Tag: #familyadventures

Summer Road Trip 2024: “Motor City” and back again

This year’s epic summer road trip led us on many surprise adventures! We knew that we were going to see some fantastic friends along the way, but we also got a lot of surprise adventures in this road trip as well! Come along with us as we road trip from South Carolina, a stop in The Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, through Kentucky, a stop in Ohio and onto Detroit, Michigan and back!

We kicked off this trip with a familiar and place dear to our hearts: Maggie Valley, North Carolina. This trip we booked a night at The Rollingbrook Inn and enjoyed breakfast on the creek. We also took a familiar trip to Santa’s Land Theme Park and Zoo in Cherokee, North Carolina. Those people are like family, who recognize us year after year and you always go and feel like you have the whole park to yourself! (and most importantly, you have to put in your Christmas orders with the man in charge, Santa Claus). Santa’s Land is closed after Oct. 31st (you understand why…Christmas season and all), $27.67/person over 2 years old, opens mid-May – October, closed every Tuesday and Wednesday.

We had a stop over in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which is home to the famous Oak Ridge Lab of World War II and The American Museum of Science and Energy. The lab is still used today (but I’ve said too much already…plus the museum is the part open to the public unless you work there.) They did a great job of presenting “big science” and complex ideas about plutonium and splitting atoms for younger children to explore and they have lots of hands-on exhibits at the museum and live demonstrations about static electricity experiments. Adults and teens would also enjoy the history and reading behind all of the hands-on stations. Adult tickets were $10, kids ages 6-9 were $3, youth ages 10-17 were $5 for general admission.

Next, we traveled to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and stayed in Glasgow. There isn’t an entry fee to the park, but you do have to pay for the cave tours. We opted for the Discovery (self-guided) Tour, which was $12 for adults/$9 for kids. It took us 45 minutes to explore the cave rooms, including the famous “Rotunda” room and you could spend even longer in the Visitor’s Center reading about cave features and history. Mammoth Cave has over 600 miles of unexplored cave system and to date they have mapped about 420 miles! America’s (and the world’s) longest cave system was certainly impressive! Plus, no spelunking cave tours are required to see its grandeur!

We took a second day in Kentucky to see The Creation Museum, in Petersburg, Kentucky. This is a sister museum of The Ark Encounter, but since our time constraints only allowed for one museum, we chose this one as it was en route northbound. This museum has A LOT of reading, which we ran through most of the museum to catch up with our smallest who wanted to only see the dinosaurs (which are at the back of the museum). The animatronics of the museum are very cool. This museum makes a case for the Creationism theory, so the first part of the museum is making a Biblical worldview point (distinguished from over worldviews, such as evolution). There is a lot of history and more reading than we realized, but the highlights for us were the dinosaurs, the Noah exhibits (which covered some of what is at The Ark Encounter) and the 4D theatre experience of “Six Days.”

In Ohio, we stayed in Columbus for a night with our friends, the Lunas! It was fun to reconnect with them and we saw a lot of their favorite things around Columbus. We ate at The North Market (an indoor food court) with many food stalls and vendor shops. Upon their recommendation, we chose Serafino’s Pizza (so good!) We drove around the campus of The Ohio State University and explored Upper Arlington. We also spent the day at Olentangy Caverns in nearby Delaware, Ohio. Olentangy Caverns is a kid-friendly attraction park with self-guided cavern tours (about 30 minutes), a rock and gem shop, a treasure-hunt maze to get lost in, gem-mining, a petting zoo, mini-golf and museum. We opted for the all-access wristband ($27.99/adults, and $24.99/kids) that let’s you do all of the attractions (takes a few hours), or you can choose to do activities a la carte. Note: Olentangy Caverns shuts down November – March, but will reopen in Spring due to weather.

Hocking Hills State Park is also Ohio’s gem in the foothills! An immaculate state park, which is FREE to visit, with beautiful trails through the woods and a raptor rescue center to check out! The Grandma Gatewood Trail is also at this state park, but due to time, we opted for the easy Rim Trail and Old Man’s Cave Trail. The trail was partially paved and easy for families with small kids. The caves were a highlight to check out! The Visitor’s Center had a lot of nature info, aquariums and a riverbed with a cavern playscape to climb.

Coming up through Ohio, we also made a lunch stop at Maumee Bay State Park, near Toledo, Ohio. Maumee Bay State Park was also a free state park, with an inland pond/beach clearly marked by the shorebirds as bird-friendly only. There was another beach for public use that overlooked Lake Erie. We were advised by our friends to not swim at this park; however, there was one brave person out there swimming between the cove. There are many paved walking and biking trails here and plenty of picnic shelters and spots to relax. We opted for lunch at a pavilion and some beach time to play in the sand and run around before getting in the car again to head towards Detroit.

By the time we got to Detroit, we knew we were going to love it! The old, Gothem-style architecture, where art-deco meets new was very cool! This trip would not have been nearly as much fun if we didn’t get to stay and hang out with our friends, The Coffmans! They really took care of us around the city (thanks for helping us re-park downtown to avoid that parking ticket) and show us your favorite things about your city. Even if you all forgot you moved this year and gave us your old address, so some random person’s Ring camera in Detroit has a very confused Jen Carter on it one summer afternoon wondering why Mrs. Coffman wasn’t coming to the door. However, once we found your current home (which is a beautiful Detroit-style masterpiece by the way), you showed us a wonderful time with eating Detroit-style pizza (they claim that Jet’s Pizza, is the BEST).

We explored The Eastern Market, which is America’s largest flower market and is in the “Top 3” largest farmer’s markets in the U.S. and has an abundance of food stalls, flowers, vendors and street performers to check out on a Saturday. We want to give a shout out to Josh and the folks over at Anthology Coffee (around the block from the Eastern Market) for making such good Nitro-brew coffee tonics on such a hot day! Thank you. Also get a homemade popsicle from inside the Farmer’s Market, totally worth it.

Now, legend has it, that there are two competing hot-dog restaurants located side-by-side in downtown Detroit. So the next day, we knew that would be our lunch spot. Prepare to pay about $2.35 for a plain hotdog at Lafayette’s Coney Island. The price is the same at American Coney Island next door. Expect to pay more if you want toppings or a side of chili cheese fries to go with it and a drink. So which one is better? You will have to go and try them both to decide for yourself! These are also fighting words depending on who you talk to, so we will let you decide for yourself (although we favored Lafayette’s if you are comparing a chili cheese coney as your test subject. There are many factors we could judge on, but we were trying to just go with one food item.) Watch the video to see why.

We also took a tour with our friends to some of Detroit’s famous buildings to learn a little bit of state history and city history. The newly renovated Grand Central Station was massive and had a quickly moving line to enter. The kids loved the Lego display inside and we enjoyed the greenway. We also loved touring The Guardian Building to walk off all of those hot dogs and the kids LOVED the Detroit People Mover. All of these things (except lunch) were free things to do in Detroit with kids!

We are very grateful for our friends, both The Lunas and The Coffmans, for having us and for your hospitality and friendship! It was so good to see you!

On our way home, back through Ohio, we stopped for a free picnic at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Brandywine Falls is a beautiful and easy hike (mostly on paved trail or boardwalks). There were plenty of biking and hiking trails here and the kids enjoyed the Visitor’s Center (and ice-cream) near the bridge and old buildings. This national park makes you feel so “far away” even though you are very close to big cities.

Passing back through Kentucky, we stopped at The Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln’s National Historic Park. We are almost certain there was an episode from “The West Wing” where the characters are arguing over “What is on the mantlepiece of Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home?” and the characters go into debate mode because there are many boyhood homes of Lincoln. Which one? Well we made it to two: his birthplace home and his boyhood home. We also love that the nearby township is all Abe Lincoln themed and that was neat to see, along with learning some history along the way.

We also wanted to make one last stop in West Virginia on our way home. We chose the beautiful scenic route through Pocohauntus County to check out the silent town of Green Bank, home of the famous Green Bank Observatory and the world’s largest steerable telescope! Be prepared to have zero Wifi or cell service as the town forbids all of it, as to not interfere with the telescope. We enjoyed the observatory and just opted for the free museum exhibit hall. You will pay $10/person if you opt for an additional bus tour.

All in all, this was one of our cheaper road trips to take for the summer and we would highly recommend doing things in the Midwest USA. We realize we did a lot of cave tours this time and have no regrets, except that if we had more time in Kentucky, people say that The Gorge/Crystal Cave underground kayak tour is supposed to be amazing! Until next adventure, thank you for joining us on our Midwestern Roadtrip in 2024!

On By David CarterIn Family LifeLeave a comment

We Are Off To Niagara Falls!

In the Summer of 2023, we set off from South Carolina to head North to Niagara Falls! Well, actually, we had some dear friends, The Enslows who moved back to Dryden, New York that we had to see as well! They were the pinnacle of the trip and while we were up there visiting them, they said, “Well you know, Niagara Falls is ONLY a few hours away…” so we took them up on it!

This led to our beautiful road trip where we ended up doing even more than we had anticipated and so we tagged on the beginning of our homeschool year with this adventure. Buckle up!

Days 1-4 Washington D.C.

We spent the first few days of our trip squeezing in as much of the free Smithsonian Museums and free things to do with kids in Washington D.C.! We stayed in a comfortable AirBnB in the Shaw neighborhood and opted to walk the few miles everyday (at least one-way, walk around all day and then Uber back “home”). The location was great because it was a mile to Chinatown, the National Mall, and only a mile or so more to the Museum of Natural History, The National Air and Space Museum, The National Botanic Garden and close to food trucks and local parks. We also appreciated the free parking at this neighborhood that did allow us easy access to the car everyday. We would stay there again if we visit DC. There are so many cool spots that we know we missed only having a short time so we plan on coming back here to explore more!

Days 4-6 Delaware! (Dela-where?)

All jokes aside, we drove to northern Delaware to meet up with former coworker and friend, Julia and her beautiful family! Julia and her husband Chris are in the crabbing business, which runs throughout most of the year on the Chesapeake Bay, when they are not teaching and working. It is also important to note that Chris is also an accomplished chef and he generously treated us to a crab pot. The kids were intrigued and he demonstrated how he layers the crabs with a secret blend of spices (like you would layer a lasagna) and steam them. Once they were cooked, he patiently taught us how to “pick” (eat) a crab. They were indeed the BEST (no exaggeration) crabs that we have ever eaten! Julia and Emma also took us to a fun state park, just up the road from where they live: Killens Pond State Park! This park had a herpetarium and Nature Center, lots of biking and walking trails and water activities.

Day 6-7 Gettysburg and Williamsport, Pennsylvania

After we left Delaware, we drove to Gettysburg, PA to visit the National Battlefield and listened to Jonny Cash’s version of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “Gettysburg Address” speech. We found the South Carolina memorial and got our stamp at the Visitor’s Center. The kids will probably remember it being very hot and “there’s nothing here but corn fields.” (But the corn fields are it, where in one day of battle, it was the bloodiest day in US History, on American soil and became the turning point of the Civil War.) After the somber drive through Gettysburg, we drove through Harrisburg and landed in Williamsport for dinner. We ate at a pizza shop on the downtown main street and there also happened to be the inagural parade for the Little League World Series. The Grand Slam parade featured baseball teams from regions across the US as well as hosted teams from other countries. They do parades very well here in Pennsylvania. 18-wheeler trucks passed out cases of Pepsi products and a chip truck passed out entire bags of chips and all the floats had some sort of candy or prize on board that they gladly threw at bystanders.

Days 8-10 Dryden and Ithaca, New York

Spending time with our friends was amazing! It was an honor to meet Bill’s parents, Heather and Bill’s kids (whom we hadn’t met in SC) and to see the sights around their hometown. Buttermilk Falls is their favorite falls in the area and was a nice hike for the kids. We also visited an indoor playground and recreation center in nearby Lansing, NY. Enslows, your hospitality was amazing and we are so grateful for all of you and for showing us around “gorges” Upstate New York!

Days 10-12 Niagara Falls, New York

We stayed at a cheaper hotel because of it’s proximity to the Falls. Driving up to Niagara Falls State Park is really exciting because the rapids in the river are huge! We stopped on the Goat Island pedestrian bridge to watch. We explored the top of American Falls and walked the walking/bike path to Hennepin View and the trails that led to the Powerhouse and Discovery Center (which was seasonally closed). We rode the trolley back to the main parking area. The next morning, we got up, bought sweatshirts (it was that cold in August!) and went to Terrapin Point, where we saw rainbows and beautiful views. Then we toured Cave of the Winds (no line in the morning) where we walked under the spray of Bridal Veil Falls! We had lunch and stood in the afternoon line for Maid of the Mist boat ride up to the base of all three falls: American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls (which belongs to Canada). Note: if you are towards the back of the line, they fill the bottom of the boats first, so we ended up getting to ride on the top of the boat to catch all the views (and all the water!) Even though we opted to not visit Canada on this trip, we really felt like we were able to enjoy all the things we wanted to do.

Days 11-12 Harper’s Ferry and Beckley, West Virginia

On the way home, we made stops to Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park and hiked to St. Peter’s Church and up to Jefferson’s Rock. This is also on the Appalachian Trail, so naturally we had to also visit the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters. This is the mental “half-way” point on the AT. They say, if you can make it here, in either direction, you should keep going. (The physical halfway point is Pine Furnace, Pennsylvania). Miriam got herself an AT shirt and some white-blazed earrings. They have a kids area to play in an AT shelter/play structure and to learn about different hikers who built, preserved and crushed goals on the longest footpath in the US. If you are a hiker and stop in, they have a hiker lounge with free wi-fi, resupply and shuttle services.)

On the way home to continue to stretch our legs and get out of the car, we stumbled upon the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. This was the coolest stop-over, where we ended up spending three hours exploring and got a tour. The tour goes inside an old mine (which is open for teaching purposes only) and the tours are conducted by volunteers who used to work underground. Our tour guide, Mike, was excellent! He was full of knowledge and stories and did a great job explaining everything to kids and adults. He made the journey so much fun! Your entrance fee also gives you access to the Coal Miner’s Museum and the Appalachian Mountain Home Museum, AND a hands-on Kid’s Museum which has animation and film themes. After this experience, we headed on home; tired, yet so full of all we saw and experienced! As always, it’s the people that make these trips so worth it! And we are grateful for our friends who hosted us, as well as the new friends we made along the way!

On By David CarterIn Family LifeLeave a comment

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?

New Podcast is Up!

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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!

Holding Onto The Future Promises of Our Children To-Be

On By David CarterIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Back in 2013, I (Jen) was walking down our street; Avenida 5, in our neighborhood of Larapa, in Cusco, Peru. I can remember that it was sunny outside. I can remember that I was walking in the direction from our house, towards the shops and the main road. Our entire street was a steep decline, from the our house towards the main road. In Cusco, many of the “hills” seemed like mountains to walk up, especially when you are a beach native. I can remember dodging the holes and cracks in the sidewalk, stepping around trash and being careful where I planted my feet. I can also remember being newly pregnant, because the smell of empanadas and someone cooking lunch was overpowering. Then I felt like the small voice of the Holy Spirit say to me, “You will have sons.” “What?! Really? Ok. Wow.” God speaks on ordinary days. I can’t remember anything else out of the ordinary that happened that day, but I remember journaling those words. I hid those words for later.

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Avendia 5, Larapa, Cusco

We were so surprised in January 2014, when we found out Miriam was our first daughter! Now, don’t think for a minute that we were ever “disappointed” in her gender reveal. Years before, in 2010, David and I were newly engaged. God had spoken to both of us, through visions, prophetic words, through the gift of an art piece from a friend at Clemson DCF, and the general desire in our hearts for a daughter.  We just had no idea that God had saved all of those beautiful things for 2014! And He surprised us again in 2016 with Ellenor! He gave us not one, but TWO spectacular,  independent, beautiful daughters! That’s how good my God is…He gives out double portions when you ask!

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Prophetic Art by Paul Shotsberger (Clemson DCF – 2010)

So this pregnancy, we wanted to find out the baby’s gender, but also be surprised ourselves. At Ellenor’s gender reveal party, I let it slip to some of the guests early…hey, it’s really hard to not say “she” and “her” when you already know who that little person inside you is! So this time, we were sneaky.

The ultrasound tech in my OB’s office was very careful and changed up her wording of “he” and “she” during the scan. She told us to “not read into what she was saying, because she would do baby’s downstairs parts last.” We closed our eyes and she didn’t say anything. When she printed off the ultrasound pictures, she held back the ones that revealed the gender. Then, only Mrs. Beverly, the ultrasound technician, knew what we were having! She gave David the “secret envelope” and my good friend, Jen, met us in the parking lot to pass off the envelope. Then Jen Helmer was entrusted with the job to tell the Harris Teeter balloon guy to fill up the box we gave her with pink or blue balloons, depending on the contents of the envelope. Jen was gone for a few hours, she came back to our house and dropped off the box. We took the box over to my parent’s house and had dinner with them, my brothers and my future sister-in-law. After dinner, we FaceTimed David’s parents and did a Facebook Live video so that our other family members and friends could be a part of the action. Then, Team Carter, ripped into the box and were so surprised when BLUE balloons came out! WE ARE HAVING A BOY! It was such a surprise to not even know beforehand, but everyone, including our girls, are so excited about having a little boy in the house!

My mind went back to that day in Peru when God spoke to me in the quiet. I’m so glad that I can go back and read those words. It was a “future promise” to me and I had just stuck it in a box and put it away on a shelf and forgotten all about it. Until He reminded me that He really does deliver on what He promises. God doesn’t promise you something and take it back. He doesn’t taunt you with the desires of your heart and then snatch it away, leaving you feeling cheated and gullible. (*Sidenote: this is how I feel every time Ellenor offers me one of her Goldfish crackers and then she snatches it away right before I get to eat it out of her hand. She finds it hilarious. I am cheated out of tasty Goldfish.) But that is not Father God’s heart. He loves to give us gifts; gifts that are so unique to each of us, as individuals, because that’s how He created us to be.

It’s like that song, “Yes and Amen,” by Housefires:

“Father of kindness / You have poured out of grace / You brought me out of darkness

 You have filled me with peace / Giver of mercy / You’re my help in time of need / Lord I can’t help but sing

Faithful, you are / Faithful, forever, you will be / Faithful, you are / All your promises are Yes and Amen / All your promises are Yes and Amen //…”

We are so thankful for this gift, of our son, who we are naming, Grady David Carter! Grady, is an old, family name from David’s side of the family. David, after his Daddy and his dad. His name means “noble, beloved.” He is going to be full of joy, a gentle warrior, and the perfect addition to Team Carter! We can’t wait to meet you, Grady!!

Grady Baby
This is the profile pic of Grady

 

Traveling to Awaken the Dawn 2017 Event in Washington D.C. – Testimonies and Recap

On By David CarterIn Uncategorized1 Comment

atd
photo courtesy of Awaken The Dawn Facebook page

They called it the “Holy Spirit Woodstock.” It has been 50 years since the 1967 Woodstock gathering. On Oct.6-9, 2017,  57 tents were set up on the National Mall, for day and night, 24/7, worship and prayer, to see what God will do in our nation, if we ask. We worshipped, we prayed, we cried out. We repented, we reconciled, we celebrated. We did this simply because we love God and believe that He is good. And He has good things in store for our lives, our families, our cities and our nation. The best is YET to come!

This weekend was significant because “it was also the 20th anniversary of Promise Keepers; an event where a million Christian men had gathered on the Mall to pray for revival in America. This weekend gathering also happened during the Feast of Tabernacles when all of Israel was gathering to their nation’s capital in tents! Succat Hallel in Jerusalem was doing a tent gathering in Israel during the same dates.” You can read the entire Awaken The Dawn story and more about how God aligned this historic weekend and vision here.

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photo courtesy of Erin Connor

Once I had heard about this event through Facebook, and again at Morningstar’s Wild Love 2017 conference, I knew that I had to go. I was able to find a flight up to DC a few weeks before and even found a wonderful (and cheap) hostel to stay at, that was minutes away from the Mall. I traveled by myself, but met up with my two friends from Charleston, Karen and Erin. They both bought tickets a few days before the trip and two female beds opened up at the hostel as they were on the phone with them. The Lord provided a nice weekend trip for under $300 each! There was so much favor given to us all weekend! The whole 48-72 hours that I was in DC was amazing and I will try to “give you the highlights”. Thank you to friends and family back home who were praying for this event and also for “coming alongside me” via Facebook Live videos.

These were some testimonies that were reported by the ATD founder, David Bradshaw, on the night of 10/8/17:

  • Over 750 people were sent out to do outreach in the city, and in one group, they offered Jesus to 19 people and those 19 people made a decision to pray and accept a personal relationship with Jesus!
  • At Dupont Circle, a man had bad vision and a team prayed for his eyes. After the first time, his vision increased by 50%. The second time they prayed, he said it was up to 90%. The 3rd time, he was 100% healed and could see perfectly!
  • A man who had had brain surgery years ago and because of it, he had limited muscle movement. He hadn’t been able to do a push-up in over 30 years. After prayer he did several reps!
  • On 14th street, a woman was selling ice-cream out of a food truck. She led 53 people to Jesus from her truck (in addition to selling them ice-cream)!
  • A Muslim family was visiting the Mall from another country and they told one of the ATD volunteers, “This is the most beautiful and real expression of worship we have ever seen. What is going on?” (and they stuck around for awhile).

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photo courtesy of Erin Connor, my friends (old and new): Karen Tetrev, Karen Deloach, me with Grady and Gladys 

A few personal testimonies that impacted me over the weekend:

  • A bunch of people at our hostel where also here for ATD and people were sharing their experiences with God and praying for new friends they just met at breakfast.
  • Our 2 lovely roommates were from Argentina and the 4-5 of us that were experiencing ATD got to spend an hour and a half with them just sharing what God has done in our lives, speak prophetically over their lives and pray with them. Seeds were planted because they have traveled a lot and met a lot of people, but we spoke beautiful words into their lives.
  • It was encouraging to see just about every denomination at this event, where people were truly united because of Christ! People were so friendly and hospitable and there was an atmosphere of peace, love and genuineness. I asked a friend who lives and works in DC if this was normal for the culture of DC and she said “No.”
  • We caught up with old friends from Camp St. Christopher (Elaina who lives in PA and Bethany and TJ Fleming who now live in DC) and it was wonderful to reconnect!
  • At one point during worship, the words were something like “God blowing like a mighty wind” (honestly, I was pretty lost in worship to be reading words off a screen) but a huge wind kicked up and many people felt this swirling wind around them (the wind was blowing around each person) and then it would stop. And start up again at various intervals during corporate worship. It was amazing!
  • Strangers were asking for forgiveness from strangers. Reconciliation happened between blacks and whites as we cried out for forgiveness on racial tensions and issues and white privilege. (Dr. Alveda King and Cindy Jacobs led this portion of one of the gatherings and it was so powerful!)
  • We met a bunch of amazing people, but Karen, Erin and I felt like “long term friendships” were going to be made with our new friends, Julie and Lauretta.
  • A woman tripped in front of us in the line for the food trucks and she was crying and said she twisted her knee. The few of us around her prayed for her knee and after the first time she was able to sit up. The second time she was assisted to her feet. We prayed a third time and I asked her if it was 100%, she said “well, you should pray again.” I told her it was “no problem.” After the 4th time, she walked away pain free!
  • Lots of words were spoken over my life about “writing.” I wouldn’t consider myself a “writer”, nor do I know what I will write about, but I’m claiming it as a future promise over my life and am trying to discipline myself to write everyday (even if it’s just personal journaling).
  • Karen, Erin and I were traveling on the subway at night. We were the only ones in the subway train car. I was talking with them about a dear friend who has breast cancer and needs healing and felt led to pray in the car right then and there. Right after we prayed, the subway car started shaking up and down (as if we were going over rocks or bumps in the road). Our ride had been smooth up until this point and there was a literal shaking after that prayer for about 10-15 seconds. We believe our friend will be healed/is in process of being healed.
  • Karen, Erin and I missed our flight (the last flight out, home) and our check-in attendant, pulled some strings and waived the change-of-flight fee (saved us around $80 each) and then hands us a hotel coupon and tells us to pick the cheapest one. We were told for 3 people it was $69 (which split 3 ways was cheaper than our hostel!) and so we joked it was going to be a run-down motel (at this point, we truly didn’t care) and we pull up to the swanky, Westin Hotel (which should have been around $220/night) and we were able to take hot showers, get some sleep and even grab some complimentary Starbucks coffee! It turned out to be such a blessing!
  • THEN, the next morning at the airport, we thought we saw Randy Clark  in the airport. We had seen about 20 doppelgangers all weekend from home, who we thought were at the event, but in fact they were just their look-alikes. So we assumed it was just a guy that looked like him. So we go to the bathroom, so that we have to pass by his section to double check and his personal assistant walks right up to Karen and confirms that it is the Randy Clark. So we go over and introduce ourselves and because he looked tired (he said he was coming back from a crusade in Brazil), we asked him “What is some advice you could give us?” and he replied, “just keep loving God, keep listening to Him and keep loving others.” (Essentially, we were just commissioned by Randy Clark!)

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photo courtesy of Erin Connor, it was an honor for Karen and I (and Erin) to meet Randy Clark and his assistant as they were coming back from a crusade in Brazil

  • We get to board the plane and although I booked my seats a few months ahead, my seat buddies were Karen and Erin! We thought that was hilarious and we know it means we will be working together at some point and I’m thankful for my relationship with these women!

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Hostels are so much fun! Thanks Hostel International DC!

**I am so grateful for the opportunity to go on a somewhat last minute trip like this. Massive kudos goes out to my hero of a husband, David, who single-handedly made sure our girls were well taken care of, fed and showered while I was gone. I am so thankful that he encouraged me to go.  Also thank you to Granny and Gramps who helped out when David had to be at work. I don’t know what I would do without you! I think that God and I still need to process the work He did in me at this event, but for now, I was glad to be a part of the definite shift that happened in DC.

People were asking, “can we do this next year?!” Oh yeah! The vision for 2018 is to have all 50 state capitals having 24/7 worship and prayer and this time they want to be in partnership with state universities to run it. Get ready Columbia, SC, we are coming for you next year—the whole family! Join Tent America to find out more info.

Keep Dreaming and Go After It – Our First Experience with Fostering

On By David CarterIn Uncategorized1 Comment

 

Keep dreaming. It’s what brings you life. Even when your dreams take detours; keep seeking God’s direction and peace in dreaming and go after it!

Team Carter dreams of adopting one day. Adoption is something that has been on our hearts since before we were married. We wanted (and still want) lots of kids and our hope is that they are a combination of biological and adopted children to complete our family.

We are not pursuing this because we are seeking affirmation from people. Please save your “bless your heart” comments.  It’s not about us rescuing a child, as if he or she is a puppy from the pound. These are our future children we are talking about. We really believe that our children are out there and when the timing is right, they will join our family forever. To us, they are worth fighting for–to keep dreaming for.

Since October 2016, I had been getting lots of words in my time alone with God to research adoption. Key word: “research.” Not necessarily, “do it.” That’s really hard, when you believe that you are called to do something long-term, but have to take baby-steps, when your heart wants to sprint that marathon.  I started researching adoptions, both domestic and international. Something even came up that we never expected to be interested in: foster care.

We know there are so many “what ifs.” There are so many misconceptions surrounding foster care and adopting children. But the more we learned, the more we wanted to pursue it. We have friends who are currently fostering long-term and short-term placements. We have friends who have recently adopted (both internationally and in the States). We have friends who are in the grueling process of waiting to adopt their children. And we champion them all! We are watching friends battling a broken system. We are watching families, who pour out so much love and time, and they are rejected. We hear that there is an overwhelming need. We think, “What can we do to help?” “Why us?” Why not us.

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Do you ever go into a bookstore and the titles seem to jump out at you? This one found me in the clearance section and I felt God say “buy it!” (Photo courtesy of Pinterest)

The program we were applying for stated, “We are not about finding a child for every home, we are finding forever families for children.” The goal for fostering in our state is always reunification with the birth family if possible. Meaning, your intentions of hoping to adopt children in foster care may, or may not happen. It seemed, as we learned more about our state standards that adopting, or accepting a long-term foster care placement (to hopefully adopt them in the future), seemed just as miraculous if we were to become licensed and approved to be matched with a child, or children — just as miraculous as it would to become pregnant with more biological children!

For awhile, it seemed we were making progress. We attended an informational meeting on adopting and fostering in the Spring. In the following month, I had three confirmations of friends or situations that arose that pointed me to the exact same program that we had been looking into. We were communicating with a case worker and were filling out two mountains of paperwork. We had physicals done, background checks and fingerprinting and even had the support from our immediate families. The light was green.

And then, it turned red.

Over the next few months, it became harder and harder. We wondered how much of it was hard, just because people admit that it is hard, or if it was truly a “closed door.” The final test was if we were going to be able to proceed because of our volunteer work in foreign countries. *If this helps anyone, if you were on a “tourist visa” and never had an identification number assigned to you (ie: a work visa), proving that they can track your “outstanding good citizen records”, then DON’T say you ever “lived” in that country. As a tourist, you are technically “passing through” and you don’t need to claim residency there.* As volunteers, we never “existed” in any sort of formal way with foreign governments. We even got our supervisor to write an email saying that we were of good standing and didn’t have any trouble while abroad. It wasn’t good enough. I was so anxious about the whole thing, but it was totally out of our control. Both governments were not going to write anything about two tourists, on a government letterhead, translate it into English, and mail it back to the US; short of us returning abroad to do it in person (if that).

We have learned so much in this process. We learned more about our family, what we can handle right now and what we can’t. David and I had to communicate more than before about what situations we would be comfortable with. I think we were even trying to compromise in ways to make us fit into a category to be accepted. We discovered more about David’s health, so we have changed the way our family eats. We have been doing no dairy and more vegetarian meals. We grieved for awhile that things became out of our control and that we did not wish to continue until we were sure we were qualified to do so. We talked. We prayed. We communicated to close friends and family.

And then came our answer: we found out we are pregnant with #3!

With a pregnancy, if you are in the process of fostering or adopting, we automatically go on a “wait list” for a year and nine months in order for you to bond with your biological baby before you continue with the program.

Wow! We always said we wanted more children, no matter how they came to us, and for right now, that means another child biologically! We didn’t have long to grieve, because this child has brought so much joy and love into our lives already! Praise God!

So we will have to wait and see what the future holds with our adoption dream, but for now we are going to enjoy the adventure we have been given!

 

 

 

 

 

2017: The Year of Breakthrough

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Have you also felt, like God is trying to do something new this year?

Google defines “new” as: “1. not existing before; made, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time. 2. already existing but seen, experienced, or acquired recently or now for the first time.”

New is creative. New is scary. New is exciting. New is nervousness. New is unexpected. New is rejected by some. New is discovering untapped potential. New was “already existing on a shelf,” but is now coming to use. New is a different approach. New is in transition. New is messy and chaotic. New is hope. New is life.

So many new things have happened this year, in our lives, in other’s lives and in the world around us. Trump became the 45th President of the United States. That’s new. Clemson University (our alma mater) won the 2016 National Championship in college football (they won in 1981…35 years ago!), but it feels new for us, the millennial generation. David (my husband) started a new job, with an entirely new skill-set, with new opportunities and relationships. New. We have New Year’s resolutions every year that we hope to keep up past February…

So when several (much wiser) people have declared this year, 2017, the year of breakthrough (which by definition means: “a sudden, dramatic important discovery” and “an instance of achieving success in a particular sphere or activity”) breakthrough is NEW. It will not always look like sunshine and daisies. It may not look like advancement from your vantage point. If you don’t like the perspective from where you are sitting–change. Change is hard by human nature. But if we don’t change, how can we make room in ourselves for something new? If you didn’t need any newness in your life, then you could stay the same, but part of you dies when nothing new is being created. If nothing new is happening, a part of you is dying. Because you have lost the ability to dream.  Complacency is wonderful until it becomes terrifying. Don’t let part of you shrivel up because you caved-in to fear. Don’t let fear dictate who you are and what you are supposed to do (or not do). (Part of this I may be taking from a Kris Vallotton message…shout out Kris Vallotton, but my “mommy brain” makes it hard to remember sometimes.)

Don’t be afraid of what is new. New directions. New callings. New adventures. New opportunities. New lives. New dreams. New year. New you.

I’ll jump with you.

 

 

Catching Up with Ellenor

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Although Mommy has neglected this blog for such a long time; neglecting you, sweet Ellenor, I have not.

Ellenor is a bright, ray of sunshine! She has grown into her big personality, much like her long, dark hair that keeps growing. It is getting slightly lighter/more red in the sun. Ellenor likes to flap her arms. She likes to “grrrr” and “ahhh” and say “hey”, “mama”, “wawa” (water), “bbbbbuh” (she wants Mommy’s milk, or bed), and “oooo”.

At her 9 month check-up she weighs 17 lbs. 4 oz. Her weight is in the 25%, but her height is in the 50% for her age and she has always had a large head (trying to keep up with all that hair). She gets TONS of comments about how pretty she is with her dark hair and blue eyes. She has always been interested in food. She is not a picky eater and eats anything we do. We call her “2-egg Oh-nor” (because she eats 2 scrambled eggs every morning) and usually an applesauce or Nutri-grain bar with it. David comments that this is approximately his breakfast size. I’m convinced that she could eat an entire All-Star Breakfast at Waffle House if she chooses. She likes those applesauce and fruit-blends “on the go” in those squeeze pouches as well as eggs, cooked veggies and mandarin oranges and bananas.

If Ellenor could jump up and run, she would. She is interested in EVERYTHING Miriam does. She is a proud little sister to sit next to M in the double stroller that we were gifted. She has taken an interest with other babies and enjoys her playdates with Gabe, Ruby, Evy (even though Evy is claimed by Miriam) and Natalie. She can “rock” back and forth in the crawling position, although she has not mastered crawling. She likes to test the waters of standing up, but cannot pull up yet. She does like sitting up (since about 6 months) and can scoot around on her bum or lean all the way forward in a split to shimmy around. This month she outgrew her LulaGo Bassinet (the greatest travel bassinet there is, in my opinion) and we put her in the crib, in Miriam’s room. They are great roommates (although Ellenor sleeps in the office/guest room for afternoon naps so that Miriam can have “Miriam time”).

She really loves that she is “a big kid baby” now and can look around, sit up and now trying to be mobile to be a part of whatever we are doing. She still loves the baby carrier and the stroller and loves car rides as long as Miriam is back there with her. She loves being around people she knows and as long as she’s fed, she smiles and talks a lot. She loves to travel with us, as a family. We’ve been to the year-round indoor pool (W.L. Stephens Pool) THREE times now and she takes to water like a fish. We have taken her to the mountain house with Grammy and Pops and enjoyed Santa’s Land. We have gone to Rock Hill a few times. We have gone to stay in a cabin at Lake Jocassee. And she loves being outside (as long as we are there of course).

We love you so much Ellenor! You are becoming such a sweet little girl. When Mommy packed up the bassinet for the final time this week, I cried a little. When did you get SO big? You have Daddy and I wrapped around your finger (and Miriam too, although Miriam is the bossy boss, right now).

ellenor5months

Moving On Up – Starting a Career in Real Estate

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Maybe you’ve seen these ads if you live anywhere near Charleston County:

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(Photo courtesy of Charleston City Paper)

Want to hear a joke? The upcoming election. (Bad joke, I know…)

Know what’s not a joke? David has accepted a job with Jeff Cook Real Estate!

This is is truly an opportunity from God for David to step into something so new, for himself and for our family. He has the opportunity to work with an awesome team of people and to do something so different from before. We are seeing the hand of God move as we are trusting Him with timing, a new career, our finances (now being paid on commission). We are praying for open doors in business, in God encounters on the job, in new relationships and we eagerly ask for more of what God has for us in this new transition.

So to our dear friends in Canada, we are sorry to report that at this time we are not moving to your great country…but we are going to stick around the US and continue to make Charleston, South Carolina great place to live.

An update in Summer 2023: We have moved to Rock Hill, South Carolina and are still with this great real estate company! You can read about how that transition went for our family HERE. How can we serve your family in South Carolina AND North Carolina? https://cartersellsthecarolinas.com/