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| currituck lighthouse |
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| northern outer banks |
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| daniel |
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| connor |
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| hannah |
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| ashley |
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| gammy, poppy, and the kiddos at college run farms in surry |
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| riding the ferry from surry back to jamestown |
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| nice chicken coop |
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| i like this trailer too |
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| cc field trip -- jamestown |
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| cc field trip -- yorktown |
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| ashley learning how to fire a cannon at yorktown |
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| We finally found another trim guy to finish up the interior (our first trim guy did a great job but he quit before he was done). This guy is Korean and loves Daniel. He and his crew were here for three days finishing three closets and building the school room/library/office shelves. The dining room is a mess. |
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| School room/library/office...the guys found the studs and are building most of the shelves off-site. |
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| Three days later...yea! Now...can I fit all of these books on this amount of shelves? I hope so! I really want to keep all - or at least most - of the books in this one room. No one else thinks I can do it... ;-) We will paint all of the shelves white. Ugh. |
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| School room closet. These closets are deeper and wider than in most newer houses and if we used the standard shelving at Lowes, we would have a lot of wasted space. Building the shelves was step one --- now Scott and I are painting them. That's a lot of paint and time! |
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| Panty and kitchen storage for trays, platters, etc that are awkwardly sized (punch bowl, etc) and for our grain buckets that have been opened. |
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| Poor Hannah -- stuff is everywhere while we are finishing the walk-in closet that we built in her room. |
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| Hannah's walk-in closet...part of it at least... |
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| Connor, Ashley & Hannah -- standing behind Grotto Falls... |
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| Daddy and Daniel -- Grotto Falls...It's unusual to have the experience of walking behind waterfalls safely! The kids loved that! |
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| You've got to be kidding! A real outhouse...and my family actually used it (desperate times call for desperate measures)! |
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| Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of You and of Your creation... You are awesome and mighty, God! We worship You! |
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| Lots of wild turkeys... |
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| Elk??!! Who knew??!! Elk...east of the Mississippi... For a moment, I felt like we were out west... Smoky Mountain National Park re-introduced elk in 2001... |
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| I love this rustic stone fireplace in the visitor center... |
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| Lots of beautiful, old structures and homesteads are located throughout the park. |
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| Ahhh...Home away from home...Passion City Church, Atlanta, GA... Our first time in their "new" building (a renovated Home Depot)... On fire for Jesus...Inspired by Louie's teaching on "The Boys of Babylon"... ie, the book of Daniel... ******* "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel....To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds....The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah...In every matter...he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom." --- Daniel 1:8-20 "...'Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, You have made known to me what we asked of You, You have made known to us the dream of the king.'" --- Daniel 2:20-23 "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.'" --- Daniel 3:16-18 |
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| First stop...Appomattox Court House...perfect field trip for our Classical Conversations memory work this year! |
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| Beautiful farmhouse...perfect weather...grateful... |
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| Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church |
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| John Cable Grist Mill -- Cades Cove |
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| So excited! I literally had prayed on our way up to this spot near Rainbow Falls that God might be delighted to give us "a great bear experience". He did!!! Sooooo thankful!!! We had the privilege of a mother bear and her cub lumber in front of our car the night before, but I couldn't get any good photos of them. I grew up travelling to national parks and getting up early to look for wildlife...the tradition continues... |
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| Waterfall near the Sugarlands Visitor Center after a ranger-led short hike... We spent the nights at a hotel in nearby Gatlinburg... |
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| He's coming down! At this time of the year, the bears are trying to fatten up on the acorns, and wild berries and grapes that grow on vines in the tops of these trees. |
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| The sun is starting to set as we hike down from Laurel Falls. A black bear had crossed the trail just before we rounded a curve and we could barely see him in the brush below. |
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| McLean House -- General Lee surrendered to General Grant in this house, not in the nearby courthouse as many people misunderstand. This is a beautiful small community... |
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| He is so beautiful! Thank you, Lord, for your creation! You spoke it and it came to be! |
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Next stop...Go Hokies! Back to our old stompin' grounds - Virginia Tech. My, how the campus has changed! The stadium is much larger and fancier than when Scott and I were here.  |
