More Savannah Pictures

I'm really trying to do better about blogging more frequently. I realized that we had more pictures that could be shared from our trip to Savannah. Some of them aren't that great because they were taken at night or because we didn't have anyone to take a picture of the two of us together and so we tried the one-handed trick, which never really works well. :)

On Friday night around sunset we took a public carriage tour of downtown Savannah. It was a really fun way to learn the history and other stories about Savannah. It was also a great time to go because it was really cool outside after the sun set.


On Saturday, our official anniversary day, we actually had a wedding to attend. This is really the reason we chose Savannah as our vacation destination. It was neat to get to be at a wedding on our anniversary and a good reminder of the vows we made 5 years prior. We didn't know many people at there, but a gracious lady at the reception took our picture.

We had to leave the reception early to make it to our dinner reservations at The Olde Pink House. We enjoyed the food, but it was a little louder and busier than we expected - not quiet as quaint and romantic as we had thought. It was also Saturday night, so that probably had a lot to do with the busyness. Here we are outside the restaurant waiting to be seated:

We spent the next morning at a nearby beach called Tybee Island. On the island is a very old lighthouse. We were able to climb a winding staircase to the top and walk out on a very small landing to see the view of the beach and the town. I am very afraid of heights and wasn't sure if I could make it to the top, but I did. I couldn't really enjoy the view, though, because I was pretty scared to be up there. The landing was very small, and I just felt like at any minute it was going to break. I've really got to work on this fear!

See how tall it is and look at that very tiny platform!

Here I am at the top - very nervous! I was done at the point, but Zac made me pose for a picture.

Here are a few other pictures that we took - mostly scenic:

The following two pictures we took from the roof-top pool at our hotel.

This was a beautiful park that we walked to one day that had a gorgeous fountain.


Lots of Spanish moss in the trees. This picture reminds me of what most of Savannah looks like.


On our last night in Savannah we sat on a bench and looked out onto the river for a while. It was so peaceful. Savannah really has a great atmosphere.

We are so thankful that the Lord provided this opportunity for us to get away and spend some wonderful time together.

First Fruits

I wanted to update about our little vegetable garden. It is doing great! This past week we discovered our first vegetables starting to grow. It was very exciting! We have two green bell peppers (on separate plants) growing and one squash. Still no red peppers or any tomatoes. I really think that we'll see some growing very soon, though. The tomato plants are getting really tall and thick - so much so that we finally had to tie them to stakes. We had a very small rain storm Saturday morning and two of them fell over, so it was definitely time. Check out our little vegetables below:

The green bell peppers - In the bottom picture you can even see a second pepper starting to bud.
































"Baby" squash!


















Check out how much the garden has grown by comparing the difference from this post. The first picture of the garden was taken on May 14th - a little over a month ago.

Sara Groves Says It Well...

I really love Sara Groves. She writes honest lyrics from that reflect "real" life. I've been wanting to post the lyrics to my current favorite song of hers, "What I thought I wanted" from the CD, "The Other Side of Something". They always seem to encourage me in the struggles we face in this infertility/adoption journey. I think, though, that they can minister to many different kinds of situations, so I hope that no matter where you are today that they bring you encouragement.

Tuxedo in the closet, gold band in a box
Two days from the altar she went and called the whole thing off
What he thought he wanted, what he got instead
Leaves him broken and grateful

I passed understanding a long, long time ago
And the simple home of systems and answers we all know
What I thought I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and somehow peaceful

I keep wanting you to be fair
But that’s not what you said
I want certain answers to these prayers
But that’s not what you said

When I get to heaven I’m gonna go find Job
I want to ask a few hard questions, I want to know what he knows
About what it is he wanted and what he got instead
How to be broken and faithful

What I thought I wanted...
What I thought I wanted...

Staring in the water like Esops foolish dog
I can’t help but reflect on what it was I almost lost
What it was I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and grateful

I’m broken and grateful
I want to be broken and grateful
I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful
I want to be broken, peaceful, faithful, grateful, grateful

I can't even imagine how much more grateful we will be when we are finally on the other side looking back on what we thought we wanted...

"Hey Ya'll, I'm Paula Deen" - More from Savannah '08

Well I guess it all started Friday morning at the Butter Queen Paula Deen's restaurant The Lady and Sons. We had to get up (sort of) early and walk about a half mile to get our names on the list to come back later. After waiting in the long line we made our reservations for 12:45 pm. So we had a late lunch and it was a good gut filling, nothing too fancy, but good food all around. In addition to the buffet, we ordered the fried green tomatoes because that seemed like a very Savannah thing to do. We ended up boxing them up and taking them back to the hotel due to gluttony. It was the only real meal we ate on Friday and I (zac) drank about two gallons of sweet tea (the best ever by the way). By the time I left I felt like an overfilled cement truck... And was still faced with the task of walking back to the hotel.

On interesting side note , one of Paula 's sons was in the gift shop signing autographs and posing for pictures. I wouldn't have known him from Adam's house cat, but them touristy types can sniff out a D list celebrity a mile away.

All in all I give The Lady and Sons two thumbs up; very friendly staff, remarkable sweet tea, great atmosphere, but unless you get fancy ordering off the menu - as couple from Millbrook that we met at breakfast put it - "If you been to Golden Corral, you been to Paula Deen's".

- More pictures to Come from Savannah - Zac

Savannah Trip

I'm sure that you are all glad that now, thanks to this post, you can once again pull up our blog in public! All I have to say is that it did make me laugh, a lot, so I guess I gave Zac the motivation to go public with his little joke.

Well, we are back from Savannah now. We got back Monday afternoon, but Zac took yesterday off of work, too, so today is really our first day back to the real world. We had such a wonderful time in Savannah. We really loved it! I'll try and post more details with pictures throughout the week. It would make for one long post if I tried to write about it all at once - plus I have suitcases to unpack and piles of laundry to wash!

I'll leave you with a list of our very favorite things about Savannah (in no particular order):

1.) BEAUTIFUL!! Everything was so pretty - beautiful buildings, parks, and the bay was gorgeous.

2.) Great atmosphere - very laid back and relaxing.

3.) Everyone was extremely friendly - from those we passed on the street to the waitresses/waiters at the restaurants and to even everyone on the staff at our hotel.

4.) Speaking of our hotel - we loved it! You never know what you're gonna get when you arrive, but it was in the perfect location, our room was very nice, the complimentary breakfast was great, and again the staff was so nice.

5.) The sweet tea - oh, my! It was the very BEST we've EVER had. I seriously contemplated how I could bottle it and bring it home. Last night, we went to Logan's for dinner and both ordered sweet tea in order to as Zac called it "get our fix". Sadly, it was no where close to Savannah tea.

Much more to come on all of these things. I'll end with a few pictures of us on River Street with the bay in the background:

Magnum Z.I.

Ladies you may want to look away, because once you see this red hot hunk of molten masculinity everything you ever considered attractive in a man will be smashed to pieces.

Let me first say I love facial hair. So for the last month I've been growing a practice beard for winter (I can't wait). Now, on the eve of our vacation to Savannah I am forced to shave due to a recent shortage in the kissing department... Allison hates facial hair...

But, in a world where day by day men are robbed of all things masculine, remain little boys, or worse - little girls, it was good to rebel... even for a little while. And as a last bit of fun I shaved it to the lip, went into the living room shirtless with a towel covering my face singing "feel like makin' love" by Bad Company and then had the unveiling...

Allison has the best laugh in the world...

We couldn't help but take a few pictures. I feel very 1920's French strongman. Almost like I should be in a Tarzan singlet lifting a circus dumbbell over my head.

Ahhh... It's good to be a man.... I might have to go lift something very heavy...

Zac

Sad Goodbyes

Well, we're still here! Sorry that it's been over two weeks since our last post. Just not too much going on that is blog-worthy. I wanted to thank you, though, for your prayers for wisdom that I requested in our last post. The issue has yet to be resolved, so I ask that you please continue to pray for the Lord to lead and guide us in the right direction and for Him to reveal His will to us.
_______

We truly love living in the Auburn/Opelika area, but one of the downfalls to living in a college town is that many people we get to know are only here for a short while. Auburn is a transitional place for them and not a place where they plan to settle down. It is very hard to see friends come and go, and last weekend we had to do just that as we said good bye to our very dear friends, Nathan and Lesley. They went to Lakeview with us, and I actually worked with Lesley for over two years at Women's Hope. They just moved to Brooklyn, New York as North American Missionaries to pursue church planting. Please pray for them as they begin their new life and ministry.

My friend Martha and I hosted an ice cream farewell party for them last Friday night at Martha's house. Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Yummy ice cream fixins'!

Me with Lesley and Martha

Nathan, Zac and Heath

After the party, Nathan and Lesley and Heath and Martha all came back over to our house to spend the night. We stayed up way too late, but it was fun to all hang out together one last time before the move. Here we are at breakfast:

Martha & Heath, Zac & me, Nathan & Lesley

We then headed to their storage unit and helped load the u-haul. Of course the boys did most of the work. Here they are afterwards very happy that the job was done!:

Jonathan (another friend from Lakeview), Heath, Zac and Nathan

After everything was packed we had to say our goodbyes. It was not easy and there were plenty of bittersweet tears shed. I have decided that I hate having to say goodbye. We are so thankful, though, for all the time that we had with them and for all of the wonderful memories made. They have been such great friends to us, and we will miss them very much.

Lesley and Nathan smiling through the tears.

On another note, Zac and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday!! Over the past five years we have experienced great joys as well as many difficulties, and everything has not turned out quite like we had imagined, but God is sovereign and we can rest in His plans for our lives. We are so thankful to God for blessing us with one another and look forward to celebrating this over the weekend in Savannah!

I thought that it'd be fun to end with a few engagement and wedding pictures. The wedding ones are scanned so they are very poor quality - we don't have any digitals.

Our engagement picture for the paper. Zac still had glasses!

The ceremony

I'll be back next week with pictures from our trip.