River Walk

 Last Monday afternoon, we headed out for a little family time outside. We had several very busy days and I had switched my days to work from Monday to Tuesday with all the busyness. We enjoyed just getting out as a family for a walk along the Tye River. We stopped at Crabtree Falls but were not up for tackling that hike on this day. We just walked along the river a little ways below the falls.

 Meet our newest little hiker. No more backpack for her unless we are hiking a longer distance. It was a little rocky after we came off the bridge and I asked her "Rebekah, do you want Mommy to carry you?" To which I received an emphatic "NO!!" When it did get too rocky and I would pick her up any way, she would squirm and fuss until I put her down to walk again. We definitely keep the hiking backpack handy, but I don't think she is going to want to be in it as long as her big sister did. By the way, she can already say "Hiking."

 

These two pictures show how the girls spent at least half the time we were there. Both love rocks and spent the majority of their time throwing rocks into the river.

 We then headed into the forested area on the other side of the trail. Along the way they found a worm along the road. Poor worm...I am sure these two pointing and talking loudly over it scared it to death! Finally we headed along again.

 While Brent got a few wildflower shots, like these trillium, the girls "fished". Rachel is thoroughly enjoyed grabbing a long stick and catching "fish" anytime we are near a stream these days. I do love to see her using her imagination. She also had a streamside "oven" and she was catching, cooking and eating her "fish" while we sat there!
We enjoyed the little change in pace with this relaxing family afternoon. We thank God for some family time and the chance to enjoy this beautiful part of the world He has blessed us to live in!

Swift Creek Homecoming

On Sunday,April 14th, we had the blessing of being able to return to Swift Creek Baptist Church for their 35th Anniversary Celebration and Homecoming. Brent was invited back to preach one of the services for this special day. We had the blessing of serving here for six and half years while Brent was Associate and Youth Pastor at SCBC. It was a joy to be able to see all those we had served with there again!


                                        
 Rebekah has been much less shy over the past month and she led the way as our welcoming committee. Almost everyone at SCBC had not seen her since she was three weeks old, so it was neat to see her give hugs and interact with everyone. Here she is giving hugs to Pastor Steve and showing her picture to Mrs. Cheryl and Mrs. Mathis.

Bekah found Mrs. Judy as soon as we walked in

We arrived in time for the 11 o'clock service followed by a potluck lunch. This gave us a great chance to try to catch up with everyone one. It seems there is never enough time to visit with everyone,but we surely did enjoy trying to visit with each one we could!

The girls with Mrs. TT and Cole

Chris and Martha with Bekah

Taya and Bekah

LB and Bekah

These two little ones enjoyed playing together. This is Analeigh. Her dad and mom, Aaron and Ashley, now lead the youth ministry as he is now Associate and Youth Pastor at SCBC. We are so thankful for their ministry there and all the Lord is doing through the three of them.
I think Bekah and Analeigh could have alot of fun playing together as they get older!

These two had a blast together too. Rachel and Kierston were great friends while we were at SCBC and they picked up right where they left off. It really makes me realize how much Rachel is growing up to see she and Kierston together. I remember when they were just learning how to play together and now Kierston will be 5 this summer and Rachel will turn 5 not long after that!

 

Pastor Steve and Pastor Brent

 After the potluck lunch, Swift Creek held a special afternoon service at 2 o'clock. Brent preached at this service and we had the blessing of hearing Brian and Debbie Lee sing together. Brian is music director at SCBC but has been battling an illness long term. It was great to see them both and be able to hear them sing as well. We continue to pray for Brian, Debbie and their family daily.

Brent sharing God's Word at SCBC

Brent and Brian

 

The photos to be right show the families that had served and are serving at SCBC. On the left is Pastor Steve, Cheryl and their family, on the right are the Bobos and this photo of Brent and I was taken not too long after we started at SCBC and definitely before we had either of the girls!

After we finished services, we were invited to spend a little time at Pastor Steve and Mrs. Cheryl's home. We visited with them, Andrew and Mrs Mathis and had some of the best strawberry shortcake. I think Rebekah ate at least a pound of berries!

Visiting together

Dixie showing us some of her tricks with Mrs. Cheryl

Alyssa and Rachel

 Before we headed back to the mountains, we enjoyed supper with the Wheeler family. Sharon fed us very well, roast beef, potato casserole, green beans and rolls. The meal was so good and it was so good to be able to catch up with them and their family and friends too.

We had a wonderful day being back at SCBC! We thank God for each of you and the time we had to serve with you! Thank you for loving us, praying for us, ministering and growing with us and thank you for your love and prayers still! We were so glad to visit and look forward to visiting again sometime!

McGuirt Family, SCBC, April 14, 2013

Trillium Trek

 Last week, we headed down to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a very quick wildflower photography trip. A photographer friend of Brent's had told him all about the trillium and other wildflowers that bloom in this area so we headed down to check them out. It was a little early for some of the flowers but others were blooming so beautifully already.

The picture below is Rebekah's first attempt drinking from a water fountain. She was so funny doing this. As 

you can see she would close her eyes when the water came on and she would lean forward and let the water hit her cheek and just giggle over and over. I am not sure she got any water actually in her mouth!

If you know our girls very well, they are definitely experiential learners. They don't just want to look at whatever it is, they want to be in the middle of it. Yes, the water was cold and yes, they still wanted to put their feet in it.

We began our hike on Friday around sunrise to make the most of the foggy and misty conditions. Yes, I know most people don't hike when it is cloudy, but it is the best conditions for taking pictures of wildflowers. So raincoats and all, off we went. There wasn't enough scenery for Rachel, apparently, on the first part of the hike so she decided to read and hike!

After we crossed these two bridges, we really began to see most of the wildflowers along the trail. There were literally thousands of the fringed phalecia. Those are the little tiny white flowers that are covering the ground in the pictures below.

Rachel has sat in the backpack while her Daddy has taken many, many pictures. Now Rebekah is taking her turn "assisting" with pictures.

Rebekah is also not as content to just sit the backpack, particularly if we are stopping to take pictures instead of continuing to hike. She actually wants to get out and walk on her own too!

Of course, we had to make some new friends along the trail too. Rachel really wanted to bring her snail with us but I had to convince her this was the best place for him to live.

We did make it all the way to the waterfall! I understand this is usually just a trickle of water part of the year. There was quite a bit of rain before we arrived and we were glad to be able to actually see the waterfall. The girls are clapping because we usually sing "If You Are Happy and you know it, Clap your Hands" to get them to look in a picture. So here we caught them mid-clap...

Here is one the things we came to see...Trillium! I just thought these ferns beginning to unfurl were pretty as well.
We were finished with our hike by around lunchtime, so we headed to the town of Gatlinburg to show the girls around a bit. We did ride the tram up to Ober Gatlinburg and the girls loved this. Actually, I did too. Brent had ridden with his family when he was much younger, but this was a first for all the rest of us.

Our last stop was Cades Cove. I have been to several areas of the park, but never to Cades Cove. It is beautiful and though we didn't get to see bear, we did see turkey, deer and the horses that graze there.

I love pictures of churches. Just neat to think about the groups of believers that met together in this place over the years.
We had a great, quick wildflower trip and visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Blessed to be able to enjoy the beauty of God's creation and most of all, thankful for the Creator who made these beautiful things!