Monday, December 19, 2011

We were Resting Travelers in South Carolina

Ah, we made it to the quaint town of Traveler's Rest, SC.  This was home for 2 weeks.  We came to this area because one, we love it here, but most of all.... we love a few of the people that live here :)  God has blessed us with dear friends from Panama City, FL that now call Greenville, SC home.


We arrived just in time to attend a Britt Nicole and Brandon Heath concert!  Whoooopp!!  Check out more about these Christian music artists:

Britt Nicole
Brandon Heath


Eden and Faith... super excited to worship God together again!


Britt Nicole and Brandon Heath... so on fire for the Lord!  

We spent the next 3 days visiting, eating, and playing with the Santanas.  We got home LATE each night :)  It was so nice for the kids to play with old friends and it was wonderful for us to have deep conversations about the Lord.

Faith and I built our dream log cabin.  The kids loved playing with toys that had lots of pieces!  We don't have many of those in the RV.  :)

A little volleyball

Trampoline fun :)

We had the pleasure of attending LifePoint Church Sunday morning and the honor to participate in a Pure Princess Club at a children's shelter Miracle Hill, Sunday afternoon.  The topic of this month's meeting was Modesty.  It was such a nice time spent with some very sweet girls.  I really had to fight the urge to take a couple of them home with me!  Please pray that these girls will know that the Lord loves them and sees them as precious.  I would love to share pictures of the girls so you could see their beautiful faces, but taking photos of the children is not authorized.


Then we had 3 days of taking care of real life in the RV...schooling, a field trip, cleaning, blogging, hiking, and going to Wal-mart.

Practicing survival skills on a hike...using acorn crowns as whistles.

This was our "backyard"!  We had a creekside campsite :)

And a field trip to the BMW plant and museum...  http://www.bmwusfactory.com/zentrum/

BMW Zentrum
Gorgeous facility and cars.  Can you see the license plate on the blue car (Z3) on the left???
Yup, that's the one and only 007 car from the movie, "Golden Eye."
Fantasizing about being a secret agent :)
BMW motorcycles... displayed sideways on a wall--so cool!

For the race fans.

BMW made RVs?  Who knew???   These were the cutest and tiniest things, even coming with curtains.  We were joking that the RV is actually more like a metal sleeping bag, for ONE!  To get a size reference, these were only about as tall as Jolie :)

There is also a factory tour of the plant (the only downside is that the minimum age is 12).  It was an amazing tour!  BMW does all things with excellence.  It is a must-do if traveling through the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC area.  We all want BMWs now :)  One of the coolest benefits of buying one is that you can come to the facility to pick it up right off the production line.  Then BMW will give you a model just like yours for an ultimate driving experience---lessons and an open driving course/test track to learn and test the limits of your new ride.

The last step in the assembly of a BMW is adding the BMW emblem on the front---this is known as "Spanking the Baby."  :)

Faith and Jon, ready for the factory tour.  

On Wednesday, we were preparing for our first major holiday while in the RV, Thanksgiving.  We have a few dishes that we love on Thanksgiving and I was able to prepare them in the camper.  I made my first pie and batch of cookies in my *tiny* oven!  It might be small, but it works beautifully!  It was so fun having the smells of Thanksgiving wafting through the camper :)

Pecan Pie with homemade crust...

We spent Thanksgiving at the Santana's.  A day of gratitude spent with friends we are so grateful for.

A few of the Thanksgiving Feast guests...

Thanksgiving was also my birthday :)  And everyone pulled off a big surprise on unsuspecting me!  I came around the corner ready for pie, but encountered everyone yelling, "Surprise!" and an ice cream cake!  It was so fun.  :)  A few days later I got to return the favor...

Happy 41st!

At the end of the day on Thanksgiving, we were once again blessed with another thoughtful gift.  What does every fulltime RV family need?  Date nights for Mom and Dad :)  The kids had a sleepover at the Santana house while we had the camper all to ourselves.  It was really nice, but very quiet!


We woke up to Black Friday.  We did NOT join the frenzy because we slept in :)  However, we did make our way to two stores in the afternoon.  First, we bought a very special gift for my Faith.  Her 13th birthday is in December!  The hardest thing now is storing and hiding it in 36'!!!  When I share what it is, you'll know why :)  Since she reads the blog, I can't share what it is :)
Store number 2... we purchased another laptop.  We were hoping that we could survive with one laptop and an ipad, but we have discovered that it's very challenging to accomplish all we need to with 5 people clamoring for time.  We're so excited, especially the kids.  Now maybe they can spend some time on their blogs (which is their computer science class.)

After shopping, we went to have dinner at the Santanas and pick up the kids.  While there, we enjoyed a dinner party with another family the Lord has started to knit to our family, the Cannons.  I know that God in His graciousness, set the evening up just for us!

Men bonding time... in the kitchen!  :)
**We thought that when we started this adventure, that we were going to go out to be a blessing.  So far, we've been far more blessed than we've blessed.  Our love tanks are FULL and RUNNING OVER!  God has loved us through friends, taught us through the various pastors we've heard preach, and ministered to deep needs in our spirits.**

The rest of most days were filled with visiting, studies, hiking, eating, and running errands.

On Sunday... I got a turn to throw a surprise birthday party---for my sweet Faith.  We celebrated Faith with a 13th birthday party!  Her birthday isn't until Dec. 10th, but on that day we won't be near family or friends.  It was so fun watching her and her friends, both old and new... laughing, playing, and giggling.

First up was a trip to the O.P. Taylor toy store in downtown Greenville:



Then, ICE SKATING!!!


Sweet friends

Followed by sweet treats:

Psychedelic Sorbet


Sugar rush 

The two weeks in Traveler's Rest, SC weren't restful, but we left recharged!

Site #27, Valley Park RV Resort, Travelers Rest, SC

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