Memories

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ave I mentioned how much I love photography? Yeah, I know... I have—probably way too often. However, I have been recently reminded of why I love photography so much: the memories kept.

Kim & David at Stratford Hall (2005)

I was cleaning up some files on my computer and found a wonderful small treasure of photos of my wife and son from the past five years or so. It’s an eclectic collection of photos from here and there, with no particular theme other than family fun. It brought back some wonderful memories and gave me cause to reminisce a bit. It reminded me of the old 35mm film spools, negatives, printing, and scanning. It reminded me of the many good times we’ve had as a family. It reminded me of how incredibly gorgeous my wife is. I’m glad the first of those three things has changed. And I’m glad the other two have not.

Kim & David at Stratford Hall (2005)

It seems all too easy to pile up memories of bad things. But we don’t tend to photograph the bad—our minds do that well enough. It’s the good times that prompt us to pull out the camera and capture the moment for posterity.

Western Day at Occoquan Bible Church (2006)

Recent events in the lives of some of our friends have reminded us of many of the bad things that have happened in the past five years. And those reminders are important too. They remind us of the need to grow, and learn, and protect ourselves and our friends from the attacks of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

But the photographs I recently discovered have reminded us of so many ways in which the Lord has blessed our family. And it is good to keep those memories alive. Those are the memories that help us get through the difficult times when they inevitably arrive—reminders of God’s grace.

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
—Philippians 4:8

Kim being interviewed on being named “National Photographer of the Year” (2006)

Me standing with my wife (trying to ride her coattails)

 

Steel Town

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ere is another installment of the photos-from-the-past series. I hope it isn’t boring for everyone else, but I have really enjoyed seeing these photos again after a few years. The photos in this post are from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

A few years ago, my wife conducted support groups for adoptive families. Most people don’t realize the unique and difficult issues that many adoptive families deal with on a daily basis. These issues range from medical-related situations the adopted child may have to behavior fall-out from the adoption process to being ostracized from general society because the family makeup is different than the “norm.” The non-acceptance from others seems to be worse in the church than it is among the general public, which strikes me as odd since adoption is presented in the bible as the way we Christians are brought into the family of God.

The dome at the old Pittsburgh train depot

So Kim worked with the United Methodist Family Services under the faith based non-profit organization Adoptive Family Preservation. She conducted support groups to help folks navigate the often strange and complicated paths surrounding medical, education, and church integration of the adopted children. She attended IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings with parents who needed help through that process. She counseled families on how to figure out the needed lingo to communicate with doctors who are looking for code words rather than diagnosing the child on their own. And she counseled families on many other diverse issues.

Night view from the top of the Duquesne Incline
The stadium is lit for a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game

All this counseling and support required training. So Adoptive Family Preservation sent Kim to regular training sessions. And as a family-oriented group, they invited folks to attend these training seminars as whole families.

The training seminars in Pittsburgh were huge. Hundreds of counselors attended the training and the trainers offered myriad choices of topical training. It was an amazing week-long seminar.

Another view from the Incline

They also provided a camp-type atmosphere for the children, with events, games, touring, and all kinds of fun activities. That kept David busy for the week.

Kim and David kissing Pittsburgh goodbye

All this left me with the opportunity to walk all over Pittsburgh with my camera in hand. I found wonderful places, unique public art work, and some great restaurants, markets, and an amazing cheese shop. And our family found Pittsburgh to be a delightful city. David even became a solid Pittsburgh Steelers fan as a result of our visit. His bedroom is now decorated in Steelers memorabilia.

 

Baltimore Inner Harbor

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have been going through some of my photos from the past four years or so and quite a few are jumping out at me and waving their hands for recognition. So I thought I’d post a few of them to the blog.

This first group is from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. That’s in Maryland, for any of you who are not familiar with the east coast of the United States. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor had fallen into disrepair a few decades ago and the city decided to fix it up as part of a community restoration project. The project also included the fabulous Camden Yards Stadium, home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. Camden Yards is just a few blocks away from the Inner Harbor. The whole area is a wonderful place to visit now.

I loved the look of the large sailing vessels docked in the Harbor. I took this first photo to give context to the ship. It’s not often that you see a ship like this in front of an obvious cityscape.

Inner Harbor – Baltimore, Maryland

Another view of the Inner Harbor at night

As God has moved us around from place to place over the past few years, we have noticed that enjoyment of any locality is dependent upon your ability to notice what the place has to offer. Every location has its own unique beauty. Every location has its own history, legends, and stories. We just have to get out and find them.

One of the ships at night

 

Blast from the past

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love photographs! I guess everyone probably already realizes that, so I’m not giving you a whole lot of new information here. But I was reminded of my love for photographs yesterday.

My work computer has run out of hard drive space, so yesterday I purchased an external hard drive and spent some time moving things over to that drive to free up space on my primary drive. Some of the things I moved were photos from recent years. As I moved the photos from Occoquan Bible Church (OBC) over the external drive, I noticed a few of my wife Kim. We attended OBC just before we moved to Lynchburg. In terms of activities and opportunities to forge friendships, OBC was the antithesis to the church we attended in Lynchburg. I have never seen such a busy church. There were always things happening, and the people involved took great efforts to do it all with quality and professionalism.

This photo of Kim is from the FestiFall event—a harvest festival of sorts that was first launched the year that the church moved into its first building. The intention of the event was to provide an opportunity for the people of the community to get to know our church’s people. They had pony rides, moon bounces, crafts, games, and loads of food—all free for the folks of the community.

I also found this photo of David and me from about the same time. This was at Prince William Park—the park where my sister got married. And we were visiting the park with my sister and her family when Kim took this picture of David and me.

Great stuff. And I’m glad I found these photos to remind me of those days.

 

Front Royal Annual Celtic Festival

Kim, at the festival

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ow much can I say about how much we love Front Royal? A great number of very trying circumstances came together to prompt our move to Front Royal. We knew that God was in control, but we had no idea what a wonderful place he had in mind for our new home. We also had no idea that our son would one day want to wear a kilt. We’re waiting to find out the exact tartan for Kim’s ancestry. If we don’t find that, we may get David a Unity kilt for next year’s festival.

David, dressed in his Celtic battle gear

This past Saturday, Front Royal celebrated its 2nd Annual Celtic Festival, and it was another wonderful time. It seems that something is happening in Front Royal every weekend. The town puts on a great air show, canoe and kayaking events, historic battle reenactments, There are festivals for the changing of the seasons, to celebrate the local horse farms, berry farms, and vineyards. And this past weekend, the folks from Appalachia and Shenandoah gathered in Front Royal to celebrate their mutual Celtic heritage.

I have never really paid much attention to my own heritage—perhaps because much of it seems to be apocryphal, having been passed down via word-of-mouth and embellished by each new generation. And recent events surrounding immigrants who seem to not like our nation very much have given me a bad impression of those who hold firmly to their non-U.S. culture after they immigrate. But this event allowed me the opportunity to experience a different perspective on both of these things.

An interesting looking couple

First, my wife is of Scottish descent. So when we entered the festival and were asked what clan we are part of, she was able to answer with two family names. One man looked up the ancestral name “Hamilton” and gave us some information about the Hamilton clan. It gave a context to the festival that made it very enjoyable for our family.

Then, at the Calling of the Clans, representatives from some of the larger clans carried out their ancestral national flags and stood at attention in front of the town gazebo. On their far right was the American flag. After calling the clans, they read some amazing historical documents written by the Irish, the Scottish, and the Welsh leaders from years gone by. Then everyone saluted the American flag and sang the National Anthem. It was truly inspiring to see these folks who cling dearly to a national heritage they love joining together with American pride and proclaiming their commitment to this nation.

The Calling of the Clans

David got to dress in chain mail and a knight’s battle helmet and he got to hold quite a few long swords. We met a couple of falcon trainers and got to see their birds up close. We heard a lot of great Celtic music, we saw phenomenal Irish dancing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event. And, once again, we were reminded of how grateful we are to God for bringing us to this wonderful town.

 

Happy birthday, Kim - We love Front Royal

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esterday was Kim’s birthday. Happy birthday, Kim! So we decided to take advantage of one of our town’s unique offerings—baseball.

If you were to walk straight through the woods behind our neighborhood (“as the crow flies”) you would come to a large playground, a pavilion with lots of picnic tables, a swimming pool, and a large baseball complex, including a wonderful baseball stadium. The front of the baseball stadium proclaims that this is the “Bing Crosby Stadium.” Quite a conversation starter when we take visitors around our town to see the sights.

The stadium was built in honor of Bing Crosby who visited the town of Front Royal when he was in the Washington, DC, area on business. The town was raising money for their Little League facilities and Bing Crosby donated a large sum of money to kick off the fund raising. Crosby, who was always a promoter of youth athletics, later made another very large donation to bring the needed funds into the town of Front Royal. This stadium was built in his honor due to that event and to his commitment to Little League athletics.

We have heard the sounds of the games from our bedroom window at night, but this was our first visit to one of the games, and it was a blast. The athletes were college-aged and played quite well. The Front Royal Cardinals were hosting the Rockbridge Rapids. It was a good night for the Cardinals who took the game 7-0.

Two concessioneers

The young kids (including David, who is not so young anymore) grouped at the end of the stands and ran out to retrieve any pop-up foul balls from the parking lot. If they turn the balls into the concession, they get a free snack. So the stadium employees don't have to scour the parking lot for balls after the game and the kids get to eat lots of sugar. A true win-win situation if there ever was one. And it kept David occupied throughout the game.

A cute little girl watching the game

Because this is not professional ball, the players do not get paid and are not provided with housing. We met one of the families that opens their house to a couple of players. And it was fun listening to the crowd cheering their favorite players on—often the players who stay at their house.

The experience reminded us of the Lynchburg Hillcats minor league games we loved attending so much while we were living in Lynchburg. The stadium is not as large, the stands not quite as full. And there is no mascot (we miss Southpaw). But we’re close enough to walk to the games, the people of Front Royal are a thoroughly enjoyable group of people to spend an evening with, and the game play was very good.

David, waiting for another pop-fly foul

We have been truly blessed to have been moved to this town in the Shenandoah Mountains. Kim’s birthday just gave us one more experience and one more reason to love this town.

 

Stratford Hall

I haven’t commented on my header photos lately, but thought I ought to at least identify today’s subject. This photo is of Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee and of his great-grandfather, “Lighthorse” Henry Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Stratford Hall is in Virginia’s Northern Neck, so it is not easily accessible by roads, although it was a thriving port 200 years ago due to its easy accessibility from the water. This house was featured in the Mel Gibson movie “The Patriot” in the scene when the revolutionaries blow up the ship and the clueless woman says, “Oh goodie—fireworks!”

If you live anywhere near Virginia’s Northern Neck or across the River in Maryland, take advantage of your proximity by visiting Stratford Hall. I would recommend a visit on July 4th when the Hall hosts various events and has myriad 18th and 19th century period actors to help deliver the full immersion experience. You’ll love it.

Milestones

On Monday our family went to the NC State Fair. Lance and I had our first taste of “letting go” this year: Brooke met up with her friends midday, and Lanelle spent most of the day with her friend, Jaclyn. Meanwhile, the boys and parents watched a really neat BMX/FMX show, walked the midway and exhibits, and I even won a bear from the guy who guesses your age. He guessed 7 years too young!! You can see more pictures of our day here

I can’t explain to you how much fun I had just being with my family. We didn’t spend a lot of money on rides or entertainment, but of course, we HAD to sample fair food! But the best part of the whole day was just playing together.

Now, I’m counting the days to some milestones.

First, this Sunday I will have the privilege of being part of the orchestra for a special evening of praise at our church. Our worship pastor had vocal surgery this summer, and we all prayed diligently that his incredible voice would be restored and not harmed. God was truly gracious in answering that prayer. David is a talented musician who has a beautiful heart for serving the Lord. Over the years, he’s written a good deal of music, and this will be an evening of sharing those songs. In addition, our new orchestra director, Gary Hallquist, arranged the choir and orchestra music for these songs. It is amazing to be in the presence of such God-given talent, and it’s even more amazing that I get to share the platform with them every weekend. We will be doing a live recording that evening, and when it becomes available, I’ll share a link where you can order the CD.

Of course, the next milestones will be my pre-op visit on Monday, and my surgery on Tuesday. I will update you as soon as I’m feeling up to returning to the computer, probably just a couple of days after surgery. The results of the pathology report should come back within a week of surgery, and I will know for certain whether the tumor was cancerous or benign.

Psalm 112:1,7–8

Hallelujah! Happy is the man who fears the Lord, taking great delight in His commandments. He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the Lord. His heart is assured; he will not fear. In the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

Because of the prayers of my friends and my hope in the Lord, the last several days have been full of peace about my upcoming surgery. I’m just not afraid! I know, both from past experience, and from scriptures like Psalm 112, that God can be trusted. I am equally convinced that God has a bigger plan than just my personal comfort or well-being. He desires to proclaim His great name and His glory through this particular trial, and I count it a privilege to be on His team.

I am praying that as you watch the unfolding events in our family’s journey through this current “fire,” you will catch a glimpse of the incredible God we serve, and how He lovingly cares for His own.

I have three specific prayer requests this week.

1. Pray that I do not get sick this week so that I will not have to reschedule surgery. I can tell that the tumor has increased in size, and I’m just ready to bid the thing goodbye.
2. Continue to pray that the nerve branch that controls my mouth is protected, so that I may continue to play my clarinet. I seriously want to whoop it up after surgery and send you a picture of my puckered up lips!
3. Please pray that I will be the person who is described in Psalm 112, so that others may see what a Great God we serve and desire to know Him also.

 

Rivermont Park - Our final days in Lynchburg

Time is running out. We need to move very soon and things just aren’t working as we had planned or hoped. I’m not sure what the problem is, but apparently God’s timetable for our move is not matching up with our plans. It has made things quite stressful and is causing no end of difficulty.

David’s summer is rapidly passing by and he has seen more packing and waiting, calling and waiting, inquiring and waiting than a kid his age should have to see in one summer. The waiting has gotten quite old, but we’re still doing it.

So this past Saturday we decided to take David to one of our wonderful local Lynchburg parks to let him get out some energy and have the freedom to just run around and play without us constantly trying to reign in his energy.

Kim and I took books and crafts to work on and we sat at a picnic table while David ran around and met other kids. He has no trouble meeting people of any age. So he ran around looking for friends and we read and watched. We’ve come to recognize that Lynchburg is not so very unlike other cities except that it has a very high percentage of friendly and pleasant people. And those nice people seem to congregate in the types of places that our family likes to frequent— parks, historic areas, the market, the train station, etc.

Mean-spirited and unfriendly folks can be found here too. They just don’t seem to hang out in the places where our family enjoys hanging out. We have run across a few of them from time to time in book stores or restaurants, but for the most part they seem to have different hangouts than we do.

The Rivermont Park is one of the places where the friendly sort hang out. And we have thoroughly enjoyed this part of Lynchburg. We’ve met many people at this park who have given us their personal local histories. One woman who has lived here for more than 50 years told us about how she and her brothers used to walk way out on the railroad bridge over the James River—hoping to reach the other side before a train came. If a train had come, they would have been out of luck since the bridge is at least a few hundred feet above the river. It would not be like diving from a high diving board.

This past Saturday we saw evidence that there was a wedding party there at the park. Well dressed, happy, celebrating people kept coming through. We eventually spotted a very well-dressed and attractive family (father with three children). His young son was dressed very sharply in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie—complete with a stark white carnation pinned on his chest. The boy’s two sisters were dressed in white dresses with black ribbons in the back. They were adorable. We talked to the father and took a few pictures of the kids.

We’re really going to miss this aspect of Lynchburg’s character. We hope that as Lynchburg grows the city will be able to maintain this spirit.

Blog Header - July 7, 2009

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oday’s header photo just feels summery to me. I actually took this photo at Poplar Forest this past Saturday, but it doesn't give any indication of the place or of the event. It just seems like summer, so I thought I'd post it since we have recently passed the summer equinox.

Happy summer!

Visiting Thomas Jefferson

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his past weekend we continued a family tradition—we spent July 4th at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest home. This was only our second year doing this, but it has become a favorite family outing.

A Revolutionary War officer

Our first visit to Poplar Forest was last year on July 4th—one year ago. We had seen the local signs about “Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest,” but did not fully comprehend what that meant. I don’t remember ever being taught about this portion of President Jefferson’s life, and it is a fascinating segment. Frankly, when I saw the signs for Poplar Forest I thought it was just a big forest of poplar trees that Thomas Jefferson had planted or protected. That image is not remotely close to the reality.

Poplar Forest was Jefferson’s retreat while he was being targeted by British forces. Martha Jefferson inherited the property and when they used it to get out of the fire-line, Thomas Jefferson recognized the beauty of the property and began his plan to build a retirement home there.

The sword swallowers   [ Web site ]

While he was living in the famous Monticello, Jefferson sent detailed architectural and landscaping plans to Poplar Forest. The residence had been built by the time Jefferson left public life and he spent the final years of his life living primarily in this home.

Kim taking advantage of the shade

The majority of Jefferson’s archived writings were written here on this property. He was able to commit himself to thought and writing when he was here—away from the many well-meaning, but ever-present visitors.

On July 4th each year, Poplar Forest hosts a wonderful event celebrating our nation’s independence, which was spurred along by one of our nation’s most inspiring documents—the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson.

The event on the Poplar Forest property includes entertainment and education, all served up in period style. We signed up for the continental army and David was given a musket to carry while being trained for the Revolution. We heard a story teller who was chock-full of great tales from early America. We saw demonstrations of basket weaving, flax preparation, blacksmithing, lace making, pottery making, beading, and much more. We even saw a male and female sword swallowing team that also swallowed fire.

All of this was done by highly informative and friendly costumed players.

As an eclectic aside, we found another unusual educational tidbit during our visit—an active archeological dig site on the grounds. This is the ongoing archeological excavation of the grounds surrounding Poplar Forest. We got to meet the archeologists themselves and found them to be an impressive group of people. They ranged in age from a recent high school graduate to a retired man in his late 60s who moved from Ohio to Virginia to take part in this archeological effort.

One of the archeologists at work

The folks at this dig site were approachable and willing to answer questions, explain what they were doing, and brag about the things they have already discovered. David was so excited by seeing the care and respect these folks were showing as they carefully brushed away small amounts of dirt to reveal what appears to be a cobblestone path or foundation about a foot and a half below the surface.

One of the archeologists explained to us that this area seems to have been the site of a metal working shop and possibly stables. He explained that they are using Jefferson’s detailed notes about the grounds to guide their dig sites and then merging those notes with what they find to determine what these grounds have looked like over the couple hundred years since Jefferson built this property.

Period costumed flute player and his daughter

But the most inspiring part of the day was the reading of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. This document has been referred to as “the American scriptures,” and it does seem to hold that degree of reverence. But the amazing thing to me is how applicable this document is to our situation today. Our founding fathers fully recognized the danger a government can pose to its own people and they worked hard to protect the citizens and to give them “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Thomas Jefferson was greatly concerned about over taxation and the strength of the American dollar. And the founding fathers set a course for our nation that has made us strong, promoted individual achievement, and created a strong financial system. But our government has strayed long and far from those founding principles and we are now engaging in things that are potentially disastrous to our financial standing and our personal freedom.

It was truly inspiring to stand with 400 or so other quietly respectful people gathered below the house and hear Thomas Jefferson’s words read aloud. If you live anywhere near Central Virginia, you should put this on your calendar for next year’s Independence Day. It will be a day well spent.

Presentation of the colors - by the Lynchburg Boy Scouts

Learn more from the Poplar Forest web site.

Read the Declaration of Independence. If you use the Scribd embedded document below, you may want to click on the Full Screen Toggle on the top-right of the window. It will make it a little easier to read. When you’re done, click the toggle again to return to this screen.

Independence Day at Poplar Forest

We spent July 4th at the delightful retreat and retirement home of Thomas Jefferson. Poplar Forest is a miniature Monticello in its basic layout. But although the house is miniaturized, the sense of Jefferson’s presence seems to be magnified here. As one of their staff members put it—Poplar Forest seems more “intimate.” I think that word describes it perfectly.

The header photo is of the drive leading to Poplar Forest. I will try to post some photos from this year’s Independence Day celebration tomorrow or Monday. As usual, we had a wonderful time visiting this historic home of our third president.

Here’s my Facebook photo album from the day.

Fathers Day Outing

Mennonite farmer listening to his customers

Today is Fathers Day. But because Mothers Day and Fathers Day always fall on Sundays, we usually do any celebration on the prior Saturday. So yesterday we did just that.

We went to two of my favorite Lynchburg places—the Lynchburg Market and the White Hart cafe. I, of course, took my camera with me. Unfortunately, I didn't take an extra battery and didn't notice that my battery was almost dead until it was ... well, dead. So I ended up taking five photos within the first five minutes or so of our arrival at the market and then I had to put my camera back into the trunk of our car and walk around in a totally useless state. Or at least that’s the way it felt to me.

Our friend, Kiera, from church

But we saw one of our friends from church at the market. We purchased some wonderful sour dough bread from the Mennonite farmer and his son. We also purchased some fruits and vegetables and even some Mayan chocolate (dark chocolate pieces with cinnamon and chili oil). The cinnamon gives a quick burst of hot and the chili oil gives a long-lasting hot bite in the after taste. Very good stuff.

One of the things I love at the market is seeing the families who take their produce to the market working together. Families working together was the norm in our society many years ago, but it is a very rare thing these days. I love to see the interaction between the family members and watch the children play behind the produce stalls. David loves meeting those children and asking them about their toys and about what they’re playing.

Young boy peeking around his mother

At the White Hart I picked up a great book titled Meltdown: A Free Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and the Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse. Okay, it’s a really long title—but so far it’s a really good book.

After we came home, David wanted to play a board game, so he pulled out our Monopoly game and set it up in the living room. Then he proceeded to whip his parents in the game. He really enjoyed seeing each of us fall out of the game due to bankruptcy. You just have to appreciate the closeness of a family set on bankrupting each other for the sheer entertainment value.

Blog Header - June 18, 2009

Today's header photo is a picture I took during our summer vacation to Dollywood last summer. This blacksmith was a great guy. We had a blast watching him work, but it was really great to talk to him during one of his breaks.

Dollywood is such a fantastic place for families. We thoroughly enjoyed the week we spent there. As much as we love Disneyworld, David said that he'd rather go to Dollywood every time. I think it might be nice to switch back and forth, but Dollywood really is a wonderful place.