Keeping Up With the Smiths: 13,000 miles of our life

So, we've been very MIA on the blog and so I figured the best way to show why would be a map of all of our travels these past 5 months. Halfway into mapping our travels I ran out of destinations on google maps so I had to improphize to show the journey just not how many times we took it or our stops in between points. Since Christmas we have put over 13,000 miles on our car and this is what that looks like....

So, now I think you will know why my blogging opportunities have been slim, ha. I will have to say that as much as I might have complained along the way from living "out of our car/suitcase" at times these past 5 months have been such a blast and incredible time, seeing the Lord work in incredible ways and growing closer to each other in our marriage.

No, I will not bore you with the details of each journey but I will share some highlights from these trips with you all....

While in Florida for the month of January and beginning of February we met some incredible friends who we are incredibly blessed to now have as a part of our lives. I love having friends who can relate completely to this stage of life that we are in now as they are living it too.

We got to celebrate our first Valentine's Day together as a couple by cooking some chinese food while back home in North Carolina and I got to experience the life of living in a state that gets SNOW! These you can read more about in previous blogs where I was better at sharing.

We got to visit Lenoir Rhyne and see the impact Harrison has had on the students there as he is a legend that lives on with many of the guys there. And, go to a wedding in Johnson City of one of those college friends!

We also got to visit Harrison's college roommate and wife in Knoxville,TN and spend a few days there with them. It was incredible to see how many people we met who were excited to hear about what we are doing in East Asia!

From Knoxville we returned to North Carolina to have the pleasure of the arrival of my mom and sister and 2 nieces for a youth spaghetti dinner fundraiser held for us at our church in Clayton... and man was that an incredible weekend! The youth have all become such a huge part of our lives and it was awesome being honored by them as they acted out a skit about us. And, we got to take my nieces to the Marbles museum in Raleigh which was an adventure for sure!

The weekend before Easter, we rushed to Alabama for the last few days of my "memaw's" life. Sitting by her bedside singing hymns as she prepared to meet the Lord and my Pawpaw in heaven was a memory I will always be thankful for the Lord blessing me with. She was such an incredible influence in my life as she most definitely spoiled me rotten!

Our wedding was at Memaw's house

While in the Alabama area the month of April we spent a lot of our time on the road. Visiting family and friends in Birmingham several times as well as Montgomery and Auburn.

We bought baby chicks for Easter that lived about 3 weeks until the dogs attacked one night

Celebrated the soon to be born Baby Kelley!

Got to spend lots of time with this cutie and on her new bke!

We also ventured to Louisiana to visit a church there to share and to get a mini one day vacation in New Orleans while on our way back to Alabama!

Then on to Nashville to meet with friends there and Harrison ran his first 1/2 marathon! I ran the mini marathon too. In the cold rain but it was lots of fun!

From Nashville we headed to Montgomery to celebrate my mom's birthday!

Then it was on to Dothan, AL then Destin, FL where we got to visit with our East Asia friends and see friends we had not seen in years!

After Destin we had a daycation with Kalee and Dillon and the girls at the Georgia aquarium and then at the braves game! Chop Chop!

After the braves trip we were headed North stopping in Norcross, GA for a 3 day conference with our great friends from our life group in FL and many others!