We have been in the North Georgia mountains for the weekend. We love it up here. After just posting about the Orlando trip, it seems like we've gone from one extreme to the other. Beaches and wetlands...to hiking and mountaintops. Once again, to admire the artistic hand of God!
The weather is cooler. (love it!) And the trees are beautiful! The best part of Georgia for us is the trees in the fall. We are at a friend's cabin taking a break from the busy life and learning to stop and rest for awhile. No phones, TV or internet....the house is all asleep and I can't so I am trying to pass the time with an internet card getting this blog up to date. You will see in a minute why I can't sleep!
I picked the girls up from school early on Friday which is a nice treat for them and we headed up north to Blue Ridge. I love Blue Ridge. I love the mountains and the small town shops they have downtown. I heard someone refer to another as their neighbor. I wonder what constitutes a neighbor when you live in the mountains? There is not many who live near someone else...weird. Tommy and I always talk about whether we could live where we are visiting. I don't think I'd like living in Orlando. Way too busy and too commercialized. Of course the girls want to live anywhere we are visiting. They think if they live in Orlando that they would have a week of partying like we had when we were there. Tommy and I think we could live in the mountains. We have talked about it a great deal...how they probably shop for groceries once a month...how they probably get snowed in every year...how life seems much simpler and so much quieter. We dream about him finding a local job in the lumber yard and me taking care of the farm house and having dinner on the table when he gets home. (wait, that already happens...just not the simple lumber yard job) We can always dream, but that is not the life God has chosen for us. I guess we could always put in a request! :) I love where we live and go to church, I just wonder how long we could live the VERY simple life?? Oh well, I really chased a rabbit on that one!
Anyhow, the girls and I drove up early Friday afternoon and got settled, went to the grocery store, made a pot of chili to welcome my sweet hubby when he arrived after work. The cabin we stay in is simple but soooo nice and secluded...you feel like there is no one around for miles. A beautiful view from the front porch and lots of room for the girls to run and explore.
On Saturday we had a different kind of adventure. I have always wanted to go to the Apple Festival in Ellijay. I always hear other talking about going and we've never gone. Tommy wanted to take me there so we loaded up and headed back south. We had no idea truly where we were going and where it was...we just followed the signs for the festival. We arrived in downtown Ellijay and found a place to park for free and thought for sure it would be downtown. Wrong-o. We found out that the festival was about 2 miles down the road. Why we didn't just get the van and drive down there I have no idea...there were a ton of other people lost and parking downtown so we thought there must be some secret as to why others stayed parked there. We decided to walk. Faith, who has more energy than all 4 of us put together complained the whole way. She was tired, her legs hurt, she was hungry, she thought we were lost, etc... We finally arrived and paid $5 a head and walked into a time warp. This "festival" reminded me of an outdoor flea market we had back in Oklahoma. It was not quite the festival I had imagined it would be. AND it was PACKED crowded! I was also shocked to realize that with all of the $$ that was being brought in each year that there were NO public bathrooms...only about 10 port a potties. So much fun to try to get your young daughter to use one of those. I covered the seat completely and just said...don't even look inside the toilet! We bought an overpriced lunch of cold hamburgers. The fries were good and then we did have a delicious apple fritter. The girls split a funnel cake. We walked around and found a bull riding machine which was pretty entertaining for a bit. Faith did rock climbing and did awesome!
She got all the way to the top and rang the bell! 
We made our way through the "festival" and then rode a BUS back to the car. I do think if we had walked that Faith would have went home with another family. :)
We came back to the cabin to a delicious pot roast and vegetables, watched a family movie and then went to bed. That's when I experienced something I thought I'd never. I woke up because my sinuses were congested. Then I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I laid in a twilight state debating whether I wanted to get up in the cold and go to the bathroom. My leg was on top of the covers and I felt something on it. I laid there a second and then felt something CRAWLING ON MY LEG. In the dark I sat up and brushed my leg...that is when I realized there really was something and it was BIG. I thought it was a big spider so I quickly turned on the light to see where it went. I was about to turn the light back off, thinking I'd never see it when I saw something on the other side of the room SLITHERING ON THE CARPET. I yelled for Tommy to wake up that there was a snake in the room. I told him it was a baby snake about 3 inched long and crawled under the bed...I was thinking...WHERE'S THE MAMA? So, my brave hubby got a flashlight and looked under the bed. Didn't see anything. There are 2 dust ruffles on the bed and he happened to look in between the two dust ruffles and there it was. The most disgusting thing I have ever seen and have ever had crawl on my skin. A black centipede. Yes a centipede. And in case you've never seen one...here ya go...
So after I screamed about a hundred times, Tommy finally convinced me to go get something to put it in. I got a glass jar with a lid and we caught that booger...who STOOD UP while trying to get cornered...Once we got it in the jar, the heebie jeebies came out in me all over again. I was just short of crying! I couldn't believe THAT thing with THOSE pinchers was crawling on my bare leg!! And that it did not bite me when I went to brush it off!! I give God all the credit for waking me up with congestion, debating on going to the bathroom, just so I could get that thing OFF of my leg and out of the bed!!! Glory hallelujah, I'm itching as we speak. Gross! So thankful that Tommy saved the day! So, this is why I am up at 1am typing like a mad woman trying to get so sleepy that I slip into a quiet coma. :)
That was Saturday...Sunday we went hiking. We drove about 45 minutes to a trail called Long Creek Falls. A beautiful drive! Beautiful mountains and river! We hiked the trail to a waterfall at the end and the water was ICE cold. The girls wanted to get their feet wet and of course both slipped on the rocks and got their jeans wet, but good times! Max went on this hike with us and was a trooper. I think that hike was more walking than he has done all 5 years put together!
We plan to leave tomorrow. I am so very grateful for this time together and away from distractions not only to focus on each other but to have some great focused quiet time with our Father. No better place to worship than in the midst of His creation. What an amazing, majestic Lord we serve!
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