Drove to Knoxville

So I've been spending some time in Knoxville, Tennessee recently. I have some really great friends up there and it's been a blast visiting. Here is a picture of "Market Square" in downtown Knoxville. The city has been undergoing a major revitalization the past decade, and it shows. This area is so neat, with locally owned restaurants and shops, people flood here on nice days and warm nights.

This past weekend I also got the pleasure of seeing a Tennessee Walking Horse show. It was quite a time. Definitely a culture shock of sorts, but a great experience. Then Saturday evening dinner in Market Square and a tour of the Old City, and then back again Sunday for some fun in the sun.

As for Jasper, it's warm. All of you back in Upstate New York will appreciate this. It was 81 degrees today! Welcome to spring in the south.

FYI - Thanks to Jon Black's song for motivation for the title of this post.

The Joy House

Last weekend, the sites and facilities department here at SharpTop was able to help out our friends over at the Joy House. The Joy House is an incredible ministry that we here at STC partner with.

As part of the help, we laid hardwood floors all day. The house we were working in was a gorgeous building that will soon house 8 teenage boys and their house parents.

The Joy House is a ministry and helps teenagers who are having trouble in their home lives. They stay at this beautiful campus in the North Georgia mountains and have a couple live with them and be their house parents. Here through schooling and some counseling these kids get their lives back on track and the main goal is put them back into their family as much healthier people.

Not only did we help this great mission, but I sure learned a lot. It's neat, the things I'm learning, hopefully I can use on my house one day. Now... about that whole buying a house thing...

Don't Fly Delta

Well, now I can let the cat outta the bag! I got back from a trip home to Rochester last weekend... finally. And the moral of the story is do not fly Delta! Yikes.

My sister and I planned a surprise 30th wedding anniversary party for my parents, so I flew in for the big shocker. Well anyone from Western New York can tell you that last weekend, February 25-28, was full of snow. But anyways, I got to JFK in New York City, barely. This is a story in it's self. I figured, 7:20 flight out of Atlanta, security will be super quick. Well I was wrong. After a mini heart attack and running through the terminal with my belt in my hand and my boots half way on, I made my first flight. So, back to New York, I was suppose to leave NYC for Rochester at 12:30PM. It got delayed until 2pm, no big deal! Well then that was cancelled. And then I was put on a flight to Syracuse. Cancelled. Then I was on a later flight to Syracuse. Cancelled. Then I was stand by to Buffalo. Cancelled. Then I was given the option to fly to Detroit and fly stand by to Rochester. Vetoed by me. So basically I threw my Delta ticket out and ran over to Jet Blue. Booked a flight, for a small fortune, and got home!

The time at home was great, yada yada, then came to Monday and flying back. 1:50PM flight to Atlanta. Delayed. 6PM flight to Atlanta. Cancelled. Sensing a theme here? At this point, I said forget it. Put me on a flight for the next day (Tuesday), went home and finally on Tuesday got off to Atlanta. What a nightmare. I know, I know, this isn't Delta's fault, it's weather. But Jet Blue had no issue getting me from JFK to Rochester... just sayin'

Anyways, I can finally let people know I went home last weekend and it was great to see friends and family again. It might be the last time until August, but it was well worth the travel head aches! As for now, I'm back in Georgia and enjoying the early change into spring weather.

Aaaand We're Back!

Well, we returned from Nicaragua a week ago now and I'm still trying to put my experience into words. It was a great time.

We stayed at "La Finca" the name of the Vida Joven (Young Life) camp in Jinotega, Nicaragua. For 4 days we dug trenches, painted buildings, picked coffee and a bunch of other various jobs. It was great to see what this ministry looks like in another country.

The people we worked with were incredible. It was so obvious that they had a huge heart for this mission. And like most, we entered this "missions trip" worried about what we could bring and how we could help the people of Nicaragua, but I believe most of us received more than they ever thought possibly to give. My eyes were opened to no matter where, or what language, or what living conditions, God is God. He is God of all and how nieve I was to think that God was American.

At the end of the trip we were able to do a very touristy things and even visited an active volcano. We ended the trip staying another night in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. All in all, I enjoyed my time. I wish I was able to bring a bit of the simplicity we enjoyed there, back here to the USA. It was so freeing, not having so many things to distract me and fight for my attention.

I hope to one day get back to that place and again see the friends we made.