Jordan's 27th Birthday!

 

On January 20th, my sister Jordan celebrated her 27th birthday!

 

 On her birthday date with her husband, Caleb, she got her haircut and donated about 12 inches to Lock of Love.  I think her haircut looks adorable!

Here are some before pictures...

 Jordan is a dear, sweet sister and she was always a good example to us growing up.  We love her dearly and pray that the Lord showers her with many blessings in this year to come!

Jordan & Caleb's three girls: Berea, Evangeline and Victoria!  They are all growing up so fast!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Happy Birthday Jordan!  

We love you.

A Trip To Asheville, NC

 On the one year anniversary of when Matthew and I started courting, Matthew surprised me by taking me back up the mountainat at Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville, NC, where we met.  He woke me up at 3:00 in the morning and said, "Let's go to Asheville." !!!

Do any of you remember this picture from last year?

Well...this one is from this year!

And we've got the hardware this year!!!

 And it just keeps getting better!

We got to Ridgecrest in time to watch the sunrise up on the mountain.  Unfortunately,  it was very cloudy and foggy so we only saw quick glimpses of the sunrise behind the clouds.  But we stayed up there for about 2 hours and talked, sang, prayed, played the guitar, and took pictures. ;-)

 Our sunrise. ;-)

Enjoying breakfast together...


Matthew had booked us a hotel, so we were able to make it a two day trip.  We spent part of one day traveling up the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was beautiful.  This was the first time either of us had been on it and it was enough to make us want to go back!

Matthew knows how much I love horses, so he took me horse back riding as well, which was a lot of fun!  Here we are on our rides.

Matthew had a perky horse who liked to have her own way. -chuckle-

There was only one other couple who shared the ride with us, so it was much more personal than other rides I've been on before.  We were able to chat with our guide and get to know her a little bit too, as she explained the unique parts of her job.


We made a drive down to Chimney Rock and hiked most of the trails up there.  The views were amazing.

Up on Chimney Rock...

 

 

 

After hiking at Chimney Rock we traveled down the road to walk around the park by Lake Lure.  Here we are at the Visitor's Center in Lake Lure, NC.

The trip was beautiful and I loved sharing it with my beloved.  It was so special to be able to go back to the place where we first met only last year and relive those special memories!  Matthew is such a sweetheart to think of taking me back there!

Honeymoon pictures!!!!

 Ha!  I just realized the other day that I never posted any pictures from my and Matthew's honeymoon!  Major oversight!  Hmmm...must be slightly side-tracked.  -chuckle-

So...here are some of the pictures of our wonderfully, sweet honeymoon! 

~ ~ ~

 We spent 9 days in and around Helen, GA and this cute, little cabin was our "Home Away From Home" for that time!  We picked out our location and our cabin together during the engagement and we instantly fell in love with this little place by its pictures!  It was perfect!

 My ring!  Matthew partially designed it.  He picked a heart-shaped diamond and put it in a gold ring with a weave to it.  He did a beautiful job and I love it!

Our first day in Helen...just having fun being together!

Our decorated car...

 

Goofing around playing mini-golf!  Matthew is a ton of fun!

We spent a lot of our time hiking, seeing waterfalls, biking, walking, and simply enjoying our time with each other.

We love being silly together...can you tell?!!!

Anna Ruby Falls...two rivers that join at the bases of the waterfalls to form one new river!  Pretty neat!

Riding around in our automobile!

Up on Clingman's Dome, the highest spot in GA.

The parking lot where we hiked from.

Out on a bike-ride around the lake...

Playing mini-golf again!

One of the days we traveled down to Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville, GA to ride go-karts!  They reach 55 miles per hour and it's the only track of its kind that has 43 feet of elevated change sections in its race track.  It was a lot of fun!

 We were able to get a cart to ride together!

 We like kissing...can you tell?!!

On the one week anniversary of our wedding, Matthew and I planned a special dinner at our cabin with a candlelit meal, a fire in the fireplace, special music playing, and we even dressed up in our matching outfits we got engaged in.  After the meal, we sat on the couch and started reading our old texts that we sent to each other and as we started going back to our texts from last year, we realized that that very night was the same night one year ago that Matthew first contacted Dad to ask about me!  Awe....  That made the evening even more special for the two of us!  It's amazing to see where the Lord has brought us from in the last year!   What a sweet time of remembering. 

 Towards the end of our honeymoon, we decided to drive up to Hiawassee, GA to tour the lake and go jet skiing!

 Matthew and I both agreed that this was our favorite activity!  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

 And the lake was beautiful!

 The water was just warm enough that we could jump in off of the jet ski and go for a little swim.  We were able to get it to jump a few waves, which was exhilarating! 

 A picture of Matthew's wind-blown hair!  LOL!

  

We spent one day traveling down to hike Tallulah Falls.  This place used to be as popular as Niagara Falls at the turn of the century, before the town burned down and the falls got damned up and the flow was lessened.  But it was certainly still very beautiful!  It was a lot of steps to climb up and down but well worth the hike.

Sharing a meal at the Dillard House.

Selfie in our car!  I love my husband!

The last day we spent driving across the NC border, up in the mountains, windows rolled down, stopping at waterfalls as we drove along.  It was a beautiful day and a lovely ride. 

Photography one of the falls.

We had a lovely honeymoon and are so thankful for the time we were able to get away and enjoy our time with each other.  Matthew and I are appreciating married life immensely!