Faith

These past couple of weeks have been really eye-opening for me spiritually and and physically.  And I'm not even the one who is dealing with the real pain of loss. I haven't really been blogging for lots lately because I've felt un-inspired, and I feel like God has been quitely working on my heart.  So I let him work, and I was still.  For once ;)

A student at my school lost his father tragically last month.  When I found out, I just held his classroom name tag and cried.  For him.  For his family.  For the reasons as to why it happend.  I adore this child, and everything about him.  He's 12 and his life will never be the same. 

Then, a few weeks later, a student I taught last year died of a brain tumor.  He was in remission when I had him, and the tumors came back agressively, and he passed quickly.  He wasn't in pain when he passed, and he was able to say goodbye to his family.

I come no where near to being even close to slightly feeling the pain and loss that these families have suffered.  I can only pray for them.  But my heart is shaken, and a child's suffering is always magnified by thousands.  It is unjustifiable by earthly standards.

But by God's standards, cancer has lost because he is at peace and with Him.  I was blessed to know this little boy.  He was one of the most confident, strong people I've ever taught.  A quiet warrior.  And I will never forget him.  And I have faith he is with God.

This is my favorite song our church sings.  It's message resonates with me daily. 

Biltmore Estate

The Biltmore

Well, I don't think you were left saying "Wow, they really could have Built More"...  It was SO HUGE.  Beyond huge.  Enormously massive.  240 rooms.  The largest private residence in the United States.  It was like orchestrating a massive production every day just to run it for the Vanderbilt family.  It was very interesting to see the inside and hear the history of this home.  I was glad in the end that we got the audio guide becuase I learned a lot from it....and I actually knew what I was seeing.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so here are some pictures I found online to give you an idea of what I saw.  But trust me, it doesn't even scratch the surface.  Among my favorite rooms were....


George Vanderbilt's personal library, complete with a chess set and chess table owned by Napoleon



The wife's bedroom and dressign chamber... it was every girl's dream!



Dining hall...which is speratre from the "breakfast room" mind you.  I loved the three giant, roaring fireplaces!

But my favorite part of all were the views,  Spectacular!  Especially during fall!  The rest are all pictures I took.


Porch that you can walk on during the tour...dont' mind my headsets!

 Charlie and I also walked around the grounds, which are, literally, 100x the size of Central Park in New York.  The drive UP to the Biltmore alone is 2 miles long.  The grounds are complete with stables, a water fall, a bass lake, an archery area, and it's own golf course.  Not to mention miles of landscaped forest/gardens.

One of the many amazing gardends with beautiful mums



Charlie the bridge near where we stopped to have a picnic lunch



Beautiful lake

We loved the Biltmore, and we hope to go back one day.  There were tons of thigns we missed even though we were there all day.  Afterwards we went shopping :D :D :D, which was more like browsing, and then we went out to dinner at a famous restaurant in the area.  We came home by 9 pm so dead tired, but it was worth it. :)

Log cabin eye candy

My MIL was in town for the past couple of days, enjoying time with us and visiting to look at a home in the south.  It would be her and Chuck's winter home where they would spend part of the year...not to mention a great gathering place for the family.  She fell in love with a home online, but she wanted to see it in person.  Charlie and I took a visit last week to see what we thought, and really loved it, Charlie visited inside with the realtor, and we took a look again on Wednesday with her.  There are so many things we love about it... so I thought I would share it here.  It's not official, and no offers have been made, but it is a real contender.  Yay for sore markets, no?


Here is the inside...please excuse the exessive narration. I'm kind of an excessive talker ;) I hope I don't make you sick with moving the camera too fast!


It's got the log cabin-ey feel that they love so much, and it has such potential for family gatherings.

Longest day ever.

I don't know what your "everyday" looks like, but when I get to school, I pretty much feel like this...

And then this comes this....

And when that leaves then I have to grade this...

(Yes I took this photo and yet, it is normal)

All the while while maintaining this...

Strike that previous image....this is the 21st century, people....I mean this...

When I feel like this...

I've been jealous of some friends recently with "regular" jobs.  That have the energy to throw mid-week get-togethers, go to the movies when they feel like it, and don't fall asleep at 7 pm on a Friday night. 

 I want that, too!

But when I start to question God's calling in my life, I take a step back and I am reminded of how much He has worked on my heart through my job and why I was born to do it.  And, if I didn't do it, why I would feel like this...

 

"trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths"   ~proverbs 3:5-6

Fall Friday!

It's finally fall!!!  Yay for that.  The weather has been beautiful here.  Low 70s, a slight breeze, and sunny.  It makes me really happy.  I wish it was always like this...

We don't have much fall decor, but I figure I'd share what we have :)  Outside is where it counts IMO.  I'm going to pick up some pumpkins next weekend....looking forward to Halloween!

Here is my AC Moore wreath.  I found the little spider to go inside, and when Halloween passes I'll take him out.

The entryway has a few little things.

And my favorite part is the mantle and my wreath.

I love the berries, and it will transition to Christmas as well.

Happy start of fall!!!

Decided.

Ashville is known for amazing fall colors!

Charlie and I are going to Ashville in two weeks.  We need a romantic getaway.

We want to see the fall colors and the beautiful Biltmore.  I think after 5 years in Charlotte, it's about time.  We originally planned on staying at a Bed and Breakfast, but everything is pretty much booked this late in the game, so we are packing a picnic lunch and heading up.

Biltmore

  I think it's well worth getting up early on a Saturday, don't you?

Room finished! (for now :) )

We finished our formal living room!!!  So, because I'm a sucker for them just like you are, here are some before and after pics.

Before:

And the after:

Here is the before from another angle:

 

And the after from the same angle...

Here are a close-up of some of the things that made the room:

1. Behr Paint.  We love Behr paint now.  We've totally crossed over to the "dark side" with this one.  (Sorry, Lowes!)  The color we chose was, you guessed it from the prior post, "Contemplation"  It makes the room, and the color is the perfect green, blue, grey. 
2. Pillows!  I found pillows at Steinmart.  They were originally marked down to about $15-$20 a piece (from $30 to $40 originally) and then they were an additional 50% off of that for a limited time.  I scooped up 5 for under $50.  Yeah.  Winning.   
3. This art...I owned the frame and I took the "sepia" print myself in Girona, Spain.  (I thought it played well off the brown gold in the flower print.)  We originally had a collage of pictures of Charlie and I, which was pretty with the frames, but looked exceedingly vain.  So that was gone promptly.  The only thing we paid for for this part of the project was the matte from AC Moore.
4. The rug...ah, yes the rug.  I knew I wanted high-pile, and I knew I wanted and ivory, stain resistant guy.  I searched high and low online for something, but found nothing that was under $200.  They were all $250, $300, or upwards of $500.  He** no am I paying that much for a white-ish rug.  Enter Walmart.  Walmart how I hate love you.  I bought this guy for UNDER $150.  Yeah.  It was a major score.

 Yay...but if you think I could go about my little amazingly discounted life and sit in my amazingly "perfect" room you would be wrong.  You forgot to factor in the "discount" dog....

Luna is very smart, but (and I have said this many times) I often feel she is so smart that she over-thinks things.

Oh, this is new.  It is smelly.  And white.  And white means something is wrong with it.  Why would they put something of this horrible color of white in this room?  Let me smell it.  Yes, something must be wrong.  It is white and too clean.  Why is everyone spending so much time in this room now?  Oh, I know!!!  Ah, it's grass!!  It's grass for me.  But of course.  They want me here because I am supposed to pee here now.  Thank you for my new grass, everyone.

 

And now my perfect new room is far from perfect.

 Fraggle rock.  Well, this picture will have to sit in my head until my rug dries and I get my room back...

Happy almost Monday.