Category Archives: adventuring

We have some catching up to do…

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I’ve sorely neglected my blog over the past few months. Life has just been extra crazy and finding time to write is often-times few and far between. I figure I’ll just start from where I left off, and blog around the pictures as I find them.

December brought lots of health challenges. God is so faithful, and He continued to show His hand at work through the good, and the bad. We are so thankful that each and *every* His mercies are renewed. Great is His faithfulness. <3

December 1st was the Christmas parade in Centreville. This is always a lot of fun for us and a highlight of the Christmas season for my family! This year, Daniel got to join in for the first time, and that was especially wonderful as well. 😀

Setting everything up:

Darby was a little Christmas elf! <3

Parade lights through the fog:

One of the things that I love about the Centreville parade is that they always take the parade route up right in front of the nursing home, and they bring the residents outside and bundle them in blankets so that they can see the parade. It brings tears to my eyes every single time. <3

 

Next up was my birthday- my very first since getting married! The first week of December had been a particularly difficult one for me for many reasons. I actually told my mama that I just wanted to forget about my birthday and move on for the year…I’m so glad my mom and husband knew better. 🙂

 

Mama and I went out for breakfast, and she brought me birthday ice cream! I so enjoyed getting to spend the time with her for a little bit.

Daniel took me out for dinner and then for a fun evening of bowling! My birthday fell on a Tuesday, so that meant $2 bowling games and $2 shoe rental! Perfect timing, that deal was. 😀

All in all, I am so thankful that the Lord chose to allow me to see another birthday. He is so merciful and good to me in all ways. <3

Next up was the first snowfall we have experienced together!

Isn’t he just the cutest thing ever? I love him so much. <3

I absolutely loved seeing everything bathed in white…we don’t get snow very often in Alabama, but when we do, we sure do love seeing how beautiful everything is covered in snow.

We began attending a new church a few weeks after getting married. It just became very obvious that the Lord was moving us on from the church we had been attending. So, we visited a couple of different places, but ended up settling down in the sweetest little church that is quite close to us. One of the things we love about this church is their heart for reaching the community for Christ. A week or so before Christmas found us passing out candy and tracts to the local community at another Christmas parade.

Afterwards, we went and looked at the Christmas trees on the Tinsel Trail at the West Blocton Coke Ovens park. Everyone did such a great job with their trees!

It was also high-time for us to get our Christmas decorations up. Daniel had the coolest idea for the Christmas tree….

We are STILL having folks come and make comments about how cool that tree was! I’m so thankful for my imaginative guy…he makes life so much fun. 🙂

Some shots of the inside:

The sibling gifts were my idea…these were just too good not to do. 😀

And Daniel made this Christmas card holder for me!

These Christmas cards have a really special meaning to me. It’s a very tangible display of how the Lord shows us love in amazing ways… I had told Daniel I didn’t think we would get very many Christmas cards this year, because we were newly married and most folks don’t have our address. Christmas cards have always been one of my favorite things to look at and send around the holidays. The next day, I found out from a friend at church that we had been added to the Christmas card list at church, and she brought me a huge stack of cards from the Christmas card mailbox there addressed to us! I am continually amazed at how the Lord works in our lives, in both big and small ways. <3

We had our big family Christmas get-together on Christmas Eve…we ate entirely too much and laughed and cut up and exchanged gifts and just enjoyed the time together. This year was super-special- Daniel’s first Christmas with us! 🙂

On Christmas Day, Daniel said that we ought to go and drive somewhere and do something…so we did. 🙂

Mobile was absolutely beautiful, and COLD!! 🙂

That about does it for our 2017 adventures…. stay tuned for how we started 2018 with our trip across the country to see Route 66, the Pacific ocean, and to find some sunshine!! 🙂

I took the road less traveled….

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and it has made all the difference. 🙂

June 13th was here- finally. Unfortunately, it was going to be a long day for Mr. Australia….oh, wait, I guess I can call him by name, can’t I? It was going to be a long day for Daniel, who got stuck in customs and then had delayed flights to deal with, and for me, who was tracking his flights and thinking that they were kinda taking half of forever to finish up. 😀

Around 11 that evening, we heard footfalls on the porch and a knock on the door- he had arrived! I opened the door and asked him to step inside- he was real! My family and I spent some time talking to him for a bit before we called it a night- the next morning was going to be an early one, as I was taking the kids to their 4-H forestry competition and Daniel was to go with us.

The next day, as anticipated, started very early. I remember hearing talking out on the porch that morning and headed out to see Daniel talking to a few of the “middles”. I was very much looking forward to having the opportunity to talk to him and was glad that we were finally in the same time zone- in the same country, state, town, and on the same porch even! 😀 We all small-talked for a bit and introduced him to a couple of our cats, and then it was time to head to Prattville for the competition.

The competition was a two day, all-day event, and it provided lots of time for us to be able to talk about various things as we continued to get to know each other. In addition, we got to see a lot of beautifully scenic rural Alabama backroads making our way down to the sticks. It was such fun!

Over the days to come, we began to settle into a bit of a routine. There was lots of coffee enjoyed…

My mama had also picked up a puzzle so that all of us could chat and get it put together. This was accompanied by ice cream on many nights…

As it turns out, Daniel likes ice cream as much as I do….we may have went a bit overboard acquiring it at times….

As the days went by, we were able to spend a lot of time in conversation, and found another pastime to enjoy together- washing dishes! I don’t know how many hours we spent washing them, but I’d reckon it is probably quite a high number. We talked, laughed, and just thoroughly enjoyed the time. 🙂

Daniel started introducing me to all sorts of different kinds of fruits…. lychees were one of the favorites that I tried!

And the fourth of July was rapidly approaching as well, so that meant it was time for us to introduce Daniel to a little taste of celebrations at our house. We typically do a large Independence Day bash, so now was the perfect opportunity to let him see how we par-tay. Or something. 😀

Fireworks o’ plenty were gathered up….

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos on my phone from that, because I was taking them all on the big camera! Ah well. :p

I introduced Daniel to Kool-Aid….bless his heart….he’d never tried it!

It was also about this time that we started doing some bona fide sightseeing. Peavine Falls was the first official destination after seeing photos of the falls online.

And of course, summer wouldn’t be complete without more 4-H activities! It was time for day camp, and I was an adult volunteer for the two-day summer day camp. It was such a blast! (Made moreso by the fact that Daniel got to come along as well. 🙂 )

We got to visit a pottery studio one day…

And a stable one day…..

It was such fun!

Daniel and I were continuing our many, many conversations, and were still realizing that we were very like-minded and were headed in a similar direction. We continued to spend time together doing little projects around the house and sight-seeing, as well as going to church and visiting with friends. Tannehill State Park became a fun excursion after doing market days. 🙂

And then there was “Cow Appreciation Day” at Chik-Fil-A…..this photo brought more questions from friends, haha!! (“Who is that guy standing next to you??”) It was so much fun introducing Daniel to the amazing fun that Chik-Fil-A provides each year with this event. 🙂

Back to Tannehill!!

Daniel really encouraged me to cross the waterfall….which I didn’t want to do, but did anyway. It freaked me out majorly, but I am so glad I did it now! He, like my dear mama, encourages me constantly to step outside of my comfort zone when I wouldn’t otherwise. And, just like when mama does it, I always learn and grow from the experience and am very glad that I did it!

Besides, we got to take this nice picture of us together:

As the days went on, I found myself realizing that I was more and more interested in this amazing Australian fellow who had flown so far to come and spend time with me… I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but I had many conversations with my parents about how things were going and what they were observing. I’m so thankful to have had so many people with their eyes on the situation who were praying and encouraging me to seek the Lord’s will in however we moved forward.

On July 21st, Daniel asked to speak to Daddy for a few minutes. A little later, Daddy came and found Mama and I and said we (along with Daniel) would be having a discussion later on that evening, once the littles were down for the night. He didn’t say what the meeting was about, though I had my suspicions.

Now, this was rather funny…I had recently began teaching piano lessons professionally. The mama of my student that day asked if I had any plans for later. The only thing I could think was “Yes! I’ve definitely got plans for later!”, but, I simply said that I knew I had a workday I needed to finish up and then I’d do whatever else popped up. 😀

Well, as you’ve probably figured out, that day seemed to creep by. 😀

We sat down that evening and discussed many things, but most importantly, Dad asked both of us if we wanted to proceed forwards into an official courtship. Our answer? A resounding yes! 🙂 And thus a new chapter was started….

(and yes, more to come! 🙂 )

life keeps on a rollin’

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Tobias’ arrival our home marked a new chapter in our lives, that’s for sure. We have been so blessed by his cheerful and joyful disposition- he’s like a little ray of sunshine in our lives!

I was still plowing through school, and making somewhat decent progress. I was paying for school as I went, and each new lesson arriving in the mail made me more and more excited to reach the end goal.

Spring had also very decidedly set in….and with it? Mud!! I got the John Deer stuck in the mud and had to get it all dug out…. oops.

Homesteading projects were in full-swing….

….and so was writing to a certain Australian. Remember me mentioning that I had signed up for that dating website again? Well, someone amazing wrote to me during my time there. We traded a few emails, and then started writing every day. We also traded Instagram handles after we realized we had a mutual love of photographing sunsets and sunrises, and that was a good way to be able to see the pictures each of us had posted.

After a couple of weeks of our writing back and forth, he expressed a desire to be more intentional in our correspondence, so I went and took copies of all of our notes to my parents. I was going to print them out to make it easier to read, but upon realizing we had exchanged 53 pages worth of correspondence (in TWO weeks!), I thought it might be better to just take the laptop instead. 😀 After discussing my thoughts with my parents, and asking their advice on the matter, I decided to write back and let him know that I was interested in being more intentional with our correspondence, with one condition- we would have to spend a great deal of time in communication with each other, and we would need to meet and spend a substantial amount of time in person. He responded back with a “no problem!”, and planned a trip to come out and meet my family and I to see where things might go. I emailed a few mentors in my life and asked them to be praying over the situation and that we would have wisdom to make the right decisions, no matter what the end result was.

Now, after a few weeks of us being friends on Instagram, I started to have other friends noticing that I had a new friend on Instagram….and so the questions started. 🙂 “So, who exactly is this guy that is suddenly quite active on your Instagram?” “Dare I ask who this guy is?” “How did you meet?”….etc. 😀 You see, this Australian and I were starting to realize more and more by the day of just how much we had in common, and conversation was easy between us.

We had our first phone call not too long after “that” email. I remember being so terribly nervous….we are both introverts…would we even talk?!? To my surprise, we had a rather nice phone conversation- not too long, not too short, and we had broken the ice. It wasn’t too many days after that when Mr. Australia sent me his travel dates…he was actually coming here to meet us! We had a few more phone calls in-between him sending the travel dates and him arriving here, each growing longer than the last. I think the last one was right around 3 hours long! We were also still emailing pretty much daily, and by this point, had a text conversation going, were friends on Facebook, and were ever-more active commenting on Instagram. I couldn’t wait to meet him in person, and find out if he was the same in person as he had been online and over the phone. I was becoming quite interested in learning more about this guy from the Land Down Under…

While counting days until his arrival, life continued to roll on at the Lambert Estate…

I had just finished installing our first round of bees, and caring for them each day was such a delight:

I was still working:

And of course, enjoying the lovely sights of my beloved Lambert Estate….

Learning new skills…

Oh, and Jacob purchased a shiny red ‘Stang….. it has been such fun to go on various adventures with him with the top down and our hair blowing in the wind….

I was still working on school….

And branding for a new endeavor we were working on….I was so tickled to see things I had designed on the computer arrive and turn out so nicely in person!!

Hand’s down, having the booth at the farmer’s market was one of my favorite things that we did over the spring and summer. I loved working together with my family to get everything done each week, and then later on with my stock tracking buddy (you know who you are! 😉 ) to make sure that the inventory was being tracked correctly. We loved meeting people, developing our products, trying new experiments for marketing, and so many other things. It was a huge blessing!

Time was winding down until Mr. Australia arrived….and then, finally, it was June 13th- the day he was to arrive. Was he really real? We were about to find out…

{adventuring}

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December days continued to roll by, and with them, more adventures by the day. 😀

I thought it might be fun to start working on a few new songs on the ole’ instruments. I had a little project in mind for these songs….

Continuing on with trying new things, I found a strand of purple lights down in the basement and thought I’d hang them up in my bedroom. Jess was thrilled! 😉

The next new adventure came on New Year’s Eve. I learned to play Texas Hold’Em Poker.

I wasn’t expecting to like it.

It was so much fun!!!

I’ve been working on some piano actions:

And getting to hold the cute little squishy adorable baby nephew:

Now, the nephew needed some new pictures, and my brother and sister-in-love needed their piano tuned, which meant I got to have a rather fun workday. My real job is flexible enough for me to work from my brother’s house, so, I packed up the laptop, tuning tools and camera, and headed out!

In progress:

I really enjoyed taking photos of the aforementioned cute and squishy baby nephew. 🙂

The next order of business was Elvis Presley’s birthday. I don’t have any photos of me rocking out to the Elvis tunes, unfortunately. I’ll have to do better next year. 🙂

Next, it was time to get the 4-H on! I took the kids to Columbiana for their first Livestock Quizbowl and Skill-a-thon. I still have my 4-H shirt from when I went and participated in a 4-H day when I was younger, so, I embarrassed the kids to death by wearing the aforementioned shirt when I went to drop them off. BEST BIG SISTER EVER!!! 😉

I got to hang out with them until it was time for them to head back to their dorms, which meant I got to stick around for the campfire. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I have a few ideas tucked away now for the next time we have a campfire. Sitting under the stars though…I’m overwhelmed. Our creator-God is so amazing. To know that He created each star and put it into place is absolutely amazing. <3 We were out in the middle of nowhere Alabama, so all of the stars were super-clear and just gorgeous.

Since all the kids were at camp, our normal chicken feeding crew was “afc”….away from coop. 😀 This meant that it was my turn to feed the chickens. Did I mention that this was my first time ever to feed them??

It was also my first time to put them all away. A nice big rainstorm moved in right while I was getting them put up. I was very thankful for my big, waterproof flashlight!

All in all, late December and early January were definitely getting off to a “hopping” start, and there’s more to come soon! 🙂

~Miss Court

{another chapter is closing}

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It’s starting to sink in that I am in my last days of being 23. My goodness, what a year it has been!

I’ve seen God work and move in so many ways. I’m in awe of the way He continues to guide me in the way I ought to go, gently opening and closing doors as He leads me down life’s path. He is my rock, my stronghold.

In looking back over the year, I’m so thankful especially for how God has revealed Himself in my life, whether it has been through the Word or through the many mentors and friends who have stood right with me over the past year. They’ve been there as I’ve worked through some really hard circumstances and rejoiced with me when I’ve had unexpected blessings fall on me. I’m so thankful. <3 I'm thankful for the opportunities for growth over the past year, whether it has been through meeting new people, traveling to many new places, and starting piano technician school, amongst countless other adventures! I would have never imagined all the new things I would be doing this year. I've also thoroughly enjoyed the acquisition of my new fiddle, accordion, guitar and PIANO (more on that soon. 🙂 ). All of these were provided in really neat ways. I love seeing how God answers prayers, even with things like music. 😀 It will definitely be interesting to see what this new year holds! I look forward to the adventure. ~Court

{hello, Pensacola!}

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So, we decided to take a trip down to the beach. We were originally going to go to Fort Morgan, but Dad asked if we would be willing to suffer and go to Pensacola Beach in Florida. If we were willing to suffer, we could stay oceanside, right on the beach!

Needless to say, we were willing to suffer. 😉

We took two cars, and I volunteered to drive one of them. I’m so glad I did!

I packed some supplies: two awesome magnetic bumper stickers, Dad’s hat (shamelessly stolen), sunglasses, stack o’ CDs, my Belkin Tunecast (lets you stream music from a phone or mp3 player using the car radio if you don’t have an aux jack- it was awesome!), and Jolly Ranchers. PERFECT.

My crew!

On the way down, it rained and it rained and it rained and it rained. Yes, it rained. Just in case you were wondering. 🙂

Soaked.

We went down on the tail-end of a tropical storm, so the wind gusts and rainfall were absolutely crazy! We were getting knocked down when we actually got out of the car at our hotel. I’ve never been in wind like that, even in Chicago (the windy city!). Absolutely just “wow”! Some of the waves on the ocean were getting up to nearly 15′! I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be able to have seen that. We opted to stay inside that first afternoon, because it was still raining quite a bit and the wind was still very strong. We did step outside for a minute that evening:

Here was a picture from when we first arrived:

The next day dawned much more beautiful- still a bit of rain, but not nearly as much as the day previous:

We started off with a good breakfast:

And then hit the beach:

Dale even made an appearance:

Back on the beach. 🙂

The day ended:

The next day, we loaded up and came back to our beloved Lambert Estate. We so enjoyed our time down in Pensacola, and I safely speak for all when I say that we are hoping to go back in the future. It was truly a delightful time, and we loved it there.

But, as they say, “East or West, home is best!”. I had tears in my eyes when I pulled in, so happy to be home. I love my sunny south, and beloved Lambert Estate. <3

Been there, done that, got the coffee mug. Awesome.

{i lived}

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♪♫ I owned every second that this world could give/ I saw so many places, the things that I did/with every broken bone, I lived! ♪♫

I’ve been in a major wanderlust/adventuring mood over the last several weeks. So, nothing like doing a little hammock adventuring out in the backyard with Jacob! I’ve learned a lot about setting the hammock up, what height I want it to hang at, etc. Being rather new to hammock camping, the thing I wasn’t expecting was how stinkin’ comfortable it would be!

Here was our “campsite” in the back. Mine is the pretty blue one ;):

So, I may have hung it a little high…check out that stepstool, LOL!!

These are from getting everything set up:

There’s nothing like waking up to this:

Or getting to work outside in the hammock. My job can be so hard sometimes….;)

Of course, the fun ends when you have to pack it up. But, it does pack up neat and tidily:

I’m looking forward to starting our adventures as we camp across Alabama early next year. It should be tons of fun, and a great opportunity to see more of our gorgeous state! =D