Carolina Living

 ***New Site***

This site will remain online (for now at least) but updates will be made to the blogspot site instead from now on.  Save the link below...

 http://mindync.blogspot.com/ 

April 30- This webpage will expire in a few weeks and I don't think I will renew it...there are too many free ones out there.  So, if anyone has a suggestion on where to move that I can still blog and post tons of pictures for FREE-- send me an email.

In other news....Horners and Hummels went to the beach yesterday.  It was a very spontaneous trip- we love that we can have spontaneous beach trips!  We drove down to Charleston to visit Trademark Properties and then to Folly Beach.  It was a great great day!!!  Pictures are on here, be sure to check out the one of Brad and David in front of Trademark- you can see the sparkle and planning in their eyes as they stand there.  :) 

April 1- We are still kicking.  Apparently the month of March was a little busy...I didn't post one time!  We have a lot going on right now.  Brad's work and hobby adventures are taking about 26 hours per day.  He's having a good time though.  We have alot happening on the church front as well.  Elevation www.elevationchurch.org  is getting ready to launch 3 services at the providence location and another service at our NEW Union campus!  This Saturday will be the 2nd annual Egg Drop where 50,000 eggs are dropped (via helpicopter!) onto Porter Ridge High Schools football field.  We are pshyched to be a part of it.  Look for pictures soon!

School feels like it's winding down...although we haven't had spring break yet!  But man the weather is awesome and we are LOVING eating and playing outside these days. 

Looking back at the pictures from the year it appears we have gotten lazy and not traveled the Carolinas as much this year but Erin has informed me that "we need to do road trips!" So....I'm on the lookout for some great day trips for our families to take.

Basically, I say all that to say this....more and better posts should be coming soon.....*should* being the key word!   

Feb. 25- Our one year anniversary of Carolina Living has already come and gone.  We are now officially in "year 2."  In some ways it seems like we just got here but then again, I can tell it's been a year because we now have our usual comforts.  Usual place to grocery shop, usual place to eat dinner, usual people to have dinner with! etc. etc.  Those feelings of comfort are nice.  We are fully connected here.  Spring is around the corner which is also very very nice.  The only thing prettier than a Carolina fall is a Carolina Spring! 

We've opened our home on Wednesday evenings as we co-lead a small group with our buds David and Erin.  We have 16 adults and 14 kids here each week!!!  Joining a small group is how we first plugged in at Elevation and also how we got to know David and Erin who've turned out to be such an answered prayer.  We are big believers in small groups now and the relationships that can be formed through them.  It's worth all the work and preparation and clean up.  It's a great investment with an even greater reward.  So...go join a small group in your church!  You'll be glad you did!!! :)  

Jan. 30- Big changes at our house--our new addition of a baby Yorkie has made his debut.  His name is Spicy Champ...yes there is a story behind that name...and he is 4lb 1 oz and 9 weeks old.  Maci ADORES him to the point of offering to help anyway she can--including cleaning up potty accidents!  It's amazing.  He is doing pretty well with pottying actually.  We got him from a wonderful breeder outside of Albermarle.  Our vet was very impressed with her record keeping, care of him (including vet care that breeders do not normally do), and also credits a good portion of Spicy's wonderful temperment to how she played with and loved on him in his first few weeks.  Be sure to check out the PICTURES!!! (see link above) 

Jan. 18- Happy Snow Day!  Snow day minus the snow that is!  It shouldn't surprise me but somehow it did.  We had some sleet early this morning that melted quickly when it hit the ground but still...school is out.  I was hoping for the 2 hour delay I have heard so much about.  Those don't have to be made up.  Regardless, we'll take it.  We went to WalMart to get some goodies for dinner and by the church office to pick up demo cd for the live album. 

We were invited to be in the "worship pit" for the taping of the worship album our church is doing next month.  The worship pit is the group of people they sit up front to be loud, crazy, and wildly excited to set the tone for the rest of the crowd.  Yes, we all know that it's really Brad they want there and I'm just getting to be the tagalong.  :)  But I will take it!!! This is going to be AWESOME!  We've had a couple worship nights and they are unbelievable- this one will be no doubt kicked up a notch or two or ten!  I'll keep you posted and let you know how you can get the cd when it's out.  We tried so many churches here and got very close to settling on more than one occassion.  I am so thankful that we didn't.  I'm so thankful that Pastor George and COTM set the bar  high.  Because of our time there we just could not imagine being a part of a church that was anything less than ON FIRE for Christ.  Not to take anything away from Pastor Furtick and the Elevation staff, but with growth like Elevation is experiencing, it is clear this success comes from God.  It's also clear that Pastor Furtick and the staff SEEK God and FOLLOW Him.  Their obedience leads to this explosion and we are honored and thrilled to be a part of it!  No doubt GOD brought us to Charlotte to be a part of Elevation.  Sure, Brad's job was the vehicle and we believe is also a part of the plan but Hilti isn't the only reason we are here.   

Jan.1- Happy New Year!  I've spent a little time this morning to work on the site.  The photo galleries have been labeled to make it easier to navigate and each page has a different theme going now.  I like it...hope you do too!  The links below may not work anymore...I'll get them switched but it may take a little time.  Be patient with me. The ones in the menu above do work. Check it out...be sure to leave a message on the NEW message board I added too! :)

Dec. 2-  I finally got the Thanksgiving pictures uploaded.  They are in gallery 8.  We had a fantastic time at Sunset Beach.  This is our favorite of the Carolina beaches we have been to so far (and we've been to SIX!) We plan to go back here this summer and rent the house for a week or so.  It is very family friendly, pretty, clean, uncrowded, and relaxing!  We enjoyed spending time with family too...family that we don't get to see very often.  We miss you Gram and GrandBob.  :(  Today I will finish putting up the Christmas decorations and see if the WalMart man knew what he was talking about when he was telling me how to hang these wreaths on the windows.  That is SO popular around here.  Looks very classic- which I love.  Happy Holidays to everyone.   

Nov.18- Did anybody watch Monday Night Football last week?  We were there!  It was fun...kinda crazy...but fun.  There are some pictures in Galllery page 7.  Since I keep up with you guys through email and phone calls, I'm not going to post a big thing here this month...you know what's been going on.  :)  Happy Thanksgiving.   

Nov. 3- Finally...Here are some more pics.  Check out Gallery 7 for some fall pics.  I'll update later.  Things are good...life is BUSY!  :)   

Oct. 3-  I can't believe it has almost been a month since I updated!  We've been busy around here.  I often think "oh I need to write about this on the website" but there never seems to be enough time in the day.  So today I will try to remember as many of those things as I can...

I LOVE to go to the hair salon here.  The best part is sitting while my hair is processing or getting it washed.  The girls there are almost all Carolina natives and the accent is THICK.  It's impossible to not smile as you hear them talk about their lives in their cute little voices using phrases like, "Momma and Daddy," "fixin' to," and "hush your mouth."  I've said "fixing to" as far back as I can remember...I guess that's just another reason why it seems we were just meant to live in the south. 

I know I talk about the weather often but man it is awesome right now.  The highs have been upper 70s and low 80s.  The evenings are just absolutely perfect day after day after day.  Fall is fantastic...and the trees haven't even started changing yet.  We are told that is truly a sight to see.

If you aren't a good teacher in Union County, you won't be a good teacher anywhere.  I really believe my teaching has DRAMATICALLY improved since being here.  Union County believes in buying curriculum and training teachers to use it.  The workshops are divided up by grade so everything is very appropriate.  My Math workshop last week was great.  We were given supplies for all the games and props we need for the next 2 units and then given time to make them--right there at the workshop.  Love it.  They have a good thing going on here.

We weren't sure we would find a church we loved as much at Church on the Move...well we have.  Elevation is not just like COTM but we love it just as much and we are involved here and amazed to be a part of something like this.  Brad and I both have always felt this move was about more than just Hilti or getting in the south.  We felt there was a bigger purpose.  It's clear now that purpose is directly tied to this church.  It's been a wild ride so far and it's only just begun.  We can't wait to see what happens next.

Coming up on 8 months since we got here and 12 months since Grandmama passed away, there sure have been alot of changes.  It literally seems like last week we were making the trips to St.Francis...spending so much time with extended family...this time of year really magnifies how we do miss that.  I don't know when we will get back to Oklahoma but I'm anxious to see everyone and take some daisys to Grandmama.  Although I know the daisies she is running in are way prettier than the ones here.  Remember, all it takes is a phone call and we'll have that aero bed ready and waiting!  Come see us!    

Sept. 9- School is well under way and going great!  Sure, I am tired and have an extra sense of "begining of the year overwhelmness" but each day gets a little easier.  I have an awesome kindergarten team of teachers and the way we work together and brainstorm for our planning is great.  Brad had a very profitable sales week.  He is working hard and starting to see the rewards for his efforts.  It's hard to build a territory but anyone that knows Brad knows he won't just meet expectations, he will blow them out of the water!!! Aaron signed up for Cub Scouts this week.  Apparently this pack is very active and they have MANY MANY big outings planned for the year.  The first one is a 3 day camping trip later in the month...yes, Brad will go with him.  :)  Maci is rolling along in 3rd grade and loves her "young and hip" teacher.  Andy hasn't swallowed any foreign objects (that I know of) and seems to be doing quite well too. We are busy this weekend with a health fair at the community center, meeting some church people this afternoon, and working in our areas at church tomorrow.  Right now Brad and I have opposite weeks which means we end up staying for both services every week...one that we go to and one where we work.  Hopefully in October they will have us on the same schedule so we only go to 1 service at least every other week.  Awesome things are happening at Elevation though and we are so excited to be a part of it.  We had 700+ our first week in the new auditorium.  That's up 200 from the week before.  It is just unbelievable the rate this church is multiplying.  I like it when God makes it SO obvious that it is Him making things happen and not us!

Aug.26- It's a sad day.  My parents just left this morning.  I miss them already.  We had alot of fun and laughs. They were here for 2 weeks and helped so much around the house as we were getting ready for the 1st day of school (yesterday).  My dad painted the fence too!  It looks great!!! We also "modified" the deck a little by taking off some of the railing.  We have big plans for that deck and it will probably be a work in progress for quite awhile.  My mom kept up with the laundry and cooking and helped so much with the kids.  We've really been spoiled the last couple weeks.  Having all those things done left time for resting and relaxing at night! The reality of all the normal business will hit this week.  I added a new gallery with pictures of the fence, open house, and the kids panning for gold at Reed Gold Mine.   

Aug. 16- School has started- for me at least.  This week I have been attending district meetings.  They have every teacher new to Union County come to a weeks worth of workshops where we learn about the curriculum and do lots of make and take things that we will use in our classrooms.  Honestly, its been very impressive!  I can't believe all the support and information you get here.  They don't only HAVE curriculum for kindergarten but they go over it with you and help you do your first month of planning!  Yesterday was math, today was reading, and tomorrow is for writing.  Now this isn't handwriting it is actual creative writing.  They gave us book bags, umbrellas, idea books, and binders with info on everything. New teachers get even more training.  They hold workshops throughout the school year for all beginning teachers- for 3 full years!  You have to remember this is a district of 35000 students (and growing quickly!) so there are ALOT of new teachers each year and they are well cared for.

Another positive, we have found a church home.  It's the church that does the movies in our neighborhood.   We are really excited about it.  We have signed up in some volunteer positions and joined a small group.  It's been a good week!!! :)

Aug. 8- My new project has been these video montages.  Here is one I did for Brad- we recently had our "first date anniversary."  All this creativity will be on the backburner very soon when school gears back up.  Click here for the video.

Aug. 4- I haven't updated in awhile.  We are getting geard back up for school.  I have my room *almost* ready.  It is looking and feeling like my space now.  When you spend 8 hours a day- 5 days a week somewhere you have to make it yours.  That has taken a little time because I have so many new things here and it just looks different.  But once I got my calendar set up, hung some pictures, and purchased some of my favorite wall things (like the color bears I love!) it took shape quite nicely!  I have a great display corner for pictures from years past and that awesome quilt last years group made for me.  I'll take some pictures soon.

Andy swallowed a penney yesterday.  He tries to do something exciting for us at least once a week!  It's been in the mid 90s for a few days so the pool has gotten really warm.  Today is a "cool down."  That's when everyone meets up there at a certain time with a bag of ice and we all dump our ice into the pool!  Sounds fun!!! 

July 21-  Matt and Jana have been here all week.  We have had so much fun.  We went on a stadium tour visiting Panther Stadium, Bobcat Arena, Duke, and UNC.  We also went to Myrtle Beach and Broadway at the Beach.  Oh yeah, who can forget our trip to Lowes Motor Speedway to watch the Summer Shootout races.  That was way cooler than we were expecting!  We have a few pics on Gallery Page 5....look for more to be added to a new page later.  What a fun week!!!!!  

July 14-  We have had our first trip to the ER here in NC!  Andy burned his hand on the iron last weekend.  It's a 2nd degree burn that we treated with some rx creme and bandages.  The worst part for him was it was his left hand so he couldn't suck his thumb for a few days.  Here is a picture of him with his big "boxing glove" bandage.  We were really pleased with the hospital here.  They were great with him.  We had some friends meet us at the ER to bring Maci and Aaron back here.  I gotta say, that is such a wonderful feeling to know we already have friends here that we can call and say "we need you!" and they are right there.  :)  Thanks again Michelle. (and Shawn!) 

I started moving in to my classroom this week too.  I am very impressed with all the furniture and things in it!  It's way more than I expected!!!  I am so excited about teaching here.  I'll post some pics when I get the room all set up.  That's it for now.  Matt and Jana fly in on Sunday so check back later for new pics from their visit. 

July 1- What a fun weekend so far!  Friday night we went to "movies in the park" which is presented by a local church here.  They brought in a big screen, free popcorn, snocones, and pop and showed the movie Madagascar right on the lawn here in Lake Park!  It was really cool.  The weather was a perfect 72 degrees and lots of neighbors turned out for the event.  They will show 1 movie a month here through September!  What an awesome idea!!! 

Today, we went to Mt. Airy which is where Andy Griffith grew up.  The fictional town of Mayberry is based on Mt. Airy.  We got to see Floyds barber shop, the Snappy lunch, Andy's childhood home, and replicas of the jail and courthouse used in the Andy Griffith show.  Check out Gallery Page 5 for pictures-  We also drove on the BlueRidge Parkway to Virginia.  We stopped at a park there for a nature walk and some pictures.  Tomorrow is Maci's birthday so we'll be adding pics from that soon.  Can you believe she is going to be 9?!  That's 1/2 way to 18!!!

June 22- Today is Aaron's birthday.  He is 7 years old!!!  We celebrated with a trip to Carowinds with his buddy Nicholas.  Nicholas is spending the night with us tonight too.  After Carowinds we went to the pool for awhile and headed back to the house for Aaron's choice dinner- hot dogs!  This is really birthday season around here with Brad's bday being June 8, and Maci's just down the road on July 2nd.  We are getting a lot of use out of the new blow up cake I found at Party City.  It's hard to believe how the time is flying by here.  The weather is so great- hot during the day so the pool feels good yet just about perfect as the sun goes down in the evening.  We are still eating almost all our dinners outside on the deck and awaiting the fence guys to come get that picket fence around the back yard.  That will be WONDERFUL to keep Andy in!  That's it for now...the next plans are to go pan for gold and then visit Andy Griffiths home town.  We are such tourists! ;)  Be sure to check Gallery 4 for new pics of my 7 year old birthday boy!

June 9-  Yesterday was the kids last day of school.  It was really cool, all the teachers lined up and waved bye to the kids as we drove through the car rider line.  They had a big sign made and were really hamming it up.  They have a lot of fun!!!  There are some pictures in Gallery 4 Yesterday was Brad's BIG 31!  He just got in from a few days in Asheville so we will celebrate tonight.  We got his favorite steaks to grill and New York style cheesecake.  :)

June 3-  We went to Waxhaw today.  Waxhaw is a little bitty town about 20 minutes from here.  Their main street has antique stores and a couple cute restauants.  They also have a furniture store there that is amazing!  It looks like crap with a capital c from the outside but once you stop laughing and go in...they have DIRT CHEAP prices on name brand furniture like Broyhill and Bassett.  It is HUGE too.  We will proably be visiting there often...no pesky sales people either. :)  Today was also our 11th wedding anniversary.  We celebrated wtih BBQ sandwiches from our favorite Carolina BBQ joint.  Pictures from todays adventures are in Gallery 3.

May 21-  Yesterday we went to Durham, NC.  Brad's cousin and her family live there.  Brad hadn't seen Debra in about 15 years but Grandma and Grandpa Norman got numbers and got us back in contact so we went to visit!  We had a great great time.  Their girls and our gang got along so well.  We went to Duke University and explored the Gardens there and the outside of the Chapel.  We didn't get to go in because they were having weddings there- one right after another in that beautiful church.  We ended the day with burgers at a cool 50s diner in Durham called "Cheeburger Cheeburger."  Check out the pictures of of our day at Duke here. 

May 15-  This weekend we stuck around Charlotte.  We went to a neat little- and I mean LITTLE BBQ restaurant in Matthews and then spent the afternoon in Uptown.  Uptown is what they call their "downtown."  It is really pretty though.  There is quite a bit of modern art, statues, fountains, TONS of restaurants, carriage rides, museums, Panther Stadium, Bobcat Arena, and of course office buildings.  We parked and walked around.  We also took the kids to Discovery Place which is the hands on kids science museum uptown.   There are new pictures of all this in the photo gallery We'll update again next week.  :) 

May 10-  We have been here almost 3 months already!  Time is flying.  We are slowly learning our way around.  Well Brad has learned a lot quicker than I have...  Getting lost is no longer a weekly occurence for me.  The more we travel these roads the more we marvel at them.  They all run crazy...northeast or southwest...nothing is ever plain north or south.  These roads are NOTHING like the grid system in Tulsa.  They all curve, they don't all connect, and many of them change names 2 or 3 times!  That has definately been the hardest thing to get used to.  One of our favorite things about Charlotte is how many places we can go and see within a weekend.  There is just so much going on around here.  We will be heading to a BBQ festival in the next couple weeks- you know the kind like they show on the Food Network.  We also plan to get to Wilmington soon and see what their beaches are like.  So far Hilton Head has our favorite sand...and Huntington is our favorite "family atmosphere."  Check back often...being a "stay at home mom" for awhile I should be able to update every few days or so.  Here are pics from Huntington and our "1st days" in Charlotte.    

Be sure to visit our photo galleries.