Tag: #rockhill

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/

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/

Meet “Pearl”, the new Team Carter Van!

On By David CarterIn Family Life, UncategorizedLeave a comment
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For six months give or take, our family had seriously been looking for another vehicle. My trusty 2001 Dodge Neon had surprised us all and has gotten me through ten years of awesomeness. We knew that eventually we would outgrow this car, but we really wanted to hear God in buying a newer car. Two weekends ago, we were driving up to Rock Hill to see family and on the way David and I both thought (but didn’t say it out loud to either of us) “Hmmm, this car is almost at 150K miles….I wonder if this can be it’s last leg?” We even drove around the dealerships, “just to look.” Then we felt totally called out on the whole thing and we were declaring all of the good things about my car because it is/was a great car. When we would look around for our new car, the timing (and money) never seemed to match up, so we kept patiently waiting. God was telling us “when you need a car, you will get a car.”

Ironically, coming home from Rock Hill, we did get in a wreck. Praise God that everyone was ok. Our girls slept through the whole thing and we had air-conditioning for the whole hour we waited for a ride and the tow-truck! (Later, the technician told us that the car’s AC was not working at all…hooray for supernatural AC in the Columbia heat!). The guy that we hit, who thankfully was ok as well (just some fender damage) was on his way to Ft. Jackson and he stayed with us until help arrived. His fatigues displayed his last name, “Blair.” David’s sister wonderfully gave us a ride to the rental car place and we were so grateful! We were thinking: “Ok God, we guess we REALLY need a car now….so you are going to have to show us one much sooner.”

We got a rental car through insurance to get us home, and my parents generously lent us one of their cars for the past two weeks. Then God creatively stepped in and we received an unexpected inheritance from my recently deceased grandmother that was totally unexpected. I really hope that God was able to tell her before she left to be with him (or else she is hearing about it now) that she was able to bless our family so much with what we had been needing and praying for! So the problem of not having a down payment for the car was solved in less than 48 hours after the accident! Wow, thanks Mimi!! We also had a generous gift given to us from family members to contribute to our future car (little did they know that we would use it in a few weeks) oh wait, it gets better:

So I am depositing that check into our account and I was doubting what it should be used for. I’ve never been given a check that big before and I was contemplating what else it could be used for, or stored up. Then the verse from Matthew 13:44 came to mind: “the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found. In his excitement, he buried it again and sold everything he had and bought that field.” Remember how the guy we hit, his name was “Blair”? I looked up what that name means and it means “field”. That was my confirmation that that money was specifically for our car! (cue my happy dance).

We prayed about what kind of car to get and David and I agreed we wanted a newer model. It didn’t have to be “brand new”, just newer than say 2008 (which is the year that VHS tapes officially died, y’all.) I kept hearing “white Honda Odyssey”. There are many Honda Odysseys for sale all over the internet webs, but we were “to wait for the one.” So we kept waiting and frustrating things were happening all around us. We had so much opposition this last week, it was CRAZY. But then we received a call that the 2014 white Honda Odyssey that we looked at online was available for us to look at, at Carmax (which was our first experience with them and it was awe-some!). We knew it was ours when we test-drove it. We named her “Pearl” because this van is a long-awaited treasure for us! (and Miriam thinks the van is a spaceship…)

This car was a huge lesson for us in patiently waiting and stewarding well what we had. It is repayment for things we had previously lost or given up. It is proof that God fights for us and truly wants to give us his best! I was listening to a podcast by Eric Johnson about “Kings Give to Kings” on the Bethel app and in it he was talking about living in abundance. “We give our best to God, so why don’t we expect the best from him? Abundance teaches us about the very heart of God and we don’t get to tell God when or how to stop blessing us…but we do have permission to ask for more.” (Seriously, so much good stuff in that podcast, I highly recommend it for a listen.) We contemplated just getting “a cheaper car that we could pay off instantly.” Perhaps that makes more “logical sense”, but instead He challenged us to not want just ANY car, but the most expensive brand out there! And we thought, “how can we afford the most expensive one?” but then he said it was a “future investment.” And we knew when we drove it, that it isn’t just what we needed, it’s everything we needed and everything we WANTED! Because He is like that friends! He really does want what is BEST for you! Be patient for it, but do what He says and it will be given to you!

**Update from 2023: We still LOVE this van! It is now named “Odysseus” because it has taken us on many an Odyssey! We’ve been across the Carolinas, up and down mountains and to the Grand Canyon and back in this thing and it has given us no complaints! **

Happy 1st Birthday Miriam!

On By David CarterIn KidsLeave a comment

These are late, but Miriam is 1 year old! We celebrated in style with a tea party. At her check-up she is 21 lb. 2 oz. (but grew 3 inches since her 9-month appointment). She likes to crawl and can stand-up and balance herself. She was hesitant about her birthday cupcake and in the end, prefered a cookie. But she loved her presents and she knew that everyone there was present to celebrate her (smart girl!). Mommy and Daddy love you so much Miriam! You are growing up into quite the little girl! We wrote down our predictions, blessings, and life-advice and our hopes for Miriam for when she turns 18 (in 2032!) and put them in a time-capsule envelope that she can open on 5/1/2032.

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“Tea Time!”

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“Um, is this it? Do I eat this?”

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“Ma, get it off me!”

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Playing “Pass the Parcel”

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Granny J won! (it was a tiara)

Miriam’s Birth Story: A Testimony of Grace and Goodness

On By David CarterIn KidsLeave a comment

I (Jen) was 41 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I wasn’t tired of being pregnant, but I was so ready to meetour sweet girl and waiting is very hard. I felt as if I tried everything on my part up until her debut. I went for long walks, rolled around and bounced on my yoga ball, ate an entire pineapple, tried accupressure….nada. Nothing was happening. Until the night of April 30th, when David suggested that I go have some “God time”, I locked myself in our room and put in headphones, blasted some Bethel tunes into my ears and danced around in worship. I hadn’t done that in a long time.

Well, God and I enjoyed worship together that night so much that I woke up May 1st at 2AM with contractions that I finally thought were “real”. I didn’t wake David up until 6AM to tell him. Our doctor’s appointment that day was at 8AM so we thought we would wait until then to find out for sure. I went in for Miriam’s stress test and once the doc checked me out she said, “Yep, it’s the real thing. You are at 4 cm. Go to the hospital.” So we checked into the hospital around 10AM.

Once at the hospital, we were given a rockstar of a nurse, Mandy. She made me feel as if we were in control of whatever we wanted to do. When she said that I was “the only one on the floor listed as wanted a natural birth” I told her that we were going to “wing it and see”. While worship music was playing, we carried on. She checked me out and said I was at 5 cm. Five hours go by and after doing everything I felt like I could handle, I asked to be checked again. …no change, still a 5. At this point, I was thinking “I’ve tried for 12 hours by myself…yep, that’s a good attempt.” I didn’t feel guilty at all for asking and thanked God for the person who created epidurals.

At 3:30PM, I got the epidural and didn’t feel anything anymore. So we waited. My water was broken for me which didn’t speed things up. Around 6PM or so we kicked in some Pitocin (which at this point, my thoughts are “Great. I can’t feel a thing. You might as well.”) Other than uncontrollable shaking like I had seizures, I was able to rest for a bit, talk to our other wonderful nurses (thanks Lisa and Pam) and joke around with David. Finally around 8:30PM or so they announce that I can start pushing.  So I pushed, for an hour and even with 2 assists from the vaccum, she wasn’t coming out. Miriam was fine, of course. Her heartbeat only dipped once and our other nurses couldn’t believe “what a happy baby we had, who was just too stubborn to come out.” I also wasn’t feeling any pain at all and the doctor and I were chatting about him planning a trip to Machu Picchu in between contractions.

When the words “I think we should do a C-section” came out of my doctor’s mouth, I started to cry (mostly due to being so tired, mostly due to crazy preggo hormones, mostly due to feeling scared). But David and I had already talked about that the only thing we wanted was a healthy and safe delivery of our baby girl. God was reassuring me throughout the 20ish hours of labor that “the end result would be joy” and that He was with us every step of the way. So we opted that she did come out, by C-section. The last thing I remember David saying to me before I was wheeled into the OR was “Jen, I think I lost the car keys.” (Don’t worry, we found them 2 days later).

Within 15 minutes, Miriam was born. She was perfect. We also found out (from David watching the last little bit) that my uterus is apparently heart-shaped, exactly like that of a Valentine’s card. The doctor said in his 15-something years of practice that he’s never seen that before. (We think that it’s God’s humor that he would surround her with love in every way…we just had no idea that meant literally). David got to cut her cord and once she was cleaned up and put on my chest, she smiled. They say babies can’t smile yet, but I know she smiled. She was and is so beautiful!

Today, Miriam is 3 weeks old and I’m tearing up as I think of all that went into bringing her into the world. I know that I couldn’t have done it without David by my side. He was amazing support through everything! He loves “his ladies” so well!!

We are also very thankful for all of the well-wishes and prayers that covered us before, during and after her birth. When asked, “would you do it again?” Absolutely, 1000%. We felt God’s presence in our labor and delivery room and there was so much peace around everything that had happened. God really took care of us with an amazing staff of doctor’s and nurses. I felt so much grace was extended to me, to us. God is so good and so faithful to entrust a daughter like her to us! We love you Miri-Bear so much!! You teach us so much about the unconditional love of the Father. Love, Mommy and Daddy.

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Y’all Come Back Now! (International Move Returning to the USA from Peru)

On By David CarterIn Family LifeLeave a comment

Hey family and friends!

Just wanted to give you an update as to what we have been up to over the past month of returning to the States, coming home to South Carolina, taking some “us” time, preparing for Miriam’s birthday and seeing family and friends. Our traveling schedule has been quite different this time coming home (as we can’t be as mobile as we would like to be), but we see confirmations everyday that it was the best decision for our family to come back to South Carolina.

For starters, the three plane rides home were an adventure all in itself. Our flight that left from Cusco was delayed for a few hours, so they waived our extra luggage fees. We were blessed to get an amazing deal with Delta airlines with first-class tickets from Lima to Atlanta and while we can’t say that we got the full “first-class experience” (who wants dinner at 1:45am?), sleeping for 5-6 hours straight was a blessing in itself. We didn’t care that the flight from Atlanta to Charlotte was delayed and freezing cold, we were just happy to get home with all of our luggage. We were surprised at the airport by David’s dad and some sweet friends who had a gift bag for Miriam. Our first meal on American soil was Bojangles.

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An update on all things Miriam: we got to the house and David’s parents and aunts had our room set up with nursery things. It really put our mind at ease to see all the furniture and the thought they put into “our family space.” We were also blessed by our family at Faith Baptist Church (in Swansea, SC) who gave us a baby shower one weekend. Miriam got so many beautiful clothes, afghans and diapers! The state of SC is paying for Miriam’s prenatal care and giving us a free birth with a great hospital (less than 5 minutes away from the house). Our team of OBs (the ones we have met so far) are all very nice and helpful and they have all said that Miriam is doing great–totally normal and healthy. Her due date was actually a bit off than what we previously had thought, so her new date is supposed to be April 22nd. (If she doesn’t come on that date, please refrain from asking me when she’s coming…I don’t know any more than you do 🙂 God said it will be “a surprise.”) Also, thanks to living at high altitude in Cusco for awhile, the docs say my hemoglobin levels are “off the charts, amazing.” Little elevation here makes me a bit of a super-human.

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Jen at 36 weeks

David and I have felt very encouraged to see family, to spend time with them and to catch up with friends this month. We can’t express how loved we felt (and still feel) from people and their generosity. We are thankful for your phone/Skype conversations, treating us to dinner or coffee, asking us what we need for Miriam, opening your homes to let us spend quality time with you, to let us talk for hours on end in English, ect. We really appreciate everything!

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seeing old friends and old waterfalls

As far as what God has been teaching us over the past month: we need to continue to trust him. He has proven over and over again how much he loves our family and how he wants to take care of us (see examples above). He provides even though the cost of living here is more expensive than what it was in Peru. He provides the desires of our hearts. So we can trust him for our future plans. We both feel like we are on the edge of discovering something BIG with our next steps, but we are still discerning exactly what that is and what that looks like. (Becoming parents is definitely a new, very BIG, adventure in itself and we feel that God will reveal more to our family after Miriam gets here). Until he gives us a clear picture of where our family is headed next, I (Jen) am going to be a stay-at-home mommy.

How can you be praying for us over the next few weeks, you ask?

1. For a smooth and easy delivery for Jen and Miriam (and David–as he is the pillar of emotional support). Team Carter is ready to go at 38 weeks…now we wait and see.

2. A job for David: he had an interview for a job in Charlotte last week and will hear in back in the coming week.