Home Sweet Home

The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been and the memories we’ve made along the way.

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Where we love is home- home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

Together is a beautiful place to be. Home has never been a place for me, it’s always been a feeling. Driving down 26 at the end of this weekend with the Carolinas in my rearview was the first time I truly didn’t want to leave my hometown. In all reality, I felt as if I could have packed up and moved back home immediately which is a feeling I have never experienced after moving away. I always develop this unusual feeling as soon as my car hits the Spartanburg County line. Driving by the places that once held so many memories is almost euphoric. I’ve never been able to make complete sense out of the emotion, but it’s different and it feels so good it makes me smile ear to ear. Being back home this weekend felt right. Mom said to me years ago, “I always thought you would be the girl who would get out of this small town.” I finally did it mom! Moving away has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life and has taught me more about myself and about life than I can even begin to explain. I have grown exponentially. Being in Georgia alone for years has forced me to truly discover the woman that God created me to be and to embrace the relationships of the people that God has put into my path. And for that, I would never trade a second of this experience and am beyond grateful for the opportunity. But my roots run deep, and will always lead me right back to where the love of my family resides. Being away has taught me the importance of family and the importance of finding joy in every little moment and occasion. I miss those Sunday lunches and impromptu dinners that I once took for granted. I miss being able to hug my family whenever I wanted to and I miss the support system that I once had so close. Phone conversations just aren’t the same as having their loving presence right in front of me. I miss the rolling hills of the Carolinas and the crisp morning air. I miss the sunrises and sunsets that I find to be a little more special in the Carolinas and I miss the way the mountains peak over the hilltops around every corner. This weekend was so incredible being back home with the very people that I adore the most. I was surrounded with the simplicity of pure joy and incredible families and friends that radiate love. I don’t think I quit smiling one time, and I laughed belly laughs. As mom and I were sitting in church Sunday during worship, she started crying and wrapped her arms around me and said “I’m so glad you are home, and here with me.” If that doesn’t make you miss home, I don’t know what will! Thank you God for giving me family and friends that I don’t deserve. They are my world. Thank you for the opportunity to miss them dearly and to be able to come home and hug them a little tighter.

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The McLeod's

Welcome to our blog! We’re glad you stopped by and we hope you come back and visit. We want you to be a part of our journey! We are John and Chelsea McLeod. Best friends who are embracing the most precious gift of marriage and life. On the way to be full time missionaries and currently living a life mentoring those broken by addiction from both sides of the pain- loved ones and those struggling with addiction. Here you will find our recorded histories of life, love, struggles, and the journeys that encompass our wanderlust spirits all with an unfailing love for God and His ever so perfect redemption and grace over our lives. Here lies a safe place where our minds wander off into the deepest places with documentation to never be erased. We don’t want our memories to fall between the cracks somewhere, so we write. We don’t want to forget how far God has brought us, so we make records that will prayerfully live on for generations and give others hope who have lost theirs. We met in the most divine of appointments thousands of miles apart that only God could orchestrate. Had our first date watching a fiery sunset go down over the Georgia coast, and ultimately fell in love over kindred spirits that beat for where and what God passionately filled our hearts with. Hindsight, and years later, we can see that God had big plans all along that we couldn’t see. Through our broken pasts, He was preparing us for each other and a future of redemption and testimony. {{{{Everyone has a story and this is ours:}}}}} He’s a Georgia boy, she’s a Carolina girl. ----Hi, I’m Chelsea!---- I’m a native Carolina girl who loves to explore anywhere I’ve never been. An old soul and an extroverted-introvert with a deep heart that overflows with passion and a hunger for God to use me to change this world for the better. Mysterious and meek to the eye, and particularly passionate for the very things that set my heart on fire, especially the things and people that my heart beats for. I get filled up in the untouched outdoors where I can always see and feel His splendor. I am a Master cosmetologist by trade with a BA in Social Work and Counseling. These which intermix daily. I absolutely love the career that God has placed me in and daily, it allows me to love on people all around me. If I can make one person smile a day, my heart holds a fullness that keeps me coming back for more. I believe in forgiveness and miracles because I’ve witnessed them both. I don’t want my life to be about what I accomplished but what God accomplished through me. To me, I’ve learned that in life there is good and bad, right and wrong, excuses and no excuses. But alongside of these very things is engulfed with a ton of grace, growth, and redemption. I don’t ever want to pay the cost of not following my heart, by spending the rest of my life wishing I had. ----Hi, I’m John!---- I’m a born and bred Georgia boy where my blood runs strong with salt water. I was born and raised on the coast where everything I did was engulfed with water and the outdoors. I’m a bold soul with a gentle spirit who loves to help others in any way that I can to believe in themselves and God’s plan over their lives. By trade I hold the title of professional hunter and fisher with a 100 ton captain’s license. What started in Georgia took me out to Alaska where I found my career there, then south Florida and the open blue water. I’ve seen a lot and experienced a lot of God’s beauty and I will be forever grateful for that. Today I’ve taken on the title of “Fisher of men.” After enduring a wearisome season of addiction, God called me to use my pain to help others in addiction ministry and it has become one of the greatest joys of my life. It’s what I live for in showing people they can overcome something that most think they can’t. Offering hope where there is none. Testifying that something they always thought they would be, is only a season that God is ready and wants to use. Where Chelsea serves alongside me pouring into the loved ones. It’s where my passion is, it’s where we love to help others find freedom the same way we did. Today, Chelsea and I are grateful for our struggles because we know that what the enemy meant for evil, God used for good. Here we will write and share. Not to glorify us, but to glorify Him and what He is doing in our lives. The magnificent ways that He is moving and the unfathomable circumstances that He has and will bless us with. All glory goes to Him. We hope you enjoy!!

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