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We left Florida early in the morning, in hopes of making it to the home our friends, the Trent Tribe, in South Carolina by late afternoon. They are our oil uplines in doTERRA and have become dear family friends to us!
When we arrived, they invited us to stay at their home, well technically, beside their home. We were there such a short time and wanted to maximize our visit! And, thanks to another RV family, they have a 50 amp plug!
Brian, being the videographer that he is, video'd Dale backing in. Dale is such a good backer upper, he gets applause from the old dudes at the RV parks we visit. I think they line up to watch the young whipper snapper fail, and then cannot help but to come shake his hand, when he doesn't! LOL! :) Check this out! Amazing! Dale Rocks! from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo. 
We enjoyed a lovely Italian dinner, made by Amanda, and just visited the evening away! The girls took Destiny to a self defense class at the church, and she got her butt whooped, but look at that smile. She had fun. :)
We stayed up WAY past our bedtimes, visiting and catching up after the kids were in bed.
Amanda gave me the MOST thoughtful gift, a sweet red bird that has fairy lights inside. It's solar powered so after a day in the sun, it glows so sweetly. As you know, Cardinals have been very meaningful in my life as of late, this gift took my breath away and I nearly lost it at the table in front of everyone.
It has a spot of honor in the RV! I LOVE IT! 
The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we were off to Lake Wylie, SC to see some childhood friends.
We have talked for years about reconnecting with the Albright family, and it finally happened! All because of our unexpected trip to Florida, I am grateful how the Lord uses all things for good!
As soon as we got RV parking worked out at the marina, we headed to their beautiful home to chat a bit. Susie offered to take us across the stateline to the Billy Graham Library to do the last tour of the day. I wondered how a library tour would go or what it would be like? Books? I didn't have to wonder for long. It was one of the NEATEST places we have ever got to visit. When you first drive up, you see the Graham family home and a HUGE cross window in a barn that the entire tour takes place in. 
The kids got to do a scavenger hunt and it was just the thing they needed to stay busy while being good listeners!
It was as moving as a powerful church service and is a MUST SEE if you are ever in Charlotte, NC!!!!! You start off at the Graham family barn, where a talking southern bell cow, tells you all about Billy as a kid. Then you go room to room to room, listening to short videos or walking around display cases that tell his life story. Each room was a different era, or part of his 60 year ministry. WOW! Slideshow:
After the final video with a call to Christ, a HUGE set of doors whooshes open and this is what you see. CHILLS!!!!!
Next, you enter the gift shop and view on display, Mr. Grahams personal library collection of nearly 3,000 books!
Even the bathroom was adorable and in the "Graham barn" theme!!!! There was also a restaurant tucked inside the big barn, for your eating and drinking pleasure after a fun day!
The place is well run by vounteers who graciously open doors and walk you both in and out of the facility. So impressive! They also had a private prayer room for those needing prayer or who came to the Lord during the tour. AMAZING!
We walked outside to pouring rain, but that didn't stop us from walking the beautiful garden path down to Mr and Mrs Graham's final resting place.
PLEASE go do this tour!!!! It is by donation and will touch your heart in powerful ways!
After "church" we headed into town to meet the rest of the Albright gang for dinner..... 
Have you ever heard of MOD pizza? It's one of the fastest growing chains in the nation. It stands for MADE ON DEMAND.
And you can nicely "demand" as many toppings as you want for one base price! 
Oh man, was it ever DELICIOUS! I chose basil, garlic, tomatoes and balsamic reduction. Man the crust is crispy and good! They also have in house-made lemonade and marionberry lemonade that is divine!
We met Bruce there, as well as their daughter Lindsey, my Briarwood neighborhood sleep over buddy from the 90's! ;) She is married with a family now and hasn't aged a BIT! I also gotto see her little brother Matthew, MY baby brother's sleepover buddy! :)
Because we couldn't plug in the RV and run all 3 AC units at the Marina where we parked, Susie graciously opened her home up to us to stay. In 3 and a half years of living on the road, we have never moved in to anyone's house!!!! LOL :)
It was such a fun treat and the kids thought they were in HEAVEN. And Destiny even had her own room! {cue squeals} :) 
Slideshow:
Bruce had in and out back surgery while we were there, and we figured the LEAST we could do, was make them a meal after a long day!
Great Grandma Yoder's secret chicken marinade, asparagus and oven roasted brussell sprouts with feta, craisins and balsamic reduction. SO good! Cut ends off brussell sprouts and lay out on a large pan. Drizzle with olive oil, and generously salt and pepper. Roast at 400* for 10 minutes. Flip each one over and oil and season again. Cook another 10 minutes on that side. Dump into a bowl and toss with generous helpings of feta, craisins and balsamic reduction. Mmm mmm AMAZING! 
I wish I had taken a photo of our dinner together! Guess I was too busy feeding my face? Haha! :P
Here is the dining room we ate in, it was so lovely. That wall is old wood that was milled in Susie's home town in West Virginia! Simply gorgeous. 
Bruce and Susie ALWAYS made us feel at home when we were kids sleeping over. And that hasn't changed a BIT!
They were the most gracious hosts, and we loved every second of our time together. Blessings friends!!! Until we meet again..... ;) Hugs, T 
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Even though it was hard to leave Florida, we were all ready to be on the road again! 2017 was hardly a year of travel as many times as we ended up back in Kansas.    The RV park we stayed at was BEAUTIFUL!!! The Battle of Broxton Bridge happened here and we love history. And trees. And quiet. It was a perfect fit! EXCEPT, zero cell service. Almost as bad as way up in the U.P. two summers ago. Like red bar, no service nada. Oh well! I can work while we are in town, right?! ;)  A nice gal from the RV park took us around in her golf cart, and showed us all the interesting sites and points of interest. I guess every March thousands of people and actors come in with cannons and battle gear and reinact the whole thing. I LOVE stuff like that!!!! Too bad we missed it. I was thankful for our own private tour though!  Right before this pic, our guide hollered, watch our for gators, this is the swamp lands you know!!! I don't know if the kids are smiling or grimacing! Haha, maybe both?! We walked a ways and then got outta there!   Bunkers were the soldiers hid and fought.  There was also a cool church back in the woods.....
There was also a post office and black smith shop. And an old timey bed and breakfast on the other side of the lake that I didn't get a pic of! Neat place! We were here for the wedding of our doTERRA upline and friends, the Trents. So we headed into town to see everyone and see if we could be of any help pre wedding day! Eating was the first thing on the menu so we went and enjoyed some local fish and lots of friends from doTERRA, the Vissers (whom we met from the 4 little Fergusons blog) and the Esteppes, our other uplines in doTERRA. SUCH a fun crew!  While we were in the south, my dad's birthday came and went. Happy happy birthday, Daddy!  We made sure we had the oh so special, Florida Betty Cake along with us to celebrate for him. The kids wanted to light a candle and sing for him. You can watch here: Happy Birthday To You Papa, we miss you every single day, and feel so thankful you are up there hanging with Jesus & the Father in paradise. ❤ We ate some Betty Cake and blew out the candle you! 🎂 (Just one, we didn't have 71!) 🙂Love you always, miss you forever, see you again someday....Xoxo Wedding set up wasn't until the next day, and no one needed our help, so we took a little family trip into Savannah, GA. It. Was. STUNNING! Wow.    We explored the park first....  
I couldn't get enough of the HOUSES. We walked along the whole street just staring at them all with their neat shapes, narrow sizes and details.
 We drove around historic downtown to see more....what I wouldn't give to see INSIDE some of these! 
We use Trip Adviser a lot to see what the local digs are, where to eat, what to order....we kept reading about the sea food, so much to the kids shegrin, we once again picked to eat local fish. We try to always eat the local culture and Savannah is definitely not known for their beef. Silly kids! Despite their initial response, lunch was amazing.    When we were done and walking to the car, we wandered by the famous ice cream shop we read about, and decided to see what all the hubbub was about. Good thing we stopped when we did. The line was already out the door when we arrived and by the time we walked out with ice cream it was winding it's way down the sidewalk!  I've eaten my body weight in ice cream sine we left Kansas 3 years ago, and I have to say, this ice cream falls second on my list!!!! It was fabulously thick and creamy, all homemade and SOO soo good! FYI: #1 is Jack the Dipper in North Carolina, ONLY because they make homemade cinnamon waffle cones fresh on the spot before filling it with homemade ice cream. {DROOL}
 And just like that, it was time to leave a town that TOTALLY stole my heart. I swear, I was born in the wrong era! :) Back to the RV we go for groceries, dinner and bedtime before a busy wedding prep day. Outdoor seating for the service and a twinkle lit dance floor!
Wedding day dawned beautiful, thank goodness, it had been COLD. But very very windy! We probably set up the reception tables 3 dozen times because everything kept blowing across the yard, glass vases and all. We made emergency run for battery powdered tea lights, and sent the guys all over town for tablecloth clamps when the duck tape failed to work. In the end we did duck tape, table clamps, chip style clips AND twine before they stayed put. PHEW! Reminded me of Kansas! :) Thankfully, as the event went on, the wind died down and it was perfectly lovely out there for a good ol fashioned southern wedding. I didn't get many pics, so thank goodness Spring did! The kids had a ball and even danced the night away with their friends! Slideshow: We stayed to hear Pastor Brian preach and worship with our friends before hitting the road again. Sunday afternoon was full of catching up, relaxing, and the teenagers jammed it out with their guitars and worshiped. Great group!   4 generations of doTERRA right here.....  We had plans for classes in Florida pan handle and Louisiana that changed, and we had been praying and asking the Lord where we should go to kill 2 weeks before we needed to be in Little Rock, AR and our Texas classes.
Not long after, Dale's mom called. She was in the car with 2 of Dale's aunts, heading to southern Florida to move out of Grandpa & Grandma Miller's winter place, since Grandma is with Jesus, and Grandpa needs to go to a home for more care. So many sad changes this year for our Florida families.... We felt very led that we were supposed to turn around and go the 7 hours back down and see them and help in any way we could. Thank you Lord for our mobile lifestyle! Cause Florida, here we come.... Hugs, T |
Tonya Ferguson
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