Why The Smoky Mountains Are So GREAT...

  Anyone who knows our family knows that one of our favorite places to be is hiking in the Smoky Mountains.  While we were in Tennessee for Tim's graduation, the Lord blessed us with a few glorious days up in those mountains.

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place spend time with your family away from it all...

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to have an adventure:

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to hunt for...

ELK

BEARS

SNAKES  (Ick.)

DEER

BUTTERFLIES

WATERFALLS

The Smoky Mountains are  A GREAT place to spend your 10th birthday...

John's birthday dinner at the Apple Barn:  chicken pot pie, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes with gravy.  Along with apple fritters and chocolate cake.

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to impress your wife & kids with your manly strength...

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to eat like a kid.  (Pancakes shaped like bears & lollipops that match your outfit):

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to try-out a hot tub for the 1st time ever...

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to whittle your first walking stick:

The Smoky Mountains are A GREAT place to have family worship when you're away from your home church: 

(primitive chapel by the creek in Cades Cove)

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works.  He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.  I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.  

-Psalm 104:31-33 HCSB

-Kara

Pretty In Pink

I couldn't believe those three words heard on August 10, 2007 in the delivery room of Christ Hospital in Cincinnati:  "It's a girl!"  I had been so certain we were having a third boy.  My pregnancy had been exactly the same as the first two had been.  But now I know this much: when God gave us a little girl, He REALLY gave us a girl.  Anna loves to play with dollbabies, twirl and dance, and she is obsessed with the color pink.  So we celebrated Anna's 7th birthday with a pink strawberry cake with pink icing and a pink unicorn (her request), pink ice cream, and pink Kool-Aid.

Happy Birthday Big Girl!
Mommy and Daddy love you very much...

Lookout Mountain

Right down the street from Rock City is a place worth stopping by if you are a Civil War buff like we are.  Infact, Lookout Mountain proves to be a fascinating place to have an historic battlefield.  The Union and Confederate soldiers who fought that battle had to climb to the top of a mountain and "look-out" over what is modern-day Chattanooga...

If you ever visit the Lookout Mountain battlefield, don't miss the coolest part.  It's actually found inside a room at the visitor's center: a HUGE, wall-sized, original oil painting that was painted in the 1870's.  The painting is so valuable that there is an alarm that is triggered if you get too close to it.  (Tim learned that the hard way!)  The painting - which looks a bit blurry in my snapshots because flash was not allowed -  was commissioned by a Union General.  You might notice him.  He's the one in the middle of the portrait who looks like he's standing in light coming from Heaven, riding a white horse.  (Human pride never ceases to amaze.)  Because the piece was painted immediately after the war, its historical accuracy is fantastic.

See Rock City

If you've ever driven through the South, chances are you've seen a barn or billboard that advertises See Rock City.  Taking the recommendation of my older brother who enjoyed visiting there, we decided to do just that while we were in Chattanooga:  we saw Rock City.

According to common belief, at the top of the mountain you can see seven different states from one spot:  Tennessee, Kentucky, Viginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.  I'm a bit of a skeptic that my aging eyes could actually see all those states.  Take a gander for yourself:

And here's my family standing infront of "Lover's Leap."  Any high-elevation attraction has its own "Lover's Leap," complete with a legend about an Indian princess who jumped to her death from it, and Rock City is no exception.  My favorite "Lover's Leap," however, is the one at Hawk's Nest in West Virginia.

 Rock City is a hoot for those who are afraid of heights:

The coolest part for me was the swing bridge.  Yes.  It really swings.  Especially when your boys jump up and down and say, "Look, Mom!  We're making the bridge shake!"  My apologies to those who had to share the bridge that day with the Barnette family...

 Below, my honey and our kiddos are standing under a 1,000 ton rock (notice that I said 1,000 ton:  not 1,000 pound) that is being supported only by...

 ...a teeny little wedge that is about 18 inches long.  Creepy.

But if your fear of heights doesn't get you at Rock City, your claustrophobia will.  At times on the walk, you come to these unbelievably tight spaces between the rock that you have to shimmy through.  The boys' favorite was named "Fat Man's Squeeze."  One needs not be a "fat man," however, to have to squeeze.  Even a skinny man like Tim had to turn sideways and take a deep breath at times to make it through.  I was much in prayer during my squeeze through those cracks, "Lord, please no earthquake right now..."

Below are shots of the entrance to "Fat Man's Squeeze from other angles.  Daunting stuff!

But a little less jarring to one's phobias was Anna's favorite part of Rock City known as Fairyland Caverns.  In this section, scenes from just about every nursery rhyme you've ever heard have been set-up in little rooms and colored with fluorescent paint.  Just perfect for a six-year-old girl.

Thanks for the recommendation, Doak!  Fun was had by all...

Congratulations To My Graduate!

This past week, our family was blessed to be able to attend Tim's graduation in Chattaooga.  Tim graduated from Covington Seminary with a Doctor of Ministry in Theology.  Going to this ceremony was special for us because when Tim graduated with a D. Min. from Liberty University back in 2007, our family was unable to attend the graduation.

I had always dreamt of seeing Tim get "hooded" and walking across the stage...

When Tim graduated with a Masters of Arts in Religion from Liberty in 2003, Christopher was just a baby and we took a picture of him wearing his dad's graduation cap.  So just for fun, we replicated the picture at this graduation.  Ha!

Below, Seminary President Sullivan addresses the graduates:

Tim and I were both moved by the number of students who were graduating with seminary degrees from Covington's extension campuses in Indonesia, Romania, and other countries.  One man from Myanmar actually had to have his daughter walk his homework papers and assignments across the border to another country and mail them to and from the seminary, because Christian mail is illegal in Myanmar. 

We had to keep this paper dry and unwrinkled until we could make it home to North Carolina and get it framed.  Hobby Lobby here we come!

On a personal note...

I want to tell you, Tim, how incredibly proud I am for the large amount of study you do.  Whether you're crafting a dissertation, writing a Sunday sermon, or preparing a VBS lesson, I can attest that you always find tremendous joy in learning God's Word better so you can share it with and change the lives of others...including the lives of me and the kids. 

Graduate of the Year.

Preacher of the Year.

Dad of the Year.

Luckiest Wife Ever,

--Kara

Happy 10th Birthday John!

It's hard to believe our John is turning 10 year old!

 

John's comment that he already wished on the hummus was refering to a trick I had played on him a few minutes earlier.  John LOVES hummus, so I jokingly brought-out a cake made of humus with a candle in it.  :D

As a note about the birthday cake, let me add that you'll pull your hair out trying to find a cake pan that forms a round shape in a store.  So I improvised wtih a glass Pyrex bowl and a Pyrex cake pan that I already own.  I used one box cake mix, and poured half the batter into one pan and half into the other. I baked the cakes, inverted them onto the cake stand...and wah-la!  A half basketball.  You could use the same round cake to make any type of ball, the Earth...whatever.  Also, I've used many different brands of food colorings to dye icings, but the BEST I've ever used is Ameri-Color, found at Hobby Lobby.  I used them for this cake as well as Christopher's guitar cake back in May, and the best thing about these colorings is that they don't alter the taste of the icing.

About Baptizing Children

Here's Tim's article that was published on SBC Today:

http://sbctoday.com/about-baptizing-children-dr-tim-barnette/