Charleston, SC

Ryan and I were able to spend a few days in Charleston, SC last week. It was our belated 10th anniversary trip. Our 10th anniversary was back in May, but we decided to wait until school was out and our new church building was complete before heading out of town for a few days. We have no idea where 10 years went! We talked on our way down to Charleston and said some days it felt like it wasn't that long ago that we got married and other days it seems like it has been forever! My parents graciously agreed to keep Alex and Emily so that we could spend some time together. Neither Ryan nor I had been to Charleston in many years and we had a great time walking through the city and eating some really good seafood! We took a harbor tour, a carriage ride and caught up on our SC and American history. History was never my favorite subject in school and anytime I go to some really historical place, I wish I had listened in class a little more.

For those of you who may not know the story of how the Allred family came to be, here is the quick recap..... Ryan and I met while at Clemson. We begin dating in November of my Junior year and in May of 1997 we were engaged. I wasn't graduating until May of 1998, so we lacked 2 weeks having a full one year engagement. Ryan stuck around CU and finished up his 2nd engineering degree while I finsihed my teaching degree. We got married on May 16, 1998 at my home church in Gaffney, SC and then on May 28th, we left Gaffney to head to Dallas, TX so that Ryan could attend seminary at Dallas Theological. We thought we would be in Dallas for 4 years while Ryan completed the ThM program and then be headed back to the good 'ole Southeast. God had other plans though....4 years in Dallas turned into a full time job at Lake Pointe Church and 9 total years in the great state of Texas! A seminary degree, 9 years of teaching experience, and 2 kids later, we returned to SC in January '07 for Ryan to pursue a new job as a Small Groups Pastor at North Rock Hill Church.

God has been faithful every step of the way from finishing degrees at Clemson, to getting married, and doing something totally crazy like moving 1000 miles away from everyone we knew! We laughed on our ride to Charleston....we think we left for Dallas with $2000-$3000 to our names and no jobs....you know God had to be in it! And now here we are 10 years later. God is good......our prayer is that he will continue to walk us each step of the way through whatever is in store over the next 10 years!