Category: Uncategorized

South Carolina to the Grand Canyon (or bust!)

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

In the Summer of 2022, we embarked on the greatest, most epic Summer Road Trip yet! We journeyed over 5,000 miles. That’s 67 hours of driving time, all together in the car. No personal devices. (We don’t judge you if you have them, we just chose not to… we like a 1980s road trip style: with sticky, hot seats and large paper maps!) However, Jen took the last Road Map Atlas book that the Pilot Travel Center had in stock. The clerk said, “No one uses these any more with GPS…” Well worth the $40 laminated travel maps for the entire United States of America.

The one and only road atlas available at this truck stop

You can watch the condensed, 27 minutes of our 16-day road trip: HERE

You can watch the overview of what we decided to pack in our trusty, Honda Odyssey: HERE

Our itinerary was to see The Grand Canyon and to do it within our budget. As these things go, we went a little over budget staying a few extra days in places! Oops! Sure, we could have done it cheaper by boondocking (tent camping on public lands), but we didn’t want to spend more money renting a camper to do that. Tent camping in July in the desert with 100*F temperatures didn’t sound fun to us. Here is the travel log of our journey:

Day 1- Rock Hill, South Carolina to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (207 miles) We stayed at the Jellystone Family Campground in a cabin. Cabins were minimal, yet functional and perfect for a family. The campground has a playground, jump pad, laundry facilities and is located right behind Dollywood. We could hear the fireworks at night. To see what our cabin looked like, click HERE to watch the video!

Hanging with friends inside our cabin

Day 2 – Spent a day at Dollywood (Pigeon Forge). In nine hours, we rode eight rides. Spent most of the time in the kiddie section of the park. We did not pay for “fast-pass” tickets or for the Dollywood Splash Country. Still felt like we did everything that our small kids in our group of friends wanted to do. Must ride the Black Bear Trail ride! Costumed characters walk around for photo opportunities. The kiddie section also has an indoor playground with dimmed lighting (to simulate playing at sunset, catching lightning bugs in the woods), which is easily our favorite park of the park. Dollywood is very clean and pretty to look at with art installations, live bluegrass music and entertainment, tons of food options and plenty of shade in the park to rest/take breaks with small kids. There is even a steam-locomotive, “The Klondike Katie” that you must ride at least once that takes you around the park! Click HERE to watch our Dollywood adventure!

Dollywood!

Day 3 – Gatlinburg/Greenbriar Swimming Holes with friends. This nearby, FREE recreation area is available for day-use. Swim or fish (with a state of Tennessee fishing license and a daily trout-permit. Children under 12 do not need a license.) Wade in the rapids, swim at your own risk as this is a primitive recreation area. Pack out your trash. We used this as a rest day to recover in the shade and relax before the next part of our trip. To get a closer look at this local spot: click HERE

Day 4 – Pigeon Forge, TN to Starkville, Mississippi (434 miles) We drove through Alabama and visited the University of Alabama. We also drove through Mississippi State (once we arrived in Starkville and ate dinner).

Day 5 – Starkville, MS to Weatherford, Texas (583 miles) Rode the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, near Jackson. Drove through Jackson (the capitol). Visited the first Buc-ee’s we came to in Terrell, Texas for dinner. Weatherford is located on the west side of Dallas/Fort Worth (we wanted to avoid traffic the next morning).

Day 6 – Weatherford TX to Roswell, New Mexico (422 miles). Rode through tiny Texas towns and oil fields, rode through the NM desert and drove through Bottomless State Park and downtown Roswell. We visited the UFO Spacewalk Museum/Art Installation. Cheap and great for kids in the air conditioning.

Mile 0, at the border picnicground of Texas and New Mexico

Day 7 – Roswell NM to Flagstaff, Arizona (521 miles) We stopped to see Petrified Forest National Park and Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ. Made it to Flagstaff and stayed in 2 different AirBnBs.

“Cowboy Rukus” cutouts (artist: John Cerney) on Hwy 285 in Vaughn, New Mexico
The welcoming sign says, “You have made a good decision to come to Petrified Forest National Park.”

Day 8 – REST DAY (close to zero miles). We took time to restock groceries, toured the Lowell Observatory, Wheeler Park and downtown Flagstaff and Northern Arizona University.

Lowell Observatory solstice exhibit

Day 9 – Flagstaff to Grand Canyon National Park and then to Moab, Utah (404 miles). On the way to Moab, we drove through Tuba City, Arizona and the iconic Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. It was surreal to be driving through the Arizona desert! You see it in movies and shows, but to see it in person is indescribably beautiful!

At the South Rim of The Grand Canyon, outside of El Tovar and Hopi House
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park scenic drive

Day 10 – REST DAY in Moab, Utah (near zero miles of driving). We played in our AirBnB’s neighborhood pool and restocked groceries and did laundry. We spent most of our day in pyjamas watching movies and then at night, when the temperatures cooled to 102*F, we went after dinner to watch the sunset at Arches National Park. Driving through Arches was incredible and even though it was a hot walk to see Turret Arch and Double Window Arches and the Delicate Arch, it is definitely my favorite highlight of this trip. It’s a short, half a mile walk to see those from your car. After taking in the views at Panoramic Viewpoint, we headed down the road, in between Arches National Park and Moab is Potash Road Dinosaur Tracks and the Petroglyphs of “Wall Street” If you follow Potash Road towards the Poison Spider Jeep Trail, there is a parking area where you can walk 1/4 mile and see actual dinosaur footprints that are highlighted in the rocks. Also, if you are leaving the dinosaur tracks and headed back towards Wall Street, a popular rock climbing pitch, your headlights will easily spot the native petroglyphs, located about 7-9 feet up on the wall. We missed them the first time, as we drove past it in the twilight.

The information signs at the trailhead at Poison Spider Jeep Trails (what you are looking for is the spraypainted, white footprints on the ground, rocks and cliffs on the 200 foot trail)

Day 11 – Moab, UT to Colorado Springs, Colorado (411 miles). We drove past Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, in Montrose Colorado, before continuing on past the Blue Mesa Reservoir and driving over the Colorado Rockies into Colorado Springs.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, view from the first overlook

Day 12 – We decided to spend one more night in Colorado and wanted to see more of this beautiful state. I wouldn’t call it a rest day per se, because it involved hiking 2-3 miles in the heat, but it was worth it to spend time with our friends at Roxborough State Park in Littleton (which, upon their recommendation was “better than over populated Garden of the Gods.”) We agreed. We pretty much had the whole hike to ourselves. Make sure you bring plenty of water for the hike to the summit!

Hiking with friends, having the whole Roxborough State Park to ourselves

Day 13 – Denver Colorado to Hays, Kansas (347 miles). We didn’t think the trip across Kansas was going to really be much, but the differences between Western Kansas and Eastern Kansas are significant! The warm wind is always blowing here and it was neat to check out a wind turbine. Unbeknownst to us, Hays Kansas is in the middle of “Tornado Alley” and we got to experience one 20 miles away from our hotel (but you could see it since it’s so flat here!) We celebrated Jen’s birthday with Billy Simm’s BBQ and a tornado warning. You can see our Kansas adventures HERE.

We feel welcomed, Kansas!

Day 14 – Hays, Kansas to St. Louis, Missouri (514 miles). We wanted to get far away from tornadoes. So we hauled it to St. Louis Missouri and took a trip to the FREE St. Louis Zoo. We paid $15 for daily parking and some of the exhibits, like the robotic dinosaurs cost extra, but this is the prettiest zoo we have been in thus far! Our favorites were the dinosaur exhibit, the penguin house and butterfly enclosure! St. Louis is a very cool, industrial city. We said if we get a free weekend and could fly here for cheap, we want to come back for a Chiefs game and free aquarium visit. We skipped the Gateway Arch National Park and Museum this time, since we stopped by on our Arkansas trip the summer before this one.

The penguin house smells like penguins, but it’s nice and cool in there

Day 15-16 – St. Louis to Rock Hill, South Carolina (712 miles). We got home in the early morning hours so I’m counting it as two days. We didn’t film a lot this day because we really wanted to push ourselves to get home. We stopped for lunch at Frutta Bowls in Paducah, Kentucky. We stopped for dinner in Waynesville, North Carolina. With three hours left and feeling at home in The Smokies, we decided to make it home around 1am. We slept in our own beds and needed the next full day to recover.

We did it!! Check out all of our past trips and stay tuned for more adventures on “Team Carter Family Adventures” on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook and Apple/Spotify Podcasts

Q & As

What types of accommodations did we stay in?

We were fortunate to have friends to stay with in Colorado Springs (thanks Carrie and Mark!). Although we experienced Days 1-3 in Pigeon Forge with friends, each family booked their own cabin at Jellystone Family Campground. We stayed in several Hilton Holiday Inn Expresses (perfectly functional and comfortable) in Starkville and St. Louis. We stayed one night closer to Denver, Colorado in a Home2 Suites (nicer!) because it was located in the parking lot where we were having gelato with our friends after hiking. We stayed in a La Quinta hotel in Weatherford, which we liked that it was right off the interstate. We liked the family hotels because David could take the kids to the pool while I made dinner and washed laundry. Most hotels have laundry facilities, so we didn’t need to travel with trash bags of dirty clothes. We stayed in a total of 3 AirBnBs, but they were a mixed bag. The two in Flagstaff were adequate, but one experienced a septic issue and the other was very hot at night to sleep in. In hindsight, we could have stayed at hotels. The one in Moab was very nice and allowed us to really take a much needed respite. Also, we stayed in the charming and affordable, Roswell Inn. Keep in mind, that one is a motel. We were pleasantly surprised that even if you don’t have a reservation months in advance, in all the places we traveled you could get a room as a walk-up guest, or call them a few hours away and there was availability.

Aliens and humans welcome!

This trip was so much fun and we packed so much into each day, but really we drove too much, for too many straight days. There was so much we wanted to do: Arizona and New Mexico you could easily spend a month in each of those states, but driving for seven to eight hours a day turns into ten to twelve hours with small kids! We would have liked to have only driven three to four hours in a day, but our time was also limited to the number of days for this vacation.

If we could do this trip over, what would we do differently?

If we had a do-over, we would have done everything that we wanted to do on the first leg of our trip. Once we hit the pinnacle of The Grand Canyon and Arches National Parks, we were ready to be home. It was hard to be motivated to see or do anything except drive non-stop on the way home.

We wish we could have seen Oklahoma. Because we were leaving from the Denver side, we took I-70 through Kansas, instead of I-40 (through Oklahoma) so we missed that state completely. We did see Kansas though.

Next time we want to go to the desert, we will fly 🙂

If you didn’t have screens for your kids, what on God’s green Earth did you do?

What did you do in the 80’s kid? We listened to a lot of music and audiobooks in the car. You can find some of the songs on our road trip playlist HERE. We listened to the Wingfeather series audiobooks 1, 2 and 3. We listened to a read aloud of The Hobbit. We got out of the car every two hours or so to stretch our legs. We let each kid take a turn with the road map atlas and “tell us where to go.” We played car games: Find a Car Rainbow (every color of the rainbow passing by), the License Plate Game, I Spy…you name it.

How much does a trip like this cost?

For our family, we had a starting off budget of $5,000 USD. We tried to make this trip as affordable as possible, to fit our family’s needs. I don’t mind cooking, so we bought a lot of groceries and snacks for the road. For us, it made sense to take our already paid for car, compared to the cost of flying for five people or renting a camper and driving it. The purpose of this trip was that we wanted to see things along the way of interest. We also wanted to stop wherever and whenever we wanted to. In actuality, we went over our initial budget and had to spend closer to $6,000 USD on the whole 16 day trip. We underestimated the cost of fuel and the number of hotels we would need, when needing an extra night or needing to switch out accommodations. There are cheaper options to travel (such as a bus or train, but we declined with small kids.) Also, after the good BBQ in Kansas, we ate out more fast food on the way home. A lot more Taco Bell, a lot less groceries. It adds up.

If you have further questions or discussions, or are thinking of doing this road trip with your own family, please write to us at: teamcarterfamilyadventures@gmail.com or comment below. Thanks for coming along with us!

What Tunes are On Deck for a Team Carter Adventure?

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Listed in no particular order of favorites. We like them all:

“Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver, “Shine on Me” by Dan Auerbach, “I’m On Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, “Kick Drum Heart” by The Avett Brothers, “D Bag Rag” by The Avett Brothers, “Laundry Room” by The Avett Brothers, “The Traveling Song” by The Avett Brothers, “Oh Bany” by LCD Soundsystem, “The Goodness of God” by Bethel Music/Jenn Johnson, “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, “River” by Leon Bridges, “Rivers and Roads” by The Head and The Heart, “For Emma, Forever Ago” by Bon Iver, “Re:Stacks” by Bon Iver and guest appearance by The Staves, “Galway Girl” (sung in an Irish airport version) by Daoiri Farrell, “Livin’ Thing” by Electronic Light Orchestra, “Humours of Whiskey” by Hozir, “Little Boxes” and “Which Side Are You On Boys?” and “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Pete Seeger, “Waterfall” by United Pursuit, “Praise Is The Breakthrough” by Kelanie Gloeckler Webb, “Skeleton Bones” and “Carbon Ribs” by John Mark McMillan, “You Know My Name” by Tasha Cobbs Leonard, “Revival’s In The Air” by Melissa Helser/Bethel Music, “Love Is Something (Magic Penny)” by Malvina Reynolds, “Bob Fudge” and “Saskatchewan 1881” by Colter Wall, “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors” by Dolly Parton, “Jolene” by Ray LaMontagne and then play the same version of “Jolene” by Ray LaMontagne and The Staves, “Maggie May” by Rod Stewart, “The Bird Hunters” by Turnpike Troubadours, “Way of the Triune God” and “Matthew” by Tyler Childers, “I Ride An Old Paint” by Carl Sandburg, “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash, “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin, “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen, “Greasy Coat” by Hilary Klug, “Aequilibrium” by Andrey Vinogradov, “Cigarettes and Coffee” by Otis Redding, “Electronic Pow Wow” and “Sisters” by A Tribe Called Red (now The Halluci Nation), “The Mountain” (original by Steve Earle, but the Benjamin Todd version), “Wildwood Flower” by Chet Atkins, “King of the Road” by Rodger Miller, “This Land Is Your Land” by Woodie Gutherie

What songs did we miss? Do you have a favorite?

He is the Potter, I am the Clay

On By Team Carter FamilyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Last night, I had a dream: that I was creating pottery. The shape of the clay wasn’t holding and at one point David commented that “it’s no good. Look, there’s a hole in it.” My attitude was one of “try, try, again” because of course a pot, or a cup is of no use with a hole in it. So I started over.

Have you ever thrown pottery? Have you ever worked with clay?

It takes a lot of time. It’s messy. You don’t throw once to make a perfect product. You will make mistakes and have to correct them. You will have to start over a lot. You make a lot of adjustments. Patience and persistence is needed. And if you are a master artist, you are also the one having “the most fun” while doing it.

For me, a beginner, I’ve thrown pottery on a wheel once. Once, I visited artist Karen DeLoach’s house (https://www.karendeloachart.com/) with friends and she coached us one-by-one how to make a bowl in her pottery studio. Let’s be honest, Karen was actually shaping the bowl, by cupping her hands over mine and giving instructions on how to shape it, hold it, keep it wet, etc. all while quoting Jeremiah 18.

“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and saw that he was working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter’s hand; so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Look carefully as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.” -Jeremiah 18:3-5- (Amplified version)

I found that clay is harder to manipulate than I originally thought. (We are stubborn like that aren’t we?) You have to press down and in with your thumbs pretty hard. You have to make deliberate choices with your hands and press into it for it to take shape. It’s not as easy as that Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze scene in the movie “Ghost” makes it appear. Perhaps you can “go with the flow” and not have a vision for your end creation in mind and “just see what happens.” This attitude sounds so freeing and liberating at first, but really might become frustrating for you. I was realizing that, if you don’t have balance and have even pressure on the clay you are working with, it will quickly become lumpy and uneven on one side. If you don’t correct it quickly (more clay and water), then it it becomes off-center on the spinning wheel. Now you are in trouble. Likewise, if you don’t press in enough with your hands, the clay piece won’t take shape. It can’t function like it’s supposed to function, for it’s end purpose. But, if you use too much force and just plow into it with too much pressure, you will make it crack, or worse; a hole in the bottom. Then, congratulations, you “ruined” it. Your piece must be restarted from the beginning. You have to rework it into a ball and throw it on the wheel again to start over. How many times do you have to do this to achieve what you want?

We are learning this lesson a lot. My daughter was gifted a kid’s mini pottery wheel for an early Christmas present this year. She asked for one and the grandparent’s delivered. God bless the grandparents! It is, however one thing to know how to do something. It’s an entirely different thing to not have a clue what you are doing and try to teach that to your kids. 🙂 We are humbly learning together while we make a mess on our clothes and in the kitchen. We have to start over and over again. Sometimes we “need to step away from the wheel” and come back later to try again. We have to clean up our messes. We need to keep persisting to “get it right.” We gave up on shaping with the “fancy tools” it comes with and starting free-shaping with our hands. And the kids version of this pottery is made to “air-dry.” You leave it alone overnight and it hardens, no firing required!

If you Google, “how to fire clay” you will learn about the 3-steps to firing it. Step 1: The clay must be set aside to “bone-dry” to be ready for firing. If it is slightly damp when placed into a kiln to fire, it WILL explode. You can start a “candling” process to fire your pottery on low-heat to “dry it out” before firing to ensure it is dry. This process takes a few hours to overnight. Step 2: Bisque-firing. This turns the clay into ceramic. The kiln must be heated to a minimum of 1832*F/1000*C to make it hard, but porous. This is considered a “low-firing.” Depending on the type of clay you are working with, your pottery piece may “be starting it’s process to become mature.” Step 3: Glaze-firing. This is when pottery gets decorated with different finishes, textures and colors to serve it’s function. The glaze makes it waterproof. Normally pottery needs several layers. This firing is done at a slightly lower temperature than the bisque-firing to avoid impurities/imperfections to the glaze layer. Thanks Google. I also read how you can “single-fire” raw clay, but this is considered a “master technique.” It saves time and energy, but it not recommended for beginners.

I think about where this year has taken our family. Bit by bit “chunks” of life: Where are we in this “process”? Sometimes the mundane feels like we are just “spinning around and around.” Are we making any “progress forward?” Times of hardship and transition feel like a “firing.” Is this a first-firing or second? How long is this going to last? “How long must I endure this ____?”

But the heat/pressure/firing is necessary. It might be unfathomably hard to go through or imagine, but it’s necessary. There will be another side. We will be more mature and suited to our purpose and creation on the other side of it. There is going to be purpose and life ahead on the “other side.” God is The Master Potter. He has us in his hands. He’s got this! (So you don’t have to have it all figured out! Yay!). Time is irrelevant and different on His timing. He cares so much for us in the careful and deliberate process. He will not let us move ahead in any of the steps when we are not ready because He knows our intended purpose. We are not mistakes. Have you been inside a pottery shop? The ending creations are all unique and slightly different. It’s the corrected flaws and styles and slight imperfections that make each piece one-of-a-kind.

This Christmas, know that you are one-of-a-kind! Rest knowing that you are not forgotten or lost in the process! He has the finished creation of you in mind!

Thank you Lord for restarts, encouragement, correction and timing and all of it! We know that we can trust you! We know that you see the beginning, the process and the end. You will leave us better and more beautiful than we could imagine! You know that we will be prepared for what is coming. We know that we will be better on the other side of hard things. You see your work and you know that it is good. You are the good Father who lovingly shapes us! We can trust you!

We used a National Geographic Pottery Wheel for Kids. It was about $20. It came with plastic shaping tools (which we found were hard to use). We focused on keeping the clay wet with the included sponge. This set came with two packages of air-dry clay (no firing required). Great for a few uses and we decided that we like free-throwing the clay, instead of trying to use all of the included tools. (We are not being paid for this review, just our honest, initial thoughts.)

New Podcast is Up!

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Click on the episode links to your right-screen that will show you a list of our newest podcasts and content. 🙂

If I haven’t mentioned it before, we have a podcast on Spotify, Anchor and YouTube now up and running: “Team Carter Family Adventures” where we talk about pretty much everything, unscripted.

Have a listen and share in the conversation. We have special guests sometimes. Please email any comments or suggestions to teamcarterfamilyadventures@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening, liking, and subscribing!

A New Thing:

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

We are starting a podcast! David and I (and sometimes the kids) talk about our family adventures, our day-to-day life, dreams, musings, failures and such. We hope that you feel as though you were/are sitting on our couch in our living room with us, having a conversation. As always, we appreciate you being with us and hope that you click the link below to have a listen! Thanks, Team Carter Family

https://open.spotify.com/show/0EoAjTHUgMbApBYAHArUbL?si=L5WQ8SsuQAG0R-wQWvEiKg

We Are Building Something

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

We are in the process of building something great! I can’t fully articulate what that something is, but I can feel it! We can only see little pieces of the puzzle, but sometimes that is how God works. He only gives me “small bites” at a time. I will have to wait to get the bigger picture.

It was our dream to build a family together. We are doing it! It was our dream to work hard with our hands and to build a business. We (David) are doing it! My husband works so hard to provide for our family so that we can also fulfill a dream of me being able to stay at home with the kids. We are doing it! We also dreamed of being able to travel and go places as a family. Today we are doing it, together!

All we can say is “THANK YOU LORD!” Partnering with God will cost you something. It sometimes means laying down your own “good ideas.” Without God in your plans, they may just be good ideas. God saw our plans and dreams in mind when we got married 11 years ago. He wasn’t worried about changing our plans. They have looked a lot different than we ever could have planned. We trusted Him. We prayed A LOT. We made lots of sacrifices. We continued to follow His voice and obeyed what He told us to do, sometimes when it didn’t even seem logical. Example: we surrendered moving to a city where we knew we would have 1. a job already in place, 2. friends who moved there, 3. a church family and 4. nostalgia for the area (it wouldn’t be a “fresh move”, BUT God said “no.” So we didn’t. Because He told us to go somewhere else. And we followed.

And THAT decision friends, has been THE BEST decision for us! We have seen God bless that decision and give us favor upon favor for trusting Him. Thank you Lord!

What is God calling you to do today? For tomorrow? Can you trust Him? Absolutely, do it!

Praying for you that as you see how He begins to move in your life and confirm over and over again with what He is saying to you and your family, this year in 2021, that you would boldly follow wherever and however He leads you!

“Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Honored to be at the JCRE Mid-Year Awards Banquet

Overcoming a Foreboding Spirit (during a Pandemic)

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Do what, now?

I was recently telling a friend that I have this reoccurring thought, or string of thoughts based around fear. Saying them out loud sounded absolutely ridiculous. Yet that’s what this “what-if” scenario fear was —completely nonsensical and ridiculous. What was I afraid of ? “What if this happens?! What if THIS happens?!” “What would happen to my husband or family if this happened…” This friend told me, “That sounds like a tormenting spirit…like it’s tormenting you to be afraid of what is not true, or what will even happen to you.” When I asked her what she thought I should do, she spoke truth into my life that “Meditating on God’s Word, meditating on God’s truth…the truth WILL set you free!” Good word, friend!

“But no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged. Any accuser who takes you to court will be dismissed as a liar. This is what God’s servants can expect. I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best. God’s Decree.” -Isaiah 54:17- (MSG)

It wasn’t until later, when I was running at the gym that I was listening to a podcast and the speaker was mentioning about “the foreboding spirit of fear.” I didn’t know what “foreboding” meant. I had to go look it up! According to Dictionary.com, “foreboding” means: “fearful apprehension; a feeling that something bad will happen.”

Now I wasn’t necessarily saying these thoughts out loud over myself, but I felt gloomy thinking them. Kim Potter writes, “The goal of this spirit is to: make fear your guiding voice, steal your joy, remove your ability to live in joy and peace and prevent you from seeing a good future for you and your family.” Anyone ever dealt with this same thing? It put words to how I was feeling! You can read her thoughts entirely on this subject HERE.

So how did I get out of this gloomy funk? I kept digging into THE TRUTH about what God says of me, instead of listening to the lies that I thought were of me, but were far from the truth about me. They are just thoughts. I can take captive of my thoughts. I can repent for the things I have done, or the lies that I have believed. I can ask God to show me the truth about who I am. I can read His Word daily. I can be thankful. I can, I can, I CAN!

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” -Romans 12: 1-2 (MSG)

If you are like me and have dealt with these oppressive thoughts that are not your own, I would encourage you to pray, seek God, read His word daily, declare His truth over yourself, change some of your habits if He tells you to…and to know that He is FOR YOU. He is GOOD. He is A LOVING FATHER. He has YOUR BEST. He will never leave you. He has GOOD PLANS for you and YOUR FAMILY. THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Decree it! Love, Team Carter

” Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. -2 Corinthians 5:16-20- (MSG)

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” -Romans 8:26-28- (MSG)

“God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.” -Deuteronomy 31:8 – (MSG)

“None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” – Romans 8:38-39- (MSG)

“So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” -James 1:17-18- (MSG)

How God Moved Us Back to Rock Hill, South Carolina

On By Team Carter FamilyIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Where’s Rock Hill? The South Carolina side of Charlotte, NC. It is a charming small town, only thirty minutes from a booming metropolis.

We used to live here for a little over a year with family, when our first daughter was born. We were two weeks out of buying a house and settling down here. Then that deal fell through and we had to walk away. Turns out, God had other plans for us and told us to move to Charleston, SC. (For the third, yes third time).

Charleston was a good, growing season. We lived near family. Saw old friends. Made new friends. Probably the biggest transitions for us in this season was adding two more kids into our family and David started his career in real estate. That is a testimony to God of how someone with zero sales and marketing experience and zero real estate experience (but with the confidence that God told him to walk into it and with a determined attitude and work ethic). Out of hundreds of applicants, he was one of the few that got the job with Jeff Cook Real Estate. It was amazing to watch him (as his wife and cheerleader) to see him progress from zero to being a top producer in the company in three years. Three years. That’s favor from following what God told him to do!

We were thankful to have had that season in Charleston, but the last year and a half or so, we felt like transition was coming for our family. We could’t articulate the where or why because we couldn’t see it yet.

At first, a job opportunity with the same company opened up in the upstate of South Carolina. We really, really wanted to say “Yes!” We drove up there twice that year to drive around, pray and meet with friends who were already living up there. We had friends. We had a job opportunity waiting on us. We had a church picked out. We would be 45 minutes from the mountains and our beloved Clemson. And still we felt God saying, “No.”

So we didn’t.

Instead, we welcomed our son into the world. We did the newborn season again and were so sleep deprived and busy we couldn’t do much else. It was wonderfully hard. So we gave up the dream of living in Greenville. Just gave it up to God. At the same time, we also didn’t feel peace about putting down roots in Charleston. We were in this weird transition place.

Then David says to me one night, “That’s so weird that Greenville isn’t lining up! I don’t know what God is up to, but I want to go work for my friend (at JCRE) and get some experience from him, so that I can pitch it to the boss in a five or so years: “Hey man, I’ve got all of this managerial experience now. So can I open up a branch for you in Rock Hill?”

Fast forward a few months.

We are driving to Rock Hill for Thanksgiving 2018 and as we are pulling off of the interstate to go to David’s parent’s house, we get a phone call from Mr. Jeff Cook, himself. He says, “I’m thinking about opening up a branch in Rock Hill…and I want you to be the guy.” (something to that effect).

So he/we of course say “YES!” to that question. We didn’t have to really think about it. God blew up our plans and suddenly provided the answer. Suddenly, after three short years, David found himself in a management position. In the next few months he transferred offices to gain some experience as the assistant manager of a branch. While that was taking place, a family member in Rock Hill had an opportunity open up for us to rent their rental property. Of course, these things coincided with when Jeff was planning to launch the Rock Hill branch. This meant that we could all move together as a family.

It was such a suprise blessing to see all of the pieces quickly line up after we said “Yes!” to where our peace was. Point being: GOD WILL MAKE A WAY, even if there seems to be no way. Just keep seeking Him and He will deliver, in His time and you will be exactly where He wants you to be.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” -Jeremiah 29:11-12 NIV-

downtown Rock Hill at sunset (taken from the former JCRE Rock Hill Office, above Amelie’s) taken by yours truly

As an update, in Summer 2023, we are still growing and thriving in beautiful Rock Hill! How can we serve your family this year?

https://cartersellsthecarolinas.com/

New is Scary. Do It Anyway!

On By Team Carter FamilyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

He is making all things NEW.

New is different. New is scary. New is embracing change. New is exciting. New is “We’ve never been here before.” New is “Will this work out?” New is daring. New will never be the same. New is moving forward.

Since our last blog post (in woah, 2018! whoops…) there has been a lot of new going on around here.

New seasons. New job (same job, different place, different position). David is now the general manager of Jeff Cook Real Estate Company’s branch in Rock Hill. I will have to write about how God orchestrated all of that HERE (stay tuned) because it’s an awesome story of provision!

Watching the downtown Rock Hill Christmasville parade with the office, from the office 2019

Grady is now a toddler, running at full speed. Woah. I blinked and now the boy is 2! When people say, “the years go by so fast…” believe them, because it does.

In addition to a new job, new-ish town (things change so much in a short time-span of 5 years, but we are excited to be back in Rock Hill), new friendships and a new house! This house is so special and such a testimony to the Lord because it is the FIRST house we have ever bought. Ever. This house also fulfills a timely prophetic word that was given to us in May 2012, by Richard and Melanie Knight when they came to visit Charleston, South Carolina and it is spot-on what they told us so many years ago. Thank you for such encouragement back then Richard and Melanie! Here is the fruit of that word:

We closed Thanksgiving 2019

Then 2020 happened. That was all new. I don’t think I even have to cover what all has been going on there, but the Lord has given our family such PEACE. Peace over our home, relationship with neighbors, continuing friendships and for the first time in 20 years, ALL of David’s family is together again, all living in Rock Hill. For such a time as this.

So whatever your “NEW” is in this new, ever-changing, some would dare say crazy year we’ve had, step into it full-force! God will never leave you, or forsake you. He loves you, just where you are at. He sees you. He hears you. He’s not finished with you. He is faithful until the end!

” So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.” -Romans 8:28 (The Passion Translation)

And an added word of encouragement from Pastor Kris Vallottin: “and if it ain’t good, then He’s not finished with you yet!” (from a Bethel podcast sermon of the week).

We are rooting for you! Love, Team Carter

How can we help you buy or sell your home in South Carolina, or North Carolina? https://cartersellsthecarolinas.com