For you Old Hickory people...

My friend James had this post on his blog about our community's namesake. Thought it was pretty interesting.

1 Year Ago

Exactly 1 year ago on Mother's Day, I preached my last sermon at Rose Bud.
This is what it looked like outside of our house, as we were putting all of our earthly possessions into pods and moving vehicles. I think this summer is going to be much better for me than last summer. I'm not as new. I know who more people are. I have more time to get ready for things. I'm not in the middle of moving again. It's hard to believe it's already been a year!

Since then, we've already been back to Searcy four times; one teen college tour trip, one wedding, and two funerals. A lot has happened. We love the people where we are, but we don't love the people where we were any less. I still get teary eyed when I see pictures like this one. We really loved our home in Searcy.

My Beautiful Hometown

There's a gentleman here at Old Hickory that I go to church with who is an excellent photographer. Actually, there are a couple of them! But this man, named Richard, is retired and manages to take quite a few photographs. He often has his camera with him, and is always looking for new shots to snap. He's been a good friend to me since I got to Old Hickory. He always volunteers when we need help around the office. He's always piddling with something interesting, and always has something to talk about. He's a very gentle soul.

He sent me several pictures of downtown Nashville that he took last week. This one is my favorite. It was such a nice day outside that he made zero adjustments to the picture...it really was this nice. He makes a few bookmarks using his pictures that he sells on the side. He really has a gift for taking pictures. I may well end up framing this one. I remember how good it felt as we were making the drive over to Nashville from Arkansas with all our remaining stuff in our cars. Seeing this beautiful skyline gave me a warm feeling. It's good to be home.

Turtle

When we first moved to Old Hickory, we were sitting outside on like the 2nd day when this large turtle came walking briskly down our sidewalk. I got some good shots of Nacho with the Turtle. When I picked it up, it kept nipping at my hand. Nacho kept sniffing its face, which concerned me, but nothing bad happened. At any rate, I just thought these were good pictures.

Nacho has adjusted really well to the neighborhood. She loves sitting on our porch, or rolling in the dirt in the front yard.