Goodbye North Carolina

Two years! Two years was not, in my opinion, long enough spent in this beautiful state! But we are on the move again to a new adventure, which I will blog about next. Keith and I LOVED North Carolina and moving has been hard! We have learned so much and have felt like part of the community here! Thank you friends! As we leave, Keith and I were talking about the things NC has taught us. Here are some of the things we have learned in the two years living here.

- Hyde County has the FRIENDLIEST people I have ever met! From day one we were welcomed just like family! People know your name, leave veggies on your front door, bring stews over when your sick, watch you kids when you need a break, help wash dishes when they drop over for a visit or sweep your floor if it needs it, they are just neighborly. Which is what this world needs more of!

- Farming is a FAITH based job! Farmer pray for the right timing of planting, The right time for rain, the right time for sunshine, dry fields for harvest, good prices for crops, and insurance when it fails! I have never met more hard working men and women!nor have I met more giving! Many meals we had were given to us from farmers. Fresh sweet potatoes, cabbages, onions, green beans, corn, potatoes, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, so much grown and given. You definitely won't starve in Hyde county!

- To go along with the above, you can tell the season by what type of tractors you get stuck behind on the highway! :) if I knew the names I would quote them but I don't! But you can ask any kid in Hyde County and they would be able to name all the equipment. And most of them can drive them too! You might have trouble finding parking space at the baseball games if all the parents arrive in their tractors, because after the game they are back out to work their farms. Dedication and faith, I'm telling you!

- Ms. Hilda, at Outta the Box (or Becks by locals)makes the BEST fried chicken in the world!! And
trust me I've lived around the world! Nothing comes close to hers!

- If you go to any social event and Alison Potter has provided any of the foods, TRY them! Everything she makes is delicious! Her canned foods are amazing too! Try her pickled figs, they are like Christmas in a jar, or her cinnamon cucumbers.... Yes try them, I thought they were candied apples! Yum!

-Though they have great country food everyday, Martell's Feedhouse, is the place to go Friday's for their ribs and shrimp! Don't miss it and go early!

- it is normal to meet someone that is related to someone else in Hyde county! Gibbs, Swindell, Spencer, Carawan, Cahoon. And just because they have the same last name doesn't mean they are actually related! It would be cool to do a giant family tree to see how everyone is related.

There are so many more things we learned in the short two years we were there. We will miss it! The friends and family we made. I will miss the sound of 300,000 swans, geese and ducks calling in the winter! We will miss our church. Hyde county we will miss you! But we will be back! On to a new adventure back in the snow country.....