Memorial Day Hike Monday, May 28, 2007

We spent Memorial Day hiking 10 miles on the Appalachian Trail to Charlie’s Bunion. In 1929, this hike was named after Charlie Conner who paused for a rest on the rocks, took off his boots and exposed a bunion or two that rivaled the surrounding stones! His friends promised to get the site named after him! We found Charlie’s Bunion to be one of the most beautiful hikes we’ve done this year.

When one gets a blister while hiking in the Smokies, whatever is one to do? Why, stuff a huge leaf in your shoe, of course! At least, that’s what Erik does...

The Honoree Monday, May 07, 2007

Today, we honored Sonya as an Exceptional Nurse of Tennessee. She was nominated, along with only a handful of people from her hospital, and even had her picture in the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The actual night of the event was really cool! There were dozens of tables set up in the Convention Center and they had a wonderful meal for everybody and their guests. After the meal, they even had 2 different kinds of dessert to choose from; an ama-za-zing chocolate cheesecake and some strawberry weird thing. I’ll bet you can’t guess what I chose to eat?!

After our meal, we had a guest speaker talk to us about how to deal with the emotional stresses in the workplace and a few other things. All in all, it was actually entertaining and even pertinent to my job. When she had concluded, they then announced each honoree and flashed their picture on the BIG screen for all to see. They presented each nurse with a rose and a certificate. We had a great time! Here’s a picture of Sonya with her Nurse Manager, Sandy.

Love For The Emersons Saturday, May 05, 2007

A few weeks ago, Erik and I took off for Alabama in search of our long lost friends, the Emerson’s. They were back in the states from Africa, and it was SO good to be with them again. They have committed the next few years of their lives to living with and ministering to the Kabiye people in Togo, West Africa. God’s spirit is moving and working through them, and it was such a beautiful thing to be able to share stories and hear about their work over there. We were thankful to nab some quality time with them amidst their busy schedule. They also have announced that they are expecting baby #2! Please remember Brett, April, Caden, and Baby #2 in your prayers.