Nashville

So my wonderful mother in law, Jody, called us up about a month ago and asked if we wanted to meet her in Nashville for the weekend, sometime before school. She was having severe grandchildren withdrawals and, well, who am I to keep them from their grandparents?!

Chad has 5 days straight off, every third week - pretty awesome, right? So, we planned the two night stay in a motel (with a pool, a MUST), for this past weekend. Jody insisted that all four kids stay in her room, which means Chad & I had a lovely king sized bed and room to ourselves...HEA-VEN.

Seriously, have I mentioned how much I love my mother in law today?!?!?!

She is about the only person I know that thinks that sort of thing is fun. I'd almost rather eat paint that spend two whole days in a motel room with my own kids. They are great kids, well behaved (though energetic) kids, in my (and Jody's) opinion, but it's just usually not a relaxing environment. You find out just *how* long they can really watch cartoons. Turns out, not that long.

Anyway, so we met up and she was in Grandchild Heaven, loving all over her grandbabies, and Chad & I were in, well, Vacation Heaven. We all went swimming, walked the huge Ole Opry Mall, petted stingrays (not me, of course -gross AND dangerous!), played putt putt golf in the dark (Glow Golf!), ate tons of junk food (IHOP, the kids' favorite), swam some more, and watched a lot of cable tv (realized I REALLY miss cable tv!).

The highlight of the weekend for me was catching up with old friends from Japan. We met Jenny & Kurtis about 5 years ago when we were all stationed in Japan. Jenny and I were pregnant together - she with her first, Aidyn, and me with Micah. They were born 11 days apart. We haven't seen them since we left Japan in June of 2005.

We found each other on myspace about 6 months ago and, lo and behold, they live in Nashville now! They picked us up Saturday night and took us to Wild Bill's Buffalo Wings - so delicioso! Of course, I talked so much that in two hours I managed to eat just 5 of my 12 wings. Luckily Chad was there to help me out ;)

We talked, laughed, and caught up on who is stationed where, who got out of the Air Force, and how hard it has been to get a job and home in this ecomony. They were in the same boat we are now, until recently. Up until the middle of June of this year, they were living with his dad, looking for a decent job, then trying to find a house with some land in their price range and area. They ended up living 30 miles outside of Nashville in a beautiful doublewide on a permanent foundation, on 5 acres of land. It's like they have my house!!!

They begged us to move to Nashville, come visit any time, stay with them when Chad had interviews, etc. It was like we had never been away from each other the past 4 years!

So, that said, we've already started following up on some pointers they gave us on jobs in the Nashville area. We actually looked there when we first got out of the military but since we didn't know much about the local job market, we didn't have much to go on and eventually quit looking. When we first discussed where we wanted to live two years ago, Nashville was #1 on my list.

It just feels like we've come full circle and that maybe the whole weekend was an appointment set up by God. We'll see. If I've learned anything, it's to not put my own expectations on anything and just let God work it all out.

So, that said, here are the many pictures:

An Aquarium Restaurant in the Opry Mills Mall

Stingray petting aquarium

Indoor Carousel

Mammaw Jody - isn't she gorgeous?



Yep, she & Ben petted the stingrays!

Check out Micah's face! I was totally expecting him to fall in and me have to push Chad in after him!

I have always loved seahorses. Chad says, but they don't DO anything!
To which I reply, they're beautiful - they don't have to do anything!

See the three that couldn't be bothered to look at the camera?

Glow Golf - it was pitch black in there but my flash did it's job. See Ben & Micah in the background, making their golf balls glow? It was their favorite part of the day, I think LOL.

See Ben cheat?

See Micah shoot like a pro?

Right after this picture, Micah took a huge swing and about decapitated Chad & Ben. How sweet is this shot, though?!

Proof he *can* still move his butt ;)

She had a pretty bad case of poisen oak or sumac and wouldn't let us take many pictures of her face :(

I got in the pool with my tshirt on over a bathing suit and Katie flipped out. I told her, I used to have to wear a skirt & shirt to swim! They have NO idea sometimes LOL.

You know me, always playing.

Fun time! Me & Chad, Jenny & Kurtis - isn't she gorgeous? She is going to be a dental assistant in 2 more weeks, which is perfect because she has a perfect, white smile!

Views like this one made me appreciate the beautiful state of Tennessee all over again.

By the way, I'll try to post more often now. I've been so busy house & job hunting, but I do want to document the process as we go, if only for myself. Thank you for all the great comments of encouragement lately. I take each one to heart and they are always timely and helpful.
God bless!