*Snow 2014*

What a year of SNOW!  I can honestly say it still does NOT compare to the Winter of 2010/2011 when I married Rance and moved to Robbinsville because that winter was a blizzard with 12+ inches of snow constantly; however, this winter has just been full of several light dustings to a few inches (6-8 being the most I believe) ever since the week after CHRISTmas.  They have missed SO MUCH school but boy have the students and my husband enjoyed their time in the outdoors!  Even though my job doesn't change whether it snows or not, it is a beautiful view from the HUGE window I sit next to when I work so I sure cannot complain about that!



- Our backyard -
Rance's favorite part b/c of the squirrels and
birds and animals that gather back here!





Remember the squirrel house Rance built last year?  Yep, I think the squirrels like it (can you see his little head poking out)?



WHITE, WHITE, WHITE

One morning, Rance ran outside to take pictures and he noticed our amazing neighbor, Jessie (we LOVE the Crisp family) scraping the driveways!  WHAT A BLESSING!  (side note:  have I ever mentioned I do NOT miss our first house and that beastly driveway?!?!)

He's so cute!

 

Such a gift to us!

I love receiving tons of pictures from Rance while I'm working and well, his videos are PRICELESS.  One day last week, him and all the kids built an IGLOO and I was fascinated by it.  This igloo was so big that everyone could crawl in it.  I wish I could post the video of it because I do not have a grand finale picture but you will just have to trust me.


Rance & Frank also went snowboarding one day!  I love living vicariously through my teacher husband. 

The next couple of pictures were actually video clips...

He amazes me on a snowboard! 

 

WHOA!

 

After all that, I am sure they did want to eat!

 



Makes me SHOUT Psalm 19...



 

Psalm 19:1-6 

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

 

 

 

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day can of course be viewed both negatively and positively depending on who you ask.  I am constantly reminded what this day is like from a single teenage girl's perspective since I am around this age A LOT.  It's interesting because LOVE does not exist outside of God since Scripture says "GOD IS LOVE."  Therefore, I love to remind teenage girls that above all else we can celebrate the LOVE that exists only because of FATHER whether we have an 'earthly' love or not (plus can a guy really 'love' you with agape love if he doesn't love God?!?!)

On Valentine's Day, 4 of the girls in my discipleship group came over to hang out and spend the night and just be together on "LOVE" day.  We were all pretty pumped about the evening but it even blew my expectations out of the water.  WE HAD A BALL.  First of all, these 4 girls are all SO very different so that brings a whole new dimension to an evening together. 

I have to admit - I asked the Lord (and even had a couple of friends and my husband pray for this too) to grant me the gift of being able to stay up until midnight simply so I could enjoy every moment possible with them.  I AM NOT A NIGHT OWL and that became even worse when I got pregnant so asking the Lord for a midnight bedtime was a stretch.  What is SO fun is that the Lord granted my request above and beyond.  Not only did I not get sleepy by midnight but it was after 1 am before I finally thought "I am getting sleepy!"  Hallelujah to the Lamb for a sweet gift to my heart. 

The evening consisted of a pizza date at Anthony's pizza in Bryson City, singing at the top of our lungs to praise & worship music on the car ride, Lindy daring everyone to run outside barefooted in the snow (yes she's the daredevil in the group but everyone did it), lots of talks, Kaitlyn leading us in more praise & worship on her guitar, watching an awesome movie (Grace Unplugged), playing 'would you rather' and 'make it or break it' and finally crashing right before 2am (but that was just me...they stayed up much later).  


Our night in pictures...

Kaitlyn, Anna, Lindy and I (before Autumn arrived)

DATE NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Oh pizza you have never looked so good!

So excited she was able to come home from
college to hang with us!

Coondog & Gina



Kaitlyn & Anna
(both seniors graduating this year)



GROUP SHOT!

HAHAHAHAHA!

Picture #1...

...and #2

AND #3!

Just for laughs - these are pictures I find on my phone later of Gina (real name Autumn)......................................

so can you guess her personality?!

 

 

What you think?!

Saturday morning, Rance made his 'special' pancakes for everyone with their choice of bananas, chocolate chip, or a mixture!  OF COURSE, we had some Nahunta Pork Center bacon to go along with it and eggs too.

I pray these girls will continue pursuing the Lord and wait for a Godly man who will love the Lord first & foremost, who will lead them, love them, understand them, and honor them, and who will encourage their walk with the Lord daily. 
 
To wrap it up, I am not really big into flowers and all that jazz  (unless you are picking up some from the grocery store or off the side of the mountain for free) so the way I feel most loved by my husband is through acts of service (in other words - DO THINGS for me), quality time, or he can always buy me a pair of tennis shoes, a tshirt, or some yoga pants! 

So YES - this was REAL HOT to me on Valentine's Day!

23 weeks & counting...

On Saturday after work, Rance and I headed to ASHEVILLE!  Oh man, it is a RARE occassion that we actually adventure somewhere to shop (that's SO not on our list of fun) but after looking at our schedule over the next month, we decided this Saturday was one of the only opportunities to begin preparing for baby boy's arrival by working on the whole baby registry thing.  YIKES.

I must say that we had a BLAST the first couple of hours.  We had high energy and it seemed surreal that we were looking for BABY stuff - as in a new addition to the family coming soon.  I am SUPER grateful for my friends who are already moms that have taken the time to literally give me the MUST-HAVE LIST, THE DO NOT NEED LIST, and the specifics that worked for them (thank you MARIE, JESS, AND PARTNA!). 

Towards the end of our shopping at Babies R Us I think we were both DONE but we headed to Target anyways.  When we finally sat down in the truck after Target our first response to each other was 'HOW DO PEOPLE SHOP ALL THE TIME AND ACTUALLY ENJOY IT?'  Oh my word. 

23 weeks baby!

 

BEST PART - QT!

 

It did not take long before Rance realized that every baby item is either a monkey or a giraffe or some type of animal that is NOT what he deems 'wildlife'!  He kept saying 'where are the BEARS and deer and REAL animals?  We don't live in a SAFARI, we live in North Carolina!"  When we finally came across an isle that had a few small rattles, Rance FLIPPED OUT because it was FARM animals - a pig, a cow, etc.  If you know where big grizzly bears exist - let us know though!

Hello Mr. Piggy!

You want to know the best ending to the day - EATING DINNER!!!!!!!!

Guess where we are?!?!?

 

YES YES YES, CRACKER BARREL

 

Somebody's excited!?!

Thankful for a Saturday afternoon/evening with my boo!

ETM Duck Dynasty

We may not have TV at the Shuler household BUT Rance will claim that Duck Dynasty is one of his favorite shows.  My parents gave Rance a few seasons of DD for CHRISTmas and Rance has thoroughly enjoyed watching episodes every now and then.  You see, I have come to terms with the fact that my husband really is WILD AT HEART.  In fact, there is a book he asked me to read before we got married so I would understand him better and it was actually called "WILD AT HEART."  It definitely describes him and his love for being outside in the wild and being a MAN!  I really love this about him.

Considering all that I just said, Rance jumps at the opportunity to hunt, fly fish, set traps, you name it, if time permits!  He'd really fit right in with the Duck Dynasty crew.  Andrew & Luke have been wanting to go squirrel hunting and Friday afternoon all the guys got together for a little afternoon hunting in the OUTBACK (the woods behind our house).  I LOVED to see Andrew & Luke all decked out in their camo with their guns ready to take on the wild for the first time!!! 



Andrew & Luke preparing for the hunt!



Andrew practicing!

They look like they are ready to shoot something don't they?!

The hunting crew ready to go!



Get your game face on!




AIM & FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, they did not see a single squirrel (even though I watched one behind our house the entire time they were hunting) but I think they still had a blast on their first hunting trip.