Blackberry Farm

my handsome man!  :)

everyone keeps telling me how small I am - are they BLIND?!?!

Randy was a little nervous around this friendly horse.

part of our view at lunch and breakfast - this doesn't even begin to capture the breathtaking beauty!

we ate dinner in this little pavilion last night and got to sit with two other couples, one from Cleveland and one from Birmingham - that was a fun experience (and made us really thankful for our world back in the hood!)

Randy's parents gave us a wonderful Christmas gift last year of a trip to this place near Knoxville, TN called Blackberry Farm.  It is WONDERFUL!  In fact, I've been reluctant to blog about it because I know that I cannot do it justice with my weak words, but I'll try to describe a few things before I enter my next eternal blog about my own pride, the poor, and what God is calling us to during the new season of life we're about to enter!

Let's just say that we are in a world that is not our "own" and of which we are pretty unfamiliar, but we are relishing every minute of it, receiving it as a beautiful gift from God!  We keep thinking of people who we would love to send out here, but it would be a little out of our budget!  :)  First of all, the natural beauty that surrounds us is astounding!  We're right on the Smoky Mountains and in the middle of all these beautiful rolling hills.  Towering trees dot the landscape and you wouldn't believe the noise - THERE ISN'T ANY!!  Except for an occasional bird or lowing of cattle, it is so QUIET and peaceful.  It's a wonderful place to "dial down" and be silent before God and hear His voice.  Randy and I have already had some sweet times of prayer and plan on more today.  I've taken a few pics, but they just can't do this place justice.  It's so much more beautiful than what my wimpy little camera can capture.  The food is also amazing!  We don't even know how to pronounce many of our choices :), but we haven't sampled anything yet that we just didn't like (ok, except for a couple of cheeses).  There are several courses, "gifts" from the chef, and they wait on you hand and foot.  You don't "eat" here - you "dine".  :)  We have fun snacks (my favorite being individually packaged and boxed Dove chocolate ice cream bars) in our room and a small refrigerator fully stocked with drinks, a HUGE jacuzzi tub, heated tiles in the bathroom, a FIREPLACE (for those of you who know me well, the one thing I miss the MOST in my Como house is a fireplace - we've had a fire going almost non-stop), and a quaint little front porch with rocking chairs.  There are golf cart "roads" everywhere so that you can rent your own to explore the property.  They take you to your dinner location every night in a car and pretty much roll out the red carpet for you like you're some kind of royalty!  We're both very unaccustomed to such treatment and there are some things that make me really uncomfortable with it, BUT (that's for my other blog) and, like I said, we're enjoying every minute of it.  We've done nothing but eat, sleep (a lot - why are we SO tired??), and read books, with an occasional stroll or ride on a cart.  There is probably more I could say - in fact, I know it - but as I said before, my next post is going to be so long probably no one will ever read my blog again!