The Park, Asheville, NC

There's a very special park in Asheville, NC. I don't know the name of it. It is kinda run down actually. It looks old and has some of that really cool play equipment from my childhood - you know the kind actually made out of metal with rusty sharp edges that would never pass today's 'bubble children' standards. The first time Michael Paul took me to Asheville, we had just been married a few months. We were wandering around town getting lost when we stumbled upon the Park. We sat on the swings and watched the only other people there (a father and his daughter) play on the slides. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Michael Paul turns to me and says, "you know the thought of having children doesn't terrify me so much if we could have them in Asheville." His words shocked me because at this point in our marriage, Michael Paul was not open to even talking about babies and I was already wanting one. So as the years passed and we embarked on a long infertility journey, whenever I doubted Michael Paul's support, I took comfort in the fact that there was a place in the world that actually made him want children. It was on these same swings that he talked about how much this place always felt like home to him. It was my first trip there but I knew exactly what he meant.

Asheville is the town we almost always vacation to. We've been going there every chance we get for 5 years. Somehow we always knew that we were supposed to be there. It is the only place that ever felt like home to us. No matter what is going on in our lives, if we can just get on the road, wind through the Ocoee and Nantahala rivers, up over the mountains and into Asheville, we will suddenly feel everything is going to be alright. In some strange way, all the roads of our lives have seemed to point in that direction. From the fact that Michael Paul's best friend in middle and high school was from there, to the fact that I grew up canoeing in the Ozarks and knew I just had to live in the mountains close to rivers some day, it was just a matter of time before we would finally get there.

So back to that Park... Over the next five years, after that initial day in the Park, we took many many trips to Asheville and would often drive around looking for that Park. We never could find it. We would come over some hill and something would look familiar and one of us would swear it was around the corner, but it never was. I was beginning to think maybe we had just stumbled upon some porthole into Narnia or something and the Park didn't exist. Finally, after 4 years, it suddenly occurred to Michael Paul how to get there. We went back and sat on the same swings and this time we prayed for a child.

Two weeks ago, we returned to the Park for the third time. This time we were in Asheville for a job interview. And this time, we knew that we would be moving there soon. This time we finally had a little child to take to the Park. Back to the swings we went. It was one of those 'full circle' moments. Where you look back on your life and stand in awe.

So we will be 'going home' soon. Michael Paul starts his new job next week and as soon as our house sells, we will all be there. It feels good. We feel incredibly blessed that we know where we belong and God has opened so many doors to get us there.

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th with our small group from church. A cookout, fireworks, lots of fun! These families have become so precious to us. We call ourselves the ASGSG (anti-small-group small group). We're the misfits who didn't fit in with any other group. We will miss them so much when we move!

The Pyros having all kinds of fun

The kids in our group

Daddy teaches Keziah how to shoot bottle rockets out of her hand

(no not really)

First Sparkler

Keziah LOVED the fireworks. She stared at the sky in amazement in wonder. The noise didn't bother her at all. My favorite part of the evening was watching her enjoy it. Michael Paul observed, "the 4th of July is so much more fun with a kid." I agree. One of the best things about parenthood is you get to repeat your whole childhood again.

Yes, You Will Use Trigonometry in Real Life

My students are always asking, "When are we going to use this in real life?" Because I have heard this question 10,000 times, I take special delight when I actually do need my math to solve some problem. So I was especially delighted when my wonderful, intelligent, extremely handy husband came downstairs just now, let out a big sigh, and slapped this paper and my calculator down in front of me.

He says, "I can't, for the life of me remember how to solve for these angles. I know I use SOHCAHTOA, but I don't remember how to set it up!"

How fun! So I got to solve a trig problem this afternoon to help Michael Paul cut the railing he is building upstairs.

Yeah so in case you haven't heard, we are fixing some things on our house because we will be putting it on the market soon because we will be moving to North Carolina! We can't wait to live in the mountains! More on that in a later post ... stay tuned.