Vestavia Hills Magazine, Fall 2021

WAYS TO REDISCOVER GATLINBURG • COMMUNITY INFLUENCERS • SOUL SATISFACTION AT MUDTOWN

BEYOND THE STUDIO TOUR ARTIST CARRIE PITTMAN HILL’S HOME

THE JOY OF THE GAME ON THE FIELD WITH THE MIRACLE LEAGUE

LLAMA, LLAMA FALL 2021 VestaviaHillsMagazine.com Volume Five | Issue Four $4.95

CLAIRE JORDAN’S ZOO OF ANIMAL WHIMSY ART VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 1

GIVE IN TO SOMETHING UNEXPECTED. Uncover the unexpected at Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook with experiences that will awaken your inspiration. Satisfy your good taste at Habitat Feed & Social, with fresh flavors handpicked by the season. Or explore a different side of dining with our Cooking School and Wine Blending experiences, where you can sample something new and dare to experiment, guided by our expert chefs and sommeliers. Just let temptation lead the way.

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2 Fall 2021

FEATURES 54

EVEN IN THE DARK A mother shares her family’s journey of joy, grief and unexpected miracles in the lives and loss of their twin daughters.

62 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

COMMUNITY INFLUENCERS 2021 It’s the people who make Vestavia Hills the community that it is. Here we recognize some of those making an impact on others around them through their businesses.

68 HIT THE ROAD

This Sevier County town nestles up against the Great Smoky Mountains in a way that invites guests to leave the screens behind so they can relax, unwind and reconnect to the outdoors. Here’s our guide to what to see, where to stay and where to eat there.

4 Fall 2021

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

REDISCOVER GATLINBURG

54

43

PHOTO BY LAUREN USTAD

arts & culture

13 The Pink Zebra: Claire Jordan’s Zoo of Animal Whimsy 22 Read This Book: Upper Elementary Read Alongs

schools & sports

23 Play Ball: Joy on the New Miracle League Baseball Field 32 Five Questions For: Dance Student Rosalie Anthony

food

& drink

in every issue 6 Contributors 7 From the Editor 8 The Question 9 The Guide 76 Out & About 79 Marketplace 80 My Vestavia Hills

33 Soul Satisfaction: Mudtown’s Cahaba Heights Ties 42 Five Questions For: Davenport’s Pizza

home

& style

43 An Artist’s Canvas: Inside Carrie Pittman Hill’s Light-Filled Home 52 In Style: It’s Jacket Season

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 5

contributors EDITORIAL

Alec Etheredge Nathan Howell Madoline Markham Keith McCoy Scott Mims Emily Sparacino

CONTRIBUTORS

Abby Adams Gabby Bass-Butler James Culver Mary Fehr Michelle Love Blair Ramsey Christiana Roussel Elizabeth Sturgeon Lauren Ustad

DESIGN

Jamie Dawkins Connor Martin-Lively Kimberly Myers Briana Sansom

MARKETING

Darniqua Bowen Evann Campbell Jessica Caudill Kari George Zoe Hall Rachel Henderson Rhett McCreight Tori Montjoy Viridiana Romero Kerrie Thompson

ADMINISTRATION Hailey Dolbare Mary Jo Eskridge Daniel Holmes Kinley Johnson Stacey Meadows Tim Prince Brittany Schofield Savana Tarwater

Gabby Bass-Butler, Intern

Gabby was born and raised in Birmingham and is currently studying journalism and mass communications at Samford University. Gabby has always had a passion for writing and telling stories, and she can often be found scrolling on Pinterest or sharing her love of books on her Bookstagram, @theliteraryvogue.

Mary Fehr, Photographer

Mary is a wedding and portrait photographer based out of Birmingham.

She studied art and art history at University of Montevallo. She likes to teach and plans on getting her MFA in order to do so. Mary also loves to travel and has a goal of photographing a wedding in every state! She enjoys reading non-fiction, going to concerts and spending time with her family.

Blair Ramsey, Photographer

Blair is a Vestavia Hills-based photographer whose company, Southern Intrigue Photography, specializes in sports action, portrait and commercial images. Blair and her husband, John, have two sons, Cooper and Cameron, who have both had the privilege of being Auburn cheerleaders. Blair’s work can be found at southernintriguephotography. com, on Instagram @southernintriguephotography and Facebook @southernintrigue.

Christiana Roussel, Writer

Christiana is a Birmingham-based food, travel and lifestyle writer who loves nothing more than meeting new people, discovering new things and finding ways they all work together. Sharing these stories with a wider audience through print feeds her passion. Recent stories have run the gamut from shotguns to flower arranging, and gallery openings to aquaculture.

Vestavia Hills Magazine is published quarterly by Shelby County Newspapers Inc., P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051. Vestavia Hills Magazine is a registered trademark. All contents herein are the sole property of Shelby County Newspapers Inc. [the Publisher]. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written permission from the Publisher. Please address all correspondence (including but not limited to letters, story ideas and requests to reprint materials) to: Editor, Vestavia Hills Magazine, P.O. Box 947, Columbiana, AL 35051.

Vestavia Hills Magazine is mailed to select households throughout Vestavia Hills, and a limited number of free copies are available at local businesses. Please visit VestaviaHillsMagazine.com for a list of those locations. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $14.95 plus tax for one year by visiting VestaviaHillsMagazine.com or calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 532.

Advertising inquiries may be made by emailing advertise@vestaviahillsmagazine.com, or by calling (205) 669-3131, ext. 536.

6 Fall 2021

from the editor

T

ON THE COVER

Llama, Llama

Claire Jordan paints whimsical animals and prints them onto greeting cards and children’s clothing.

Photo by Mary Fehr Design by Jamie Dawkins

There’s a lot in this issue that’s our usual mix of what I call pretty, happy stories—sweet tales of the new Miracle League field, how Carrie Pittman Hill’s art flows from her studio into her home, of Mudtown’s ties to the people around it and how Claire Jordan has created a zoo full of whimsical animal art. But as I am typing this letter, all I can think about is our story on Morgan Cheek’s love and loss.

Confession: I put off writing her story until the last minute before my deadline to our designer, not because the story wasn’t one I really wanted to share, but because it was. But I knew it was heavy and one I wanted to give extra TLC. So at long last I opened the 4,300+ words from the transcript of my conversation with Morgan and started to figure out how to craft a narrative.

Morgan is a wordsmith herself, sharing her journey @seedsandleaven on Instagram, so I knew parts of her journey with her twin daughters’ genetic disease from their birth to their passing in 2019 and 2020. But as we sat down together she walked me through the whole thing from meeting her husband in college to her current wrestling with grief, and she answered all my questions about how to be a friend to someone who is grieving, how her writing ties to her journey, her family’s adoption story and why there were Christmas trees in her living room this summer. Her vulnerability and how she articulates the journey with incredible insight is moving to the have-a-Kleenex-box-around level, so please do give it a read.

We’ve got new things to introduce to you in this issue too. Vestavia Hills Magazine is now coming out in print quarterly, or once every season: fall, winter, spring and summer. If you are a subscriber, you will still get the number of issues left in your subscription, and if you aren’t a subscriber, you can change that at vestaviahillsmagazine. com anytime. And as always you can find us sharing more timely updates on local happenings @vestaviahillsmag on social media, and you can sign up for our monthly emails at vestaviahillsmagazine. com.

Also in this issue we are starting a new travel feature, Hit the Road, where writer Christiana Roussel spotlights destinations within driving distance or a direct flight from Vestavia Hills/BHM. You’ll find it each issue going forward. Be sure to also check out our new annual advertorial section of Community Influencers that features local business leaders and others making a difference in our area.

Thanks for reading, and here’s to hoping fall weather arrives before this issue is too old!

madoline.markham@vestaviahillsmagazine.com VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 7

“ ” THE QUESTION

What should top a list of the best restaurant dishes in Vestavia Hills?

Masaman Thai Kitchen’s coconut soup, tom yum and any of their curry dishes!

-Alissa Meng Padgett

-Heidi Udouj Falconer

Pappa’s Grill. Greek snapper is awesome. But their spanakopita is perhaps the best meal ever.

And their green beans and Greek salad.

Cuban at Kool Korner and all the cookies at Cookie Fix!

Shrimp and grits at Bistro V

Muffuletta at The Dip!

FoodBar!! Crab claws, any fish dish, tuna appetizer, their burger and their lemon meringue pastry pie.

Churros from El Zun Zun

-Jeff Vanderver

-Ann Burlingame Inge

-Sara M Nix

8 Fall 2021

Jam Gouda Burger at The Ridge

-Casey Newell Ray

-Jennifer Lewis Burks

-Misty Brooke Wright Smith

THE GUIDE

HEIGHTS HEROES 5K NOV. 6 Fields Behind Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights Put on your cape, and come out for this 5K benefitting Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights teachers, staff and students.

Register online before race day.

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 9

THE GUIDE AROUND TOWN SEPT. 11 Fall Plant Sale Birmingham Botanical Gardens SEPT. 23-25 St. George Middle Eastern Food Festival St. George Greek-Catholic Milkite Church SEPT. 25 Fiesta Linn Park SEPT. 25 Head Over Teal 5K/10K Hoover Preserve SEPT. 30-OCT. 2 Vintage Market Days of Birmingham The Finley Center

SEPT. 9-11

SEPT. 30-OCT. 3 Antiques at the Gardens Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Whale of a Sale Virtual It’s that time of the year. Stock your kids’ fall and winter wardrobe at this annual sale held by Vestavia Hills United Methodist. The sale is open virtually Thursday, Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. to Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. Visit whaleofasale.blogspot.com for more updates, and access the sale at vestaviadayschoolwhaleofasale.com.

NOV. 13

Deck the Heights 2-7 P.M. Shops of Cahaba Heights Get a head start on holiday shopping when businesses stay open late throughout Cahaba Heights, and you’ll find pop-up shops all day around Cahaba Heights too. Find more details on the event closer to the date on the @shop.cahaba.heights page on Facebook.

10 Fall 2021

OCT. 2 Bluff Park Art Show Bluff Park Community Center OCT. 2 Irondale Whistle Stop Festival Historic Downtown Irondale OCT. 8-10 Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival Barber Motorsports Festival OCT. 9 Jimmie Hale Mission Rescue Run 5K, 10K & Fun Run Downtown Homewood OCT. 10 Handmade Art Show + Pickin’ in the Park Homewood Central Park 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

OCT. 14-16 Greek Food Festival Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral

THE GUIDE OCT. 20-31 Shop Save Share Benefitting Junior League of Birmingham Community Projects OCT. 21-22 Legacy Grandparenting Summit Shades Mountain Baptist Church NOV. 1-2 Dia de los Muertos Pepper Place NOV. 6 Virtual Walk to End Epilepsy Railroad Park NOV. 6-7 Moss Rock Festival The Preserve, Hoover NOV. 11 National Veterans Day Parade Downtown Birmingham

NOV. 19

Magical Marketplace 9 A.M.-4 P.M. Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church

Already dreading what to buy that impossible-to-buy-for special someone in your life? Not to fear.

Shop vendors selling arts and crafts, baked goods, candles and scents, housewares, wooden items, toys, jewelry and more. Find updates on the event at vhumc.org or on the Magical Marketplace page on Facebook.

NOV. 17-20 Market Noel Virtual Marketplace Finley Center, Hoover

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 11

[Newbor n + Child + Family Por traiture] info@apeppermintphoto.com + 205.807.6431 w w w . a p e p p e r m i n t p h o t o . c o m

&CULTURE

ARTS

THE PINK ZEBRA

Claire Jordan has brought her traveling zoo of animal whimsy to her new home art studio.

BY ELIZABETH STURGEON PHOTOS BY MARY FEHR VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 13

A

About a year ago, Claire Jordan ended up in Birmingham on accident—but not without her very own on-paper traveling zoo. Flocks and herds are joined by the mystical, the tropical and even the extinct. The colorful band of animals has moved with Claire from Asheville, North Carolina, to Franklin, Tennessee, to her newest hometurned-art studio in Vestavia Hills, where they’re now lined up from floor to ceiling in her closet.

The animal faces Claire paints and prints onto greeting cards and children’s clothing come alive in a way she never expects. “Their eyes all say something different, and they have distinct personalities,” she says. “I call them my kids because it’s all I’ve done day in and day out for five years.”

She first launched Claire Jordan Designs while working at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville and began with the original six: her cow, duck, fox,

14 Fall 2021

lamb, bunny and deer. These first few prints have led to more than 100 animals and other designs on cards—which double as prints if you frame them— as well as children’s T-shirts, onesies and masks.

Claire never thought she would be painting for a living, though it gets closer each day to her childhood dream (and just her forever dream) to be a fashion designer. Growing up in the small town of Yazoo City, Mississippi, she always dreamed big and saw herself better fit in somewhere like New York or Paris. As Claire puts it, she’s the pink zebra rocking fuchsia lipstick and Balenciaga in the sea of neutrals and Louis Vuitton.

Though she was always good at art—she took a few lessons as a child, painted goal post signs, and did other creative things here and there—Claire never saw “artist” as a profession she could work toward. She received her degree in business

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 15

Claire Jordan brings her whimsical animals to life from her home studio.

administration from Mississippi College and thought she would find a career in the oil and gas industry before returning to art.

Claire picked up little projects that first got her into creative work. She helped create wedding decorations, she renovated furniture, she faux finished walls in houses around Mississippi and other parts of the Southeast.

Eventually, she ended up at a family farm in Carter, Mississippi, as she cared for her dad throughout his terminal cancer diagnosis. “God shut doors for me,” Claire says, “and when my dad got sick, silly things didn’t matter anymore.” After her dad passed away in 2015, Claire decided to move to a place she didn’t know and where she didn’t know anyone—Asheville—and it’s the place that changed everything for her, once her boss at 16 Fall 2021

The Grove Park Inn saw her work and convinced her to start printing cards.

After her first sales in the hotel’s art gallery, stores and boutiques around the country started carrying her work. Business grew quickly from the little creative spark that Claire has always seen in herself, even when she was too scared to show anyone her work.

When she felt like she’d lived her life in Asheville and, at the same time, fell in love with Franklin’s Main Street, Claire moved to Tennessee and brought Claire Jordan Designs with her. She painted more animals, printed more cards and explored more clothing options while also working at a boutique in Franklin to learn more about children’s clothing.

A large part of her art and business is reprinting

BEHIND THE SCENES We shot this arts and culture feature with Claire at Caleb and Rebecca Houston’s home, which just so happens to be filled with Claire’s work. Caleb and Rebecca are friends of Claire’s and have decked out their 2-year-old daughter Elise’s room with prints (plus a few baprons and T-shirts in the closet). The star piece of the room is Claire’s flamingo, which she adorned with the flower crown Rebecca wore at her baby shower.

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VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 17

Claire’s “baprons” are long bibs with open backs like an apron.

708 Montgomery Highway; Suite 116 Vestavia Hills, AL 35216

18 Fall 2021

her designs on paper and reproducing them on the fabric, which she heat presses herself in her kitchen. When she’s not ordering prints or ironing on designs, she’s painting new pieces, both the magical ones that are plucked straight from her imagination and the welcomed inspiration from real animals she’s encountered. Her niece’s hamster, a camel from her friend’s safari in Mississippi and even just the butterflies that float by her all make appearances.

On canvas, Claire works with acrylic paint, only one or two brushes, and her fingers. “It blends better,” she says. “I like to feel the paint and get it

to do what I want. It needs to flow, so I like to do lots of ombre and shading.” She works between both bright and pastel shades with a technique that she’s perfected over the years as a completely self-taught painter.

And then came the curveball of COVID-19. The pandemic pushed Claire to move back home for a few months until she decided to move closer to her mom, sister and brother, who are all in Birmingham. Throughout that transition, she designed her first children’s masks with her animal designs, and in two months, she sold more than 4,000 masks and began carrying with more

FASHION MADE FUN As Claire grew her line of children’s wear, her goal was to

Claire has also introduced bib aprons, or “baprons,” which

make something both kids and moms would like. She has

are long bibs with open backs like an apron. Some even

done years of research to find the best comfortable, super-

have ruffles on the sleeves because “we’re still in the South,

soft fabrics for her onesies, T-shirts and masks. Plus, she is

honey.” You can find children’s clothing with your favorite

always painting new designs based on what she hears from

of her designs and can expect high quality pieces from her.

the kids she knows. Beetles and planets have recently been

She is an aspiring high fashion designer, remember.

added to her long list of critters and other creations.

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VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 19

than 150 new boutiques. Despite the massive changes in her life, she was able to make a difference and help keep children safe and healthy.

The masks were more than practical too. Kids could name their favorite animal, no matter how strange or ordinary, and Claire probably has it painted and printed on a mask. She also donated children’s masks to schools around the Birmingham area and made some for teachers so children wouldn’t be so scared of seeing a masked face.

Her giving heart is something that, in many ways, COVID amplified, but it’s nothing new at the same time.

“I would give everything if I could,” Claire says. “God gave 20 Fall 2021

me this ability, and if you’re lucky enough to find it, you have to use it and help. And everyone deserves something nice.”

Claire has also donated prints and clothing to countless organizations: women’s prisons and recovery centers, schools and classrooms, hospitals and nonprofits. In particular, she has connected with Think Pink campaigns to raise money for breast cancer awareness and with Mustard Seed Communities, an organization for children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities.

As the end of 2021 comes into view, Claire is still putting her dreams onto paper, and she’s still dreaming of creating her own fabric or writing her own children’s book. And between Jackson, Asheville, Franklin and now Birmingham, she’s still the same deeply caring, talented, selfproclaimed pink zebra.

“For so long, I thought something was wrong with me,” she says, “but I was just creative. And I found my way back to art and into the world I wanted.”

Follow or shop Claire’s designs at clairejordandesigns.com or follow her @clairejordandesigns on Instagram and Facebook.

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 21

ARTS & CULTURE

READ THIS BOOK

Upper Elementary Read Alongs Recommendations from

Kimberly Conn

Author & Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park Teacher

As a child I fell asleep after bedtime in the doorway of my room with a book pushed into the light of the hallway to read. So it was shocking for me to learn later that not all kids are as keen to read for pleasure. But most love to be read to, long after most parents think they’ve outgrown it, so here are a few books for that. (Side note: I am also the author of two novels that you would not want to read with your elementary children, Buying the Farm and Audrey Anonymous.)

Pax

By Sara Pennypacker When Peter’s father volunteers to go to war, he forces Peter to give up Pax, his fox. Peter struggles with the anger he sees in both his father and the grandfather he is sent to live with, as well as his own anger stemming from his mother’s death. Consumed by guilt, Peter sets out to find Pax but finds much more as he makes an unexpected friend, grows in self-confidence, and finds the emotional strength to stand up to his father.

The Wild Robot

By Peter Brown When a ship carrying hundreds of robots sinks, only one of the robots survives. ROZZUM Unit 7134, better known as Roz, washes up on an island inhabited only by animals. The animals fear they are being invaded by a monster. Gradually, they learn that she wants to help them, and they, in turn, help her. When she adopts an orphaned gosling and builds a nest for herself and her new son, she becomes a full-fledged member of the community.

A Wolf Called Wander

By Rosanne Parry This book is based on the real-life, far-roaming wolf OR-7 (called Swift in this book), who was collared with a radio transmitter by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2011 to track his movements.

The story traces Swift’s life from puppyhood to the loss of his family in an attack by another pack, and then through the migrations that took him hundreds of miles across Oregon and California before he settled down and made a family of his own.

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

By Kate DiCamillo Flora Belle Buckman is a cynical kid who finds herself at odds with her mother after her parents’ divorce. While reading a comic book her mother has asked her not to read, Flora sees the neighbor accidentally vacuum up a squirrel in her backyard. Flora comes to the rescue of the squirrel, who immediately exhibits unusual abilities. Flora believes the squirrel is a superhero and that her mother is its arch-nemesis, so she sets out to save the squirrel from her mother only to find out it is the squirrel who will save them.

Operation Frog Effect

By Sarah Scheerger Ms. Graham is an unconventional teacher who encourages her students to think outside the box and speak up for what they believe in, but when a handful of kids take a project too far, they unintentionally get Ms. Graham in trouble. Together, the kids learn that growing up means taking accountability for your mistakes and that true friendship has no boundaries.

22 Fall 2021

SCHOOL

&SPORTS

PLAY BALL

There’s joy all over the new Miracle League baseball field from the stands to the outfield.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY BLAIR RAMSEY/SOUTHERN INTRIGUE PHOTOGRAPHY VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 23

24 Fall 2021

C

The Miracle League teams line up on their new field at Wald Park at this start of the spring season the year.

Chad Littleton has always been a sports fanatic.

He’s always the first to want to go to a game and the loudest cheerleader in the stands. But for years Chad, who has special needs, was always in the stands watching his siblings play, not on the field himself. And then came the Miracle League this spring.

At his first time up to bat at the baseball league’s new field at Wald Park, Chad was determined to hit a home run, and he’d told everyone he could about it. And lo and behold, that’s just what he did, sending the ball flying into the air as a crowd booming with support cheered him on.

It’s a moment his stepdad Jeff—who also wears a hat as Vestavia Hills’ city manager—will never forget, in part because of Chad’s journey and in part because of the community’s. To him, that home run was symbolic that Vestavia Hills had hit a home run for the special needs community with the new field and new league.

“These players are experiencing something of great value,” Jeff says. “The community is giving them a giant hug in the form of a facility.”

He saw that hug firsthand each Sunday this spring during the inaugural Miracle League season. “In the special needs community some kids are totally extroverted and won’t stop talking and love to be in this environment,” Jeff continues. “And some are very reserved and passive, but when they get on the field, they all share something in common. One young man would move from a snail’s pace to sprinting around the bases. It was so gratifying to see parents’ smiles.”

Each week in the season four teams of mixed ages and skill abilities play ball. Each player in the league is assigned a buddy from the community to assist them, cheer them on and sit with in the dugout—whatever is needed. Each player hits. Each player runs the bases. And no matter how the game plays out, everyone who is there celebrates each player’s successes. Often they are stepping outside their comfort zone only to step into the joy of the game, and their parents’ fears drop as the player’s does too.

Vestavia Hills previously had a baseball league VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 25

MIRACLE LEAGUE FALL SEASON 2021 GAMES Sept. 12-Oct. 31

Sundays at 2 p.m.

Wald Park

Anyone in the community is invited

to come out to watch the games and to volunteer as buddies. For more

information on volunteering, email

Allison Maners at allisonmaners@icloud. com. To register for the league, visit

vhal.org/miracle-league-registration.

26 Fall 2021

for players with special needs called All Stars, but a big part of what is new with the Miracle League is a field for the special needs community to call their own. Its existence is largely thanks to fundraising efforts by the Vestavia Hills Parks and Recreation Foundation and Vestavia Hills High School and funding through the city’s overall community spaces project.

“While (the special needs community was) warmly embraced by the community, they would have to take seconds to another organization’s priorities for outdoor field space,” Jeff explains.

“With the creation of the Miracle League field, that special needs community finally has a home,

Art by Yvonne Miller & Stefan Hochhuber

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VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 27

28 Fall 2021

and they don’t have to share it with another purpose. This spring really showed how much the special needs community and community as a whole was hungry for this place.”

And the field was built specifically for them too.

Its custom-designed, rubberized turf field with uniform leveling—not even the bases are raised— allows anyone to move easily from base to base without impediments or tripping hazards regardless of your mobility, and the surface has give and take in case someone falls on it. The dugouts have wider entrances so you can fit a wheelchair in them, and they are equipped with power outlets if a particular wheelchair needs one. Even the bat and ball are created to be more inclusive for all abilities.

Jeff and Chad certainly weren’t the only ones creating memories never to be forgotten on the field in the inaugural season either. Allison Maners—who organizes volunteers for the league and whose son plays in it—recalls watching a child who is nonverbal screaming with excitement as the ball flew through the air, and another who wasn’t able to run the bases but high fived anyone she saw on the field. Also imprinted on her mind from the season were a 6-year-old buddy grabbing

Pizitz Middle School Ambassadors

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 29

Leigh Belcher, Allison Maners, Amy Lawson and Hala Brown

a 36-year-old player’s hand to guide him around the bases, and a volunteer pitcher tearing up time and time again as he watched poignant moment after poignant moment with the players in action.

She also notes the importance of the field’s central location in Wald Park. “It’s just as important for the community to see them and that they are valued,” she says. “It makes everyone aware that (these players) are important.”

Each week of the season Coach Allan Jones

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watched his players—including his son Hudson— look forward to seeing one another. “To see them interact with one another is still incredible,” he says. But the most notable part of the season to him was the strength of community support.

Grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins and teachers came out to support the teams on Opening Day, and so did neighbors and folks who lived nearby. “What was so incredible was week two came, and it didn’t drop off,” he recalls.

“

The buddies are there to help the players physically or emotionally, but it’s a two-way street.

(The players) are also there to teach us and help us grow. I think that’s so important.

”

–Coach Allan Jones

“Week three came, and it didn’t drop off. It stayed the same. It was the most moving thing about the whole season because it brought the level of excitement to an all-time high and people wanted to be a part of it.”

More and more volunteers continued to rise up too, including high school students who originally came to get community service hours and later chose to do it just because they wanted to. “The buddies are there to help the players physically or

emotionally, but it’s a two-way street,” Allan says. “(The players) are also there to teach us and help us grow. I think that’s so important.”

As the Miracle League’s fall season starts in September, Allison encourages everyone in the community to come out to cheer on their teams.

“Come watch some games to put your life in perspective,” she says. “I’m blown away by how fun this is. To see how many people it’s impacting is really cool.”

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 31

SCHOOLS & SPORTS

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Rosalie Anthony Point Park University Conservatory Dance Student PHOTO BY DAVID LEONG

“Being an adopted Asian American growing up in a suburb of Alabama, I started questioning why my race was different than a lot of my classmates at a pretty young age,” Rosalie Anthony writes to open an essay that won her a scholarship from Asian Youth 4 Civic Engagement this summer. In it she talks about how her in her scholarship submission dance she reflects on her identities as American and Asian especially in light of being Asian American in the current political landscape. Here we talked with her to learn more about that dance and the road that led her to this point in her dance career with a strong foundation at Vestavia Dance.

How did you first get into dance, and what were your early years like?

I am adopted from China. When my mom first adopted me, she realized my gross motor skills were delayed, so she decided to put me in dance at The Dance Foundation when I was 3 and saw that helped with developing those skills. Then we moved to Vestavia Dance and became a part of Vestavia Hills United Methodist. I danced there for about 10 years. Ms. Angel White and Mrs. Kelly Avery were mentors during my fundamental years at Vestavia Dance.

They really inspired and supported me to get where I am today. In middle school, I wanted to study dance on a more rigorous level and decided to go to Alabama School of Fine Arts. I felt like it really prepared me for the college career of dance I wanted to pursue.

Can you talk some about your relationship with Asian culture?

My mom had tried to get us in touch with Asian culture growing up, took us on a trip to China in second grade and hired a tutor to teach us Chinese. I had never fully connected with it, though, because I had grown up in 32 Fall 2021

the US. During the pandemic and all the social movements going on, I thought it was a perfect time to reflect on that.

How did you reflect on that through your scholarship submission dance?

In my submission I portray my three identities: Asian, American and dancer.

Here’s what I wrote about it in my essay: “Through my art, I hope to demonstrate the internal conflict I feel. I chose those this song, ‘We Are Animals’ because the artist, Yo-Yo Ma, is a successful Asian American musician, who is playing with, or assimilated in, a primarily Asian quartet. It is only an excerpt of the entire song to represent this is a snapshot of where I am right now in my self-reflection journey…The movement I chose to start smaller and gradually get bigger, primarily, because in the beginning race is not something that is significant to children, and as a minority, I have grown to learn what stereotypes there are and how you are treated differently in different environments.”

How are you pursuing dance at the

collegiate level?

Currently I am at Point Park University, one of the top five conservatories in the country, and getting a bachelor of fine arts with a concentration in ballet and a minor in French as well. There I study ballet, point, modern, partnering dances and a few social dance forms like African and an Italian social dance. I am interested in researching dance and have had some work published in academic journals, about mentor and mentee relationships since dance is a cultural tradition that has been passed down orally.

Currently I am researching contemporary dance and how social media has affected how we view dance and how dance is written down.

What are some of your hopes and dreams for the future?

I want to look at joining a dance company, and I am looking to possible get my MFA. This past year I taught with UAB Art Play and some private lessons, and I love teaching. I want to continue to advocate for dance and the arts and diversity in the arts and share what I love to do.

&DRINK

FOOD

SOUL SATISFACTION Mudtown is all about the community around it and food that will fill your soul.

BY MICHELLE LOVE PHOTOS BY MARY FEHR VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 33

D

David Horn looks over at the Mudtown bar where five bar guests are sitting and enjoying a congenial chat. Four of them he sees three to four times a week.

“We’re on a first-name basis with them,” he says.

They come in a lot.”

In fact, you’re almost guaranteed to run into old friends and maybe make some new ones at the Cahaba Heights restaurant. In its 16-year run, Mudtown has maintained a steady staff of familiar faces, like Tiffany the bar manager, and provided an eclectic but reliable menu filled with Southern favorites ranging from fried green tomatoes to juicy burgers. Though the location is small, its heart is undeniably big.

Though his background is rich in the restaurant

34 Fall 2021

industry, Dave says becoming the owner of Mudtown in 2007, a year and a half after it first opened in 2005, was an accident. He moved from Auburn to Atlanta in 1997 and began working in restaurants while he tried finishing school. “I really enjoyed it,” he says. “I worked at a place called The Vortex in Atlanta…a bar and burger place. It was a cool place with good food and good service, and it stuck with me. I liked it a lot.” Anyone hear foreshadowing there?

After finishing school with a degree in marketing, Dave was met with what seemed an endless line of job opportunities in sales, something he really felt no passion or desire to do. It was then that fate intervened. When he moved back to Birmingham in early 2007, the original owner of Mudtown had

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 35

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36 Fall 2021

placed it for sale, “So I looked at it and thought, ‘I can make this work,’” he says.

And work it did. “We got lucky,” Dave says.

“Cahaba Heights is an awesome neighborhood, and it’s been super cool to be here.”

From the beginning Dave wanted to create a space that was specifically designed for locals and driven by what folks in the area enjoy, fitting for a restaurant named after the nickname of the area that would

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 37

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eventually be known as Cahaba Heights. “The thing that was cool about Mudtown was that even from the beginning we wanted to make it hyperlocal. I mean this IS Cahaba Heights. To try and duplicate that somewhere else is pretty difficult. I guess it could work but it’s really not the same,” he says.

He’d later bring that mindset to his other restaurants, The Ridge on Rocky Ridge Road and SoHo Social in Homewood: a specially crafted restaurant based on the individual culinary needs of the surrounding neighborhoods. While there have been opportunities to open a second Mudtown location, recreating that special connection the original location has with the Cahaba Heights community is close to impossible, according to Dave.

“Mudtown is here. As far as having a larger space, that would be great, but I’m very reluctant to. I just don’t know how to make that happen without risking changing things,” he says.

He just wants it to be a place where people can relax and forget their troubles: “I think families have been key to creating this community atmosphere that has been so beneficial to us. I love seeing families come in. Mom and Dad will have a drink, and the kids are kind of running around. If these people are comfortable

Dave Horn has owned the Cahaba Heights eatery Mudtown since 2007.

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 39

coming in with their family and having a cocktail and trusting their kids are safe to kind of hang out, that’s fantastic. We love that. I really want this to be the place where people can come in, have good food and a drink, hang out, and maybe see somebody they know.”

And as of last February, Mudtown’s menu went through a complete makeover to make it better fit what the restaurant had become, switching up its original concept for “food based on the locales where southerners go on vacation.”

“It was the first time we said, ‘Okay, we’re going to do our own Mudtown menu.’ We tried for a long time to stick with that original concept, but we wanted to make changes that would keep our regulars but bring in a new crowd also. We wanted the menu to be things we were passionate about and that we all liked,” he says.

Though they kept some original menu items, Dave and the rest of Mudtown’s staff reflected on what dishes stirred a fire within them. “We asked ourselves, ‘What do we do well?’ and ‘What menu items are we, the staff, excited about? What are you excited to tell a table about?’ Also, sometimes we’ll try and experiment based on what items we want to utilize throughout the menu, so a lot of it was trial and error

40 Fall 2021

W E L C O M E O U R N E W E S T P E D I A T R I C I A N

Sarah Spencer, MD

and fun experimentation on what works well together.”

They also asked the staff questions like: What are you eating when you’re on your break? What do you like? How do you modify it?’ “I always ask our server when we go on vacation, ‘Hey, what’s your favorite thing on the menu?’” he says. “[Servers] are here all the time, so you can easily tell when someone likes or dislikes an item. It’s a key factor in building a menu.”

Today you’ll find plenty of homages to the South on the menu, starting with Fried Pickles and Fried Green Tomatoes, and carrying into the Conecuh Dog and The Big Green Pimp, a burger topped with a Southern quartet of pimiento cheeses, bacon, fried green tomatoes and pepper jelly. The entrée selection is almost as delightful to read descriptions of as it is to eat. There’s Shrimp & Grits, Pontchartrain Pasta (with shrimp, crawfish and Adouille sausage), Crab Cakes and a Slabtown Soul Plate with Nashville hot chicken and Conecuh sausage the menu claims will “satisfy your soul.” And that’s not even getting to the Cookie Fix Cookie Sundae made with dough from the bakery right down the street.

Speaking of community ties, the restaurant stays active in donations to local schools and organizations, since Dave says the support of the Cahaba Heights community “means everything to us.”

“We want to be good neighbors because that’s what Cahaba Heights is about,” he says. “We want to reflect what we thought the community was.”

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FOOD & DRINK

5

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR

Amanda Thames Davenport’s Pizza Co-Owner PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Pizza is coming to the Vestavia City Center, and not just any pizza: Davenport’s Pizza. The third-generation, family-owned pizza eatery has had a strong following since it first opened in 1964 in Mountain Brook, and now everyone in Vestavia Hills will have one closer to home, with a location right next to Taco Mama. In other Vestavia City Center news, Crumbl Cookies opened this summer, and Chop’t was scheduled to open by late summer. To tide us over until the new Davenport’s opens in early 2022, we chatted with is current co-owner and granddaughter of the founders about what’s in store.

Can you recap the Davenport’s history from your perspective as the grandchild of the founders?

My grandparents Rex and Ardyce Hollis started Davenport’s in 1964 in Mountain Brook Village. Rex named the restaurant after his childhood friend, Jim “Peanut” Davenport, who was a professional baseball player with the San Francisco Giants. It was one of the first pizza restaurants in the area, and people took a liking to the pizza. When my grandmother passed away, my mom and my aunt took it over, and now my cousin Yates Norris and I run it.

So many people have asked us about that location and if we’d open another location.

What was the appeal of the new location you have chosen in Vestavia City Center?

We looked at a few locations that didn’t feel right, but when we saw this spot, Yates and I we felt like it would be a great fit. It’s a family-friendly atmosphere, and it’s packed with families when we go there. It’s a lively outdoor space and adjacent to the movie theatre, so we expect to have families going to the theatre eat with us before or after. Vestavia is a big baseball community, so we expect it to There was a Davenport’s location in be a great spot for team parties and birthday parties. We already have so many Vestavia too at one point, right?

There was a second location in the Vestavia customers, and this is closer to 1980s on Columbiana Road near its them. intersection with Highway 31, and it was successful. My grandfather sold the What will be the same or different from building, and that was the reason it closed. the Mountain Brook location?

42 Fall 2021

We want to keep as much the same as we can to make it feel like it’s Davenport’s, so a lot of the décor will be the same. The architects have visited the original Davenport’s and know it’s important to pull in those elements. The menu will be the same: pizza, salads, cold beer, drinks.

We will offer outdoor seating and TVs for watching sporting events, so we are hoping to be a great game day destination.

We are planning to have a game room too.

What’s your go-to pizza order for your kids and for you and your husband?

My kids are still stuck on cheese pizza.

Our go-to is the Rex Special, which is sausage, green pepper and onion and named after my granddad. I also love our garden salad with our homemade Italian dressing, which has a following of its own.

People will come in and buy individual cups of that dressing and our homemade French dressing too.

&STYLE

HOME

AN ARTIST’S CANVAS Carrie Pittman Hill mixes textures and styles to decorate her light-filled home.

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS BY LAUREN USTAD VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 43

Entryway This white floating table with nail heads from Chelsea Antiques greets you upon entry to the house and sits atop hardwoods in a herringbone pattern and a Kars Turkish rug from Eighteenth Street Orientals.

44 Fall 2021

C

Carrie Pittman Hill is no stranger to white canvases.

For years she’s created expressionistic acrylic and watercolor paintings, defined by striking textures and a near-neon color palette, on them. But last year she found an extra sophisticated, extra large white canvas with a unique set of clean lines in the form of a new home.

Carrie and her husband, Alan, stumbled on their Cahaba Heights new build the first day it was on the market and fell for how natural light filled its open floor plan. They also liked its tall height up on a hill that makes it feel like a treehouse and that it was on a quiet street and yet very accessible to get to Cahaba Heights businesses and everything else nearby.

Once they had a contact on the home, it was already about 85 percent complete, but there was still room for the Hills to select finishing touches for it. While the builder had originally had dark hardwoods in mind, Carrie really wanted a light wood that would give the space a more beachy look and ended up selecting a light red oak that gives the main living areas an even more airy feel.

After they moved in, Carrie set up the home’s basement as her art studio and started filling the living spaces with a combination of antiques and traditional elements that her mom had given her an appreciation for alongside more contemporary pieces she also favors, mixing textures wherever she could.

Not long after she started that process, she started to curate her own art and lifestyle pieces for her newly opened shop, Canvas on 28th Street South in downtown Homewood, so she filled her home with pieces you can now find in the shop too: her paintings, Too Pillows by Birmingham designers, Christina Cohn Ceramics pottery out of Nashville, Simply Infused olive oils and Favor Candles.

There’s often pieces of her art on display in her own home, but Carrie rarely keeps her own art for herself. “There’s something really special about letting a piece go to someone else,” she says. “I’m often like the cobbler’s son who has no shoes. Art is the last thing I incorporate, and instead I start with rugs and sofas and books.”

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 45

Kitchen Most of this open white kitchen was already designed when the Hills bought the house, but they selected the white vent hood to coordinate and added acrylic bar stools.

Dining Area This round white leather table that Carrie found on Mountain Brook Trading contrasts with the dark brown banquette and velvet Too Pillows adjacent to it.

46 Fall 2021

Living Room Wooden beams and a shiplap fireplace frame this open space off the kitchen that draws in lots of natural light.

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 47

Stairway Carrie likes to add pops of metallic colors to her paintings like this one that you see on your way to the home’s second floor bedrooms.

48 Fall 2021

Powder Room Carrie “commissioned” this statement painting for herself to act almost like a wallpaper for the powder room at the front of the house.

BEHIND THE SCENES Builder: Baxter Custom Homes

Rugs: Eighteenth Street Orientals

Select Furnishings: Canvas by Carrie Pittman Hill

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 49

Master Bedroom A lumbar pillow with a velvet panel made by Too Pillows—a Birmingham line designed by two sisters that Carrie sells at her shop—makes a statement on top of neutral bedding from White House Interiors and cane bed from Restoration Hardware. Turquoise lamps from Southeastern Salvage add a pop of color on either side of the bed too.

The pink in Carrie’s painting corresponds with the peach in the vintage chair next to it that Carrie got through Mary & Wilma, a curated collection of antique, vintage and funky finds based in Homewood.

50 Fall 2021

Master Bathroom Carrie added a figure painting by Alabama artist Kristin Blakeney in the center of the white vanities and a Turkish rug with pink tones beneath them.

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 51

IN STYLE

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52 Fall 2021

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54 Fall 2021

A MOTHER SHARES HER FAMILY’S JOURNEY OF JOY, GRIEF AND UNEXPECTED MIRACLES IN THE LIVES AND LOSS OF THEIR TWIN DAUGHTERS.

E

BY MADOLINE MARKHAM PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

Even in the summer, two Christmas trees sit in the Cheek house in Liberty Park. One is decorated with ornaments friends of the family bought for them in honor of Morgan and Hugh’s daughter Bailey Grace the first Christmas after she passed away in July 2019 at age 6. The second instead holds notes that the family’s friends wrote at Bailey Grace’s twin sister Ally’s visitation in December 2020.

The trees are one of many ever-present reminders of the rich lives their daughters lived, but there’s also something extra special about lighting the trees each night.

“The light reminds me that there is something else going on even when it feels really dark,” Morgan says.

“The light in the dark places is still present despite the dark that you experience. The light is still there when it feels like the dark is brighter, but it’s okay to recognize the dark is there too.”

THE JOY OF LIFE Morgan lights up talking about each of her daughters’ distinct personalities. Bailey Grace was an

old soul who always had this look on her face that said, “It’s all going to be okay, guys.”

Because of her rare genetic disease, she couldn’t hug, but she loved to grab your hand and pull it close to her face to give you a “hand hug.” Although she wasn’t verbal, she loved to sing in her own way, making deep babbling voices when worship music was on. She had a big, bright smile, and she hated wearing bows.

Ally, on the other hand, loved wearing bows. She was sassy and observant, never wanting to miss out on anything going on in the room. She also loved Disney and water and laughed all the time. While she had the same genetic disease as her sister, she could hug, and she would give you this serious look before she pulled you in for one.

Hugh and Morgan often told people before they met their daughters that they would get addicted to being with them. “There was something about them that was other worldly that everyone wanted to be around,” Morgan says.

And that was certainly true at Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park. The Cheeks moved to VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 55

Liberty Park five years ago specifically because they had fallen in love with the school’s special education program. “The teachers saw the value of the kids in that room and treated them with the value they have,” Morgan says. “Once you have had the privilege of knowing someone who is differently abled, you stop pitying them and start seeing them as people you can learn from and start to see it as a privilege to be around them. In that entire school environment that’s what they did.”

Ally and Bailey Grace both had strong hearts, but their disease progressively affected their brain and digestive system in ways that would ultimately take their lives. From age 2 on they had feeding tubes, and they both used wheelchairs. But still, they were very engaged and aware. They waved and clapped and paid attention to what was going on around them. As

56 Fall 2021

Morgan describes it, some aspects of her daughters’ development were infant-like but others were not at all, and she counts the ways they communicated and got feedback from each of them as one of their biggest gifts.

THE UNEXPECTED MIRACLE Looking back on the past eight years, Morgan can see element after element of foreshadowing in early parts of her family’s story. She and Hugh met as college juniors at the University of Georgia at a Special Olympics meeting of all things. Morgan went on to become a social worker, and Hugh went to medical school to become a pediatrician. After they moved to Birmingham for his residency, they found out that— surprise—they were pregnant, and that—surprise—

they were having twins. “Subconsciously you think that will be the weirdest thing that happens, to have twins his intern year,” Morgan recounts. “We had absolutely no idea what we were getting into.”

During the pregnancy, Hugh memorized Psalm 139, a passage that talks about life being formed in the womb—an act that Morgan now sees as foreshadowing.

But still, her pregnancy was healthy, and she gave birth to Ally and Bailey Grace a day before they would have been full term. The girls came home, and there was no reason to think there was anything outside the ordinary about them.

At three months, though, Hugh and Morgan started to notice the twins didn’t have the head control they should have, and the Cheeks started early intervention.

Later, though, both Bailey Grace and Ally started having feeding difficulties and saw a neurologist, and by nine months when they weren’t sitting up, the neurologist was worried and started conducting test after test.

It wouldn’t be until the girls were 2 years old that the Cheeks got a diagnosis from the National Institutes of Health. Their latest genetic test showed that they had the same genetic mutation as some rats in Sweden. It wasn’t known as a disease component at the time, but they soon found it was. The diagnosis was HECW2, and there were five other known cases in the world. Morgan often jokes about the name, “What the heck does this mean?” because so little is known about it.

“I got this diagnosis, which I really wanted, but it really meant nothing because there were only seven of us and we were writing the script of what this thing was going to be,” Morgan recounts.

Somehow around that time, though, she knew that Ally and Bailey Grace would die young. There weren’t any signs of it at the time, and she has no real explanation. But she just knew. And shortly thereafter the girls started having seizures that would recur the rest of their lives.

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Through it all, the Cheeks prayed for healing for their daughters, but time and time again they didn’t see any. Instead their story turned into more and more of a nightmare as they faced surreal moment after surreal moment. But Morgan saw a miracle she didn’t expect instead at the same time.

“The miracle was happening inside of me, which was I was accepting what God had placed in front of us as his best plan,” she says. “I know that’s a miracle because my fists were so clenched in all the scenarios, and the next thing I knew they would be open and I would be accepting of it and feel at peace with it. It didn’t make sense.”

SEEDS & LEAVEN Through this whole journey, Morgan wrote. She started a blog right before the girls were born, and quickly found that for her writing was like breathing.

It just came out of her. Today her writing all happens on @seedsandleaven on Instagram, and she’s connected with many other people who are grieving and have lost children as she’s shared her experiences and processed them in words online. “The fact that I get to let other people in and encourage other people in the hardest spaces in their life is such a sacred thing,” Morgan recounts.

When the girls were a year and half, Morgan went to a hotel and wrote her first book, On Milk and Honey, in one night—a publication that she now sees was written as much for her as anyone else because it documented her journey. Later she wrote Are We

The Cheeks adopted James, center, two and a half years ago.

Here he stands with his twin sisters.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A FRIEND WHO IS GRIEVING In Morgan Cheek’s Words

If you are close with people who go through tragedy like the death of a child or a spouse, know that the grief doesn’t ever go away. Put

even when I don’t respond sometimes.

In grief it’s like you are depressed and anxious and in fog all the time

on your seatbelt. When you lose someone, you are forever changed.

all at once. Often you don’t know how to get out bed much less how

CS Lewis talks about how it’s like an amputation. It’s not like your leg

to respond to a text. Sometimes going to dinner sounds fun, and then

comes back. Your leg is always gone. You learn to get around without a

something shifts and it doesn’t sound fun anymore. So you can be a

leg, but it never leaves you.

pretty bad friend to people when you are grieving. It’s not an excuse,

For me after losing two children, I am never going to be the same. I hate that. I am never going to be as good of a friend. I am never going to be able to relate to people as well and sympathize with people as much as they like when their tire goes flat.

Sometimes I don’t even know what I need, but I think we can always offer one another consistent grace and consistent presence.

but people have to learn to give a huge amount of grace and not assume that as time passes that grief gets better. It’s just different.

The first few weeks you literally feel like you can’t breathe. One of my mentors who had had a child die called me and said, “You will be able to take a deep breath again.”

But you are never going to be the same again, and you have to learn

The friends I will continue to have are the friends who don’t have

to be friends with someone who has an amputation to their heart in a

expectations on me and that continue to reach out and be selfless

sense.

58 Fall 2021

Morgan Cheek writes about her journey with Ally and Bailey Grace @seedsandleaven.

There Yet?, and her third book, a grief devotional called Even in Darkness, is coming out this fall.

“This (book) is for the person who is in a dark place no matter what you believe,” Morgan says. “My hope and prayer is that people see not people’s response to grief but God’s response to grief and that they can find an intimacy of God in their hard spaces that resonates with them.”

And what is God’s response to grief? Here’s how she honestly articulated it: “I am an angry griever. I am a griever who vacillates between exercise and an extra class of wine and extra chocolate. I am all over the board. And I have found God is consistent in my grief, and he is right here with me in my grief. He is not tired of my grief. He is not telling me to put on a cheerful happy face. I think he’s weeping right here with me. There’s no greater comfort to me than that.”

Also on this grief journey, Hugh and Morgan fully recognize that statistically most couples with a child with special needs get divorced, and even more couples who lose a child do. For them, grief in this time and in their marriage is no small thing.

“Hugh and I just try to prioritize marriage, but it’s been extremely messy in this season because it’s almost like being an empty nester,” Morgan says. “So much of what connected us the past eight years was

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com 59

the girls. We were not perfect parents, but the care of our girls was a joy to do together. We rarely argued when the girls were alive. Now they are gone, and we are relearning our relationship. We are not the same people we were before the girls, and neither of us has the capacity to help one another in each other’s grief because we are grieving ourselves. It’s taken a lot of patience and grace, and remembering ultimately that we are committed to each other and love each other. That’s where your vows get meat on them.”

BUTTERFLIES & DRAGONFLIES As the Cheeks continue to journey through grief, they see markers of their daughters’ lives in many ways day in and day out. On one of the last days before

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Bailey Grace died, Morgan realized she wanted to have something that reminded her of her daughter and landed on butterflies and hummingbirds. “I have never seen that many butterflies in my life as I did that summer after she died,” she says. “I would go for a walk and see 40.”

For Ally she decided it would be sunsets in hues of her favorite color, pink— which she says also remind her of God’s consistency— and dragonflies. Ally’s classmates in Ms. Dixon’s Dragonflies at school had drawn her pictures of them when she’d gone on hospice, and like after Bailey Grace died, Morgan started seeing them everywhere following her death.

Morgan also has a tattoo of Psalm 139 with the letters A and B in the design on her foot she got when the girls were alive. After Bailey Grace’s passing, she got another tattoo of her nickname “BG” next to her

AN ADOPTION STORY Amidst the story of Ally and Bailey Grace unfolding came another Cheek sibling as well. Ally and Bailey Grace’s disease is not hereditary, so Morgan and Hugh were just as unlikely to have another biological child with it as any other person. Still, they’d always wanted to adopt. That was certainly not on Morgan’s radar when the girls were 2 years old and Hugh brought it up though.

At first she told him adopting was a crazy idea, but then she prayed about it and felt like God was telling her adoption was a part of the story. So they signed up for domestic adoption.

Three years went by, and they still hadn’t been matched when an acquaintance showed Morgan a photo of boy in China who was 6.

“This little boy was in my daughter’s orphanage,” the acquaintance said. “Do you know anyone adopting from China?”

“The second I looked at the picture, I knew exactly what was happening,” Morgan recounts today, “and I said, ‘No I am not doing it. I am not going to China and adopting an older child.’

Because I was a social worker, I know the risks of adopting an older child, in our home in particular, but I knew that was the story from the moment I saw him.” Without any prompting, Hugh had the same thought when she showed him the photo, and eight months later they were on a plane heading to China.

James, now age 10, has cerebral palsy, but it only affects his limbs and he walks with a cane. He is in third grade this year, and although two and a half years ago he’d never been to school and never spoken English, his English is strong. “He’s such a cool kid,” Morgan says. “He’s a joyful person to be around.”

More than anything, too, Morgan notes that his story is still unfolding.

C-section scar, and added another for Ally next to it after losing her.

Hugh, on the other hand, has a tattoo of a ram’s horn on his back. It signifies the story of Abraham and Isaac in the Bible where God asked Abraham to give up Isaac and then a ram appeared as a sacrifice instead. For him the ram in the story signifies Jesus, and the story reminds him of Bailey Grace. He’s still thinking on what he will get in honor of Ally.

Whether they are looking at Christmas tree lights after dark or the marks on their bodies that remind them of the daughters they have lost, Morgan and Hugh’s years with Ally and Bailey Grace are ever on their minds.

“The girls made us see life in the most clear way,” Morgan says.

“We would spend our days laying on the floor watching Disney movies, looking up at the stars at night, going on walks—doing what a lot of people consider nothing. But it felt so rich, and we had no reason to do anything else. It was the most simple, good life.”

Follow Morgan’s writing at @seedsandleaven on Instagram and seedsandleaven.com.

It’s almost time for Vestavia Hills Magazine’s annual

holiday

GIFT GUIDE Coming to our Winter 2021 Issue Contact advertise@vestaviahillsmagazine.com for more information on this advertising opportunity.

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Special Advertising Section

Vestavia Hills Magazine

COMMUNITY INFLUENCERS

2021 It’s the people who make Vestavia Hills the community that it is! Here we recognize some of those making an impact on others around them through their businesses.

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NICOLE THOMASON HARDEKOPF REALTOR

4274 Cahaba Heights Court, Suite 200 • Birmingham, AL 35243 205-835-4667 • arcrealtyco.com A third-generation Vestavia native, Nicole has been named Vestavia Hills’ Best Realtor for two years. As a top-producing agent, she proudly serves her hometown of Vestavia Hills and its surrounding areas. Her influence within the Vestavia Hills community doesn’t end at the closing table. Nicole brings professionalism and adds a personal touch to each transaction, ensuring that clients have the best experience possible, while making one of their biggest investments. She is active in the community and loves connecting residents to neighbors, places and activities that make Vestavia one of the greatest places to live.

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VESTAVIA HILLS CITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION P.O. Box 660483 • Vestavia Hills, Alabama 35266 director@vestaviafoundation.org • vestaviafoundation.org The Vestavia Hills City Schools Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to provide continued financial support to each of our schools and to protect and foster the standard of academic excellence in our school system. Since awarding the first grants in 1999, the Foundation has granted more than $1.3 million for classroom projects, technology and teacher professional development across the school system. Each year the Foundation grants back to the schools and Board of Education interest earned from the endowment. To make a donation, please visit their website or contact Executive Director Tait Stoddard at the email address above.

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BIRMINGHAM MORTGAGE GROUP NMLS# 1311446 • BhamMortgage.com Birmingham Mortgage Group’s mission is simple: to give each and every client the best level of service through the mortgage process. Whether purchasing a new home or refinancing your home, they always put your mortgage needs first. The Birmingham Mortgage Group was founded to provide a platform from which their clients can receive the best service and pricing available when purchasing or refinancing a home. That’s it. They are not re-inventing the wheel, just making it run faster, smoother and less expensive.

Call one of their loan officers to learn more: Mark Achuff, co-owner (205-874-2135); Turenne Newell, coowner (205-276-8946); Ethan Green (205-777-9865); Thomas Holloway (205-413-2858); or Summer Summers (205-807-8117).

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VESTAVIA HILLS POLICE FOUNDATION vestaviahillspolicefoundation.com vhpfndn@gmail.com • 205-482-2700 The Vestavia Hills Police Foundation is a citizen-led organization dedicated to supporting the Vestavia Hills Police Department, its officers and their families in their times of need that tax dollars might not fund. The foundation has helped with Community Night Out, a night where the police officers develop relationships with the community, and it has placed a Thin Blue Line monument in front of the police department to remind the officers that the community supports them and has their back. Officers contribute to the foundation, and the community is invited to support it financially as well.

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WOOD AND SPOONER COSMETIC AND GENERAL DENTISTRY 502 Montgomery Highway, Suite 201 • Vestavia, AL 35216 205-822-2808 • woodandspooner.com Drs. Diana Wood and Melanie Spooner have been practicing dentistry together in the heart of Vestavia Hills for over 20 years. They have maintained a practice style focused on comprehensive treatment known for an eye for cosmetic details and results. Dr. Lindsey Mills joining the practice brings additional expertise that further broadens the scope of services offered. Together, this all-female practice utilizes the latest in technology including intraoral cameras, CAD/CAM designed same-day Cerec crowns, and CBCT (cone beam) 3D imaging to enhance patient education and outcomes. What sets this practice apart? Explore reviews of their patients’ experiences at woodandspooner.com.

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Rediscover Gatlinburg

By Christiana Roussel | Photos Courtesy of Gatlinburg CVB & by Christiana Roussel

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Fall is the perfect time of year for a family road trip.

Kids have settled back into school schedules so Mom feels a little less harried than in December or May-cember (as the frenetic end of the school year has been labeled). The summer heat has abated. so piling into the car for a stretch feels like a good idea. All that is left is to choose your destination.

We suggest heading to the East Tennessee hamlet of Gatlinburg to rediscover what makes this part of the country so special.

Neighboring towns in the Sevier County area might be better known for their – how shall we say this? – enthusiasm in advertising local attractions with neon signs or giant video screens with flashing messages of hot deals. Gatlinburg’s pride is a tad more subtle, and in recent years, has become even more intentionally so. After all, it nestles up against the Great Smoky Mountains in a way that invites guests to leave the screens behind so they can relax, unwind and reconnect to the outdoors.

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HIT THE ROAD

HOW TO GET THERE The drive from Birmingham to East Tennessee is straight-forward and simple.

Avoiding traffic in Chattanooga might be your only real obstacle, so plan accordingly. Exiting I-40 at exit 407 is where the highenergy marketing takes off and can be seriously distracting, so stay focused.

Once you pass through Pigeon Forge, the parkway begins to get greener, and you can really feel the pull of the mountains.

Knoxville 40

4 hrs., 57 min.

298 Miles Athens

Tennesseee Cleveland Chattanooga

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Alabama

Georgia Fort Payne 59

Gadsden

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Trussville

Birmingham

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Gatlinburg

WHERE TO STAY Treehouse Grove

It is interesting to note that 2020 saw more visitors to this area than ever before. But when you learn that two-thirds of the U.S.-population east of the Mississippi River is within a one-day drive of Gatlinburg, you can begin to see why. In the midst of the pandemic, lots of families and groups of friends in self-selected pods, still elected to travel together, albeit in ways that were non-traditional for them. Glamping has been very popular in recent years and continues to be really big in this area.

Safari Tents + More

Locals and high school sweethearts Linzy and Ian Nicely opened their Camp LeConte Luxury Outdoor Campgrounds (campleconte.com) in 2013, and business has been roaring since day one. Guests can reserve RV parking pads at the campgrounds or choose to stay in one of the fully decked out refurbished campers (“The Ruby Slipper” or “Glamping at Tiffany’s” are both popular choices.) Other options include safari tents and cabins on site. A pool, playground and free wi-fi ensure you are never really roughing it and the free local trolley means you are not far from area attractions.

Camp LeConte

For Putt-Putt + Breakfast The Appy Lodge (theappylodge.com) is a motor lodge in the traditional sense but has been completely updated to be what the modern traveler desires. A pool, fireside conversation pits, a miniature putt-putt style course, ample parking and daily breakfast make hitting the easy button super simple.

Minutes from Great Smoky Mountain trailheads, it is perfectly situated to explore all that the area has to offer.

Treehouses on Steroids

Regular HGTV viewers know what a big deal a Pete Nelson-designed treehouse is. Pete

and his Washington state-based design team worked with owners Carole and Joe Ayres to create an arboreal oasis at the Treehouse Grove (treehouse-grove.com) adjacent to Norton Creek. These eight custom homes from the “Treehouse Master” himself are exactly what you might have dreamed of as a kid, setting up lean-tos and forts for hours of creative play. But these are like treehouses on steroids for the amenities and thoughtful design they offer. Each two-bedroom, onebath home comes outfitted with a kitchen, sitting area, soft linens, covered decks and air-conditioning. These treehouses are anything but rustic.

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HIT THE ROAD

WHAT TO DO Visitors come to Gatlinburg for a number of reasons, but exploring the Great Smoky Mountains tops the list. As one of the country’s most-visited national parks, the GSM offers miles of hiking trails— including part of the Appalachian Trail, waterfalls, wildflower walks, and the ever-popular black bear sighting. It is of note that there are species of plants and animal life still being discovered within the park. The Ice Age never made it this far south, which means that wildlife has been thriving here for millennia. Literally.

Anakeesta's

Purposeful Art

Mountain

The Gatlinburg arts and crafts community has a rich history, and it is not uncommon to come upon makers who are still creating purposeful art, just as their ancestors did. Stop by the Cliff Dwellers Gallery (cliffdwellersgallery. com) to meet some of those makers, and you may find David Ogle creating brooms just as his family has been doing for close to a century. Fellow artisan Pat Thomas creates marbled papers and scarves. Louise Bales repurposes gourds while Becky Weaver makes baskets.

Coaster

Craft Class

Visitors looking to immerse themselves more fully in the arts and craft life should carve out more time for a visit to the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (arrowmont.org), where adults can make like kids and enroll in workshops that tap into their creative side.

Throughout the summer and fall, more than 130 classes are offered at this school that has been in operation for over 100 years.

Not feeling personally creative? Stop by the gallery to view modern work by many artists-in-residence and prepare to be moved by the caliber represented.

Treetop Exploration

It is no secret that kids of all ages love Gatlinburg for the variety of activities, chief among them Anakeesta (anakeesta.com). This mountaintop destination deserves to claim an entire afternoon and evening of any visit

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

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to Gatlinburg. Pack your sense of adventure and curiosity to ride the Ridge Rambler to the very top of the mountaintop park. From there, explore via dueling ziplines, treetop skybridges and mountain coasters. Climb to the top of the observation tower for a truly breathtaking view of the mountains and town below. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any black

bears that may be ambling below the tree line, far away from guests. Plan to have dinner atop the mountain at either the Smokehouse or Cliff Top restaurant. Menus feature everything from custom burgers and wings to shrimp-and-grits and bourbon-glazed salmon.

Plan to take the chondola (chair/gondola) down the mountain—at sunset if possible—to really savor the experience. The lights below don’t dare glare but merely twinkle in a very hospitable way, welcoming you back to town.

Mountain Adventures

And if one mountaintop visit is not enough, there are two more you should explore: home to the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America, the Gatlinburg SkyLift Park (gatlinburgskylift.com) is accessible via chair lift and well-worth the ride, anytime of year. Guests wanting to channel their inner ski bum definitely need to check out Ober Gatlinburg (obergatlinburg.com), which offers skiing and snowboarding in the cooler months and ice skating, mountain coasters and an aerial tramway for much of the rest of the year. If you did not know you had taken a car to get here, you might think you had arrived in a Swiss ski village, for all the charm that abounds.

WHERE TO EAT Perhaps it is the mountain air or just all the outdoor activity, but whatever the reason, come hungry to Gatlinburg. The dress is typically “mountain casual,” and most every spot has something for even the pickiest eaters in your group.

If you dine atop Anakeesta, allow extra time in between courses for all the oohs and ahs—the vistas are breathtaking.

Davy Crockett's Breakfast Camp

Craft Class Visitors looking to immerse themselves more fully in the arts and craft life should carve out more time for a visit to the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (arrowmont.org), where adults can

Pancakes + More Pancakes

It bears mentioning that Gatlinburg loves pancakes.

Lots of pancakes. Lots and lots of pancakes. They love pancakes here so much that there are more than a half dozen restaurants that specialize in the breakfast fare.

There are thick pancakes and thin griddle cakes. There are silver-dollar-sized versions and pancakes larger than your head. Stop by Pancake Pantry or Davy Crockett’s Breakfast Camp or Flapjack’s to find your own personal favorite.

make like kids and enroll in workshops that tap into their creative side. Throughout the summer and fall, more than 130 classes are offered at this school that has been in operation for over 100 years. Not feeling personally creative? Stop by the gallery to view modern work by many artists-in-residence and prepare to be moved by the caliber represented.

For Live Music

There are several dinner options in town, but Ole Red (olered.com/gatlinburg/) is a great choice for a variety of folks. This Blake Shelton-inspired venue not only serves good food and great drinks, but you are more than likely to catch some live music here as well. And you never know when Blake might make a video call in to the restaurant and broadcast via livestream on the big screen.

Wow-Worthy Cuisine

If you are looking for a quieter, more sophisticated spot for dinner, look no further (and call ahead for a reservation) than The Greenbrier (greenbrierrestaurant.com).

With a world-class chef and trained sommelier in house, diners can expect to be wowed by dishes like seared duck breast, diver scallops, stuffed flounder and New York strip. The craft cocktail program at The Greenbrier is strong. You cannot go wrong with a single selection, but if you like a little fanfare with your bourbon, order the Dylan, which is served in a pecan smoke-washed snifter. Trust us on this one.

The Greenbriar Restaurant

Meet Your Travel Guide Proud to call Birmingham home, Christiana Roussel loves discovering every corner of the Magic City. But the road beckons often. She’s been known to make a wrong turn into the right choice, dig in with the locals and try to talk her way out of a speeding ticket or two. Curiosity drives her and finding connection is her passion.

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HIT THE ROAD

21-SCP-3844_Birmingham_Metro_Area_Magazine_Half_Page_Print_Ad_v1.indd 1

No camera could do this justice.

Are you the type that loves adventure? A vista hunter?

With a dreamcatcher kinda eye? See what we see.

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V ISIT

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7/9/21 9:25 AM

OUT & ABOUT

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PHOTOS BY JAMES CULVER

This annual patriotic event returned to Wald Park with swimming, sponsor booths, children’s activities, a Pops in the Park concert and more on June 24.

1. Kripal and Sanvi Singh; Sarang, Sachi and Parth Patil; and Raj Dhumal 2. Denise and Lauren Slupe 3. The LeCroy and Storrs Families 4. The Love Family 5. Kimberly Agee and Allison Sanders 6. Olivia Zhang, Amy Ghu, Ella Ghu and Isabella Lao 7. Sarita and Fatima, Tonya Tolbert, Autumn Tolbert and JoAnn Horton 8. The Rainbolt Family 9. The Duett Family 10. The Bowser family 11. The Patron Family and David Kent 12. The Graham and Odle Families

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OUT & ABOUT

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VESTAVIA HILLS FARMERS MARKET

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PHOTOS BY GABBY BASS-BUTLER

Area farmers and other vendors set up shop at the Vestavia Hills Farmers Market on Wednesdays this summer in Scout Square on Highway 31.

1. Rachel and Courtney Penton 2. Pam Weaver 3. Jinny Colvard 4. Denise, Noah and Adelyne Arceneaux 5. Kirk Creel 6. Jason and Kristi Baswell 7. Amy Royalty 8. Ava Weems, Ryan Taylor and Richard Allen 9. Heather Manning 10. Leah Davenport and Elise Keith

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Marketplace Vestavia Hills Magazine • 205.669.3131

Now hiring RN’s and LPN’s throughout Alabama! $250 community referral bonus for RN’s and LPN’s.

Sign-on Bonuses available at select locations! For more information please contact: Paige Gandolfi Call/text: 724-691-7474 pgandolfi@ wexfordhealth.com

Automation Personnel Services Hiring IMMEDIATELY For: Automotive Assembly, General Labor, Production, Clerical, Machine Operator, Quality, Carpentry, Welder, Foundry. Positions In: Calera, Clanton, Pelham, Bessemer, McCalla. Walk-in applications accepted. Clanton (205)2800002. Pelham (205)444-9774.

Bama Concrete Now Hiring: Diesel Mechanic 4 Years Minimum Experience.

CDL Preferred. Competitive Pay. Great Benefits. Apply in person: 2180 Hwy 87 Alabaster, 35007 Lancaster Place Apartments.

Location, community & quality living in Calera, AL. 1, 2, & 3 bedroom apartments available. Call today for specials!! 205-668-6871. Or visit hpilancasterplace.com Marble Valley Manor.

Affordable 1 and 2 Bedroom Apartments for Elderly & Disabled. Many on-site services! 2115 Motes Rd, Sylacauga. 256-245-6500 •TDD#s: 800-548-2547(V) •800-548-2546(T/A). Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm.

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HIRING EXPERIENCED FULL CASE ORDER SELECTORS $19.03 per hour plus production $$$ incentives.

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Pre-employment drug test required. Apply Online: WWW.AGSOUTH.COM GENERAL LAWN CARE •Grass Cutting •Limb Trimming •Storm Cleanup •Debris Removal •Serving Shelby, Chilton, Coosa & many more areas. •Decks •Porches •Stairs •Demolition Call Alex today for details: 1-205-955-3439 Military & Senior Discounts $2000 SIGN ON BONUS NEW PAY SCALE TO QUALIFYING DRIVERS EVERGREEN TRANSPORT, is accepting applications for local drivers in the Calera and Leeds, AL, area. Must have Class A CDL, good driving record, 1 yr verifiable tractor trailer experience. Good pay and benefits. Apply in person at 8278 Hwy 25 South, Calera, AL, or call for info 205-668-3316.

Electrician - FT Supreme Electric, local-based company in Pelham. Must be willing to learn & work hard. Go to: supremeelectrical.com Print employment application under Contact Us. Mail to: Supreme Electric 231 Commerce Pkwy Pelham, AL 35124 or call 205-453-9327.

MARKETPLACE

VestaviaHillsMagazine.com

Become a Dental Assistant in ONLY 8 WEEKS! Please visit our website capstonedentalassisting.com or call (205)561-8118 and get your career started!

Boise Cascade Now Hiring for Utility Positions. Starting pay $14/hour. Must be able to pass background screen.

Please apply at www.bc.com WELDER NEEDED MIG & TIG •Light gauge stainless, aluminized, galvanized Manufacturing and Assembly Helpers Needed •Paid Holidays •Typical Shifts 6:00am-2:30pm Call RICK: 205-761-3975 Oxford Healthcare in Montgomery currently hiring certified CNA’s and/or Home Health aides in the Clanton, Marbury and Maplesville areas. Must be able to pass complete background check, have reliable transportation and have a strong work ethic.

Serious inquiries only. Call 334-409-0035 or apply on-line at www.Oxfordhealthcare.com South Haven Health & Rehab NOW HIRING!!!

•LPN’s & RN’s -$5,000 Signon Bonus for Full-Time shift •CNA’s Apply in person: 3141 Old Columbiana Rd Birmingham,AL-35266 Earth Angels In-HomeCare LLC. BBB Accredited, licensed, bonded, following CDC guidelines to keep out clients safe. 205-881-4034 or 205-484-1301. earthangelshcare@gmail.com 1365 A Hueytown Rd. Hueytown, AL Acceptance Loan Company, Inc. Personal loans! Let us pay off your title loans! 224 Cahaba Valley Rd, Pelham 205-663-5821

Experienced Termite Technician or someone experienced in route-service work and wants to learn new profession. Workvehicle/equipment provided.

Must drive straight-shift, have clean driving record/ be 21/pass background/ drug test. Training provided.

Insurance/401K offered.

M-F 7:00-4:30 + 1 Saturday/ month. Pay $13hr. Send resume to facsmith@charter.net Eastern Tree Service • 24Hour Storm Service • www.ETSTree.org • Experienced Professionals • Quick Response • Free Estimates • Call Us Today: 205-856-2078

Inernational Assoication of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers BIRMINGHAM AREA INSULATORS LOCAL 78 Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee Accepting applications for 4-year Apprenticeship Program. Applications will be accepted July 1–July 31, 2021 in person at 2653 Ruffner Road Birmingham, Al 35210 8:30am-2pm Monday-Friday 205-956-2866 205-956-8101 etx.3 craig@insulators78.org Check us out at www.insulators.org Applicants must be 18+, drug free, have dependable transportation, ID & proof of age, high school diploma/ GED. Applicants will be required to take math test & English comprehension test.The Asbestos Workers Local 78 Apprenticeship Training Trust will not discriminate against apprenticeship applicants or apprentices based on, RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, SEX (INCLUDING PREGNANCY AND GENDER INDENITIY),

SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENTIC INFORMATION, OR BECAUSE THEY ARE AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABLILITY OR A PERSON 40 YEARS OLD OR OLDER. The Asbestos Workers Local 78 Apprenticeship Training Trust will take affirmative action to provide equal opportunity in apprenticeship and will operate the apprenticeship program as required under Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 30.

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MY VESTAVIA HILLS GEORGE PIERCE Vestavia Hills City Council Member

Chili Please

Vestavia Eats I really enjoy Pappas Grill because of the work ethics of the Pappas family, and you can’t beat the gyro or Greek snapper. I also love going to Diplomat Deli and enjoying the patio while eating a bowl of chili and a grilled cheese. Lastly, my favorite burger in town is the Rebel Yell at The Ridge—what could be better than a fried egg on top of a perfectly cooked burger?

Gifts for the Mrs.

Monograms Plus After 43 years of marriage, it’s still a challenge to pick out the perfect gift.

However, I have discovered the lovely ladies at Monograms Plus are always willing and able to assemble the perfect gift and help bring big smiles on big days.

DIY Know How

Rocky Ridge Hardware Rocky Ridge Hardware is my go-to for new Yeti cups, grill parts, all things hardware and all around building know-how.

Dan and his staff are helpful and always willing to answer my DIY questions!

Decades of Legacy

Vestavia Hills United Methodist VUMC holds a 36-year legacy for my family. From my own children growing up there, to being ushers with my grandsons now, VHUMC is truly a part of my family!

Play Ball

Ball Fields My favorite fields in Vestavia are the fields at Wald Park, SHAC and Cahaba Heights because they’re where I get to watch my grandchildren play softball and baseball.

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THE

RIDGE

Whether you’re looking to build your own custom designs or would rather

choose from our portfolio of popular house plans, The Ridge is the perfect place to start creating lake memories. With The Ridge Marina and The Ridge Club, a 10-acre recreation complex with swimming, fitness, and much more, The Ridge is where lake and life truly meet.

Final Waterfront Homesites Just Released

RussellLands.com

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