North Carolina - June 2007

The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

Doesn't everyone's staircase look like this? Wow!

Adam and me at the top of Clingman's Dome. No...not a flattering picture of either of us, but it was hard work getting up there! It was cool and cloudy at the top, but the views were still breathtaking.

Check out Elijah...he's all ready for a hike!

I love this picture of Ethan (left) and Jed (right) together at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. The boys did so well together that week. I know they got on one another's nerves at times, but it was great to watch them experience things together and play and laugh together. I love my nephews!!!

As I took this picture in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, I was standing with my head straight back. Gorgeous!

Happy 1st Birthday Levi Michael (who is now almost 2!)

The waterfalls outside of Highlands, NC

A view from just outside of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

Honestly, is there anything more beautiful than God's creation? So many times it takes my breath away. Last June, Adam and I set out to spend a week in Bryson City, NC with my parents, my sister and her family, and my brother and his family. We rented a 6 bedroom, 3 story cabin just outside of Bryson City in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Our cabin overlooked Lake Fontana and provided us with beautiful surroundings. We had an amazing time and experienced so much that there is no way I can share it all with you. Even sitting here and thinking about this trip almost a year later makes me want to cry. I would love to go back to the time again. Here are just a few highlights from our amazing trip...

We celebrated Levi Rufner's 1st birthday, spent time in Bryson City and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, climbed to the top of Clingmans Dome - the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains, visited the quaint town of Highlands and the gorgeous nearby waterfalls, went tubing down Deep Creek, visited the Nantahala Outdoor Center. One highlight of the trip for Adam and me was the day the two of us visited the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. When my brother, David, gave the message at our wedding, he read a poem called "Trees" that was written by Joyce Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer served in World War I and the forest is dedicated to him. The forest is full of trees (obviously) some of which are over 300 years old. The tallest tulip poplars are over 100 feet tall and 20 feet in circumference. It was so beautiful. The highlight of that day was when my dear husband asked me where the tulips were...it is so appropriate that the brilliant man I married didn't realize that the tulips that blossom in spring do not come from tulip poplars. Those moments are some of the most endearing with Adam...what a funny guy I married.

After an amazing, fun-filled 6 days it was time for us to all go our seperate ways. Because Adam and I had the shortest distance to drive, we decided to make a pit-stop and visit the Biltmore Estate on the way home. It was the perfect end to our trip. The house and grounds are absolutely unbelievable. If you ever have a chance to go, please do. The Biltmore was one of the most state-of-the-art homes of its time. One more funny about Adam...as we were leaving the Biltmore Estate we decided to take a tour of the winery and do a wine-tasting. After we had completed the tour went went up to the wine-tasting room and were asked to present our IDs. After shuffling through his wallet several times, Adam couldn't find his so we had to forego the wine-tasting. Ethan and Jed had been found playing with Adam's wallet a few days before, so Adam was convinced they had lost his license somewhere in our sprawling cabin. He had to eat his words however when we found his license at home that night...he hadn't had it all week!

A Year in Review...

I am ashamed to say that it has been over a year since I afforded any attention to this blog. Trust me, it is not for lack of want or even time, just sheer laziness. Many times Adam and I feel as if "nothing" is going on in our lives, at least nothing so exciting that it is worth sharing, but the truth is the Lord blesses us daily and we have much we would love to share with you all. We miss our friends and family so much and don't always do the best job at keeping in touch with all of the amazing people that have crossed through the paths God has placed before us. It is our sincere hope that you will continue to stop by our blog on occassion to see what is going on. In the meantime...here are some glimpses into just a few of the blessings we have experienced in the past year. As I said before, there are so many that I should be able to fill a few posts and hopefully bring you up to speed. Some of these posts may be a little more bias towards some of the things I have done, but Adam and our camera are not friends which leaves me with very few pictures of some of the things he has experienced. Anyways, we hope you enjoy visiting our blog once again.

Love,

Rachel and Adam

6.3 Miles Later

Aren't these images flattering? NOT AT ALL...but at least I have a good excuse. Last Saturday Adam and I ran in the 8th Annual Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond. This is a 6.3 mile run along the historic Monument Avenue in Richmond. Monument Avenue is flanked by gorgeous old homes and you guessed it...monuments! This is the largest participatory sporting event in Virginia and the second largest 10K in the country. People and bands line the streets and while I didn't know if I could run the whole thing, everyone cheering and the great music made for an adrenaline rush that took me the whole way. It is amazing to say that I ran with 25,000 other people. So fun! The pictures are hilarious - I look like I am in great amounts of pain, but in reality I felt great the whole way through. For my first race ever I didn't do too bad and clocked in at 1:11:07. The winner ran it in 28:29 (WOW!). I am officially addicted to these races and hope to get in at least one more this year. Next year I hope to run this particular race in 55-57 minutes. Hopefully we will get Adam's pictures soon and I will post those as well (I beat him by 5 minutes, but who's counting?).

Emily Elizabeth

In November I mentioned that I had hosted a baby shower for our friend Chrissy. Well, we are happy to announce that Emily Elizabeth was born on December 28th and thought y'all might like to see a few pics of her. She is precious and we are extremely blessed to be her godparents.

Pictures: Emily gives Chrissy a Valentine's Day kiss, Adam and I with Emily at her baptism, Emily in her faux suede boots...too cute!, and Emily dressed for her first Valentine's day.

Man vs. Beast...meet Matty

Meet Matty...our friend Caitlin's 7-month-old, 65 lb., chocolate lab. Caitlin dropped Matty off on Saturday morning at 7:00 and by 7:30 we were second-guessing our decision to watch Matty for a week while Caitlin is on a cruise. The first 36 hours were a little rough, but I think we are getting the hanging of things and have managed to get this big "little" guy under control. We have certainly had some humorous moments with him. Adam has been bugging me for years about getting a dog. He grew up with a yellow lab and I grew up with a 7 lb. miniautre dachshund (I should know how to spell that, but oh well), so the size/type of our future dog has always been a source of tension. But, no more! On Saturday afternoon I asked Adam if he still wanted a dog and he said emphatically, "No!" On Sunday morning after Matty had torn a hole in Adam's nice winter coat, Adam turned to me and uttered words I never thought I would hear, "You know, Rachel, we just might be cat people." Today I ran some errands and received a call from Adam. He told me there was good news and bad news...the bad: Matty ate Adam's Crocs (rubber shoes he wears while doing yardwork)...the good: Adam found a nearby fenced-in baseball diamond for Matty to run wild in. He really is a sweet dog, we are just not used to having our house commandeered by such a large puppy full of energy.

No other big news. We have both been busy with work and church activities. I know it can't compare to the midwest, but the weather here has been unusually cold. We are looking forward to warmer temps soon. We are also both planning on running in Richmond's Monument Avenue 10k on March 31st and still have a lot of training to do. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying 2007. It is already going so fast.

Finally, a big Happy Birthday shout-out to our nephew Jed. He turns 3 on Wednesday! I can't believe how time flies. We can't wait to see Jed and family in June. Love you Jed!

Our Christmas Wonderland

Our Demdaco Willow Tree Nativity...I love it and had to include a picture.

I had to take this picture without a flash because the lights are so bright that if I take the picture with a flash, it looks like there is a flood light on in the room.

A blurry shot of our outside lights (the Christmas tree is so bright, it looks like the living room is on fire if you look through the two windows on the left!) Merry Christmas!
(And Happy Birthday tomorrow Chrissy!)

Stollen...I did it!!!

The Before Picture...check out all of that butter!

Kneading the dough...and yes, it's just easier to do on the floor.

The pictures are out of order somehow, but this is my favorite loaf!

Rise yeast, rise! (another picture out of order, not sure why it does this)

The finished product!

First off...I apologize that the pictures come before the explanation...the formatting of this blog confuses me! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are experiencing the joy of the Christmas season. It has been too long since I updated the blog, so I am going to try to add several new posts in the next week. We are in full gear here in Richmond preparing for Christmas and today the baking began! Every year my Grandpa Schlecht and my mom have made a traditional German bread called Stollen. I have observed my mom making Stollen many, many times. Two years ago I had the pleasure of assisting my brother, David, in making it. Last year my sister, Anna, and I had a go at it. I have had such wonderful teachers that I figured this year it was my turn to tackle the task alone. Other than dropping about 1 cup of the golden raisins on the kitchen floor, everything went rather smoothly (by the way, I did not use those raisins). My yeast even rose on the first try. It is also my family's tradition that we not "break the bread" until Christmas Eve...although I think a few of us may have cheated on that rule from time to time. We'll let you know how they taste.

Chrissy's Baby Shower

On Sunday I had the pleasure of throwing a Baby Shower for our dear friend Chrissy. I was a little nervous as I had never thrown any type of shower before, but I think the day went off without a hitch. Adam found escape from the festivities by hanging out with our Pastor Bean and the wonderful Bean boys. We girls had a great time eating, playing games, and most importantly celebrating Chrissy and God's gift of her almost-here baby girl. Chrissy is due around the beginning of the year. To our delight, Adam and I were also asked on Sunday night to be the baby's godparents. We can't wait to meet "Emily" and know what a blessing from God she will be to her family.

Other notes from the weekend include us buying our first turkey (we got a little over zealous and bought a 22 pounder) and buying our first big Christmas tree. We'll let you know how the turkey turns out and will hopefully get the tree up by next weekend. I am sure we'll be back soon with more updates...

Until then, we hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Smorgasbord

Another picture of the house...this time with a lawn (way to go Adam!), new shrubs (the shrubs our builder planted quickly died), and our fabulous red door. When I took this picture last Saturday it was 80 degrees outside!

Instead of purchasing gifts for Adam's parents for Mother's and Father's Day, they asked that we buy some nice plants for our house. This is a picture of our new Flowering Plum Tree. We can't wait to see it bloom in the spring, and it looks great on the side of the house. You can also see in the background the drainage pipe that Adam has been working on to keep the side of our lawn dry.

Our nephew Ethan has had the privilege of seeing Adam frequently and has come to love his visits. Here I captured a quiet moment they shared watching cartoons one Saturday morning. They are each sipping their morning beverage of choice.

This has got to be one of the most humorous pictures I have taken. Here's the story...when we moved into our house we inherited Anna and Garry's lawnmower. Since they live outside of D.C. now in a townhouse, they have had no use of this mower in 2 years. When we finally had the opportunity to mow our lawn, this is what happened. As embarassed as I was to have Adam mowing amidst a cloud of smoke, I knew it would only take a few minutes for him to quickly mow our front yard. I ran inside long enough to grab the camera, snapped a few pictures, and prayed that no one would drive by and see this pathetic situation. The good news is that a nice man in Sears was able to tell Adam exactly what he needed to do to restore the mower, and it has worked great ever since.

Veteran's Day

In honor of Veteran's Day this past weekend, I thought I would post this picture of the 788th Dillon Crew, the Carpetbagger crew that my grandfather flew with during WWII. My grandfather, Max B. Rufner, is the first person on the left in the front row. Thanks dad for bringing this picture to my attention!

PIPPIN

A few weekends ago Adam and I made a quick trip up to Wilmington, DE to see one of my best friends (and college roommate...kudos to her for putting up with me), Lauren Marshall. Lauren is currently touring with the national tour of Stephen Schwartz's Pippin. Although we talk often, I had not seen Lauren in two years. We had such a wonderful time and are immensely proud of all she has accomplished. Other than sitting in a packed theatre that smelled of AquaNet and moth balls (no offense to anyone who uses either product) we had a blast watching the performance. We were also able to spend time with her before and in between her two shows that day. Check out the picture I took of her at dinner! We were able to spend more time together if she didn't completely take off her make-up, so she left some of it on. What a hoot! No shame, right Lauren? Love you!

Nephews, Newer Nephew, Newest Nephew

If you know me at all, you know that I am probably one of the proudest aunts that walked the earth. I think certain friends and co-workers think I may be too proud, but how could I not? Look at these faces! The first is a picture of our "newer" nephew, Levi, born in June. The second is a picture of our "newest" nephews, Elijah, born November 3rd. The third is our nephew Ethan, born in April 2004 (brother to Elijah). And last but not least, or first nephew, Jed, born in February 2004 (brother to Levi). We are certainly blessed by these 4 little guys!

Please forgive any formatting errors on these posts...I am still learning how to use this thing! Have a great day.

Following the Lead

Hello friends and family! If you are reading this, Congratulations! You have found our new blog. We hope to keep everyone more up-to-date with what is going in our lives in Richmond. Enjoy!

(These pictures are of Adam and me in Nags Head, NC last year to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. There is also a picture of our house taken last spring. We have since put in new shrubs, painted the front door red, successfully grown a lush green lawn, and put in the driveway...I will post an updated picture soon.)