NashVegas, Baby!

Nathan and I went to Nashville for the weekend. We needed a little getaway, and Nate had never been to NashVegas, so I thought, "Perfect! We'll have some fun and maybe I can convince Nathan that we need to move there." We've been eye-balling houses in and around Nashville for a couple of months, found our dream home with the hopes of checking it out while we were there, and, whaddaya know- it sold last week. Apparently it wasn't meant to be. I'm confident that God has a plan for us, and if His plan is for us to end up in Nashville, a home that's even more perfect for us will come along. When I began praying about where we are supposed to be, I begged God for an obvious answer. Shortly thereafter, we looked up information about Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and discovered that the chief of surgery there is a cardiothoracic surgeon who graduated medical school at Vandy just a couple of years after Nathan's previous boss. The chief also did his a fellowship under Nate's previous boss. Connection #1 (well, connection numbers 1 and 2 if ya count other Vanderbilt connections through Dr. H.) Then, I Facebooked an acquaintance from high school who lives in Nashville. She told me all of these wonderful things and that she and her husband would probably never leave the area. Then she proceeds to tell me that her husband is a real estate agent in Nashville, so "if there's anything we can help you with, let me know." Hmmm...is God telling me something here? I still struggle with determining that. I want to say that that's my sign, but then a second-guess it.

Anyway, Saturday morning Nate and I checked out 4 or 5 houses in an eastern suburb of Nashville. No luck. Then we headed downtown to shop and bar-hop for 4 hours (yet only had one drink each). Basically we missed all the different shows the city has to offer, but didn't just want to hang out in our room, so we checked out the Opryland Hotel. It's unreal that, besides Bass Pro and another store, the Opryland mall is still closed from the damage from the flood of May 2010.

I can't wait to go back. Next time we'll stay in the suburbs south of Nashville to check them out. Maybe then we'll see celebs! How fun would it be to run into Carrie Underwood or Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman out shopping?

I still need to get my pictures uploaded, but this "draft" has been ready since Monday, so I wanted to go ahead and get it up.

I've decided to link up with Women Living Well for the 31 day "Making Your Home a Haven" Fall Challenge.

Week #1's challenge is this:

Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home. Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home.

On the Women Living Well blog, Courtney gave two scenarios:

"Home #1
1. The woman of the home is distant. She is pulled into her computer, television, books, or text messages and it’s hard for the family to connect with her. She wonders why no one seems to listen to her? The children don’t obey her and her husband is insensitive.

2. The woman of the home is distracted. Her calendar is very full and her daily demands are so high it’s hard for her to focus and live in the moment with her husband and children. She is often late and rushing everyone and feeling guilty about being distracted but stuck in this rut of feeling overwhelmed and too busy.

3. The woman of the home is crabby. She is short on sleep, she hasn’t had a minute alone since the 1990′s and she really can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel to get a break. She is hopeless.

4. The woman of the home is discontent. She doesn’t like her home. She doesn’t like her husband. She doesn’t like one or all of her kids. She doesn’t like her church. She doesn’t like her neighbors. Truthfully, she doesn’t even like herself.

5. The woman of the home doesn’t pray. It’s counter cultural. She’s never lived in a home with a mom who prays. She doesn’t know other moms who pray. She wants to try praying but doesn’t know where to begin so she never begins.

Home #2

1. The woman of the home is engaged. She is aware of what everyone is doing right in that moment. If a child needs help or correction – she is right there to give it. If her husband needs a hug, an encouraging word or a helping hand she is right there to care. She is playful and makes time to tickle, dance, play checkers or Wii with her family. This is a woman whose family praises her (Prov. 31:28).

2. The woman of the home is wise with her time management. She guards her family from getting so busy that they lose their connection with each other. She dissects her calendar and eliminates things that are unnecessary. She is prepared when it is time to go somewhere to alleviate the stress that comes from late minute rushing. She and her family enjoy the slow paced life she has created in her home.

3. The woman of the home has a pleasant demeanor. She does not stay up late watching television, reading, surfing the web or working. She goes to sleep at a reasonable hour so she can wake cheerfully for her family. She knows that some seasons of life are harder than others so she is patient with her season of life and is confident that she will reap what she has sown. She works diligently trusting God with the results of her labor.

4. The woman of the home is content. She knows that no home, husband, child, church or neighborhood is perfect. So she chooses to be content with what God has given her for today.

5. The woman of the home prays. She knows that she is weak but God is strong and that she cannot fulfil the role of wife, mother, homemaker and sometimes employee, on her own strength. She is completely dependent on God and practices this dependence by daily praying for all of these things."

I want so badly to live in home #2, and in many ways I do, but I also struggle a lot with issues in home #1. I pray many times a day (yay for #5!) that God will give me the strength and wisdom to be the best mother and wife I can be. I love Nathan, but I'm so bad at showing it in the little day to day things. He talks, and I allow his words to go in one ear and out the other. He often gets a non-enthusiastic "Hi" from across the room when he gets home from work. I get frustrated with the clutter in my home, so I remove myself from everything going on around me. I know I'm so blessed, but I tend to often find something to complain about. That's not the wife or mother I want to be.

So this week, I'm challenging myself to disconnect from House #1 and fully, 100% be the woman in house #2.



How fitting that this is a "Celebrating Home" candle to celebrate our home and pray for peace in our home.





The Great Forest Park Balloon Race

We spent a recent weekend at a hot air balloon race. We used to go when I was younger, and I'm so glad we got to take Natalie. I'm hoping this will be an annual thing for us, because Natalie had so.much.fun. It really was a great, but totally exhausting, weekend.

There was a children's area sponsored by Purina. I definitely don't remember that being there when I was younger, but it seemed like all the kids (and parents, too) were having a great time. There were inflatable bounce houses and obstacle courses, pony rides, a petting zoo, and a Purina Incredible Dog Team show.

The "race" is not based on speed. The Energizer Bunny is the mascot, I guess you could say, for this race, and a big ol' "X" is placed in a chosen location, and each balloon has to find the "X" and drop a bag of rice. The person who drops the bag of rice closest to the center of the "X" is the winner. When I was younger, I remember there was an actually "Hot Hare Balloon" that would go up, but this year, we got this:

And some of the balloons who participated in the race:

And mi familia: