In Honor of the Royal Wedding

These last few days I've been immersed in the Royal Wedding buzz! I got up this morning at 4am to watch it all play out and I'm so glad I did. For years I can look back and tell the story of watching William and Catherine's beautiful fairytale wedding.

I thought I'd share a few photos (SCP credits) from our Charleston wedding 19 Dec 2010 to celebrate with the Royals on such a special day!

Visit here! to see more shots from our amazing photographer: Steve Cook Photography

Just Another Day

I'm here at the Volvo dealership with my husband waiting for our car to be serviced. It's days like these I feel more like an adult. Thinking about our future and that one day our car won't be filled with just suitcases and our dog but also car seats and crumbs and kids and toys and anything else that we can fit. It excites me to think about the coming future, but for now I enjoy the way our life is. Just my husband and I. But really, its my prayer that we can take these moments like today that we can actually be sitting together and doing errands together and buying groceries as a team because I know that some day it will be much more difficult. I get frustrated and stir crazy these days because I don't have a job yet. But I get to spend lunch, dinner and anytime that he's not working by his side. Sadly I know that the busyness of life will soon close in and we will be putting time aside just so we can be together. So for now I'm going to take this all in as a blessing for the fact that 85% of my day is with my husband.
We had my parents over for the Easter weekend. Our first holiday hosting family and cooking a holiday meal. We had a great time at the beach and eating packed lunches. But overall I am just so grateful for amazing parents and in-laws and family that love the Lord. We could celebrate this wonderful time with family blessed because we have a Saviour that has radically changed our lives teaching us about redemption, forgiveness and most importantly LOVE! Love that is so much more than ourselves. It's a love that serves, gives and never fails. We sang in church: Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me. And this love that Christ so freely gives to us is an amazing gift and responsibility we too are capable of sharing as believers. I have been so challenged lately at what this all means and I pray that everyday I can grow more and more in Christs love so that people know that my life is an example of his love and people know that Christ's love will never fail, never give up or ever run out on them.

Mt. Mitchell Experience: Day 3

We got a great night's sleep and a complimentary breakfast and headed for the mountains again around 9am. It was a beautiful and sunny drive up the parkway. We were looking at the mountains and we couldn't figure out why the trees looked white. Matt decided it was because they were very old and turning gray. When we got closer, we realized the rain froze overnight and covered everything with icicles. It was awesome to see!!

Although we couldn't hike straight up the mountains to Mt. Mitchell, we were able to hike down to Mt. Craig from the top of Mitchell, so we basically only missed just under 3 miles of our trip. And, it would more than likely have been a miserable freezing and rainy night on top of Mt. Mitchell had we camped there. Our tents would have looked like these icicles. We hope that we can attempt this hike again in the fall all the way through!

The rain froze into ice chips. Although it was freezing on top Mt. Mitchell, we made it to the peak and it ended up being 70+ the rest of the day. On our drive home, we passed many areas hit by tornadoes and we were grateful and blessed to experience an amazing trip in safety.

Mt. Mitchell Experience: Day 2

We were able to get enough phone signal to find out that Day 2 was a weather forecast for lightning, thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. Personally, I felt like it couldn't get any worse than the night we just experienced. But when lightning and tornadoes are a possibility and you're standing on top of mountains with no where to go, the best decision was to go back where we came from. This was not an easy decision for me and if I was making the decision, I would have continued on because I was going there to personally hike this trail to Mt. Mitchell. But with 6 of us to make the decision, the ball did not fall in my court, so we hiked back to where we came from. We found out later that NC had its largest amount of tornadoes since the 80's this weekend. We slept in that storm! We waited the morning and weather out and began hiking around noon on the trail we came in on. The weather cleared, the wind calmed and it was a gorgeous day! We hiked twice as fast our way back to get out before dusk.

We made it out in just over 5 hours, 2 hours shorter than the first time. We actually had a chance to see all the views because it was so overcast the day before. I was in so much pain coming down the mountain. Imagine pounding downhill for 5 hours. I thought my knees and ankles were going to shatter. When we had about 2 miles left with a more gradual downgrade, I took a big spill over a little branch and tumbled and rolled very awkwardly. At that time my body was turning into rubber and I felt like I had very little control! What an experience! We decided to celebrate with pizza just a 45min drive to Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. Delicious!
Pops and Jared decided to head home that night. We walked around Asheville and were trying to figure out where we'd stay. With the possibility of more storms, we got a cheap hotel in Asheville and planned to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt. Mitchell in the morning. We weren't going home without making it to the peak! We were only 4.7 miles from it at our campsite in Deep Gap.

Mt. Mitchell Experience: Day 1

John Mark and I left on Thursday afternoon to pick up Rusty and Matt. We all stopped in Raleigh to eat dinner at Wild Wings before we made our trip to Bowlens Creek Trailhead. We arrived to the area around 11pm and met up with my father-n-law (Pops) and Jared. We had a difficult time finding the entrance and found ourselves driving through private property nearing midnight. After searching near every hairpin turn, we decided to park on the roadside for the night and look for the trailhead in the morning. JM and I slept in our XC-70 Vovlo, Jared and Pops in the Suburban and Matt and Rusty set up their tent, sketchy I know!

We found the entrance and parked in the morning to set off for our first 8 mile hike. It doesn't seem like that far for a day's work, but it is intense when elevation starts just under 3,000ft and steadily increases to 6,327ft in the first 3.5 miles. The trail was full of switchbacks but at one point I think we climbed straight up for almost a mile. About 4 miles in we had a thick cloud cover, heavy wind and steady mist, but the temperature manageable. Our campsite was at 5,600ft in Deep Gap. The further we hiked, the windier it became. 

The moss was so moist, thick and green and with heavy midst all around, it felt like we were in Washington. After missing our campsite and hiking another 1.5 miles off track, we arrived at Deep Gap with enough daylight. But, the wind got progressively worse and the temperature was quickly dropping! We set up camp and Jared, Matt and I stayed at the campsite while the others hiked down to a water source to refill our camelbacks. There was enough time to warm up our MRE's for dinner and get shelter. As soon as we got in our tents (around 830pm) it rained and stormed non-stop until 9 in the morning. A few times, I thought we were going to blow away in our tents!!!

Backpacking

I'm finishing up my checklist for my 3-day hike in Mt. Mitchell State Park, NC. I am a little nervous knowing that black bears are out and very hungry, the forecast calls for rain and the trails are already muddy and slippery. I'm also tagging along with my husband, father-n-law, and 3 other man friends! What am I thinking? Why am I not going to the beach and going shopping and eating real food rather than MRE's, Cliff Bars, Ramen Noodles and Oatmeal? Well I'll let you all know in the blog world how this turns out when I return! Adios for now. I am sure there's a lot of sites, mud and adventures to talk about in the near future. 

By the way, did I mention that Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi and several miles of our trail involves rock scrambling. 

The Mountaineers climbing organization defines scrambling as follows:

"Alpine Scrambles are off-trail trips, often on snow or rock, with a 'non-technical' summit as a destination. A non-technical summit is one that is reached without the need for certain types of climbing equipment (body harness, rope, protection hardware, etc), and not involving travel on extremely steep slopes or on glaciers. However, this can mean negotiating lower angle rock, traveling through talus and scree, crossing streams, fighting one's way through dense brush, and walking on snow-covered slopes."

One Thousand Gifts

I've seen a lot of posts in the blog world about this book One Thousand Gifts and now I am antsy in my pantsies to get a copy of it. It clearly looks like one of those books you can always come back to and read through and through. Hopefully soon I'll have my own to scribble in and underline. 

On another note. Both my husband and I can play very little guitar. I was raised in a very musical family and learned to play piano very young and violin when I was 10. I'm at the point that I feel rusty at everything I once was good at. But John Mark is determined to pick up his guitar again, as am I. I think we both have dreams of leading worship and singing on our back porch together and right now we are motivated. We are at the stage of trying to regain our callused finger tips so we can play without being in pain. I love seeing my husband play the guitar. He took lessons for a short time when he was a kid, but it has been a while. Today I told him: "well, think of this... a major chord sounds happy and a minor chord sounds sad." His response: "I think that Johnny Cash played a lot of minor chords."
I always dreamed of singing and playing music with my husband, and when I married John Mark, I knew that it may not be a possibility. He sings all the time, but doesn't have much rhythm. But  i'm all googly-eyed these pass few days watching him practice. I've never taken guitar lessons, just taught myself a few things on my Takamine Jasmine guitar and now we are practicing together. He really wants to learn the Banjo and I want to  pick up my mom's Mandolin. Maybe one day my dreams will come true and we can have a family band on our back porch with a scenic mountain view in the background. When I was young, I was a little embarrassed of the capabilities of our Wilson family band... oh how the tables turn. I'm wishing our little Redwine family into a mountain band already.

Intentional Living

I've been struggling lately with motivation. There are so many things that I want to do and think about doing but I allow them to sit on the back burner. Why? I don't know. I thrive on relationships and conversations with others yet I constantly feel like I am a terrible friend. I want to be that person that visibly shows concern and care for friends and family, but I always end up not doing much about it until I am with them in person. My husband always tells me that I'm a great friend that people can always count and rely on and that I do anything to keep relationships going, but now that I've had a lot of sitting and thinking time, I know that there is so much more I can do in the upkeep of my friendships and relationships. I don't really like talking on the phone, but if there's an opportunity to meet up with someone in person, I am there. I guess what I am trying to say is that I know there is so much more I can do. Perhaps I am a reliable and devoted friend, but what am I doing to go above and beyond to show my compassion and kindness to others? I know personally, if someone sends me a card or a note, I feel so blessed and cared for and loved, so why not return such favor and blessing to those I care about? Now that I don't live anywhere near my friends, I need to be much more proactive in my actions to strengthen friendships. I can't go out for coffee or have someone over for tea, so it's time to be creative and intentional.

I just visited my old roommates and friends from college and I truly felt blessed. Together, John Mark and I were able to have intimate conversations with such amazing people and great laughs all around. This past weekend reminded us of how blessed we are with the people and relationships we have in our lives which has pushed us to pray for a clearer and more defined direction in our future ministry. I think it's beautiful how God shows us things and clarifies direction through our relationships with others. I ask now that you pray for us. We are seeking after God to define a direction that we hadn't really considered.

Last week I came across Hosea 10:12 (NLT) in a blog that I follow. I believe that this verse is really defining God's direction and promise to John Mark and I:

"I said, 'plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, and he may come and shower righteousness upon you'."

Personally, I am very stubborn and strong-willed. There is a lot of "hard ground" in my heart, but I know that NOW and ALWAYS is the perfect time to seek the Lord. God knows the future He has laid out for John Mark and I and I must continue to trust and obey so that I am following in God's will. I need to focus on the fact that I have the power to control my attitude and actions and so much of that comes with living intentionally in all that I do and coming to God completely vulnerable. I cannot change or grow until I acknowledge my own faults and failures.

"Be Strong"

JM Me Charity & Carlos at the starting line.

John Mark and I have been training for our first half-marathon since the beginning of February. I enjoy running, but sometimes it's difficult for me to stick with it week after week. But, with the date of our marathon and the financial commitment we made when we signed up for this race, it was much easier to run 5 days a week. We had a great routine and our little Java doggy got so excited when we began our stretches and shoe lacing because she knew she was going for a run too!

Before this year, the longest I ever ran was around 6 miles. And before this race, we had trained up to 9.5 miles. I went into this half marathon with a lot of anxiety. For some reason I always see things through a pessimist view, very different from my husband and the Maquedas (my sister and her husband). From the start I felt completely untrained and unprepared for this race. I felt like our pace was too fast, but I wanted to keep up with my sister. And, there were a lot of challenging hills. We don't have any hills here in Elizabeth City. We kept up with Charity for the first 6 miles, but I couldn't do it anymore. She was running about a 8.5 min pace and we trained at a 9.5 pace. I had to let go of my pride and admit that it was just too fast.

Us all together at the finish!

*By the way, I have an amazing husband. He ran with me the whole way, though I know good and well he could have ran ahead at any time. A few times I even told him to go ahead just so I could sulk in my own misery without him having such a positive attitude the whole time (ridiculous I know).* 

But John Mark carried me through. So many times I wanted to give up and call it quits, but he didn't let me. He reminded me that we were prepared and that if I needed to go slower it was okay. I think it was around 10 miles that my knees hurt so bad I wanted to stop and I said quietly: "Lord give me strength!" The next step I took had a child's handwriting in chalk saying: "Be strong!" I think it's great that even times when we don't expect it, even when we put ourselves through something that our bodies may not naturally enjoy, God still encourages us. Even through this small message "Be strong!" This entire run we had perfect weather: no wind, sunny skies, blooming trees, and tulips. We had crowds cheering us on and doggies on the side that reminded me of how much Java loves to run with us. Most importantly I had an amazing husband by my side and an encouraging and supportive family. It was a difficult run, but it all paid off in the end and I am pleased to say that this isn't my last half-marathon! I finished in ‎‎2:10:32.5 

-According to JM, WE WON!