Land Between the Lakes "The Homeplace"

This past weekend we went to Land Between the Lakes on a day trip and it was free to get into the places in it that day. We stopped by "The Homeplace". I loved it,it is a living turn of  the century working farm. It feels like you have really gone back in time. You tour around the whole thing and it takes you through different buildings. I love history and I really enjoyed this. They always have things going on there too.

 The path leading up too the home were beautiful fields with snake fences.

 I loved the house. It was called a double pen style house. Very neat layout. It has a big open middle with closed door rooms on each side. I had never seen one of these layouts. I loved it. Then a kitchen in a back part and a upstairs with 2 more bedrooms.

 The fields where they grew everything

 One of the rooms downstairs

 Two ladies quilting on the front porch

 These beds looked so cozy. I just wanted to snuggle up and go too sleep in them.

 Part of the kitchen

 Children's room upstairs

 View from the second floor

 Another children's room

 The smoke house for the meat

 Back of house

 Inside the smoke house

 Working area 

 A man working with wood

 The Barn area

 Oxen!!!

 This one just let me stand and rub it's face,so sweet

 Went into hiding in it's stall when it seen the camera and started peeping out..lol

 The garden

I loved this place and it was a wonderful place to show how it used to be. It's located at Land Between the Lakes in KY/TN

Climbing the Rock

I rode by a large pile of rocks the other day,it was grounded into the side of a hill. I thought man I bet that would be tough to climb to the top. Then the thought came to me. It reminded me of our Christian walk. If you tried to walk up the rocks you may have easy steps and keep going for awhile. Then you might stumble or have a hard time climbing at some point. It can be a long and hard hike up sometimes,but in the end it's wonderful when you finally reach the top. Just like in our Christian walk sometimes it will be hard and sometimes it will go along smoothly,a perfect pain free journey was not promised. You may mess up,fall down and have hard times,but in the end you always have the Lord's hand guiding you the whole time and pretty soon you will see you made through.

Book Review:To Heaven and Back by Mary Neal

I recently had the chance to read and review this book. It was a good read and I read til the very end. She died in a river accident and went to heaven and then came back to earth. The whole book talks about her life before it and then talks a lot about life after it. She amazed me with some of the stuff that came out of it. She has been through a lot in life and through at all she tells how she seen God in it all of it. Nothing is by chance but everything comes from the Lord and happens for a reason and is part of a bigger plan. This book made me think a lot  on heaven and what it will be like after death. I came away with a peaceful feeling from reading this. She has an amazing story to share. I often wonder if people's stories are true about seeing heaven and then coming back because I always want to know why God would show one person heaven and not another. I have always thought that you don't see heaven until you are dead permanently. Then again I also think maybe people do get glimpses so they can come back and people will come to know God. It was a good book!!

I received this book free from the blogging for books program for my honest review

Book Review:Winning Balance by Shawn Johnson

I don't know anything about the sport,but I got into the Olympics and was rooting for Shawn Johnson to win. She is really good at the talent she has been given. I recently had the chance to read her new book and learned a lot I did not know about her and found out about her thoughts and feelings through everything. She is also a very good writer and shared some of her poems and Journal thoughts through all the different times in life. This wasn't a autobiography,but her Journey in life so far. Each chapter talked about a moment in her life and at the end each lesson she learned from them. I found the book to be quite good. She is a wonderful role model for the younger generation and that you can achieve the dreams you have. She talked about her growing up years,training and the various competitions she has been in,plus her time on Dancing with stars down to the scary moments of a stalker experience she went through. Plus the accident while skiing that injured her knee. She is one tough woman it seems from reading her book. I enjoy reading this and getting to see a little behind the scenes at some of the biggest moments in her life. Nice read!!

I received this free from Tyndale for my honest review

Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Weekend Trip

So this past weekend my family and I went to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN. It was hot and it was packed with memorial day traffic,but we had a good time:) Here are a few pictures. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

We didn't go in the museum,but it's cool too look at on the outside. Never seen a upside down one like this

Seen this from the road,it was a neat museum with the faces carved in the side of it.

Pretty Cross near the mountain

We ate at the Happy Day's Diner one night. It was so cute,it is a 50's style one with Happy Days names as some of the food.

I love the beautiful mountains at night

A pretty river in Gatlinburg

A pretty waterfall in Gatlinburg

We went to Christ in the Smokies gardens in Gatlinburg. You go through 12 scenes of Jesus life and each scene tells the stories of his life. All the figures are human like wax figures. You ended in this pretty garden at the end.

Beautiful waterfall at the Old Mill in Pigeon Forge

We seen the Smoky Mountain Opry,it was very good!!

Yeap they were in the air playing

He flew right over our heads..very neat

The other show was Hatfields and Mccoys Dinner Show and it was served with some great food!

A lot of funny decor around the building

They had goats,chickens,turkeys and a pig outside the building