Our Journey, His Work: January 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Shuler/Pierce Mountain BONDING

What a great weekend!!!

This past weekend we had some very special visitors! Mandy & Brandon (remember my friend who later met and married into my family!) headed WEST on Friday morning and did NOT allow the sleet, freezing rain and icy roads stop them from venturing across the state to Robbinsville! Praise God! This was a long awaited visit. Sometimes it's hard for others to picture life in Robbinsville for Rance and I (and rightfully so) until they tangibly see it with their own eyes and experience it even if it is just for a weekend.

Mandy & Brandon have only been married just a few months so it was super fun to see them interact as husband & wife. Rance and I love, love, love to see couples that adore each other and serve one another and just enjoy being married. Marriage has such a negative connotation in the world and it breaks my heart. It does NOT have to be that way. God designed it to be a beautiful picture of Christ love for His bride, the church!

Hanging out Friday night

*Cousins*

When I asked Mandy & Brandon what they wanted to do while they were here - they responded that they both wanted to HIKE. Due to the road closings (see previous post) - our hiking options were narrowed down. I prayed much over the hike and where we should go and what seemed the most realistic. It was not until Friday night the Holy Spirit completely changed the route of our hike and I AM SO THANKFUL He did. Rance and I pulled out the map in bed to discover a new route we should take that was clearly the way to go. Thank you Jesus.

We ventured out after breakfast Saturday morning, parking the truck at Stecoah Gap with the intentions of hiking to Cheoah Bald and back. This hike consisted of a little over 5 miles in (3 miles on a forest service road and a little over 2 miles on the Appalachian trail) and of course 5 miles back out! Did we make it or not?! Keep reading to find out :)

Mandy & Brandon as we loaded up the truck!

Pookie and I are ready to go! SO PUMPED about another Saturday hiking!

*STECOAH GAP*
About to begin our hike to Cheoah!!!

LOVE that we finally bonded in the MOUNTAINS!!!
Many more gorgeous mtn views to come!

The beginning of a BEAUTIFUL day...

Geared up and ready to roll......

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!

As we began to hike, we quickly realized that we would be dealing with some ice and slippery spots throughout this hike. NONE of us wanted to turn back - so we continued on - thanking Jesus several times for our hiking sticks!

After hiking 1 1/2 miles - we got a beautiful view of Stecoah where our house is!

Just a little background on Mandy - she grew up in SUNNY Florida and did not move to North Carolina until she went to graduate school at NC State! She has NEVER liked cold weather but I promised her if she came, I had plenty of clothes to keep her warm. She never once complained about being cold so I was super proud of her! She transitioned to the mountains very well. She did say that the mountain trails were VERY different than she imagined. I remember my first time hiking I felt the same way.

We had many laughs on the way up as we joked that we were heading to CHERRY BALL (aka Cheoah Bald)!

A little over 5 miles later...

We made it to the HUGE field on top of the mountain at CHEOAH BALD. It was absolutely breathtaking and worth every bit of the hike up. We enjoyed PB&J's, turkey sandwiches, trail mix, and LOTS of water when we arrived.

CHEOAH BALD - we were SO HAPPY to see you!!!

These pictures do not even do it justice...

Mountains upon mountains!

We were starving to say the least!

We enjoyed every minute being up HIGH on that mountaintop!

Breathtaking views & a good time bonding!

Do we look like professionals???

Rance is knocking me out in this picture!
Just kidding :) That is what it looks like though!

And in this one he is pushing me down :)

Beautiful view, beautiful couple

Praising DADDY and all that HE spoke into existence.

LOVE time with him.

Bad to the bone.

View from the other side of Cheoah Bald.
It was UNBELIEVABLE to see how far we hiked.

This picture makes my heart flutter because we were literally standing on the EDGE of the mountain

Hiking back down...

Hahaha! Brandon doing his model pose!

Where is Rance?!
Peek-a-boo
I see you!

This section of the hike looked like the African jungle! It was beautiful!

Mandy is smiling and Brandon is saying "are we done yet?" JK! I caught him off guard!

Swinging from a tree? Yep, that's my husband. Whether he is by himself or just with me or with a hundred people - he does these types of things. It's just who he is. He is crazy & ALL BOY & adventurous.

The extremely ICY part of the hike. Taking each step VERY carefully...

Lord help us (I prayed that a lot)
Rance was very patient with us flat-landers.

Almost back to Stecoah Gap.........

We made it!
It's crazy to think that the trail we were on goes from Georgia to Maine!

What a blessing of a day!

Very proud of my little Floridian friend ;)

The men!

Sunday after church!

Our last family photo before they departed....

I love my pookie boo bear!

Come back to see us pretty please....!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Hiking Adventures

Rance and I both love the outdoors. A LOT. We do NOT take for granted the endless outdoor activities & adventures in Robbinsville & the surrounding areas. I can remember a few years ago how much I disliked cold weather and even though I still do NOT like to be cold - I have learned that if you have the proper gear (socks, shoes, thermals, etc) the cold is not so bad. Plus, Lindy would tell me it's all mental :)

Saturday before last, Rance and I decided to get suited up and head out to hike to the Hangover for the very first time (in Robbinsville). We have both heard about the amazing views and could not wait to get there. We had all intentions of hiking on a certain trail only to find out the road was closed to get there (thanks to all that rain and rock slides). After driving around and finding the other trail that led to the Hangover was closed also - we pulled out the map to see if we had any other options. We found one starting near Joyce Kilmer and decided to try it. Rance had never hiked this specific trail before. Hiking into the unknown? Yep! Up for the adventure? Absolutely!

What a day of growing our marriage! I love that. First of all, I was really sick with a cold so I realize it was NOT the smartest thing to do to hike when I could barely breath, had a fever, was full of snot, and the list goes on. BUT, I wanted to. I will never forget the spiritual applications throughout this hike. As we began to climb - my body broke into a complete sweat (fever broke maybe?) and I thought several times "I must be crazy why am I doing this sick?" Rance was so patient with my endless stops to blow my nose and shed more layers of clothing! We climbed up and up mile after mile both wondering how much further we had to go (or maybe that was just me?). We knew it was going to be about 4-5 miles based on the map. The only thing is - the map did NOT specifically mark the Hangover on it. I was reminded constantly how we WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT. That is what it felt like as we were walking this trail - we are walking by faith knowing that eventually we will reach the end goal but we cannot see it, it seems so far, almost impossible. I thought about Jesus carrying the cross. I thought about the pain He went through but that He did it with JOY in complete submission to His Father. It is amazing the sweet worship I was able to have climbing up that mountain. It was no easy task and no easy trail to hike. I was constantly reminded that HE IS MY STRENGTH. After climbing 5 miles straight up, we reached the top but we still had not reached the Hangover!

Do you want to hear the sad news??? We never made it. Nope. Did.not.make.it. Since we spent most of the morning trying to find a trail to hike - we did not get started until almost NOON. It was 3:30ish when we realized we may not be able to keep going because we had no idea how much further it was going to be. The map was not very clear on the mileage once you reached the top. We knew it was going to be dark by 6 so we decided to turn around. OH IT HURT MY HEART but at the same time, I rejoiced because I would not trade that hike for anything. Rance and I were able to work together as a team and grow together in our marriage and we laughed a lot.