We’ve spent the last week making memories in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Doing all the things I only dreamed of a few short months ago…fresh air, mountain streams, kids at play and don’t even get me started on the peaches!

I’ve always enjoyed our mountain vacations…scattered out every three to four years over the last three decades. We cram an unwritten list of must-dos and must-sees into way-too-few days. Each event proceeded by a caravan of packed cars winding through twisted mountain scenery.

I’m greeted on these mountain mornings by a host of family delicacies baked on a little cabin stove that’s half the size of the one at home. Still, it manages to churn out meals for twice as many people.

And oh, what meals they are…biscuits with homemade peach jam, Nantahala sausage and tomato gravy, tea cakes like Grandma used to make, and BLTs with heirloom tomatoes hand-picked from the produce market we passed on one of our daily outings. Each meal carries a story from days gone by…everything is “almost” as good as Grandma used to make.

Nights are filled with accounts of vacations past, chair jockeying and bowls of fresh-cut peaches. Generations coming together to share and remember God’s faithfulness through the years….making memories to add to our family story.

The walls are lined with pictures; snapshots of cousins, brothers, and sisters. …our family story is not perfect or unscarred by heartache, but the gift of hindsight allows us to see God’s hand at every turn.

These are grounding days when we remember what really matters; when the troubles of the world fade away…when my heart is drawn to family and to God who has held it together through the years.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6: 5-9

I think we all need these grounding days when everything around us seems like shifting sand. Days to remember who we are, where we’ve been, and where God wants to take us. He did it before and He will do it again!

God’s story will continue to unfold in my life and in the lives of those I love as I continue making memories to share for years to come.

(A big thanks goes to sister Jerri for some great pics!!)

~ Shellie

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