesting. They were so old no writing was visible whatsoever. But they represented a life that was once here. A life that was loved by another.

And on this mountain....if you weren't Baptist then you were Methodist. Here lies the Methodist.

 We arrived at our destination of the day and set off for our much anticipated hike to Abram's Falls! Two things to see 1. the great and mighty falls. 2. BEARS! What an adventure to run into such a wonderful creature!! But first, it was lunch time and my David had prepared a wonderful lunch. He found us a wet log to sit on....but he covered it first with a blanket....and then he fixed our lunch. It was the most delicious peanut butter and banana sandwhich I had eaten. We also had fruit, chips, cookies, and coke. Couldn't have asked for better!

Now....we were ready!

We walked across these streams and the water was AWESOME!



The sights were becoming that much more beautiful with each step we took! But what waited ahead would even be so much more!

Along the way, I took various pictures of plants and flowers I found.

I did this also in memory of my dear Auntie....who also loved to take pictures of flowers along the way of life. :)

And after a hike of one hour and thirty minutes, straight UP a mountain, we arrived at the mighty and majestic Abram's Falls! Absolutely powerful as well as gorgeous!!

It may have not been the tallest waterfall, but it certainly was the most powerful. It had more water rushing over at greater speeds and power than the others.

Yes....it was worth the hike in everyway!!

As we came down the moutain, we got to encourage a man on his way UP the mountain. I had written about this encounter in my most previous Blog. "we were on our way down the mountain and a man was hiking alone up the mountain. He was growing weary from the hike and wasn't so sure his efforts were even going to pay off. He questioned us as we were in passing saying "Is there really a waterfall ahead?? I keep going and can't find it!" We both assured him "Don't stop now, you're almost there! It's just a little farther ahead. Keep going." Later....as we had taken our time coming down off the mountain, we see this man once again. He was SO HAPPY! I asked him "Did you find it?" He excitedly replied "YES! and my friends are never gonna believe I did this! But I got proof....there was a girl there and she took a picture of me on my camera!!!" It was so awesome to be able to encourage this man to "Keep keepin on!" when he could have easily given up and not reaped his awesome reward! In much of life we can apply this mentality - - one step at a time. And in that one step at a time, you know what happens? You get closer and  closer to all that God has waiting for you ahead!! We know that our ultimate reward will be when we see Jesus' face and he wraps his arms us around us welcoming us home! But there are many "rewards" here on this earth as well. Keep keepin on, my friend. Don't stop....you're almost there!"

While on the way down the mountain, I got my hiker husband to stop and pose. Something he doesn't care for, but was pretty darn sweet about it.

The temperature was only 60 degrees, and amazingly it was NOT cold at all!! This girl would have been freezing to death back at home....but thankfully not so here! We noticed that even though we had kept a good pace on the way up the mountain as well as on the way down....we STILL got passed! We chalked up with the assumption that.....Texans must just be plain ole slow. They take their time to take it all in I guess. Ha!

Although, we weren't "fortunate" enough to see any bears....dad-gum-it!! I did take a picture of a picture of one!

We returned back to our car and resumed the car tour of "Cades Cove". We got to see some more beautiful history.



After our tour, it was getting late and dark. We still had to come the rest of the way down the mountain. As we twisted and turned through the paths of the mountain....it began to get dark and foggy and raining again. It made for another nice adventure! :) Back in town....we ate at Big Daddy's Pizzeria << very GOOD! with Baskin Robbins for dessert! Yummy!

The next morning, Thursday, we were off for another hike. Today's hike would be an "easy" hike. We found sunshine after leaving house 3 days ago....Yay!!

Such beatiful scenery we encountered! If only a camera could truly capture it!!

And we arrived to the beautiful Laurel Falls!!

 Note to my Mom:: Don't look at this picture. Or the next one.....

Still keep your eyes shut.....

Laurel Falls was absolutely gorgeous!! And now it was time to come back down the mountain.

I love him SO VERY MUCH!!!!

Mom, the true Mountain Woman!!

Now it was time to get the 2 hour presentation back in Gatlinburg.

Note to self: I do NOT like 2 hour time share presentations and find them HIGHLY a GIANT waste of our time. But we did what we had to do and it was done.

While in Gatlinburg, we found ALL the many tourists!! It was far too crowded for our liking and left quickly!! Back to the mountains for us!!

We were headed to our last and final hike to the waterfalls. This would be Grotto Falls.

I love some of the beautifully twisted and mountainous paths we traveled by foot to get there.

And finally we were there!! It was so freaking AWESOME to actually walk behind this waterfall and stick my hand in the powerful water coming so forcefully down!!!

Ok.....I can NO longer continue this Blog.

There are more stories to share to finish up our grand adventures, but my computer is totally UN-cooperative. You see....I've been working on this Blog for a continuous 5 1/2 HOURS. No lie. I'm ending this Blog and will finish it ......later. I'm pooped!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading thus far!!!

"Two Paths....One Choice"

David and I often love to ride our bikes anywhere and everywhere. Hot or cold....sunny or rainy....
Any day is a good day when you can ride a bike! :)

This past Friday we tried our bikes out on the trails instead of paved cement. I have to say it was AWESOME!!! I really think I could do a mountain bike excursion....going down a mountain!! I say the word "down" because going "UP" the mountain might do me in for sure! As we were bumping along the trails and pushing through the brush, I laughed as David said, "You do know these bikes are not made for this don't you??" We have the old timey Cruiser replicas. I didn't care....I laughed and pushed my way through, almost falling several times. :) I absolutely love adventures!!

After we first arrived, I took a picture of the path that lay ahead of us.

It was relatively wide and open with easy access as well as comfortable easy riding. No thick foliage to push through and not many if any bumps to ride over. It was very scenic.

And then we took the real trails leading off of that one. . .



Although this was not the "top adventure" trail I speak of in the earlier part of my story, it was MORE narrower than the first, MORE bumpier than the first, and certainly alot more skills were needed as you are gripping the handle bars now more tightly while bumping, twisting, turning, picking up speed, and pulling all the O so STICKY spider webs off of you!! (By the way....I was informed by dear David that he received not one single spider web on him all thanks to his wife who combatted her way through them first. Glad to be of service dear.)

I did not take a picture of our most dense path we took. Let your funny imagination create an image here of a very silly wife laughing loudly, falling mostly, and looking hideous in her extreme  pleasure as her sweet and wonderful husband follows along behind her smiling to himself in how crazy his funny wife is. :)

As I thought about the two paths that I DID take pictures of - - - a thought began to take shape as it often does when I'm searching for a Blog to share.

These two paths can be very symbolic of what God talks about in Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

I see the first path representing the "wide gate and broad road" that is taken by so many people in our world today. It is the easy path, the open path, the comfortable and well traveled path. It is also a path that leads to destruction and many people can unknowingly be deceived into thinking otherwise. It's the world's way...the one that says "God loves everybody and if you're good enough and even if you're not....He would never send you to a place called Hell." "Afterall...you're not as BAD as that person...."

The second path represents the "narrow gate...and narrow is the road that leads to life." Few are said to find it because of one of the many great deceptions of simply them being "good enough" will ensure their road to Heaven. Sadly...it won't. Jesus said in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  Also, in John 10:9 he says: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved."

Friend, there is only one path we must choose....the "narrow one"....the one that leads to life in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

As always I want to share with you how you can do that....just as I have in recent Blogs. For I want everyone to hear and know about the "narrow road" that leads to life!! :)

The following was taken and copied from a previos Blog I had shared in the past - - -

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Have you ever heard the question asked "If you were to die today and went to Heaven and God stopped you and said 'Why should I let you into my kingdom?' what would you say?"  Many people have what they feel are genuinely perfect answers for this and many consist of them being simply good enough to earn their way in. Or. . .  Church membership. Baptized. Family heritage. Giving enough money. Others may believe that a loving God could never send anyONE to such a horrible place as hell and therefore make their way in as well. Well, sadly...none of this thinking is right. There is only ONE way and ONE way only....and that being through the perfect blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our salvation. Through His sacrifice for our sins, we receive the grace that He freely gives. We receive it through faith and faith itself is also given to us by and through God.

I could really draw this blog out with more lengthy discussions. But I believe that salvation is simple and therefore should be presented in a simple manner. That statement reminds me of a very special Christian kindergarten teacher I had a long time ago. I had asked Jesus into my heart at the age of 5 (also being the time of attending her class). She had ran into my Mom years later and had heard that I was struggling with doubts of my salvation. She replied to my Mom "Tell her to quit making it so HARD." Salvation is not a complicated thing...but sometimes we as humans tend to make it hard.

First, know that we ALL have sinned. If you have broken just one commandment...and we all have....then you are guilty of sin.
Romans 3:10 - "As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one."
Romans 3:23 - "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 5:12 - "Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam) and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because ALL sinned."

Second, the price has been paid!
Romans 6:23- "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!"
Romans 5:8- "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Third, how we receive our gift!
Romans 10:9-10 - "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

It's as simple as ABC!
A= Accept that you are a sinner in need of a Saviour!
B= Believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead!
C= Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and call upon Him to save YOU from your sins!

Lastly, we know that when we call - He hears!
Romans 10:13 - "For EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will BE saved!"
Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that NOT of yourself, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no man can boast." If it were by works anyway...someone would ALWAYS be better than you. . . and whose to say where the line would be drawn?? Side tidbit there. :)

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I try hard not to be too repetitive in my Blogging. But, this dear friend, is worth repeating many times over. :)

Won't you choose the path that leads to life eternal today if you have not?

I leave you with a very beautiful part of God's creation that I was able to take a picture of while on our paths. In my thinking it represents God's happiness. And it reminds me that we can be happy in Him....for He is faithful and trustworthy!!