What Really Counts

When we first started thinking about making the move back to my hometown of Hayesville, NC there were a lot of people who thought we were just flat out crazy. The endless comments about how small it was, what it didn’t have, what we would be missing, lack of this, lack of that, the home we were leaving, and the list went on and on and on.

Let me just say, I am a thinker by nature who can quickly get in my own head and worry about EVERY little detail. So..when these comments were made, that’s exactly what happened. My mind and Mama heart went crazy with worry about impact to my daughter. I shed so many tears thinking and worrying about my daughter and what was best for her future.

When I finally took the time to step back from it all and really looked at the things that were being pointed out to me, they were just that. They were all things that could be physically counted in some way or another. While I knew those things mattered, they weren’t what mattered most to me.

What I wanted most for my daughter were those things that I felt were so priceless that they couldn’t be counted. I wanted that hometown where people knew my daughter by name. A place she could wake up and really breathe in the fresh mountain air. A place should could walk in the woods and see wildlife at every corner. A place she could grow up with cousins her age and make memories that would last her a lifetime. A place who came together under the Friday night lights and a place who loved you no matter how much or little you had. I wanted her to feel at home around every corner.

While my values may not be the same as others, they are mine and they are what I dreamed of giving my daughter since the first pink line appeared. So here we are, back at home, and living the life we hoped for and with a little girl we never stopped praying for.



Lifestyle Rural Notebook Lifestyle Rural Notebook

Value Of Bucket Friends

What is a bucket friend, you may be wondering? A bucket friend is someone you confide in, share things with, let it all out, and just empty the bucket of emotions you are carrying around. They are the friend who just listens, the one who doesn't try to fix anything, doesn't give advice unless asked, and often just remind you that you aren't as crazy as you may feel. 

Read More
Lifestyle, Home Rural Notebook Lifestyle, Home Rural Notebook

Thank you Coach

Our coaches are some of the most important and influential people we know in our journey as young adults, and I want to thank mine for the impact they made on my life and continue to make with the life lesson they instilled along the way. Thank you Coach

Read More
Home, Lifestyle Rural Notebook Home, Lifestyle Rural Notebook

If I Die Young

Nobody likes to think about their mortality but in the past couple years, things have happened that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. A virus that shook us to our core and changed the way we live, way we think, and the way we look at the future. Everywhere I turned there was some form of heartache or illness that was plaguing people I know, young and old. Lives taken entirely too soon.

Read More
Lifestyle Rural Notebook Lifestyle Rural Notebook

Lessons Learned in 2021

Even without a pandemic thrown in the mix, life can be complicated and stressful. Although most of us already have plenty to manage in our day-to-day lives with jobs, relationships, family, exercise, sleep, buying and selling homes, wondering how many more times my two-year-old can watch Cocomelon. Nevertheless, we can still take a few valuable life lessons from 2021 into 2022.

Read More
Lifestyle, Home Rural Notebook Lifestyle, Home Rural Notebook

Be Too Much

To the ladies that go all out, I am talking to you. To the mamas who go overboard, I am talking to you too. I am definitely talking to anyone who has ever told or talked about for being or doing too much.

Read More
Lifestyle Rural Notebook Lifestyle Rural Notebook

Push Through The Dirt

What really gets me about flowers and gardening is that feeling that no matter how dirty you get putting that plant in the ground and no matter how many roots you gotta cut away to dig that hole, something beautiful still comes from it. These flowers don't start with pedigrees, Mom or Dad's money, well-known last name, nothing- yet they still grow into something beautiful.

Read More
Lifestyle Rural Notebook Lifestyle Rural Notebook

The Best Little Things

What makes your day special? What do you think about when you lay down at night? Do you smile looking back at something that happened during the day? It might be a small thing, and that’s where the beauty and hope lies.

Read More
Lifestyle, Home Rural Notebook Lifestyle, Home Rural Notebook

What Really Counts

When we first started thinking about making the move back to my hometown of Hayesville, NC there were a lot of people who thought we were just flat out crazy. The endless comments about how small it was, what rural life didn’t have, what we would be missing, lack of this, lack of that, the home we were leaving, and the list went on and on and on.

Read More