A Well Deserved Renew

  Ronnie and I just got home from taking some of the teens in our youth group at church to Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, Tennessee.  It was absolutely amazing!!!  My wonderful mother and step-father came down to stay the weekend with the kids while Ronnie and I had a nice getaway for awhile.  I actually did very well and did not worry about my children that much at all.  (Ronnie and I have went away and the past and I have just been sick the whole time we were gone.)  The college campus was absolutely gorgeous!!!  I wish I would have taken a college day there myself when I was younger.  Thursday night when we left we stayed in a hotel room and then arrived at the campus on Friday morning.  We attened some welcome classes and then an actual class by a professor.  We had a tour of the campus and then was pretty much on our own.  Friday evening we (Ronnie, the other adults in our group, and I) went with the kids to the walleyball courts.  I had a blast.  I played volleyball in highschool, so it seems to by favorite sport, but this was volleyball and raquetball put together.  It was awesome.  My cousin Tyler, who attends Johnson, caught up with us for this.  Saturday we packed all the kids up in the vans and took off for the mountains.  We hiked up to Clingman's Dome in the Smoky Mountain National Park.  And I was able to take some beautiful pictures.  We had a deovtion here and we talked about God's plan for our lives and just how beautiful the scenery was here!  That afternoon we spent shopping and going out to eat!  Which are both my my favorite pasttimes!  On Sunday we woke up and went to a more contempary church service.  It was really neat.  I can't really explain it all, but Ronnie and I just really enjoyed it!  The preacher talked about coming out of a cave and really opening your eye to what all God has instore for you.  We went to CiCi's pizza for dinner and then went on to go ziplining.  Which was really fun for the kids, however not for myself.  I just about had a nervous breakdown.  I did make it through the first two zips, but just could not make my self continue.  I really hate becoming an adult.  I really would have loved it as a teenager, but now that I'm a mother I just can't handle somethings.  Ronnie and I had the chance to have some really good in depth talks with the other adults on the trip.  And we both came home, not exactly new people, but completely refreshed and renewed christians! 

The kids we took

Ronnie and I

God's beautiful creation!