Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

Blue Ridge & real life

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Greg and I celebrated 20 years and one month of marriage with a trip to Blue Ridge, GA. We like the mountains in north Georgia because it’s an easy drive, scenery is pretty, and there’s plenty to do. It’s a good weekend getaway. We went to Helen, GA, last year at the same time and wanted a different variation of a similar trip this year. 

Preparations & mom guilt

I left the house Friday morning, a couple of hours after we had planned, with loads of mom guilt. Our plan was originally to drop off all three kids at school on Friday morning and hit the road. My mom planned to pick up the kids Friday afternoon.  

Well, on Thursday, Rachel was diagnosed with strep throat and missed that day and Friday of school. She felt fine on Friday but hadn’t been fever-free for 24 hours yet, so on Thursday I made arrangements for my mother-in-law came to stay with her during the school day until my mom arrived. Meanwhile, Cate strained her knee at her first soccer practice earlier last week. She’s been resting, icing, and wearing a compression brace.

Then early Friday morning that was really still middle of the night, Cate came to our bedroom to tell us her throat felt swollen. I knew she’d need to go to the doctor when it opened Friday morning to get tested for strep. So I took Ben to school and then Cate to urgent care, where we were not surprised to learn she also had strep throat. 

I literally had to leave a list of medications — regular and newly temporary — for all three kids to take while we were gone. I texted Cate one morning: How’s your throat, ear, and knee? Honestly, being able to text with her quieted some of my mom guilt for going on vacation and leaving our mothers with sickly kids. 

Everyone perked up, the kids visited my sister and her family in Indiana, Greg and I had a great getaway, and we all came home ready for a new (short) week together. 

Getaway details

On the way down Friday, we stopped in Murfreesboro, TN, for lunch at Puckett’s Grocery. I had the Piggy Mac and it was delicious. We arrived at our mountaintop cabin on Friday evening and went out for pizza at Mystic Mountain Pizza, which was a weird combination of hippy-inspired decor, pizza-inspired decor, and country music playing over the speakers. The pizza was good and we were happy to be able to sit and talk about whatever came to mind. 

Our cabin was up a winding mountain road but not far from town. It was clean and comfortable and had a magnificent porch. It ended up being a sweet spot as we spent more time there than we were originally planning.

Much rain was forecasted for Saturday, but thankfully there were only morning showers. We rode the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway to McCaysville, GA / Copperhill, TN. Yep, we stood in two states at once and had lunch near a very large U.S. flag displayed on a bridge over the river that changes names depending on which state your feet stand. Specifically, we are at Burra Burra on the River, where I had possibly the thickest burger I’d ever had. It was yummy and eating by the water always feels right to me. We shopped a little before we boarded the train back for Blue Ridge. The whole adventure was really fun and exactly enough time in McCaysville.

We went on a short but slightly slippery hike to the Falls Branch Falls, which, honestly were smaller and less impressive than I was expecting. We still had fun and got in lots of steps. With tired legs, we drove around and ended up at Lake Blue Ridge — which was beautiful, especially on a sunshiny afternoon that offered pretty clouds. Something about mountains, clouds, and water all together makes me want to take all the photos. 

My cousin friend Mary lives near-ish Blue Ridge, so we met for dinner and dessert. Restaurants were crowded and we didn’t have a good cell signal, so we ended up at another pizza place — Cucinella’s. We found a table for us outside. I ended up getting pecan chicken salad on top of a Caesar salad and shared garlic knots with Greg. It was a very good choice and dinner was surprisingly much better than I expected when I thought I was going to have to settle for pizza again. (Greg said the pizza was good. And I noticed there were some slightly more unique topping choices such as meatballs, colored sweet peppers, and broccoli.) 

On Sunday morning, Greg went trout fishing. While I’m always up for creek scenery and time to read a book, I opted to stay at the cabin with a lovely porch. I didn’t sleep in as I had hoped, but I did listen to the rain, enjoy the view, work on my Precept Bible study, and take some time to process and write some things. I also thought about someone could probably build me a swing like that. 

The rest of Sunday was rainy. We did a little shopping at Mercier Orchard and ended up at a steakhouse that reminded us of a 1980s Ponderosa. It was mediocre, but we had apple doughnuts for dessert at our cabin, thanks to our earlier shopping trip. 

I’m thankful for the escape from our normal lives filled with responsibilities and commitments. I’m also thankful for 20 years (and a month) of marriage and the friendship we still have together. 

*****

I posted many other pictures on Facebook, so come on over there to see more snapshots.

How to teach responsibility

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This week I had all sorts of things on my to-do list: Schedule an oil change for my van. Set up daughter’s online banking access. Run these errands. Text certain people. Have kids mow the grass. Order a birthday cake. Get paint off the dining room table. Do laundry. 

Yes, that’s life. But it’s also being responsible. It’s a lesson I definitely want my kids to learn. I want them to take care of their hygiene, their mental health, their physical well-being, their spiritual lives, and even their belongings. While documenting real life, I want to teach them real-life responsibility. 

Encourage responsibility 

Teaching kids about taking care of things is an important life skill that should is taught throughout the years at home before they have homes of their own, where I’m not going to make morning routine lists and chore charts or offer incentives for being responsible. 

At our house, two of our kids have routine lists to go through each morning and evening. It’s certainly not a perfect process, but it helps me remind them of what they need to do every day. Included in their routines are cleaning up after themselves. I want them to care for the house we have and the things that belong to them. I want them to clean up their dirty clothes so I can wash them and then they can put them away. 

Encourage kids to take some ownership. Let them put away the silverware, even if it’s messier than you’d do it. (Yes, I’m totally talking to myself here!) Give them chores they can do regularly. 

Teach value of belongings & people

There are many ways to teach children about the consequences of being (or not being!) responsible. My husband and I have tried all sorts of strategies in this area – some more successful than others. Recently, my son broke his Gabb Watch. Honestly, not being able to communicate with him when he’s not with me is a little inconvenient for me, but I’m not replacing this broken item. Taking care of this smartwatch was his responsibility. 

It’s okay for our kids to do without luxuries when they have all they truly need. Their toys, extra clothes, band instruments, technology devices, and sweets are all treats. 

More important than things are the relationships within our household. I want my kids to value each other. The other morning one child was calling another child mean names, so the consequence was to clean two of the toilets. Our home is a safe place so sometimes people’s reactions are unfiltered, but I still want us all to strive to love one another well. 

Lead by example

My oldest child, who is a sophomore in high school, recently opened a checking account. I want to teach her how to balance an account, have healthy spending habits, and understand the value of earning money before she’s living on her own. Teaching responsibility like this is important while children are still under our roofs. In our house, we talk about money in a context that hopefully helps our children understand God has been gracious to us, my husband works hard, saving is important, and belongings and experiences have a monetary value. They know about grocery shopping, eating out, and sharing what we have with others. Experiences, like being part of a soccer team, also encourage character traits, including responsibility.

My husband is an entrepreneur and his ideas have rubbed on me after 20 years of marriage. And now my oldest daughter has started her own business, Backroads & Blooms Photography. She’s been selling some flower photographs she took. I’m helping her promote it online, but she does the printing of photos and ordering frames. She keeps track of income and expenses on a spreadsheet. So many lessons on real-life responsibility right there!

My husband and I want to live these ideas out in our own lives so our children witness responsible living. We do our own chores around the house, but we’re always grateful to include them – in both the lessons and the work!

Purging items is good

When it comes to being responsible for items, another important lesson is purging is good! We can’t hold on to every piece of paper that comes home from school, shoes that don’t fit anymore, or toys that they have outgrown. Sometimes we throw things away; other times we give them away to someone who can use them. When my children were younger, I would rotate toys in and out of their closets so they would often feel like they had something new to play with on a rainy day. We wouldn’t open every new birthday toy on the same day, but wait for another day to spread out the joy. 

Sometimes when children are having a hard time figuring out what to play with, try taking away some of the clutter in their room and see if that helps. It’s important that parents help their children develop their creativity by giving them space to play and explore. Plus this helps them appreciate what they already have. 

How do you teach responsibility in your home?

How to document real life

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For so many parents, raising happy kids is the priority. While that’s important, it’s certainly not everything. Yet, in all the brokenness of the world, I want to point my kids to Jesus and document our (mostly good) memories. I want to remember the good. 

Take lots of photos

I love snapping pictures of everyday life, trips, and special events. Of course, sometimes the kids get distracted or aren’t interested in capturing the same moments. I’m thankful for the “live photo” setting on my iPhone so I can go back and choose the best snapshot of the moment when kids were likely moving around and making faces. A photo burst is also helpful with this. 

A photo burst function takes up a lot of memory, which means that you need to be swift in dumping it on your computer so you have more space on your phone. But rather than it clogging up your computer, whether it’s a laptop or a MacBook, you can use software such as free MacBook cleaners to guarantee that you are able to streamline this effectively. Also, hello, iCloud. 

Photo books

Photo books are a logical extension of taking great photos. If we are constantly looking at pictures on our phones, we can almost lose the sense of what the photo is there for. It’s a good idea to get into the habit of printing out your photos on a regular basis. I like designing photo pages in the Project Life app and then printing these pages and other photos for my walls at Persnickety Prints. 

My kids love to look at these scrapbooks too and then I find myself telling them extra details from the stories. What a sweet way to add to their memories! 

Other ways to document life

While photos tend to be the biggest aspect of documenting family life, I also capture memories in other ways too:

  • Birthday books. These are books with pages for each birthday. I add a photo from their party and fill out the questionnaires about that celebration. It’s a simple but fun way to capture birthday milestones and what each child is like at that age. (I have one of these books for each kid.)
  • School books. Like the birthday book, this one has a few pages for each grade. It’s a great way to document kids’ school experiences, friendships, favorite subjects, and field trips. Plus there’s a pocket where report cards and other mementos can be saved.
  • Words note. Especially when kids are little, they say they funnies things. I started a note on my phone for these things. I just list funny, wise things they have said over the years and date each entry. I think I’ll eventually print this and put it in their baby books. 
  • Line-a-day journal. I started using this journal five years ago and love it. Each night, I write down a couple of sentences about our day. Each page has space for five years, so it’s fun to look back on the previous years. In my fifth year, I’m already looking forward to my new journal in January. While this started as something for me, it definitely captures family traditions, habits, and memories. 
  • Baby books. My kids have unique stories because we adopted each of them as newborns. Traditionally baby books didn’t always work, so I found baby books I could take and part and used certain pages in binders that I turned into baby books. These binders also include their adoption stories, which I’ve updated with details and meetings with bio families throughout the years. 
  • Books. While it’s not the usual way, I also have documented my kids’ adoption stories in a self-published book called “Peace in the Process: How Adoption Built My Faith & My Family.” I also documented some everyday life we share with others in a book called “Bringing Home More Than Groceries: Stories about Gathering & Nourishing People.” 
  • TimeHop. Social media understandably gets a bad rap sometimes, but I love capturing memories on there today so I can see them in my TimeHop memories years later. I love a good side-by-side photo comparison! 
  • Creative mementos. I hope to have things like an heirloom to pass along to my children as they grow up and begin documenting lives of their own. Things like T-shirt quilts, special photos, video compilations, and special dishes are creative ways to document life. 

Life is full in every way – but this is one area of which I’m not willing to let go. Sure, it takes some time, but these are some simple ways you can incorporate documenting memories in your real life as you’re living it with your family.