Once upon a time a former-oilfield-man-gone-real-estate-agent and a former-engineer-gone-high-school-math-teacher lived in Knoxville, Tennessee. As I chased my corporate motherhood dreams and aspirations to return to an engineering career, we moved down to Houston, Texas, where I learned about how God can turn our biggest failures into His greatest successes.
After I had settled down to “just” be a mom (ha!), we made our annual trip to visit friends in Knoxville. We had already been talking about moving back to Tennessee some day…. but the real inspiration hit while hiking the trails at Burgess Falls, which happened to be five minutes away from a picture-perfect farm that captured our hearts and imaginations about the possibility of moving back to Tennessee.
So here it is: Burgess Falls… we love this place.
(This state park even comes complete with a playground…)
The above photos were taken back in December. For photos of what it was like the summer we first hiked those trails…
As we continued on our road trip through Tennessee and then back home to Texas, we started to jot down all we wanted in a farm in Tennessee – all the way down to the nitty-gritty details about what we wanted the land to look like. And, yes, the big red barn was on that checklist.
We now live about an hour from Burgess Falls State Park, so Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood is not the farm that originally inspired us on that road trip. But this place we call home inspires me every day. It’s not often that one gets to live a dream come true. And, man! There’s just no way I could ever deserve this, but I am so grateful for the memories we make here as a family. My hope is to share this with all of my dear friends one day…
…if we can ever get that guest house finished, that is.
50-States-Before-They-Graduate
Our family aims to visit all 50 states together before our boys graduate from high school. To take a look at some of the places we’ve been, visit our 50-States-Before-They-Graduate posts. If you’d like to offer suggestions for places to visit in the 50 states, we would love your input! Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions for your favorite state(s), or virtually visit the other states we’ve visited to offer your recommendations on those pages! We’d love to read about your own family’s adventures… or to simply know about destinations you’ve enjoyed!