Fun in Tennessee, part 1...

By the time we made it to Tennessee (Tuesday night, Jan 29th), we were ready for a familiar place. The beauty and warmth of Florida and the Keys were so refreshing and relaxing that it was difficult to say goodbye. But being welcomed "home" by my parents was also comforting, especially after moving out of our sweet gray house.
Originally, we had decided to stay until Saturday, but after we were there for awhile, I decided that we would stay until Monday and that Nathan would take the Megabus home on Saturday morning, to get back into work and leading worship on Sunday.
We enjoyed time with family, playing with the dogs outside and even snow. On Friday, we were surprised by a visit from the Robbins family (!!!) AND Aunt Abby's engagement to Wesley, her boyfriend of six months. It was also Nathan's 35th birthday, so we decided to celebrate his and the other February birthdays by having a big party AND...a bonfire of course!
We opened presents, had cupcakes and danced to the birthday song, all before heading down to the front pasture for bonfire fun. Uncle Jesse didn't disappoint and this time, had secured six dried out Christmas trees to be added to the fire. He added one at a time and by the fourth tree, was able to get it to stand straight up, sending flames high into the air. Needless to say that out in the country, we had a blast!!
Celebrating Nathan, Flannery, Abby and Levi was a fun night with family and friends and we were very happy to be there to celebrate.
On Saturday morning, we played in the snow AGAIN!!! and then said goodbye as Nathan left to return home. We were distracted though by all of the fun with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.